Five blooms since the apple at the pyramid, Late afternoon in southern Lucach. Mul arrived in a small village near the Cnydel ruins. Little Oya dragged her traveling pack in the dirt following behind him. "We walked for three days just to come to this shitty village? I could have stayed in the palace if I knew we were gonna end up here." Oya complained as she let go of her pack to survey the village. Mul ignored her like usual as a villager approached to greet them. "Welcome, welcome, we here in the village of Cnydel are happy to have you." A bell rang in the distance as the villager spoke. "Please come this way, you may stay at the inn." "I thank you for your warm welcome and kindness." Mul said, reaching into his pocket. "But we are here looking for this man." Mul held up a photo of a young man holding a camera. "You haven't seen him by any chance have you?" The villager studied the photo for a second before answering. "Hmm, yes I remember, he came to photograph the ruins a while back. I however haven't seen him since. But let us help you with your packs and we can ask if anyone else might have seen where he got off to, yes?" The villager beckoned two more villagers over to help. "Once again I appreciate your kindness. My name is Mul and the little one here is Oya." Mul explained as he handed his pack to one of the men that came over to help. The other man reached for Oya's pack only for her to smack his hand away. "Thanks buddy, but I got it handled." "Oya!" Mul's voice was stern. "To accept assistance when it is offered is not a sign of frailty. Do not let your ego add difficulty to your life unnecessarily." Oya rolled her eyes. "Whatever." She let go of her overly filled pack and stormed off towards the inn. Night came quickly as the Warrior and his ward enjoyed the first hot meal in some time. The once crowded inn seemed to have emptied steadily as the sun went down. "Brendan Huffard. According to these people the ruins was the last place anyone saw him." Mul recapped as he sipped his drink. Oya finished off her desert before responding. "So let's go find him so we can go home." "It would be wise to wait till morning." Oya frowned "Why? I can see in the dark and I'd rather not spend another day here." Mul glared at her for a moment before getting up and heading towards the door. "yesss!" Oya jumped up and followed after him.

Lit braziers lined the perimeter of the ruins, providing a dim orange glow to the area. The large temple stood in the middle of the clearing surrounded by broken stone walls and crumbling stone fences. Mul walked the perimeter as he surveyed the area. Oya spotted a woman kneeling down facing one of the crumbled walls. "Hey lady." Oya called out while she ran up to the women. "Lady you okay?" But the woman didn't respond. She paid Oya no mind, she just continued to tremble and whimper. Oya reached out to tap the woman's shoulder. "Don't you hear it? Ding ding ding ding ding. it wont stop." The woman was now behind Oya still whimpering as she spoke. Startled, Oya stepped away from the woman until her back was up against the wall. " ding ding ding ding" the woman sobbed as she walked, vanishing from Oya's sight. "To whom were you speaking?" Mul asked as he walked up to her. "There was a lady here." Oya answered. "She was crying. She seemed scared." " A woman." Mul questioned under his breath. He turned his head in search of this woman, as did Oya. But when she turned her attention back to Mul, the woman was behind him. Her head seemingly resting on his shoulder. Two black empty eyes stared back at Oya. Mul didn't seem to notice her. "Don't you hear it?" The woman asked again. A loud ring from a bell echoed through the night air. Mul tried to turn towards the direction of the sound but his body wouldn't respond at first like he was not in control of his own body.. A second later he regained control and turned towards the temple. A second ring reverberated throughout the ruins. Mul turned back to Oya but she was no longer up against the wall. "Oya!" He called out, but his voice was drowned out by a third deafening ring. He turned back to the temple but it wasn't there. Instead he found himself in a large stone room. An orange light radiated in through some cracks in the wall. When his eyes adjusted he noticed a large bell suspended over an altar at the top of some stairs near the back of the room.

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"Mul! Mul! Don't leave me! Mul! Where are you?" Oya wandered amongst the crumbling stone ruins. She called out for Mul as tears streamed down her face. Multiple lost souls slowly followed behind her. Others grasped at her as she walked by. "Can't you hear it?" "Ding ding ding." "Can't you hear it?" They whispered to her over and over. Crying Oya yelled at the spirits. "Leave me alone. Get away from me. Mul! Mul! Help me." The female spirit Oya encountered first, grabbed Oya by her shoulders and pulled her face close to her own. "Can't you hear it? The bell tolls. It must feed. It must have you." Filled with tears, Oya's brown eyes turned violet. An electric current swirled around her hand as she thrust her palm into the woman spirit. Although being immaterial Oya's palm made physical contact with the spirit, sending its ethereal body flying into the stone wall behind it. The spirit dissipated as it made contact. Oya didn't stop there. Violet flashes of electricity danced in the air as she gracefully moved through the crowd of spirits. Their ethereal forms burst as she made contact. Oya dispatched thirty spirits this way before stopping. She stopped short of her attack when she noticed an odd looking spirit snatch a wisp from a spirit she had previously dispatched, out of the air and place it into her satchel. Oya's eyes returned to brown as she approached the strange spirit. "Who are you?" Oya asked. The spirit resembled a little girl about the same age as Oya. It wore a frilly black dress, and had white hair. It ignored Oya's question and snatched another wisp from the air. "Hey who are you?" Oya asked again. The girl stopped and looked surprised at her. "Wait you’re talking to me?" Oya nodded. "What are you doing?" The girl stared blankly at Oya for a moment, then the answer seemed to pop into her head. "Oh. Well, whatever you were doing to these spirts severed their connection to the thing that was keeping them here. And since souls can't wander, I'm gathering them up." The girl smiled at Oya as she plucked another wisp out the air. "But why can you see me? People usually can't see me." Oya shrugged her shoulders. "M-my names Oya." The girl skipped closer to Oya still smiling. "My names Thanata." "Thanata?" Oya repeated. The souls that still wandered the ruins all wailed in unison at the mention of the girls name. Oya looked around nervously as Thanata giggled at the forlorn cry of the spirits.