Dawn broke with tremors shaking the earth. The ground rumbled, the church let out a creak, and the sound of stone brushing against stone rang.

  Woken up suddenly, everyone dashed outside to catch the first lights dawn dissipating the thick layer of fog that had covered earth. The rumbling soon came to a halt, leaving everyone afraid and startled.

  Blue system windows appeared in front of everyone as soon as the rumbling stopped. Bold, white letters hung before them.

  OBJECTIVE – FIND THE SOURCE OF THE TREMORS

  OBJECTIVE – BUILD DEFENCES

  Staring at the two new missions, a charged silence settled over the camp.

  “There is no time limit.” Clara was the first to break the silence. “What sort of defences is it even talking about?”

  “The sort that’ll protect us against monsters, I assume.” Charles scowled. “Right, we seem to be safe for the moment, so let’s start our day everyone. We need clean water for the wounded. Let’s get to work.”

  His words seemed to give people some sense of safety as they closed the system windows and started ging about their day. “Alaric, a word? You too Ava.” Charles softly said.

  “Can I come too?” Victoria’s sheepish voice seemed to surprise the man. He hesitantly glanced at Alaric, who nodded. “…of course.”

  The sun was still climbing the cloudy skies, so they easily found some shade on the west side of the boulder. “I’m assuming building defences means more than putting a tarp on the church. Any thoughts?”

  “We can’t build a wall,” Ava said with a scowl.

  “Cavalry spikes.” Victoria piped up with a glint in her eyes.

  Ava’s eyes glimmered. “Oh yeah, that should be doable. What do you think?” She glanced at her brother, who seemed to be considering the idea.

  “I agree,” Alaric spoke up. “There are plenty of trees by the cliff, and a single row of spikes by the church entrance should be doable within the day, provided we can carry the wood back here.” He turned to Ava. “Can you carry things beside weapons?”

  She smirked. “Of course.”

  “Very well, then Ava and Jason’s group will be dealing with this.” Charles looked to the side, where a system window listing their two objectives popped up. “As for the second one…” He glanced at Alaric. “Do you think you can check it out?”

  …of course you ask me. He wasn’t even surprised. “I can try… but I don’t really know where to begin. How am I supposed to find the source of an earthquake? Those are usually… well, not things with a particular source like that.”

  Charles shrugged. Ava narrowed her eyes as she pondered.

  Thought so. “The castle might be a good place to start?” He suggested hesitantly, at which they once again only shrugged.

  “I’ll try to think of something.”

  Without much of a decision on that part, they parted ways, each heading to their own tasks.

  Ava, Jason, Sarah and a few others soon set out northwest. There were more than enough medium sized trees there at the bottom of the cliff for them to scavenge branches off of.

  “I’ll come with you.” Clara insisted as soon as Alaric informed her and Elizabeth about his own task.

  “I’d rather you stay here and help Harriet.” He glanced at Victoria’s grandmother who was busy boiling some cloth to use as bandages. “She could use all the help she can get.”

  Clara folded her arms. “The only wounds remaining are the small scratches and bruises, and Elizabeth’s already helping her. I’m just sitting around doing nothing. I’ll come with.” Her eyes were full of defiance.

  There’s no convincing her.

  Alaric let out a sigh. “Fine.” I don’t like it, but fine. He’d much rather know she was safe and sound, here on the Hallowed Ground. There was no helping that now, though.

  “Can I come too?” A somewhat hesitant voice surprised him. He spun around to see Edward standing at the entrance to the church. “I don’t want to just sit here and be useless.”

  “…fine.” Alaric inhaled a deep breath. “Let’s go then. We’re looking for the source of the tremors. You all saw the new objective, so keep your eyes peeled and don’t wander away.”

  This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

  There was nothing unusual near the Hallowed Ground – nothing that wasn’t there before the new objective appeared, at least. But as they put more distance between them and the camp, the livelier the environment began to seem.

  “Beautiful…” Victoria whispered as they walked past dozens of colourful butterflies. Birds sang, small critters – probably squirrels, though they were too fast to see properly – scurried around the small trees. Despite the many clouds hanging in the sky, it was a nice, warm day. A soft, cool breeze occasionally tugged at their clothes

  Large birds rested on the far away rocks and trees, and he thought he saw a fox scurry away under a fallen tree trunk. He spotted a snake slithering towards one of the large birds, and an abnormally large butterfly flew past them.

  “I’m worried.” Victoria declared, stopping in her tracks. “Something feels off.”

  Edward shot her an odd glance, while Clara shrugged. “I mean… there are a lot of animals, I guess?

  “That’s not what I mean.” She looked at Alaric. “Don’t you feel it? It’s getting more and more different.” Unable to find the right words to describe what she felt, she let out a sigh. “Like… like everything’s a lot more alive!” She looked at them. “None of you feel odd at all?” There was a hint of disappointment in her voice, especially when she looked at Alaric.

  “It’s different here than it was before,” he glanced around. It was more alive, there were more animals, more vibrant plants, larger flowers… but it didn’t feel dangerous. “What exactly worries you?”

  She seemed at a loss for words. “Um… I don’t know.” She looked at her hands. “It feels a bit like how it felt when she… tried to do something to us.”

  The black smoke. What did that mean, though? Is it more magical? Evil? Cursed? He didn’t know what to make of it.

  Their now more cautious walk brought them near the orchard, and past it. They headed south from there, in an attempt to complete the large circle they walked around the camp. A few minutes after passing the Orchard, the grass around them started to become a darker hue of green with a reddish tint. It was a lot quieter here than it was anywhere else they passed through.

  “It’s worse here.” This time, he could agree with Victoria. Alarm bells rang in his mind as he took a few more steps forward. Behind the large boulders blocking some of their view southward, he spotted a much darker, black rock.

  With a scowl, he walked further.

  A large rock formation jutted out of the ground. It was black like obsidian, and throbbing red veins covered most of its surface. The grass around it was almost wholly black and covered with crimson veins, and much longer than the rest of the area. It almost reached his chest, blocking most of his view.

  Bloody hell…

  OBJECTIVE ACHIEVED

  REWARDS GRANTED

  PHYSICAL ABILITIES MINISCULLY INCREASED

  OBJECTIVE – DESTROY OR CLEANSE THE CORRUPTED MANA CORE

  WARNING – NESTING SPIRE AWAKENS IN

  10…9…8…

  Alaric’s eyes widened. “Fuck!” He hissed, drawing his sword. “Something’s coming!”

  …2…1…0

  NESTING SPIRE AWAKENED

  OBJECTIVE – CLEAR THE NESTING SIPRE’S FIRST AWAKENING

  A low rumble startled them, then the obsidian rock cracked in two, revealing its somewhat hollow insides. Red eyes glowed in the dark, approaching the now open entrance. Wolves stepped out of there, just like the ones they were forced to fight when the Fall first began.

  Clara covered her mouth and stepped back, while Edward quickly stepped up to stand beside Alaric. Victoria scowled. Black smoke began to rise from her clenched palms, accompanied by crimson lightning. “I think I know how I’m supposed to use this.” She mumbled, almost as if she was lost in thought.

  God I hope so. Simple math said they had no chance. There were over a dozen wolves. There were only four of them, and Clara hadn’t even drawn her weapon yet. I should have never let her come.

  The charged silence broke when one of the wolves let out a howl and rushed towards them.

  Victoria fell on her knees, pressing both palms against the ground. Her eyes turned red as she looked up. She drew a few short breaths, her upper body rocked unsteadily, muscles seizing and twitching as crimson lightning danced around her fingers.

  The tallgrass seemingly came alive. Blades of grass wrapped themselves around half a dozen wolves, coiling around their legs and torso, and squeezing their necks. The wolves howled and cried, struggling to break free.

  The rest of them ran through the grass undisturbed, the first reaching Edward in the blink of an eye. It leapt out of the grass, clearly aiming the young man’s throat.

  He nimbly stepped back, driving his blade forward into the wolf’s chest. A whimper sounded as it fell. Edward’s eyes glimmered as he pulled the sword out of the lifeless body of the wolf-like creature. His eyes locked on his next target, and he steadied his hand again.

  Alaric couldn’t watch him any longer than those few short moments. Two wolves ran towards him, their sharp teeth in full view as they hungered for his life. He planted his feet firmly to the ground – he couldn’t retreat, Clara was just behind him, and she was still frozen with fear.

  “Clara!” He shouted. Don’t just stand there! The first wolf lunged at his knees. As it lowered itself, Alaric brought his blade down. The somewhat dull edge of the blade slammed against the beast’s neck. It whimpered, its jaws closed on the air just shy of his legs. Having lost its balance, the creature fell to the side, clearly disoriented.

  Before he could finish it off, the second wolf leapt over the first, its jaws wide open, its pale white teeth glinting under sunlight. The swinging blade dug into its foreleg, drawing a little bit of blood as it fell down. With a deep, guttural growl, it rolled back on its feet, snapping its jaw against Alaric’s ankles.

  Victoria drew a sharp breath. “…No!” Crimson lightning danced on the grass around her. Blades of grass caught the wolf just before it bit into his ankles.

  He dug the blade into the wolf’s neck, then pulled it out just in time to swing it wildly at a third wolf that leapt out of the tallgrass. How many of them are there?! His swing prompted the wolf to retreat a step or two. It stayed close to the ground, growling and showing its pale white teeth.

  “Clara, pull yourself together!” He shouted again. This was a mistake!