"Bloody hell." Nullen curses, covering his nose. "The smell has gotten even worse." His boots thump against the wooden stairs as he descends, eyes falling on Carnage, who appears unbothered by it.
'Barefoot in a place like this? He must want to contract some disease.'
Nullen thinks.
"It wasn't like this before?" Carnage inquires, ignoring the ache in his throat.
"Nope. Before, it was barely reaching the candles." He replies absentmindedly.
'That has been the most words he has spoken to me.' Nullen acknowledges. 'It's still a bit hard to understand, though, which only makes me wonder what caused it.'
'That shouldn't be possible...' Carnage thinks. 'For the mold to move, it'll need time, which this place doesn't have.'
The final stair fell away beneath his heel, landing on the ground floor of the tavern. Instantly, he is seized by a chilling rush; the cold clings to his skin like the breath before death, that fleeting moment when frost grips the soul and darkness swallows it whole.
"Hm?" He flinches at his own body's reaction.
"In books, taverns are seen as a place of respite, not like this…" Nullen utters, disbelief underlying his voice.
'Respite?'
Carnage ponders, scanning the empty place.
'How could anyone come here?'
The old tavern harbors only three sets of dark wooden tables and chairs, the floors stained and marred by a multitude of liquids, one taking on the shade of deep red.
The place remains barely lit, with a rusted medieval-style metal chandelier bearing five melted candles, their flames neither growing nor falling.
'My body feels uneasy.' Carnage steps forward despite his body's persistence to stop as he approaches the door. 'Somethings looking at me.'
"Carnage." Nullen nudges his back. "Turn around…"
'A skinwalker?"
Carnage's mind spins with the many possibilities as he reaches for the shard of glass placed into the waistband of his pants and he comes eye to eye with a man standing behind the bar counter.
"A human?" Nullen mutters quietly.
"Hello, sir," Carnage says calmly.
'He may look like us, but that doesn't mean the possibilities of him being a skinwalker are any less.'
The innkeeper stays quiet, onyx eyes locked onto them, unmoving.
Dryly, he responds. "May I assist you?" His tone, mannerisms, and body language are all emotionless.
"Human." Nullen sighs in relief, relaxing his muscles. "For a moment, I was a bit scared."
Carnage side-eyes him.
'For a historian, I thought he'd be more cautious.'
Carnage attention reverts to the innkeeper.
'He might be able to give us some information that could help us.'
"By any chance, do you know anything about this village?" Carnage query.
"No." The innkeeper replies sharply. "The history of this village should not be spoken or remembered; it is forbidden."
'Forbidden?'
Nullen ebbs closer, adjusting his falling glasses. "What do you mean? History plays a significant role in the formation and development of villages. Without one, you basically lose your identity as a collected civilization."
'It's kind of like—'
Thud!
"The history of this village should not be spoken or remembered; it is forbidden." He repeats, slamming his fist onto the counter.
"God." Carnage extends his weapon at the man as he repeats the same phrase, his voice becoming louder by the second. "What's happening?"
"I don't bloody know!" Nullen recoils. "Hell..." His lips press together and open again. "Now that I think about it, this reminds me of something I've read before." He grumbles to himself as he surfs through his memories. "If only I could remember,"
After a few seconds, he still finds nothing, only receiving the same pounding headache as Carnage.
"THE HISTORY OF THIS VILLAGE SHOULD NOT BE SPOKEN OF OR REMEMBERED. IT'S FORBIDDEN." He shouts, yet his expression remains the same.
"We need to go." Carnage urges.
"Maybe the guidebooks has it." Nullen's guidebook forms into his palms, and he flips through it, becoming completely blindsided by the situation.
"Historians…" Carnage groans, snatching Nullen's arm and dragging him out the door in a hurry.
Empty streets greet them, alongside the shine of never-ending dusk, painting the skies.
'What was that?' He huffs, letting go of Nullen.
"Nothing… There's nothing about it in here." Nullen's jaw locks as the guidebook disappears. "Why is this bothering me to such a degree?"
'You've studied these subjects for years, and suddenly you're forgetting; of course, you'd be frustrated.' Carnage thinks, but he doesn't say it out loud, knowing his voice wasn't nearly healed enough to say it all.
Straightening up, only to freeze mid-motion a faint sound of weeping drifts from within the tavern.
"Oh Bella… why… why… I wish I could be with you…" He realizes it's the innkeeper.
'Regret...'
Carnage, for a second, sympathizes, comparing his suffering with his, but stops.
'I shouldn't sympathize with any of them... This is hell,a place for the wicked, how dare I compare myself with them.'
"We should get going; we've spent enough time here already." Nullen cuts in, angling himself side to side, eyeing the two paths before him.
Snapping back, Carnage shakes his head. "Yes. Which way?"
"I think I'll be able to locate their exact location."
"How?"
"It's how I found you." Nullen touches his glasses. "My magical artifact is the 'Glasses of discernment.' It allows me to see what's hidden, and it somehow showed me your location."
Carnage nods to his explanation, with holding the information of his magical artifact. He isn't a fool, revealing your cards to the participants of this hell, teammate or not, could be the cause of their downfall.
"I'm sure they gave us these magical artifacts for a reason, all linking towards our main task."
'Yeah... I wonder what this is for.' He glances at the imprint. 'If there's even a reason for it.'
"Now." Nullen closes his eyes. "I just need to figure out how to activate it." He focuses, breath steady.
The guidebook only mentioned it briefly, but I reckon I've got the gist of it.' Nullen reflects and slowly a faint glow begins to rim the steel frames of his glass.
"Left." His eyes snaps open.
At once, he moves, leaving Carnage to scurry behind.
Carnage looks at him intently form behind, the question of 'how he activated it' arising since it could also be an answer for the activation of his.
Nullen glimpsing back to ensure hes following catches on to his inner questions. "The guidebook talks about the three energies of the dimensions." Nullen begins.
'He must be talking about "Magics of Purgatos"? With its lack of description, I was certain it was a lie.'
"Wune?" He questions out loud.
"Bingo!"
'That marks one thing as true.'
"When I concentrated, it felt like I was drowning in a golden energy just as wune was described. To activate the ability of my glasses, all I had to do was absorb it and transfer it to my glasses."
He answers as they rush down the streets, Nullen's glasses displaying a golden trail, while also counting down the houses between them.
'Wune, gold, the force that powers the magical artifacts. Sune, green, a substitute for mana, which replenishes magic. And lastly, Aune, iridescent, the creator and stabilizer of Purgatos. It's also the force that made these realms unstable with its negative effects.'
'If my guess is correct, when activating my artifact, I'll see Wune, not the others?''
「Correct, if you had a normal artifact.」
'What do you mean?'
「The one sealed into your soul is forged from a divine entity, one of the first, which makes it completely different from the others. 」
'That how do I use my artifact?'
「Your artifact is powered by the energy seeping through the small cracks you caused in the seal, making the activation of it almost natural, with some drawbacks of course.」
「To awaken an artifact, you'll need to harbor an equal or a higher level of Eminence than the dormant artifact, through the cultivation of demonic cores, found in the bodies of demonic beasts.」
'In other words, I need to fight to become stronger, theres no easy way out. I have a long way to go.'
「That's it sinner, good luck.」
"You with me?" Nullen glances back briefly.
"Yeah."
"We're close!" He says, continuing down the path.
"Ok—" Carnage pauses, pivoting to the side, as a familiar sensation seizes his soul, as desperation claws at his mind,he searches for the source, chest heaving.
'Pale-faced villagers, vendors, buildings… it all seems normal, but I can sense it somewhere… which one of them is it?'
"Carnage?" Nullen calls out, yanking his focus back, the dread bleeding away.
"Nothing."
.
.
Soon, they arrive at an old cobblestone church, its weathered stones darkened by age ivy creeping up the walls like grasping fingers.
"If I'm correct, they're inside." Nullen says, advancing.
As they approach the wooden door which sags on its rusted hinges creaks open.
Carnage and Nullen stare wide-eyed at the other two sinners, who hold the same expression.