[Narrator's POV]
Tenchi, the Horsed Knight took 1 week of travel to reach his destination, the Near Village. During his travel, he encountered lots of different thing. Magic altars, dark animals, mysterious symbols engraved in stones, and black people who acts like zombies.
But what bothered him the most, is the giant archway in the middle of the road. It was never there before. He continued to travel towards the Near Village.
He reached the destination, what he saw is a village covered in black mist. It was noon, yet the place is barely visible.
"Harvest, looks like we're here." Harvest is the name of his Horse. They finally reached the archway of Near Village. He barely see anything beyond the mist, just darkness.
"Seishin, I hope you're here." He entered the village with all his courage. "Save the people, don't lose hope. Atleast that's what the letter says. I wonder what does it indicate?"
He's walk down the road, yet he cannot see any people around. The lights of the houses are close, and there is no other sound than silence. Some can call it a ghost village.
"Hello? Is anyone there? Can anyone hear me?" But no one responded. That is the phrases he shouted along their march. They walked for a long time, they almost took 5 hours yet there is still no trace of life is in there. An eerie vibes is starting to form slowly as time passes by.
Within that 5 hours, he can notice some scratches around the house. Burnt mark in the road. Black liquid traces, and some noises of clattering whenever he saw a figure. But those figure cannot be declared as humans, so he simply ignores it.
"Hey Harvest, how about we take a rest at that house first? I bet you're hungry." It's 5pm, the sun is about to set. The faint image of the village slowly vanishes as the light fades.
The doors are locked, they have no choice but to rest outside.
"Too bad harvest, we can't rest inside." He didn't bother to knock, he simply sits on the side and eat their supply.
As the sun sets, the lights inside the houses lits up. He noticed it immediately and knocks on the door.
"Excuse me! Is anyone home?" But no one answered.
He keeps on trying different houses, but no one is responding.
"Woah, I'm starting to feel chills, what's going on here?" He unsheated his sword and prepared to slash.
"If you won't answer, I will forcefully let you out of this house!" He slashed the door and breaks it open. The mist slowly entered the house. Inside, there are three kids hiding in the corner, shaking and frightened.
"Hey.. Stay away!" The oldest kid stoods up. He's holding a torch with his hands.
"Wow, what a brave kid. I think you need to leave this village immediately." Tenchi reach his right hand open to the kid. "How about I give you a ride?" The three kids immediately hops on the horse without hesitation.
"Go now! Don't let the mist consume us!"
"Let's leave this place immediately!" The'yre panicking, but it's only natural given the situation.
"Sure sure!" Tenchi doesn't doubt those kids. He simply keep on his mind his vow, and it is to save those whose in need. The main aspect of being a hero.
He immediately heads for the exit, suprisingly, it took him only 5 minutes to exit the village. He dropped the kids out to his horse and faced the village again.
Cried immediately as they left the horse. A tears of joy. "Thank you sir!"
"It's your task to find a safe shelter for now, atleast survive until I come back!" He runs inside the village once again to evacuate the people inside.
He borrowed a carriage in the village and heads towards the houses. But suddenly, a loud houl of a ghoul echoed around the place.
"What is that sound?" A ten second of silence.
Suddenly, a ghoul like creature hops inside the carriage, attempted to bite his horse. The horse reacted immediately and kicked the ghoul before it bit him.
"My! What's going on?" He lift his sheated sword and used it with the sheath to fight the ghoul. As the ghoul dashes towards him, he dodged and hit the ghoul on his nape.
It loses conciousness immediately. The ghoul is pure black tinted, with a familiar human shape but in a ghoul form.
"Hah.. It's more of a reason to evacuate the people." He started running around the houses. It catches the attention of the ghouls around the village. 5 of them chases him, but his face remains unfazed and confident.
Every attack of ghouls is being evaded, he delivers counter-attacks in every attempt of offense on him. He's treating those ghouls like he's fighting wolves. Slashing, parrying, and dodging them while running. It's his favorite hobby during his free time. Hunting
As he fights the ghouls, people inside the houses seems to notice it. They take a glimpse on their window, watching Tenchi fight of the ghouls.
As he manage to knock down all 5 of them, people inside the houses gets out and rushes towards him.
"Knight! Please help us leave this place!"
"We beg you!"
"Save us from this mist!"
"Help us escape this curse!"
He kind of expected that reaction, so he's prepared for his reply.
"Women and children first, hop on to the carriage." They immediately ride the carriage and the horse. Luckily, his horse is trained to carry heavy loads, he can lift atleast 20 people inside the carriage.
"Can anyone ride a horse here?" He asked while looking at the persons.
A man raised his hand and volunteered. Tenchi pass the leash to that man without any hesitation.
"Take care of my Harvest." He then grabs bow and arrows from his horse and hop on top of the carriage. "The remaining guys, survive until I come back." The people goes back inside their houses full of hopes. But, that is only one part of the village. The village contains five parts , and one center building.
He doesn't know what's going on. But he only knows that he need to save the people, and find Seishin. He understood that now's not a time for reasons.
Some ghouls followed the pace of the horse, looking at the top of carriage. Some ghouls tried to get a grip on the side of the top of carriage, but what they encounter is Tenchi aiming the arrow to them.
"Now's the time for some tower defense little wolves!" To protect the carriage from the ghouls, he uses his arrow to prevent them from hoping in.
A passenger is whisperin non-stop. She's panicking. One man of the passenger shouted "Don't lose hope! We're about to escape this place!"
The panicking girl responded "Hope? We've tried to escape before, but only resulted in numerous of death!"
"This time, it's different!" Said by the man
"No" With that respond, everyone gets frightened. Everyone starts to panic, shouting and rumbling.
Suddenly, the panicking girl shouted like she was dying.
"Everyone! Unload that girl!" One of the passenger ordered in impulse. But for no one hesitated to unload her.
"Hey! Don't panic!" Tenchi shouted from the top. He is busy defending the carriage, but he is getting off balance because of the panic of the passengers. With the sudden attack of the ghoul, he got bitten on his left shoulders and falls down with the ghoul.
The carriage continues without him. In fact, they didn't noticed he falls down.
"Aaargh!" He got hit on the wall with his back and falls on the ground. The ghoul in front of him howls. With that howl, the other Ghoul surrounded him. Tenchi hurt his back and cannot move properly.
"[Pant][pant] Sorry Seishin, seems like I cannot find you here. I don't know if you are one of them." The ghouls attack him while he's on the ground.
"There is no time! She will turn into that monster!" The girl's hand suddenly distorts and warps into big claws. Her eyes becomes black and the veins follow up. From veins, it tinted the skin and the shirt. She transforms into ghoul.
"Now!" Everyone pushed in one full force, causing the girl to fall. Mission success for them. But, they didn't know Tenchi wasn't there anymore. He falls down as well at the same time with the girl. But even without Tenchi, they are already safe, for they chase Tenchi on his fall.
They successfully escaped the village, that is when they realized Tenchi wasn't there.
The one who's riding the horse looked scaredly at the village. "I will go back." . He goes inside with his horse but no one stopped him. In fact, some of them cheered for him.
The place is silent once again. As he march by, he found Tenchi lying on the floor, severly wounded, and already have lots of black marks on his body, slowly reaching his head through veins.
He immediately jump out of the horse and assist him. He flips Tenchi and leans him to the wall. "Hey, Hero! You don't look good. We need to get out of this place."
"No.." That is the moment Tenchi knew what's going on. "Those ghouls, they are people, right? Just like me..." The man cannot answer, he just went silent. "Here.." Tenchi handed out his crest to the man. "Find Seishin.."
"Seishin? Who could that possibly be?"
"Get out of this place... Find the Hero of souls.." Tenchi said weakly.
"The Hero of Souls.. That legendary Hero?" The man grabs the crest and listens to Tenchi's words.
"Show him that crest.. And he will help us.."
The Man stands up and salutes to Tenchi. "The message will be delivered."
"Good... Leave me.. Now!" The blackness of Tenchi's veins is slowly reaching the eyes.
The man tries to tame the horse, but the horse won't leave Tenchi's side. He has no choice but to run out to the village. With that, he leaves the Horse with Tenchi's side.
"Harvest.. I should have listened to master." The veins blackness reached his top of head. "Seishin, is not here." Upon saying those words, his body distorts and slowly warps into something.
The blackness covered his whole body. As the body becomes black, the horse lies down and slowly becomes black as well. They distort and warps, and turned into something else.
The Man successfully escaped the village. Without taking a rest, he proceed on his search for Seishin, the Hero of souls.