The group spent two days riding that train. At every stop, Mila did her thing, and at every stop they received the exact same answer from the various spirits she questioned.

  Go southwest.

  As boring as it was, Kurt actually appreciated the peace, especially now that everyone in the group seemed to be in a good mood. Conrad and him were talking about their common interests, mainly swordsmanship, and Mila was being her usual cheery self, especially now that she was finally in the know about the fight against Melalo.

  Plus, the time had given Kurt time to practice a couple new transfiguration spells. No increases on his MND stat or Aetheric Attunement skill, though. Those were getting harder to get as they increased, which was logical, especially since he was rather limited on the kind of practice he could do while inside the wagon.

  He had, at least, learned a couple new spells from his alteration book.

  Increase Weight (Rank E spell)

  A spell that causes an object to act as if it were heavier than it actually is.

  Weight added depends on MND stat, Aetheric Attunement skill rank and AP used.

  Structural Reinforcement (Rank E spell)

  The user mingles his AP with the energies that hold an object together, increasing its toughness.

  Level of reinforcement depends on MND stat, Aetheric Attunement skill rank and AP used.

  When he had used all three alteration spells on his switchblade on equal measure, charging it with as much AP as it could possibly hold, it had acquired a weight, toughness and edge that made it capable of slashing clean through solid rock. A switchblade.

  He had to learn how to cast them on Silver Demon. He should inquire Blair or Mr. Anderson about it.

  It was at the last stop of their second day that their trip finally found another obstacle. One much worse than the last one.

  "Great." Snarked Kurt as he looked into one of the group's bags.

  "What?" Asked Mila.

  "We're out of supplies. Specifically food." He got up with a jump. "We've got 'til sunrise before the train starts moving. I'll go buy something." He turned to look at her. "Something you want?"

  "Hmm... strawberrys, if they have them. Thanks"

  "No problem." he said. "Do you know where Conrad's gone? I wanna ask him too."

  "I think he had to make a call, to inform Mr. Anderson about the quest and such. So probably at the station."

  "Thanks." he said as he stepped out the wagon and towards the station.

  Their last stop had brought them to a small town somewhere in Tenesse or Kentucky. What the town's name was, Kurt didn't know. They had stopped at over half a dozen places like this one already, and none of those stops had been eventful enough for Kurt to even hear their names, let alone remember them.

  This town would probably be the same.

  Just as Mila had theorized, Kurt found Conrad at the station. He was making a call through a pay-phone, no one else around him. It was already past evening and the sun had already set, so the already small influx of people that would have been at the station had dried up. It was probably only the three of them in the premises.

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  "Yeah, everything's fine." said Conrad to the phone. "There was a bit of an incident in Boston but that's it." A muffled voice came through the speaker. Kurt stood aside, not wanting to interrupt. "Oh fuck off! We'll find it when we find it. We've made a lot of progress!"

  And with that, he hung up.

  "Conrad." Called Kurt. Conrad's back straighted up in surprise. "What's got you so tense? I've never seen you talking like that, much less to Mr. Anderson!"

  Conrad turned to look at him. His face seemed tense, and his breath was ragged. "It's just... the tension of the quest, y'know? Having him talking so calmly and asking about our progress in such a... clinical way just... fried my nerves."

  Kurt hummed. "I think I get it. That stoicism of his can be infuriating some times." He looked Conrad in the eye. "But that was still a jerk move from you. You should call back and apologize."

  "Uhm... yeah. You're right, I will."

  Kurt smiled at this. "Great! Oh, right. We're out of supplies, so I'm going to get some groceries. You want something?"

  "No, thank you."

  "Fine." Kurt answered, shrugging. "I'll be back soon." He pointed at Conrad in a playfully stern manner." Make that call."

  Conrad nodded, still dead serious.

  ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

  "That will be... 24.90 $ please."

  Kurt handed the cashier the money and grabbed the two bags of supplies- Mostly canned food- he had just bought. His gaze went to the wall behind the register, where multiple MISSING posters with photos of peopla from all ages and ethnicities laid.

  "That's a lot of missing people for a town this small." The boy remarked

  The cashier, a woman in her sixties, sighed tiredly. "Yeah, I know. All in the last month too. Police's been investigating ,obviously, but..."

  "There hasn't been any luck?" Offered Kurt.

  "Something like that. No bodies have been found or anything, so we at least have that. But everyone in town is so terrified no one dares going out at night. " She turned to look at the street through the store's glass. "I've been living here my whole life, and I've never seen anything like it." She turned her head once more, this time to look at Kurt. "Kid, you really should rush to your house before it gets real dark. I'm gonna close in five minutes, so I could drive you if you want to wait."

  "Thank you." he said. "But I'd rather go on my own." He smiled at her. " Don't worry ma'am. I'll be fine."

  She gave him a smile of her own, one mored tired and weary than she probably had intended. "I hope so. Just be quick, okay?"

  "Will be. Thanks:"

  He walked out the store, hurried away until he was sure nobody was seeing him, and pushed both bags into his inventory.

  He hadn't even begun to walk away when he heard the scream. It was a high-pitched, blood-curdling sound. And it came from the store.

  He rushed back, his Od already flaring, and pulled his sword from his inventory. The front door was blocked, and the inside of the store was dark. She had said that she closed in five minutes. It seemed like she had decided to do so even sooner.

  Fuck.

  Another scream, this one from behind the building. Flaring the Od in his legs, he jumped, and climbed the roof's edge. He darted through the rooftop until he reached the other side. He looked down at the alley behind the store, and there he saw it.

  The creature, who was standing atop a batered sedan, looked like a giant- roughly the size of a person- caterpillar. Its many 'legs' were grey, emanciated human arms, and its head was that of a mosquito. Dark-green energy pulsated from within its frame.

  And held between two of its arm, and with the creature's proboscis burrowed in her torso, was the cashier. Her body looked mummified, he only recognized for her clothes, as the creature sucked in all of her blood. No, he realized, it went deeper than that. Even her Od and aether were being sucked in.

  Necrotic Familiar

  LV: 19

  He raised his sword with one hand and, with a roar, lunged at the creature like an archangel.

  Screaming before attacking was a horrible idea, Kurt knew. It did nothing but give away your position and exhaust you faster than attacking silently did. He didn't care. An innocent woman, a woman that was probably someone's wife or mom, had died horribly. She had told him about how dangerous the zone had become and, thinking him a normal teenager, had tried to help him avoid this danger. He hadn't reciprocated, and this were the results.

  He landed on top of the creature, and the force of his fall shattered the sedan's windshield. His free hand darted towards its mosquito head, and grabed its proboscis with Od enhanced strength. His sword came down, stabbing deep into the familiar's side.

  It was a creature of necromantic magic, and so its flesh sizzled when the mithril touched it. The woman's dry bones and papery skin, everything that was left of her body, fell to the floor, where they promptly collapsed into dust.

  Kurt ripped his sword out the beast's body, and raised it above head. He almost brought it down like a guillotine on the familiar's head, but then he realized something.

  The thing was a familiar.

  Someone had put it up to this.

  He let go of its head, and it promptly darted away with swiftness completely at odds with its size, almost floating like a ballon. Kurt stood in place as it hurried away.

  One. Two. Three. Four.

  Five seconds. Time to pursue. The thing was wounded, and basically an animal when it came to sapience and instincts. It would scurry back to its lair-its master's lair- and bring Kurt along with it.

  The thing was fast and agile, moving as if its hide was filled with helium instead of flesh. It jumped from rooftop to rooftop with each push from its grey arms, even has the wound on its side bled copious amount of dark blue blood.

  It made no difference to Kurt. His Od boosted muscles carried him with just as much speed, if not more, and the Od cycling through his eyes, ears and nose made it immposible for the beast to lose him.

  The chase brought both of them, warrior and beast, past the town's center and towards its outskirts, where only a handful of dirt roads connected the few suburban houses in the zone to the rest of the town. The chase brought them in front of an old looking house that was secluded even by the zone's standards.

  The creature stopped its hop in front of the building, holding still for a moment. And then it jumped again, this time into the building's chimney.

  "Fucking Santa Claus wannabe." Kurt muttered.

  He walked up to the house's perimeter, still boosting his senses, just in case. He stepped closer, and promptly felt... something. It was like a drop in temperature, or air pressure. But it was neither of those things, Kurt realized. It hadn't been his physical senses that had alerted him, but his Aetheric Attunement.

  Experimentally, the boy stepped back. Another change, the energy around him became wilder and stronger. A step ahead. Another drop.

  Whoever lived here had done... something Kurt didn't recognize to keep the flow of the Aether around the building, if not supressed, then definitely muted. Kurt had a feeling that his sorcery would be a lot less efective in there. And he was quite sure that the same wouldn't apply to whatever sorcerer had made of this building their residence.

  "Damn it." He muttered. He turned back and began running back to the train.

  He wasn't risking it by going alone in uncharted terrritory. He needed Conrad and Mila for this.