"Hey! What are you doing?" Screamed at the top of his lungs someone.
It was so loud that Noah felt like his eardrums were going to explode.
Both of the boys a little surprised, simultaneously looked back and stared at the man.
Glancing at the man infront of him Noah turned around and looked at Kari, understanding what Noah wanted to convey Kari got up from the ground and stood besides.
"Who might you be sir?"
"Who are you calling sir! I'm only twenty."
Hearing this, both of boys eyes widened.
Never in a thousand years would they have imagined that he was in his twenties.
His looks did not shout twenty at all, he gave the feeling of being some in his late forties.
It might have been because of the wierd spots on his face, but his whole body seemed weak and was filled with wrinkles, especially near his eyes.
In general his skin color was really dark, by dark I mean a really wierd gray color, he almost looked dead.
"Ugh! Stop interrupting me! You can't be around here this is a cursed place!"
"Cursed huh?" Muttered to himself Noah.
"What do you mean by cursed." Questioned Noah to get some answers.
"What else do you think? Everyone who enters that place dies in a matter of hours!"
Shouted the man as his face started to get red.
"Just go back to the hotel, it's about to be night time, it is not safe for people like to be out during the night.
Looking at each other a little perplexed, the boys just decided to go back, they didn't want to look like kids throwing a tantrum.
By the time they got back everyone else was already there.
Just by how they were looking at Noah and Kari entering, both of them knew something bad was about to happen.
"Mh fellow companions, since both of you arrived late you will be sleeping in the rooms at the top floor."
Said Shived, grinning like a mad man and his intention crystal-clear.
Both of them could understand what this guy was trying to do.
If something were to happen during their sleep, the ones at the most disadvantage will probably be the ones at the top.
But they couldn't do anything, they were already at his bad side, if there were to add more fuel into the fire it would only result in an unnecessary fight.
Without any option left they just silently accepted the proposal.
"Great!"
With a long and an exhausted sigh, Kari said " Come on, let's go."
Understanding how Kari was feeling at this moment Noah just quietly followed him.
After going up the stupidly loud and unstable stairs, both of the looked around the floor.
"Hey Noah. Say if something were to happen what are we going to do? I mean we can't use the stairs hhahah..." said Kari with a pale face as if he was imagining the scene in his head.
"If that were to happen...then we can just jump out of the window!" Said Noah with a cheerfull smile.
"Oh your right!" Responded Kari clapping his hands and smiling just like Noah.
"Hmm since this floor is all ours I think we should just stay in the same room.
Staying alone in a samsara isn't always the best option unless your really strong." continued speaking Kari.
Listening to Kari's explanation Noah just silently agreed, nodding his head.
"Hey Noah..." said Kari quitly, it was the first time he heard him speak in such a low voice.
"What?" Asked Noah cautiously.
"From my experience I don't think we should eat any food offered by the villagers.
Even if you aren't as experienced as me you will notice that a place that can't even provide for itself, how is it able to give us something?
But this is something I'm just telling to be a little more cautious." Said Kari touching his forehead.
"Your right...I didn't think of that." Said Noah in a low voice, making it look like he was thinking about something carefully.
"Oh! I didn't say something like this to put pressure on you! If it makes you feel better I also didn't notice stuff like this and ended up getting poisoned.
I got a really good beating from my parents because of that hahaha...I still remember it like it was yesterday..." said Kari bitting his lips which made him look like a monkey.
"Must have been though..." said Noah not knowing how to respond.
"Let's just go to sleep, to much thinking can also cause trouble." Said Noah putting his hand on Kari's shoulder.
No on said anything, both of them entered the closest room.
The room wasn't anything special, there was a bed near the door, it was small but enough for two people to sleep on.
Near the bed was a ridiculously big window.
And at the opposite side of the bed was a door that led to the bathroom.
It was a nice room but it was dark and gloomy, especially the colors, it gave off an ominous feeling.
Without worrying to much they got on the bed to get their beauty sleep.
...
Knock...Knock...Knock
During the suddenly a low sound of knowing started, at first it was low but gradually started getting louder.
It wasn't loud enough to wake someone up but since Noah was light sleeper he gradually woke up.
It wasn't hard to guess what was happening, Noah was already starting to feel goosebumps and a cold sweat, he didn't want to open his eyes, he tried his best but curiosity got the better of him and in the end he opened them.
As he slowly opened his eyes to see what was happening the first thing he saw was Kari's drooling face.
"..."
No words.
He slowly moved his eyes to the source of the sound which had already stopped.
It was the window...now it made sense as to why it was so big.
But there were only handprint on the window which looked like they were made from the outside.
Upon this realisation Noah's heart beat started accelerating, was it possible that the thing was already inside the room?
His breathing got heavier, he felt as if he couldn't move, his hands were covered in sweat, he wanted to move any part of his body but no matter how hard he tried his fear won over him.
Something was inside the room as far as he knew it could be behind and staring at him.
He just laid there silently for who knows how long.
He didn't even notice when his eyelids closed because of fatigue...
"Hey Noah wake up! We should get out of here before the others wake."
With a slight headache Noah managed to get up, looking at Kari who seemed to be really energetic Noah couldn't help but say "Has someone ever told you that your a really deep sleeper?"
"Yeah! But how did you know?"
"Haha... last night there was something in our room..." Finished speaking Noah as the dark circles around Noah's eyes became more apparent to him.
Looking at Kari, Noahcould se his confusion so he explained what happened last night in detail.
"That's all.
I'm going to wash put now."
Slowly stretching on the bed, Noah got up and put his feet on the ground snd then stood up.
Unfortunately his misfortune had only just begun.
He felt something sticky on his feet, it felt like glue, it was so sticky that he felt like his feet were stuck on it, but somehow it gave him a sense of relief?
"Shit" Gathering his courage he looked down on the floor.
He almost fainted when he saw what was underneath him.
It was black made which looked like it was moving, it felt alive...
"Fuck!"
"Hey what's wrong?" Asked the concerned Kari.
Worried he rushed to Noah's side but when he saw the scene...he was speechless.
"Get out off that thing."
"If I could I already would have!" Said Noah as he felt his blood boiling.
"You know your really unlucky.
I'll get on the bed and try to pull you towards me.
Ok?"
"Do it fast Kari."
"Yeah Yeah."
After an hour of hard and difficult pulling Noah was finally free of his misery.
Both of them were really sweaty, looking at each other like they had just saved the world.
"Hey Kari." Siad Noah with a really serious face.
"What?"
"I think the people in the village eat that thing to survive."
Surprised at what Noah said Kari grabbed his arm and worriedly asked "Why do you think that?"
"I really don't know why but gave a sense of relief for some reason, I felt like I could just leave all of my worries."
Said Noah as he touched his head to ease his headache.
"That does make sense...no this is getting to dangerous, I guess I'll have to take out the big guns."
"The what?" Questioned Noah as he could not understand what was going inside Kari's head.
"Something that is going to help us."
Said Kari as he looked really smug.
"See this brooch, it's actually a weapon, mine in particular is a bow.
This is made from a special material only found on the Goushes.
Not many people can use something like this because the weapon chooses its owner since it has it's own conciseness.
Once it decides on it's owner it transforms into a supernatural weapon which suites the owner and their mana.
Mana is really useful the more you have the better it is, in your case I can see that you have a lot.
Anyways whit this we can easily find the Goush or something related to it. Cool right!"
This was a big shock to Noah how could Kari just tell him something so important, he still had a hard time opening up.
Did Kari think of him as a really good friend or did he belive that Noah was someone thrust worthy.
"Why would you tell me something so important, your weapon is a secret right? You don't want other people to know right? Because if I do they will probably use you as bait...
What if I betrayed you and tell everyone?"
Said Noah as he looked directly into Kari's eyes while his own eyes started to get a little watery.
"That's a good question.
Well depending on the type of mana you have you get diffrent attributes... for example nature, fire, water and ecc.
Mine in particular is nature.
In some special cases nature can allow you to see what kind of person is someone.
I used this ability on everyone and found out that you were the most trust worthy.
That's it."
As Kari finished speaking he couldn't even look at Noah straight into eyes.
His neck was slightly pink from embarrassment.
"I have something similar to your brooch, this ring, I guess we are even now right?"
Said Noah giving a cheerfull smile which made his face look even more handsome.
Understanding what Noah ment Kari smiling brightly, rushed to Noah hugged him really hard and smiled like an idiot.