#chevik

Soooo.... I have a new courser..... I may have been influenced by a certain game....and a certain character in it.... maayybe ?

"Why the fuck did you steal that book?!" "I could have sold it..." "So, it's kinda useful..." "Whispering dusk, uncurl the tethering fear; candle flame, shatter the seal of near; creak of silence, unbind the lingering curse"

Hooves echoed on the stone floor as the three coursers passed the entrance. The large corridor was dimly lit, revealing doors on each side. Hoping to find some loot, Chevik pushed one of the small gates. His swear broke the heavy silence as his eyes stopped on what was behind it. A skeletton. Clean bones of a horse long dead. Intrigued, Kovalik checked a door closer to him. The sight made him wince. « What is that place ? » « I dunno… looks like cells but... » The brown courser observed the doors more closely. Just wooden doors, chest-high, with rusty locks on them. Clearly not a challenge for a fit courser. « Seems easy to jump over it. » They kept checking each cells. The white courser was still marching on, paying no attention to them or the stalls. The blue courser carefully passed his head over a door, ready to pull away in case anything dropped from the ceiling or some trap, anything. Nothing happened. He looked closer at the poor soul scattered on the floor. No chains held the bones, no fracture barred the legs. He stepped back and quickly jogged after the others. « Do you think it could be... maybe a quarantine zone ? Or a clinic ? Maybe they were sick and whoever was helping them died or… I don’t know dude, maybe there was no cure ? » Chevik tilted his head. It was a possibility, but something didn’t feel right about it. « I guess… Or maybe there was some magic infused in those cells, something not active anymore, that was keeping them here. » A morbid curiosity pushed Kovalik towards another cell. He still couldn’t find any clue on their use, troughs, probably for food and water, implied they weren’t left to starve. His eyes trailed down to the corpse on the floor. His blood ran cold. Corpses. Smaller bones resting amongst bigger ones. The fatigue of the day, the previous scare they had with that fountain, the failed dive when he first decided to follow his friend and now this ? Nerves started to fray. « Hey ! » Kovalik called to the ghostly courser. « What is this? What happened here ? Why did you bring us here ? » « Don’t bother, it doesn’t speak. Never heard it utter a word. » To their surprise, Groundshine turned its head to the younger horse. Kovalik froze midstep as he met its bright eyes. It didn’t move, staring unblinkingly at him, mouth closed. A cold shiver ran along Kovalik’s spine. He could swear he could hear voices echoing in the walls, undiscinct words, a susurrus. His hoof fell a bit behind, worried the entity presenting itself as a horse would turn against them. But it turned back, resuming its walk in silence. The whispers subsided, unlike the uneasy feeling. « Are you ok ? » Chevik was observing him, vaguely concerned. The blue courser snorted, tail swishing as he tried to evacuate his stress. « Yeah. Let’s just… get away from here. »