Tanisin, Dav, and their companions departed the outpost just after dawn. The weather held clear yet warm for the time of year. True to Lieutenant Mathers’ claim they noticed nothing outright different about the lands surrounding the outpost, dryer perhaps with less vegetation. One thing Relf noted was a distinct lack of birds, even crows and ravens and he muttered to himself about it.

  “What’s that Relf?” Tanisin asked, hearing Relf mumble.

  “There aren’t any birds around, seems odd is all.”

  They all looked about at Relf's observation, straining for any sound of birdsong, any sign of the numerous species that inhabited Etrusia. He was right, there were none!

  “Seems the birds have more sense than us.” Willhem answered.

  “It’s creepy is what it is!” Deliah offered. “I imagine if I were a bird though, that I’d be anywhere but here.” The lack made for an eerily quiet morning’s ride.

  Soon after starting out they passed the first of the markers that Mathers had mentioned. It was a stone cairn about waist high with symbols of the Church etched into the stone guiding them towards their ultimate destination. There would be one every few miles according to the Lieutenant.

  After a midday break for water and food they crossed into the Dreadlands. Outwardly nothing had changed, the landscape rolled past as they trotted their horses along. They came to a point however where the horses–each and every one of them–stopped dead in their tracks. It took some coaxing to get them moving again and they resisted, reluctant, with rolling eyes and a nervous gait. They all worked at the bits trying to avoid further travel forward.

  Dav had a moment of inspiration and dismounted. He looked to the group and handed his rein’s to Tanisin to hold. Then he took a few steps forward, turned to the group and raised his hands.

  “Sayoshti we beseech You. Lend your conviction to these beasts. Protect them from the fear that causes them such distress. Let Your will shelter them from the influence of Despair.” He put a hand to each horse’s muzzle as he prayed and walked among them.

  Those still mounted without doubt felt their animals relax with the blessing. “Sayoshti’s Grace Dav, it worked.” Tanisin marvelled. The horses no longer fought for control over the riders as they quivered less and calmed.

  “I’d only hoped it would. I wasn't sure.” Dav was a bit abashed at his impromptu prayer. “It just sort of came to me to do it.”

  The group rode on passing another of the markers, then they too felt what the horses had first. Despair’s influence came upon them. It was light and almost unnoticeable, a touch of doubt, uncertainty both in themselves and in their mission. A feeling that they should turn around to give up and not bother going on. They all felt it but the blessing bestowed upon them from Brother Anthin seemed to hold the worst of it at bay. They knew the effect would only increase as they traversed these lands.

  Another thing they noted was the heat, it had gotten quite a bit warmer. The air had a wet heavy feeling, like a summer storm was about to break, despite the cloudless sky above and dead looking dry grass at their feet. It felt oppressive and heavy as they continued. Mile after mile, marker after marker guiding their way. They rode on silent and hunched in their saddles as each strove with the intrusive thoughts Despair’s influence put in their minds.

  Dav felt it the least. The blessing protected him and as a member of the clergy he was afforded extra protection from his faith in Sayoshti. He wrestled with some self doubt, overcome only by his desire to see things through and continue on his chosen path. His head felt as if in a fog and his limbs were heavy and dragging. It was as if something ominous was awaiting him over the next rise yet when he got there nothing was to be found. The others all felt much the same, digging at their resolve. They managed to hold it at bay and move on. They tried to make light of it, commenting and attempting conversation as the day waned on. These attempts were half hearted and brought no relief. By evening they had all more or less mastered the feeling. The trick being to compartmentalize it in the back of the mind, always there, always insistent yet never at the forefront. It helped as well to think of better things and better times.

  Night brought a cheerless camp and a fire that seemed to do little to hold the darkness at bay. They spent the time conversing in hushed voices. Talking too loud brought about feelings of fear and dread, the risk being discovered in this blasted place though none could say what they feared would find them.

  “I feel like I’ve lost something and will never recover it.” Willhem remarked. “As if a family member or close friend has left me.”

  A chorus of ‘same here’ echoed around the group. “Like I’m late for something and no matter how I hurry I’m just being more delayed.” Was Tanisin’s input. “But also like I shouldn’t be here and should go home. All the way back to Dimabri City.”

  The others expressed similar feelings of doubt and internal voices questioning the validity of their being there. “It’s like holding your breath underwater and swimming as hard as you can to break the surface and gasp for air, only no matter the effort you can never break free.” Relf’s comment had the others nodding in agreement.

  Night also brought sounds and noises not heard during the day. A wind had kicked up. Not heavy but enough to rustle the dry grasslands around them, creating a constant backdrop to their conversation. They also noted animal noises both near and far. Most were innocuous and some more ominous bringing real fear. Like the eerie howling of what they assumed were the Dreadwolves they were told about by Mathers back at the fort. The noise was distant but was constant the whole night. Yipping high pitched noises that one could mistake for a coyote if they didn’t break off into an outright yowl mixed with a coughing sort of howl at the end. The group’s night was restless.

  Tanisin awoke sometime after midnight filled with a sense of urgency. He’d spent a few hours sleeping a light sleep filled with vague dreams of hopelessness and worry. Now he felt that something out there was beckoning to him subconsciously. He looked around trying to pinpoint what it was yet he found nothing.

  Standing and stretching he looked around. Willhem was on guard sitting huddled just outside the firelight. He was watching back the way they’d come and didn’t seem to notice Tanisin. Very clearly he felt an aggressive and strong pull at his mind. Looking east he saw a vague glow off beyond the horizon, a light he mistook then for the rising sun. It’s much too early for that, he told himself, but the incessant pull was still there. A feeling of urgency and need. Then, as if someone had whispered in his ear he heard “Make haste!” There was such compelling need in the thought that before he knew it he was walking.

  Mind in a fog, trancelike he stumbled towards the eastern glow. With no thought beyond the need to go. To make haste as commanded. He soon left the limited light of the camp’s fire, now down to coals, behind. Still he walked with stumbling steps and inside he realised he was leaving his friends behind. He fought the impulse to keep moving and tried to call out. Knowing deep down something was wrong with his leaving yet unable to break free. He continued striving to reach the glow on the horizon. He staggered on, compelled by this unseen force deeper into the darkness.

  Dav also awoke from a troubled sleep. He’d been dreaming of home in Dimabri City, of Eastgate Parish and summer days spent running the streets with his brother. The dream was pleasant at first, soon though it devolved to a nightmare. Familiar streets turned dark and choked with smoke. The faces of friends, all of them in distress flashed across his vision. Frantic he turned and saw the parish burning, his vision widening as he noted the whole city aflame. And voices cried out in agony filling the air with a desperate plea for salvation.

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  He jerked awake confused and frightened. It took him a moment to recall where he was and when he did a new distress filled him. Frantically he searched the dim glowing light cast from the campfire, looking for the familiar shapes of his friends. He found Willhem sitting across from him. Dav must have cried out or made some sound as Willhem was looking at him curiously.

  “You alright?” Willhem asked with concern clear on his face.

  “Yah… bad dream. Sorry.” Looking around the fire Dav noted Deliah and Relf wrapped in blankets on the ground. Both stirring in their sleep as if plagued by dreams of their own. He noticed Tanisin’s bedroll was empty and alarmingly there was no sign of its occupant.

  “Where’s Tan?” Searching for any sign of him, Dav grew more worried by the second.

  “I’m not sure.” Willhem confessed. “Maybe he went to drain his bladder. I didn’t see or hear him leave.”

  “TAN!” Dav yelled into the dark hoping for a response. “TANISIN!” Again yet louder, more insistent.

  A minute passed that seemed a lifetime. With no answer from Tanisin and no sign that he was anywhere nearby Dav began to search. Relf and Deliah had both awoken at his yell, coming to and sitting up. Willhem was on his feet and had joined Dav in searching.

  “What's going on?” Asked Deliah. “Who’s yelling?”

  “Dav’s yelling. Tanisin is gone!” Willhem answered. He was growing more concerned with the situation himself as time passed with no sign.

  “What do you mean gone, where?” Relf sounded distressed as well as he bounded to his feet.

  “I don’t know, he’s just gone. Comeon help look!”

  Soon the whole group was searching and wandering around the campsite looking for any sign of passing. “Over here!” Dav cried out. He was hunched down looking to the ground just outside the firelight.

  Clear boot prints led into the night. The group gathered around to look, then Dav took off following the tracks. He called back, “Someone stay at camp in case he comes back.”

  “I got it.” Deliah offered. The rest of them followed the prints into the night. Relf stopped to grab a branch and set it alight from the coals.

  The dark seemed unnatural, clouds covered the dome of the sky above them and with no source of light beyond the makeshift torch, Dav worried they’d miss any sign of his brother’s passage. He accepted the burning branch from Relf and scoured the ground as he followed the prints further and further. No tracker of any skill could miss them. Dav noted the scuffed marks of passage as if Tanisin had been dragging his feet through the dirt. It made the path standout.

  They searched for almost half an hour and the trail never deviated. Every few minutes one or another of them called out “Tan!” Hopefull that some reply would come from the darkness ahead. Their task was hindered further with the intrusive oppression in their minds from Despair’s influence, yet they pressed on more worried about their companion than whatever doubts were being forced upon them.

  “We’re getting pretty far out. That branch won’t burn forever.” Willhem pointed out. His words accented by said branch that was quickly being consumed by the fire.

  “I don’t care, I’m not leaving him out here.” Dav was adamant, intent on continuing. There was a pure panic in his voice.

  “We won’t do him any good getting lost ourselves.” Relf added. That he was a voice of reason spoke to the growth his time in the Corps had fostered. “We should return to camp and wait for morning.”

  Dav was reluctant to admit they were right. He knew deep down that were the situation reversed his brother would die before giving up on him. He felt the same. Still they carried on further, calling out. Frustration and concern soon turned to outright dread as they began to feel they wouldn’t find him. Or worse yet they would find him, injured or dead.

  In the night around them the Dreadwolves howled. On the cusp of quitting with desperate thoughts of worst case scenarios flooding his mind, Dav was just about to call the search off.

  “What’s that, there?” Willhem exclaimed, pointing forward.

  Dav and Relf looked ahead, straining eyes to see past the darkness. There was something… a shape, a blot of darkness even blacker than the night. It lay some distance away still it seemed to be the right height to be a man standing.

  “Tanisin, over here!” As Dav broke into a jog towards the figure, his steps were hindered by the uneven ground. The other two followed a little more carefully.

  They expected the figure to become more clear as they approached it. Instead it seemed to grow more indistinct. Each of them would swear to Sayoshti later that it had gotten even darker, more indistinct. A complete absorption of any vestige of light rather than just darkness. They got closer still, calling Tanisin’s name again and fighting a pervading sense of fear that threatened to paralyse them to the spot.

  Mere steps from the dark shape and still they couldn’t make it out for what it was, or wasn’t. Dav was sure it was Tanisin though, perhaps the night was just playing tricks on their eyes. He reached out to his brother intent on getting to him, desperate to feel something substantial and verify it was Tanisin. As his hand drew close and was just about to make contact the darkness shifted.

  It appeared to quiver and draw in upon itself. The sight reminded Dav of how an earthworm would condense in upon itself when touched. Repulsed he drew his hand back as the darkness continued to shift and change, appearing to collapse and withdraw. He saw then that it was Tanisin, enveloped inside this dark embrace. Standing there dazed, face slack with mouth hanging open. His eyes stared sightlessly ahead.

  The darkness withdrew further until it had completely disentangled from Tanisin, then it took a shape of its own. It sat there in front of them oozing darkness and rippling as a wave on the shore or a cloak in a breeze as they all stared at it in confusion. It was man shaped, no doubt. Beyond that they couldn’t pick out any single detail, no identifying features were displayed. It maintained an utter darkness that baffled the senses. Dav blinked and when he looked again the figure was gone. Disappeared into the night as if it had never been there in the first place.

  “Sayoshti protect and shield us. What in Despair’s name was that?” Willhem sounded shaken to his core. For Dav and Relf’s part they were as well. Dav had dropped the makeshift torch, it was on its last legs sputtering in the dirt at their feet.

  “I don’t know but…” Reaching out again for his brother Dav took a hold of his shoulder. “Tan, Tanisin!” Shaking him and trying to get some response. There was none, he continued to stand there dazed as if under a spell.

  It took more coaxing but Dav’s urging began to have an effect as Tanisin came to. Still in a fugue of confusion and only half there he made halfhearted efforts to stop Dav from pawing at him and small sounds of protest escaped his lips. Relieved, Dav took him by the arm trying to turn him around and get him moving.

  “Tan please, say something. Anything. Let me know if you're alright.” Pleaded Dav. Relf and Willhem crowded close around them both.

  “I’m… I’m alright, I’m here.” Relief flooded the companions at Tanisin’s words. He sounded groggy, only half with them but it was a marked improvement from just a minute earlier. “Where..?”

  “We’re some ways outside of camp. What happened? What was that, that thing?” They all had questions.

  “What thing?” Tanisin looked confused. “I didn’t see anything.”

  “Nevermind right now. Let’s get back to camp.” Dav’s relief at finding his brother was palpable, they all felt relieved and they just wanted to get back to camp. To stoke up the fire and try to get through the remainder of the night. Still holding Tanisin by the arm they made their way back through the dark. Occasionally one or another of them would cast a furtive glance behind them, looking for the thing that had enveloped him. No sign of it could be detected.

  It was there however, in the distance watching. The deep darkness was no hindrance to its senses. Dark and shadow were its element. It had tailed the party since the farm days ago waiting for a chance to take one of them undetected. Observing from out of sight as they stopped at the fort and trailing them when they left. The elimination of its shamblers had made its mission in the Grant useless and after turning the farmer’s wife to its will it had left her there as a new husk wandering the area. Now it was intent on revenge and it felt something, a need to deal with these humans that dared wander freely in its Master’s lands.

  As the group had settled in for the night it waited. While they’d slept it had put out its call digging into the mind of its prey. Here, where Despair’s influence was strong it had managed to worm into one’s subconscious and coax him into the dark, away from the camp so it could feed unobserved. The others had shown up just in time to save their companion. It fled. One man in its thrall was no threat but a group could kill it. They wouldn’t find it easy but they could do it. Its Master still wanted it undiscovered and so it had disengaged and melted into the night where it watched and waited, there would be another chance before these humans reached Despair’s Abyss to sate its hunger.