After deciding to venture into the tomb, Edol turned to Willow.
"Alright, you can come with us. Keep an eye out for anything related to Danu or the summoning spell. Also, what is your legacy? It could be helpful in here."
Collecting herself, Willow proclaimed that she had a life-element legacy and had also been trained in combat.
"My legacy is pretty good, I can grow a wood spear with it! I don't even need to carry around a weapon!"
Ghost face-palmed internally. Sure, growing a weapon was great for decreasing travel weight and always having something to defend yourself with on hand, but having to waste nearly all of your energy to procure said weapon definitely wasn't worth it. Heck, what if she'd already spent her mana growing potatoes? Her spear might be more of a sharp stick instead.
After listing his theories on what this tomb could be themed around, Ghost hopped over to Willow's shoulder.
"The only chance we have of being separated is if one of the themes of this tomb is isolation. Even then, if we're separated, we shouldn't have too much trouble finding each other. Starvation shouldn't be an issue, and you should be able to take on a sneak attack."
Ghost completely failed to mention his other theories of what fears the legacy holder might've held in their lifetimes- namely the potential fear of the dark, and the forest. He even looked forward to the potential of Edol pissing his pants in fear of whatever lurked in the forest.
"I'll stick with Willow as we enter, just in case we get split up. I haven't tried fighting in this form yet, but I'll surely dominate any enemies!"
Finally, after ending their discussion, Willow and Edol began walking into the dark forest. Ghost sat atop the girl's right shoulder, eyes scanning for any danger. Edol had armed himself with twin earthen daggers and had convinced Willow to create her wooden spear.
The duo still had doubts as to whether she could actually use it properly, given her previous shows of "intelligence", but being armed was better than nothing.
As the party walked through the woods, the ground seemed to slope downwards, and soon their steps pushed away a light fog that'd gathered near the forest's floor.
"Hey Ghost, are we even going the right way?"
The massive bird shrugged, then claimed that it didn't matter which way they walked.
"Huh?! Are you saying that we're just wandering around aimlessly?"
Edol shook his head, regretting not just leaving the tomb earlier.
'This idiot bird probably isn't even paying attention to what way we've come from! "Don't worry about the directions, I'll keep track of our escape route" my ass! We're probably lost already!
Edol turned his head, about to question Ghost for his terrible exploration plan.
"Gho- huh? Willow, Ghost, where did you go?"
Emptiness. The spot where Willow had been walking a moment before was now empty, leaving Edol alone in the now knee-high fog.
"Oi, not funny! Stop trying to scare me and come out!"
Edol peered around a tree to his left, seeing only some empty moss and dead leaves.
'M- maybe they headed back? Ghost did say he only wanted us to check inside for hints before backing out…'
A loud screeching noise echoed through the forest, causing the young brit to jump.
'Shit, I should head back! Surely Willow will be thinking the same thing right now!'
Edol turned around to face the direction he'd come in. The boy hadn't been paying super close attention to the trees they passed since Ghost had claimed to be a great navigator, but he had noticed the sloping ground.
'Easy, I'll just walk uphill!'
Edol stepped forward slowly, his eyes now darting back and forth through the woods twice as fast as they had been before. After a minute of slowly pacing back through the woods, Edol realized something was wrong. The fog around his knees was now reaching all the way up to his waist.
'Shit, I've been walking downhill this whole time? I was sure this was the right way…'
Edol's heart was now pounding as the darkness around him seemed to loom closer.
'G- Ghost said the themes of this tomb earlier… Isolation! Whoever's tomb this is must've been afraid of being lost, alone in the woods. I don't need to be afraid!'
A new question broke into Edol's mind with this revelation, and Edol's rapidly beating heart failed to slow.
'T-then what am I supposed to do? Should I just wait here until Ghost finds me? Do I shout so he can hear me?'
Edol paused, his head still rapidly swiveling as he watched the darkness warily.
'Maybe I'll make some bird noises! Hopefully that won't attract whatever else is in this woods!'
"Screeaaawk! Gobble gobble gobble! Screeeeaaaaawwwwwk!"
Edol's awful attempts at bird calls echoed through the forest, reaching a terrified Willow, Ghost still sitting on her shoulder.
"Ahh! Nibbles, there's a scary monster out there! I- I'll protect you from it!"
Ghost was already beginning to regret his decision to bring Willow with in the tomb. Without her, he likely wouldn't have been split up with Edol. Furthermore…
"I- it's ok! There are no ghosts. There are no ghosts. Ghosts don't exist, this is just a normal forest!"
The blabbermouth had somehow failed to mention that she was afraid of ghosts before entering a tomb. Just as the giant bird was regretting his previous actions, his eyes caught a bit of movement within the forest behind Willow.
'Damn, looks like this tomb got the full roulette of possible fears. Probably isn't Danu's tomb, but whoever's this is must've had a powerful legacy. That or there are multiple people buried here.'
Whatever was moving through the woods was closing in, and Ghost pecked at Willow's cheek to draw her attention.
"Ah!! Nibbles! Why did you scare me?!"
'This idiot-'
A man came lunging out from behind a tree, his longsword closing the distance to Willow's neck in an instant.