>>5402398You turn to look at the Blackwings you brought with you. With the exception of Uriel, who looks unbothered by the gloom, and Roxanne, who is humming a tune, all of them appear to be some degree of nervous. Some, like Damian, who has his arms crossed and is tapping his foot, hide it better than others. Diana, on the other hand, is currently cowering behind Sebastian’s bulky form. You figure it best to say something to try and improve morale.
>“Get it together, soldiers! We’re the Blackwings! It’s going to take a lot more than some made-up ghost stories to make us turn away! Those Crusaders are likely cowering away inside, shaking in fear of fairy tales and their own shadow. Let’s show them it’s us they should be afraid of!”A few unexcited murmurs and shouts of agreement, but you didn’t expect much more. That type of talk gets the regular infantry excited, but your captains have heard it all before. In any event, it seems to have done the job of stirring them out of their own imagination.
>“We’re ready. Lead the way.” You tell Elias.Your party enters the Edmund Woods. A few steps in, you begin to think everything you’d heard about this place was an exaggeration. It looks like just about any other non-haunted forest you’d been in, and you can see clearly enough. However, others in your party seem to be inclined to disagree.
“Do you hear that?” Boleslav asks you.
“I don’t hear anything except us walking and your damn mouth flapping.” Nero says.
>“Exactly.” The veteran hunter replies. “There’s nothing else. No birds, no animals. Everything is completely still except for us.”Silence follows, with Damian speaking next. “Surely there’s a logical explanation for that. Right? Do the animals just not come out this time of day?”
“This place is evil.” Yara cuts in.
“That’s not a logical explanation, woman!” Damian shouts at her.
“I’ve felt an absolute lack of the Goddess’ presence since stepping into these woods.” Elizabeth says.
“As have I.” Uriel says. “I’m having a hard time imagine who would live here.”
>You give Corrine a nervous look. Morale is breaking faster than you’d expected. “Well, I don’t think it’s that bad. I mean, it’s not as foggy as we thought!”That sentiment lasts only a few minutes longer. As the party continues to follow Elias’ lead, a cold, deep fog slowly sets in. The fog grows thicker and thicker, to the point you can barely make out the visage of the person next to you. In this case, it’s Diana, who suddenly bursts into tears.
“I want to go home!”
“Torches!” Corrine shouts. Everyone produces their own torch that they’d brought, only to discover that upon setting them alight…nothing happens.
