The shelter was not limited to just having walls and a roof, alongside some drinking water. There were a number of cards pinned to each wall, as well as the roof, with special tools called Activation pins.
Some cards needed guidance, but other cards did the exact same thing regardless of who used them or what they wanted to do. If that was the case, did the cards that required no guidance really even need a caster? Shouldn't channelling aether into it be enough?
The answer was no, otherwise any random aether fluctuation could activate cards randomly, and that would be disastrous. There were, however, ways to keep cards active without the presence of a caster, and Activation pins were just one of them.
But for their purpose here, Activation pins were perfect. All they required was someone to use the card themselves, before passing the pin through the card. There were drawbacks to this, such as the fact that the card would be rendered unusable afterwards, since it had been severely damaged. After all, a pin had passed through it.
But the benefit was that the pin contained its own aether reserve that could be recharged, as long as it didn't run out, it would keep the card active.
This way, they had given their shelter aspects of stealth, as well as a layer of protection that would inhibit curses from affecting it, or manifesting inside. It was not foolproof, but it was the best they could do at the moment.
Everyone in the shelter, despite the soft glow of light and the fact that it was just evening, was ready to go to sleep. As they munched on the bare rations they had collected throughout the day, and sipped the scant water they were able to generate, they felt absolutely miserable. But at least they were getting some rest now.
"Everyone can't go to sleep at the same time," Nero said in a matter of fact way. "A few people need to stay awake and keep guard. Even though we have shelter, we're not completely safe. I'll take the first sleep shift, since I've spent the most energy throughout the day, but I'll take the watch during the second half of the night."
No one could exactly grumble or complain. They hated their situation, but Nero had more than proved himself throughout the day, and it only made sense that he would be exhausted.
Ner nodded to Wendy, who also looked like she was on the verge of passing out, before he walked to a corner and lay down. He hadn't had much food either, just a few mushrooms and berries he identified as safe from bushes, but there was not much he could do about it.
He closed his eyes, and sleep welcomed him almost immediately. Even though he trained himself harshly, that did not mean he was completely immune to the effects of exhaustion.
A few others also lay down, while the rest kept their conversations to a whisper. Henry and Charles exchanged a look, before they too began to rest.
As the night passed, nothing unusual happened. All the recruits who were tense about the horrors of spending a night in the forest eventually relaxed. After the countless obstacles they faced during the day, half of them expected to be attacked by an entire horde of cursed creatures at night. Heck, if the forest itself attacked them they would not have been surprised.
Yet fortunately, no such thing happened. They finally stumbled upon some good luck. As their tensions diminished, their exhaustion finally began to catch up with them. Although they were supposed to stay awake and keep watch, they could not help as their eyelids drooped, slowly and steadily.
In fact, the last recruit to fall asleep was standing, and actually fell over onto some other sleeping recruits. Yet somehow, the fall neither woke him, nor those that he fell onto.
A deathly silence filled the shelter, disturbed only by the soft sounds of breathing.
A few hours later, near midnight, Nero's eyes suddenly opened. It was not like the gradual process one normally experienced. Instead, it was as if the moment he opened his eyes he was fully roused, as if woken by something.
In fact, that is exactly what happened. After the shelter had been made, and everyone else's preparations done, Nero had bathed the floor around the shelter in his own flames. He was not trying to freeze the floor, rather his aim was to form thin sheets of ice on the ground, using only the moisture in the air. Considering the humidity in the forest, it was an easy task.
He was not hoping to cause any unsuspecting target to slip on the ice. Instead, the distinct crack of ice snapping, regardless of how silent it was, was what woke him up.
There was no other sound afterward. It was almost as if he had misheard, or perhaps the natural heat caused the ice to crack. Perhaps.
He looked around the room and saw that everyone else was asleep. Even the recruits sleeping atop each other caught his eye, but he did not seem surprised.
He nudged Glade, who was sleeping beside him, but no matter how he poked or prodded, the latter would not wake up.
Almost as if he had been expecting such a thing, Nero remained unsurprised. He looked around the room and spotted Henry and Charles, both of whom were also asleep, and showed no signs of anything amiss.
Nero picked himself up and stretched, his body complaining about sleeping on the ground, wrapped in his tight armour. The eerie silence surrounding him did prompt any haste, as he took his time flexing his arms and legs, slowly warming up his body. He even spent a few minutes rotating his wrists, as if preparing himself for some strenuous exercise.
Once he was ready, Nero grabbed his spear and walked over to Henry. Just to be sure he was asleep, Nero poked him once with the butt of his spear, but his teammate remained unresponsive.
Nero opened up his card case, picked out a few cards, and slipped them into various slots around his armour. The one in his chest was still Air push, a simple and basic card but one that was useful nonetheless. He did change the cards in the slots in both his arms, though he kept the one on his legs as well as his back the same.
With everything ready, Nero walked out the front door.
The forest was dark and silent, absent even of the creaking or buzzing of insects, though a half moon did provide its dim, milky light where it slipped through the canopy. The wind was not consistent, so whenever it did blow, it brought with its whispers the sound of rustling leaves.
It was almost peaceful, though Nero was not nearly as relaxed as his body language suggested, standing in front of the closed door of his shelter. He was waiting for his eyes to adjust, as much as they could.
Nothing happened in those few minutes. There was no pressure beating down on him, indicating a curse, nor did any animal reveal itself. It was almost as if he imagined the sound.
Once Nero was ready, he walked straight out, as if he was completely confident in himself.
"If you're not going to come out now, I'm going back to sleep. By the way, I'll rig an explosive card to the shelter so if you come in after me, you'll kill all the recruits. I doubt that'll look nice."
Nero sounded brash and domineering as his voice suddenly cut through the silence of the night. Each of his footsteps was accompanied by the sound of ice cracking beneath his feet, as if he was not concerned about making some noise at all. It was as if he was completely confident that there was someone there, out in the darkness.
Nero came to a halt once there was a good bit of distance between himself and the shelter, though no one responded to him yet. Yet all was clearly not well, for his surroundings began to obscure.
It was not like the effect of the Darkness card, which spread actual darkness everywhere. Instead, it was as if things at a certain distance became blurry and difficult to see. Even the massive shelter, which was supposed to be right behind him, seemed to vanish.
Then, as if he had been there all along, a figure suddenly appeared right in front of him. From head to toe he was dressed in black clothes, with only his eyes visible. For some odd reason, the sight of the figure reminded him of the terrorists from back at the AAB.
"You have quite the attitude, don't you?" said an annoyed voice, though Nero did not immediately acknowledge him. Instead, he began to look left or right, as if searching for more people.