Robert turned to the camera that started recording, "alright, it's believed from the locals this is the very spot that Luke, a young man, was killed. And now, we're gonna see if we can get to meet him."
Weber looked around with Josh.
Josh shot Weber a glance, "should I play along? Cause the funny part is, if we start calling Luke, he might answer." Josh thought.
But he shrugged when he thought of how Robert tasked them with pretending to be terrified so later Robert could have people edit it all so it looked like real ghosts came.
"Luke! Are you here?" Robert said, flashing his light from one corner to the other, feigning unease.
"Can you come out? We just want to know if you're here," Josh said, looking around.
"Can you hear us?" Weber said.
There was no response or any sign of anything.
Then Robert whipped his head to his left, "I think something just touched me!" Robert lied.
Weber folded his arms, "and here's a lot more cold than usual..." Weber said, pretending something was off.
"Luke, that you?" Josh asked, then he jumped, pretending something touched him.
Robert grinned, "at this rate, with the right edits, we'll fool the audience and our views will explode!" he said in his mind.
Then a cold hand brushed through his neck.
Robert looked back, his eyes widened and he looked at the crew, then at Weber and Josh.
"Was that any of you?" Robert asked.
Josh nodded negatively.
Weber nodded negatively as well, then grinned, "maybe Luke wants to talk to us."
Robert started looking around, too tensed up to pay attention to his surroundings. Then he saw someone run in the distance from tree to tree and getting closer.
"Wraith Keeper," a female ghost said to Weber.
"Speak, my friend," Weber said, grinning at Robert being on edge.
"It's not fair that only one of us gets to torment. Let me torment as well," the ghost in a black gown, white hair and empty eye sockets said.
"Go have fun," Weber said.
Robert felt like someone hugged him from behind, then turned and the grasp was no more and he ashened when he saw that no one was close enough to touch him.
Robert gnashed his teeth, "why are they disturbing only me? If this is a trick you're all fired!" Robert yelled, then a female voice whispered next to his ear.
"This isn't a trick."
Robert drew out a sword, "I hear you demons don't like silver!" he yelled and started swinging his sword.
"That won't work. These are poor people that were murdered and their restless souls clog to this place. So they're basically not demons," Weber remarked next to Josh.
"Wraith Keeper," another ghost told Weber.
"Wraith Keeper," another said.
Ghost after ghost called out the title of Weber and he sighed, then grinned and his eyes shone white.
"If your friends are having fun, then go ahead and join!"
This time, the cameramen started feeling taps.
Robert kept swinging his sword, he felt something grab the blade, then send it close to the face of Robert in a way he could see his reflection.
He saw people being tortured to death, then they vanished and this time, people without eye sockets screaming and pressing their faces against the reflection as if wanting to come out.
Robert tried throwing away the sword, but it was stuck.
"Should we stop?" Josh asked in a low voice next to Weber.
Weber looked at him with his eyes glowing white in the dark, "connection to spectres, that is the power of the Wraith Keeper. The Abyss, the spiritual entity that's within me that gives me my power, says I need to earn the trust of ghosts, which can be different from how I earn trust of humans," he said.
Then he looked at the ghosts only he could see swarming and poking at Robert, "they've said if they'll fight with me, they want satisfaction. And that can only come until they're satisfied tormenting Robert and his crew."
Then Robert and his men started floating into the air and they started screaming.
"Let us kill him," the ghosts said.
"Let us kill him," they said again.
"That wasn't in the agreement. You said you just wanted to play with him. Not kill," Weber said, folding his hands.
"We won't fight with you!" they told Weber, and his heart jumped.
In order for him to use Wail of the Abyss, he needed ghosts that had his trust to be sealed in a realm and only summoned at his command.
So if there are no ghosts, he has nothing to work with. And he wasn't sure when the next fight might be.
Weber clenched his fists, "we had an agreement!"
The ghosts only smiled and they dropped Robert from high up in the air and Robert and his crew were falling down to certain death.
Weber's eyes widened, "do something!" he yelled, and the ghosts of wolves he had earned their respect manifested and Josh took a step back.
"That night you said you wanted some time to do something, was this it?" he asked, looking at the wolf spirits.
Weber smirked. The pack leader met Weber's eyes and they nodded at each other.
The wolves went into the air and shrouded themselves around Robert and his crew, and it slowed their fall to the ground.
They still hit hard, but not hard enough for anything more than a bruise.
Weber's eyes went back to their normal hazel and the wolf spirits vanished.
And what terrified Robert and his men a lot was that they could see the wolves and they fainted.
Weber's eyes turned bright white and he looked around with a scowl, 'now they're unconscious...' he thought.
He looked around at the dozen ghosts hiding behind trees but looking down at Weber by revealing their heads.
"I have the power of the Abyss and you dare disobey your Wraith Keeper!" Weber yelled.
Then the ghosts started laughing, but Josh couldn't see or hear anything, though he was sure Weber was seeing something he didn't like.
"You heard yourself! Without the power of the Abyss, you can't torment people with your full potential. But with me, you can do so much more!" Weber said, stomping his foot on the ground.
They only looked back at him without a word.
Weber closed his eyes and whispered, "spirit of the Abyss, speak!" But there was no response.
He opened his eyes and made them turn back to normal, grimaced, and clicked his tongue.
"What now?" Josh asked, and for a split second, he saw the ghosts that Weber was talking to and his legs buckled at their presence.
"I don't fully understand how to form a pact with them, and they're exploiting that," Weber said, walking away.
Robert woke up and sat up, the pain on his arms and legs made a hiss escape out of his throat.
Weber squatted in front of him, "you think we stay longer or we go now?"
Robert looked around and a cold breeze blew and he heard rustling in the bushes, all of which made his hair stand.
Robert staggered to his feet and ran towards their van, his crewmen going right behind him.
Josh chuckled, but Weber only sighed and followed after them, walking slowly and putting his hand in his pocket.
Josh could feel Weber's disappointment at the ghosts and a frown crept up his face.
Josh and Weber went to Robert before they drove off.
"What now, sir?" Josh asked.
Robert wiped cold sweat off his head, constantly looking around, "the show will be going on a hiatus till further notice!"
He said and handed them checks and the van drove off.
Josh and Weber looked at each other without a word and headed back to the motel.
They met Ariel with red eyes staring at her screen.
"I hope you haven't been in that same spot all day?" Weber asked, sitting on the floor and exhaling.
Ariel smacked her lips and didn't reply.
"Come on," Josh said, grinning, "spill it."
"Yes, I've been here since!" Ariel confessed, and Weber and Josh smacked their heads with their hands.
Weber sighed and went to look out the window and looked onto the road that appeared as if it never ended.
Weber hissed and stomped out of the room.
Ariel frowned and looked at Josh, "he's angry with me, is he?" she asked.
Josh shrugged, "don't take this the wrong way but you're probably the least of his concern right now cause he's pissed off with something else."
Ariel squinted at him, "oh really. What's that?"
Josh told her everything they experienced with Robert.
How they got to the forest and Robert wanted Josh and Weber to pretend being haunted, only for real ghosts to disturb Robert and his crew.
And how ghosts laughed at Weber when he commanded them and refused his authority.
Weber walked in and lay down and turned away from them.
Ariel looked over to him and put her hand on his arm.
"Stop being frustrated. If those ghosts will cooperate, they will," Ariel said, gently squeezing his arm.
Weber withdrew his arm, "Vespera is in peace. Fantasia is not." He said, sitting up and staring into a blank space imagining towns being burned down by Captain Lewyin.
"Yet, I'm here still figuring things out. You won't understand the frustration," Weber said wearily, looking up at the roof.
Ariel leaned back on the wall, sitting on the floor, "you're right, but have hope. I know it's the Abyss speaking and not you, Weber."
Weber lay down and faced away from her, "good night," he said tersely.
Ariel's eyes dulled as she looked at him.
Clearly the war was putting pressure on him, influencing his emotions.
And the Abyss was only worsening it.