T.O.S.S. : Abyss

Chapter 5

Chapter 5: The Ruins of Heindrich

"So you are telling me that she has nearly killed you?"

Annalisa asked as Cameron hid behind her, giving an annoyed glare to Wilhemina, who just shrugged with a smile. As Cameron was riding on a small cart that seemed to be pulled by horses, he was seated beside Annalisa and Pearlette was sat beside Sylvanna. Wilhemina was sat upfront the cart as she was holding the horses' reins. "That hasn't ever surprised me at this point." Annalisa said as she looked at Cameron's pleading eyes.

"I apologize for my rudeness, but Lady Annalisa has seen worse than how we've attempted to kill each other." Sylvanna said with a calm tone. 'You say these things like you haven't just talked about killing someone!?' He thought as he looked at the elegant woman. "To be honest, I hadn't considered that nowadays. I was preoccupied with my research." Wilhemina said as she snapped the rein, making the horse go quicker. "It will be best that we kept silent. I am not interested in having another round of Little Sheep Heavens with any of you." Pearlette said as she looked at the three with glaring eyes. "Mistress, it was entirely Lady Wilhemina's fault that you were nearly thrown off the main lands." Sylvanna said as Pearlette gritted her teeth, reminded of the incident.

Cameron looked at them with baffled eyes, but was stopped when he felt his back shiver. He turned slightly to the window to see a forest, but unlike those near Lordeque, the trees looked near green and red. His emerald eyes looked at the area with worry. "Where near enemy territory, be silent." Sylvanna said as she looked towards the two in front of her. Annalisa silently observed the area with her emerald eyes glaring around. Cameron looked towards them, remembering the words Wilhemina had said before. 'There are many reasons to why we are here in the Abyss. But ours are most likely the sadder reasons of why we've entered this place.' He recalled in his thought, looking towards Pearlette who had looked at her wrist, shrugging off the fabric that fell.

"We're near, but this is as far as the horses can go." Wilhemina said as she stopped the horses, hopping down to open the door. Cameron got off first, looking around to see some stone paths leading somewhere deeper in the forest. He looked over to the women, seeing them discussing something, before turning again to walk into the forest. He felt lulled into following the path, looking around as he lifted some branches off to make his way. He had soon reached a large temple.in ruins, overgrown with leaves and small bugs crawling about. He heard silent sobs as he neared the left side of the place. He heard it come from a nearby bush, making him silently grab one of his pins, not soon it transformed to a sheathed sword.

'Enemy territory. That's what Wilhemina said as we arrived.' Cameron said as he carefully went near the bush, soon he spread it open to reveal a little kid, more or less, with cat ears. He seemed scared as he crawled back with sobs away from Cameron. "H-Hey, no don't worry. I'm not gonna hurt you." He uttered, moving his sword back into the provided satchel instead of shifting it back into the bag. He knelt down, opening his arm to a similar size to the kid's body. "Come on, I promise not to hurt you." He stated, making the kid look at him with teary eyes, moving slightly near him, soon hugged by Cameron. He looked around for the parents of the kid, but he heard scuttling nearby, making him alerted, pulling the kid close, feeling his back shiver.

"Look out!" A voice yelled, making Cameron turn to see Pearlette, her brown eyes glaring towards the enemy. Cameron was frightened to a certain degree, but he seemed to have triggered his fight or flight response, making him stay and defend. "I should have known you can be quite troublesome." Pearlette uttered as she sliced the enemy away, blood splattering around. "We'll discuss this disruptive behavior another time, now, keep your eyes open and alert." She stated, not long the others arrived. Cameron watched as Pearlette mercilessly sliced her sword to the enemies, killing them off. "Little pet, give me the little one." Sylvanna uttered as she calmly held the kid. Cameron heaved a sigh, grabbing his sword as he matched the sword of the enemy.

"Away with you." Wilhemina said as she used her magic to push the enemies away from her. As the area was peaceful one again, Cameron felt a bit disheveled as he looked at his hand, attempting to clean the blood off, his breath starting to uneven. He was shocked when a hand offered him a handkerchief, making him follow the arm to see Pearlette, looking at him with a slightly furrowed brow. "Follow along. We mustn't be seen any more than we should have." Annalisa said as she walked near the entrance, seeing some words present on the wall. "To the God of the Heian's Heindrich." Cameron read as he carefully looked at the words, making Annalisa nod for his translation.

"We are near enemy lines, one wrong me and we could all be executed." Annalisa stated as she looked at them all. Wilhemina nodded, carefully walking inside to lead them. As they enter, they were mortified by the sight of countless bodies on the floor, some dead and some barely hanging on. "A-Are you okay!?" Cameron asked as he neared the body, attempting to help them, but they grew scared and not long limp. Wilhemina felt a strange aura from the area as he touched the corpse. "Move away!" Wilhemina called as all of them soon found marks on their wrist. "What the—" Cameron uttered as he felt pain on his wrist as he knelt back.

"No one touch each other! It's a soul binding spell." Wilhemina said as she pulled them all apart. "A simple explanation please?" Pearlette asked as she held her wrist to feign its injury. "When you touch someone, it can kill the latter." Sylvanna explained as she moved away from them. "Now we can't leave." Annalisa said as she was near the door, holding a wall made of ancient letters. "What an endearing welcome." Pearlette said as she looked around, seeing the moss walls filled with the letters, seemingly trapping them all.

Cameron stood near where they came, holding his wrist before walking past it. He was wide eyed to be trapped, looking back at Annalisa's raised brow, confused by what she had seen. "D-Did you do something?" Cameron asked as he saw the spell on his wrist come off. "Had I did, I would've helped myself, not you." Annalisa answered sternly. "Since you're already out, it would be best if you find a way to get us out." Annalisa stated as she held her hand on the spell wall separating them. "Although I personally don't know your current personality. But you cannot be feint hearted, hurry and find the near village here." Annalisa said as he stared at her with concerned eyes. "B-But what about you—" "We will manage, now we don't have too long before the spell gets into our souls." Wilhemina said, her calm face from before shifted into a domineering one.

Cameron nodded as he looked around, returning back the path he came from as the four looked at his back. "He'll be fine?" Sylvanna questioned, making Pearlette nod. "I tend to forget sometimes... that Sylvanna is far too innocent when it came to normal things." Pearlette stated as Sylvanna looked at her with a small smile...