Chapter 142 - Following the Trail

In the forest, the soft silver light of the moon shone down onto the darkened form of a demolished cabin.

This was the cabin where the blood ritual had been performed a few days prior. It had been discovered by a cleric and a hunter, who were searching for a missing man. They had been attacked by a blood monk and fought him to a stalemate before returning to the city and praying to Lord Noga.

The matter was passed on to the Noga Police’s Special Ops team, who immediately launched an operation to disrupt the ritual. The operation was a failure resulting in the deaths of six officers, including Special Ops Chief Yang Yun. The team managed to disrupt the ritual, however the backlash created a monster which caused countless deaths as it incited the spread of a parasitic plant called the Devil Eyes. The monster was eventually taken down by the Military, with the follow up investigation left to the police.

With the Special Ops Chief dead and the team in disarray, the investigation was passed to the Chief of Organized Crime, Chief Enzo “Bear” Bernier. Each department nominated an individual to be part of the special task force, making up a team of six officers.

These six officers investigated the case from various angles.

However in the midst of the investigation, they also vanished.

Finn was the last person that had heard from the team prior to their disappearance. Last night his friend and fellow officer Minnie Kim had sent him a message by courier. They had discovered something at the cabin and were on the way to investigate. In the note she told him that she would meet him at HQ the next day to share her findings.

She’d never appeared.

The cabin sat at the bottom of a small dip in the landscape. The forest was dark and silent, with no signs of any life or movement. It was wilder now, filled with heavy twisting vines that hung off of the trees and giant leafed plants with strangely shaped flowers. The heavy scent of humid vegetation clogged Finn’s scent of smell, and his uniform was clammy and damp on his skin. Despite the many changes in the forest, the cabin was not a difficult place to find. A path had been carved along the old woodcutter’s road by previous police teams, with trail markers placed periodically leading the way.

Finn was crouched at the top of the path overlooking the cabin, taking cover behind a broad leafed bush. He quietly took in the sight of the half destroyed cabin. It was dark, preventing him from seeing much more than a faint silhouette painted by the moonlight. He didn’t stare for too long. Staring too deeply into the shadows seemed to cause them to churn and form the shape of long legged worms and twisting shapes.

Finn tried not to focus on them.

In less than twelve hours he had to report back to the dilapidated house in Amigara district, giving his findings into the truth behind the death of Chief Yun. Currently, he had nothing but hunches and theories to go off of, but that wouldn’t be the case for long.

“Is that it?” Edwin asked quietly, shuffling up next to Finn.

After hearing no news from Minnie for the whole day, Finn decided to search for her himself. He had no one to turn to, no one to rely on but himself. He’d considered asking Zwei, but his partner was completely focused on researching into the psychological disease that the two of them had been afflicted by. Plus, there was one other reason...

“Yeah.” Finn said, “That’s it.”

“It looks spooky.” Edwin said softly.

The young monk was dressed in a loose fitting trousers and button up shirt, and a black trenchcoat with brass buttons. Other than his bald head, he looked like a regular teenage boy.

Finn had called on him at the manor early in the evening. Edwin had been relieved to join him - apparently they were holding a big ball that evening, and Edwin had no interest in attending. All Finn had to do was hint that he needed help on the investigation, and the monk enthusiastically joined in.

“You are a candidate of the spirit chain path, so you must have pretty good night vision.” Finn said calmly, “Do you see anything down there?”

“I do, h-how did you know?” Edwin stammered, surprised by Finn’s knowledge.

“It’s my business to know.” Finn said calmly, putting on an air of experience. In fact, he had extensive knowledge of Edwin’s path, from Candidate up to the third rank of Disciple. In the past few sleepless nights Finn had rummaged through Chief Yun’s office that he had inherited. Although Chief Yun wasn’t the most meticulous man, he had written many personal journals and notes. Finn quickly gained an appreciable knowledge of the Exalted world.

As a Candidate of the Spirit Chain path, Edwin was more agile and had quicker reflexes than a regular person. In addition to seeing clearly in the dark he also could sense the spirit world, seeing and hearing things from the spiritual plane. Finally, he had the ability to create a spiritual flame. This flame could be highly damaging to spirits, but was not particularly effective against physical creatures or objects.

“Anyways, do you notice anything unusual down there?” Finn said, pointing down toward the quiet cottage.

Edwin fell silent for a few moments as he carefully observed their surroundings. Even though the crescent moon was still a sliver in the sky, barely giving off any light, Edwin could see everything as if the soft silver light was as bright as daylight.

“It looks like something huge smashed half of it to pieces.” Edwin said, “The roof’s completely caved in, and the left wall is completely broken... The ground is also kicked up, like a giant walked through it... It kind of sounds crazy but that’s what it looks like. Um... I don’t see movement down there. I don’t think that there’s anyone here except us.”

Finn nodded, standing up and adjusting his uniform. He reached down unclasped the leather strap of the holster at his belt, wrapping his fingers around the cold metal grip of his pistol.

This was the special issue flintlock pistol for the Noga police force. Every cadet was trained to use pistols and rifles, but firearms were only issued to higher ranked officers. As a special investigator, Finn was able to requisition a pistol for his own use.

A single bullet was rammed into the back of the barrel in front of a small amount of black powder. The pre-loaded pistol was then able to be carried around and fired at a moment’s notice simply by pulling the trigger.

Of course, loading the powder and bullet for the next shot took a bit of time. In the heat of a fight Finn would only get the chance to fire once, but that shot could be the difference between victory and defeat.

Finn drew the pistol and held it at ready, his left hand brushing against the steel baton hanging on his left hip that served as his primary weapon. After discharging the pistol, Finn would immediately discard it and draw his baton. Edwin’s eyes widened as he saw the pistol.

“Is... it dangerous down there?” Edwin asked.

“Let’s take a look and find out.” Finn said, adding, “This area was already investigated by us. The area has been abandoned by the cult, and so should be relatively safe. Still, best to stay alert.”

Finn kept his voice steady and confident, but inwardly he was holding back his anxiety. The woods had been declared off-limits for civilians and regular officers. They were considered dangerous and unpredictable. However in the official reports of the follow up investigations on the cabin, it was noted that there was actually hardly any dangerous activity in the area. The path to the cabin had also been cleared by the investigations groups.

Thus Finn decided to take the risk and visit the cabin himself.

Finn led the way, walking down the side of the path that sloped down towards the cabin. He approached slowly, keeping his eyes and ears peeled for signs of activity. The forest was far from silent. The rustle of wind through the trees and the chirping and buzzing of insects filled the air. At the bottom of the path a soft white mist drifted along the ground, twirling around Finn and Edwin’s feet.

Splintered wood and debris crunched under Finn’s boots as he stepped past the broken wall into the cabin. The roof had collapsed completely, allowing moonlight to stream down on the wreckage.

Clumps and mounds of shriveled black vines were scattered around the room, many of them crushed under the shingles and eaves of the collapsed roof. The stench of blood and decay permeated through the room.

Finn took a step and felt something pop and squish under his boot. He looked down and immediately panicked as he saw that he had stepped on a disembodied eye. He froze in place as he realized that he was surrounded by dozens of devil eye plants, but after a moment he realized that all the plants were still and shriveled. The lifeless eyeballs lay on the ends of withered stalks.

“Everything in this cabin has been sucked dry of spiritual energy.” Edwin said in a whisper, walking up next to Finn, “I have a bad feeling about this place. What are we looking for?”

“I don’t know...” Finn said softly, swallowing softly as he looked around.

His night vision wasn’t bad, even in the weak moonlight he was able to make out his surroundings fairly well. However he was not sure what he was looking for. He’d only come here looking for clues to Minnie and her team’s whereabouts.

“Look around for anything unusual.” Finn said, “The previous team that was here found something important.”

They split up, walking slowly around the main room while staying within each other’s line of sight. The destruction told an awful story. Dark black pools formed the vague shape of bodies that had since been taken away. Streaks of blood trailed across the floor before disappearing into a shattered hole. The impact of a body shattered the planks on the far wall.

Finn stopped in front of a smashed altar in the center of the room. A blood stained bone bowl was shattered into many pieces amidst the remains of a table of black vines.

As Finn stared at the bowl, the dried black blood started to shift and churn. A shiver ran down his spine as shadow critters began to emerge from the blood. Indistinguishable whispers and soft scratching and skittering seemed to come from all directions and Finn found himself unable to tear his eyes away from the illusory shapes.

The shadow critters poured out of the broken pieces of the bone bowl, splattering on the floor. They flowed endlessly out of the altar, forming a stream that meandered across the cabin floor and out into the forest.

Across the room, Edwin turned to see Finn suddenly start walking out of the cabin, his eyes fixated on the ground.

“Finn? What is it?” Edwin whispered, not seeing anything unusual. A sense of panic filled him as he realized he was being left behind, “Finn, wait up!”

End of Book 2