The youth stared at his companion, taking in the changes in his body even as his mind tried to process what he saw. The skin on his face was almost melted away, revealing bone and squirming flesh underneath it, where maggots made their home. Domeron’s eyes were clouded over even as he stood there, looking at Red - the marks of the deceased - yet in his crimson sense, the man was still very much alive, contrasting with the sight in front of him.

This could only mean one thing.

‘Another premonition?’

It was hard to tell, but the more the youth stared at the man, the more he felt his stomach turn as if he was looking at something terribly wrong, something that shouldn’t exist. A violation of nature.

Out of instinct, Red gritted his teeth and closed his eyes, refusing to look at his companion for even one more second.

“Hm?” Domeron’s confused voice reached him. “What is it?”

“It’s…” Red hesitated.

‘Should I tell him?’

If their earlier discussions held true and Red’s visions were a premonition of sorts, then what did this mean for the swordsman? How would it affect him to know what could be waiting for him?

“… You saw something bad, right?” The man’s voice brought him out of his thoughts.

Unfortunately for him, it seemed his hesitation in the context of their conversation was already telling enough for Domeron.

“Well, don’t hold me in suspense, kid.” He said in a light-hearted tone. “Could it be that you saw me as a corpse, too?”

Red didn’t respond.

“Oh… That’s exactly what you saw, wasn’t it?” Domeron asked.

The youth frowned, still not opening his eyes. “You weren’t like this moments ago. Only when I focused on you did I see it.”

The swordsman was silent for a few seconds. “… You know what this means, right?”

He knew it all too well. “The effects of the dagger are not gone.”

Domeron sighed. “Or maybe the dagger was never the one responsible for what you saw.”

It was rather logical for Red back then to assume that what he saw in Rimold, Domeron, and the rest of the villagers were all connected to the dagger. After all, it had already affected the entire region in some manner, attracting people from a dozen kilometers away, so it wasn’t farfetched to assume it was also behind these strange things the youth saw.

He thought that maybe this was a sign of the dagger, or rather the ghost possessing, trying to influence these people to become its next worshippers. Yet now, this was all in question.

“There’s something I’ve been meaning to ask.” Domeron spoke up. “Did you see that gray aura around that mercenary or the necromancer?”

Red shook his head, realizing what the swordsman wanted to say. “They looked normal.”

The man grunted. “Hm, I thought that this was a case that whoever came in contact with things related to the dagger would get infected, but… This doesn’t seem to be the case.”

“What else could be causing this?”

“I can’t claim to understand the things you see, but I know better than to ignore them with everything that has been going on.” Domeron said. “There’s only one way we can confirm what has been happening.”

Red hesitated. “… You want to go back to the village?”

“We need to see if something happened to them.”

“The imperials could be waiting for us there.”

“Maybe so, but if we don’t investigate this, I might die without knowing what happened. Even if you don’t really like me, you wouldn’t want that to happen, would you?”

The youth sighed. It seemed like they were forever destined to bounce back and forth when it came to taking risks. “Do you need to ask?”

Domeron laughed. “I’m glad you agree. Still, do you plan on walking the entire way with your eyes closed? I know it can’t be nice looking at corpses the entire time, but it can’t be so bad that you need to close your eyes, right?”

“… I don’t care about your appearance.” Red shook his head. ”It’s an uneasy feeling that bothers me every time I look at you. I won’t be able to focus this way.”

“Then how about I walk behind you?” Domeron asked. “That won’t solve things, but we can’t just stay here and wait for the problem to solve itself, right?”

The youth nodded. “We’ll do it this way.”

He heard and felt through his crimson sense as Domeron moved towards his back. A few seconds later, Red opened his eyes. He reflexively thought about looking back at the man, not comfortable with anyone at his back, but he stopped himself.

“Relax.” Domeron said. “I’ll walk further behind if it makes you more comfortable.”

Red wouldn’t complain about this suggestion.

After everything was settled, the two of them started to travel again towards the village. They would need to cross the river again to reach that place, but this time, they decided to make their way around the dead section of the forest. With the youth leading the way, they would manage to move without leaving many traces or calling attention to them, but even that didn’t make him too confident in avoiding discovery if the imperials were really keen on sending someone after them.

A few hours later, after they already crossed the river once more, Red noticed something strange.

‘She still hasn’t said anything.’

The youth understood Aurelia’s temperament and how she wouldn’t budge on certain things, but if there was one thing the woman always did was to make her opinion known whenever he took a course of action. The fact she still hadn’t spoken about his decision to return to the village worried him in more ways than one.

Red was about to reach into his pouch and try to communicate with her, but he stopped himself. He forgot for a second that Domeron was behind him, probably watching his every action. Wouldn’t it be suspicious if he all of a sudden shoved his hand inside his pouch and continued to walk like that?

Yet, when he thought about it, he noticed how silly he was being.

‘Why am I even worried about making him suspicious any more?’

The man knew about many of his secrets and probably suspected about many more. While the youth didn’t feel comfortable revealing everything to him, would the man even nag him if he saw something strange?

This was just Red’s natural suspicion towards everything and everyone getting the better of him. He couldn’t let that stop him from learning valuable information.

“Don’t bother. I don’t know.”

He was about to reach into his pouch again when he heard Aurelia’s voice. His hand froze and he continued to walk as if nothing had happened.

She continued. “I don’t know why you still see that. If it is a premonition, then it should have been solved once the root cause of what you saw was dealt with. Since that didn’t happen, then that means the dagger wasn’t responsible for it.”

Red frowned. Wasn’t it still possible the dagger was dangerous?

The woman seemed to be able to guess his thoughts. “It’s not the dagger. I checked it many times over. If it was still dangerous, I would know… And before you say anything else, don’t even question my abilities! If there’s anything wrong I can’t outright detect with the dagger, then it’s definitely not something you have any hope against!”

The youth couldn’t argue against her point.

“Now think about it yourself.” Aurelia said. “With everything we know about these strange events, what stands out to you the most as not making sense?”

Red thought about it, but it didn’t take long for something to come to his mind.

“The peasant woman.” He said out loud.

“You think so too, huh?” Domeron asked from behind him.

The youth stopped walking and was about to turn around, but he stopped himself.

The swordsman continued. “What happened to her does not fit how we know this dagger or whatever was possessing it operated. It always whisked away its victims in the dead of night, with no one noticing, yet with her it had a conversation in front of her own daughter and seemingly convinced her to escape rather than forcing her to. Not only that, but it also left a message for someone… None of it makes sense.”

Red frowned. “It convinced her by speaking about her missing husband. It still knew about the disappearances.”

“But that doesn’t mean what took the woman was responsible for them, does it?” Domeron asked. “You tell me yourself, you were the one in there with that dagger and whatever was behind this. What kind of being did it seem like to you?”

The youth hesitated. “… It seemed like a being that was only interested in recovering himself by using innocent people.”

He still remembered the many armed ghosts. Although it spoke eloquently to him in his illusion, there was a savagery beneath its appearance and the way it acted against Aurelia that wasn’t befitting a particularly rational being.

Domeron grunted. “So, why would a being like this leave such an obvious message behind if it was trying to be so stealthy before? More so, why would it do it now, and why would it do so by attacking a village it already targeted in the past, something it never did before?”

Red’s frown only deepened. “It doesn’t make sense.”

“Correct.” Domeron said, and the youth could only imagine the smile he had at that moment. “And where does that leave us?”

“… It means that it’s likely something else was responsible for abducting the woman.”

“Yes, and maybe it’s the same thing that is causing you to see those premonitions.”

The moment these words were spoken, Red was filled with skepticism. Two ghostly presences, acting in the same region and in their own interest, with one making use of the other to go by unnoticed. Yet, the logical conclusion was there, and there was reasonable suspicion to think that it could be indeed what was happening.

Instead of getting answers, however, they only got more questions.

“We need something more concrete to assume that.” Red said.

“That’s why we are risking going to the village.” Domeron said. “In any case, I only plan to take a look around and see if anything changed. We have overstayed our welcome around here.”

The youth was compelled to agree.

…

They arrived near the village during the night, which was preferable to Red. Before they even got close, though, they tried to scout it from afar, something that proved to be rather difficult with no hills nearby and plenty of trees in their way.

Still, after spending half an hour circling around the village from afar, they were reasonably sure that there were no ambush parties waiting for them inside. They then decided to approach.

However, Red was quick to notice something strange once he extended his crimson sense.

“I can’t feel any fluctuations inside the village.” he said with a frown.

Domeron grunted. “Something happened here. I can feel it even without any powers.”

The youth wanted to ask Aurelia if she noticed something weird, but since she didn’t say anything, he decided against it. They entered the village without issues, and even then Red couldn’t feel any fluctuations around him, not even from the animals in their sheds.

Other than that, nothing looked to be out of the ordinary in the village. No signs of attacks or of swift escapes. Everything seemed to be in its place, much like how it was when they first visited.

He turned towards Domeron, looking at his feet so to avoid meeting his gaze, and shook his head. “There’s no one here.”

The man seemed hesitant. “Let’s look inside this house.”

He pointed at the small shed closest to them. Red nodded and followed him inside.

The door wasn’t locked, so they entered without problem. They immediately froze as they saw what was inside, though.

A family of three, a father, a mother, and their young son, were all motionless, sprawled over their dinner table. No signs of attack were present in their bodies, and yet there they were, their life snuffed out for no apparent reason with their eyes rolling back into their heads.

Their faces were frozen in horror, twisted into shapes that shouldn’t be humanly possible. It seemed as if they were in the middle of having dinner.

Upon seeing this, Red regretted having ever come back.