[centre][colour=aqua][h2]Sylva[/h2][/colour][/centre]
[center][h2]??? — Ruined Inn(?) Cellar[/h2][/center]
[hr]
Sylva merely inclined his head to acknowledge the hammer-wielding woman and the little blonde elf’s descent into the cellar.

As his eyes wandered around the rest of the cellar, he caught sight of something a bit odd; a lantern and a leather-bound book that seemed to be a journal of sorts. They weren’t things most people would usually consider storing in a cellar that held only food and alcohol. A more in-depth inspection revealed a few more details. The book looked worn but it wasn’t a recent thing, and the lantern had long since burnt out. It seemed someone had been trying to keep a record of events—someone who had been down in the cellar for some time.

.... That crumbled zombie upstairs was the most likely suspect. Well, it [i]was[/i].

Morbid thoughts aside, the journal might contain useful information, so it was a start. It wasn’t like anyone else was going to be reading it now. Carefully, Sylva made his way over to the area where the book and lantern were kept, picking up the journal and ignoring the lighting implement. There wasn’t much light in the cellar, and the lantern had already exhausted its use, but strangely enough, it didn’t seem to hinder him very much, if at all. Yet another thing to figure out later. With that in mind, he began flipping through the pages of the journal.

The first few entries were nothing special, mostly mundane accounts of the life of an innkeeper’s son, but it was when he reached the 13th entry that things became odd.

[quote]Something's not quite right. Call it instinct, but there've been less travelling merchants hawking their wares here these days. The streets feel emptier than usual, but...[/quote]
.... That was ominous. The innkeeper’s son had thought the same, which made Sylva wonder how things had gotten this bad. It didn’t seem to have happened all at once, everything pointed to it being a gradual change. Filing that question away for later, he continued reading.

The next relevant entry wasn’t much better than the previous ones.

[quote]All the adventurers have left; our only guests now are the knights. One of them told us to pack our bags and go, but Dad wouldn't have it. Started going on about how his dad and granddad had run the place, and that giving it up wouldn't ever happen.[/quote]
So, the innkeeper had been too stubborn to evacuate when things started getting worse, and his son stayed with him. Sylva could sympathise with that. His parents were stubborn at the best of times, too set in their ways to see any perspective other than their own.

He didn’t regret many things, but.... some things could have been better.

[quote]All hell has broken loose. Whatever's outside is killing anyone and everyone that it so much as catches a whiff of. I saw it through the window last night, but just barely. Dad was being dragged away by it as he tried to open the door. I can't take this much longer.[/quote]
That entry was just depressing. Sylva’s lips dipped downwards as he read. The young man had all but watched his father die at the hands of something he couldn’t even describe, and there was nothing he could have done to stop it. A picture of events had started forming in his head, and it wasn’t pleasant.

Not one bit.

[quote]That knight who told us to leave—she came back. I let her inside, but I saw how much blood was dripping down her body. She thanked me for giving her a peaceful place to die, but...[/quote]
Reading that gave Sylva pause and his eyes shone with vague understanding. If—and it was still an [i]if[/i] for now—these undead were anything like the ones he knew of, then, in his attempt to help, the innkeeper’s son may have very well doomed himself. Then again, considering the knight had seemingly died while she was still human, that might not have been the case. He simply didn’t know enough to come to any conclusions yet.

The next page he flipped to was blank, save for what seemed to be a few faint scribbles on the paper.

Sylva closed the journal with a heavy sigh. Well, that was about as bad as he expected. From the first floor, he heard Sora pose a question and his eyes drifted to the steps leading out of the cellar. How he would have hoped for it to have been a simple yes.

[colour=aqua]“Yes, and no.”[/colour] Sylva replied, his eyes darting back to the leather book he held.

Something had definitely caused the town to become deserted, he just didn’t know what it could have been. The writer of the journal had seen it, but he hadn’t been able to provide any descriptions. There was a more pressing issue, though. Whether or not the being responsible for the undead had done this intentionally, one thing seemed clear to him.

It was probably still here.


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