The moonlight continued to illuminate the room and revealed the faces of the two boys who were there, Arthur stared at the entrance while squinting and Chris lowered his head looking again at the letter in his hands.
"What we saw here... doesn't appear to have been the work of an animal or a human."
"Well, maybe we found a hint about that."
The blonde found the phrase strange, but soon the swordsman raised his hand, showing that he was holding a piece of paper, but unlike before, there were no letters, but a drawing.
Christopher approached curiously and saw the same lines of a completely black drawing forming as if it were a doodle the image of a creature, the drawing showed a round head and a larger torso with a large opening in its torso with pointed corners, with arms thin, being a mere child's drawing all painted in black.
It didn't seem to be drawn but scribbled, his whole body was completely black and scratched, there were only a few lines coming out of his arms and torso, which bent in a strange way giving a feeling of strangeness to both of them.
"What are those black lines?"
"I don't know, but there are these marks that this thing leaves on the wood and if it touches us, it might cause us problems, if there were other attacks before those by the girl's letter, there must be no more residents in these houses, there is only one place that can still be something."
Christopher looked at Arthur who was returning the paper to the desk, the blonde thought and then raised his head.
"The big house."
Arthur listened and nodded and leaned against the wall as he said.
"In addition to the hidden gate in her backyard, there were many footprints at the site, maybe what we are looking for is there, this drawing seems to be a human, but at the same time it does not seem… what are we dealing with anyway?"
"The big house must be locked, right?"
"Probably, but we have to go somewhere, after all we have all night. If we sleep here, whatever got Kaila could come get us too, so we better go deal with what we have to deal with still prepared..."
The swordsman stood and sheathed his sword, again looking up at the ceiling as he saw the dark brown marks left in the wood.
"His breaking in from the rooftops explains how all the houses are locked and I doubt we would find anything interesting in this village for us, but it doesn't seem to have been abandoned for a long time, they could be being hidden by whatever abducted them or hiding."
"Also if whatever took them wanted to kill, it would have already done so and we'd be seeing the blood, so we might have some hope. But from the letter if the creature has kidnapped the villagers, we can deduce that it must have come and gone several times in a short period of time... but why didn't they run away? Was it the threat of a monster… are all monsters like this?"
Christopher questioned, but soon Arthur was back to walking around the room looking for new clues while he spoke.
"No… Oli never told me much about monsters, but some adventurers go out hunting alone, that was my dream and that's why I learned a little about them, apparently they are instinctual and not intelligent… I know something, but I don't know everything, it seems confusing, while it seems to be, it doesn't seem to be either."
"The lack of information… even the lack of initials on the door… it looks like we're missing something important, from what you told me the fence that should serve against animals and monsters is still marked, but intact, so with what are we dealing with? Should a monster be capable of all that?"
Christopher sat on the bed while he looked at the other cards, but then he leaned his body forward looking confused as he joined his fingers while Arthur went to a window, pushing aside the curtain to observe the mansion.
There were no signs of anything different even though the night had already arrived, so he closed it again while squeezing his fist looking thoughtful.
"It's already night and dangerous monsters may be on the move, I was careless to think we could sleep here peacefully, but the night has just begun and we have time."
"Time? For what?"
"Even if she is lying, she sent us to a place where there might be people who need our help, if we find them we can help..."
Upon hearing the phrase, the blonde smiled, but soon Arthur continued.
- But if it's too dangerous, let's get out of here, we can't be late and our objective is another. We want to help, but a map is not as valuable as our lives... Remember, we're meeting with Oli to find who attacked our village.
Chris listened and was reluctant, but he looked down still looking at his burned part while he seemed to have memories of the previous day, even if he wanted to say something, he just nodded and answered.
"Okay, but if it's possible, I want to at least bring this family to safety..."
"I understand... and I also want to help if possible, but if we're going to do this, we better hurry."
Arthur spoke sounding rushed and then headed to the kitchen being followed by Chris.
The two left the house and could see that the environment was much darker, the few minutes they had spent in the house had made a big difference and all they could see was only thanks to the full moon in the sky that illuminated some paths.
Walking towards the mansion, the two continued to witness that silence that the darkness made even more bizarre and as they approached, both felt an unpleasant sensation in their chest, but continued to walk, passing by all the houses.
Close to the mansion, a cloud covered the moon, leaving the village a little darker as they approached the entrance.
When they arrived, Christopher could finally see the ground around the house with the soil similar to sand or mud, it didn't look like land anymore and he realized that the surroundings didn't have grass anymore, it just looked like a dead city.
Seeing the big house up close, it was possible to see that the ceiling seemed higher as if there was a second floor, as well as its sides were gigantic, it looked like a mansion contrasting with the environment despite all the accumulated dirt.
The main door was made of wood and the two went to it, seeing that it was a gigantic door with the color of black wood, in addition to its handles looking like gold, they realized little by little how much that wealth contrasted with the place.
There was no way but to try to open it so they could get in, Arthur took his hand to the doorknob and turned it, realizing that it went with a certain ease and made him look at Chris with surprise on his face.
"What happened? Is it locked?"
Chris stared doubtfully and then he saw Arthur turn the knob all the way, opening the door a crack, making it clear that it was open as light streamed in through the gap.
Both looked at each other doubtfully, but Arthur tried to peek through the crack while Chris crouched down so he could see even from below.
All that entered through the gap was a little light, enough for them to see what appeared to be a large hall in front of them, as well as the village was completely empty and silent, as if no one was there.
The two walked away from the door and exchanged glances as if they had already decided what to do, they positioned themselves and pushed the door that, as the light entered, revealed the way for them to see the interior of the mansion.
Both saw a large hall that led to a short staircase, the path was covered by a red carpet that gave the impression of an inviting place, white and tall pillars that also reflected in a ceramic floor, which, unlike the rest of the environment, also looked a little dirtier, with a fine layer of dust on top of it.
It was as if the place emanated a strange aura, the two entered and realized that the greenish glass windows let the light in, illuminating the place and making them notice some other doors that seemed to lead to other rooms in the house.
But just as the environment differed from the other houses, when they spent a few moments inside the mansion, both felt the same unpleasant smell of garbage that they had smelled since they entered the village, but stronger and more concentrated.
At that moment they knew that the source of that smell was probably the house and along with that, the feeling that the two were no longer alone.