FSE

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Aaaand now comes the serious stuff. Warning, there are some mentions of blood and gore in this one, as well as implications of extreme violence. And a very traumatized deer boy.

Also, on a side note, I sadly know nothing of sign language, so if any of the few gestures I actually describe here actually reflect something from that, please just pretend otherwise. I was just doing my best to try and imagine how one might non-verbally convey certain things.

-Llox

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After Kuna's awkward morning, he and Lykou packed up and set off on their journey once more. He was eager to put the morning's embarrassment well behind him, to the point where he didn't even argue when the canid pushed him to grab another stick for self-defense that he knew he'd likely never use. Luckily, Lykou had finally relented on the teasing. In any case, it felt good to be on the move again.

The first half of the day went by relatively peacefully. Eventually, though, they both started to feel a little uneasy as the sounds of birds and other creatures started to fade, and the sky started growing cloudier.

"Shit, I hope it doesn't rain" Lykou remarked.

"I just hope we can find some place to wait it out if it does. I really don't feel like getting drenched," Kuna worried aloud.

Lykou smirked slightly. "Yeah, we might have to hang our clothes out to dry and sleep naked again. I know you'd like that."

Kuna blushed and shot the Lykou a look, to which the canid responded with a light snicker. "How about I leave you out to dry with them."

The konuul was about to respond with another playful comment when his smile faded and he held up a hand, sniffing the air. "Do... do you smell... smoke?"

Kuna paused and sniffed the air as well. "Actually, now that you mention it, yeah..."

They exchanged a worried look, then pressed onward with their guard raised. "This time, if we see someone, don't go mindlessly running over to say hi," the sereva reminded him.

Lykou sighed and briefly rolled his eyes. "Yeah, yeah, I know. No need to remind me."

The further they went, the stronger the acrid smell got, and the quieter the forest got. Soon they saw... something, through the trees, though the brush was too thick to make out what it was. When they finally got close enough, the moment they stepped through what ended up being the outskirts of a treeline, they stopped in their tracks, eyes going wide.

In front of them was the wrecked, burnt remains of what was once clearly a village of some kind. It was a scene of absolute devastation. What few buildings remained were collapsed and scorched, with a few small fires still lingering on some of them. Besides the ash and soot covering the burnt ground, they spotted broken arrows and fragments of broken weapons and bucklers. Peeking out from under the ash and soot were large splatters and streaks of dried blood, its faintly metallic scent mostly masked by the smell of the lingering smoke.

Slowly, they walked forward through the blackened remains of the village in morbid fixation they couldn't shake, with Kuna sticking close the Lykou, and both of them momentarily rendered speechless by the sight. When they passed a chunk of smoldering ruins, Kuna looked down on the other side and immediately regretted it. His hand flew up to his mouth and he looked away with tears brimming in his eyes, clinging to Lykou for support.

For his part, Lykou was also shocked as he held his friend and stared at the viscera on display. Scattered on the ground, there were... pieces of people. Dismembered limbs, bones, and bits he didn't care to try and identify. Whoever they were, he couldn't even be sure of their species by what was left. Looking around, he noticed a few other chunks of gore scattered about the ruins- but oddly, no signs of any whole bodies.

Suddenly, he turned to Kuna when he noticed the sereva's breathing had become erratic. From the look on his face, Lykou could tell there was something more going on, beyond the normal disturbance he himself was feeling. Kuna was shaking and starting to hyperventilate, his eyes frantically darting around at the ground, his pupils shrunk to pinpricks. Without warning, he bolted away from the canid in a random direction. Lykou called out after him and chased him down. Luckily, the sereva didn't get far before he suddenly fell to the ground, then curled up in a fetal position, sobbing and mumbling something to himself.

"Not my fault, not my fault, not my fault," he kept repeating in a weak voice, between shaky breaths. Physically, his body was curled into a ball on the charred ground, but in his tear- and horror-filled eyes, he appeared to be somewhere else entirely. A very, very dark place. "Go away, go away, no more screams, nononono, not my fault, not my fault..."

Lykou was almost as disturbed by his friend's reaction as he was to the gory scene they'd just encountered. Slowly, and as gently as possible, he knelt down and took the sereva into his arms and tried to comfort him as best he could. "Kuna, it's alright, you're safe," he said in a soft voice as he stroked his head with one hand. For a while, he sat there, repeating gentle reassurances, until finally Kuna's murmuring gradually gave way to quiet sobbing.

Eventually, Kuna seemed to come back to the current reality, still trembling in his friend's arms. He glanced up at Lykou, making no effort to move, then looked away again as he tried to say something, but failed to come up with the words.

"Shh, take your time Kuna," the konuul assured him, holding him tightly. There were tears in his own eyes at seeing the poor thing like that, and he squeezed him gently. "You don't have to say anything. I'm here for you."

Kuna closed his eyes and just clung to Lykou, letting the tears flow freely for a short while. Finally, when the flood started to ease somewhat, he opened them again and slowly lifted himself up a bit. Still trembling a bit, he rubbed his eyes. "S-sorry a-about that," he said quietly. "Didn't m-m-mean to-"

Lykou cut him off by grabbing his chin gently, yet firmly, then drawing his attention. "Listen to me Kuna. You have NOTHING. To apologize for. Not one damned thing. Understood?"

Kuna's ears folded down, and after a brief hesitation, he nodded. Then he collapsed into the canid's arms, wrapping his own around his torso. "Th-thank you, Lykou," he said softly, burying his head in his friend's chest.

They sat there a while longer. Perhaps an hour or two, for all they knew. Time almost seemed to stand still in the desolate ruins. Fortunately, despite the sky remaining covered in clouds and a light breeze picking up, no rain fell on them. The faint crackling of the small remaining fires and the faint whistle of occasional small gusts of wind were the only sound, aside from Kuna's occasional sniffling. Finally, Kuna sat up again, wrapping his arms around himself as he continued to shake ever so slightly. Seemingly very careful about where he let his eyes fall, he stared out beyond the far edge of the village. "I... g-guess we're out of the forest for now," he commented idly, trying to ignore his immediate surroundings.

Lykou looked up and realized what he meant. The former village was on the edge of a large, rolling grassland, with the next treeline in any direction except the way they'd come being far off in the distance. But that wasn't important for the moment. "Are you going to be alright to stand?" he gently asked the sereva. "There's no rush."

Kuna didn't answer right away, but eventually gave a very small nod. "I think so. I may just... need you to help guide me. I... I don't want to see any m-more... y-you know."

"Of course," Lykou assured him, carefully helping him stand up. More than ever, he wanted to ask questions and understand where exactly that episode had come from, even though he had strong suspicions about what the answer might look like. But he knew it was hardly the time or place for such things. So instead he helped guide the sereva through the ruins, carefully avoiding the patches of viscera, even as Kuna carefully tried to prevent his gaze from ever drifting down to the ground, staying as fixated on the horizon as he could.

But suddenly, about halfway through the ruins, they both felt an icy chill descend upon them, despite the wind suddenly dying completely. The sky also seemed a bit darker than before, and they felt a shiver go up their spines as they experienced the distinct feeling of being watched. Lykou looked around warily, when suddenly he noticed he could see his breath. "Uh..."

Kuna nodded before the konuul could express his thought, his eyes once again wide open. "W... w-we're not alone," he announced, shivering.

"Okay, try and keep as calm as you can." the canid said, unsheathing his knife with one hand as he looked behind them, searching for the owner of the gaze he felt upon them. "We'll try and find a hiding spot, and if they get to close I can-"

"No. Lykou. L-look," Kuna said, pointing a shaking finger in the other direction.

When Lykou turned to look, the knife slipped from his hand, his wide eyes matching his companion's.

A wavering, vague apparition was hovering no more than a yard or two away from them. Whoever they were, they appeared to be the same species as the two people Lykou and Kuna had encountered basking on a rock the previous day. Except this one was very ethereal, with the lower part of their legs not fully manifesting. Their entire body was washed out, almost devoid of color- and most jarring of all, there was a large, bloodless gash across their neck. Their expression was unreadable, and their eyes were blank white voids, but it was clear they were staring at the two boys, their mouth hung open slightly.

"K-Kuna, is... is that..." Lykou tried to ask the obvious question, but felt it difficult to get the words out.

Kuna just nodded. "Y-yes, Lykou. That's a s-s-spirit. A g-ghost," the sereva confirmed, his trembling intensified.

Instinctively, they both backed up several steps. As the specter drifted slowly towards them, they exchanged a look, then immediately turned and bolted back towards the woods they'd come from, both too distracted by their encounter to look down. Suddenly, they both tripped on a fallen beam in their path and landed hard on their fronts- however, fortunately, a pile of ash cushioned the impact slightly, even as it made them cough and wheeze for a moment before the air cleared. When they both looked back up, they saw that the ghost, while still very much there, hadn't followed them. Instead, it seemed to be wandering around aimlessly.

"F-figures, the first time I s-see an actual s-s-spirit and it's a ghost," Lykou lamented, still staring at the thing as he unsteadily got back to his feet and helped his friend up.

Kuna dusted himself off once he was back up, staring back as well. "I g-guess we shouldn't be... t-too surprised, in a place l-like this," he said quietly. He wasn't sure if he'd call it a blessing, but for the moment the ghost's appearance had at least temporarily gotten his mind off other things. Suddenly his fearful expression faded into a more sad, even sympathetic one. "Actually... m-maybe running was uncalled for."

"What... what makes you say that?" Lykou asked, his eyes never leaving the spirit in the distance. "I mean yeah I guess it can't hurt us... right? But s-still..."

Kuna side-eyed the canid for a moment, before looking back at the ghost and shaking his head slightly. "Well, actually they c-can do some... things, but that's not the point. L-look at them. They're... probably f-fresh."

"I... yeah, I w-would imagine so, given where we're standing," Lykou responded, a bit wary about what those 'things' might be. "What does that have to do with anything though?"

"Ghosts... only appear w-when someone has d-died under certain circumstances. Usually horribly, and either w-with some big unfinished business, or... or their body hasn't been properly l-laid to rest," Kuna explained, then gulped slightly. "From the l-looks of it, they're just sad and confused. If... if they linger too long, though- weeks, months, even years, they c-can start to forget more and more, and e-even become a... a revenant. A h-hungry ghost."

Lykou's eyes widened even more as he looked over to Kuna for the first time since fleeing the spirit. "A... what kind of ghost?"

"The l-longer a lost soul lingers in the m-mortal world, the more their... people-side fades, and the m-more beast-like they become, and they g-give into basic i-instincts. But they can't eat r-real food any more, s-s-so... they latch onto w-whatever they can. And they s-start to develop s-some... abilities t-to cope."

"That... d-doesn't sound good," Lykou hazarded, looking back at the ghost with renewed fear. For the moment, the spirit was just drifting around aimlessly, seemingly somewhat lost. But the canid shuddered when he imagined what it might look like if it ever became one of those revenant things.

Kuna trembled as he moved closer to Lykou, gently gripping his friend's arm as he seemed to contemplate something. "...w-we have to help them," he suddenly said, taking the canid off-guard.

"H-huh? But.... How??" Lykou responded, surprised by the statement.

"I... I don't know," Kuna admitted, and he was clearly not looking forward to lingering in those ruins any longer than they already had, much less getting anywhere near the ghost. But there was a certain shaky conviction in his otherwise anxious voice. "But w-we have to try. I... I think w-we have to try and t-talk to them."

Lykou gulped. "That... didn't go s-so well with a living one of their k-kind, I'm not sure how receptive a d-dead one's going to be," he said nervously. "But... if you think we should, I'm w-with you, Kuna."

The sereva looked over at him with a faint, but appreciative smile, then took his hand as the two started slowly heading back towards the spirit. When they got within a few yards, it seemed to take notice of them again and drift slightly closer. To their relief, it stopped once it was only a few feet away- within arm's reach, but with no signs of hostility. Instead, the figure just stared at them blankly.

"Uh... h-hi," Lykou hazarded, giving a nervous little wave and forcing what he hoped was a friendly looking smile. The spirit just tilted their head slightly, seemingly curious but confused.

"W-we... want to help y-you," Kuna suggested, his hand still trembling in Lykou's grip. After a moment, he tried using his other hand to communicate through gestures, first pointing himself, then drawing a circle around his heart, opening his palm, then pointing to the ghost.

The ghost stared for a moment, then looked around before gesturing to itself questioningly.

Kuna nodded, but this only seemed to mildly frustrate the spirit. It shook its head, then gestured at itself more urgently.

Lykou tensed up as the ghost grew more frantic, but then Kuna squeezed his hand. "I... I think they want to know where their body is," he said quietly.

"Uh, that... c-could be a problem," Lykou responded nervously, his eyes briefly darting over to some dismembered pieces some distance away, which he'd been careful to shield Kuna's eyes from with his body.

Kuna slowly shook his head, firmly avoiding looking where he knew Lykou was looking. "That... that w-wasn't them," he said, shivering as he briefly struggled to keep the image out of his head. "L-look. Their... g-ghost body has a g-gash on their n-neck, but they're otherwise... whole," he pointed out. "G-ghosts t-tend to resemble their b-body at the t-time of their d-death. And they c-can't manifest v-very far away from it. S-so..."

"So it... must still be here somewhere," Lykou finished for him, looking around a bit more. Then he spotted something and pointed. "Over there. That hut with the collapsed roof. L-looks like it avoided the worst of the f-fires."

Kuna and the ghost both looked where he pointed, and the spirit drifted over in that direction, then remained still, staring down at the ruins. Kuna and Lykou anxiously joined it and shared a wary look. After taking a steadying breath, Lykou knelt down next to the wreckage. "Look away, Kuna, just in case."

Kuna steeled himself and nodded appreciatively, then turned away, trying to stare at the horizon again. With the sereva's gaze averted, Lykou grit his teeth and, with some significant effort, managed to pry a chunk of the broken building away and set it aside. He did so a few more times, gradually clearing debris. And then, sure enough, there was the body- definitely lifeless and with a very obviously lethal diagonal wound on their neck, but otherwise whole.

The ghost reacted immediately, starting to look distressed and make faint moaning, wailing sounds. This got Kuna's attention and he looked back at the spirit with a worried look. "Uh... Lykou... w-we shou-"

Suddenly, smaller pieces of debris started to levitate of their own accord, as strange veins of darkness began creeping across the ghost's ethereal form. Its confusion and sadness was gradually being replaced with rage- undirected, but nonetheless frightening.

Lykou quickly returned to Kuna's side and grabbed his hand. "Let's go," he said as he pulled him along. Kuna didn't need any convincing, and they hurried back towards the woods as more and more debris began flying around. The ghost begin letting out an unearthly howling sound that chilled them to their core. Once they'd reached the edge of the ruins, they hunkered down behind some bushes, watching the sudden whirling storm of ash and soot and debris forming around the ghost.

"That... d-didn't go well," Lykou oh-so-helpfully pointed out after catching his breath.

But the sereva's usual snark wasn't present for once. "N-no, it didn't. I don't think they f-fully realized they were dead until they s-saw their body. S-sometimes peoples' souls think they just... got s-separated somehow. N-now that they've s-seen it, they're angry and c-confused about it."

"No kidding. At least we m-made it out of there," Lykou said with some relief.

"...they still need help," Kuna said after a minute, earning another surprised look from the konuul.

"W-... really? I admire your commitment, Kuna, but I think they've already t-turned into one of those.. r-revenant things," he said, looking back over at the raging ghost.

"N-no. They're just... angry. And d-don't know where to d-direct that anger," Kuna said, rubbing his arm thoughtfully.

"So... what now, then? Much as we might want to help them, it's not safe to get near all...," Lykou pointed out, waving in the general direction of those ghost. "That."

After thinking in silence for a moment, Kuna perked up ever so slightly. "Sage."

"Huh?" Lykou looked at him questioningly.

"Burning sage is s-supposed to calm some s-spirits, especially ghosts," he explained, looking over his shoulder into the woods. "And I think we p-passed some on the way here, n-not far back."

Lykou stared at him for a minute, then smiled. He wanted to say something, but decided to hold off for the moment. Instead he glanced back into the woods. "Good. Lets go grab it then."

With a very brief bit of backtracking, they found a good sized patch of sage growing in an otherwise empty area between some shrubs. They harvested as much as they could, then returned to the burnt village while Kuna wrapped a bunch of it up in a tightly-bound bundle. Looking into the desolate ruins, they saw that the ghost's frenzy hadn't eased in the time they'd been gone. Some of the fires had faded, but luckily for them, there was still one near the side closest to them.

"Alright... I'll keep watch and distract them if need be, you go light that sage stuff," Lykou said, stepping into the ruins.

Kuna took a breath and approached the fire. It took a moment for the bundle to get thoroughly lit, but once it was, he started hurrying over towards the spirit. Lykou quickly joined him. He sniffed the air and looked over to the sereva with a slight smile. "That stuff does smell kind of nice," he commented. "Hope mister ghost thinks so, too."

As they got closer, the ghost took note of their arrival and started storming over to them, looking menacing, with dark, twisting veins of corruption flowing through their incorporeal body. Lykou quickly grabbed Kuna and pulled him down as a piece of debris came hurtling towards him. But as the ghost got closer, its rage started to fade, as did the dark veins covering it. Kuna held the sage up, shaking nervously. "W-we... we just w-want to help," he said, then repeated the gestures he'd made previously.

The ghost stared at him, then briefly glanced back at their body for a minute. Their expression grew sad once more. Their head hung down as they turned back to the two boys. All the floating debris gradually settled back to the ground. Kuna slowly stood up, faint tears in his eyes, and reached a shaky hand out to them.

"Uh, Kuna...?" Lykou asked, raising an eyebrow. "W-what are you doing? It's... a ghost. You can't-"

Much to the canid's surprise, Kuna's hand somehow made contact with the spirits ethereal form- slightly sinking in, but not all the way. Their form rippled slightly from the contact and they looked curiously at the sereva. And then, for the first time, their expression changed to a smile, albeit a sad one.

Kuna made a series of gestures as he spoke aloud. "What do we do? How can we help?"

Lykou walked over next to him, glancing between his friend and the spirit, then tried to mimic the sereva's gestures.

The spirit stared at them, then appeared to sigh and point to its body. It then pointed to a pile of charred, yet still partly in-tact wood. Finally it made a gesture that confused the two, but then made sense when it clarified by pointing to the remaining fire. "Oh... oh, I guess... that makes sense," Kuna said.

"It... wants us to burn its body?" Lykou asked.

Kuna nodded. "Some bury their dead. Some burn them. The important thing is to show respect," he explained.

"Right... we're going to need to pull together as much wood as we can for that, though," Lykou pointed out, looking around. "Okay, I'll collect what I can from the ashes."

Kuna started to look around as well, but Lykou quickly slipped in front of him when his gaze started to drift one particular direction, placing a hand gently on his shoulder. "You go see if you can collect some branches from the forest. You don't need to be.. wandering around here," he said with a sympathetic smile.

With a slight shudder, Kuna's eyes suddenly widening as certain things once more returned to his mind. But then he quickly shook his head, trying to dismiss them. "R-right. Thanks, Lykou."

He then turned back to the spirit and did his best to communicate that they were just gathering wood for the fire. The spirit nodded and moved back by its body, just lingering around and staring at it while the two worked.

When enough wood had been gathered, Lykou took a deep breath and began approaching the spirit, and their body. "Right. The... important part," he said with a slight shudder. He then knelt down to lift the body as best he could. Luckily, this individual was a little smaller than the two they'd previously met, although they- or she, if anything could be guessed from the body's general appearance- was still quite heavy. To Lykou's surprise, he suddenly felt the load lessen ever-so-slightly. Glancing over, he saw Kuna shakily helping him, although his gaze was averted. He raised an eyebrow questioningly, but didn't say anything.

Kuna glanced up at him before turning his gaze back away sadly. "A-at least they're... whole," he said with a shrug. "Come on."

They slowly carried- half dragged, really- the body over to the prepared makeshift pyre, then set it down. Lykou walked away for a moment to grab one of the last pieces of burning wood and bring it over. Upon his return, he saw Kuna somewhat awkwardly moving the body's arms, crossing them as best he could. Then, with a trembling hand, he closed the corpse's eyes.

When he stood out of the way and gestured to Lykou to light the flame, there were tears in his eyes as he watched. Once the fire was set, Lykou returned to his side and wrapped an arm around him. As he embraced his friend, he looked over at the spirit, who watched the flames grow up around its former body. The spirit seemed to sigh, then looked over at the two boys.

Kuna looked up, meeting the ghost's gaze, as did Lykou. The spirit stood before them and circled its finger over its heart, then made a strange gesture- making a fist with one hand while the other was spread, then bringing the two together in front of it as it dipped its head. As it did so, the apparition slowly faded away.

"I... think that was some kind of 'thank you'," Kuna said.

Lykou smiled slightly. "Yeah."

After taking a moment to collect themselves, the two turned to leave, deciding they didn't need to linger while the body burnt. As they walked away, Kuna rubbed his eyes, and Lykou carefully helped him avoid the more upsetting gore, though he'd surreptitiously swept some of it under some the piles of ash and soot when he was collecting wood earlier, just to be safe.

However, when they reached the edge of the village, the wind whipped up for a minute, and they stopped walking when something began to manifest before their eyes. Grass ripped off the ground and swirled around, along with wildflowers and strange ripples of pure color the appeared and vanished intermittently. Faint music suddenly carried on the wind, seemingly from all directions at once- familiar sounding flutes, but accompanied by a deep, constant beat of numerous drums, and faint, wordless chanting. As the wind faded, a new ethereal figure stood before them.

"W-what??" Lykou blurted out incredulously, holding Kuna in one arm. The sereva was similarly stunned and wide-eyed, clinging to the konuul. "Another one??"

But this one was different. While they were clearly the same species and still ethereal, this apparition was much more solid-looking, with no missing or blurry bits. It appeared to be a male, and large, even for his kind. His eyes were fully visible as well- a beautiful shade of light green and incredibly piercing, though slightly faded due to his incorporeal state. On his head, an elaborate circlet connected to several strands of beads that hung from the sides of his head, alongside a long, white mane that draped down all around his head. Most of his fur was a dark golden color, though it was notably gray in certain areas, especially around his muzzle. There was a certain air of age and wisdom about him, though it did little to temper his imposing presence. His body looked fit despite whatever age he might have been. Firm muscles were visible anywhere that wasn't covered by the simple, yet strangely beautiful shirt he wore. The shirt itself was made out of some kind of tan material, but it had elaborate swirls and splotches of color decorating it. And perhaps most importantly, he showed no signs of a violent death.

"N... no," Kuna suddenly said, his eyes still wide, but not with fear. "This one's not a ghost."

"Huh?" Lykou glanced at his companion with a raised eyebrow briefly before looking back at the spirit. "But... he obviously is?"

The spirit's arms crossed as he silently sized them up. The air felt charged with some kind of energy neither could explain, but the whole situation felt... heavy, somehow. As if they were in the presence of something powerful. His gaze was intense, but not hostile, like he was seeing right down into their own souls, and carefully considering what he saw.

"No. He's an echo," Kuna explained, a certain reverence entering his voice. "And a powerful one."

"Er... a what?" Lykou asked, sizing up the spirit again.

"An echo," Kuna continued. "Ghosts linger, but most souls pass on. A few, though... if they're enlightened enough in life, they can occasionally come_back_. They're called echoes. And from the look of him... I think this one was someone particularly... enlightened. And important."

Suddenly, the sereva clasped his hands together and bowed his head respectfully to the spirit. A little perplexed, Lykou nonetheless followed suit, crossing his arms and giving a little bow as well. When they both looked back up, the figure stared at them, then nodded his head. The charge in the air eased slightly, though they both couldn't help but feel very small in front of him.

His gaze briefly shifted back to the burnt village behind them, then returned to them. He closed his eyes, then made the thank-you gesture that the other spirit had made, dipping his head in the process.

"I think that may have been one of his descendants we helped back there," Kuna said after a moment.

The echo again nodded, re-crossing his arms.

"We're glad we could help. We're sorry about the village, though," Lykou said. "We don't know what happened, but I hope at least some of your people got away safely."

The spirit closed his eyes and looked solemn for a moment. When he opened them again, he gave another slight nod. Then he reached out and pointed at Lykou's hand.

Lykou raised his hand and looked at it, then back up at the echo with a confused expression. "My hand?"

The spirit then turned his hand over with an open palm, which Lykou mimicked. Suddenly the spirit turned his own hand back over and waved it over the canid's. After it passed, Lykou's knife was in his palm.

"Oh! Oh sh-... er, thank you! I almost left it back there," Lykou said, quickly sliding the knife back into its sheath, then making the thank-you gesture he'd learned from the spirits.

The spirit nodded to him. After a moment, he pointed off the direction they'd originally been headed. They turned to look where he was pointing, then back to him. When they looked back, he shook his head and made a very clear 'no' gesture. He then pointed back at the village before once again pointing off in that direction.

Kuna's eyes widened. "I think he's saying whoever... or _what_ever did this, is off that way. Too dangerous."

The spirit nodded. After thinking for a minute, Lykou pointed off to the east questioningly. The spirit made a wavy gesture with his arm.

"That's either water, or really big snakes, if I had to guess," Lykou commented. When the spirit raised an eyebrow, he grinned sheepishly. "Right, probably water. Sorry."

Kuna pointed off to the west. The spirit appeared to think for a minute, stroking its chin, then nodded and brought his hands and arms together in the shape of a triangle, then followed it by pointing to each of their heads.

"I... think that means mountain. Not sure what it's got to do with our heads, though," Kuna said with a somewhat perplexed look.

The spirit paused a moment before pointing to the two of them, and again pointing, with conviction, towards the mountain. He then gestured to the circlet on his head.

They both looked off towards the west for a minute, then looked back. "I'm not sure what he's saying about the mountain, but he's clearly suggesting we go that way. Possibly something to do with enlightenment," Kuna said after a moment. To this, the spirit nodded.

Kuna and Lykou both again thanked the echo and bowed their heads. But before they could leave, the spirit knelt down close to them, placing a large hand on each of their shoulders. He bowed his head, closing his eyes. A warmth radiated through their bodies, from his hands outwards. When he again stood and crossed his arms, a marking of some kind appeared where his hands had been. The warmth lingered for a moment, before fading alongside the markings. With that done, the spirit finally met them with a faint, but sincere smile as he faded away. Though there was no sound, the words _"Safe travels, friends of the shakonu."_resonated through their minds briefly.

Lykou and Kuna both gave each other a look, then embraced. After a fewminutes of silence, Lykou pulled back and smiled at Kuna. "That was... something else," he said quietly.

Kuna nodded, taking a deep breathas the whole thing sank in. "It... Lykou, I've seen spirits, but this," he said, then paused as a brief shiver ran through his body. "This was..."

"Special," Lykou suggested. He grinned. "I am so proud of you, you know."

"Huh?" the sereva looked up questioningly.

"You had every reason to flee that place the moment we first saw the ashes, but you stuck around to help that ghost, even after... well, you know," Lykou's smile faded a little for a moment as he gently stroked Kuna's arm. "And even after it started getting crazy. Fuck, even I was ready to run away from here. But you didn't give up. And as a result, you gave us both the experience of a lifetime with that... 'echo' guy. You did good. Real good."

Kuna's eyes had started to water a little, and he blushed as he looked down, smiling a bit. "Y-yeah I guess..."

"I told you there's more to you than you give yourself credit for," Lykou said, pulling him into another hug, which the sereva happilyreciprocated.

"Th-thanks, Lykou," Kuna said, rubbing his eye a bit after he pulled back. Then he glanced back at the ruins one last time. "I just wish..." Suddenly, he clenched his head shut and frantically shook his head as he clearly tried to shake something out of his mind. "N-nevermind."

Lykou looked at his friend with concern and pulled him in close again. "We should get going. Hopefully we can find a good place to rest off towards that mountain he mentioned." As much as he desperately wanted to ask questions, he knew that they should at least put some distance between themselves and the village before discussing things like that. Kuna nodded, and they began walking.

"So how do you know so much about ghosts and spirits and so on?" Lykou asked curiously.

Kuna was silent for a minute, before donning a very faint, slightly sad smile. "My grandmother."

Lykou was surprised- it was the first time the sereva had mentioned anybody in his tribe, let alone a family member. Anytime they'd gotten even close to subjects like that, it clearly struck a very, very sensitive nerve. But he was glad to hear it, so he just rubbed Kuna's shoulder encouragingly. "Yeah?"

"She used to tell me all kinds of stories when I was little," he said. His eyes were watering as he spoke, but at least there seemed to be some genuine happiness mixed with the sadness. "About all the different spirits that were out there, what they were like, people that'd met them and interacted with them. Legendary sereva that'd visited the spirit world and brought back their secrets and wisdom and so on."

Lykou grinned and gave Kuna a gentle squeeze. "You should tell me some of them sometime."

The sereva glanced up at him briefly. "Yeah, maybe," he said, then took a deep breath and straightened up a bit, suddenly looking a lot more fatigued as he turned his attention to their path ahead. "I think I've had enough trouble from my memories today though, if you don't mind." His eye twitched slightly. "Can we change the subject?"

"Oh, uh, sure," Lykou said, a bit disappointed that he would have to wait to hear more. Still, he could tell Kuna needed a break. "So um. You heard the echo's uh... words at the end there, too, right?"

Kuna blinked a few times. "Oh. Yeah. The 'shakonu'. I guess that's probably the name of their people..."

"Probably. I wonder what that... mark-thing was all about," Lykou wondered, rubbing his shoulder thoughtfully as he glanced at it. "It's weird, it still feels warm there if I think about it for more than a minute."

"Good question," Kuna said, glancing down at his own shoulder briefly. "Some kind of soul-sign, maybe."

"Soul-sign?" the canid asked with a small amount of concern in his voice. "What's that?"

"Pretty much what it sounds like," Kuna replied with a shrug. "A symbol etched onto your soul, usually by a spirit, or I guess maybe someone who's _really, really_good at magic. Usually used to let other spirits or magic-users know something about you at a glance."

"Wait, magic? Like... magic, magic?" Lykou asked incredulously. "The stuff that only _spirits_do?"

Kuna turned to give him a quizzical look. "Uh... mostly, but also- wait. Are you saying none of your people do magic? You know, glowy-hands, make plants grow fast, that kind of thing?"

Lykou stopped in his tracks and stared at Kuna with a somewhat wide-eyed, incredulous look. "What."

"Wait, really?" Kuna responded in surprise. "Nobody? Noneof your elders or anything?"

The konuul slowly shook his head. "Y... you can do magic??"

Kuna couldn't help but roll his eyes a bit. "Pffft. Me? Fuck no. Not like everyone knows how, but there's always a few," he replied, then fixed the canid with curious expression. "Or... so I thought. They're usually in charge of helping us stay hidden, and maybe sometimes healing. I guess I just assumed every tribe had at least one or two spirit-weavers around."

"S... spirit weavers?" Lykou asked, the look of incredulity still plastered across his face.

"Yeah. That's just what we call them, since apparently," Kuna explained with a shrug and a slightly dismissive gesture. "It all has something to do with harnessing some kind of 'energies' from- or was it through?- the spirit world, or... something like that. Like I said, not like I ever learned it. Most people don't."

Slowly, Lykou started walking again, and Kuna did as well once the canid had caught up. "You're... you're not messing with me, are you?"

Kuna just shook his head. "Why would I make it up?"

Lykou's eye twitched. "...boy I am finding out all _kinds_of shit today," he finally blurted out, with a half-smile. "You're full of surprises, Kuna."

With a slightly bashful smile, Kuna shrugged again, not sure what to say. "Thanks?"

Lykou narrowed his eyes and grinned. "Are you suuuure you're not an aliki-ka?"

Kuna groaned as his palm met his face. "This again?"

The konuul snickered and nudged him playfully. "Just saying. You're literally 'enlightening' me an awful lot, and we're in a far away place."

"Ugh," the sereva grumbled with a frown.

Lykou's grin faded. "Sorry, didn't mean to-"

"No, it's fine Lykou," Kuna said, then sighed. "Just... today's been, well, exhausting, so sorry if I'm not really in so much of a 'kidding' mood right now."

Lykou rubbed his neck and sighed as well. "Yeah that's fair. I feel it too, I just... guess I wanted to lighten the mood a little after all that. Try and ease things up a little."

Kuna gave him a weak smile, briefly side-hugging the canid again. "I know. You're sweet that way. But right now, I just want to hurry and find a place to camp for the night."

"Yeah," the canid said, looking up ahead. The treeline was still a longway off, but at least the sky had cleared a bit. "That does sound good. At least it looks like we dodged the rain."

"I have a feeling those clouds weren't entirely... natural, after what we saw back there," Kuna commented.

"Yeah?" Lykou asked. "I was wondering about that but didn't want to jump to any conclusions."

"If I remember right, scenes like," the sereva continued, pausing to shiver a bit. "Like that... village... can do something weird with the area's connection to the spirit world. Which can make things dark like that."

Lykou nodded. "Yeah, that actually makes sense I guess."

The conversation fell silent for a while as they continued making their way to the edge of the next forest. The grassy hills were actually fairly peaceful, if not slightly eerie with their lack of noticeable animal life. Once in a while, a bird would swoop down and either grab at something unseen or land for a bit, but they never lingered long. It seemed like they could see for miles in any direction at one point when they were atop one of the hills, but there just wasn't much to see.

When they finally reached the treeline, the faint sounds of birdsong and movement of squirrels and other critters was welcome to their ears.