Lian opened the door and went out without making any sound. The sky of the realm was still spread above him. He looked around to make sure no one was nearby.
With his senses, he could hear even the smallest sound within a 20-meter radius. But luckily, there was no sound.
He pulled up the collar of his shirt and moved toward the end of the village. The further he went, the colder the air became. Much colder. Breathing had become harder.
And the smell that he could barely sense at noon was now completely clear.
The smell of blood. Old blood and rotten blood. The ruined houses slowly became visible. Worn-out buildings that looked like they had been abandoned for years.
But it was strange. Very strange. No one was guarding them. No guards were there. No fence could be seen.
As if they had been deliberately left alone.
Lian checked the area for a few moments. No one was there. Then he went toward the nearest building.
Before entering, just to be safe, he looked around again. He was entering a place that was practically forbidden.
"If the villagers find out, it will definitely cause trouble." He thought for a moment and chuckled. He did not know what he would find inside.
He just hoped that whatever it was, it would be worth getting into trouble for. But he was also prepared for the possibility that there was nothing inside.
He pushed the rotten wooden door quietly.
Creek...
The door opened. Absolute darkness faced him. Lian took a step inside. And at that moment... a sound came from behind him.
"Why did you come here?"
Every muscle in his body tightened. His heart almost jumped out of his chest. He immediately turned around. But when he saw the face of the person, he let out his breath.
"Damn it..."
Seris was standing there. She was looking at him with the same emotionless face as always.
"You could have appeared a little quieter." Lian rubbed his face.
"No."
"..."
Of course not. Lian did not even know why he asked. He was still surprised that he had not gotten used to this girl’s personality.
"What are you doing here?"
Seris shrugged.
"I followed you."
"Since when?"
"Since you got up from bed."
Lian was quiet for a moment, then sighed. It seemed this girl could still hide from his senses. But since she was stronger than him, that was normal.
"Okay." He looked around.
"Something has been wrong since we entered this village."
"I know." Seris nodded.
"This is the forbidden area. Mira told me I cannot come here."
"So because she told you that you cannot come here, you came here?"
"Yes. And I smell blood coming from here."
"Now that we are close... I really do smell blood." For the first time, Seris wrinkled her nose a little and noticed the stench of blood.
Of course, she had sensed it earlier too, but she thought she was wrong. After all, what reason could there be for blood to be coming from here?
Lian moved forward without another word. Inside, the building was completely intact, unlike its outside appearance. A long hallway stretched in front of them.
Stone walls and torches that were burning quietly. And silence. A silence that became more uncomfortable by the moment.
They walked forward for a few minutes, but the hallway did not end. It seemed too long. It looked more like the entrance to an underground temple or monastery, not a village house.
Why should such a place be abandoned? Besides, if it was really abandoned, why were there torches here? This did not make sense.
And then... they found stairs. Stairs that went down into the depths of the earth.
Lian looked at Seris.
"Let’s go." Seris just said.
And both went down. With every step they took, the smell of blood became stronger.
Stronger.
Stronger.
Until breathing became hard just because of that stench.
And then... they reached the bottom of the stairs. Lian took the last step. His gaze went forward.
And at that moment, his body froze. His eyes widened. For a moment, he felt his stomach twist.
He felt like he was going to throw up, but he forced himself to hold it in.
Next to him, Seris suddenly stopped. For the first time since they had met, the girl’s face color changed. Her eyes opened wide with disbelief.
"This..." she said, and for the first time, her voice had a slight tremble.
She turned her head. Seeing that damn scene was very hard even for her!
Not just for her, but for any human. Seeing that scene was scary, terrible, and sickening.
"What the hell is this?!" His voice echoed in the huge underground space.
"What the fuck is this?!"
In front of them was a huge pit. A lake of blood. Really blood. And a lot of blood. At least hundreds of thousands of liters of blood!
The surface of the blood rippled slowly. And above it... hundreds of bodies were hanging.
Humans. Men, women, old people, young people. All hanging from the ceiling.
Their stomachs were cut open. Their chests were opened. Their bodies were dried out. As if all their blood had been drained. Drops of blood slowly dripped from their bodies.
Drip...
A drop fell into the lake of blood.
Drip...
Another drop.
The sound of each drop falling was strangely clear in that hellish silence.
Lian stared at one of the bodies. Suddenly, he noticed something.
There was no heart. The chest was empty. He looked at the next body.
And the next.
And the next.
None of them had hearts. All the hearts had been removed.
"Why don’t they have hearts?" Seris also noticed this.
Lian frowned. He had no answer for this damn question, all their other organs were in place.
Only the hearts were missing!
Then his gaze fixed on one of the faces. He stopped breathing. He recognized that face.
"..."
A little farther, another body was hanging. Again familiar. And another, and another. Lian felt the blood in his veins freeze.
"No..."
They were villagers. The people he had seen every day. And then he saw a face that made his heart sink.
Mira.
The kind girl who had taken care of them. She was hanging there. Dried out and dead!
Her heart had been torn out.
And at the end of the hall, the body of old man Aldric could be seen. The village elder. He was also dead.
"If these are the real ones..." Lian swallowed hard.
"Then who are the people outside?" Seris also continued with disbelief and wide eyes.
Neither had an answer. For the first time since entering this realm, they felt real fear.
Fear of something they did not even understand.
Thousands of different possibilities and arguments came to their minds. But each one seemed more terrifying and horrible than the last. No matter how they thought about it, this was not right.
They were in a killing ground! They were in a slaughterhouse. A place where humans, each with their own lives, memories, friends, and loved ones, had been butchered and hung like sheep.
What could have done such a thing to them?
"We have to go." Lian stepped back. His voice was dry and hard.
"Right now."
"I agree." Seris immediately nodded.
"We have to take the others and get out of this damn village." They did not want to spend even one more second in this cursed, damned village.
Both turned back without delay. They ran up the stairs. They went through the hallway. They headed toward the exit. But just when they opened the door...
Both stopped.
At the entrance of the building, a girl was standing. A familiar face in white clothes.
Mira.
But something about her was wrong. Very wrong. Her eyes were no longer warm. No longer kind. They were cold, soulless, and inhuman. Like the eyes of a monster!
She looked at them quietly. Not angry. Not upset. Just looking at them.
Then her lips moved.
"You should not have come here."