This time, darkness stared back.
A sudden chill raised the fine hair over Thanh Van's arms. His eyes widened only by a fraction, heart thumping painfully in his chest, clawing at his ribcage.
This… feeling…
Thanh Van's mouth went dry, cold sweat breaking all over and - his gaze fell on his hands. They were trembling wildly.
W-what was this feeling?
Clang… Clang… Clang…
The sound grew louder, ominous, and whatever the source of this sound was, it made Thanh Van's tremors worse by the second. His lungs constricted painfully, suffocating him from within.
He had never felt this way.
Not in any of the previous scenarios.
Not when the NPC tried to murder him in his sleep-
Clang… Clang… Clang…
"What is that sound?" Thanh Van noticed too late that his teeth had ground together, his tone laced with irritation.
Sergeant Kruger shot him a surprised look, but Thanh Van ignored it, his own gaze locked on the cowering NPC. He didn't have time to care about the frail beauty act. Not now, when something lurked in the shadows. Something sinister that made even the creator's skin crawl.
"T-they are coming!" Father Pierre wailed miserably, stumbling on his feet as he tried to get away from the clearing.
Kim Jihun reached out to keep the man from slipping and falling over the slick stones, but the priest slipped his hold like a worm. The NPC's almost comically wide eyes darted all over the looming darkness as if at any moment now, he would be swallowed whole by whatever lurked out of sight.
The rest of the players were no better. Their quivering gazes struggled to pinpoint the source of these sounds that seemed to surround them in an iron fist, suffocating. No one dared make a noise.
Sergeant Kruger's eyes lingered over Thanh Van for a second longer before the piercing blue orbs settled over the NPC. "Who? Who is coming?"
But father Pierre was too out of his mind from fear now to listen to Kruger's commanding voice. His gaze was busy looking for a chance to escape. "T-they won't let us live! No, no, NO!"
Like a cornered rat, father Pierre was fast on his heels, ready to scram, but Kruger was faster. Despite the man's mountainous stature, he was agile like a panther, two steps and he was already by father Pierre's side, fingers curled around the man's robe, shaking him like a filthy rag.
"Who is coming? Answer me, now!"
But instead of answering, father Pierre grew white like a blank paper. Long bony fingers scratched at Kruger's hands, leaving angry red lines in their wake as he tried to claw his way to freedom. He looked pitiful, like a soaked rat trying to free itself from under the cat's paw.
Clang… Clang…
Father Pierre winced at the sound, trembling like a leaf in the wind. His dry and cracked lips parted in a whisper. "I-It's them… The plague doctors."
Clang. Clang. Clang!
As quickly as the sound had rung out, silence fell.
From all corners, silhouettes emerged, still as statues cloaked in darkness.
The players had long forgotten their own filthy attire, realisation dawning over them. They were walled in at all corners - all but one.
Straight across from the kneeling angel fountain, a tight path extended into the unknown. Their only path unblocked by a looming shadow.
But out of the silhouettes that watched over them from all corners, only one caught Thanh Van's attention. This one stood cloaked in darkness, partly hidden behind the crouching fountain.
Seeing Kruger's attention diverting from himself, father Pierre wrung himself out of Kruger's hold. Sergeant Kruger snapped his head back just in time, hand reaching out to catch the NPC, when the system suddenly reared to life, cutting the suffocating silence like a knife.
[Task: survive the scenario for 3 days. 2 days remaining.]
[Players, you have until midnight to leave the island. Once midnight hits, the plague doctors will place you under quarantine. Midnight in one hour.]
Silence fell once more, and to Kruger's dismay, father Pierre had disappeared into the darkness.
But Kim Jihun no longer cared about the NPC, eyes wide as he hurried to take hold of the limping Christof Kunze. "The ship! Get to the ship, now!"
Time seemed to slow.
Thanh Van stood still as the players slowly woke to the situation. Hai Le was the first to run. Like a ripple effect, the rest of the players sprang to life, running heedlessly towards the only way towards the port. Like a herd of agitated sheep, they stumbled, slipped and slid towards freedom.
Kim Jihun was still helping Christof when he looked at Kruger. "Captain! Help me out here!"
Kruger seemed to hesitate for a fraction of a second before he turned to Thanh Van. "Run."
Kruger moved to haul the limping Kunze up by the arm and helped Kim carry the player forward.
Despite the chaos and the steps that echoed behind him from the players' frantic escape, Thanh Van stood frozen in place, eyes peering at the humanoid figure clouded in darkness.
His heart clawed at his chest, begging him to flee, run and never look back, but Thanh Van endured the thumping pain.
He wanted to see who it was. Who this NPC was that made the air so unbearable to breathe. Made his skin crawl and tighten so-
"Ruan An, run!" Kruger's shout sounded distant, and Thanh Van no longer remembered the fake name he had given himself.
Thanh Van could only watch in awe as the silhouettes surrounding them moved then - in unison, breaking free from the shackles of darkness.
Capes of midnight fluttered silently as tall, humanoid figures advanced, frightfully fast and silent. They hounded after the players, all ignoring Thanh Van and the three struggling figures by the fountain.
But it was not them that made Thanh Van's breath stifle in his throat.
No.
The figure emerging from the shadows before Thanh Van walked leisurely, without an ounce of hurry compared to its fellow plague doctors.