Altered Fate (Inscryption Fanfic)

Chapter 7 ~ Collective Panic

You, Grimora, and Magnificus quickly go back to tell Leshy and P03 what you saw, but... they seem to already know. Leshy is holding onto P03, eyes wide with terror, his breath shaky and him being completely unresponsive to P03's obvious growing concern. Seeing the three of you come back, he looks at you. "What happened?!" His voice booms. "What did you three break?!"

"We did nothing, P03. We just went to investigate something off with the monuments, and... and Leshy and Grimora's began breaking." P03 went silent with shock, for a second, hearing you say this. He thought, a minute, and finally asked, "How bad is it?" "There aren't a lot of cracks, right now... but," Magnificus speaks, in his raspy, tired voice, "that does not mean we can just relax. We need to figure out what is going on. And soon."

"Perhaps we should get Leshy to snap out of it, first," Grimora chimed in... Now having his fears confirmed, Leshy only seemed worse. You go up to him, sorta waving your hand in front of his face. "Leshy... Leshy, snap out of it, you're okay, for now." He slowly looks up at you. You've never seen him so full of anxiety, before... Even all those times you had your final fight with him, he was calm. Seeing him like this... hurt. He looks at you, for a few moments, before finally letting go of P03, and standing. "I... need to go," he said, grimly, still extremely shaky. "I need... some time alone..."

You see P03 try to reach for him, as he makes his way back to the forest... You're all worried, but... there's nothing you can do to stop him. You turn back to Magnificus. "What, now?" He stares off into the distance, in the direction Leshy went, and, after a moment, finally responds. "We must figure out how to fix this... Quickly. Has this ever happened, before?" You shake your head. "No, this... is completely new... but that red light looked familiar..." P03 suddenly spoke up. "I know someone we could probably ask about it. I just can't go alone. They... uh... don't like me, very much..." "Well," Grimora begins, "what are we waiting for? Let's go."

. . .

You find yourselves going to the forest... You wonder if you were going to question Leshy, but that made no sense. His cabin door was closed and locked... he'd obviously wanted to be left alone... Instead, P03 began leading you towards the mountains not far from the cabin... "Just where are we going?" Magnificus asked, just as confused as you. "Well," P03 began, "since Leshy wanted to be alone, he obviously would've had anyone in the cabin leave, for a while... including the trader. She... usually hangs out up here, when she's working, mostly because the wind helps her focus, I guess." "And how do you know all this?"

P03 pauses when you ask this, as if thinking of a good response. "We used to be close friends... back when me and Leshy were still... yknow." You nod. That made some sense. You shivered as things got colder. You got closer to the top of the mountain, and it began to get... a little too cold. You ended up having to use the blanket... None of the others did. Of course. Grimora wasn't affected, it would've taken a lot longer for P03 to freeze over, and Magnificus was a mass of fluff, of course he was fine. How did Trader make it up here, every time? Is that why she was always wearing a sweater or coat of some type...? You finally begin to see something, in the distance... A small building, sort of a shed, maybe, with smoke coming from a small chimney. You get there, and knock on the door. You hear... some crashing inside, and then the creaking of the door opening. Surprised to see three scrybes and the challenger at her door, Trader urges you to come in.

"Dear god, what possessed ye all to come up here?!" She had you sit down by the fire, knowing you likely needed it most. As she did, Grimora spoke. "The red, glitchy light... Do you know anything of it?" Trader froze, and turned to Grimora with an odd expression, as if questioning if she was really serious. "And how do you know of it?" "My monument flashed that odd, red, glitchy color, for a moment, while it began... cracking... Leshy's began to, as well." Trader's expression went from worried to full on scared. "Is that why he was actin like that?!" You nod. "He wasn't taking it well, huh?"