No Longer Spring - Writings of Yesterday

23rd of November

After leaving the small town we were in, I immediately started gathering information about where the YiWang mountains might have been.
I haven't gotten much information on it the night before, so I now had to do the work in the morning. It turned out that the mountains were at quite the distance away, seeing as I had to traverse the town and the haunted forest following it, which was supposedly one of the harder forests to get through.
I was already blaming a curse for that or, perhaps, a high rank spirit.
It shouldn't have been too complicated to get through, however, since I had the sword by my side and I was, in fact, going to flee as many conflicts as possible. Some fights were simply not worth bothering to go through with.
Knowing all that, I had found myself walking on the territory of the forest. Every step I took I felt followed and counted by the trees around, eye like shapes on each of their trunks. The trees had irregular sizes, their leaves big and dark, a couple of them finally giving in to the pressure in the air as they fell slowly, mesmerized by the art of the incoming autumn.
I could hear no birds, see no other living creature. It was eerie and dark, a part of me enjoying the thrill of such an adventure. It soothed a dark, calculated part of me in such a way that nothing else did.
The only thing I had to keep doing was to pretend that there was nothing wrong; that I had no idea of the presence around me.

Then, the clink of a bell resounded, I took my hand off the sword handle and continued to walk, the sky turning a light shade of blue. Clouds were everywhere, heavy and full. The clink resounded again, closer this time- just another opportunity to ignore it again. The light around me shifted as the air got colder, getting even through the fabrics of my robes.
It sounded even closer that time, and I knew that my guest was nothing if not trying to get to me.
I did wonder what it could have been, but I tried to keep my curiosity aside; the game was just beginning and I couldn't step wrongly. I still didn't know what type of creature I was dealing with nor what rank it was.

It was as if I felt it walking right behind me, breathing down on the back of my neck. It got stronger, continuously alarming my instincts and, right when the sensation got unbearable, I shifted and turned around taking Yuchen out.

I got ready to strike, but there was nothing to fight. I was tangled in it's game, it seemed. It was testing my ability to sense it.

"Ok, you can come out now," I said, "I know you're here."

The clink resounded again and the air got even colder, sending shivers down my spine.
The green leaves that were once falling had become red instead, portraying the color of blood.
They fell onto my path as I went on ahead, each of them making a loud sound as I stepped onto them.

"Don't leave me alone...," a soft, trembling whisper,  "I'm scared. Please don't leave me alone."

And so, a fragile girl of around fifteen years old made an appearance in front of me, half of her body hidden by the tree she was keeping a hand on.
She looked pitiful, but I knew better than to trust what I was seeing. Being used to all kinds of situations, I was pretty much heartless given the situation. I had to test it somehow.

"Please don't go..." she said again, more pursuing than before. Her voice was somehow eerie, as if it was a gentle echo resounding through the trees.

It wasn't really a habit of mine to attack those that couldn't defend themselves, but she was obviously not in that category.

"And why are you so afraid?" I asked, stopping my pace.

"Father said I never have to go outside, but he didn't come back to bring me food. I'm starving..."

I took a breath of fresh air and looked her in the eye, never once seeing her blink. Her black hair and brown clothing were nothing to take notice of.

"When did he leave?" I asked again, ready to defend myself if the situation asked for it.