The trees mitigated most of the harsh blowing snow as Gale and Rachel trudged through the forest. A cluster of snow fell in front of them from the swaying pine trees, almost burying both of them.

“You sure this is the right way?” Rachel asked.

“Yeah,” Gale said. “Dyani pointed this direction.”

They pushed on until the trees thinned little by little. Gaps between the trunks widened every couple of metres, exposing them to more of the snowstorm.

“Look,” Gale pointed where the treeline ended. “There’s something there.”

Rachel squinted through the white. “I can’t see anything.”

“Trust me,” Gale said. “Just a little further.”

Five minutes later, they broke into a clearing. The trees fell behind them. Shapes appeared through the snow, shapes that looked like houses buried under snow.

“Houses?” Rachel whispered.

In front of them was what looked like a settlement. Sides of houses remained uncoated by the snow, revealing wood and fading paint. The rooftops, though, were holding a huge amount of snow, making it look like the houses might collapse.

“This has to be the reserve, right?” Gale said, stepping forward.

“Right,” Rachel followed along.

But before they continued any further, a slight movement at the corner of his eye caught Gale’s attention. At the opposite end of the clearing, where the forest started again, something large shifted in the shadows. Breath of the Void tendrils spread through the direction and showed him the entity.

A deer stood still, watching them. Its antlers spread wide, much bigger than any normal buck’s. It had an unnatural yellow glow along its antlers, ether that spread and pulsed through it. Even from where he stood, Gale sensed its power. It was different from normal wildlife.

“Rachel,” Gale whispered, “three o’clock. In the trees.”

Rachel turned slowly. “I see it. That’s no ordinary deer.”

[Warning. Harmonic-level beast detected. Threat level: Maximum. Recommended for host to not engage.]

“I can sense it,” Gale said. “Beasts can awaken too?”

“No. That’s a divine beast. At least, Harmonic. They’re extremely rare. Beasts that awaken usually give in to the taint and end up becoming abominations. If they don’t, we call them divine beasts,” Rachel said.

“Dangerous?”

“Much stronger than a human at the Harmonic level,” Rachel said. “They’re only dangerous if provoked. Kind of territorial, not predatory. Let’s just not aggravate it.”

The divine beast watched them as they walked toward the nearest house. When they walked into the border of the settlement, the howls of the storm disappeared. Snowfall suddenly lightened. Instead of blowing horizontally, it was a beautiful feather fall of snow.

“This is beautiful,” Rachel said.

“Weather shift, maybe. Mountains and hills sometimes create these pockets. Or…” Gale said.

“Or something else,” Rachel said, glancing at the divine beast.

“Come on.” Gale took Rachel by the arm and went to the nearest house.

“Right,” Rachel said.

The first house they went to had a collapsed porch, broken windows, and nothing inside but broken furniture. Snow covered half of the floor inside as well, making it harder to actually see what’s on the walls or the floors. Gale stepped through the doorway with Rachel right behind him.

“Looks like nobody’s been here in years,” Rachel said, walking over to the kitchen. “I’ll check here. You check the living room.”

Gale went to the living room as ordered, brushing off the snow on the floor. Rotten old leather furniture and torn fabrics littered the floor. A child’s toy stomped on with a clear footprint on the floor. Only essential items such as blankets and clothes were taken, pointing to the fact that whatever happened here was a quick exit.

Going back to the front door area, Rachel also exited the kitchen.

“Let’s check the next one,” Gale said.

Rachel nodded.

Each house told the same story. Abandoned decades ago, left to rot, and the same evidence of a quick exit, as if they were running away from something. They found old photos, government papers from 2029, children’s homework. Some homes showed bullet holes in walls and blackened stains on floors that would most likely be blood.

“Robert wasn’t lying,” Rachel said as they exited the fifth house. “The government really did this, eh?”

“But where’s Dyani?” Gale muttered. “She said she lives here with her mom.”

“Maybe there’s a newer section?” Rachel said. “Or a house we haven’t found yet.”

They searched more, searching for life, but Gale already knew there were no mundane signatures anywhere. The only living signature in this whole place was the divine beast at the far edge, overlooking the whole settlement. Searching through each house provided no fruitful rewards other than the same story over and over again.

“Nothing makes sense,” Gale said. “She was real. You saw the fragment she gave me.”

“Gale, I trust you,” Rachel said. “A hundred percent. But there might be something more that’s happening.”

Gale sighed. She was right. There’s no point in trying to make sense of things even Rachel couldn’t understand. The fun he had with Dyani was definitely not an illusion. He was sure of it.

Walking up to him, meeting him face to face, Rachel said, “We’ll figure it out, together. The sun’s going down, and let’s go back before the trio shoots up the whole lobby. Ok?”

“Ok.” Gale said. He wasn’t a child. He’s an adult. Communications 101 did say that problems don’t need to be solved right away. This was probably one of those kinds of problems anyways. He smiled back at her, saying, “Right. Let’s go.”

Turning around to leave the settlement, tendrils saw the deer watching them with eerie stillness. The glow on its antlers waned once, and the snowstorm picked back up, blowing the snow sideways.

“Tomorrow,” Gale said. “We’ll come back with better light.”

“En,” Rachel said. “Tomorrow.”

The door to Room 217 banged open. Rachel marched in first, dragging a full-sized deer by its broken neck like a grocery bag. Snow melted off her jacket into puddles on the wooden floor of their unit. Gale followed, closing the door shut behind her.

This novel is published on a different platform. Support the original author by finding the official source.

Ollie jumped up from the couch. “Holy shit!”

Kyle and Clyde turned from the window.

“Is that a fucking deer?” Kyle asked, pointing at the clearly dead deer.

“No, it’s a rabbit with really big ears,” Rachel dropped the deer with a thud. “What does it look like?”

“A rabbit with really big ears,” Kyle said.

Clyde elbowed Kyle.

Ollie stepped closer, examining the clean break in the deer’s neck. “How’d you take it down?”

Rachel took off her light jacket. “Tracked it for twenty minutes. Got behind it. Snapped its neck.”

“With your bare hands?” Ollie asked.

“No, I asked it nicely to die for us,” Rachel rolled her eyes. “Yes, with my hands. What else would I use?”

Gale kicked off his boots and shook snow from his hair. “We got more than just the deer.”

Kyle dropped back into the armchair. “Yeah? What else?”

“Knowledge,” Rachel said, eyes and lips smiling. “Gale taught me so much out there. Did you know winterberries are edible but taste very bitter? Or that rabbit tracks make a Y-pattern in snow? It’s really cute! And then there were these really weird berries I ate.”

“That’s great,” Ollie said, “but did you find anything about the wendigo? Or the sixth floor? Or why we’re trapped in this hotel during a never-ending blizzard?”

Rachel’s smile vanished. “Well, no, but…”

“I saw Dyani again,” Gale said.

All eyes locked on him, except Rachel.

“The one from yesterday?” Clyde asked.

Gale nodded. “We were hunting, and Rachel went to track the deer. Dyani showed up and we had another snowball fight.”

“I didn’t see her,” Rachel said. “I saw him sitting alone.”

“Great,” Kyle grumbled. “Ghost girl strikes again.”

“She’s not a ghost,” Gale said. He pulled a small bone from his pocket. “She gave me this. For protection against bad spirits, she said.”

Clyde stood up and walked over, holding out his hand, to which Gale placed the yellow fragment onto his palm. Turning it over, Clyde showed it to Kyle, who frowned on first glance.

“Well?” Ollie asked. “What is it?”

Kyle handed the bone back to Gale. “It’s a parietal bone, a fragment of it. Part of a child’s skull.”

Rachel’s mouth gaped. “What?”

“Female, according to thickness and curve,” Clyde added. “Around nine or ten years old.”

“How the fuck do you know that?” Ollie said.

Kyle snorted. “Hello? Special Investigations Division, remember? We deal with all sorts of weird shit. You think we don’t know what human bones look like?”

“Shut up, Kyle,” Ollie said.

“You’re saying Dyani gave me a fragment of a child’s skull?” Gale asked. “Or her own skull?”

But she definitely wasn’t a ghost. Ghosts usually kill on first sight and are harmful beings that would suck the life out of people like him because he was just a boy. Dragging his feet, he managed to get closer to Rachel’s side. But if she burns the ghost, that would be just sad… he played with her too, and it was fun.

“Not necessarily hers,” Clyde said. “Could be anyone’s.”

“Anyways, we found the reservation,” Rachel said. “The one Robert mentioned. Abandoned, just like he said. People left fast and some houses had human bones in them.”

“Or were forced out,” Kyle added.

“But Dyani told me she lives there with her mother,” Gale said. “She talked about the other kids who don’t like her, about her mom cleaning houses for white people in town.”

“There’s no town for tens of kilometres,” Ollie said. “And that reservation’s been empty for years or even decades, according to Robert.”

“We also saw a deer just outside the settlement. Not like this one. Bigger. Much bigger. Antlers like tree branches. A divine beast,” Rachel said.

“What was it?” Clyde asked.

“Harmonic,” Rachel replied.

Kyle whistled. “An actual harmonic? Rare as fuck.”

“Too bad we don’t have the equipment to take it on, eh?” Clyde grinned.

“So what’s our next move?” Ollie asked, pacing.

“There must be a connection between Dyani and that reserve,” Rachel sat on the sofa, shooing away Clyde and waving Gale to come over. “Sounds like a spirit with lingering attachments to something. That would explain why I couldn’t see her. Friendly spirits usually only show themselves to certain people.”

Ollie tilted his head. “How would you know that?”

“Unlike some people,” Rachel said, “I’ve been out in the field many many times. The path calls me multiple times for exorcism, Ann Family specialty with our fire. Though, you wouldn’t know much about that side of the world, Ollie. You’re just stuck in your office all day since you got demoted thanks to you-know-who.”

Kyle smirked. “Wonder who that was.”

Clyde smirked. “That guy must be fun.”

Ollie sighed. “Fair point, but that was a low blow.”

“Boohoo,” Rachel replied.

Gale sat on the edge of the sofa, turning the bone in his hands. He pocketed it again. So friendly ghosts do exist. Even if Dyani was a ghost, a friend is a friend, right? Then now, he had to find out why she was stuck in this plane.

“I think Dyani is connected to whatever’s haunting this hotel,” Gale said. “Maybe it’s not even a wendigo. And what about that Silver Lion facility? What if those government men who hit the reserve were Silver Lions? Maybe they wanted something.”

“Like what?” Kyle asked.

“Shards, maybe, like in the files we found,” Gale said. “Or something we don’t know about yet.”

“Could be possible. If the Silver Lions took out a whole reserve to find a shard, then we gotta get that shit ourselves.” Ollie said.

Kyle and Clyde smirked when Ollie said that.

“We should all hit the reserve tomorrow,” Gale said. “Better with more people than just me and Rachel.”

“Agreed. We start at first light,” Ollie said.

“I’m in,” Clyde said.

Kyle stretched and moaned. “Not like we have anything better to do in this boring hotel.”

Gale stood, eyeing the dead deer on the floor. “I’ll handle this.”

“Need help?” Rachel asked.

“I got it.” Gale grabbed the deer by its broken neck and slung it over his shoulder. “Won’t take long.”

Going out of Room 217 and back into the 1st floor kitchen, Gale pushed through the kitchen doors. Looks like Robert cleaned this whole place, all sparkly after that rabbit stew he made a mess of last night.

He dropped the deer onto a butcher block and hunted for knives. He picked a sharp boning knife, then put Phase Touch along its edge. Wind rattled the windows. Time flew fast as night had already fallen, turning the glass into a mirror reflecting his face.

Skinning and butchering. Every movement clicked into place, remembering the lessons mom and dad ingrained into his very bones.

Don’t waste any part of the kill, Gale.

Stop being slow, Gale.

You’re cutting it wrong, Gale.

Gale smiled at the memories. Dad always just wanted to tease him even if he was doing it right, and mom would elbow him after.

Blood covered his hands. The metallic smell hit his nose as he worked, separating meat from bone with quick cuts.

The knife paused its movement.

Maybe this was for the better. Getting a G.E.D and working in an office, he wouldn’t be able to do any of this with Rachel or Ollie. Wouldn’t be able to use his skills to be at least helpful to them.

Aur was different from the mundane world. A good kind of different where people would actually believe him if he said he saw something weird.

He finished the deer, wrapped the meat in butcher paper from under the counter. The freezer hummed as he loaded packages onto empty shelves.

Nothing wasted. Just like how dad taught him.

Back in Room 217, the others played cards. Kyle dealt poker while Clyde counted toothpicks for chips. Ollie sat alone, still reviewing documents.

“Meat’s in the freezer,” Gale said, walking straight to the bathroom. Blood caked his hands and clothes.

Hot water washed away blood and warmed his skin. He scrubbed until his hands turned raw, watching pink swirl down the drain. When he stepped out, the mirror had fogged completely.

He wiped a spot clear and checked his reflection. The face looked different. He couldn’t recognize what he’d become. No, literally. Like his face was way chubbier before he got into the Eclipsed. Now, he had a good jawline. Maybe losing that many calories in the dark forest wasn’t so bad after all. Taller too. Like at least a few centimeters taller.

Gale pulled on clean clothes and walked back to the main room. The card game had ended. Ollie laid on the couch, arm over his eyes. The twins had vanished to their room.

Rachel was in bed, propped against the headboard, swiping on her phone upwards.

“Hey,” she said, looking up. “All clean?”

“Yeah.” He sat on the edge of the bed, running a hand through wet hair.

“Want me to dry you up?” Rachel asked.

Before he could say yes, she was already blow-drying his hair with her palm, using her fire to create a hot current. His hair dried soon enough, and she laid back down on her side of the bed near the window while he laid down closer to the door.

“Ready to sleep?” Rachel said, her head turned in his direction.

Gale nodded. The mattress dipped as they settled. In the dark, her breathing came soft and steady.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep