Looking down now, the fog was only about a foot and a half above the ground and slowly sinking. Lazily, Tristan climbed down by the ladder along the tower. There in the village the proof would be if it was a dream or not.
Checking the sky, he still had time. He could do a quick search. So he ran, down the roof and the slope to the village, walking through the knee high dark fog, but it was lighter now, slowly fading. He could see the ground beneath, if barely.
Tristan entered his village, so similar yet so different. How many days had it been since he last walked these lanes? It was like looking at the dead and dried version of it. The houses, the market stalls in the square, the tavern, and the shops all looked like an old memory. Everything silent and still, except for the mist that covered the ground.
Tristan's eyes searched and found it. There it was. The gap. Abor's house. It had been standing the day before- could see from the tower- but nothing remained now. The only surviving pillar of stone was smeared in dark slime. He did not get close. There were other signs. A bit farther away… rubbles and ruins grounded to dust and pebbles.
Tristan went farther, looking at more signs, everything looked like a violent storm had hit it. Did it all happen last night when he was hiding in his little tower? Was the girl no older than him here and facing it alone? It couldn't be, he-
There was a sound. Of hoofs on stones, somewhat familiar but one he hadn't expected to hear at all out here. But there was something different about it. It was heavier, more legs than four coming toward him.
Tristan ran and hid bind a broken wall.
Clip clop~
It came. Slow and heavy. He could feel the weight of it on his back. Whatever it was, it was just behind the wall and Tristan felt its heavy breathing as though it was right above his shoulders.
Something snorted, a sound like that of a horse.
"I know." A harsh voice answered from behind the wall, rasping but feminine.
"Come. Out." She called, slowly but loudly as to force out each of her words. "I know you are there."
Tristan didn't move, instead pushed himself harder by his back like trying to melt into the wall.
"...I am looking for a girl with green hair." After a pause the voice called out again and this time Tristan's ears perked up at the girl mentioned.
"…Olean?" He asked hesitatntly from behind the wall and slowly rose.
The voice was of a hooded figure atop a tall, sixed legged horned beast, with head of a horse and a whip for a tail.
"Is she here?" The dark figure asked, her head turned toward Tristan and no shock at his sudden appearance.
He looked up at her, a black cloak and a hood covered her entirely and only shadow peered at him from under the cowl. The beast lifted its horned head as soon as Tristan came out as if to warn him not to get too close. He was not going to anyway.
"N-no. I mean... she was but…" What if she had returned to the temple later when he was not looking? He didn't think so but.... he was not certain either.
"But…?" She asked impatient at his pause, almost in a demand.
"But-but I think she left last night, that way." He hurredly pointed toward where he thought she had gone. Toward the forest and the Source, where the monster lived, at the base of the mountain-peak.
The rider's head turned, following his finger silently. Tristan studied the two again, the beast at first, whose large liquid black eyes were still on him. Like something out of a storybook, its entire body was a carved obsidian that glinted with light on its sharp edges with veins of shining silver etched onto it, looking more like a statue than an animal.
Just by looking at it, Tristan could tell it would be very uncomfortable riding the beast with its sharp back that showed from under its harness. As if responding to his thought the beast's skin twitched in a mesmerizing ripple that passed through its entire body and Tristan almost completely lost his train of thoughts.
It had tall shoulders that extended into two pairs of strong looking legs, muscular at the top and progressively narrow to the bones at the hooves. About five feet long and riddled with braided fibrous muscles that looked like it was carved into shiny black stone. Its hind limbs bit shorter, almost by a foot but three times thicker than the forelimbs. He couldn't tell if it was a male or a female or That the general rule would apply to the creature.
Its neck, long and defined with dark muscles held a head that was bony but beautiful, with the raw strength of a horse and the soft elegance of a stag. It looked like an obsidian skull, devoid of any skin and muscles, just a smooth black marble skull with its every contour artistically polished into a blemish-less magnificent sculpture.
On its crown were two ears, pointing backwards with somewhat fluffy tuft of long fur that looked like it was made of a black metal wire so thin that it seemed to float in the wind. In between the two large inky scrutinizing eyes, was a horn, like a piece of a foot long chunk of obsidian with a sharp tip jutting from the flat base of its forehead. A smaller horn of the same kind could also be seen above its nose, a tiny chunk of the same material.
On its back were packs of leather and wooden boxes neatly tied that even without looking up close he could tell were heavy. Shifting them slightly, the woman dismounted, slowly and pushed back her hood. She had wispy pale hair on her withered dusky face. Scars; small, big and wrinkles laced her face like marks on a long abused stone. The neck beneath her head looked wiry and thin, and exposed even more crisscrossed pale marks and a thin frame below it.
She was taller than him by half a head, ramrod straight and harsh looking. Her brows were in a frown that somehow he knew she wore all the time. Her grey eyes hid beneath the hooded shadow of her brows and felt as if they stared directly at his soul.
"What is your name?" She asked, casually. The harshness of her face surprisingly not touching her tone.
"Tristan, ma'am." He answered almost by instinct and the woman gave him a nod.
"I am Ava Anlauf of Sharak. A liaison of the Blue Pearl." She extended her hand and with hesitation he shook, not sure what to do next. She casually shook it then released. "Olean is my… pupil. Tell me what you know."
"She had come last evening-" He started but was interrupted by Ava right away.
"Evening you say? Are you sure?"
"Yes, she came right before sunset. The bell had started and folks were… heading inside."
"Folks? Inside?" She asked looking around her at the broken hovels and houses.
"The temple ma'am. We live there. The... Survivors, there are about thirty of us." He pointed to the dark silhouette of the structure above the cliff. He could see she had questions but didn't ask and instead signaled him to move on with his tale. Before he began again, he saw Ava's firm eyes follow his finger to the temple and a slow breath escaped her mouth.
"She stayed till night and then… and then left to fight the monster." He thought about it, but didn't have anything more to add. Ava didn't look satisfied as she stared at him and her frown deepened. Tristan was about to speak but was interrupted once again.
"And ...did you see that she left at night to fight?" He felt no accusation in her voice, just curiosity.
"I keep watch from the tower. I saw. I…" 'Could have stopped her', his head prompted but he purely doubted it was true, that he could have indeed done anything to stop her.
"You said you live in the temple?"
Tristan nodded.
"Did ...someone charm it?" He wondered if she was talking about the barrier by his master but decided to keep it with him, and lied.
"I don't know ma'am, but the monster doesn't go there."
"And how did you know it was safe?"
"We didn't, we just thought it had strong stone walls..." Tristan answered automatically. Thinking too much would make her doubt him. "The rest of the village was weak, as you see." His gaze shifted from the wall he was hiding behind before to the sole pillar of Abor's house.
Ava stared at the destroyed shelters surrounding them, their stone base but wooden walls evident. Few richer ones like Abor and the Elder did have stone walls in their homes but they were not strong like the temple's was and were as easily torn down as the wooden ones were.
Ava narrowed her eyes at him but didn't say anything.
Did she think he was lying? Did she know?
Then she turned and took another glance around them, the fog had sunk to their ankle now, just a thin layer above the ground, a few more minutes and it would be completely gone. Since she was here now, he had to wonder where She had spent her night, if the monster was with Olean then it was likely not with Ava. Was that how she could be here now with him?
She then turned to direction where Olean had gone, or where he said she had left toward.
"You have my thanks …Tristan." Ava said and attempted to smile at him. A crooked half smile that thanks to her scars was nothing but disturbance on her face.
"W-what will you do now?" He asked softly, curious at what this stranger planned to do. He didnt think she would hear or reply but surprisingly she did.
"I need to go look for her of course, before I can see to you and your people." Seeing Tristan's clear confusion she added, "I am a healer. And I fear you have been in this corruption for far too long and are affected by 'It'."
Tristan's eyes widened in alarm and felt as if his heart was about to stop. He frantically stared around him, looking for a way to run but somehow managed to hold himself. "How-how did you…?" he asked in hitched voice and Ava raised an eyebrow at him in mild surprise.
"I am familiar. With the monster, with its effect and with ...this." She gently kicked the fog under her feet, lifting a faint wisp of it along with some dust in the air. "You are lucky to have found the temple, one protected with such a strong charm." She then stepped toward him and leaned forward, her face just inches away from him. There was a sudden glint in her dull grey eyes, hunger that he couldn't help but gulp at. "And to get away with the deeper sickness thus far too… I came here expecting no survivors when first I saw the signs."
She straightened and sighed, "Shouldn't have sent her alone." Ava then turned and started to mount the black beast.
"WAIT!" Tristan called out and she looked at him, her one eyebrow raised, "I can take you."
Ava smiled and shook her head. "Just follow the destruction, it wouldn't be too difficult. Thank you, but you should return."
"I know a shortcut, it will be quicker and-and I want to help. She saved my life."
Ava regarded him silently and Tristan almost crumbled under her gaze.
Could she see his deception? He hoped not.
"It wasn't just for you. It is her job. Our job. You owe us nothing, we are already being paid."
By Whom? He wanted to ask but didn't. Something else was taking over his mind instead. If he helped her, was allowed to help her, he would be taking her to the source and wouldn't be breaking his 'promise' while doing so. He needed to go, he was just so empty and now that the chance was this close... he just could not let it go. But that was not all.
Surprising even himself, Tristan felt curious about Olean. After what Laanimere had said about why the strange girl was there, he wanted to know if Olean could do it, he wanted to know what had happened to her.
"She saved me when she didn't have to, if it wasn't for her I would be dead last night… I will just take you there, I know the place, and it will be quick." This time he didn't lie, he had been a hunter in training with his father and knew the forest rather well. Only his father was better than him. But he did know the quickest way to go there.
"And then?" She said with a cold expression and if she was angry he couldn't tell. "What will you do once you take me there?"
"I… will return…"
"…Okay," She said after some quiet thinking. "Lead the way then." And took two steps back as if to make way for him.
"What?"
"Come on. We are getting late, I need to find her as soon as I can."
"Uh, umm… Okay. Please, follow me." Tristan managed and walked past her in hurried steps toward the forest. He turned to make sure Ava was after him and she, after a moment of contemplating and taking the reins of her mount in one hand, started following.