Chapter 101: CHPT 101: Upturned
"Eight months ago, a group of children living near Leafland Forest, Northwest of Skyhaven reported seeing walking skeletons inside the forest. No reported injuries or deaths."
Claude read the Quest entry as him and Frosty walked towards the gates at a brisk and purposeful pace.
"[Maybe no vengeance this time. But, you'll prevent it from being needed all together by getting rid of the Skeleton Soldiers.]" Arne said.
"Arne, this was reported almost a year ago. For all we know the kids in that village have been dead." Claude responded angrily.
"[Then we better get moving.]" Arne said.
***
Claude and Frosty once again found themselves running offroad as they headed west. They could hear the wheels of carriages rumbling over rocks and dirt as well as people— Night Runners, in groups talking while they walked on the dirt roads that lined the wild terrain.
After running for about a mile and a half Northwest, he could see a large black and white horse pulling a carriage directly ahead of him in the distance. Claude jogged to the path and found himself standing in a man-made intersection. The path going to the left and right of him was riddled with footsteps and wheel markings in the dirt, signifying a relatively medium level of travel and activity taking place on the path. Yet, the path going straight ahead of him was unbothered except for a few small footprints in the dirt.
"Hey! Get off the road airhead!" A man leading a group of Night Runners holding lanterns on horses said as he passed in front of Claude.
Claude was stunned out of studying the ground and looked up just in time to see the last member of the medium sized squad.
"Be easy on him guys, he's a bronze rank. He's probably scared shitless out here." The armored woman yelled to the front of her group as she passed him, her clean silver tank tag reflected the pale orange fire of her lantern.
Clauud stared at her fleeting figure for a moment longer before returning back to face the path in front of him. Now that he wasn't looking out the ground, the lack of footprints on the path ahead of him made more sense.
"Leafland Forest." He read out loud as he looked at the wooden sign signifying the forest lied ahead, down the somber and lonely path.
"That's not creepy at all." Claude said sarcastically before petting Frosty's head and walking down the path.
The path led them into a small neighborhood backed by tall thin trees and grass fields while taller trees arched over and covered their heads like a naturally developed dome, letting only small flecks of moonlight touch the dirt road beneath them.
The small cabins were scarce in number but close in proximity, he assumed that meant the people living in the area were just as close.
"Don't tell me we were too late.." Claude pleaded.
"[I mean I won't tell you. But...]"
"Arne!" Claude snapped.
Almost immediately after, a door from one of the cabins behind him swung open and a young boy came clumsily stomping down the stairs of his porch. The boys assumed mother came rushing out to the porch soon after calling for him.
"Dante! You get back here right now! Don't talk to him!" The middle aged woman yelled.
Claude and Frosty were completely confused but unfazed, so he waited for the boy to reach him.
The boy, Dante, walked with an odd way of moving. He felt the ground with his feet as they plunged into the dirt path. But his head didn't follow. Instead, his head turned back-and-forth in response to the sounds of the moving night creatures and hooting owls in the trees behind the cabins. He was surprised since most people didn't pay attention to their senses the way Dante was.
As Dante approached them, he realized why the boy moved so oddly.
"He's blind..." Claude realized once he looked into Dante's dull greyish white eyes.
"[Yep.]"
"H-hello, sir. You smell like a Hero.....are you one?" The boy asked.
Claude realized the question would've sounded odd to a normal person, but he knew just what the boy meant. The smell of leather, metals and sweat was probably telling him exactly what Claude was wearing without having to see anything at all.
"Y—" Claude tried to answer yes, but he couldn't without his throat closing up. It seemed like everytime he tried, he was just reminded of everything that made him the opposite of what the boy thought he was.
"I'm trying to be." Claude finally responded.
"Well, that's good enough." Dante responded, sounding wiser than he meant. "Your here to the defeat the Skeletons in the forest aren't you?" He asked in awe.
"Yes."
"I'm the one who found them, I could show you where." Dante said, over the sound of his mother calling out to him.
Claude was puzzled by Dante's admission. "H-How?" Claude asked.
"Bones make a lot of noise..." Dante said while pointing at his ear.
"Ahh. Well, I'm sure your mother doesn't approve of you going back to a forest full of Skeleton Soldiers. So I think I can find it on my own. But, thanks Dante." Claude said.
"Alright....good luck Mister Hero." Dante said, sounding slightly disheartened but still excited.
"See ya." Claude responded and waved to Dante's mother and three little sisters as they looked at him warily.
"Bye, doggie." Dante said from behind him.
Claude spun around and noticed Dante was petting the hazy outline of Frosty's thick head. He wasn't paying attention before, but now he could feel Frosty's interest and happiness at being able to meet a new person.
"Frosty! Get the hell over here." He whispered to make sure Dante's mother didn't notice her blind son was petting a wolf bred to rip and tear through humans like paper mache.
Frosty quickly licked Dante's hand and trotted over to Claude to follow him and search for the forest entrance.
"[Who would've thought? The furball's good with kids.]" Arne said as Claude and Frosty continued down the path.
They continued walking for a few minutes, passing broken abandoned cabins and wrecked carriages, withered by the elements and time. He'd been listening for any sound of bones to lead him to the Skeleton Soldiers but heard nothing, other than the hoots of nearby owls and the rhythmic clicking of crickets for as long as the path went.
He decided to check the ground for where any pair of footprints may lead him and soon enough, a small group of footprints went off the dirt road.
"[Dante and his friends?]"
"I think so." Claude said as he followed the footprints with his eyes. They went off through the trees that backed the cabin and into the clearing in the distance. The long green grass shimmered under the moonlight, highlighting the path Dante took to the forest entrance in the distance.
"That's Leafland Forest." Claude realized.
"[We're lucky the Skeleton Soldiers never wandered across the clearing. They would've ran through this whole neighborhood.]" Arne pointed out.
Claude got a sick feeling in his stomach at the thought of all the families that would've perished if they were ignored for any longer. It also motivated him to hurry up and do the job no other Heroes seemed interested in doing.
"Alright Frosty. Let's get to work." He said before they both ran off into the clearing.
***
A cool breeze swept across the field and delivered a handful of scents him, the one that stuck out the most was death. Stale and musty death, like it was stored away to rot alone for a while. It wasn't thick or overpowering, but he could tell it would grow stronger as he closed the distance between the quiet forest and him.
"[Make sure your focused. Skeleton Soldiers are known to hide in places most people wouldn't.]" Arne advised.
Claude nodded silently and jogged through the clearing.
The entrance to the forest wasn't what he expected. The last time he dealt with the Undead, the area they inhabited matched what they were in nature. This forest didn't feel like it was sapped of its life, he could feel that it wasn't brimming with life, but it was still alive. He didn't know if that meant there wasn't a lot of Skeleton Soldiers or if they were just deeper inside. Either way he was going to find out.
After a moments hesitation to feel the Nature around him, he made his way inside the entrance to the forest. It was odd, there was a path into the forest, a healthy and even dirt path that looked meant for people. Yet the clearing between the cabins and the forest signified that the place was meant to have no human connection.
"Weird." He said as he eyed the tall thin trees that lined the path and the wilting willows in the distance.
"[Didn't the boy say he could hear them?]" Arne suddenly asked.
"Yea, I guess we're not close enough—" as he was speaking he began to hear rustling to the right of him. Off the path, it sounded like people were walking over the grass and dead leaves at a moderate pace.
Claude and Frosty spun their heads in the direction of the noise. At first he found nothing. All he heard was the sound of leaves crunching and grass mushing rhythmically. Then, he saw them.
The sight of them was more unsettling than he thought it would be. He assumed they'd look the way they do in his books. Instead they had a flare of realism he wasn't ready for.
The two skeleton soldiers loped through the forest moving as unnaturally as possible. Their skeletal bodies were stiff and lifeless with little movement in their arms as they walked. It was uncomfortably obvious that these weren't just Skeleton Soldiers, they were the remains of dead bodies— somehow. Their bones differed in size, thickness and even color yet they moved identically like they were being manipulated by a string that led up into the night sky. He looked down at their hands and noticed they had swords, and shields made from wood and tree bark. They'd been here a while.
A stronger scent of death lingered into his nose like sickly black smoke. He knew it came from the Skeleton Soldiers advancing deeper into the forest ahead of him. He look closer at the closest one trying to figure out why it smelled so strong— so fresh.
Claude almost gagged once he noticed the tiny bits of rotted flesh and muscle tissue that hung off the Skeleton Soldiers stained bones like torn red and flesh colored drapes.
"[Claude. These aren't the usual low level Skeleton Soldiers.]"
"How so?"
"[These ones have the urge to create and increase their numbers....]" Arne said in a uncomfortable tone.
"[I think the reason no one has died is because they've been searching this forest for the remains of dead bodies...]" Arne said.
"Well that's...ominous...." Claude replied.
Soon after, Frosty jumped in front of Claude and snarled at something ahead of him. He quickly turned and immediately saw a Skeleton Soldier standing further ahead on the path. Like the other one, flesh and rotten dried muscle tissue hung from its bones randomly. It snapped its jaws loudly, highlighting that a portion of its darkened foul smelling gums still remained as its one remaining dull blue eye looked at him menacingly.
"Well. So much for stealth."
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_Avatar0FFury_ Hey thanks for reading! Leave a review and let me know what you think! Btw, for anyone that saw my comment about saying I was writing like 8 hours ago that’s my bad. My wifi crashed. Anyway thanks for the powerstones alex99, Daoistninewinds, krissch_, Shiso_lannoto and twm0909!!
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