"Oh... that’s sad to hear." Vritra said as he glanced over and saw the brutal scene, blood, flesh, bones and pieces of organs were scattered right outside the house’s door.
Although it seemed random, a faint, almost non-existent pattern could be seen.
’Hmm, that pattern, it looks a bit familiar.’ Vritra thought and walked towards the crime scene along with the three.
"He was a good friend of mine, sigh... I- I heard his screams last night, yet all I could do was hide inside my room.
It is so frustrating and frightening, is death our only escape from this place?" Mark continued, even though Vritra was barely paying him any attention.
They were about to start cleanup, a few people were crying while the blabbermouth Mark wouldn’t stop speaking about his pain and fears.
"Have you ever wondered if dying is truly the way to get out of here?" Vritra spoke suddenly, interrupting Mark and surprising him.
"Uh... Yeah, we did think of such a possibility, but seeing such death made us believe otherwise." Mark replied, looking a bit shaken and confused by the question.
Finally, he fell silent.
Vritra observed the pattern carefully, it was so vague that it looked pletely random.
But the way those things were scattered and the faint marks in the blood, he definitely had seen something similar.
’Oh right, that map, one of the locations had a similar mark. But I wonder what it would mean...’ Vritra thought and finally turned around.
The smell was so bad there, as if the corpse had been rotting for days.
"By the way, where is Lisa?" he questioned, turning to look at Mark.
But before Mark could speak, Yennefer asked with a slight frown: "Why do you want to meet her?"
"We have to get some food and clothes from her, remember?" Vritra answered. The empress had been too strange lately.
"Yeah, she must be in the town hall, you can find Chopper there." Mark said and led them towards the town hall in silence.
Vritra was deep in thought when he suddenly saw an insect fly in his direction.
It was pletely white in colour with countless small spikes ing out all over its body.
Before he could react, the insect struck the inside of his forearm, just below the elbow, plunging the spikes into his skin.
And in the next instant, it started to rotate and go deeper into his flesh.
Startled, his first reaction was to pull it out but it had instantly entered his flesh, sending waves of pain as it rotated within, tearing apart and going upwards towards his shoulder.
"Ughhh..." Vritra let out a mild groan as he squeezed his arm with all his might in an attempt to stop the insect, that even seemed to be cutting his bones.
"Vr- Ben, what’s wrong?" Yennefer was surprised when Vritra suddenly stopped and bent forward, letting out a groan. She held his shoulder and became nervous.
"Ben, are you alright?" Mark hurried to his side and asked, supporting Vritra from the other side.
"T- This insect..." Vritra could still feel the cutting pain inside his arm, how the spikes slashed at his bones and flesh.
"Insect?!! Let me see." Yennefer touched his clenched fist gently and looked all over his arm, but there was nothing.
"Uh... There is no insect? Is it on your shoulder?" Yennefer asked, as Vritra let go of his arm in bewilderment and looked up and down at his own hand.
’Huh? There is nothing, that insect clearly entered my arm, what’s happening? Was I hallucinating?’ Vritra frowned, there was not even a drop of blood on his arm, and even the pain had disappeared pletely.
"Look at me, are you okay?" Yennefer cupped his cheek, speaking in a hurry.
"Yeah, I am fine now. I think some insect just bit me." Vritra said as he straightened.
"Don’t tell me you actually tried looking at the abomination, sigh... that’s why Chopper should have been careful with his words. Why don’t you just return to your house and rest?"
Mark said, sighing loudly.
"No, I am fine, let’s go." Vritra started walking ahead, he was starting to feel slight pain in his head as the line between reality and illusion became thin.
Soon the three entered the town hall that was filled with the light sobs of a woman and painful groans of several men.
Upon walking through the door, they saw Lisa sitting on a bench and crying.
"Lisa... The man that died was like a brother to her, they came to this place together, this must have saddened her quite a lot." Mark said.
They didn’t disturb her and walked straight into one of the rooms.
Inside, Duffus was beating the men from Bone Blood Cult and Chopper was seated on a chair with a solemn expression.
"I am glad you are still alive. Seriously, last night when I heard those screams I was almost sure that curiosity killed the cat."
Chopper said as he hopped off his chair and walked up to the group.
"He did see the abomination last night, that’s why you should have informed about the consequences clearly." Mark said in a frustrated tone, he really didn’t want more people to die.
"It’s fine, I would have tried looking anyway. So what information are you trying to bring out of these guys, or is it just to take out your frustrations?"
Vritra asked, all of a sudden feeling as if his face had started to burn from inside.
"Haa... These bastards, there were lots of them when they came here, many had died already. We caught this bunch while a few are still hiding somewhere here.
As you know, Bone Blood Cult just loves to create trouble.
We lied to the town folks to maintain the peace, but Hubert, he never drinks. I am sure they are behind it somehow." Chopper said angrily.
"Oh, then they should be hiding in one of the houses, have you checked yet?" Yennefer spoke, standing close to Vritra, observing him closely.
"They just hide outside during the day and maybe use those empty houses at night, or maybe they found some other place in the forest." The short man said helplessly.
"These people have been living for so long here, seriously no one has found anything?" Vritra said doubtfully, his breathing being quicker.
"...Hmm." Chopper hesitated slightly before finally speaking: "Yeah, we did find a way to contact the outside world. Just a few days ago I spoke to some people."
’Oh, don’t tell me he is talking about...’ Vritra thought, remembering something.
"Our luck was just bad, from the countless voices I think the other point of munication opened in the Night Forest and near a lot of Howlers.
I asked for help several times but a person cursed me instead of helping me, damn just let me find him." Chopper spoke in determination.
"Ah, haha, that’s too bad. So you haven’t been able to find anything else? And where is the place from where you contacted the outside?"
Vritra’s head was spinning already, his body burning and heart beating wildly.
His entire body started shivering, his senses stopped working as all the people around started to look weird, the voices blended into deafening sounds, and then he fell and became unconscious.
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