The disturbing screams did not cease piercing the silence of the dark; instead, they continued to resonate as if they were invisible waves of sound trying to push them away from the shores of this cursed island.
Silas and Elyra disembarked from the ship, their feet sinking into the soft ground. Silas raised his cane, trying to pierce the density of the fog to see anything around them, but the light revealed nothing but void.
"Where do we go now? I see nothing here..." Silas muttered, then turned his body toward the ship docked behind him, shining the dim light from his cane on it for a moment, as if bidding it farewell.
The ship was a surreal sight that defied logic. Upon the cold metal deck of the ship stood a complete wooden house in an elegant Victorian style. It looked as though it had been plucked from an old noble district and planted here by force. Its tall windows with ornate frames were dark now, and the front porch, fenced with intricately carved wooden pillars, overlooked the void instead of a lush garden. The slanted roof covered in dark tiles and the silent stone chimney made the ship look like a floating mansion lost in time.
"We will leave the ship here, Elyra... and we will move forward," Silas said, turning his back on the house, trying to gather his courage.
Elyra bent down and picked up a handful of sand, asking Silas to direct the light onto it. It wasn't ordinary sand; it was black as crushed coal and sticky as if saturated with oil.
She brought it close to her face, then pulled away in disgust. "It emits a foul smell... a scent of rot and burning. This annoys me, but what annoys me more are these noises that won't go silent." She dusted the sand off her hand vigorously and wiped her palm on her trousers.
The two moved into the pitch darkness, leaving the ship and the Victorian house to fade gradually into the fog behind them.
"Do you think they are animals?" Silas asked in a low voice, trying to ignore the shivers running down his spine.
"No..." Elyra answered, her hand never leaving the hilt of her sword. "Animals scream from pain or anger... these sounds seem like they were made just to be annoying. There is no soul in them."
Silas felt tension gnawing at his gut. With every step, his mind screamed at him to go back, to run toward the safety of his wooden room and get away from this desolate place. But, for some reason, his feet moved forward with a confidence his heart didn't possess. He continued walking over the sticky black sand, and despite his growing anxiety, the sound of Elyra's steady breathing beside him gave him a strange sense of reassurance. She was the shield, and he was the guide.
Suddenly, he spotted a faint flicker in the distant horizon. It was a warm yellow light, looking as if someone had lit a lamp in a room through a distant window.
Silas squeezed Elyra's hand. "Elyra, look there! It must be someone's house living here. Come on, we must advance quickly before it goes out!"
They took off running toward the light, stumbling in the heavy sand. Silas used the dim light from his cane to avoid potholes, but his eyes began to adjust to the dark, and he started to make out the dark terrain of the place; sharp rocks jutting out like the ribs of dead beasts, and twisted dry trees with no leaves.
They stopped suddenly.
The light vanished, and in front of them appeared a massive gate.
It was a gigantic iron gate, covered in rust and corrosion, rising several meters high and blocking a narrow passage between two colossal rocks. It stood like a silent barrier, preventing anyone from crossing.
Silas felt a tightness in his chest. There was a clear feeling that someone didn't want any visitors to approach.
Why would anyone build a gate of this size in such a desolate place? Is it to protect what's inside? Or to keep something in?
He thought for a moment that he would be invading the privacy of the place, but his curiosity was stronger than his fear and his manners.
Beside him, Elyra stared at the gate with narrowed eyes.
This place is suspicious... the air is too heavy, and there is no smell of life. Something unusual must be happening here.
She turned to him and asked, "What now?"
"I'll climb it..." Silas said, placing his foot on one of the rusty bars and beginning to hoist himself up.
SWOOOOOOOOOSH!
An intense, sudden scream exploded, louder than any sound before, shaking their very bones.
And from nowhere, directly above the gate, a strange object formed.
It had no solid form but appeared as a dark, glowing blue, beginning to take a wavy, ghostly shape, like thick smoke twisting. Its movements and vibrations synchronized with terrifying precision to the pitch of the shrill scream. It seemed as if the sound itself had materialized.
"What the hell is that?!" Elyra stepped back, her eyes widening in astonishment.
The ghost looked terrifying, with distorted features and an open mouth emitting the wail. It was their first time seeing anything like this.
"Let's retreat now!" Silas shouted, jumping off the gate and grabbing Elyra's hand, running back away from the gate and the screaming ghost.
As they ran, Silas's mind continued to spin and analyze at breakneck speed.
What is the nature of this creature? I felt no heat... and it had no smell. It was like an optical illusion, but the sound was very real.
He tried to comprehend it.
Maybe this is normal in this place; even I know little about this world. But Elyra... she has roamed this world more than anyone, so why was she surprised too?
He looked at her running beside him with a shocked expression.
Well, I can attribute this to her condition and lost memory.
They stopped running after they had distanced themselves enough, and the blue ghost disappeared from sight behind the fog. Silas bent over his knees, leaning on his cane, trying to catch his panting breath.
"What now? Are we going back?" Elyra said in a disgruntled tone, looking back angrily. "If you had let me cut its head off, we wouldn't have had to run like cowards."
Silas interrupted her, wiping sweat from his forehead. "No, we are still exploring the place. Remember, we are the ones who tried to trespass, so it's natural for there to be security..."
"So, you are the ones who caused this noise."
A hoarse voice came from behind them, making Silas jump up and point his cane toward the source.
A person emerged from the shadows.
"What are you trying to do? Are you a new batch sent here?" the person spoke in a desperate, rapid tone. "There isn't enough food even for us here... Leave! I advise you to commit suicide, for you will live nothing but pain here."
Silas looked at him with a mix of surprise and pity. He was a young man, but his features looked like a dying old man. His eyes were sunken, and his pale skin clung to his bones. His clothes were mere worn and torn rags, and he was barefoot, his feet covered in that sticky black sand.
Silas stepped back and said calmly, "No... we don't need food. We just want to explore this place and find someone. No one sent us; we came from a faraway place of our own will."
The man narrowed his eyes and looked at Silas suspiciously, then his pupils dilated with sudden madness.
"So you are fools!" the man screamed, spittle flying from his mouth. "You say you came from far away by yourselves? Then you have a ship... Where is it? Where is the ship?!" His words accelerated, and he began advancing toward them with frightening eagerness.
Silas was immediately alerted to the danger. He realized that this man, despite his emaciation and weakness, would try to seize the ship at any cost if told where it was. Despair gives men frightening strength, and this man had nothing to lose; he would do anything to get away from this hell.
"Yes, we have a ship," Silas said firmly, raising his hand to calm the man. "But we left it in the care of friends of ours... very strong friends who will return later to pick us up. We can help you then."
It was an elaborate lie, Silas attempting to divert the man's attention from stealing the ship and make him trust in another exit.
"Tell us your name, sir... and why are you here? And what exactly is this place?"
The man's shoulders slumped slightly, as if the mention of "strong friends" had thwarted his attack plan. He sat weakly on the sand, crossing his legs. He picked up some black sand in his hand and began pouring it slowly through his fingers like an hourglass counting lost time.
"My name is Sven..." he said in a raspy voice. "That's what I remember about myself. No... what I remember is my miserable life here in this place. Even I don't know what lies behind that gate, nor do I know how long I've been here..."
Sven's words began to falter, and his voice trembled as if he were about to cry, but he stopped himself, returning to stare at the falling sand.
Suddenly, they heard the sounds of footsteps approaching from the surrounding darkness. It wasn't the steps of one person, but dozens.
While Sven was speaking, Silas moved the light from his cane in the direction of the sound, only to be shocked, along with Elyra, by the sight.
Dozens of homeless people, just like Sven, were emerging from the rocks and fog, approaching slowly like ghosts. They were a miserable mix; men, women, and elders with bent backs. Some looked as if they had lived here for so many long years they had forgotten what the outside world looked like, and women carrying pale children, born in this darkness, who had never seen the light. All their eyes were fixed on Silas and Elyra, eyes full of hunger, despair, and curiosity.
Elyra leaned toward Silas and whispered with dark sarcasm as she looked at the gathering crowd. "What now? Are you going to carry them all in your Victorian ship?"
Silas tightened his grip on his cane, looked at the homeless people, then turned his head toward the direction they had come from... toward the gate and the ghost.
"We're going back," he said firmly. "This time, I'll make sure you cut that ghost's head off."
Elyra smiled a feral smile and placed her hand on the hilt of her sword at her side.
"Then..." she said, slowly drawing the sword, its blade gleaming in the darkness. "We will smash that gate to discover what hides behind it."