RISE UP DEAD MAN

LIGHTFOOT

URSUS, XXXX

Opening the front door, I glanced down at the snow that had built up, two sets of footprints giving me a clear lead as to where Ladislava and her mother possibly went. It was clear that they expected me to still be asleep since the tracks would have already been snowed over by early morning.

It seems that the two went towards the village, but for what reason, I do not know.

When I got to the village's outskirts, I stayed close to the sides of the buildings to keep myself hidden and to use the dark walls as a dark backdrop so I didn't stand out too much. This is not only inconspicuous, but it also keeps me from being too visible.

Either way, the only thing that will give me away is the light from the moons that shine overhead.

After a while, the footprints faded as another layer of snow, which seemed to never end, covered them. I've never tracked through the snow before, so fuck. I'm currently looking around to see if there are any other signs that Ladislava and her mother may have left, but I'm completely stumped at the lack thereof.

A sigh of frustration comes out of my mouth, although I try my best to keep it as quiet as possible. Looking down at my hands... my hands...

And that was when I remembered.

The certain itch that sat behind my eyes was the sight that allowed me to see beyond human limits. By instinct, my arms reach out, and my eyes close.

And when they opened, instead of the wooden huts of the village and the pure snow, I found myself in the middle of a frigid wasteland of monuments and darkness. The twin moons' shadow deepened tenfold, carving into the grey landscape around me.

And in the distance, in front of me, was a strange sight. A faint cluster of glowing white lights occasionally moved left and right. That's... What is that? I've only heard a few stories of other hunters managing to somehow train their Dark Sight to the point of seeing other things that they want to see—I don't ever remember trying to do that, though. I've always just stuck with a revolver.

Haah... I'll have to do some experimenting with Dark Sight later, but for now, my only lead is these strange highlights.

With that, my vision returned to normal with what little colour and light were present on this moonlit night. A lead, leading me onwards.

~⁕~

Eventually, I reached the other side of the village, the footprints leading towards a clearing in the middle of a circle of small buildings. In the middle, a new campfire was burning what might have been yesterday's firewood that I had previously chopped.

Around the fire were several hooded figures of various shapes and sizes; some towered over each other and others were of more average height. Looking closely, I could make out more strange features that didn't belong to humans. Most of these included horns and nothing else, but a few also had both horns and tails.

As I study the dark figures, two reveal a few objects that seemed to be wrapped in cloth. Shit. I wish I still had my old spyglass to see what the hell's even going on.

One of the two figures untied a string that held the cloth close to... my guns. The silhouettes that were my shotgun and pistol caused me to silently curse myself. I should have pushed Ladislava on the whereabouts of my guns, although the outcome of that was too foggy for me to ponder at the time.

A few words; surprisingly spoken in English, were exchanged between the now obvious two parties that seemed to be in a transaction concerning my guns and possibly some ammo. I watched intently as a particularly large, hulking figure gently took the guns and inspected them before handing them to a significantly smaller figure to its left. After a while, one of them speaks up.