Chapter 29: The Forgotten Lands, Part Seven

{Rin}

Something that Rin hadn't foreseen as she continued to walk through this place was that her sense of direction was slowly getting worse. Thanks to the fog that covered the area, she couldn't really tell whether she was going in a straight line or not. Still, she was determined to keep moving, so she didn't say anything about it.

"This place is... so scary," Xhez said, while she was in the bag, in Rin's hands. "I can feel so many spirits pulling me to them."

"... I can't see anything around us though, could what you're feeling be the skeletons?" Rin asked quietly as she continued to scan their surroundings. She felt shivers go through her body when a bird squawked out loudly, making her flinch.

[Yeah... This is really spooky.]

"One of them calls to me more than the rest," Xhez suddenly added. "Ahead."

"Hm... Is it, like, a good spirit, a bad one...?"

"I do not know," Xhez replied.

"... Crap. Well, I guess we'll just have to see. Be ready to come out of there," she told Xhez. "We might run into more trouble."

"I understand, just put the bag down on the ground if we do, and stand back."

"Got it."

On that note, Rin kept walking. The longer she did so, the more thrown away weapons and broken armor she saw, laying on the ground. [This feels like a war zone, what happened here?] Rin wondered as her confusion continued to rise until eventually, she bumped into a steel breastplate on the ground.

In front of it, were some weapons she hadn't ever seen before. One looked like a long stick, with an open barrel at the end of it, while another looked like a sideways "L". Both were in pieces, rusted, and broken. Aside from that though, there were many swords and shields scattered as well.

A few of them began trembling when Rin got close to them and the raven-haired girl was startled before she put the bag down.

"Uh, Xhez, got enough rest?"

"... Yes, at least enough to be out for a few more minutes," Xhez replied as Rin walked backward. Then, Xhez jumped out and, slightly clumsily, grew back into her normal size.

This time, there were only three skeletons that got up. One had no weapons, while the other two carried shortswords.

[Okay,] Rin thought. [Time to give this another shot. There has to be some way to kill them without magic.]

"Stay behind me," Rin told Xhez.

"Mhm," Xhez nodded, and Rin walked up.

"Aarrrragh," one of them let out a guttural moan as it moved towards Rin, with its sword aimed at her. With a surprisingly quick thrust, it attacked. Rin dodged to the right and went for a punch of her own aimed at its head, but the skeleton avoided it.

[Ugh!]

Frustrated, Rin went to punch it again, before a sphere of flame connected with the skeleton.

The creature let out that same unnatural scream the others had before, and fell to the ground, in disconnected pieces.

Rin blinked and almost looked back at Xhez, but she was stopped by a swipe at her neck made her lean back by instinct. From this position, she lifted her left leg and kicked the skeleton back.

And then, Xhez proceeded to shoot both this skeleton and its friend with two quick, back-to-back, [Fireballs].

Both of them promptly disintegrated and Rin let out a deep breath, as she stared down at the piles of ash that they'd become.

"..." Rin looked down at her own hands.

[I'm really just useless aren't I?] She thought. [Would things be different with a weapon? Or, is it just that I don't know what I'm supposed to do against them? Fire works, sure, but how is someone who isn't a mage supposed to fight these things?]

"Rin?" Xhez asked, and the adventurer glanced over at her. "Is everything alright?"

"... Yeah, yeah," Rin sighed. "Let's just keep going."

From there, the two of them continued forwards, the same way they had before with Xhez re-entering the bag.

The deeper they went, the more concerned Xhez grew.

"Ahead," Xhez said, as Rin looked down at her. "One of the spirits I feel is... Much more powerful than the rest."

"... And you can't tell whether it's evil or not, right?"

"Correct," Xhez replied. "But... This one is different. Not just in strength, but this one's call to me is much stronger than any of the others. It wants me to approach it."

"... If all of these other skeletons have been spirits like that, then, it's probably the case that the spirit you're talking about is some sort of extra-strong skeleton. On the other hand, if it's calling to you... It might actually be human, or close enough," Rin analyzed the situation.

"I do not know what we should do," Xhez said. "I will trust your judgment."

[Kinda puts a lot of pressure on me, but... As an adventurer,] Rin thought, [I guess I'll have to make decisions like these sometimes.]

She looked back.

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[Heading back the way we came would just be a huge waste of time. But, heading forward could be dangerous. But...]

"Your [Fireball]," Rin said, "it's been pretty good at taking these things out so far. Who's to say it can't take out whatever's waiting for us? If it happens to be super strong, or whatever."

"... A fair point," Xhez said.

"Yeah, I... I don't like the idea of having to walk out and go around this place, especially when the things in here seem to be weak to your fire," Rin shrugged. "I think we should try it. What do you say?"

"I agree... If it will help you reach your home sooner, then we should cut through."

Rin looked down at her little form for a moment. It was surprising to hear how she could be so kind to a person she'd just met a couple of days ago. Rin wasn't used to it.

"Then, in that case, let's go," Rin said, and she began walking forward.

Nothing changed for a while until Rin started to notice that the dirt underneath them cleared up. And soon, they were walking on what felt like metal. [What the...?]

Eventually, she realized the entire area was now covered in that black metal. She could see it stretching out as far as the fog would allow her to. She crouched down and touched it, tapping on it with her knuckles.

"... This is hollow," Rin muttered as she did so again and heard a metallic clang ring out. "Where the hell are we?"

She kept going and eventually, she stumbled upon a skeletal corpse. Rin flinched, ready for it to get up and attack, but it remained still, on the floor. Looking around, she saw dozens of others, just like it, all of which had their bones messily spread out across the area. And, as she wondered how many potential enemies there were, she found one last skeleton.

Only, this one was on its knees, still very much in one piece.

Xhez jumped up from the water and grabbed onto the edge of the bag, looking out.

"... That is it," Xhez pointed out. "That is the spirit that keeps calling to me."

"..." Rin's eyes roamed over it as she felt a shiver go up her spine. It was wearing a knight's armor, a set of old iron, and beside it, was an elegantly designed, albeit chipped and dirt-covered, greatsword stabbed into the ground. Aside from that though, the skeleton's armor had a regal cape. Whoever this person had been in their past life, they were certainly no regular grunt.

"What do you want to do?" Rin whispered to Xhez. "You're the one it's calling to."

"... Let me see, set the bag down, please," Xhez said and Rin nodded, placing it down next to the skeleton.

The water sprite then jumped out, got back to her regular size, and stretched. Then, she looked down at the skeleton and Rin waited.

"Hm... It is strange," Xhez said, as she reached out for its skull. She placed her hand over it and hummed. "I can feel its presence. I-I do not know what it wants though."

"Uh, this is probably a terrible, awful idea, but can you talk to it?" Rin asked.

"... I do not think so. But I may be able to see some of its memories. I... I want to try."

"Alright. Go ahead."

Nodding, Xhez took a deep breath and placed her hands on the skeleton's shoulders. Then, she pressed her forehead against the skeleton's skull, and Rin watched as her body took on a little sapphire glow.

The air got a little warmer, as Xhez did her thing, and Rin kept an eye out just in case anything tried to jump them. After all, they were still surrounded by dead skeletal bodies.

"Agh..." Xhez let out a little sound and Rin's eyes quickly went back to her.

[... Hm?] Rin thought. Xhez, who still had her eyes closed, was making a fearful expression. [What's happening to her?]

"N... No..." Xhez muttered and now, Rin was worried. She got close and placed her hands on the sprite's shoulders. She nearly took her hands off as soon as she touched her, due to how hot her skin felt.

"U-Uh, Xhez?"

Before Rin show any more concern, a light flashed in front of her and a gust of wind threw both Rin and Xhez back.

"Ah!" Xhez cried out as she fell. Rin rolled to her feet, moving with the momentum as she then ran over to Xhez's side.

"Xhez!?" Rin put her hands on the sprite's shoulders, lifting her little body up, ignoring the intense heat. "Are you okay?"

Xhez's eyes opened and she reached out, holding onto Rin's arms.

"H-Help me up," Xhez said.

"Uh, okay," Rin nodded, trying to do so. When Xhez was on her feet, she didn't look back at Rin. Instead, she stared ahead at the skeleton, her eyes narrowed. "What's going on?"

"J-Just get ready," Xhez took a deep breath.

"W..." Rin had been about to ask why, but she noticed why soon enough. The skeleton stood up, and its empty, vacant eye sockets were aimed at the two of them as it grabbed its greatsword by the hilt and pulled it from the ground.

In its eye sockets, two red dots formed like beady pupils, and it let out a screech that felt like it was going to make Rin's ears bleed.

"Urh xy nyenh," the skeleton spoke, as it began walking toward them with a firm, straight posture, unlike any of the other enemies they'd fought.

[Oh.] Rin thought. [We're screwed.]

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