Dall had been wandering for what appeared to be a few hours. The snow in this forest really never ceased up, it was endless. Maybe it was a result of the curse; though Dall had no way of knowing. He wasn't even able to read the cursers name. All he knew was that it made you lose your sanity, and he didn't try to stick around to experience that.
According to the map's charted landmarks, Dall was near to Molnor. Another half hours walk and he should arrive. If it weren't for Martin's kind donation of this fur cloak, he may have already frozen to death in this sea of white.
The forest was eerily quiet, the only sound you could hear in the entire place was a light winter breeze that flowed between the branches of the towering tundra trees. It sounded like a whistling wail, often times Dall felt it was human-like.
The worst part of this forest was how devoid of life it was. Usually, when one wandered in the wilderness they needed to be wary of animals jumping out at you. Mountain Lions and Foxes—if those exist here that is—but in this forest, there was nothing. Not even the occasional bird that would fly overhead. This forest was completely devoid of life. Even the trees looked as though they were dead. Corpses of a past.
Dall knew his way around a forest, the wilderness was nothing new to him; he'd traversed the woods a lot back on earth. There was a bunch of snowy woodland that encompassed his parent's mountainous ski property in Upstate New York—however none of it was 'cursed' to drive you insane; nor was it empty from any sense of life.
Maybe that's what drove people insane, a vast endless forest of snow that is completely silent other than the ghastly wails of wind between the trees. If you don't see any sign of life in miles, a normal person might begin to imagine things. Dall wasn't too concerned, he enjoyed solitude. It was peaceful, he'd rather this than be back at the office.
..
After about another ten minutes, he had seen the first thing that noted signs of any type of prior civilization that came in the form of a strange ruin hidden ruin. It looked as though it was a tower made from the strange white stone that had been in the cave he left prior.
He almost ended up waking by at first, as it was covered by snow and looked like a mound of collected snow. However; the large circular dome at the top of the strange building caught his attention as it glimmered in the sun. The tower was about 18 feet tall, and made of solid stone. It had no windows but had slits in the walls every few feet up. The top was a dome made of a silver-like colored metal, which seemed as though it didn't corrode. It had an arched door which resembled a medieval castle entry; just much smaller.
The fact that there was a man-made tower in the middle of the woods means that he must be getting close to Molnor. What was most awe-striking to him was to what the purpose of this tower could be. There was no indicators that this served any use, it was just a secluded spire in the middle of the woods. Almost like the home of some forest hermit, lost to the elements of this forests tundra.
Inside, there was a spiral staircase that led up to an opening just below the silver dome. On the bottom floor, there was a rotting wooden table, with strange ceramic jars on them. In the ceramic jars, it seemed to have a red wine-colored liquid that smelt repulsively vile, like a mixture of death and sulfur. What was even more intriguing was the patterns on the jar. It looked like a Mesopotamian relic from earth; there were people and images representative of a story engraved on the strange clay-like material.
On the jar's mural, there was a grand temple, surrounded by people who looked to be bowing down to what was perched on top of it. On a pillar atop the mountain; was a robed humanoid figure of whose features you couldn't make out. Its arms were raised and snowflake were coming out of its "hands".
The source of the curse? Dall wondered. It seemed to be a venerated figure like a king or god, but no features could be made out. The worshippers bowed towards a grand temple. Dall made a mental note of this discovery before his continued further, history always serves a purpose, he knew that especially well. At the top room, there was a decrepit rotting bow, with a quiver of arrows next to it sitting on a stone bench next to the slit in the wall.
On the ground, there were strange markings in the stone that looked like symbols or letters. Zorosh? Potentially, whatever it was however spun with a strange power that even Dall could feel. The moment he entered the room it started making his whole body tingle. Like something was running static all along his skin. He couldn't see anything but it was physically felt, deep within his soul. It wasn't somewhere he wanted to be.
He didn't stay long before he began to set out again. The tower was strange, but it didn't have any useful tools or equipment in it. If only there was a canteen or jar of some sorts. Well there was but Dall hadn't planned on touching the weird blood-like liquid in the ceremonial jar.
Dall was in a daze, partially because he knew of his nearness to the ruins; he stepped out of the tower, all was silent. The only sound he heard was his feet crunching under the snow. He paused for a moment and looked up to the grand tower, admiring its architecture.
However while he was examining its beauty, a huge gust of wind more powerful than the normal stream pummeled across the trees like a sudden blizzard had appeared out of nowhere. Following in its flowing barricade, was an immense howl that could only be explained as monstrous. It sounded like a creature was suffering in extreme pain. The sound held power. It was unlike any of the sounds he heard before; and it was carried among the wind. In a cursed forest, such sounds meant danger, this much he knew.
Dall froze as a result of the sudden sound interrupting his daze. The forest should have been empty; there is--or should be--no creature that should be able to survive in this barren snowy wasteland. And those facts alone were enough to send him into a frozen fear. He quickly shot himself back into the tower and slumped down to the ground on the course of adrenaline, leaning against the stone next to the doors arch. He unsheathed his daggers and held them in both hands; peering over the door to survey his surroundings.
However, it was utterly silent, and empty.
Nothing moved in his vision, no more sounds were heard. All that was left was the light snowfall and the silent wind burrowing through the trees. Dall scanned the entire area from behind the door, his grip on the blades not even chancing a second to loosen up.
Though no matter where he looked it was completely empty. The strange howl seemed to be ethereal. It came from all locations, and sounded as though it was right on top of him. However, with his reaction time, if there was some creature after him he would've been dead. But, what made the sound? Was it the wind through the trees? That was unlikely. Especially with that power.
He slowly moved out from behind the stone pillar and out into the opening. He did a 360 and found that nothing was around him. However, he now knew not to let up his guard. Something had to be out here now, and it was something that could survive the curse. That was the only explanation to that sound.
He continued onwards. However this time, his grip on the knives didn't loosen up. The whole way, he would now be armed. His guard wouldn't loosen even for a moment. Not in this endless snowy hell.
He had walked for a good few minutes through the silent forest and noticed there was nothing living in the area, everything was dead. He found himself walking atop a large mound which helped with surveying the area. To his right and left was an endless stream of snow and trees that remained unending on both sides. However, what he noticed in front of him when he scaled the utter top of the mountain was astonishing, both breathtakingly beautiful, and bone-chillingly fear-striking.
When the horizon opened up beyond the mounds slope; in front of him he saw a colossal temple made of dirty and decrepit white stone. It looked like an ancient Chinese temple, however it had a strange snowy twist to it, like it had been shifted by the weathering of the snowy elements. He couldn't make out its exact details, but from where he was it was colossal. It looked like a mountain in and of itself.
Surrounding it was a bunch of broken stone pillars that looked like the remains of walls. It looked like a labyrinth that had decayed with snowy weathering. Twisting and weaving forming a complex system that led to the from stairs. Luckily, the labyrinth was relatively broken and a clear path was opened to the stairs entrance.
Truly, it didn't take long after seeing this colossal sight for Dall to realize where he finally was.
Molnor, the lost ruins of the Triwoods.