Jaipa leaned over the well's edge, looking into the dark pit below us
"There is no water in it... what's so different about it?"
"Can you not see it ?"
As i asked that he nodded slowly. "The color," his face held a sense of realization. "It's not like the rest of the world there is no red haze not even a trace of it"
Slowly I walked around the stone ring, my fingers grazing its rim, feeling the cold stone beneath my touch. For the first time since arriving in this cursed chapter, something felt at ease
"For us to get out of here, what we need to do is fill the well with blood..." I trailed off
Those words were simple to say, but in reality, they were not good at all i had no idea what kind of blood we needed That's when Jaipa suddenly said
"Then... animal blood should do the work, right?"
He stared at me as he spoke.
We needed blood, and animal blood might work, but in reality, we didn't know if it would we could only find out by trying
As foolish as the idea sounded, Jaipa seemed convinced it was worth trying, and I wasn't in the mood to argue, not when I had nothing better to work with
We made our way back to the market. The streets had thinned out compared to before, but a few vendors were still shouting half-heartedly, trying to sell the last of their goods. In our search for an animal, we came across sheep tied together in a makeshift pen at the far corner, behind a stall selling dried fruit and something that smelled like fermented fish
"There," Jaipa said, his voice low like a whisper. "That one looks juicy."
I glanced at him. "We're not here for 'juicy ' We're not hear for juicy stuffs....blood ! We need it to live"
He scratched his head, muttering something about multitasking
I stepped behind a crate stacked with cracked clay pots, assessing the angles, timing the guard rotations, measuring the distance from the pen to the alley behind the stalls. There were no knights, no watchmen, just distracted vendors and sluggish customers. It was a perfect atmosphere for stealing.
"Create a diversion," I said to Jaipa he blinked "What...what kind of diversion?"
"Anything loud and idiotic you're good at that in good ways"
To his credit, he didn't even look offended.
He strolled over to a nearby stall and without hesitation tripped into a stack of baskets, toppling them in a glorious crash. Fruit scattered everywhere. The vendor screamed aloud. People turned to look.
That was my cue i moved quickly reaching the sheep was easy , in one swing of my blade, I slit the rope
It stared at me " Dumb animal " i muttered it then i thought for a second why ? Why did i am i becoming like jaipa a " Babblebug " looking around
"Good," I said to it, like it could understand me
Then I wrapped my hand under its belly and hoisted it upward it struggled muching something while moving it's mouth " idiot "
Like it understood my words it Spitting on me whatever it was eating
" THIS... dumb animal !...you'll be dead in two minutes " greating my teeth i said to it
Sighing i formed the square when needed and disappeared into the alley with the sheep pressed tight against me, its stench clinging to my clothes and as for jaipa he caught up a few seconds later, his robe trailing bits of straw
"That went well," he said while grinning to himself.
"It was adequate."
We walked in silence for a while, cutting through the side streets, returning to the old, colorless well with no one following us or no one even questioned us
At least this part went as calculated
The sheep was heavier than I expected, but it didn't matter because we had arrived at the well just as the last sliver of sun dipped below the red-tinted rooftops. The unnatural hue of the sky still bled over everything, except for this one spot
" The well untouched by the world "
Jaipa dropped down beside the stone ring, panting slightly. "So... do we just... pour it in?"
Dumb animal !
"What the hell are you muttering for a
while "
I grabbed the sheep by its neck, turned it over the well's edge, and drew my blade. I felt like a butcher cutting a pile of meat
That dumb animal bleated once before my cut " die..."
" Why is he making that creepy face " jaipa muttered to himself
I severed its spine in one go mmediately, red hot blood poured out in warm streams, splashing against the inner walls of the well and dripping downward jaipa flinched before me
While watching it, I couldn't feel anything. I was just waiting for a response from the well but for my disappointed there was nothing
The blood hit the stone, ran along the inner surface, and vanished into the dark. Nothing was stored in the well.
I stood still, hand clenched around the sheep's limp leg its blood had stopped flowing its purpose, if there ever was one, had been wasted
"Tch... damn," Jaipa muttered, scratching his head. "Guess animals don't count."
I wasn't surprised by it.
"....Aa," tossing the body aside "The writing said red liquid..."
"You think it meant...?"
"Yes." I looked down into the dry, blood-slick stone
I was about to say human before Jaipa spoke slowly, "Monster?"
I had almost forgotten about them. We could try it. I nodded once. "Which works. We can get blood and maybe even... monster cores."
His expression shifted, and then he grinned. "Now we're talking."
I turned away from the well. "Aha...then let's ask that old man about the monsters."
Agreeing on that we made our way back toward the marketplace now the crowd had thinned even more shadows stretched long, and lamps were beginning to flicker to life.
The stall was still there so was the old man
He sat cross-legged behind his collection of items, calmly carving something out of bone. When he saw us, he smiled again
"You two again looking to buy this time, or still browsing with your eyes?"
From the start, I wasn't a good talker, just a blunt kid
"We need information," I said bluntly
His lips curled and eyes narrowed slightly, and then Jaipa stepped forward "We're thinking of hunting monsters got any idea where we can find them?"
The old man's knife paused mid-cut he studied me for a long moment before asking, "You're the one doing the hunting?"
"No," I replied. "He is." I pointed to Jaipa. "He's a certified monster hunter I'm just his carrier "
Jaipa puffed up his chest like that was true. The old man's brow furrowed. "He doesn't look like much."
" Apperence doesn't tell as much as we assume "
The old man took a slow breath and then chuckled. "You kid are either brave or stupid or both." He scratched the side of his head, then pointed west. "Forest on the edge of the city. Don't stray too far in. Some of the things there don't like strangers much."
The old man just stared at me, his expression showing concern then he nodded. "Don't get yourselves eaten"
Bowing my head to him out of elders respect as we walked for a while , we came across the forest about two kilometers from the edge of the city
The red tint reached here too. Trees rose in tangled, gnarled spirals, like claws stretched toward a darkening sky. Thick vines coiled like snakes across the ground, and every few meters the landscape shifted, roots bulging, moss glowing faintly.
I crouched by a tree, my fingers brushing a nearby claw mark
Jaipa muttered, "we have been walking for an hour and we couldn't find monsters "
"Don't you feel it?" I said
"What?"
"We have a guest"
He stiffened. "You sure?"
As if on cue, a tree behind us cracked as something massive stepped out from there.
It was eight feet tall, covered in jagged black fur and plated bone, Its head looked like a twisted mix between a bear and a beetle, with glowing red eyes and two serrated tusks jutting from its jaw. Each of its limbs ended in curved, obsidian claws. Steam rose from the slits along its spine.
Jaipa swore under his breath "Well we found one."
I stepped forward Drawing my blade
"Good," I said until now my voice was flat, but now it had turned cold. "Let's see what kind of blood this one holds..."