Book 2: Chapter Five

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The party entered Inu, trudging slowly along the path. The townspeople looked at them deferentially, some even inclining their heads.

In the cheering and jumping that started, nobody noticed the dark figure that stood behind the crowd.

In spite of the party’s wariness, they all smiled. Atlan led them towards the large manor that stood in the middle of the town, surrounded by small houses and a wheat farm.

“This is my hut,” Atlan said, grinning broadly.

Doge looked at it for a moment. “Some hut,” he said. The manor was a few hundred blocks wide. “Is this where we’ll be lodging until we leave?”

Atlan frowned for a moment. “You’ll be leaving? I was hoping I could recruit you for the garrison.”

“Unfortunately, we will have to take our leave, as we have a quest to finish. But we’ll be happy to stay here for a week or two,” Alya said. “Besides, we’ll have to exercise some creaky bones.”

Zeko and Formula glared at her.

“I see. Well, let’s get you into your rooms,” Atlan said and led them into the manor.

The antechamber was a large and impressive room. The floor was about a hundred blocks wide and the ceiling was twenty blocks above their head. But the headman hurried along and opened the doors in front of them.

“This leads to the guest bedrooms,” he said. “Chamberlain Dorin, could you show them their accommodations?”

A bulky man trudged over to the group and swiftly led them to their rooms. They were sparsly decorated, with a singlular lamps hanging over each of them and comfortable-looking beds that were placed in the corners.

“The rooms can be decorated on your own. You each can choose your rooms,” he said bluntly. He abruptly walked back to the antechamber.

Doge shrugged and moved into a random room. He placed down a crafting table, immediately putting six blocks of wool and a stick onto it. He grabbed the banner and dyed it into an approximation of his face and hung it on his door. He saw that everybody else had the same idea except Sound, Firefly and Ghast. Sound had simply hung a replica of his amulet whereas Ghast and Firefly both had nothing on their doors.

That night, Doge was sprawled across his bed. He was awake.

Suddenly, a black mist filled the room. He shot up, looking around. He opened his mouth to cry out but no sound came out.

The mist slowly condensed beside him, seemingly pulling in the thinner material that surrounded it. Within five seconds it created a completely black figure that stood next to Doge.

“Meet at the heart Ravensong forest. A clearing. Quickly. We will meet there.”

The voice rang out from all the rooms and Doge knew that everybody was hearing this. The voice continued.

“We-will-meet-there,” it said, seemingly wanting an answer.

Doge managed to nod in affirmation and the… thing disapppeared.

He dashed to the door and opened it, seeing that the rest of the party members were also standing around the hallway, chattering confusedly about the black specter that had visited their rooms. Most of them looked extremely pale, although Ghast and Sound seemed to be perfectly fine with what had happened. But they were still conversating with each other about the visit.

The black mist appeared again, swirling above their heads like a cyclone. This time, its voice seemed to be in their thoughts.

*WE-WILL-MEET-THERE.*

This time, everybody looked scared to death.

In the outskirts of the town an indiscernible figure, black as night with mist swirling around its legs disappeared. The only trace of it being there was a small wisp of black smoke that soon faded, bringing itself to the ethereal world that the being called home.

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