The pale man walked toward the statue with agonizing slowness.
Their eyes were... empty and lifeless. Like windows into a room where all the furniture had been removed, leaving nothing but emptiness.
CRACKLE!!
A particularly sharp sound of thunder rolling down reverberated far and wide across the entire Crimson Canopy, powerful enough to send tremors across the temple building.
It startled Ishiki violently and suddenly he felt as if he was forgetting something.
Something important and vital. A thought that had been present moments ago but was now slipping away like water through fingers.
His eyes widened as he remembered what. ’Crap, how could i forget.’
He stood up abruptly from behind the obsidian platform and sprinted past the moving figure as if it didn’t exist.
He ran toward the gate and yanked doors open with desperate force.
A barrage of strong wind and rain drops assaulted him as he emerged out. The cold water hit his face with physical impact, while the wind threatened to push him backward.
He closed the gates behind himself and ran through the storm.
’Oh Gods, How could i forget to collect the water.’
He gritted his teeth and ran through the storm, trying not to slip on his way because of the wet mud.
’There’s rain and I forgot to do the only work I’m actually responsible for.
Filling up the water tank.
He was in charge of looking after the water supply in the settlement. It was certainly the most important job, as Ishiki looked at it.
He navigated behind the last house near the Crimson Canopy and opened the metal lid covering the large water tank built underground by the clearing’s original dwellers.
Ishiki looked down as rain drops slowly filled the almost empty tank and its water level rose with agonizing gradualism.
Their only source of water was rain. Just a week after the twelve people accompanying the princess had first arrived this settlement, all of them had almost gone insane because of thirst.
Initially, Ishiki had thought that the water in the tank would be enough for two person’s for about two months. But after the new group arrived the water supply depleted considerably and the tank was empty within a week.
He frowned, feeling a strange emptiness in his memories. ’Two persons?’
It was... strange. Why had he thought water would be sufficient for two people when he was clearly the only person living in this settlement before the Princess arrived with others.
Wasn’t he?
Dismissing the discrepancy, Ishiki continued staring at the tank being gradually filled with fresh rainwater.
The days following that initial water crisis had been harsher than anyone could have imagined. Without any source of hydration, they all had slowly descended into desperate madness. Some had even attempted drinking the golden blood of Withering Beasts.
It was an extreme stroke of luck that one of them had received a vestige capable of producing one liters of water every two hours.
They all survived thanks to it, until the rain arrived after two weeks on limited water. After that everyone in the settlement had realized, how important saving water was.
Ishiki smiled despite cold water soaking him completely.
’I indeed have the most important job here.’
He watched silently, sitting in the downpour as the tank filled to capacity. Then closed the metal lid back into place.
The rain showed no signs of diminishing intensity. ’Hmm... looks like a big storm.’
He sneezed as cold wind sent shivers cascading down his spine and raising goosebumps across exposed skin.
His black, long and unkempt hair were almost hiding his entire face now, wet strands plastered across his back. And there was strange uneasiness in his blue eyes that hadn’t been present before.
Shoving disturbing thoughts aside, Ishiki ran toward his house. ’I need to change quickly before I catch cold. That would be a serious problem.’
He made his way to the house occupied by him and another one of the player—Jake.
Ishiki and Jake were not too well acquainted and rarely talked even after living in the same house.
But today... Ishiki found the man sitting in the porch with a somber expression.
As Ishiki opened and closed the door slowly—trying not to make excessive noise—Jake looked up at him.
His eyes were disturbed.
No.
On closer examination, his eyes were... empty.
Ishiki suddenly felt a strange chill run down his body. It was very wrong and for some reason, it was ominously familiar.
Had he seen this look before?
He shrugged internally. ’Must be my imagination.’
The man forced a smile that looked more like grimace. The expression muscles pulled in wrong directions, creating something that superficially resembled friendliness and then he slowly spoke.
"Hi, Ishiki... What were you doing in the rain at this hour?"
’What hour moron? There are no hours.’
Ishiki tried to smile too, but couldn’t. The atmosphere was too much tense for him to smile.
"Uh, yes? I have to fill the tank when it rains so, I was doing just that."
He paused for moment, finding it profoundly strange that someone living in the same house didn’t know about his responsibilities.
’Jake should know. We’ve discussed this before.’
’Haven’t we?’
He tried to calm his paranoid thoughts down and then asked casually.
"What about you? Why are you not asleep."
Jake looked at the ground for prolonged moment, as if contemplating response. Then he suddenly stood up.
Looked straight into Ishiki’s eyes with a gaze that felt like staring into bottomless well.
"What do you mean?"
His voice emerged flat, carrying no inflection whatsoever.
"I am already asleep. Am I not..."
He let out a hoarse chuckle and then whispered.
"ISHIKI!"
At that precise moment—when Jake’s hollow eyes met his blue iris. Ishiki felt the worst fear of all.
The fear of... unknown.
The fear of something that wore familiar face while being fundamentally alien underneath. Something that shouldn’t exist but did.
Jake burst into action, summoning a dagger in each hand.
’Crap...’