After another dry night, I woke up with my mind covered in a thick mist from the questions. I was up late re-reading and making different assumptions about the information I got. For now, I couldn't think of anything sensible. I washed my head in the nearby stream before walking back into the village again. This time, the villagers looked at me with angry eyes. However, they weren't about to punch me in the face which was a positive thing in my mind, albeit a small one. Most of the people were out, working on the fields. Men and women alike. But that made me wonder where the children went. As I recall, there were quite a few of them, which was perfectly normal and I am the last person who has any right to criticize how people educated their children, as long as it was within the boundaries of the law. My question was quickly answered when a smiling boy happily jumped towards and elderly lady, who happily hugged him. More children came from the central plaza of the village, which was nothing more than the church and a hardened earthen circle. All of them happy and smiling when they saw their parents return from the fields. The whole scene made even me smile, a bystander without any children to speak of. There was a familiar figure standing behind the children, looking directly at me. I turned and walked towards him.
"Good morning, Pastor. I see you keep the children busy while the parents are working?" I asked while the Pastor made the customary greeting used by Church Officials. He smiled gently while the people looked at me with suspicious eyes. I felt their gazes practically burning holes in my back. My long coat flowed gently along my legs as a warm breeze rolled through the street. The parents were slowly scattered to their houses, leaving only the pastor and me, along with some curious onlookers. The pastor nodded.
"Yes, I am like a teacher of sorts… I teach them in math and the language of our Lord, Kraikki, of course. But please, call me John. And your name is…? " He replied, looking at my face a bit more. Our meeting yesterday was brief, and I totally forgot to introduce myself. I rubbed the back of my head, cursing my own forgetfulness.
"Oh yeah! My name is Julian, a detective from the main city, Floran!" I said, extending my hand while smiling with my eyes closed. The man in front of me was a slight bit apprehensive at shaking my hand but ultimately decide to shake it anyway. His gloved hand felt smooth against my fingers before he pulled back. I nodded slowly, looking around me. It seemed that the villagers were a little less apprehensive of me now that they saw I didn't harbour any malicious intent to the person they trusted the most. I shrugged my shoulders before smiling.
"Oh, by the way! Thank you for your help yesterday! It was a big help!" I said, loud enough so that the villagers could hear me. If it was such a big deal to be recognized by John, I might as well make an advantage with it. I could hear an audible gasp from the few people watching the two of us, hearing someone run of to, hopefully, spread some rumours about me. While I generally hated the idea of rumours, being bullied by them quite a lot, they can be quite handy to make yourself a reputation in places where you have never been! I smiled slowly while looking around. I wanted to check something else. The graveyard. Normally, people write two dates on their tombstones, right?
"Hey, could you tell me where the graveyard is, John?" I asked. John pointed a finger behind him, let of the church. I smiled and thanked hi before walking towards him. In the background, John's voice called all of the children back to him to resume the lessons. I walked past the gaudy church and followed the dirt road into the un-ceremonial graveyard. Small stones lined the bumps in the earth. The dirt underneath my feet made a distinct noise as I fished my notebook out of my breast pocket of my jacket. I began looking through the names I had written down and tried to find their graves. It was not the most fun job, but with these two different pieces of information on the sheet of paper, I had to have a third opinion. Even if that meant getting one from the ones that can't talk anymore… I gulped, always feeling weird and unwelcome on a silent graveyard. I flipped the small, fragile pages between my fingers as I walked between the rows of graves. However… I could not even find any of the deceased! Frowning, I walked back and forth between the rows. Thinking that I must have missed them, I began from the first gave and took my time to closely look at the names. After an hour or two, I concluded they had no graves. But why? I rubbed my chin while my mind was processing this information. No graves… and different dates… I rubbed my head in frustration while I racked my brain over and over. A rustling noise sounded in front of me. My head snapped upwards, looking right in front of me. Every fibre of my body began experience the unwelcome feeling of adrenaline. My mind was already not optimal with being on a graveyard, weird sounds were not helping with that.
Another sound.
And then another.
They all sounded mere metres away from each other. Despite my building fear, I grabbed the grip of my rusted sword and slowly inched forwards. While I did that, I suddenly saw two things reflecting in the sunlight. Underneath the shadows cast by the dense canopy of the tightly packed threes were two shimmering dots. And they were looking at me. I gulped, my throat getting dry and itchy while I slowly inched forwards. My body heated up, my muscles getting excited by the adrenaline getting pumped through my body. The sound of my heart was so clear, I thought it had jumped straight into my head. I slowly inched forward, slowly pulling the sword out of its holder. The rusted and crusted dim material barely reflected the sunrays. Suddenly, a lot of shuffling before a whirlwind of black rammed me. I gasped, the fear doing more than the dim pain around my stomach. I dropped quickly to my knees, being the scaredy-cat that I am. I heard the shuffling go further and further away from me, and I was left thinking. Will I… sit here and… wet my pants like a child? Or will I be an adult and go after the thing that rammed me? Slowly, I calmed myself. My hands touched my chest and stomach area carefully but there didn't seem any sign of serious injury. Once that had been confirmed, I turned on my heels and jumped forward. The adrenaline in my muscles helping me in getting off the graveyard fast. After that, I made my way quickly in the direction of the church.
At that moment, the pastor was saying his goodbye's to the children who returned to their homes. I came running , breathing heavily. My palms resting on my knees as I looked at the pastor.
"John! Did you see something black running past here?!" I yelled, hoping he could help me. But he just shook his head. I groaned, holding my sides. I really should be more fit next time I take a mystery like this! I wheezed , the adrenaline slowly disappearing out of my body. The last child was gone and John walked towards me. He made the customary greeting again before pulling me on my feet again. I nodded and thanked him. He just answered he followed Kraikki's will. That made me roll his eyes when he wasn't looking. But then he asked me why I asked if he saw anything black anyway. I began explaining about the brief exchange I had on the graveyard. The pastor only nodded before guiding me inside. He ignored my answers to just leave it at that and pushed me inside before closing the door behind him. He sat down on one of the benches, left there by the children that follow lessons with him. I took a chair and sat right in front of him, hanging my jacket over a nearby desk.
"Well, what you've told me sounded a lot like what other inhabitants of the village have reported to me. They always reported something mysterious watching them from the shadows. And it all stroked with what you have said: something black with white hands arms and legs… I have absolutely no idea what they mean by that. The thing has appeared several times. It has earned the nickname "The monster" from the children and parents alike…" He sighed. I nodded, making some notes in my notebook.
"Pardon my asking, but what are you researching here anyway?" John asked me. I smiled and casually told him I was looking for a murderer. I saw the man tense up a bit, and I couldn't fault him for that. Most people do when they hear the word 'murderer' . I sighed and rubbed my temples. A so-called monster, not existent graves and wrong dates… What the hell is going on here?
"If you are looking for a murderer , maybe you should look for the identity of that monster, as the villagers call it… " The pastor mumbled before standing up and turning his back to me.
"Well, I believe that was all that I know of, do you need anything else? I have to clean this up still…" I nodded and stood up as well.
"Yes, one more thing, John…. Do you have any idea why the victims of that so-called monster have no graves?" I saw the man tense up slightly, his fingers hovering a feet above a wooden desk. My eyes focused on John's form. He slowly turned around, his face with his trademark gentle smile. He made a waving movement with his hands before pointing at the door behind me.
"I wouldn't know that, I am pretty sure that I gave them a proper burial. I swear that on our Lord Kraikki!" He said, making the greeting once again before continuing to clean the building. I slowly nodded, turning around and walked straight out of the door. I closed it behind me and made my way out of the village.
Sitting behind my campfire and staring at the sinking sun, I was reading through my notes. I had now three things to worry about. First, the missing graves. Why had the people who died no graves? They were not the only ones who died in these past two months, so why only them. Would it be connected to the mystery shrouding that "Monster" John was talking about? That monster was something else. It made for a nice and easy suspect, but how do you indict someone you don't even know the face of? And then, there was the mystery of the double dates… I scratched my head in frustration. The cases we got in school were much easier than this!
I sighed and swallowed the last piece of dry bread. I really had to find food somehow. Maybe hunting? But the only thing I had with me was a kitchen knife and my rusty sword, and I didn't trust either blade to cut up fresh meat. Suddenly, I heard the mysterious rustling sound behind me again. I gulped and slowly turned around. The rustling came from behind me, appearing from the dark shadows of the forest. My hand slowly gripped the handle of my sword, slowly pulling it out. The crackled, rusty surface shimmered dimly in the dancing firelight. My dry throat began prickling as I saw the two white buttons hover in place again. They looked more like eyes this time.
Suddenly, a lot more shuffling. I pushed my eyes closed, preparing myself for the impact of the thing. But it never came. I cautiously opened my eyes again , looking for the two shimmering dots… But they seemed to have disappeared. I bit my own lip and debated with myself if I should go into the dark forest or if I should just.. ignore what just happened… After a couple of seconds, I dashed into the dark forest. Two of the three moons shining through the thick canopy of the woods, creating small silver pillars of light. I used those to guide my way through the forest. At first, I thought of bringing some kind of torch with me. But you could never be too careful near a forest with a fire, so I decided against it. After ramming several trees and stumbling over multiple trunks and roots, I decided to take this calmly. I grunted and walked through the forest as I noticed the ground underneath me slowly inclining downwards. Being alone int the dark like this was absolutely not my favourite thing! Whenever I said something, yelling to ensure I wasn't deafened by the pressuring silence surrounding me , my voice bounced between all trees surrounding me. It made me shiver. My eyes frantically scanned my surroundings, seeing only small slivers of moonlight seeping through the dense roof of leaves above me.
I slowly shuffled forward, afraid to fall on the dark and unknown grounds. My knuckles went white when I grasped the handle of my sword tightly. I gulped and felt a cold shiver crawl along my skin. Slowly, I walked forwards, only silence keeping me company. My own heartbeat made me jump slightly as I heard it clearly. I swallowed, trying to stop the itch in my dry throat. To no avail. I took a careful step towards the dark in front of me, holding my hands out to stop myself from bumping into any more plants.
Suddenly, I felt something jerk at my ankle. My heart stopped before pumping like a madman. A gurgling noise pushed itself through my throat, too shocked to say or yell anything. It was true when people said fear paralyzed their voices… I groaned, suddenly feeling very lightheaded as I hovered up and down almost an armlength above the forest ground. My mantle hung uselessly in front of me, limiting my sight. I pulled my chin against my knees before feeling at my ankles. It doesn't seem anything was broken or wounded but… there was some kind of rag tied around it. A little more touching gave me the impression it was some kind of noose. I groaned, feeling myself getting lightheaded as all the blood rushed to my head. My head became very hot, my body not able to copy with this massive influx of fluid. I groaned, and passed out, unable to hear the shocked gasps that surrounded me, followed by more shuffling like earlier. My last thought was that I hated the dark…
When I came to, I gasped loudly. My nose felt prickly as did the inside of my throat. I groaned and turned around, a weird warm softness enveloping me. My eyes slowly fluttered open , my head pounding as I tried to recall what happened… Did I hit my head or something before I went to sleep…? I held my face in my hands, trying to recall something from the night before … Until I heard something beside me. I cautiously and slowly looked to my left side. My throat made a noise like a mouse getting squeezed. Right beside me, resting on a simple, hand-made bed lied a beautiful woman! My brain took several seconds to process this new image before I cursed and jumped up from my position, bumped the back of my head against a wooden bar and dropped unto the hard floor. A blanket covered my half-naked form afterwards. A slow yawn resounded through the room, followed by long, smooth dark blue hair raising itself.
I was speechless.
Utterly speechless.
I wanted to say something, but I couldn't get any sound over my lips. The women looked at the empty spot beside her before peeking over the edge of the bed. I stared in shock while she calmly smiled and raised herself. She was fully clothed, yes, but… A long yet simple navy blue dress covered her entire body. A rough metal brooch elegantly connected two pieces of fabric that ran over her voluptuous chest and joined her main dress. Her wrists had simple, metal bands with a white coloured braided rope coiling around it. My eyes went big as she gazed at me with beautiful, green eyes. I gulped. This… was not what I expected! Not at all!
"Hello there, Sir…" She said. Her voice sounded gentle. Soothing. Yet it made all of the hairs on my skin stand tall. I did not know if that was a good thing or a bad thing. I dumbly nodded, suddenly realizing she might want an answer as well.
"I-I…Uhhhh…H-Hello….I-I…Uuuhmmm…" I stumbled over every syllable I wanted to say as the woman slowly stepped out of bed, revealing her smooth, silky white legs. I was immediately silenced when I saw that. I never was good with any girl, let alone beautiful ones that could make my tongue slither itself into a tight knot! So I only gulped, seeing the woman smile and slowly step towards me. Her form was absolutely marvellous. I felt my cheeks heat up before she gracefully let herself fall unto her right knee. Her cool, gently fingers caressed my left cheek before holding me by my jaw. She gently pushed her head towards me and closed her eyes. I really didn't know what to do… This was an unfamiliar woman, albeit a beautiful woman, who was lying in the bed near me in this…this… where was I anyway?
But the woman would have none of my internal thoughts as she simple touched her forehead with mine, which made me shiver warmly. A wave of warmth spread throughout my body from the point she touched me to the tip of my toes. I felt my jaw almost hit the floor, my hand pushing it back into place. The mysterious lady only smiled before standing once again. She nodded to herself before walking towards a makeshift desk. It was made of some kind of pine, yet tastefully put together. Some weird flasks with a bubbling liquid stood on the ground while some papers covered the entire desk. The woman waved some away before she began scribbling in a small book. I was slowly getting calmer and stood up again. The woman heard that and smiled.
"Good, it sees you can already stand! That is much better than the past days!" She said and scribbled something into the book. I rubbed my temples, trying to clear the mist covering my mind before my eyes flew wide open. I froze, asking the woman how many days I was out.
"You were out for two days already, I thought you might have had a concussion or something!" She said, a gently smile tugging at her lips. A loud gasp escaped my lips. If it really was two days already, then…!
Before this whole thing went down, I found something. You could approximate when the next attack will be… it was always between 4 to 6 days! And the sixth would be… the day that I was out… I pinched myself for getting carried away by the rumours and going after that monster. Which let me here… I grunted and cursed myself for my own carelessness. Suddenly, a thought crossed my mind.
The village.
I need to get back to the village as soon as I could. I needed to see if my hypothesis was correct and if it was… who the victim was and how he or she was killed… I felt my stomach drop. I ruffled my hair, looking around for my clothes. The beautiful, blue-haired woman seemed to guess my intentions and pointed at a neatly folded pile near the door. I nearly sprinted towards the bundle of clothes and quickly put them on. While I was doing that, the door flew open and a young girl ran through the opening. I yelped, falling unto the ground. I rubbed my back as I saw something black walk past me. I gasped and hurriedly pushed myself up from the floor and watched the newcomer walk towards the woman. The black "thing" of the rumours was not a monster…
It was a girl.
She looked young, at least younger than me and I was 22! Yet her eyes spoke of her maturity. She spoke shortly to the woman who, afterwards, lovingly hugged the girl and gently patted her head. The girl smiled and returned the hug in kind before turning around and walking outside. She completely ignored me. I quickly put on my jacket and strapped my sword around my waist. I checked if I had everything while the woman looked at me curiously. I noticed that too, and turned towards her.
"U-Uhm…Is there something interesting?" I slowly asked as I began making plans in my head to get as soon as possible from here -wherever it was- to the village to test my theory. I hoped I wasn't too late to prevent… I didn't finish that train of thought. The woman only smiled before nodding and speaking to me matter-of-factly.
"Yes, there has been a murder in the village. Again." She simply stated. I felt my stomach getting filled with concrete. I felt my face heat up while I felt a wave of dizziness crash unto my body. I grunted as I looked at her again. I did not question her intel, not right now. My mouth had problems with speaking, but after a couple of dread-filled seconds, I managed to speak but only one word. Who?
The woman looked at her notebook, her eyes flying over the milky white paper. She pursed her lips before looking closely at me. I gulped, waiting for her answer.
"A woman named … Amelia." Countless hands of ice seemingly grabbed my body and pulled it down. My knees rammed against the floor, ice filling my body. Shit. This … is the worst possible outcome… I couldn't believe it. The woman who was so passionate about her own lover an grieved more than anyone else got murdered, her voice immediately silenced as well. I bit on my own lip, drawing a little blood. I was careless. I rammed my fist against the hard wooden floor. I was careless and let weird rumours get the better of me… And now… Now… I scoffed at my own incompetence. True, I had no real connection with the woman, but all victims are one too many in my book. And it happened right under my nose too! I grunted and slowly pushed myself upwards, stumbling on my legs. My eyes looked at the woman as I slowly got calmer again. I slapped myself a couple of times to get my mind back in line once again. But still… A victim… right under my watch as well! I groaned before sitting back on the floor.
Now that the murder had already happened, there was no particular rush. If that girl came here and told the news just now, the murder would've happened this night. I began thinking of another plan but the woman in front of me took my attention. She just curiously stared at me with those deep emerald eyes of hers. I gulped before awkwardly extending my hand. I presented myself which made her smile and throw her long, smooth hair backwards. She slowly walked towards me. I saw that she wore simple shoes with ribbons criss-crossing her milky skin.
"Lily. Lily Asmod." She presented herself. Her fingers felt so smooth on my own when she gently shook my head. I could only dumbly nod as she presented herself. I gulped before slowly pulling back, my hand swaying uselessly beside my body. I grunted before scratching my head and looking through the small window. Trees were the only thing I could see! So I was still inside the forest, that is good to know.
"I haven't seen you around, Julian… Are you new in the village?" Lily asked with a curious gaze playing in her eyes. It took me a bit to fish my mind out of her intoxicating gaze. I slowly shook my head before straightening my back and grabbing my Detective License and showing it to her. Her brows furrowed as she read the paper. Then she looked at me.
"So you are a detective from Floran? For what reason are you here?" Now it was my turn to raise my eyebrows. I could swear I heard some distrust in her voice. I defensively raised my hands before I began explaining why I was here, and why I was involved this entire business.
"Well, if you are here to do research on the murders, I'd daresay that the investigation isn't going smoothly." She coldly noted while looking at me. My cheeks flushed red while I stared at the ground. I was not in the mood to be criticized by anyone, thank you very much… I sighed before Lily placed a soft, cool hand on my shoulder. I gasped and looked up, directly into her gentle eyes.
"I know this may sound harsh but… every new revelation in a case is handy, even if it is a new victim." She said in her gentle voice. I slowly nodded, thinking that I understood the meaning behind her cryptic words. I slowly turned around, and narrowly dodged the girl from earlier running inside. She smiled and showed Lily some rabbits and some dark-red berries in her other hand. The blue-haired woman smiled and gently took the animals from the girl, lying them on the table. The newcomer looked at me if she didn't see me before. I slowly waved. This was awkward… The girl walked towards me, inspecting my face.
Contrary to Lily, She had long, light blue hair. Did she dye it that way? Her light blue eyes gazed in my own ice blue eyes. It was quite a long time ago that I saw any blue eyes! There were quite rare in this country, after all. The girl kept inspecting my face, to the point that it got uncomfortable. Lily clicked with her tongue, causing the girl to turn around and chuckle.
"Come on, mother! I was just looking at this newcomer and you had to go and be a spoilsport!" The girl said with a smile playing around her lips. I snickered. This scene with a mother and daughter made me think of another duo I met before… I shook my head before turning on the heels of my shoes and walking towards the door. Lily's voice stopped me right before I walked outside. If I wanted to join her and her daughter later today for dinner. This caused a shocked gasp to escape from said daughter's lips.
At first, I wanted to decline. But then I remembered my small rations left at my camp, as well as the inability to buy any more food here! So I slowly nodded. But how will I find them? Lily had already counted on that.
"Adalynn here will guide you like before!" Lily said, pointing at her daughter. I slowly nodded and walked down the porch and looked at the makeshift house I just rested in. The walls and roof were covered with some kind of black moss. When I pressed against it, it was actually warm! How peculiar… A metal smokestack reached towards the sky. The house was actually quite skilfully put together! Not as good as stone houses, but still very nice! I nodded and slowly walked away from the house. I saw a path, created by years of usage and decided to take that. If Adalynn used this, I might as well, I thought.
After an hour walking in the silent forest, I finally reached the end. I took in a deep breath when I felt the warm sunrays on my face again. Walking between those thick trunks made me feel a bit claustrophobic, I think. I calmed myself before slowly walking towards the village. I prepared myself mentally. I never was good in this. I actually didn't really like blood. I had no problem seeing it… in small amounts. I gulped and slowly walked through the entrance. The village was quiet yet… something was different. There was a mist of… of… relief? I was certain that I was mistaken and walked towards the church. I was quite certain the pastor would have an explanation for what was going on here. When I walked in, I was met with absolute silence. The church was completely empty, no one was mourning the loss of one of the villagers.
No one…
I felt my face slowly tighten up before I breathed out to keep my calm. My footsteps echoed through the big building. Not even the pastor was present… I saw two caskets lie at the end of the altar. One was open, the other was locked with gaudy golden chains wrapped around it. My eyebrows went upwards when I saw that. Who would lock a casket? I mean, dead people are known to never move again… A pang in my heart made me realize the truth even more. In the other casket, there lied…
Amelia.
Her expression was peaceful and washed perfectly clean. A white cloth covered her body. Three red spots permeated through the saintly white cloth. While I wanted nothing more than run far away from here, I needed to something here. I will end this. I may have no connection to the woman lying dead right in front of me, but every dead person is one too many! I shivered before I slowly came closer to the casket. I gulped, a weird feeling coming over me. I looked at the pristine cloth, yet my gaze was attracted to the three scarlet dots permeating through the cloth. My face went cold when i realized what it was. I gulped before noticing something weird. The three dots were not in line. Two of them were, the middle one was completely off the mark… I slowly grabbed my notebook and moved to one of the benches in the church to write it down.
"Oh, Julian! I thought you had went back to the city?" A familiar voice sounded behind me. Pastor John was descending a staircase that lead towards the sky. I presumed to the big bell hanging above the two of us. I shook my head to answer her question, slowly pushing my notebook deep into one of the pockets of my coat.
"Oh, no! As you can see, this case is not yet… finished." I said as I looked at the man in front of me. Was it just me or did he look tired? I shrugged my shoulders before I pointed at something in his hands. It was a trident. Only a small one, of a dark red colour. The points looked lethal. I raised my eyebrow when I saw the weapon.
"What the hell is that?" I asked, pointing at the weapon in John's hands. He nodded and showed me the lethal piece of metal. I looked at it. It wasn't anything special. The pastor said that this was the weapon used to kill the unfortunate Amelia. I raised my left eyebrow, keeping the red stains in the cloth earlier in mind. I looked at the points while asking some questions.
"So you are perfectly certain that this is the weapon found at the most recent crime scene?" The pastor nodded.
"Yes, One hundred percent!" He said proudly.
"And you are absolutely sure this weapon was used in the murder?" I asked again, my hand slowly covering up my chin and mouth, like I was thinking about something.
"Yes, I am definitely certain!" The pastor answered proudly. I snickered inside myself. I closed my eyes and looked at the points from the front. They were all straight. I smiled and one single word echoed in my mind.
Gotcha.