"Eversnow. A town that appeared out of nowhere. Well… or rather the mountain did." A shadowy, voice, started to give a report.
"Explain." The gruff man seated behind the oak wood desk raised a brow, but in the end, his eyes never left the papers he was reading, flipping a page.
"It used to be a cold place, but like most other habitable environments, most of the snow would have melted away by summer."
"But one day it snowed, the people thought nothing much of it, till a whole year had gone by, the snow not waning in the slightest…"
"Wildlife started to migrate, and most died before-" The voice continued but was soon interrupted.
"Cut it short." The gruff man muttered flipping to the next page of the report. The room filled up with an eerie silence that was hard to explain.
"Of course. It's been that way for over 100 years. The snow never melted."
"Our sources suspect a [Fracture] left behind by a rather powerful individual…"
"I see." The man at this point still seemed rather uninterested. How many sites did they know about by now?
Not to mention they had to dedicate a lot of their resources towards finding that individual.
In the end, the man made up his mind. It wasn't worth the effort to invest in yet another site.
"Leave it."
"Bu-but sir-" But before he could say more he found his throat bleeding out, and bubbling.
"Mhrgh-me,-rcy…"
"Clean it up."
The servant dropped to the floor, feeling all over his neck in a panic and finding peace when he saw it was still intact.
But when he looked at the real blood on the carpet, he felt his system go cold…
Almost as if timed, the gruff man flipped the page again, causing the servant to shudder. Scurrying to his feet, he spoke softly.
"Yy-yes sir."
Meanwhile, the gruff man had long since, stopped paying attention, instead focused on the individual written about in their reports.
'Reaper huh… We have to find him!'
His heart beat excitedly when he considered controlling that beast, if what was written here was true, then he would be a powerful component in their upcoming plans.
But his face did not reflect his thoughts as he calmly flipped to the next page. His mind was still, and his heart, a proper showing of tranquility.
The beauty of what could only be called white noise filled the room.
…
Reaper's goal was to investigate this phenomenon. But he was hardly foolish enough to take it on alone. Even he had his limits.
As he was certain it was a [Fracture] it was almost certainly better to not go in alone.
Some arrogantly believed themselves all-powerful only to be lost in a dimension they had no way of opening...
What he did know though, was that if he could successfully pick the interest of Baron's group, he would have more than enough leverage to gather all those capable.
The inner workings of this plan, it seemed it was finally bearing fruit.
...
"Creature ahead." Camin who carried half a mountain on his back, pointed out, for what felt like maybe the tenth time that day.
From behind the tree, a strange creature walked out revealing itself. Its neck turned out from the trees first before its lanky body revealed itself.
It seemed to have the head of a deer mixed with that of a dog, its eyes obscenely large, taking up maybe half its skull.
Despite what should have been a small frame carrying its weight, its legs put it on a pedestal that drawfed even the tallest of them.
"Ghost Paws. EVERYONE! INTO FORMATION! NOW!" Baron having assessed the situation immediately took action, barking out orders as he kept watch for any changes that could occur.
At first sight, the creature seemed normal, except maybe its rather long legs and its frame.
But truthfully the longer one looked at it, the more eerie and undesirable it looked. It didn't feel…complete.
It didn't seem to have hair or fur of any kind, but yet, its skin wrinkled in a way, that might lead one to such an assumption. It was a rather grotesque sight when carefully observed.
Its legs were shaky and its movements unpredictable.
Whatever the case was Ghost Paws were known to be extremely dangerous less so because of their strength and more so due to their unpredictability, they couldn't afford any delays.
"But just when they were about to jump into action, getting into their usual formation.
"Jean, flank."
"Jack get beneath it, control its movements from there."
"Cole, cover Baron."
Just as everyone was about to act, having received their orders, an almost lazy voice spoke out, giving out a different set of orders.
They planned to ignore it, but before they knew it, they found themselves moving to the rhythm of the voice, following without much thought.
"Watch out for your right Cole, it's baiting you."
Cole swung out his great sword parrying the incoming claw. He was sure he had already dodged it before, but that was the unique nature of this creature.
Even certainty could become uncertainty.
It touched on very vague concepts of Movement and Illusion.
"Jean, behind you."
"I know Sherlock!" Jumping out of the way, she nimbly avoided direct confrontation, slashing down at the creature's paw, injuring the beast.
Slowly but surely, they all fell into a steady rhythm in which their every move played off each other to perfection.
They were moving with a new sort of efficacy, and couldn't help but feel their blood boil in excitement.
'This was possible too?' Baron who led the confrontation let out a frown.
Camin on the other hand was watching intently and giving out instructions where needed.
He hadn't tried it earlier because he was trying to understand their attack pattern. But now, though he was sure there were still some holes but he pretty much had it down by now.
"YAWWWN! Jack, now it's your chance."
Seizing the opportunity, Jack stabbed into the heart of the creature, pulling his blade along its body and dragging it out from its head.
"Bravo!" Standing up he clapped his hands.
It was unknown when he sat down, but seeing they were finished, he stood up, walking towards the corpse.