David had ventured deeper into the wilderness, the remnants of his battle with the Gloom Serpent still fresh in his mind. The thrill of victory had faded, replaced by an eerie sense of unease that he couldn't quite shake off. The forest around him felt different, darker, and more oppressive, as if the very trees were watching him, waiting for something.

As he flew above the dense canopy, his senses sharpened by his recent enhancements, he noticed something unusual below. A group of figures, cloaked in shadows, moved silently through the forest. From his vantage point, they looked like ordinary people, their forms not discernable in the dark forest. Intrigued, David descended, curious to see who else might be wandering this desolate place.

But as he drew closer, something about them seemed... off. Their movements were too fluid, too synchronized, as if they weren't bound by the normal constraints of flesh and bone. The closer he got, the more his instincts screamed at him to turn back. And then he saw their faces—or what should have been their faces.

The figures were not people. Their bodies were translucent, their features twisted and grotesque, like something out of a nightmare. They glided rather than walked, their feet never touching the ground. Their eyes, hollow and glowing with a faint, eerie light, stared blankly ahead, as if seeing things beyond the mortal realm.

David's heart pounded in his chest as he realized what he was witnessing—these were not people, but wraiths. The stories he had read, written in the dairy of the old man, came rushing back. Dark beings, cursed to wander the lands for eternity, bound to the will of a dark emperor. The thought chilled him to the core.

He hovered just above the treetops, his breath shallow as he watched the wraiths move with a purpose. They were not aimlessly drifting spirits; they had a mission, a goal that drove them forward. He could see them gathering strange, shimmering materials from the ground, their ghostly hands passing through the earth as if it were nothing. Whatever they were collecting, it was important to them, and the realization made David uneasy.

Not wanting to risk an encounter with these beings, he slowly retreated, the dark energy within him pulsing with a warning. He couldn't shake the feeling that these wraiths were tied to something far greater, something that had to do with the dark emperor he had read about in the diary back at the mansion. These wraiths had once been people, turned into monsters by the emperor's artifact. The thought made his skin crawl.

As David flew back toward the safety of the mansion, he couldn't help but glance over his shoulder, half-expecting to see the wraiths following him. But they remained where they were, their ghostly forms disappearing into the thick fog that seemed to swallow the forest whole. Whatever they were doing, it was not his concern—for now.

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The wraiths moved with silent precision, their forms barely visible in the encroaching darkness. They had been summoned here for a purpose, one that had been the command of a general directly under the emperor. Gather the materials, return to their homeland, and await further instructions. It was a task they had repeated countless times over the centuries, their memories of their past lives long faded into the void.

This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

As they worked, the leader of the group, a wraith with a faint mark of dark energy present on his forehead, sensed something. It was faint, almost imperceptible, but there was no mistaking it—a presence in the air above them. It took only a fraction of a second for the wraith to identify the source: a human, using an artifact, watching them from the sky.

The wraiths continued their work, their movements never faltering, but within their minds, a silent conversation took place.

"Did you sense that?" The leader's voice echoed through their shared consciousness, a cold, emotionless tone.

"Yes," came the response from another wraith. "An intruder, observing us. But why does he not attack?"

"Perhaps he is scouting us, gauging our strength," suggested a third. "If he is allied with the emperor's enemies, we cannot allow him to report back."

The leader considered this for a moment. "We cannot afford a direct confrontation. Our mission is important. We will continue as if we have not noticed him. Let him think we are unaware."

The others agreed, their collective will focused on their task. They were close to completing their mission, the materials they had gathered shimmering with an otherworldly light. These were no ordinary resources; they were the essence from the remains of the forest's beasts, infused with the dark energy that permeated this cursed land. The emperor's magic had twisted the very nature of these materials, making them valuable resources for te undead.

As they worked, the leader kept a part of its consciousness on the intruder above. The human was retreating, his presence growing fainter as he moved away. Good. The wraiths did not need a confrontation now, especially with a being who could possibly be a lot stronger than them. But they would remember this encounter, and they would report it to their superiors.

"He is gone," one of the wraiths noted, its voice carrying a hint of relief.

"For now," the leader replied. "But we must be cautious. If he is indeed a scout, more may come. We must return to the lair and report this immediately."

The wraiths gathered the last of the materials, their ghostly hands handling the shimmering essences with care. Once they had secured their cargo, they began to move, gliding silently through the forest, their forms barely visible in the thickening fog. They would complete their mission and return to the lair, where they would await further instructions from their leader.

But as they moved, a sense of unease settled over them. The intruder's presence had disturbed the delicate balance of this land, and the implications of this encounter weighed heavily on their minds. They were now undead who have lived for centuries, but they were not mindless. They understood the danger that this human posed, and they knew that their next encounter might not be so easily avoided.

As they vanished into the darkness, the forest fell silent once more, the only sound the faint rustling of leaves in the wind. The wraiths had completed their mission, but the memory of the intruder lingered.

And in the distance, high above the trees, David watched as the last of the wraiths disappeared from view. The encounter had left him with more questions than answers, but one thing was clear—this land was more dangerous than he had ever imagined.