"He actually did it..." Artticus mutters softly.
"Good job!" Flor chimes, moving to his side with a critical healing potion already in hand.
She passed it to him, and he accepted, gulping it down as his open wounds on both arms and legs healed.
"That was hard." He says, watching as his wounds heal. "I almost lost faith in my capabilities."
"Good job out there, man!" Articus smiles, his approaching hands extending as he slaps it.
A shiver of pain rushes down Heron's body, causing him to freeze.
"Oh, my bad." His arms fly up in defense.
"It's okay." He grunts, and he cracks his neck. "Let's hurry on inside; it's better we retrieve the box before they arrive."
"Right!" Flor and Artticus exclaim together.
Limping alongside the others, he pushes open the creaking door of the church. The sight of ruin, with splintered chairs scattered among heaps of debris, fills their vision, alongside sunlight spilling through the once-proud ceiling riddled with gaping holes.
"Heavens." Arttiucus walks up, focus glued to the great cross dangling from the rusted chains above the altar, swaying faintly in the stale air.
Deep down, he knew; he even felt it—that whatever sanctity this place had once held was long gone, and in its wake, it left behind the brittle husk of something utterly…wrong.
"Not exactly what you'd imagined a church in hell would look like, right?" Heron and Flor come up. "But somehow, it's exactly what you'd expected," Flor adds.
"Yeah…" Artticus lingers back while they search.
"It's somewhere here; everyone be quiet." She gestures, putting a finger over her mouth, listening intently.
Tick…Tock…
She hears it.
Wasting no time, her feet echo in the hollow church as she scurries down the aisle, stepping up to the altar and moving behind it, spotting the ticking clock.
"It's here!" She cheers.
Artticus and Heron share a glance and move to her, the clock hanging a few inches above her head.
"We don't have Nullen and his special glasses, so what are we to do?" Artticus inquires.
"I'll just break it down," Heron replies, his fist relies back, muscles aching from his previous battle.
His attribute activates, and he slams his fist forward, the old stone giving way at once, crumbling to reveal another wall; however, when they look down, their eyes meet stone-carved stairs.
"Stairs?" Atticus's eyebrow arches.
Heron doesn't hesitate, descending the stairs with care, Artticus and Flor clinging to his shirt as though he were their only shield.
"It's so dark." Flor wines. "I hate the dark."
"And it smells horrid." Artticus grimaces.
Heron ignores their whines and continues until he doesn't feel any more stares around him.
"We reached the end—" He's cut off by the flare of lights erupting from each of the torches, encircling them.
"Oh my…" Flor backs away, and Artticus gags on the strong urge to vomit, while Heron remains speechless.
At the center of the room sat the sealed black box, but around it, human skeletons formed a circle, their bones bleached and cracked, as if guarding it for eternity.
"I've never seen such a thing before," Flor admits. "And I've seen a lot."
"Well, I'm definitely not accustomed to any of this!" Artticus adds. "It's like a cult."
Heron, unaffected by the smell or the unrealness of their situation, looks beyond the cult-like nature of the dead actions. Making sure not to disturb the circle of bones, he drops to his knees as he reaches the circle, placing his sword upright between his legs and bowing.
"Do you know what he's doing?" Flor whispers to Artticus.
"No clue; in my world, we only burn witches." Artticus shrugs, and Flor returns his answers with her confused expression, forgetting all about Heron.
"You burn witches?" The corner of her top curls up. "You have witches?"
"Correct, vile beings who deserve what's coming to them." He says, a look of anger etching onto his features.
Heron lifts back up, sheathing his sword, and retrieves the box before returning to them. "Shall we get going?"
"Yeah."
Afterwards, they walk back out in silence, coming out onto the road, the remains of the first skinwalker with its most recently added companion sprawled out, withering on the cobblestones.
Just as the question of where Carnage and the others are arises, they appear from behind the church.
"I see you got the box," Carnage says first.
"Oh, you guys made it!" Flor beams, but she realizes Evrad isn't with them. "Where is Evrad?"
Carnage and Nullen shared a knowing look.
Crackle…
"I'm here…" He grumbles out, clenching his bleeding throat.
Flor gasps, rushing to his side. "What happened to him!" She at once pulls out her potion. "Drink this; it's critical healing."
"He was attacked," Nullen explains. "We barely made it out. I guess I was a bit off in my calculations." He let out an awkward chuckle, forcing a faint, uneasy smile.
'I admit, just looking at that face makes my decision to stop trusting others the best choice after my betrayal. You never know who's a psychopath.'
.
.
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[What really happened…]