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I woke up to frantic shouting coming from above me followed by someone grabbing my arm and ripping me out of my makeshift shelter. I was delirious from the cold and exhaustion, but I could still make out the voices to be the ones that have been following me all this time. I cursed myself for my carelessness, but I knew there was nothing else I could do. Soon my eyes cleared up enough that I could see my pursuers, nine people, all in all, eight men and one woman. My heart sunk, there was no way I could take on this many people in my exhausted state.

“Quickly tie her up, I don’t want to go on another three-day chase, and I bet you guys feel the same,” said a big man wearing slightly better furs.

Quickly a scrawny man came over with a rope made of thistles and tightly bound my hands. I tried to fight back but failed due to my exhaustion and received a punch to the face for my effort. I can’t face nine men in my exhausted state, so I just gave up for now and planned to look for opportunities to escape later. With a rough heave, I was brought to my feet only to be brought back down by a hard kick to the stomach, damn that hurt.

“Alright stop playing around, we are already behind schedule by a couple of days and I don’t want to be any later,” said the big man causing the rest to let out cries of complaint, “My pay is already going to be cut because of this and so will yours so stop complaining.

With those words, I was once again picked up but this time I was slung over the big guy's shoulder before they started off.

…….

After a few hours of the brute’s arm digging into my stomach I noticed a frightening aura permeating through the surrounding area. It was cold and menacing, filled with a murderous feeling. And from what I could tell my captures could feel it as well but probably as not as well considering that they are walking directly towards it. I was unnerved but I could possibly use this to my advantage. Soon we came upon the supposed source, a large stone… mausoleum? The aura was even worse now and it almost feels like the temperature is quickly dropping.

The captors looked at the large foreboding building in trepidation for a minute before turning to the only woman of the group. She looked at the building unemotionally and turned to the big man carrying me,

“It is nothing more than a burial place of a shaman, you should be fine if you don’t show any disrespect,” she said in a monotone voice.

The group collectively let out a sigh of relief before resuming the march. I wasn’t so sure about her conclusion, though I agree that it was a burial place it was probably not for a simple shaman judging by the dreadful aura emanating from it. I looked over at the woman with confusion, it almost felt like she was purposely leading the group into a very dangerous situation.

With the belief that they were in no danger the group marched on with reckless abandon and soon I was close enough to get a faint whiff of tobacco in the air. My heart was racing now, and I was sweating profusely, the aura was so intense I could barely breathe and I was quickly descending into a panic attack. Suddenly I could faintly feel a subtle force calming my fear, it wasn’t much but I could think more clearly now. I looked up to search for the source and I found the mysterious woman discretely looking at me.

Before I knew it, we were at the entrance of the oppressive stone construct. My panic was trying to return but I could barely suppress it with the help of the mysterious force, whatever this stone crypt contained was extremely powerful. As we passed the door at a distance the woman suddenly signaled the group to stop before turning and slowly walking to the large heavy door. I sucked in a breath at the sudden action and all I could do was pray to the spirits that she wouldn’t anger the mausoleum’s occupant.

She walked slowly and methodically towards the structure and when she was around five feet away, she dropped to a knee and lowered her head. Slowly the aura retracted causing me and my captors to release a collective sigh of relief. Taking this as a sign the woman rose, bowed once more, and continued to approach until she was face to face with the door. She placed a leather sack, a waterskin, and a stone on one of the steps. I let out the breath I was so desperately holding, it was just an offering, and telling from the disappearance of the frightening aura I say it worked. But as the woman turned back and walked to the group, I saw a small pinprick of light through the crack of the door, followed by a blur of movement and the disappearance of the offerings.

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I awoke suddenly with an irritated feeling gnawing on my stomach, something unpleasant happened, I know it. I slowly got up and stretched my neck without thinking before checking on my little guest. He was, thankfully, still fine and sleeping peacefully so I got ready to head out and deal with whatever Is pissing me off. I raised my head and carefully sniffed the air to detect any changes in the environment and found a new sickly-sweet smell that was very much absent before, the smell of SIN. My mouth began to water and I unconsciously honed my senses causing a world of colored threads to reveal itself to me. Soon I found the source by following the strands of curses that were flowing before me trying desperately to catch my attention, and from the looks of it, they are coming right towards me. All I needed to do now is wait, its not every day that my prey just falls in my lap.