Two days after leaving Gravenholm Village behind, Ryn and Richard finally emerged from the suffocating forest and stepped into the open plains at the edge of the dreadful Calamyr Mountain Range.
Ryn looked ahead and saw a city standing in the far distance at the mountain's base—like a dark silhouette torn from stone and mist.
Before long, they reached the silent city gates. Towering stone walls surrounded the place. Though once grand, they now stood weathered and crumbling, as if abandoned by time itself, forgotten for countless years.
And when they stepped inside…
Only ruins greeted them.
Ryn spoke softly.
"Master… is this Grand Astraea, the city spoken of in the poems?"
Richard nodded.
"Yes. This is the city of beginnings."
He paused briefly, then continued.
"There are many routes up the mountain. But since we've come this far, I want you to see the origin of the curse with your own eyes."
Ryn nodded and followed in silence, his gaze drifting across the remains of a city abandoned for over three hundred years.
He tried to imagine what it had once been like before its destruction in a single night. Some buildings were still intact enough to hint at their former glory, while others had been reduced to scattered stones and faint, unrecognizable outlines.
In his mind, Ryn envisioned a thriving metropolis from centuries past—people of many races walking the streets, the rumble of wagons, the chatter of merchants, and the laughter of life echoing through the air.
When they reached the rear of the city, they found a river and an old wooden hut, rotted and decayed by time—just as the legends described.
Richard spoke in a grave voice.
"This is it… the beginning of the curse that now threatens us all."
He stared at the hut before continuing.
"When I first saw it, I didn't know how I was supposed to feel. Anger. Hatred. Disgust. Pity… I couldn't even tell."
At that moment, Ryn felt much the same. He stood still, gazing at the decaying wooden structure, which—despite its ruin—still retained traces of its former shape.
As if it were waiting for someone to return and uncover the story buried within it…
At this place of origin—
Richard's voice broke Ryn out of his thoughts.
"The path she used to climb the mountain should be just beyond that hut… That's the route we'll take."
He pointed toward an overgrown trail behind the shack, and the two of them continued onward.
After walking for a while, Richard issued a final warning.
"Stay ready. At all times."
Ryn drew his long, unwieldy sword from its scabbard, readying himself as they pressed forward into the domain of the Cursed Forest.
Calamyr…
The air around them was deathly silent, as if no living creature remained.
The songs of birds and insects—sounds that should have filled a thriving forest—were nowhere to be heard. Only the echo of their own footsteps resounded through the hollow stillness.
Before long, a familiar stench drifted on the wind.
The scent of Calami… mixed with the nauseating reek of rotting flesh, so pungent it burned his nostrils.
Ryn tightened his grip on the sword, yet continued forward without hesitation, keeping close behind Richard.
Then—
The sight before him nearly forced him to turn away.
Piles of corpses—women and animals alike—were scattered across the ground. Most had been reduced to bare skeletons, but some fresher remains still bore scraps of decaying flesh clinging to their bones.
What told Ryn that many of the bodies had once been women were the hair ornaments and personal accessories—items commonly worn by females—still tangled in the strands of their matted hair.
The scene weighed heavily on his heart.
This forest did not merely devour lives.
It devoured humanity itself.
They moved deeper in.
Richard's voice came again, firm and commanding.
"No matter what I tell you to do, you obey. No hesitation. No resistance."
"Yes, sir," Ryn replied at once.
They continued forward—
And in the very next heartbeat…
A Calami in human form burst from the bushes in front of Richard.
His blade flashed instantly, as if he had been waiting for it all along.
The creature's head was severed cleanly, rolling soundlessly across the ground.
"Run!"
Richard shouted.
Ryn ran after him without hesitation, even as a question rose in his mind.
Why run?
If we hold our ground, we should be able to deal with them.
That thought vanished the instant the scene ahead revealed itself.
Calami poured out of the forest without end—countless in number. Some he had seen before, others were utterly unfamiliar.
They surged toward the two of them like a raging flood, wild and unstoppable.
Richard led the charge, his sword carving through the air without pause. Ryn stayed close behind, his own blade fulfilling its purpose with every stride.
How long they ran, neither of them could tell—until they finally burst free of the trees and into a small, cleared stretch of open land.
And there—
The sight before Ryn stole the breath from his lungs.
Hundreds of Calami Devourers—massive, elephant-like monstrosities—and Calami Prowlers, beasts resembling monstrous tigers, were charging straight at them in a frenzied stampede.
Ryn was stunned by their numbers.
Not in the thousands.
It felt closer to tens of thousands.
And this…
was only the first layer of the blackened mountain range.
What about the layers beyond?
How many more horrors awaited there?
Richard continued to lead Ryn forward, cutting through the pursuing horde as they fled.
Along the way, Ryn glimpsed countless Calami of different forms—some familiar, many entirely unknown.
But there was no time to study them.
The sheer mass of creatures was already overwhelming. His sword never stopped moving, yet their numbers refused to thin.
And in that moment, fear returned.
Not because of their grotesque forms.
Not because of their overwhelming numbers.
But because—
They felt no fear of death at all.
No matter how many of them he cut down, the remaining Calami kept charging forward without hesitation—like a raging tornado that never ceased.
Then, they reached a swamp.
Richard didn't lead him straight through the murky waters. Instead, he veered along the swamp's edge.
But the once-still surface began to stir unnaturally.
And then—
Crocodiles… no.
Calami Lurkers—massive, crocodile-like beasts—erupted from the swamp in great numbers and lunged at them at once.
Ryn kept running, kept slashing without pause, but his concentration began to waver. He tried to summon a wind spell to hold them back.
"Don't! Save your strength!"
Richard's voice cut through the chaos, sharp and absolute.
Ryn jolted, forcing himself to regain focus.
They continued running.
Relentlessly.
Until—
Something suddenly slammed into Richard with tremendous force, sending his body flying aside, though he managed to brace himself in time.
It was a colossal Calami, reptilian in form—but Ryn had no time to study its details.
"Master!"
Ryn shouted in alarm.
"I'm fine! Don't stop!"
Richard barked back instantly.
And so they ran on, blades swinging without rest—
as if this relentless pursuit…
was far from over.