The entire group stood just before the borderline where the ground turned murky black.
Lucius sighed.
"It looks like the assumption has stuck. This entire village has been corrupted around the edges by a Revenant. At this rate, we might just be stuck permanently unless we can find a way to eliminate the Revenant that has corrupted the land and claimed it as it's own domain.
The 3 boys murmured to themselves.
The twins merely skipped around playfully.
It seemed that none really cared for this discovery.
Grit snorted out loud.
"And? All we have to do is cross it. We can already see the end of the corruption. It's not even a mile out."
The boys nodded.
Lucius sighed.
"Did you not hear the God? If we go on the revenant's land we'll be assaulted instantly through some sort of teleportation. We might've already gotten its attention if we're being realistic just by moving around so much."
Grit rolled his shoulders back doing some basic arm stretches.
"Please. This alien soil hasn't got anything to scare us for. You go sit here like a pretty boy, I'll be doing the real work."
Grit's steps became slower and slower as he reached the edge of the uncorrupted land.
Julius coughed abruptly.
"Cold feet?"
Grit glared at him darkly.
"Just making sure you all see this firsthand."
Dian raised his eyebrows in anticipation whilst Alexander made dandelion chains secretly keeping an eye out on Grit.
Julius felt a lightbulb apparate above himself.
He thought to himself solemnly.
'These guys... they're using him as bait.'
Julius assumed that Lucius would've stopped Grit by now but Lucius merely kept his eyes conscious of his surroundings in case something dangerous were to occur. His blade was nowhere to be seen.
The twins were once again in a world of their own.
Grit breathed out lightly.
"No challenge here."
He let out a wry grin.
He flattened his spiky grey hair under the sunlight.
Lucius' voice went flat.
"Sure is taking a while."
Grit irritated instinctively stepped out. His emotions clouded his rationality.
"Nothing."
He looked all around him. Not a single thing had changed. The soil beneath him felt soggy and mushy but that was it.
His arms were stiff and stuck to his sides.
He took a dozen more steps in caution before realizing there was no danger. His frown vanished.
"Hah. You guys are all cowards. Grow some balls."
He moved his arms from his sides and waved them around.
He turned around to meet eyes with those he had proved wrong.
"So? This enough to make you believe me?"
Alexander's hand shakily rose.
"G-grit."
Grit's back felt sickeningly cold.
Grit turned back swiftly, his instincts screaming and raging.
As his body swerved clunkily due to all his muscle mass, he saw a figure that even his nightmares would stray from.
It was a head taller than him, with a mouth stitched together with black thread. It had devilish black plates covering each part of it, acting as armor.
Its head possessed two mesmerizing purplish eyes and a strange helmet that had broken wings attached at the back.
Not a single part of Grit was out of its shadow. It carried a blade with two hands and before Grit could lift a finger, he felt pain uproar from his chest. It felt like part of his soul had been chopped off.
Chrck.
The Revenant slashed its blade upwards, it scraped Grit deeply with its black-steel blade. Slithers of blood fell out and dripped to the floor.
Grit slowly slumped to the ground, his face going a moldy grey.
A gasp wisped out of Alexander.
The twins went silent.
Dian's mouth gaped open in horror.
The Revenant took its job as finished and slowly began to fade away, it turned its head as it do so and met eyes with Julius for a moment.
Julius felt like his eyes were going to implode within their sockets from only an instance of eye contact.
Julius blinked.
And the Revenant had disappeared into a disastrous pile of fuming black smoke. Its two purple eyes were still visible until they finally shut and the smoke disappeared.
Grit lay on the ground in agony and death.
The distance between Grit and the others felt far further than it was in reality.
Lucius wouldn't allow someone to die on his watch. Foe or friend.
"We have to save him."
Dian stuttered, not knowing what to do.
"If we try to save him, the Revenant will just come back."
Lucius looked back at Dian in frustration.
"Yeah and if we don't save him, he's going to suffer and die."
Dian pulled an arm out in confusion and puzzlement.
Alexander was silent and fearful.
The twins seemed melancholy.
Lucius' face irked in determination.
"I'll just do it myself."
The others watched like sitting ducks as Lucius, without a second of hesitation leaped over to save the one who had done nothing but attempt to dispute him.
He reached Grit and attempted to lift him with a carry but found that Grit was awfully heavy. It was as though he had been filled with rocks.
Julius found his feet wavering over the line between corruption and safety.
Lucius didn't care for his aching arms and dragged Grit through the corrupted land.
It was slow and tedious and Death loomed over Lucius every step of the way.
But after 20 seconds of tension-filled dragging Lucius finally pulled Grit over the line of safety.
His face was red and his hands were sore. His bones were poking through his skin but he had made it.
He laid down in exhaustion. Grit had been abnormally heavy. Had he not put points in Strength then he would've never been able to drag Grit through the corrupted soil.
Dian looked down in enlightenment. He muttered quietly.
"So that's what it takes to get an S rank Talen-."
Bang.
Dian slapped himself hard. His eyes raging.
He muttered vexed words.
"No. He can only do that because he has an S-rank Talent."
Julius kneeled down to inspect Grit.
His entire pallor was that of grey rubber. His eyes flinched constantly and his breathing was off-point.
On his chest was a huge widened slit that had been slathered in a strange purple substance.
It didn't seem like he would last long.
Julius spoke in tarnished whispers.
"Should we end his pain?"
Lucius spoke out instantly.
"Never. There is a way to save him."
Julius furrowed his eyebrows.
"What is it-."
Lucius' eyes widened.
"There just has to be."
Lucius sighed.
"Let's organize everything. We all need to do something lest we all should fall."
Julius piped up.
"I'll find food."
Alexander added in.
"Me and Dian can chuck in some drinks."
Dian grumbled darkly.
In other words, agreeing with Alexander.
The twins stumbled around.
"We'll take care of the big guy."
Lucius nodded.
"I'll follow Julius. We meet here again in 2 hours."
Nods surfaced. The group had received their wake-up call and had adjusted accordingly.
Julius found some aged bread in some stuffy boxes in the back of an abandoned bakery. It was an eldern bakery however as it had no modern apparatus inside.
Lucius met eyes with Julius.
"Hey. I'm going to slay the Revenant."
Julius nodded in confusion.
"Why are you telling me this?"
Lucius laughed suddenly.
"Because I want you to help me of course. I have the means to do so but I don't know if I carry the will. All you have to do is jab it a few times with your spear."
Julius looked up to the ceiling.
"I doubt my spear will even pierce its hard black plates."
Lucius shrugged.
"I just need to get near, if that happens then I'll be able to eliminate it."
Julius felt shallow now.
"And what will you do after it has been killed? How will Grit make it all the way across the planes toward the other side of humanity."
Lucius tousled his long silky ruby-red hair in amusement.
"I honestly do not know. But I feel that as long as there's a will, there's a way."
Lucius took a small bite of the old bread before spitting it out with a light grimace.
"So Julius, reinforce my will. And I'll pave the way."
Silence.
Julius made up his mind swiftly.
"When do you plan to strike?"
Lucius smirked.
"As fast as possible. Tomorrow is probably the longest I can stretch out for before I just charge in as bait by myself."
Julius wheezed in concentration.
"Tomorrow morning it is then."
Lucius' eyes darted across the room.
"It'll only be us. I can't trust the others."
Julius felt like laughing out loud.
"Why? Their trust and admirance to you has only soared after what you just did. They also know that you're strong and dependable."
Lucius left towards the door, leaving some subtle parting words.
"It's because one of them is the Revenant."
"Oh and don't think I've forgotten."
Lucius' voice went cold as his ruby-red eyes pierced through Julius' silent front.
"That it might just be you."
The door swung shut quietly. Leaving Julius alone and struck with new information.
Julius' hands clamped onto his head.
One of them was the revenant. The one that attacked Grit?
Julius' thoughts went haywire but he just couldn't bring himself to a conclusion.
It would seem that he could only wait till tomorrow to be enlightened.
Julius took a bite off an old dusty piece of bread.
He spat it out almost instantly. His teeth felt bitter.
"God that tastes like some soggy cardboard-inspired shit."