It was a grey, chilly day. Clouds were overcast, the air was humid, and a light mist blew through the air. And in it all, in middle of the soggy marshlands, was a town - one that was clearly abandoned by man. Rotting wood made up what buildings were left, most partially-submerged in the flooded streams and ponds that made up the landscape. Rooftops drooped and floors sank, and nature was beginning to reclaim the wood, mushrooms and fungus growing all over the dilapidated buildings that made up the town.



In the marshlands was something definitely out of the ordinary, however. A black, formless cloud of smoke traveled along the ground, weaving through and around the tall grasses and ponds. Coming to a rest at a large, dead tree, it took the rough shape of a man, before thickening, and refining the shape into a clear shape of one. He was a tall, muscular man, sporting a bald head and a long black beard. He was wearing a long leather duster, and home-made clothes underneath made of fur and leather. The oddest things about him, however, was a pair of white, glowing irises, and his dark-gray skin, which was covered in white tattoos.

He held out his arm as he rested, looking over the town. Through the air, from the direction of the Town came a moth, or what almost looked like one. It was the size of an eagle, but as gentle as its original species - Herrik, Urik's companion. His general mannerisms were calm, telling Urik that he didn't see anything alive during his short time of scouting out the area. Nevertheless, Urik was ready to find someone, whoever it may be.

"If not the descendants of those vile Harvestmen, then maybe someone who knows where they are..."

Allowing Herrik to perch on his shoulder, Urik finally began his trek into the town, eager to learn more about this legend... And to finally see if it had any truth to it.

Few people ever came to the ghost town, out of fear of it being haunted. Maybe a dweller or two would take residence, only to leave days later. A few houses did show signs of dweller culture. The only real signs of life at a first glance were the graffiti, likely left by the occasional teenager who went in on a dare, such as the words "They are watching you" scratched into the side of one of the buildings. Mostly just superstition and myths.

But, one piece emblem stood out among the graffiti and the marks of the dweller. A coat of arms that would occasionally be marked on some of the walls. The symbol of a tower, being struck by lightning.

If Urik were to investigate further, keeping a close eye on every detail, he'd notice that in the muck and the rotten floorboards, were footprints. Light footprints, whoever left them couldn't have been too old or too big. Human as well, couldn't have been one of the dwellers that occasionally passed through.

Someone was here recently.

Urik, not one to be frightened by mere superstitions, continues on through the town, taking note of the signs of Dweller population and the strange seals. He figured they might have been the symbol of the people who once lived here. Regardless, he continued on, occasionally stopping to investigate an area of interest, or to let Herrik investigate something that caught his curiosity.

It was in one of these homes, however, that he saw something strange - Fresh footprints. Eyes widening, he crouched down, placing his fingers on one of the prints before bringing them up to his nose and sniffing it. Looking around, he looked to see what direction they traveled in. Wasting no time, he sprung to his feet and began to hurriedly follow the prints, intrigued to see where they led. With any luck, they wouldn't belong to some squatters or vandals, but someone who actually knew something.

The footprints leg to a small house, partially sunk into the muck. Looked like some sort of capitol building back before the town was flooded.

There, inside, was a number of peculiar sights. Around the building, placeed out of the mud and water onto dry surfaces, were stacks of stones. Each of them about 5 to 7 stones in height, all placed around the room in clusters. Whoever had done it must've had a lot of time on their hands, a good reason, and a delicate touch.

From the end of the room, beyond the entrance, came a soft glow from one of the doorways.

The sight of the stones elicited some amount of curiosity from Urik, but it wasn't anything he was about to pay much attention to. Instead, the clear implication that someone had been here for a long time was far more worrying. Stopping in the middle of what was left of the courtyard to the building, Urik cracked his neck, rolled his shoulders, and unsheathed one of his daggers. Motioning to Herrik to be quiet, he crouched slightly, making sure to keep his footsteps silent, further masking them by "cushioning" his steps with smoke produced from his magic.

The door was just begging to be opened, and Urik was suspicious. He almost felt like this was too easy... Was this a trap? Thinking to himself as he approached it, he decided to test his theory. Before entering, he simply placed his hand on the door, and gave it a good push open, to see if it was booby trapped. If not, then he simply enters.

There, beyond the door, in the center of a room cleared out, was a glowing rift. Floating in the air, like a slash in space, a rift to the world of Yim.

An amalgamate? A powerful Caster? The possible source of the curse that had befell this town?

Urik abandons stealth at the sight of the empty room, clearly seeing there's no one there. However, the Rift was certainly something immensely strange to him, having only heard about them in legends. Looking to Herrik for reassurance, Urik holds his dagger up to his chest, ready to react against anything that might meet him as he approached the rift.

"Yim, eh? Seems like our targets know a thing or two about magic after all..." He grumbles to himself, glaring at the rift, trying to look through.

With a deep breath, he finally reaches the doorway to Yim, standing outside of it warily. Does he really need to go in? An eager prod from Herrik tells him yes. Sighing, he tightens his grip on the dagger, before backing up, and diving into the rift.

As Urik would enter the Rift, he would be welcomed by a twisted parody of the outside world. A large landscape of trees and rivers, swampland and wooden houses similar to the ones in Ramshorn, as far as the eye could see. Most of the houses were sinking into the muck or twisting and collapsing upon one another. Out from the ground, large tree roots, some the size of buildings, twisted around the landscape. The air was hot and humid.

There, in the middle of swamplands and decayed houses, was a pristine white building in the center of it all. A large castle, standing like a gemstone in a cesspool.

Other than the trees and a few odd insects, there was one other life form visible. Wading in the swamp waters, were a few strange locust like creatures. None of them seemed to acknowledge Urik, most of them just silently wading through the waters.

Urik's eyes opened wide at the alien scenery before him, immediately crouching and ducking to conceal his presence. Taking a quick survey of the area, however, he quickly familiarized himself with it somewhat. It was a disgusting mockery of the real world, but the sight of the massive castle made it clear that this was not somewhere he 'should' have been. The sight of it even made him smirk, thinking of how big a target it made the owner of this realm.

Cracking his neck, he made his way to the swamp, wading through the waters as the locust-creatures before him did as well. Keeping his dagger drawn, he activated the light rune on it... causing it to disappear from sight completely, hiding it from sight. With his weapon concealed, and a false sense of helplessness emanating from him, he approached the creatures.

"Greetings, friends."

Upon closer inspection, the locust creatures bared vague human like features. Such as arms and human like legs, while hard to tell with most of them being partially submerged in the water. The locust creatures all seemed to be staring in the same direction, in the direction of the tower in the center. But, despite not looking to face Urik, they still spoke. They spoke one after another. Some of them speaking together, others by themselves. Some of them sat with their hands clasped, as if praying.
Kill the Good Father... Kill him and we'll be free. They'll all be free.
"Stab the left eye. Stab the left eye."
"The Good Father created this world. We were created from the Father"
"Rotting away. His world. His body. His mind. Destroy him. Destroy this rotted world."
"Pray to the pale daughter. Trapped in a world of decay. Pray for the One-Eyed Daughter. Filed down by pain."

Urik stared at the two locust-like creatures, invisible blade still firmly in hand. Amalgamates or not, they disgusted him... The things they said he simply brushed off as insane ramblings. Still, 'kill the good father' was welcomed as a sign that he was doing the right thing. Nodding to the creatures, he wordlessly continued on towards the castle, ready to kill this "good father" and anyone else inside for the sake of those Beastkin so long ago.

Walking up the courtyard, he looked for any entrances that wouldn't give himself away - a window or balcony, for example.

The castle itself looked pristine and polished. A heavy contrast to the rest of the rotted dimension. There at the front gate was a coat of arms of sorts, bearing a symbol of a tower being struck by lightning. AN odd choice for a family symbol.

The courtyard bared the same appearance as the rest of the place. On the ground was several white flowers, clean and untouched by the filth of the swamp. The front of the castle did have windows and balconies, something someone with the finesse for it could easily access and climb.

The front gate was out of the question, he thought. Much too obvious, not to mention the risk of traps. No, he'd need to climb. Motioning to Herrik, his companion took to the skies, scouting out the area and glimpsing through windows to try to get a rough layout of the castle. Meanwhile, Urik cracked his neck, approaching a wall home to some creeping vines. Using the vines as his initial foothold, he slowly climbed the sheer side of the castle, using whatever alcoves and ledges he could take advantage of.

As he did so, a misstep combined with his weight caused a small piece of brick to chip off underfoot, the rubble falling several yards into the bushes below. Nearly losing his balance, he grabbed his dagger, and with one swift motion, plunged it between two bricks to create something to grab hold onto. Sighing in relief, he continued, finally reaching the third-floor window. Prying it open, he silently stepped inside, sheathing his dagger and signalling Herrik to keep an eye out outside.

The room he had entered into looked to be a bedroom of sorts. A large king sized bed in the center of the room. A fire place just across from it. Among other things, there was a vanity desk, and a few paintings in the room. Everything looked well kept, the bed made, not a spot of dust on the desk or fireplace mantle, and the paintings were kept in remarkable condition.

As for the paintings, they were all grey in color. Mostly drawings of the outside world, made in water color. Their messy appearance gave a more vague depiction of what the paintings portrayed; the courtyard outside the window, a young straight haired girl, and what looked like a fearsome ghoulish face.

Down the hall, a sound could be heard. A quiet, humming sound, like a young girl singing to herself.

The room Urik entered, much to his surprise, seemed rather, well, ordinary considering the building it was in. The lack of dust didn't surprise him as much as how much it reflected the outside world. While he never really had much interaction with casters this high-level, he always assumed they'd enter Yim to escape Kodo and its worldly issues. As he walked about the room, tracing his gray fingers over the furniture he inspected, he immediately sprung to attention at the sound down the hallway.

A young girl's voice was again a surprise, however he welcomed it. Likely his target, he thought... Although a maid or caretaker wasn't out of the question either. Regardless, they'd have information. Keeping his back to the wall next to the door, he quietly, slowly cracked the door open just enough so he could get a look down the hallway.

The humming was coming from down the hall in a room to the left, likely the room next door. There were more paintings on the walls. They looked like rooms in the house, but they continued to have the same appearance as the last ones; gray and rather messy, giving only a vague depiction of what the painting was of. Yet, they weren't terrible, despite their messy appearance.

No one was in the hallway though. Empty as the room he came in. All that was him, his avian companion, and a strange singing voice.

Noticing no one coming his way, he instead took the initiative and began to follow the source of the noise. His feet disappeared into a cloud of black smoke, masking any footsteps he made. Still holding his knife at the ready, he entered the hallway, sticking closely to the walls and slowly making his way towards the sound.

As Urik made his way towards the humming sound, it would begin to fade away. As if the source of the sound was becoming more aware of his presence somehow. Is it really a person humming to themselves? Had they heard him? Was there really a person in this strange world within Yim?

The door to the room where the sound was coming from was open, just a crack, allowing for an entrance.

Urik slowly slid along the wall, skillfully masking his footsteps and controlling his breathing as to not make a single sound. Gripping his dagger, he kept a stern expression as he approached the door, housing either an odd type of Amalgam, or an actual, living human. Regardless of what it was, he was prepared to use his skills to his full extent to get what he wanted.

Finally reaching the door, he stopped. Thinking carefully, he came up with a plan to spring a surprise attack on whoever - or whatever - was in that room. Closing his eyes briefly, he extended his senses outward, using his limited Manipulation skills to issue a command to Herrik.

"Tap the window closest to me."

Meanwhile, outside the castle, Herrik received the order, causing him to instinctually seek out the window closest to Urik's position in the castle. After a few fly-by's, he finally found what appeared to be his target. Flying down, he'd land on the wall, and bump his head on the window twice in order to try catching Urik's target's attention.