It was almost completely pitch black.
Nyx struggled to even see his own hand out in front of him, relying on tracing himself against the walls to navigate forward.
Nyx remained near the tail-end of the group, the only person behind him being Seren. to guard their backs. Immediately in front of Nyx was Silas, following Acher and Rei leading the group through the town. They moved slowly, slightly crouched to the ground in a desperate attempt to not make a sound.
Going through the desolate streets made Nyx's heart pound. Truth be told, he was terrified. The dead of night also began to bring about the cold wind, tormenting them with every step they took.
For Nyx, however, most of his body remained oddly warm. The only part of his body feeling the cold was his abraded arm, still with the wounds caused earlier by the wolf, though no longer actively leaking blood.
He tried his best to shield it while they walked, but it was to no avail. The cold winds made every bit of his arm suffer the dire consequences without fail.
Despite this, most of his focus remained off from his own injuries. Even with the oppressive darkness hanging over their heads and obstructing their view, the canyon wall before them still appeared clear as day — like a giant towering over their heads.
The closer they got, the more Nyx felt a knot grow in his stomach.
Continuing down the road, however, the group came to a sudden halt.
"What is it?" Nyx whispered, still struggling to see towards the front through the dim lighting, "Why'd we stop?"
Just in front of him, Nyx could subtly make out Rei's silhouette, slightly patting her hands against a wall to their front. "It's a dead end." She whispered in return.
Only as she spoke could Nyx finally tell. The wall in front of them wasn't just a small house blocking their path, but rather an entire slab of rock, preventing their ascent further towards the canyon wall. "What do we do now?" He murmured, "Try and backtrack?"
Seren shook his head. "It's too risky. Terrors already become more active at night. We should just pick the quietest house we can find and lay low for a while."
"That'd be best," Rei agreed, just before stretching her arm out and pointing down a slim alley to the south. "Let's look down here."
She was quick to rush off down the path, Seren letting out a slight sigh before following in pursuit.
It didn't take much walking until the group stopped once more.
Rei lowered herself, crouching on the ground just beside a tattered wooden door to their left. Parts of rusted metal coated the front, as if once to reinforce the door from the outside.
Pointless now, however, as a gaping hole stuck itself through one of the front panels of wood.
"Are we going in?" Acher asked, hand beginning to partially clench the pole of his glaive.
She nodded. Ever so gently, she pressed her palm against the wooden door, all before giving a slow, hefty shove, moving in as the door squeaked to life.
After only a few passing glances into the room, she returned with a subtle nod. "It's clear."
Nyx watched in amused silence as Acher untensed his hand, letting go a deep breath before snaking his way inside.
The building appeared to be something akin to a storeroom. Consisting of only one room, it was notably split into aisles with rows of shelves stretching like the pews in a church. As the group trekked their way further and further in, the dust on the floor began to kick up and fade into supposed nothingness.
Each of them began to spread out, silently inspecting the contents of the room, grabbing and taking anything potentially useful.
Nyx, walking directly up towards one of the shelves, was quick to note a supply of loose ore and numerous tools thrown into a crate.
In fact, the entire place seemed to consist of more of the same. He knew Neodera was mostly a settlement that got its rise off of trade, so the scattering of what once was likely merchandise didn't seem so odd to him.
The entire room seemed to remind him of that desolate house they stayed the night in prior. The only difference is where the last was dark and decrepit, this was near pitch black and depressing.
"Guys, over here," Nyx could hear Silas murmur out a bit further in the building.
Walking down the center aisle, he managed to spot him just to the left, inspecting a series of rolled cloth bags on the bottom shelf.
"What is it?" Acher murmured, turning and coming to a halt just to Silas' side. By now, the entire group was present, waiting for the news.
"These bags... I think they're sleeping bags! We at least won't have to sleep on the floor tonight."
Seren stood just behind Nyx, a rather dull expression lingering on his face. "How many are there?"
"More than enough."
Seren sighed. "At least it's good news for once. Even still, we're still missing some things we need..."
He didn't even have to finish his sentence without everyone knowing exactly what he was talking about. Food.
This entire day of walking, combined with the initial assault on Neodera that took place, made two entire days of having nothing to eat or drink.
Paired with how much energy and stamina the last two days have required of them, by now, everyone in the group was practically frothing for something to consume. And unfortunately for them, it was clear as day this wasn't a storehouse for food, but rather a warehouse of useless commodities.
The group passed a few glances at each other. All of them, simultaneously, knew what must be done.
Someone needed to go out and scavenge whatever they could in the city, and none of them felt like volunteering.
'This is going to be a long night...' Nyx thought to himself.