The sun was just rising, so we had to act fast.

The three of us split up and approached the building that I confirmed to feel the last signs of Melle. Bert was approaching from the front, nonchalantly, like he was just about to go and pay a visit to his old friend. Meanwhile, Odar approached from the side, carefully watching if someone was to sneak away anywhere. I was on the other side, mirroring him, but a building away and sat down in the shade of some tree.

I quickly closed my eyes and tried feeling with my mana sense, to confirm the location of everyone in the vicinity.

For now, everything was going smoothly. I felt the residents in their houses, still asleep, including the building we were surrounding, their dim flames unmoving. Only the two were active - Odar and Bert.

Not breaking my concentration I slightly opened my eyes and nodded in the direction of Bert. Noticing my gesture, he hastened his step and not long later he was already knocking at the door.

Trying to observe both the visible and the invisible was a bit annoying, so I decided to mostly focus on the usage of magic than just my eyes, just opening them once every while to confirm what I was sensing.

As I was trying to acclimate to that, the door opened and Bert started talking with the person inside. We established beforehand that he was to try and somehow get inside the building to check up exactly on the layout of it. The main idea was to do exactly the same thing as we did during the night - make a map of the inside to pinpoint the exact location of where Melle was. With our efforts before, we only managed to tell that she was somewhere on the side of the building - on the side where Odar was now posted.

So far, everything was working as we planned - after a brief discussion, the door opened wider and Bert went inside, disappearing from sight.

It was not a problem for me, he was easy to spot with mana sense. Even if he was weaker, I could easily spot him thanks to the bow and the unique appearance it had in my head.

We were on standby for a good half an hour, yet no one left the building.

After the first fifteen minutes, I noticed Odar peeking from his hiding spot, giving me questioning gazes, on which I just shook my head negatively.

All the time I was monitoring his status behind the door and there definitely was no change, meaning, he was absolutely fine. If he was to be attacked, or even used mana, I would’ve instantly noticed it. We just had to assume that everything was going fine on the inside.

After almost forty minutes, I also began to worry. Besides the strangely long time that it was taking him in there, I also started noticing some weird things.

First of all, the sun was now completely risen and yet there was no sign of anyone being awake, besides us. At first I didn’t pay much attention to that, but the longer it was taking him, the more I was unnerved.

Sure, you can say that no normal person wakes up that early in the morning, but you have to consider that I no longer was among normal people, so to speak. If we were in such a remote location, the villagers here should already be awake by now, to, I don’t know, tend to their crops…Well no, it’s a forest, so maybe go hunt, or something, whatever they do here.

That feeling only intensified when I checked our surroundings again with the mana sense. We were still surrounded by those dim flames, and not even a single one of them changed, or moved at all. That was disturbing.

But what was even weirder, even the one in the house we were currently stalking, was also dim.

That confused me. From what I understood about the magic sense, that only could mean that the target was in deep sleep, maybe unconscious, even though we clearly saw him open the door and let Bert in. When I thought about it, I wasn’t actually paying attention to him when the door opened, instead confirming that no one else was on guard around us.

Did Bert attack him and knock him out? Nah, I’d noticed. Did something happen?

As if to confirm my suspicions, the very familiar signature of Bert’s presence started to slowly dim as well.

Realizing that something was definitely wrong I left my spot and started walking towards the house.

Odar noticed me moving and was about to do the same, but I stopped him with one look and mouthed “I will start”.

He seemingly understood what I wanted to do, because he moved towards the house and the window and started slowly stretching out his fingers, as if to warm them up.

I unceremoniously walked to the door and knocked, while still trying to maintain the magic sense.

One thing was for sure: the two of them were there, but I had to hurry. Bert’s presence was already as weak as the other guy’s and the only way to distinguish them was thanks to the bow, distorting the signal slightly.

I noticed that, even though so weak and seemingly asleep, the other presence started moving towards the door and soon it opened slightly in front of me.

Just before I spoke up, I quickly ended my focus and instead turned my attention to the shadowy figure behind the door.

-Hey, do you have any idea where Bert is? He told me he wanted to talk to you and was supposed to be back a long time ago. We need to leave soon.

The man on the other side didn’t speak, instead just growled at me.

-I know, it’s early, but…

He growled once more, backing up, but this time it sounded more like a confirmation, and the door opened.

A bit unsettled with this “exchange” I gazed inside, looking for the person who let me in, but, weirdly enough, there was no one. I carefully stepped inside, inspecting my surroundings.

The home I entered consisted of one large room, with a divider wall near the back, not far from the place where Odar was standing on the outside of the building.

The furniture was pretty bland and looked like it was strictly functional - every wall was stacked with some shelves or cabinets.

-Hello?

There was no reply. Leaving the door opened I took yet another step inside, going towards the divider. Well, calling it “divider” was a bit of an overstatement, it was just a plain set of planks sticking out from the ground, not even well put together. Whoever lived here, definitely did not care at all about the place they lived in. I noticed that even the shelves, while stacked with random garbage, were full of dust, like no one had used them in a long time, or just didn’t bother to clean them.

Feeling unsettled, I summoned a flame orb, just to be safe, and looked behind the divider.

Behind the wooden planks, I noticed an old, broken bed, and a chair next to it.

On the chair, gazing into space in front of him, was Bert. But him looking unaware of his surroundings was not my main concern.

From somewhere under the bed, a long greenish vine was snaking its way to his chair and wrapping itself tightly around his whole body, to the point where it was already past his chin and about to go even higher up, completely binding him.

It noticed me, because it froze immediately as I ignited my spell. But the vine was not the thing that attacked me.

Somewhere from above me, I heard a growl and something jumped onto me, felling me to the ground and breaking my concentration on the fire orb. It was most likely the guy who let me in. While I never actually got to see his face, the growl was what made me identify my opponent. I did not have time to actually get a good look at him, but what I saw was enough to make me flinch.

He was just an old man, maybe in his 70s, if I was to guess, completely bald, with a shaggy gray beard. He was a bit short and wearing some tattered, old rags. What was more unsettling though, was a long vine that was snaking around his neck, going right into his one ear and coming out of the other, connecting back with the part on the neck again.

The noise we made while falling onto the ground notified Odar, who instantly charged through the open door.

He quickly realized what was going on and jumped towards us both, punching the old man in the side of his head, trying to throw him away from me.

While I did lose my concentration on the spell, I did not lose my clear head. While the old man was latching onto my back and trying to grab my neck, I rolled onto the side and with all my strength slammed my back into the furniture standing against the wall.

But, both of our efforts were in vain. The old man was surprisingly resilient and now was trying to retaliate, scratching at my neck and head.

Luckily for me, he aimed for the part of my body that was crystallized, scraping it and breaking at least two fingernails.

I managed to stand up and turn my back towards Odar just as the old guy was reeling back from yet another ineffective attack, aimed just at my head this time.

Noticing the new position we found ourselves in, I felt Odar grab the neck of the old geezer and attempt to choke him out from behind, but that did not help at all. The punches and scratches of the guy did not stop, he was still tightly gripping me with one hand and both of his legs.

-Stand back! - I yelled at him and, not waiting for the reply, attempted to cast a spell. - Geksu, dosleyy nop!

While the spell definitely worked and I instantly got surrounded by flames, the old man did not give up. What was more unsettling though, he did not even scream, instead I heard a loud squeal both from him and from the direction of the bed, that did not sound human.

Odar flinched as well, hard to tell if it was because of the sound or because of the heat that was now radiating from me.

The room was filled with a very unpleasant smell of burned flesh. Even then, the old man did not stop, now pounding me with his flaming fists. This time he finally was able to actually do some damage, finally finding a part where I still was made of flesh and blood.

-Fuck!

This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

While he was not doing that much damage to me, he was definitely dangerous. I did not want to increase my firepower more in fear of burning down the cabin and was about to use another spell to try and get him off me, but got interrupted by Odar.

-Don’t move for a second, let me try something…

I noticed him muttering some spell, so I decided to not argue. I had my back turned to him, so I couldn’t really tell what he was exactly trying to do, but decided to comply anyway.

-Just don’t miss!

I braced for the inevitable hit coming my way, but instead of a spell, I felt a quick movement and suddenly, the old man stopped moving.

Confused and relieved, I was about to turn back to him and ask what kind of spell was that, but before that I realized that my enemy got lighter all of the sudden, followed by a loud noise of something falling to the ground.

That made me reconsider looking that way.

-He’s dead. Turn off that fire so I can peel this thing off you.

I dropped the spell and without looking at the, ehm, round object, behind me, we slowly got the lower half of the guy off me. Even though he was indubitably dead, his grip was still as strong as it was before and it took us a second.

-What the hell was that? - he muttered, inspecting the corpse. - Ygh, it smells awful…

True, the smell of burned flesh was absolutely terrible. His dirty rags were also still smoking which definitely did not help the smell.

-Ugh, let’s leave that for later - I muttered, not looking in the direction of the body. - We have something more urgent to attend to…

-Right, you wanted to go in, meaning something happened to Bert. Where is he?

I pointed towards the divider.

He was still sitting on the chair, although this time the vine that was creeping on the ground was nowhere to be seen. Even then though, the look in his eyes was still vacant.

-What the hell? - Odar approached and shook him - Bert, you there?

No answer.

-When I entered, he was bound by some kind of vine here, looking like this. I wanted to free him with my fire and then that guy attacked.

-Vine?

He got closer and started inspecting him more thoroughly.

-He’s drugged most likely - he muttered, ponting at his neck. - See?

Indeed, at the base of his neck, there was a set of small wounds, like something punctured him.

-The question is, with what?

-Hm.

-Well, before that, let me…

I focused once more, checking our surroundings.

What I felt this time was a bit strange.

The only signs of life I felt, from the whole village, were just the two of them: Odar, and the weakened Bert. His flame was a little bit stronger than before, but that was about it. There was no one else anywhere nearby.

-I have no fucking idea what’s going on, but we are now alone in here.

-Well, I did kill the old man, so…

-No, I mean in the whole village. There is no one here besides us three. Before, I could feel some presence in other houses, but now… they’re just gone.

-That’s unsettling…

-Yep. But I also have some good news. I think I have an idea on how to wake him up.

-Well, me too…

-You first then.

He looked at me, curious, but started speaking anyway.

-It looks like an early stage of mana deficiency. If we just wait, he should come back to his senses pretty quickly.

That’s about what I figured as well, although not from the symptoms, instead from the sudden change in his presence that I could feel through my magic sense: in my eyes, his flame was slowly getting brighter, meaning he should recover on his own soon enough.

-Yeah, seems like what’s going on. Well, let’s get him out of here first.

-Do you have anything to recharge him with or we’re just going to wait? - I asked him as he carried Bert outside and was putting him near the house we were just in.

-I think we should have some mana fruit…

-Ah, right. Should be enough I think… but first…

I took the bow from his back and put it away.

-Since this thing runs on his mana, we probably should at least take that off him before we try anything - I answered when he gave me a questioning look.

-Runs on mana? His ice bow? - he asked while looking through the provisions we were given.

-Well, I wouldn’t call this thing an ice bow, but that’s not important right now. Feed him and come with me, I want to check something.

We left Bert next to the old man’s place to hopefully awake soon and went towards one of the nearby houses.

-Mind telling me what’s going on?

-Right. I just want to check up on the other inhabitants of this place. Our cover is blown anyway and something’s been bothering me…

-Hm. Well, I guess we can, but I don’t see the point…

-I hope there is no point.

I knocked at the door, but, as I feared, there was no response. We waited a good while, knocking multiple times at a couple different ones, yet still, there was no sign of anyone here.

-I feel like this is a bit much, but do you think we can break into one of them?

He looked at me with a very concerned look on his face.

-Okay, listen. I know you are an important figure and the king will let you get away with a lot, but this…

I rolled my eyes.

-Just answer. Will you help me or not?

-I feel like I shouldn’t.

-Okay then. Then will you stop me or not?

-...

I approached the home that was the closest one to the one that Bert was next to and summoned my fire orb.

Odar gazed at me, indifferent.

-I think that means “no”.

I was about to try and set fire to the door, but he stopped me.

-Come on, if you do that you’ll burn down the entire village. Let me.

I smiled and stepped back.

-I was hoping you’d say that - I muttered.

-But please, go check up on Bert while you’re at it. I need a second to prepare.

That was unexpected. As far as I was aware, his magic should be pretty straightforward and not require any preparation. It made me curious and suspicious, but I complied and turned my back towards him, walking away.

It was actually a good thing I went ahead and agreed, because he was already coming around. I could see him flail around on the ground, so I grabbed him and started shaking him.

-Hey, Earth to Bert, you there?

-Wha.. Who…

He looked more or less conscious. At first he had a hard time even sitting up straight, but after a couple of seconds he suddenly stiffened and stood straight up, jumping away from me.

-Calm down, the old man is down, it’s just me.

-What the hell is going on?

-I dunno, you tell me - I asked, amused by his outburst. - You went to the guy as planned but then did not leave for so long we got worried. And when your presence got weaker…

-What…?

I briefly explained to him what happened, to which he replied with just “I don’t remember…”, leaving me very concerned. Meanwhile, Odar came back and mentioned that he managed to open the door, but…

-Yeah, I think you were on to something…

That did not bode well.

-I just hope that it’s not what I think it is.

The three of us went to check up on the resident of the place that he managed to break into.

The door was… not there. It looked like he somehow managed to cut through the whole frame, splintering the whole thing horribly, breaking both hinges and a lock and just straight up putting it aside.

-I guess that’s one way to open it - I muttered, appreciating his work.

-Better than burning the whole house to the ground.

-And who said I was going to do that?

Inside was similar to the house we were attacked at, although this one was a bit smaller and had less furniture. Besides that, there was no divider and everything looked even more dirty and unused.

-Hello…?

No reply.

-I think they would’ve already spoken up when Odar was breaking their door - mentioned Bert, now completely awake.

-Mhm… I was right… - I said, walking to the bed in the corner.

On the bed in the corner there was a man. Or, to be precise, a corpse of a man. It was completely still, not breathing, with his eyes wide open.

While it looked like he was lying there for a good while because everything around was covered in a very obvious layer of dust, the body was not rotting, nor had it the disgusting smell of a deceased. Quite the opposite. It smelled sweet, like some sort of sap… Upon a closer inspection we also could not find any visible wounds, besides one on the neck.

-It looked like he hung himself… - muttered Bert, stepping closer.

-Not exactly… - said Odar, stepping back, gazing around the room. - There is no sign of the rope. The body would not just go and lie in bed either if that was the case either.

-Yeah… and besides that… - I moved his clothes aside, revealing a set of tiny puncture wounds at the base of his neck. - I think I know how he died.

-Yeesh… - Bert grabbed his neck with a concerned expression. - I was lucky…

-Yeah…

-Say, you remember, when we were here last time, did you feel something was off? You mentioned something today, but…

He stopped to think for a second.

-Nah, not really… Today it just felt weird that he was expecting us, as I mentioned. Besides that…

-So you did not notice the thing that was on his neck?

-And in his brain.

-Excuse me, what? - he looked at me like I was insane.

-What he said.

-No. Well, he was always hooded, so…

-Great - I muttered. - Meaning we don’t know how long this place was like this…

-Like this? You mean everyone…

-Yeah. The weak presence I felt before has currently disappeared. I thought at first it was just some old, weak or sleeping people, or any combination of those. It actually was not the case. It was just a bunch of… well, from the lack of a better way to explain this, plant-zombies - I said, while moving towards the house where Bert was kept. - For some reason they are gone now though.

-Hm. Maybe the guy I killed was the leader… If they even have a thing like that?

-Who the hell knows. But you noticed, it all went downhill as soon as I summoned my fire.

-You think they got scared? It did not look like it worked on them though…

-Are you sure about that? - I pointed to the decapitated head and the corpse on the ground.

While the guy was burned, you could still see the marks that the weird vine-parasite left on him. Including the parasite itself, or rather the remains of one.

It looked like a charred branch, almost like a piece of coal, covering his neck and spilling out from his ears.

-Ugh… this is so weird… - shuddered Bert, grabbing his ears, probably imagining what was about to happen to him.

-Yea… and about you “killing” him… I actually don’t think you did.

-Excuse me? He is decapitated. What, you’re going to tell me that he’s going to spring to life again?

-Hah, I don’t think so. But to kill something, it first needs to be alive - I stated, calmly. - From what we’ve seen here, I assume that the population of this village was killed a long while ago, and was just controlled by… those things - I poked at the charred remains of the parasite with my foot. - They used those people, or rather their bodies, while somehow preserving them. Look, they don’t even have any blood.

-Ugh…

-So. What now? - asked after a good minute of silence Odar.