Chương 22: Pyre
I look around our surroundings to try and pinpoint where the third village is. Mhmm....we're still in the jungle but...I think we're on the other side of the river and in Laos??? That mountain looks like the same one from across the river but now…flipped? "James, are we going to split up again?" Rachel asked James after slowly regaining her stomach from the site of the village. James slowly nods his head as he forms a magic circle in his hands. "Everyone be on alert and stick with your partner. We'll investigate the village just like the previous ones and THIS TIME be sure to alert everyone if you find anything." I look over at Rachel before we both nod our heads at each other. She creates her own magic circle as I reach behind me and pull out a folded rod from the base of my backpack along my spine. I hold on to one end of the handle and let the three section staff drop down to show off a little bit of it's enchantment. The glowing runes are still in it's infancy stage as I still have a long way to go before completing this weapon, and I'm unsure exactly how I want the final effects to be but for now it's just some stun and shock damage.
"What the hell is that?" Nicolas points down at my spear as a cocky smirk slowly sprouts onto my lips. "Oh it's nothing. Just something I wanted to try since I can't use it in Kamar-Taj or else I would hurt someone too much." I carefully fold back up the spear so that the enchantment on both ends of the spear doesn't misfire and shock me instead of my test subjects. "Ready Rachel?" I look towards her and she responds back with a nod as we both look towards James for a signal. All he did was smirk at us before heading towards a direction out of the village to begin his investigation. Taking this as a signal, Rachel and I begin doing our sweep of the broken down village. There's old rotting blood and limbs of cadavers everywhere as if a massacre had occured here. Which I don't doubt it but holy fuck just want could had done this? The only time I've seen anything like this was in the movies when war crimes are being committed. Even then, there would be more signs of fire burns on the ground and buildings if it was done by people.
The type of damages here are....I don't even know how to describe it really. There's dried blood everywhere but no fully intact corpses at all. Most of the buildings are in ruins as if they've been ripped apart piece by piece or rammed into by a heavy force. The only remaining buildings that are still up are just skeletons of former homes. As Rachel and I sweep through our section of the village, the homes of these people tell a very familiar yet different story when compared to the previous two ghost towns. The people here did not suspect anything to happen to them on the day that whatever left their village in its current state. In the homes where there was any crumbs of evidence left that hasn't been eaten away by nature or time, the only conclusion that I can come up with is that this might have happened during a meal time. As for when exactly, I cannot tell but if the attack on this village is related to the disappeared children and the strange activities that occur at night in the jungles then I can only assume it's something related to the supernatural.
"So any theory on what we're dealing with so far, Rachel?" I glance over at her as we slowly search through the rubbles of a collapsed bamboo hut. "Well whatever is going on, it's definitely a mission worthy of us sorcerers. I just can't imagine there not be anything going on with all these missing children and especially with this village. You can't just have a whole village disappear like this and for there to not be anything strange behind it. I...I just hope we're all ready for whatever is at the end of this show." She cross her hands together and call for the rubbles to start moving on its own. I was going to try and move some things around from my part of the house but seeing how she's doing most of the heavy lifting for the two of us, I can't complain. It makes our work go by faster and it'll barely cost Rachel a drop of sweat.
"Is that? Holy shit Rachel!" I carefully observe the removal of the rubbles as something underneath comes into to view. It's an old lady laying down under the ruins of the house. She looks very thin and no different than that of a corpse. "JAMES! EVERYONE COME HERE!" I cup my hands around my mouth as I shout towards the direction of everyone else before turning back to Rachel. "What are you screaming for-oh shit! JAMES HURRY!" Rachel calls out too as I rush over to check on the person under the rubbles. I drop down next to them to try and assess the situation. "Miss. Miss are you alright?" I try shaking them on the shoulder before dropping myself even lower to the ground to see if they're chest is moving or not. A weak and struggling cough erupts from the old woman's mouth as she tries to reach out for my hands. "ກະລຸນາ. ແລ່ນ. ເຂົາເຈົ້າຕາຍໝົດແລ້ວ" ??? Holy fuck she's still alive! "It's okay miss. We're here to help. Everything will be fine now." I reach out and grab on to her hand as I gently slide my other hand under her legs to pick her up. But slowly, her already weak and struggling hand begins to lose strength in my palm as she coughs out a mouth full of blood. Fuck fuck fuck. This can't be happening. We can't be too late.
I let go of her hand and slide my other palm under her back gently so I can pick her up. I slowly stand on to my feet while carrying her and I turn towards Rachel but the world suddenly begins to blur and become hazy. I can't seem to find Rachel even though she was just a few feet behind me. All I can see now is a shade of blue close to me as a hand slowly reach out to rest on my shoulder. "Ned! It's okay! It's okay buddy." Rachel's familiar voice rings in my ear. I try to look towards her but I can't see her face. Everything is just blurry and I can't breathe and a familiar hand rests on my other shoulder as I turn towards them. "Rest up little brother. This is not your fault." James' hand gently brushes against my cheek as I try to slowly exhale my breath. "J-james why are your hands wet?" I try to slowly back away from him cause that's kind of weird but he just lets out a chuckle and so did Rachel. "That's not from me dimwit. It's you. Here let me take care of her. You call yourself a Man while tearing up like child?" The weight of the woman in my arms suddenly lightens as she begins to float away from my arms as James tries to cheer me up.
"I'm not a child." I crack a smile and reach up to wipe away the rain that's blurring my sight as I take in a deep breath. It's been so long since I've cried because I thought I had locked away my emotions. The last time I shed any tears was....it was...I told myself I wouldn't look back to regret it and I won't. The night I left my family was the last time I allowed myself to cry. I guess I just couldn't help myself since I couldn't save the lady in time. "Hey it's alright Ned. We all cry every now and then. Don't let this get you down. Just think of what the Ancient One would say in a situation like this. 'Use this as an opportunity to grow and heal as you allow your spirit and body to connect through the flowing streams of your emotions.'" Rachel gently pat my back as a smile flashes on my face. I wipe away the tears on my cheeks as I let out a little chuckle through my the last of my cries. "Ah that does sound like something the Ancient One would say. Or or what about this? 'Tear drops are just the shedding of your pains for some new GAINS!'" I mimic a most muscular pose to put on air of humor but it seems like I have a tough crowd to work with especially since my single audience member is a woman in her thirties.
"....sure Ned. I'm sure the Ancient One would say something like that too. Especially if it'll motivate a kid like you." She lets out a soft chuckle before turning her attention towards James and the rest of the group. I do the same and we soon walk over to join the group as they circle around the recently deceased woman. "S-should we look around for more bodies to burry?" Nicolas spoke up while giving me a quick side glance. "There's no need to split up. We can all just call for the rubbles to move around to see if we can find any more cadavers one building at a time. I don't want us to keep wasting time especially since the sun is slowly going down and we still need to set up camp." James spoke confidently before taking the first step to a nearby house to begin moving the buildings. "And Ned, can you get the funeral rites ready? I want to bury these people with some respect and I need someone to get them ready after we're done gathering them." I give James a nod as I watch the team slowly walk away to begin moving through the broken homes for corpses. I turn my attention towards the woman by my side and let out a deep exhale as I put my hands together to give her a short silent prayer.
I take my backpack off and set it down on the ground before tucking away my three point staff. I begin rummaging through the pack to try and find an axe or a blade to use to cut down some nearby tree for firewood when I suddenly smack my forehead. "Damn it Ned! You got a god level cheat and you're not even going to use it?" I reach out into the air with my fingers and slowly close my fingers into a writing position as the 'Ink of Innovation' materialize in my hand. I walk over to the nearby trees and begin using the cutting through the wood with ease. Even though the nib of the pen is not very long nor is it thick, I can just apply some slight pressure and the pen will begin to just cut into the wood like a hot knife cutting through softened butter. Hmmm just what the fuck is this relic made out of. I can shape metal like it's nothing and I can cut into stone and wood like playdough, and somehow an Italian guy from the 15th century was able to create such a thing...I mean he was a sorcerer and a great polymath too so maybe he got his hands on some rare and mysterious materials that I can only dream of. Anyways I should probably be more thankful to finally have a plot armor than keep bitching about it.
After chopping down a couple of trees and stripping them down, I separate the materials of the wood into logs and sticks for building a fire. On a couple of logs I inscribe the enchantments of blaze and heat so that the pyre can burn at a faster and hotter rate to allow us to get everything going faster. As much as I would like to give all these people the proper respect they deserve and to find the truth about the cause of their death, I also would like to get things going and return home as soon as possible. Plus I still need to somehow set up camp because whatever caused the village to be in its current state, can still be out there lurking in the dark. I quickly assembled the funeral pyre in a clearing near the middle of the village and just as soon as I was done, the body of the woman began to float towards me. At first I did jump a little bit but then I realized that the team is down with their search for more cadavers. I turn to look towards them and I can only see disappointment on their faces as it seems like the woman was the last of her people to pass away.
"Are we ready?" I dust off my hands as I step back away from the pyre to watch the woman gently float down on to the pile of woods. Taking this moment of silence as a yes, I turn to look at everyone. "Now does anyone want to say a quick prayer before Rachel lights the funeral pyre?" "Wait why do I have to light the fire?" Rachel look at me with a hint of confusion. "I don't know man. It's something with the cremation process in this region's branch of Buddhism. I'm just here for the magic and martial arts." I shrug my shoulders because I don't really know why a woman has to light the fire but I had read about it in a book about the religion a while ago. James lets out a chuckle as he casts a ball of fire towards the pyre. "That only applies to the family members Ned. You need to read more thoroughly if you hope to ever catch up to big sister Sara." I nod my head in silence as we all stood still for a moment. I don't know what's going through the mind of everyone else but I can only give this woman a silent prayer that a non-believer can give. Like I know Gods are real in THIS world but as an atheist in my previous life I'm still not fully convinced. Hell, the only deities I'm willing to worship on this life time are probably The One Above All, and Stan Lee. But that's IF I ever come to meet them. I don't plan on compromising my goals just because a few deities got their egos bruised.
SUY NGHĨ CỦA NGƯỜI SÁNG TẠO 
Somelin
Somelin Hey y'all I'm back. I just want to say I'm back on my game and I'll be writing more now. The current jungle arc was supposed to be done back in October but life got in the way and I couldn't move on with the story without getting past the arc. Plus I got bored of it too. I'll try to wrap this up so we can get to the meat and potatoes of The Mystic Spider™