World Filter

The footpath leading into the mountains wasn't impressive in itself—just a worn dirt track winding up the hills. What made it remarkable was what it suggested. In this unfamiliar place, a path like this could mean only one thing: something intelligent had created it, whether by design or repeated passage. At the very least, a significant number of beings had traveled this way repeatedly.

A fact Mark found fascinating. He found it hard to believe that any Corrupted would have moved in such a pattern. But then, where were the makers of this path? His first thought was that they were in hiding, but one look at their surroundings had Mark rethinking that idea. Nothing could survive for long periods out here. Even now, he was struggling to maintain his ward. The construct was wavering, despite the large amounts of Prana and careful management on his end.

Still, it could have been worse. When Jason spotted the path, he froze, as did several others.

Ning Wei came to stand beside Mark.

"Do we really think it's a good idea to go this route. Should we not choose another?"

Mark shot a knowing look at Sam, who shook her head.

"If this leads somewhere, it's probably nowhere good, but we're severely lacking information at this time. We may need to send a team ahead, if only to scout the path."

A chortle came from Mark's left, and he glanced over to see Terry wearing an amused expression.

"Because that worked so well for us last time," he said bitterly.

Mark frowned at the man.

"We don't have the luxury of ignorance. We have to get our bearings quickly."

Terry glanced at Mark with hollow eyes and shrugged.

"Well, I vote to go around." He said while crossing his arms.

"And we'll take your opinion into account, but right now I agree with Sam and Mark," Nathan said while glaring at Terry.

Jason nodded in their direction.

"Seconded, we'll scout the area, but at the first sign of danger, we regroup."

Having reached a consensus, Mark contacted Jonathan and told him to keep moving forward.

Arriving near the suspicious landmark didn't take long after that. Several teams inspected the path, trying to glean something from it. From what Mark could tell, this 'road' was slightly larger than a human trail. Which could mean many things, such as a beast of burden or even something more advanced moving along this way.

Either way, it was obvious nothing had been through here in a long time. The packed dirt had been loosened by rain, and time had removed any impressions left behind for them to identify. The only reason vegetation had not swallowed this path was that nothing could grow in this environment.

As they stepped onto it, they left behind the uneven path of salt flats and mountainside.

Jonathan's scouting party moved up ahead, and a frontline was formed. Gibby fell back to join their ranks, and the Prana and Mana users moved to the middle along with the tenders.

Ning Wei took up a spot near Mark and positioned several of Tyler's tigers at the rear, just in case. Jade from reflections moved up beside them and spoke.

"Am I alone in thinking this place is strange? Not to jinx us or anything, but if we were in the city, we would have run into trouble long ago. If this place is as bad as the system is saying, then it's strange we've only encountered one Corrupted so far."

Mark wanted to tell her not to bring such things into the universe, but unfortunately, she had a point. Granted, they had been trying desperately to avoid their surrounding, but she was right about one thing.

Things never went this smoothly for Mark, and by extension, anyone he was with.

They continued to follow the path, climbing in altitude as they rose. After a certain point, Mark noted the dull gleam piercing the clouds seemed to fade, and true darkness began to descend.

They need to find a place to rest for the night, but unfortunately no nowhere looked safe enough. Not to mention, Mark would have to rest as well. Keeping the ward up a taxing enough. But if he didn't rest, he'd start making mistakes.

They began scanning for a place to spend the night—maybe a cave or some natural shelter that could hide them from view—but nothing promising appeared. The temperature was dropping sharply, forcing several members to use skills to ward off the cold, which only made movement more cumbersome.

Mark was about to call it, ready to suggest they burrow into the mountain for the night, when Andy spotted something in the fading light.

The scouting party hung back until they met up with the main body, and Mark got to see what had caused the delay. Their eyes followed the path to its end, where the terrain leveled out, revealing a cluster of houses tucked into the landscape. The mountainside naturally curved around it, breaking the turbulent wind whipping around them.

The structures came to a point that could have been chimneys of some kind, and all of them looked to be made from the grey stone of the mountain range.

It was, therefore, no surprise that the place looked completely abandoned and in a state of dire disrepair.

Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

There was no movement coming from the village, but with the fast-fading light, it was difficult to tell.

Those with the relevant skills were convinced it was empty, but it still felt strange.

Gibby hummed to himself as he looked over the dark sploch on the horizon.

"We should go check it out. It looks abandoned, and if we're lucky, we can spend the night there and leave in the morning." He paused for a moment and turned to the rest of them.

"I'm not sure how long night is here, but we just traveled for sixteen hours, and it's only now reaching the first night cycle."

Mark blinked at this. It was true they had been walking for a while, but at some point, he had lost track of the time. They had covered more distance than he'd thought.

"You want to hole up in there? What if it's got something living in there?" one of the tenders asked.

Jason nodded at this.

"Then a small, elite team will enter the village. If we find anything, we'll attempt to clear it out. If we can't, we'll have to retreat for now."

A series of whispers went up, but the majority were in favour of this idea. They were lucky everyone was so tired, or they may not have agreed to such a dangerous plan.

Mark's stomach lurched when they put the team together. Jonathan and Sam would be joining, but he would have to hang back.

Right now, the only other person who could hide everyone from view was Jade, and she couldn't do anything for the energy everyone was giving off.

If he wanted to keep everyone safe, that meant he had to stay behind to ensure it.

Before they left, he called Jonathan, Sam, and Andy to his side.

"Promise me you three will be careful. We don't know anything about the creatures here. Sam, check everything."

Sam smiled and nodded before giving his wrist a reassuring squeeze. Jonathan clapped Mark on the back, and Andy shot him a thumbs-up, but it did little to reassure him.

Mark would prefer to be where the most danger was, for it was the only way he could react in time. But he refused to put everyone else in danger for his comfort.

Before they left, Mark hit all three of them with [Bestowal] aimed at keeping them alive. If something happened to attacked them, it would trigger a powerful construct to defend them.

Gibby was staying behind to help reinforce their people, but Mark couldn't help the worry that came with separating their forces.

Jason was part of the offensive team; he took two of his best soldiers with him. They were followed by Tyler and Nathan, who brought up the rear.

Mark linked up with the others and watched them approach the village.

As the structure got closer, more details came into view. From the looks of things, a hastily erected wall had been put in place. Chunks of rock and boulders had been gathered in a loose semi-circle, possibly to fend off the waves of Corrupted. Once they got past the barricade, the view of the village became clearer. From here, the homes looked like tiny conical structures scattered across the area. Small paths interconnected all the homes, and a layer of dust and destruction covered the area.

There was no movement that they could see, but they had not checked inside the buildings just yet. All around, a series of strange-looking tools and containers were scattered, layered in a thick coating of dusk and splatterings of dark brown.

Jason and Jonathan moved together and headed into the first house. Inside were destroyed bits of furniture made from rock and possibly wood, but nothing jumped out at them.

After that, they continued to search the buildings, but nothing jumped out of them or even moved; it was like a ghost town.

"Well, whatever was here is gone now," Jonathan muttered.

Jason shook his head.

"No, we should check the surroundings as well before giving the 'all clear'."

The village had a lonely feel to it, but the longer they searched, the deeper that sensation grew.

Even after an hour of searching, nothing was found but abandoned homes, not even corpses. Eventually, the scouting team called for everyone to enter the village, which they did tentatively.

Once they were inside, everyone got to work.

It felt wrong to stay in the houses that were here, so a couple of Mana users made a temporary shelter with [Earth Control]. They noted that getting the earth to rise up and form a gazebo took more effort than they had expected. This made Mark curious, and he tested manipulating the dirt. He immediately recognized why that was. The very earth below them was acting like the inside of a dungeon. It resisted their Mana because of the amount of Corruption inside the material. In this regard, Mark actually found it easier to manifest Earth than to manipulate it at this point.

His test aside, Sam came to sit beside Mark.

"Okay, we're ready. You can lower the ward, and Jade will take it from here."

Mark let out a shaky sigh and felt Sam fall into sync with him. Together, they compress the remaining excess energies around them and condense them into a construct the size of a beachball.

Mark steadied himself, wrapped it up in the tightest bundle he could manage before launching it back the way they came. It traveled a good way down the mountain before sinking into the jagged earth.

With that, his ward fell apart –as did his [Light control] – only to be replaced by a single warped pane of reflections. Jade covered their spot seamlessly with minimal effort; unfortunately, the illusion would only last while they were stationary. If anything got too close, it would notice something was amiss.

The only reason Mark had let her take over was that holding the ward, [Light control], and the construct over so many people was not sustainable.

At the same time, Aura users set up a perimeter around their camp. Nathan and Sam even led some Mana users to set up a basic early warning system.

Mark could have used his [Engrave Mana] for that, but he had to rest where he could, and relying on their people to cover where he couldn't was only smart.

Just before he managed to settle into [Meditation], Gibby came to sit beside him.

"You and Sam did well today with that ward, good job. Before you rest, I need your help, though."

Mark snorted and nodded.

"Sure, what's up?"

"Well, we arrived during the day, but we don't know how long the nights last here—and something tells me it's going to be an interesting one."

Mark groaned. Boring was safe, and right now, he preferred that. Yet even as he muttered, a chill brushed across his neck despite the shelter protecting them for the wind.

"I'm going to time the day-night cycle—it might be longer than we're used to. I need you to figure out how long you can sustain your ward and teach someone to take over when you're done. Right now, we have a huge defensive gap."

Mark hummed. It made sense, and it would be nice if people could help him carry the ward. The problem was that he had only ever taught it to Sam and Jon; he wasn't sure how long it would take for others to learn it. Still, it was certainly worth the effort.

"Alright, sure. Gimme like two hours, and I'll put a team together. I have some tests of my own anyway. Oh, and take back what you said about the night being interesting. I'm sure it's going to be a boring, calm night."

Gibby's eyes flicked to the horizon where shadows pooled unnaturally near the jagged rocks, and he snorted.

"Sure, everything is going to be fine, Mark."

Mark frowned at the odd sensation that broke out over his skin. They would be fine; they had to be.