Mystic Heart Odyssey

Part 6: In the Shadows of Kryckwood

Chapter 3

In the Kryck, even friendly things are creepy~

-Llox

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“Don’t worry, just… just another crow,” Lykou assured Kuna, who was clinging to him and trembling after having just nearly jumped out of his skin. Truth be told, the konuul had panicked a bit when the bird flew past as well. He could hardly remember the last time he was so anxious about his surroundings. Even back in the Crimson Isles, he was at least as angry and defensive as he was wary. But now he was genuinely jumping at shadows as much as his skittish friend.

“R-right,” Kuna said, then loosened his grip on his friend with a slightly sheepish expression. “S-sorry…”

Lykou just shot him a brief, sympathetic smile before his own eyes started darting around again. “N-nothing to be sorry for. This place is… f-fucking terrifying.”

“I’ll t-take the dead-looking trees over… w-what we saw earlier,” Kuna said, then shuddered. They’d been walking for an hour already, jumping and panicking at every little noise or motion they encountered along the way. It was getting exhausting.

“Can’t argue with that,” the konuul agreed as he constantly searched the woods ahead for any sign of trouble. “At least things l-look a bit more… alive, up ahead.”

Kuna eyed the growing greenery in the distance with a mixture of relief and trepidation. “...yeah… l-let’s just hope that’s a good thing.”

As they walked, the trees gradually seemed to have more leaves on their branches, though they were also spaced slightly further apart. Large bushes became more common, as well as boulders covered in moss and algae. There were a lot of exotic-looking mushrooms around the further they went, as well. And then, eventually, things started getting a bit… exotic. Flowers with unusually long and curly petals, shrubs with strangely-shaped leaves, vines with what looked like violet feathers on them, short trees with extremely angular roots that protruded well above the ground, and so on. There were more critters around as well, but they also looked strange- pitch black squirrels with unusually large emerald-colored eyes, dragonflies with extra long double-tails, ladybugs the size of their hands with eye-shaped markings on their backs, and so on.

And eventually they spotted something familiar that made them both stop dead in their tracks. They hadn’t seen it in over a month, but they’d never forget the animate carnivorous flowers that’d snapped at them in those Sylthean ruins. And now they were staring right at a somewhat larger variant that, despite its lack of actual eyes, clearly felt like it was watching them intently.

“Is… is that…?” Lykou asked, somewhat incredulously.

Kuna slowly nodded. “Y… yeah I think so,” he replied, then gulped. “A… bit bigger than the ones w-we saw, too.”

“Oh fuck, I h-hope there aren’t more. Or any of those other things.”

“S-same,” Kuna agreed, then sighed and shot the plant an irritated look. “Just what we needed. M-more plant monsters.”

“...I’ll still take them over those… not-quite hungry ghosts or whatever.”

“...yeahokayfair.”

“Still… don’t even think about trying any funny business, you,” Lykou said, narrowing his eyes and pointing his spear at the drooling plant threateningly.

“Y-yeah,” Kuna agreed, narrowing his eyes at the thing as the two of them walked around past it, carefully keeping their distance. “Don’t make us prune your thorny ass.”

As they continued deeper into the comparatively healthy patch of forest, they started encountering what looked like natural stone walls overgrown with moss and vines. Within them were patches of dirt with neatly-organized rows of plants and mushrooms. Some of them looked at least partly familiar, but others didn’t look like anything either of them recognized.

They rounded one corner only to immediately jump back when another one of the biting flowers snapped at them. There was a whole patch of them in the next ‘section’ of the increasingly maze-like garden they’d apparently stumbled into. Luckily, they could walk past without any of the things getting close. Nevertheless, it was still unnerving walking by with the things clearly intently focused on them, and occasionally snapping out towards them.

“Who would intentionally grow these things?” Lykou wondered, giving them a wary look. Then he furrowed his brows and glanced over at his companion. “You don’t think…?”

Kuna gulped. “N-no telling. Only place we’ve s-seen those before was… you know.”

“…I hope w-we’re not making a big mistake.”

“Me either,” the sereva agreed, then paused to marvel at a few rows of flowers in the next section with shiny silver petals. “Wow… look at those.”

“Yeah… I bet those are extra pretty in the sunrise.”

“I prefer sunset. They’re pretty lil’ things, aren’t they?” a raspy, old voice said from behind them, startling them. It sounded vaguely feminine. A pair of eyes had opened in the mossy ‘wall’ behind them.

Lykou and Kuna gawked at the bizarre, and frankly disturbing sight of what appeared to be a chunk of the various green stuff growing on the rock wall that began separating and taking a vaguely anthropomorphic shape. They got the impression there was a body under it all, but the moss, ivy, and various other plant life covering it- and possibly, they realized with some horror, growing on it- completely hid it from view, other than the eyes, and, when she spoke, mouth.

“Single petal will freeze yer jigglies right off unless its treated though, so I wouldn’t go tasting ‘em raw,” she said, then squinted and poked the shaky sereva with a long, gnarled finger, making him yelp and shrink back. Her mouth was obscured when it wasn’t open, but there was a hint of a grin there. “I’m lookin’ at you, leaf-nibbler.”

“...h-hey, watch it!” Lykou retorted, his wariness and bewilderment briefly turning into protectiveness as he stepped over and shielded Kuna partly with his body. “Don’t-”

“Or what, bone-chewer, gonna take a bite outta me?” the stranger snapped, eyeing him intensely and placing her hands on her hips. “I’d like to see you try.”

Lykou frowned and tightened his grip on his spear. Kuna’s anxious grip on his shoulder told him he’d rather avoid a conflict, though. In any case, before he could respond, the stranger just started laughing and waved them off as she shuffled over and bent down, then started examining the silvery flowers, occasionally plucking a leaf off one and stuffing it into some hidden pocket among the flora hanging from her body. “Ah relax, I’m just messing with ya both. Been a while since I had visitors out ‘ere,” she said, then paused and rubbed what was probably her chin. “...ones that weren’t crazy or dead, anwyay.” She shrugged. “Or both.”

Kuna gawked at her. “...d...dead?”

She gave him a look as she continued down the row of flowers. “Well ya came through th’ Kryck to get here, didncha? Place is infested with spooks ‘n’ restless corpses. Guessin’ the fact yer still breathin’ means ya didn’t find any of th’ real bad’ns, but surely ya ‘least know the place’s reputation, doncha?”

Lykou gulped and shivered. “W-well no, we’re… not from anywhere near here- long story- but we did m-meet… uh… s-some… well…”

“F-fucking walking corpses,” Kuna finished for him with a shudder. “N-not like what I expected from hungry ghosts, though… thank fuck.”

“Y-yeah, considering how many there were,” Lykou agreed, still clearly a bit shaken as well from the encounter.

The stranger stood up and crossed her arms thoughtfully. “Hmm… whole bunch of ‘em, eh? Guessin’ ya mean down in th’ bog?”

Lykou nodded. “Y-yeah… you know anything about it?”

She gave him a critical look for a moment. “I know it’s odd fer a pair’a strangers that claim to know nothing about Kryckwood t’be pokin’ around them ruins. What, just out fer a casual stroll and ya stumbled into the place by chance?”

“W-well… not entirely,” Kuna hazarded. “We’re just l-looking for an old m-magic gate that’s apparently in there.”

She blinked a few times and stared at the sereva in silence. “...ya… traipsed inta th’ baleful bog fer… the old gate? And… nothing else?”

“Er, yeah. Like I said it’s… kind of a long story, but basically we were magically sent way away from home, and we’ve been using these magical ancient gate things to make our way back for a while now,” Lykou explained. “Uh… I’m Lykou by the way, and this is Kuna.”

For a moment, the strange individual just eyed them with what appeared to be suspicion. Suddenly, in a startling flash of movement, she was uncomfortably close to Kuna and leaned in, looking him in the eye. Before either could react, she bolted over by Lykou’s opposite side, doing similar with him. It wasn’t like Zynshal’s teleporting- there was actual movement there. But they barely saw it. If she was as old as her voice, gnarled hands, and bent posture suggested, it certainly didn’t inhibit her movement at all.

“Right. If yer usin’ one of them things, that just raises further questions. Like how yer usin’ ‘em fer one thing,” she said, then stepped back and glanced back and forth between them, pointing her finger at them each in turn. “Stone… or sparkle?”

Lykou and Kuna shared a bewildered look. “Uh… what?” the sereva asked in confusion, then folded his ears somewhat anxiously. “I just… use m-my magic…?”

“Ah, sparkle it is then,” she replied with a nod, then sized him up. “...so ya got the knack fer the mystical arts, eh kid? Show me.”

Kuna shot Lykou a nervous look. The konuul just shrugged and wrapped his arm around him supportively. He sighed and turned back to the stranger before manifesting the glow around his hand.

“Well now, that’s intrestin’... So yer really just tryin’ ta reach the ol’ gate, eh?”

Kuna nodded, dismissing the magic.

She stared at them for a long, uncomfortable moment, then laughed once. Then twice. Then broke into a fit of hysterical laughter that made them more uncomfortable than the silent stare. They both took a few large steps back, but soon realized they didn’t have any further to go. The stone wall, now sporting a large gap in the moss and plantlife that’d been covering it, was right behind them.

Fortunately, the odd individual’s laughter subsided and she wiped a tear away from her eye. “Oh my, my, my…”

“Uhhh… what’s so funny?” Lykou nervously asked.

“Oh nothin’. Everythin’. Who cares?” the strange gardener replied with an exaggerated shrug. “You two must be the first visitors that weren’t lookin’ fer the revenant’s treasures, though.”

Lykou furrowed his brow. “Treasures? What treasures?”

“Revenant?” Kuna asked, similarly confused.

She cackled again, albeit thankfully more briefly this time. “That’s great. Damn near got yer carcasses added to his little collection ‘n’ ya didn’t even know what most of the others in there were after.”

“W-who’s this ‘revenant’ guy?”

“You really don’t know a damn thing about this place, do ya?” she asked in an amused tone. “Ehehehe… tell ya what, come join me fer tea. You answer some’a my questions, and I’ll answer some’a yers.” She turned to walk down the rough path between walls, waving for them to follow. She then paused and smirked back at them. “I’ll even throw in a freebie. Name’s Algrytha.”

Kuna and Lykou shared an uneasy look, and the sereva shook his head when Algrytha wasn’t looking. Lykou just nudged him on with a sigh. “What choice have we got?” he whispered. “C’mon, we’ll just be careful and stick together...”

*****

After a short, meandering walk through the strange garden, they arrived at a somewhat large building that was almost completely buried in various vegetation, much like its owner. The only pieces that weren’t overgrown were a few rounded wooden windows and a large, round stone chimney in the middle. Rather than a traditional door, there was a heavy curtain growing from the surrounding vegetation that covered the door frame.

The inside was lit not just by what little light came in through the windows, but also by dimly-glowing flora and mushrooms that gave the entire space a strange, somewhat alien feeling. The entire building- save for a small attached room off to the side that seemed to house a bed and little else- looked like a giant kitchen combined with some kind of workshop. The outer edges had wooden tables and shelves piled with all sorts of presumed ingredients, either laying loose or in various clay jars or baskets. One section had rolled up bundles of some kind of thin material neither of them recognized, a clay bowl full of some kind of dark liquid, and a small collection of what appeared to be long bird feathers.

But the most striking feature was in the middle- there was an enormous firepit with various pots of various sizes and shapes stacked around it. There was a particularly large one sitting directly in the middle the old coals and some half-burned wood. A small teapot was also sitting on some of the other coals to the side. Lykou recognized it, even if it looked different from the ones he was more used to. Kuna, on the other hand, hadn’t seen such a thing, and eyed it curiously while his friend tried to start up a friendly conversaiton.

“So you must… do a lot of cooking, huh?” Lykou asked. “Looks like you could feed a lot of people with all this… stuff.”

“Is… is your tribe near here?” Kuna asked nervously.

Algrytha cackled as she walked over to one of the tables and scooped something out of two jars with her hands. One of them was some kind of paste that she quickly rolled in the powder from the other. “Tribe? Village?” she said, then chucked the combined substance down onto the coals- which immediately reignited the coals, especially near the point of impact, by the teapot. “Nah. Other’n the occasional visit from fools with more guts than brains, I just have my garden fer company.”

Kuna eyed the large pot with increasing wariness and huddled close to Lykou. The konuul was a bit bewildered as well, but he pressed on with as much friendliness as he could. “Sooo… big appetite, then?”

“Not particularly,” Algrytha responded as she checked the pot to make sure it had plenty of water. She then walked over to another table and set out three cups and filled them with some scoops of something from another clay jar. “Don’t get me wrong, I can certainly make a mean stew, but most’a this is fer my brews.”

“Brews?” Kuna asked dubiously.

“Oh! Like the fun kind of drink?” Lykou added and nudged his companion with a playful grin, hoping to lighten the mood a little. “Sounds appealing right now, don’t you think, Ku?”

Kuna folded his ears down with an unamused expression. “Going to take a lot more than ‘liquid courage’ to get through that place, or even just erase the nightmares I’m going to have tonight.”

Lykou frowned and gave him a gentle squeeze. “Fair point...”

“Fun drinks, huh?” Algrytha cackled. “I suppose some might see it that way, just depending on which one they take. I certainly have some… ‘fun’ recipes,” she replied, then sighed and rolled her eyes as she pulled out some stools for them to sit on. “Most folk I see just want predictable shit though, seein’ as how they’re always goin’ to them damn ruins. Dram of strength, salve of speed, wood-body elixir, and so on. Most of ‘em think all they need to beat the hoard’a their predecessors is a potion that makes ‘em tougher or faster. Never occurs to ‘em to think of somethin’ ‘sides fightin’, ‘n’ they end up joining the rest.”

Kuna arched a brow. “Wait, what?”

“Salve of speed, dram of strength…? What are you talking about?” Lykou asked.

“Yeah, y’know… potions?” Algrytha said, then eyed their perplexed expressions for a moment. “...you two tellin’ me yer payin’ ol’ Algrytha a visit after hikin’ through the forest’a the dead, ‘n’ you don’t even know about alchemy?”

They both shook their heads. “What’s ‘alchemy’?”

Algrytha burst out laughing. “Oh you two are somethin’ else!” she said, smacking her knee as she sat down- or at least, what was presumably her knee. It was hard to tell under the curtain of flora hanging all over her. “C’mon, have a seat, ‘n’ I’ll tell ya ‘bout potions.”

After a nervous moment of hesitation, the boys sat down, making sure to situate their stools right next to one another as they did so. “What are… ‘potions’?” Lykou asked.

“Well, magic, basic’ly,” she explained. “’cept instead’a usin’ all that flowy energy stuff directly, ya just find ways to squeeze it out of stuff here in the mortal world in all sorts of interesting ways. With a bit’a incantation for a little boost, in my case.”

“Wait, you can do magic with drinks??” the konuul asked incredulously.

“Like… how?” Kuna chimed in.

“Like I said, ya just take the mystical properties things have hidden under the surface and find ways’a squeezin’ ‘em out. Takes years’a practice ‘n’ experimentin’ ta figure things out, o’course,” Algrytha explained. “And ya won’t get the immediate results of your kinda magic, but when they kick in… hoo, boy, watch out!”

“Sorry, I’m just… trying to wrap my head around how that even works,” Kuna said, scratching his head. “You drink something and then just… you can suddenly do magic?”

“Nah, not like that. Specific brews for specific effects, y’see? Make ya strong enough to punch through stone, turn your fur into fire, make it so ya can see in pitch black dark, ‘n’ so on. And much more interesting things, too.”

“That… sounds amazing,” Lykou said. “And anyone can do it?”

“Well, theoretically. But you really gotta know what yer doin’ or ya might blow yerself up and decorate the place with your insides!” Algrytha replied with an exaggerated gesture. “Or turn your bones to goo, or freeze your blood and so on.”

“Fucking hell,” Kuna responded, his eye twitching. “Drinking something can do all that??”

“If ya mess it up bad enough. Though you really have to be trying for something big to mess up that bad. More likely you’ll just make yourself puke ‘n’ shit yerself silly for a while with weaker stuff.”

Kuna made a face. “Lovely…”

“Sounds risky either way,” Lykou agreed.

“Can be, can be,” Algrytha said, nodding a bit. “The real tricky bit is finding the ingredients. The impressive shit requires things that can be harder to get yer hands on.”

The teapot started to whistle, startling Kuna into practically jumping into Lykou’s lap. The strange witch just smirked and grabbed a pair of gloves, then took the pot off the fire and carried it over to one of the tables, where she poured some into each of the prepared cups. “Jumpy feller, arencha?”

Kuna blushed and looked away. “S-sorry, just… not used to, uh… that.”

Lykou gave him a gentle squeeze. “His… former tribe was apparently, well…”

“Ass-backwards,” Kuna finished for him flatly. “Barely used fire except to keep warm. Been learning a lot of things on this trip.”

“Intrestin’, intrestin’!” Algrytha responded, bringing them each a cup. “Former tribe, eh? Sounds like you’ve got quite a story.”

Kuna reluctantly slid back onto his own stool and took the cup, allowing Lykou to take his as well. “Yeah it’s… a long one.”

“Thanks for the tea,” Lykou said gratefully, then smelled it and blinked a few times. “What’s in it?”

“Nothing special. Mostly speckled darkleaf, with a little mallow and licorice root,” the witch said, sitting down to sip some for herself.

“I thought it smelled nice,” Kuna said, perking up a little bit, then took a small sip. “Always liked licorice root. Where would you find it around here though? Doesn’t seem like a good place to grow it.”

“Ordinarily no, but you’ve seen my garden,” Algrytha said with a wink. “I can get just about anythin’ ta grow here.” She rubbed her chin for a moment. “Well, anything that mundane, anyway. Some things even I can’t get to grow here. Lucky fer me, the Kryck is great fer some otherwise hard ta find stuff.”

“Like what?”

“Death’s breath, retchpuff, etherspore, ‘n’ so on.”

“I’ve… never heard of any of that,” Kuna commented. “Though we did see some strange plants out there, now that I think of it…”

“I don’t recommend tryin’ ta eat any of it,” Algrytha warned. “Kind of in th’ name. With the right know-how, they’re mighty useful, but otherwise they kin straight-out kill ya. Or worse.”

Lykou blanched slightly. “Worse than killing you??”

“I don’t think I want to know,” Kuna said, shuddering, then took another sip of his tea.

“You really don’t,” Algrytha said, then chuckled. “So what made the two’a ya traipse down into my garden after yer little visit to the bog?”

“There was this weird hanging… gourd-lantern thing,” Lykou explained. “With some kind of… uh.”

“Ghost-fire?” Kuna suggested.

“Yeah. And when we got close it kind of… spoke to us? And suggested we come find you.”

“Oh that ol’ thing again, hmm? Shoulda known,” Algrytha said with a small eye-roll, then sipped from her own cup. “Always sendin’ folk here. Guess they’re hopin’ someone’ll come along that kin finally break the curse with my help.”

The sereva’s eyes widened slightly. “C-curse?”

“What curse…?” Lykou asked anxiously.

“The one that gives these woods so many spooks ‘n’ shades. Kryckwood’s a bit odd, see. Th’ border between the mortal world ‘n’ the spirit world’s a bit blurry here, ‘n’ it tends ta… well, make it hard fer the dead ta move on, y’see,” she explained, then eyed the two. “Place is lousy with ghosts of all sorts.”

“There are… different ‘sorts’?” Lykou asked.

“You mean besides just ghosts and echoes?”

“Oh there’s no echoes here,” Algrytha replied with a dark chuckle. “And yeah, ghosts kin vary, dependin’ on how long they been around, ‘n’ how they died.”

Kuna gulped. “R-right, I know hungry ghosts are a thing…”

“Hungry, angry, confused, deranged… if they find a spare body that’s no longer in use, ‘n’ they get used to it enough, they can become a ghoul,” she explained. “Which is nasty business, but far from th’ worst. One sticks around long enough and really gets used to their… unlife, as it were, they might become a wraith. ‘n’ the worst of ‘em become terrifyin’ nasty fuckers like the one up north. Which I’m guessin’ ya haven’t seen, sein’ as yer still breathin’ ‘n’ able to speak full sentences.” She cackled at the end as if it was some funny little joke.

“F-fuck. I’m glad we didn’t wander that way,” Lykou said, wide-eyed.

“N-no shit,” Kuna agreed.

“W-what was that ‘revenant’ thing you mentioned before? And what’s with the ones in the bog?”

“Ah, revenants are somethin’ else. When someone dies unexpectedly and their soul lingers, ya get a ghost. If they die but they’re really ‘enlightened’ or whatever, they become echoes. But there’s a third way folks kin stick around past their time, usin’ powerful magic rituals.”

“R-rituals huh?” Lykou asked, sharing a wary look with Kuna. “L-like… demonic shit?”

“Naw. Demons ain’t int’rested in folk that’re already dead, gen’rally,” Algrytha replied, waving the idea off. “No, some rituals turn people inta somethin’ like a ghost with a few extra perks, usually to watch over something after death. ‘n’ that’s a revenant. They keep their wits fer the most part, but they’re bound to a place or thing until a certain requirement is met to free them ‘n’ let ‘em pass on.”

“S-so… is that what all those ones in the bog are?”

“Oh spirits no, all them bodies are moved around by the weave itself, thanks to some powerful magic. The revenant probably cast a spell on the place at some point, but he doesn’t control the ones outside the ruins directly.”

“Eesh. What’s in the ruins that needs so much protection?” Lykou wondered aloud.

“Oh there are all sorts of rumors about what the revenant’s guarding. Ancient treasures from the ones that built the ruins in the first place ‘n’ so on,” Algrytha said, then shrugged. “Plenty’a idjits have joined the dead lookin’ fer it.”

“Is… is there any way to get past them?” Kuna hazarded. “We just want to get to the gate. We’re not interested in any treasures.”

“Well… as it so happens, I do have a recipe fer something that’ll help ya get past the grisly mob on the outside. But you’ll also need the keystone for the entrance. And after that you’ll have to deal with the revenant himself.”

“If he’s still as coherent as he was in life, maybe we can just talk to him,” Lykou said hopefully. “Do you know what his actual name is?”

Algrytha rubbed her chin thoughtfully for a moment. “...Elzhan, or somethin’ like that, I think. I wouldn’t put too much hope in it, though. I’m sure a few other bodies around the place had owners that thought they could just chat him up, too.”

Kuna gulped. “Great…”

“We have to at least try,” Lykou said, frowning. “Maybe if we make it clear we’re only interested in the gate, he’ll let us through.” He turned back to the witch and fidgeted with his cup a bit. “Would you be willing to help us get past the, uh… bodies on the outside?”

“Sure, sure. Yer gonna have to fetch some ingredients fer me from th’ Kryck, though,” Algrytha said, hopping up and shuffling over to the table with the rolls of thin material, feathers, and dark liquid. She set aside her cup of tea and browsed through the material for a moment, then plucked one of the rolls out and unrolled it, revealing a bunch of strange symbols on the inside. “Ah, here we are. Draught of the Dead. Hmm, got that, got that… need some’a that…”

Lykou and Kuna shared a confused look. Then Lykou perked up and leaned over to whisper to his companion. “Looks like that ‘writing’ stuff.”

“…yeah, now that you mention it,” Kuna agreed, watching the witch examine the sheet. “Must’ve made it with that dark stuff. Guess the feathertips might help with that, given how small they look.”

“Makes sense to me. Wonder what the thin stuff it’s put on is though.”

“Good question…”

Algrytha shuffled back over, holding the scroll in her hands. “Right. I’ll need… four sprigs of death’s breath, a jug of the water that thirsts, and a scoop of the essence of death denied.”

Kuna’s eye twitched. “...what the heck are any of those things?”

“Yeah… ‘water that thirsts’?? What does that mean?” Lykou agreed. “Water makes thirst go away…”

Algrytha rolled the scroll back up and snickered. “Well, easy one is death’s breath. Think lavender that’s been rolled around in ashes.”

“Oh yeah, I remember seeing a bunch of that. Okay,” Kuna said, perking up a little. “Easy enough.”

“Still confused about the water though. Unless… wait!” Lykou turned to the sereva. “Remember that weird pond we saw?”

“The one you almost drank from but I stopped you?” Kuna replied. “Yeah. Water that thirsts… nothing was living around it. Sounds like it’d fit.”

“It sounds like ya stopped him from addin’ another specter ta these woods,” Algrytha chimed in. “Good instincts, kid.”

Kuna blushed and smiled faintly. Lykou smiled as well and gave him a small squeeze, then turned back to their host. “So what about the last one? The… ‘essence of death denied’?”

“Ah, that’ll be the tricky one,” Algrytha admitted. “How much experience you two got with ghosts?”

“Uhhh… we helped one move on once,” Lykou said with a sheepish smile. “Other than that? Not much.”

“I know… or thought I knew, a fair bit about them. But apparently there’s a lot I don’t know,” Kuna admitted. “Why?”

“You’ll need somethin’ from one of ‘em.”

“What… what can a ghost give us?” Lykou asked, perplexed. “They’re all… you know, ghostly.”

“Technically I was able to touch one,” Kuna pointed out. “Not sure how that helps though…”

“That’s good. And makes sense, seein’ as how yer the one makin’ them portals work,” Algrytha pointed out. “Soul magic’ll let ya touch ‘em. Which is how you’ll have to scoop up some’a the ethereal goo they leave around sometimes.”

Kuna frowned and shivered. “Great, s-so we actually have t-to approach a ghost that we can’t help…”

“Can’t we?” Lykou said. “Seems like we should at least try, if we’re going to ask something from them.”

“She s-said the ghosts here h-have a hard time moving on. I’m guessing that m-means magic is keeping them here,” Kuna replied, then turned back to the witch. “Right?”

“Yep. All the more reason to avoid joinin’ ‘em,” Algrytha said. “At least until the curse is lifted some day, anyway.”

“Oh yeah, what is the curse anyway? More to do with that revenant guy?” Lykou asked.

“No, his magic is all around the bog, but no further. The mess plaguing the rest of the Kryck is probably more connected to the Great Wraith I mentioned earlier.”

“Oh. Damn… and I guess he’s beyond helping in any easy way?”

Algrytha burst out in a fit of laughter. “Oh that’s a good one. Help the Great Wraith… that bastard’s well beyond help, kiddo. Whatever their original life was, they’re something completely different now. Once a soul goes ‘n’ becomes a wraith, everything they were is gone, ‘n’ something else has taken their place. Somethin’ even the spirit world struggles to handle, a real spirit of chaos ‘n’ death itself. There’s no reasonin’ with ‘em at all.”

“Oh… damn,” Lykou said, frowning. Kuna shot him a sympathetic look and hugged him.

“If it makes ya feel better, rumor is it the Great Wraith wasn’t exactly a pleasant fella in life, either. In fact, legends say he’s the reason the revenant guards the ruins. Sacrificed himself to keep whoever the Wraith was away from whatever he guards.”

“Eesh…”

“Mhmm. It’s a twisted tale,” Algrytha said, then sipped her tea. “Fetch me those ingredients and I’ll tell ya when ya get back.”

Lykou looked over at Kuna. “Well… guess we better get to it, then.”

Kuna looked back at him nervously, then sighed and drained the rest of his cup. Finally, he took a deep breath, steeling himself. “I guess s-so.”

“Here, takes these,” Algrytha said, then grabbed a small jug, and two small dark grey bags. “Put the water in the jug, ‘n’ the other bits, separately, in the bags. Careful with the water- try not to touch it directly.”

Kuna took the bags while Lykou accepted the jug after finishing his own tea. “Thanks… so what will this stuff do when you, uh… cook it up?” the konuul asked as he and the sereva got up and ready to leave.

Algrytha cackled again. “You’ll see,” she said ominously, then sipped her tea slowly.

*****

“I don’t know if w-we should be trusting her, or this plan,” Kuna said anxiously as he and Lykou made their way through the creepy woods. He’d already found and harvested the death’s breath, and they were on the way back to find the clear pond they’d seen earlier. “We’re t-taking a big risk here.”

“I know, Ku, believe me,” the konuul replied. “But I don’t have any other ideas. Do you?”

“...no,” the sereva reluctantly admitted. “Just… what if she’s t-trying to poison us?”

“Why would she?”

“I can probably think of a dozen reasons,” Kuna replied flatly.

“Well, like I said, we don’t have much choice. Besides, as weird as she is, she’s probably the friendliest thing we’ve seen here. Other than maybe that weird fire-ghost thing.”

“That’s not s-saying much,” Kuna retorted, eyeing the shadows in the woods nervously. “B-but point taken. I guess if she’d w-wanted us dead, she’d have o-other easier, m-more direct ways to kill us. Or just… l-let the forest do it for her.”

“… you’re a real ray of sunshine, Ku,” Lykou retorted, half-teasing.

“S-sorry,” the sereva replied with a slightly sheepish look. “Guess I n-need to work on my attempts at optimism, heh.”

The konuul chuckled a bit and hugged him with one arm. “C’mon, I think I see the pond up ahead.”

They approached the eerily clear, still water, keeping an eye out for any signs of danger. When they reached the edge, Lykou took out the small jug and knelt down to fill it. “I wonder what the deal is with this water, anyway.”

“I don’t know, but its energy definitely feels… I dunno, off somehow,” Kuna said, eyeing it warily. “Be careful.”

“Will d-GYAHH!” Lykou yelped as he pulled the jug up and accidentally splashed a little on his arm.

“Kou!” Kuna blurted out, quickly rushing over to his side.

Almost immediately, the fur the water had touched darkened and fell off, turning to dust before it even hit the ground. Luckily, it was just a few drops, so he only lost a couple tiny, inconspicuous bits of fur in the process. Lykou quickly corked the top and the sereva looked him over after pulling him back away from the pond.

“Fuck, that stuff is serious!” Lykou said, warily inspecting the jug to make sure it was well sealed.

“Here,” Kuna said, producing a scrap of cloth he’d collected back on their little island adventure. “Wipe it down just to be safe.”

“Good thinking,” Lykou said, carefully drying off the side that’d been dipped into the water. It’d already mostly dried on its own, far faster than he’d expect normally, but he wanted to be sure before risking touching it. He then tossed the rag off to the side, just in case. “Eesh… I’d hate to think what would’ve happened if I’d drank any.”

“N-no fucking kidding,” Kuna said, embracing him tightly. “F-fuck this place. Let’s hurry and get out of here.”

“No argument here,” the konuul agreed, then got up and joined the sereva in putting distance between them and the death-pond. He held the jug up at arm’s length, eyeing it nervously. “I hope the jug can hold up to it safely.”

Kuna looked it over and arched a brow. “S-seems to be so far. M-maybe it only effects living things?”

“Maybe...” Lykou said. “Heh, you know, if something attacks us, I guess I could always splash some of this on them to protect us.”

“...would certainly be an effective w-weapon, but dangerous to use.”

“Good point. Let’s just hope it doesn’t come up,” the konuul said, then sighed and looked around the woods. “Well… time to find a ghost, I guess.”

Kuna shivered and folded his ears down. “Great…”

They searched the woods for a few hours, occasionally circling cautiously around areas filled with either shadow spirits or wisps. The only animals they saw were the occasional crow and one or two emaciated-looking squirrels that watched them a little too intently. The sky continued to remain cloudy, sometimes even darker than before. Fortunately, no rain fell.

Finally they found a particularly quiet and dim part of the woods that felt a bit… off. A brief chill filled the air and they noticed a few leaves on the ground idly dancing around despite the lack of any breeze at all. Lykou cautiously poked a pile of leaves stacked nearby and noticed a heavily-decayed body underneath them. Kuna blanched and turned away, trying to scrub the image from his mind. A few moments after Lykou nudged the body, the leaves whipped up into a frenzy for a moment and the air grew chillier. They both shared a look. “...w-well, guess we found one,” Lykou pointed out quietly.

“Yeah,” Kuna agreed, then gulped and took a deep breath before addressing the leaves swirling around them. “Um, h-hello? Whoever you are- or w-were, c-can you please show yourself?”

After a few moments, the leaves settled to the ground and an apparition slowly started to appear in front of them. It wasn’t a species they recognized. Her ears were smaller and more rounded than either of theirs, and she had banded markings on her long, puffy tail. Due to her ethereal appearance, any coloration was all but impossible to make out clearly. Her ghostly body looked mostly in-tact, but a pair of very noticeable gashes were visible in her neck. She looked more solidly-formed than the shakonu ghost they’d met back in the early part of their journey, and her expression was a bit more coherent. In fact, she was glaring at them- she looked annoyed, or even angry, but also gave off the impression that she wasn’t sure why, or who or what she should be angry at.

Lykou tried to put on a brave smile and gave a little wave. “Uh, h-hi there. Can… can you talk?”

The spirit raised a brow and looked a bit surprised. After a moment, her mouth started moving, but it took a moment for any sound to manifest. When it did, her voice was faint, whisper-like, and had a strange echoing quality. “Who… where… why…??”

“I’m Lykou, a-and this is Kuna,” the konuul said, wrapping an arm around the shaky sereva again. “W-we’re just passing through a-and-”

“No…!” the spirit interjected, getting agitated as she looked around. “Where… who….?”

Kuna nudged the konuul lightly. “R-remember, she’s probably confused a-about… you know…”

Lykou thought for a moment, then widened his eyes. “Oh… r-right. Um… should we sh-show her… y’know?” he replied quietly while the specter was distracted.

“I d-don’t have anything to c-calm her if she loses it when she s-sees it,” the sereva pointed out anxioiusly.

“R-right,” Lykou said, watching the ghost irritably search around. “I don’t think we’re going to get anywhere this way though…”

“I can… hear you two... you know,” the spirit suddenly said, shooting them an annoyed look as she gave them a strange, cross-eyed look. She clenched her eyes shut and rubbed her face, seemingly struggling with something for a moment. “Ugh…”

Lykou and Kuna shared a nervous look. They hadn’t expected her to say suddenly something so… coherent, all of the sudden. “Uh… are you… okay?”

She opened her eyes again and crossed her arms, shooting the konuul a withering look. “I’m literally fucking dead.”

Kuna stared at her with wide-eyes.

“Oh, uh… y-yeah,” Lykou said with a nervous smile. “We uh… w-weren’t sure-”

“That I was aware?” she said, then rolled her eyes. Her voice was coming more immediately and coherently, albeit still with that faint, ethereal sound to it. “Yeah. Kinda figured that out a bit ago. Someimes take a moment to remember things.” She grumbled and looked around. “Like right now I still don’t remember where my damn body is or… what got me, for that matter.”

“Was… k-kinda worried you’d freak out if y-you saw it,” Kuna nervously said.

The ghost perked up slightly. “No, but did you see it? I… felt like someone poked it. Was it you?”

“Uhh…” Lykou said, looking around nervously.

She sighed. “Look, I’m not going to freak out, alright? I just… want to know.”

Lykou and Kuna shared another look, then Kuna shrugged. The konuul nervously poked the body with the blunt end of his spear and rolled it over out of the leaves. The ghost immediately winced when he touched it. For a moment, much to their mild panic, she started to flicker and twitch, gaining a brief frantic look as she rushed over to the body. But then she clutched her head and took a moment to calm herself. “R-right… now it’s coming back. Fucking ghoul got me…”

Lykou gulped. “Ghoul huh…?”

“Mhmm. One of the others that’s been here long enough to lose what’s left of their mind. Found a dead body that was still fairly intact, decided it deserved my blood more than mine did, then ambushed me and… here I am,” the ghost explained, looking over her body with an unreadable expression. “...good to know what I have to look forward to eventually.”

“...y-you seem pretty, uh…”

“Sane?” the ghost interrupted, giving him a look. “Yeah. Guess you got lucky. Been here long enough to get past the initial freak-out confusion, but not long enough to become… well, one of them. Yet, anyway.”

“I… didn’t know th-there was an in-between s-stage,” Kuna commented.

“Outside this damn place, probably isn’t. Yay curses,” the ghost said sarcastically with two thumbs up and a brief and very insincere, exaggerated smile. “Kinda weird that it does that, but hey, at least it gives me a little time before I become a mindless blood-thirsty idiot. For… whatever good it is.”

“W-well maybe you won’t,” Lykou suggested. “M-maybe if we uh… give your body last rites or something, y-you can, y’know… move on?”

The ghost let out a brief, humorless laugh. “Sweet. But no. Curse won’t let it happen. Ironically I was never very spiritual anyway. Plenty of us weren’t. I’m here because of the curse, not because I’m hung up on my body being disrespected,” she said, then shot the konuul a wary look. “...don’t go doing anything… weird with it, though.”

Lykou arched a brow. “...’weird’? Like what?”

She eyed him some more, then shrugged. “Nevermind. Lot of freaks around. Just making sure,” she said, then glanced between them. “So you two here for the revenant’s treasure, or trying to break the curse? Don’t think I’ve seen either of your kind before, so you must be from a long way off.”

“Yeahhh that’s a long story. We’re actually just trying to get to an old magic gateway in the ruins as part of our journey trying to make our way home.”

“Gateway?” the ghost asked dubiously. “Huh. That’s a new one. Haven’t heard of anything like that there.”

“Yeah, like I said, long story,” the konuul said. “By the way, my name’s Lykou, and this is Kuna.”

Kuna gave a nervous little wave, but otherwise remained quiet.

“Mm. I’m Marja. Or… was, I suppose.”

“And uh… w-what were you doing out here?” Lykou asked.

“What else? Trying to find a way to get at the revenant’s treasure,” Marja replied with a shrug.

“What is the t-treasure anyway?” Kuna asked. “W-what could be w-worth risking… w-well, this,” he added, gesturing to her, then her body.

“Supposedly a mystical magic weapon or something, among other things. As for me, my life sucked as it was, so I figured I had nothing to lose. Figured I’d at least make it to the ruins before getting got, though,” she explained with a frown. “At least then my soul could’ve moved on, even if my body became another member of the grim guard.”

Lykou and Kuna both shuddered. “W-would be a nasty way to go though, f-from what we saw.”

She shot them a look. “Already been there once, huh? And managed to get away?”

“W-we didn’t make it inside, but we saw a squirrel that t-tried to get over the wall,” Lykou responded.

“I may n-never sleep right again,” Kuna said quietly with a haunted, far-away look in his eyes.

“Ah. Yeah, good luck with that,” Marja said with mild amusement. “So what are you doing now?”

“Wellll,” Lykou began, rubbing his neck with a sheepish expression. “It’s funny you say that. We uh… f-found this strange… lady… that says she can make something that can get us past the mob outside.”

The ghost’s eyes widened. “Oh. You found her, huh?”

“Y-yeah. You’re familiar with her?”

“Oh yeah. The moss witch of the aberrant garden. Kind of another legend in her own right. Considered looking for her myself, but decided it wasn’t worth the risk of annoying her.”

“...r-risk?” Kuna asked nervously.

“Yeah. She’s helpful when she wants to be, but you don’t want to get on her bad side. And she tends to get annoyed with people asking for help getting the revenant’s treasure.”

“W-well, luckily she seems happy to help us since we explained our situation to her,” Lykou said hopefully.

“Obviously, seeing as how you’re not a grasshopper or a pile of goo right now.”

Kuna and Lykou blanched. “Sh-she’d do that??”

“Among other things, yeah. But like I said, you’ve obviously not annoyed her, so congrats I guess.”

“Th-that’s good t-t-to know,” Kuna nervously replied, clinging to Lykou.

“S-so yeah, on that note, she… sent us to gather ingredients for something to help us.”

“Won’t help you fight that mob, but good luck anyway.”

“Oh we’re not planning on fighting them. She said it’ll make it so they ignore us.”

The ghost stared at the konuul for a moment, then facepalmed. “I… never even considered that…”

“Y-yeah. And one of the ingredients is apparently… uh… s-something to do with ghosts?”

Marja arched a brow. “...huh?”

“S-something about ‘essence of death denied’?” Kuna chimed in. “S-some kind of ‘goo’ you leave around?”

The ghost gave him a mildly bemused look, then glanced around at the faint ethereal footprints she’d left on the ground, half of which had already started to fade away. “Really? That stuff? To be honest I don’t even know what it is. Just pops up sometimes when I try to touch things. Doubt you can actually touch it though, so… good luck with that.”

“Ku can touch ghost stuff, actually,” the konuul pointed out, giving his friend a small grin. “Go on, show her.”

Kuna shot a nervous look back at him, then gulped. “Uh… w-well…”

“You’ve got me curious now. Come on, I wanna see this.”

The sereva nervously stepped forward and reached out a hand. After a few anxious moments, he came within reach and gently touched her arm. In response, her expression quickly shifted from amused, to surprised, to… a strange bittersweet look.

“Wow. I… I can actually… feel you,” she said, her tone a bit melancholy. “I… forgot what that’s like…”

After a moment, Kuna’s nerves subsided and his own expression shifted to a faint, sympathetic smile. “I… wish w-we could help you,” he said. “Are you sure there’s n-nothing we can do for you?”

Marja eyed him for a moment, then looked away and rubbed her arm thoughtfully. “… unless you can banish the wraith and lift the curse, no. Other than… m-maybe… eh, nevermind.”

Kuna stared at her for a moment, then suddenly leaned in and embraced her, his nerves temporarily forgotten in place of sadness and empathy.

The spirit let out a startled noise, but then quickly returned the hug and let out a faint, ethereal sniff. “...thanks…”

Lykou smiled and walked over to rub the sereva’s back encouragingly. “He’s a good guy like that.”

After a moment, the spirit pulled back and rubbed her eye. “Y-yeah. You two better hurry and get out of here. Good-natured guys like you don’t belong in a place this fucked up,” she said with a faint, slightly sad smirk. “Besides, keep this up and I’ll become addicted to contact and might go ghoul quicker.”

Kuna yelped slightly and shrunk back with a nervous smile. “W-wouldn’t want that, heh. Still wish there was more we could do for you…”

“Eh… I knew the risks when I came here,” she said, waving it off. “Some day someone’ll find a way to lift the curse and we’ll all be free.”

“Guess we should collect that, uh, ‘goo’ and get going, then,” Lykou suggested.

Kuna nodded. “Yeah, I guess so,” he said, then turned back to the ghost. “You sure you don’t want us to at least bury your body or something?”

“Nah. Leave it out here so I can find it easily. Maybe it’ll be all bone by the time I start to lose my mind, so I’ll at least be a less gross-looking ghoul,” she commented with a sardonic chuckle. “Here, I think if I just…” She bent down and concentrated for a moment as she wrapped her hand around a small rock on the ground. When she pulled it away, there was a thick patch of the faint, glowy incorporeal substance covering the rock. “Think that’ll be enough?”

“Probably,” Kuna said, then bent down and picked the rock up. After a moment of looking it over and feeling the strange, half-there substance, he slipped the rock into the remaining bag Algrytha had given him. “Thank you, Marja. If we find any way to lift the curse, we will,” he promised.

“Don’t get my hopes up,” she responded, then rubbed his head a little. “Just do me a favor and survive, alright? Like I said, someone as nice as you shouldn’t join us creepy losers out here.”

“He’s right though,” Lykou chimed in. “I can’t promise anything, but if we do happen across anything, believe me, we won’t just ignore it.”

“Appreciate it,” the specter replied with a faint smile, then sighed. “Now if you’ll excuse me… being all,” she added, gesturing to herself broadly. “Visible like this is starting to make me feel a bit weird and… kind of tired, oddly enough. Didn’t think that’d be a thing since I don’t sleep anymore, but yeah.”

“Goodbye then,” Lykou said. “Was nice meeting you, Marja.”

“Aside from the circumstances,” Kuna added. “Hope you… uh… well…”

“What, ‘get better’?” Marja snickered a bit. “S’alright. I appreciate the sentiment. Bye you two.” After that, she faded away. Given the way the leaves rustled around in random spots, gradually moving farther away, it was obvious she was still around. But whatever made it possible for her to appear before them and talk to them clearly had a time limit before she had to recover.

“Man, never expected a ghost encounter to go like that,” Lykou said thoughtfully.

“Me either. Definitely not complaining though,” Kuna agreed. “Shame we can’t do more for her.”

“Yeah…” Lykou sighed. “Well… I guess we better get back to Algrytha now.”

Kuna nodded and they headed out, glancing around warily. “Especially if that… ‘ghoul’ that got her is still lurking around here somewhere.”