The search teams didn't find anything of note. Two more cellars that had been filled with rotten food and garbage.
They weren't very happy when they got the news they were spending the night, but Eirian figured that was more because they wouldn't be able to wash off the dirt than any fear of the ghosts.
They bedded down just outside the gate, along a portion of the remaining wall that gave them one less side to defend.
Their dinner was heavy bread and water, and Eirian figured that was her punishment for insisting they sleep out here, but after the events of the previous day and night, everyone was too exhausted to do much else besides eat and sleep.
Anna had stuck to Chenzhou's side as soon as it became dark, and Marian kept hovering around them, when she normally hovered over Eirian.
Everyone had started to fall asleep before Eirian could ask what it was about, so Eirian put it out of her mind and went to sleep, and was instantly back in that place.
Gleaming stones and cloud-like bursts of wild magic and the shimmering veil. Eirian was flat on her back, staring up at a glittering black sky, the shadows of great winged beasts darting to and fro.
She pushed herself to her feet, surprised to realize she wasn't anywhere near the mountain and cave she'd been thrown out of last time.
This time, she was near the veil. Only a few steps away.
And she wasn't alone.
He was standing inches away from the veil. It rippled in a wind Eirian couldn't feel and brushed against his cheek as he turned to her.
"We have to go." He says. He's taller than her by almost a foot, taller than most people, she thinks with a mop of dark hair that falls into his lightning bright grey eyes.
Something in him calls out to Eirian, a shared understanding, an instinct, some blood Eirian doesn't remember.
"We have to go." He sounds firm, but his expression is soft, almost sad, as he turns back to the veil. "We can't stay. We can't come back, but we have to go?"
"Why?" Her tongue feels awkward in this world, heavy in her mouth, and she wonders if she's speaking the wrong language. Do they speak the same in the World of the Dead as they do in the World of the Living?
His expression softens even further, into something that looked wistful and melancholy. "We can't stay," he said again. "And we can't come back."
And then he reached out, took hold of the veil, and ripped it open.
The light was blindingly bright and then burning, and Eirian could only stare at the flames as they grew bigger and bigger.
"Eirian!"
She can't see anything beyond the flames. It's like the veil is gone. The World of the Living, that's supposed to be on the other side, is blocked from view.
"Eirian!"
It wasn't until Chenzhou took her by the shoulders and shook her that Eirian realized she was awake.
That the flames were real.
"Eirian! Wake up." He hauled her to her feet.
"Wha- what happened?" Disoriented, she looked around. The rest of the camp was awake, scrambling to grab their supplies and flee from the fire engulfing the wall.
Eirian felt her magic bubbling just under the surface of her skin, but it wasn't….
The fire wasn't her.
She shivered.
Chenzhou tried to pull her away. "We need to get back, the fire's spreading."
A low whistle was the only warning, and an arrow was embedded into the ground a few inches from Chenzhou's foot.
"On guard!" Li roared as the distant thunder of hoof beats grew louder,
How was it so cold when the flames were so high?
A song rose, more reedy whistles as arrows filled the air. Chenzhou yanked Eirian to the side as they hit the dirt, the gate, even the stone walls.
Shadowy riders appeared in the distance, getting closer by the second.
But why was she so cold?
Eirian pulled free of Chenzhou's grip and reached for fire.
"Eirian!"
The stone was cold to the touch. The flames flickered and shifted as if Eirian's hand wasn't even there.
An arrow flew through her chest and hit the dirt behind her.
It wasn't-
She turned to Chenzhou. "It's not real!"
He was wild-eyed and pale, his grip on Huaban so tight his knuckles were white. "What?"
"It's not real, Chenzhou."
The riders were so close that the shadows fell away. Tribesmen of the borderland with their animal skin coats and vicious bows.
Anna screamed as they charged through the wheat towards the village.
"Don't move!" Eirian yelled. "They're not real."
The riders went right through them, and a few of Li's guards attempted to cut them down with their swords, but they passed through the ghosts without notice.
"What the hell?" Chenzhou breathed. "I don't-"
"Are they ghosts too?" Finn yelped, his own sword drawn.
The riders charged through the open gate and into the village. A few broke off the sides to jump the wall.
"Is this?" Chenzhou stopped. Eirian was about to demand they go inside when Chenzhou beat her to it and ran through the open gate.
"Chenzhou!" Yuze sprinted after him, Eirian hot on his heels.
The village had fallen into chaos. Buildings that hadn't been there during their exploration were now standing and aflame. Villagers were screaming, running scared, a few attempting to fight off the attacking tribesmen and getting cut down for their efforts.
"It's the night Tira-Lian was destroyed." Chenzhou breathed.
Li, Finn, Emmy, and Patrick slid to a stop behind them, looking around with wide eyes.
"They're all ghosts?" Finn's hands were shaking.
A village soldier succeeded in pulling a tribesman off his horse, putting his sword through his throat when he was sprawled on the ground in front of them. He was cut down seconds later by a still-mounted archer.
Eirian stared at the bodies. She could make out the sweat on their faces, the fading light of life leaving their eyes, but when she reached out, her hand touched nothing but air.
"Oh gods." Yuze gasped. "Chenzhou, look!" He pointed, and Eirian looked up to see a child, no more than four or five, peek out from her hiding place under a porch.
She had Chenzhou's dark, gentle eyes.
~ tbc