- One month earlier
A woman wearing black clothing, found herself in a forest with no wildlife for miles. As she traversed the lonely forest, a sudden darkness encased her surroundings. The sun was covered by a dark shadow, the warm air grew deathly cold. Her vision became obscured, as the forest became filled with a thick grey fog.
The woman paused for a moment, her careless expression changed into one of confusion. She continued through the fog, she kept her guard up, as she surveyed the area.
After a while she reached a clearing, once there she saw two people. Seeing them, she hid behind one of the trees, out of sight. The tall dark figure infron of her disappeared into the fog. As the figure walked past her position, she could've sworn it looked at her. Yet it continued on, ignoring her.
"Wait!"
The voice of the young man, called out to it. He darted into thw forest trying to follow it, but each time it would appear in a different spot futher from him.
'Wasn't that... a wraith. The hell is it doing all the way out here, in a place like this, of all things.? I should follow them.'
She followed the shadowy wraith, staying out of sight. She had a feeling it knew it was being followed, yet from the way it acted it either didn't know or didn't care enough to stop her. She effortlessly followed its movements, while staying out of sight of the young man when he caught up to them.
After some time, the wraith finally stopped. It was standing infront of a single stone slab. There were flowers growing around the slab, but there were no indications of what it could be.
'I see now, someone you cared about died here. The connection must've been really strong, for you to end up here. I'm sorry for your loss, friend.'
As she said this, the crack of a branch was heard not too far away from her. She ducked behind one of the trees, staying out of sight.
The young man walked up to meet the wraith, it didn't mind that he was there. It remained motionless, staring at the grave, as he stood beside it.
'Either this kid's crazy, or just plain stupid.'
He knelt down beside it, placing his hand out, he prepared to touch the slab but his arm was quickly grabbed.
'Told ya.'
She braced herself as she prepared to intervene. The fact that the man was here now, standing side by side with that thing, meant he had to have be somewhat special. At least that's what she thought.
"Relax I'm just going to clear the stone off."
He said, she flinched at the wraiths sudden movement. But to her surprise, it had let him go, allowing him to touch the stone.
'Well I'll be damned.'
He wiped away the moss, showing that it was unmarked. She could see the disappointment in his body language as he rose to his feet.
"Someone you knew.... Or maybe it's yours.?. Either way, I'm sorry."
The words surprised the woman, even more so when the wraith turned to him, acknowledging his words. There was no indication, but she knew it appreciated the gesture.
She watched as they took a moment of silence infront of the grave, she herself decided it was only right she did the same. Disturbing such things, would only bring bad luck.
After a minute or so, the wraith finally moved. It pointed its finger towards the grave, or rather, behind it. She silently watched, as the young man searched around for something.
'What are they doing?'
The next moment, she desperately grabbed onto the tree, as the ground started rumbling, only to subside a moment later.
'What the hell was that?'
As she straightened herself out, a voice spoke out from behind the stone slab:
"Is this.... the real entrance?"
'It can't be, did he really find it.'
She took a single step forward, then froze. The wraith turned its head, she thought it was looking at her. But the gaze felt distant, as if looking past her towards something far more sinister. Then a sound came from not to far off from her, causing her skin to crawl.
The deep insidious caw of a raven reached her ears, and not long after, rustling of the trees followed. Her eyes widened, as fear filled her heart.
'Shit, Stalkers. Now?!'
The wraith quickly wrapped itself around the young man, causing him to disappear completely. The woman using this chance, ran as fast a she could. Tripping over a branch, her body lowered enough for her to dodge an attack she had no clues was approaching. Looking at the tree beside her, its side had four large claw marks embedded in it. Catching herself, she used all of her strength to dive into the cloak of the wraith, narrowly escaping death.
'Damnit, the entrance must've triggered them. This is going to be harder than I thought.'
She kept her distance as she followed the young man towards the small light. As her eyes dilated, she noticed she was back in the forest, laying on the ground. She rubbed her head as she rose to her feat, the was a slight sting at the back of her mind.
She followed the trees to the small clearing once more, she could see a small camp infront of a cave. There were four people outside the tents, with another woman standing outside of another. She assumed that tent must've been where the young man was held up, meaning there could be more with him.
Taking a moment, she closed her eyes. She shut off all of her senses, only focusing on her hearing. Inside the tent she could hear the voices of three people.
Opening her eyes once more, she realized it would only be a matter of time before they went looking for the entrance. Disappearing into the forest, she headed back towards the stone slab. Once she reached it, she shut her senses off once more.
'Let's see where you're hiding.'
Opening her eyes there was a feint glow to them, her vision flickered as she searched around for some indication of an opening. Her eyes landed on a dark spot on the ground not far from the grave. She sighed as she let her eyes rest.
'Concealment magic huh, seems to be a barrier as well. The moment I step through, whoever made it will know. It'll take some time, but I should be able to disable it.'
Off in the distance the insidious sound of the raven was heard, her head shot to the direction of the sound. She dashed through the trees reaching the clearing. She could see the group preparing to move, and the young man urging them forward.
'Damn, he's a smart one.'
Focusing her ears, she realized the group was already surrounded. The only place they could go, was in her direction. She looked up to one of the trees, and decided it would be the only way to stay hidden from such a large group.
Once the group passed her position, she jumped down and followed close behind. By now the fog had completely covered the area around them. She followed the group till they reached the stone, she used the movements of the stalkers to switch positions, moving closer to them.
The group became frantic, as shots were let out. But even through the dark fog she could see clearly, that their attempts were useless. The stalkers took the bullets head on, without flinching. Their bodies quickly healed, the small wounds as they inched closer to the group.
"Are you sure this is the right spot?"
"Yes!"
The group was panicking, the loud noises, the yelling, the impending danger. Nothing was working to their advantage, all it did was deter the poor kid from finding the missing pieces of the puzzle.
"FOCUS! NOTHING ELSE MATTERS."
If not for the fear of the creatures in the darkness she would've been stunned by the sudden burst of clarity brought on by the older man.
"SUN!"
"I KNOW, GIVE ME YOUR KNIFE."
She placed her back against the tree as she noticed movement not far behind her. Clenching her fist, she prepared herself for the inevitable.
'DAMNIT SUN, HURRY UP. OR WE'RE ALL GONNA DIE!'
In that moment the ground began to shake, as the entrance began to open. As the group rushed in, the woman narrowly dodged an attack. She fell to the ground, a sharp pain emerged from her side. As she looked down, she could see blood dripping from a hole in her shirt. Her breathing became painful, as the pain traveled deep into her body.
She closed her eyes, accepting her fate. Then her body was hit by an invisible wave of energy. Opening her eyes, the glow was brighter and more stable than before.
"Now that's more like it. It ain't much but it'll do."
As the creature swung at her, preparing to finish her off. A dark red bladed katana appeared in her right hand. She swung it at the claws of the creature slicing them off, there wasn't a single bit of resistance as the blade continued forward severing its head completely.