Lucas looked to find himself stuck at a large roundtable. Big enough to hold a hundred people, most of the chairs are filled with shadowy silhouettes. Though some chairs were empty. Exactly 97 chairs had silhouettes. 3 were empty.
Lucas looked around to see who his neighbours were and was surprised when he saw who was at the left of him.
A fiery haired green eyed girl was sitting down looking rather impatient until she noticed him too.
She opened her mouth to talk but no sound came out. Lucas got curious and tried to speak, finding himself in the same situation.
Lucas looked around the room he was in. Which was unfortunately just a giant void, there was a moon though. A giant one at that. Hanging ominously atop of everyone else. Sadly Lucas noticed a very weird feature of the hanging moon
Does…does it have a face?
It certainly looked like it had one. Two pools of empty black rested on its surface. And a long rocky line just below the 'eyes'. Its face had cracks and fractures painting the moon.
A second after Lucas made his observation the rocky line twitched.
It burst into what Lucas could only define as a moon's attempt at laughing. Which sounded very horrifying if you were curious.
"haha. Took a moment but one of you noticed. Not bad. Maybe this batch will be able to bring the pale lady justice" the ugly moon mused in a loud gravely voice before stopping and adding a sense of regalness into its tone.
"No no… don't let me delude myself. Hmm.. where was I? Ah right. I will inform you lot of the festival rules. Since about…" the ugly moon took its time slowly turning itself around to look over each chair.
"hm… how curious, only 20% of you haven't the faintest clue. That's new. Anyhow there are only about three rules that truly matter. The rest you may find through trial and error" the moon then sounded like it was reading off a script or something. Lucas didn't know why he thought that. The moon just sounded less lively.
"The first. You have only four months to find your way towards one of the endings. Do not worry. You need not count. Once a night has passed all will faint and awaken here. And may mingle with their fellows"
"The second. The law of the wilds stands true here. Only the strong survive. How you find that strength is all your own doing. Power lies hidden across the festival ground. Seize it if you must"
"The third. Once a month passes you may ask me a singular question. Starting now" A bright flash followed the moon ending its script, Lucas covered his eyes, shielding them from most of the flash.
When he stopped covering his eyes and looked up Lucas felt the need to scream but stopped himself. The ugly moon probably wouldn't like that.
Speaking of. The moon was directly in front of Lucas where he saw all of it in its ugly glory. It was quite scary. He thought he was justified in screaming.
"Boy… you have quite the rude mind" Said the handsome moon.
"Lying to me will do you no favors. I am aware how unruly I appear, it is by design. . . Thinking me a liar is no good, what has the youth come too?" The very ugly moon sighed before it somehow managed to convey snapping awake.
Wait…no way.
"Nevermind. The girl has much more, crude terms. You are soft in comparison" The moon then did a shrug and a sigh, a loud one If Lucas read it right.
"Before you waste your question. Yes. I believe I count as a beast. Not that I agree but if it is my classification then so be it"
Huh. Well that was answered. Actually pretty neat that the moon could read minds. Now Lucas had to think of a good question. He didn't know if he should hurry or- "Take as much time as you need" -take his time…
Lucas sat for the better half of an hour. Before giving up. He couldn't think of a truly helpful question. May as well ask the moon's name.
"So. What's your name" Said Lucas. Causing the moon to give its best attempt at looking stunned. Which should be quite hard since it had no eyebrows and its mouth wasn't that flexible.
"Are you sure? Others have asked for much more crucial info. I suggest following their examples" The moon waited for a bit before adding on to its sentence.
"So that's how you see it? Amusing. Know that you are not the first to ask. But you are the first to be so brazen about it. bravo, I don't get much of 'first' at my age" The moon coughed for a while before its voice changed.
The loud gravely voice was no more. Replaced by a deep male voice. It was calming like listening to birds sing or the winds howl.
"Sanctum. My name was Sanctum"
Swish
And just like that Lucas was back in the middle of the house. He slowly blinked, testing if anything about himself was off. Finding nothing wrong, he turned to see Evie staring up at the cellar.
"Soo…what did you ask Sanctum?" Asked Lucas, Evie meanwhile broke out of her daydream.
"Umm…I asked how to get out of here and back to my parents" Answered Evie who looked kind of lost.
"What did he say?" It would probably be good to know how to leave this death trap.
"it…he said I needed to do a ritual if I wanted the weaklings way out" Stammered Evie before adding on some more.
"He could read my mind. I didn't like that. I thought of some bad words and the moon didn't like that. He started nagging me like auntie does when I ste-" Lucas zoned out as soon as he sensed the conversation was going off topic.
He should probably find some food. He had been ignoring his need for a while but it was coming fast.
Unfortunately Lucas didn't know where to find food. And walking around aimlessly didn't sound like a solution.
He could look through the logs till he found something useful. Yeah that could work.
While Evie was still going on and on about some 'heist' she had pulled off with her cousin about some cookies. Lucas started skimming through the journal. Looking for any mention of food.
Thankfully he didn't need to look that long since log 5 mentioned it.
"Log 5. We have escaped the city. It seems there is an invisible line which greater beasts cannot cross (note: Lesser > Greater > ???) Anyhow, that is how we managed to escape the rot swarm or as Mast calls it "Demon fly swarm" (note: Ask Mast about his obsession with demons).
Nevertheless we have found a sustainable source of food. In the farthest path north lays a giant tavern. It houses food and drinks on the first floor and the bare minimum for survival on the second. However there are rules painted on the wall.
'Do not take more than you need'
'Do not stay the night'
'Do not destroy the merchandise'
Unfortunately we do not know the consequences. And none of us seem eager to test. I will report more next time. We are headed to the south outskirts when the time is right"
So. Lucas needed to go north on the farthest path to find a big tavern that should have food and everything needed to survive.
It's risky but better than starving here. May-
Lucas was broken out of his thoughts when Evie raised her voice.
"You're not even listening are you!" Yelled a mad Evie. She looked almost hurt.
"No. I am. You and Cosa stole cookies in the middle of the night and got caught. Then Cosa blamed it on you. Which made auntie only pick on you. But she did let you have the last cookie. Did I miss anything?" Evie looked shocked. But a smile quickly found her face as she lost her anger and hurt in seconds.
"Nope! That's all" She was beaming. Which was a good thing if anything.
Lucas explained where they'd go to find food and asked her to be very quiet while they looked for the tavern. She promised to be silent but Lucas wouldn't bet on it.
Leaving the house. The old journey tucked away in a pocket on the inside of his coat. Lucas and Evie set off.
Five minutes was all it took for Lucas to admit to himself that he had no idea where north. He didn't have a compass nor any stars to judge off. But even if there were, Lucas didn't think he could use stars.
But his saving grace was the very useful fact of having a feeling where north was. Which felt a little to his left. Not too far left. Honestly he should've been better than this. His first tale is literally called [Wayfinder of Paths]
Lucas was supposed to be made for this kinda thing! Nevertheless, all he had to go off was a feeling. He struggled for a while.
The only things he had passed were other run down houses which wasn't much of an indicator. Thirty more minutes later and Evie was complaining. Which then led Lucas to reminding her she promised to shut up.
Just when Lucas was leaning towards giving up he noticed something. Under a pile of rubble was a sign with a red arrow and the words "Tavern further down" which was quite helpful.
It reminded Lucas of something. That others had come and gone. He even had a whole journal with stuff about this place. He wasn't starting from the bottom, Lucas was far from being the first to survive here. But he would have an easier time thanks to those who had.
Following the signs instructions. Lucas walked the path it showed. Evie started chatting again. She couldn't keep her promise the first time. Lucas didn't think she would be able too the second time.
"Umm..what's your name?" Evie whispered quietly after her unending chatter. Which reminded Lucas. Had he really not told her? He milled his mind and as far as he could tell. It never came up.
"Lucas" She looked at him. Like she was expecting something, then gave up when she figured he wouldn't answer.
"Your full name?"
"Oh. Lucas"
"Your full name!"
"OH. should've said that. Lucas" Lucas was getting a kick out of this. One he very much enjoyed. Evie looked like she was about to blow a fuse. She eventually backed off. Whispering some very bad things about him.
Lucas would never actually tell her that he didn't even know himself. She could just think of it as him being secretive and a pain in the ass.
The path they were on started to spit off from the main outskirt road. Less buildings and more trees started appearing. The trees were willows. They had a pale white for the wood and their leaves were a vibrant violet.
They started taking over the path. And soon enough there were no more run down homes. The path however started to look cleaner. Like one that actually had someone tend to it.
It was beautiful. And if Lucas had his camera with him he'd savor the moment. It kind of annoyed him. All this view and he would probably forget it later down the line cause he didn't take a photo.
Bummer. But what could he do? Exactly. Nothing. Either way Evie started getting closer to him. As if afraid of the trees, which Lucas didn't really understand but she was nine. So he wouldn't blame her.
The trees did start to get more plentiful as they walked. The path started becoming less obvious, tree roots covering some parts.
This only got worse as Lucas and Evie got deeper in and soon enough there wasn't a clear path to follow. So Lucas started to rely on the only thing he had left.
His eyes. He started going along where he felt was 'right' to his eyes. Evie was complaining now. Saying things like "we're lost!" And "You don't even know where we're going!" which was nothing but slander!
Of course he knew where they were going. Heck. The two story buliding was right in front of them as they started to walk past!
Stupid girl doubting me and my skil- Oh shit! It's here! Thought Lucas as he immediately turned around.