#infernalire

This is where he stands now: head craned skywards to the towering mountain, then back down to an earthen maw spewing ominous fog. With minimal effort, his vision enhances & attempts to pierce through the brume. Past the lights, grazing the statues, & just as he believes himself capable of perceiving the other end, his observations hit their limit, stopped by what feels like a subtle pressure behind his eyes. He dares not chance it at the moment. Lips pull taut, shoulders descending with a disappointed exhale.

His head turns quickly when contemplation ( resolved to march into the unknown ) is cut short by the rustling of grass, grip on his bow loosening when met with another. Arjuna nods politely, cutting straight to business, making a vague gesture towards the cave.

❝Greetings. I suppose your guess is as good as mine regarding this peculiar turn of events?❞

Rui’s lost track of what time of day it is, due to the fog. It’s thick enough that he can’t see the sun – both a sort of blessing and a curse, in that he doesn’t feel he needs to worry about it, but he’d rather know – and in the process of investigating the other side of the mountain, well... he lost any sort of spatial awareness. The fog all blends everything together – the time, the scenery, the spirits.

They’re the worst part of all, whatever they are. Whyever they’re here.

Rui has enough strength that shattering one of the statues was no issue at all. The fog had cleared slightly, but not enough to disclose the time or weather, but it had fully exposed a spectre looming in the distance. A spectre with a shape all too familiar to Rui, someone he hadn’t seen in much, much too long, and –

– Rui’d heard the whispering. About the Deep Woods. About what the spectres here were, too.

So he turns and runs.

Rui doesn’t often run. It feels wrong, even now that he’s no longer just a sick, weak human. But running is better than handling a father-that-isn’t-his-father, than having to face that spectre head on, so he goes until he’s back at the mouth of the cave.

Only then does he process that somebody else is there. Rui doesn’t look at them when he speaks; he just gazes out into the fog, trying to see if the spectre’s still out there.

“... were you heading out there?”

Welcome to Eversanctum, Razel.

You awaken in the Grove with a key to cabin 04 clutched in your hand.

You have retained the ability to manipulate fire, though currently only in a relatively small contained area at a time.

You are safe here, Saved One.