"Stepping out for fresh air, huh?"
Wanora's voice cut through the quiet. She stood just near the edge of the village, where the trees blurred into fog. Of course she was out here. I figured she would be.
"Yeah," I muttered, slipping my hands into my pockets. "Though really, I figured you'd be too."
We fell into step, the two of us silently drifting toward the edge of the village where the fog thickened like soup.
"I forgot to mention something earlier," I said after a moment. "This island is—"
"A deity?" she cut in, glancing at me. "Yeah. I figured. Everyone pretends not to know, but they all do. They just lie to themselves. It's easier to believe in ghosts than accept that a god wants you dead."
I raised an eyebrow. "So they told you everything?"
"More or less."
"Well, I figured it out the hard way. Stepped on the ground, tried using my Clarion—instant headache. Not exactly fun getting a peek at divine organs."
"You saw it?"
"Not clearly. Just enough to know it wasn't normal." I shrugged. "Anyway, why are we walking toward the dock?"
"That." She pointed.
A flicker of light pulsed ahead of us.
When we reached it, we were standing right back where we started—back at the village center.
"Came back to the middle again," she said, her voice dry.
"Well... that's disappointing." I sighed. "Try using your Clarion?"
"Already did. Won't work."
"Why not?"
"It's the fog," she said. "Too thick. Blocks perception."
I frowned. "Then how did Ophean manage to escape and reach the mainland?"
"He used the Clarion of Smell," she answered like it was obvious. "You can't see in a dark room, but you can smell. He probably followed the scent of saltwater until he hit the docks."
"But if we're walking straight, shouldn't we get out too?"
"Not really. Our minds are probably being manipulated. We think we're going straight, but we're not. Ophean probably shut his eyes and let his nose lead him. We, on the other hand, are trusting our eyes."
I paused, then nodded. "Alright. That makes sense."
Wanora tilted her head toward the sea. "You think Kevin's still on the ship?"
"If your theory's right, then yeah. If he had stepped onto the island, he'd be here by now. The fact that he hasn't... means he's likely still on the ship."
"Think ophean warned the others during his time on the continent?"
"He probably did," I said. "But imagine someone telling you a god kills anyone who walks around at night. Would you believe that?"
Wanora chuckled. "Nope."
"Exactly. So he kept quiet, and we showed up—low pay, long trip, but we came anyway."
"Sounds like a diagung, something punishing us for being outside at night" she muttered with a grin.
I smirked, that gave me flashbacks.
We kept walking in silence.
Then—BOOM.
The ground behind us erupted in flame.
Wanora turned, she already summoning fire into her hand. A flare ignited from her palm, shooting into the dark.
"That thing behind us," I said, shielding my face from the heat. "Was that the murderer?"
"No," Wanora answered coldly. "It's inside the ground. That means it's the deity. Probably trying to pick us off."
"Desperate move," I said.
She narrowed her eyes. "Why doesn't it just attack the village directly?"
"Good question." I shrugged. "Maybe it needs followers. Worshippers to survive. Something-something 'preparation for the time of stars' crap."
Wanora scoffed. "So it's killing off the future believers? Real smart, that one."
Suddenly, I felt a tug behind my heel. I jumped back instinctively—just in time for Wanora to blast the ground where I was standing.
"HEY!" I snapped. "Warn me before lighting me up next time!"
She didn't even flinch. "You dodged. Doesn't matter."
I let out a long sigh. "This isn't gonna work. Even if we evacuated everyone, you can't blow up an island. Especially not one that is a god."
Wanora glanced at me. "Agreed. So what's your plan, then? This was your idea to help them."
"We find the murderer."
"And how exactly?" she asked. "We left the village, and nothing happened. No sign of him."
"Exactly," I said. "Because we didn't make it far enough. Ophean almost reached the edge. That's probably when the murderer intercepted."
Wanora burned a patch of ground casually as she walked. "So we couldn't trigger him because we didn't reach that threshold?"
"Exactly."
"Weirdly logical," she muttered. "Let's head back before the villagers freak out."
We slipped back into the village under the blanket of night, silent and smoky, as Wanora burned the last few steps behind her.