N/A: Help... I'm being tortured by finals assignments and exams... My creative juices are struggling under the massive amounts of anatomy I need to know.
It was unknown how far he trudged. The cold winter snow did nothing but grant him the taste of subtle sweetness.
It was at this time that he soon spotted a child struggling to swim in a pond that had not yet frozen. Such a strange occurrence, a winter frost so cold yet this pond had not yet frozen?
It was at this moment that Acheron soon moved to drag the child out of the water.
"Are you alright little one?" Acheron knelt down to observe the small shivering child. He draped his long coat over the child. The shivering reduced slightly but did not help much in the long run.
"Do you have somewhere you belong to?" The child responded by pointing in a single direction. Something was odd. Acheron couldn't quite put his finger on the exact oddity. He asked the child in a soft tone, "Why were you in the pond? Did you get blown in?" The child shook her head before replying, "It's warm in there, the only warm place the village knows. It's how we survive."
The oddity had revealed itself. The child only shivered after he had fished her out of the water. Not before. A drowning child would have died way earlier if the water was the same chilling temperature. Hypothermia would have set in and movement would have been reduced along with shock.
Yet that pond of water was warm in a place like this?
Acheron continued to move with the child held in his arm. A few beasts appeared only to be struck by thunder and lightning. Eventually they soon arrived at the village.
"Oh dear, Kexing! Your parents have been worried about you." An old man soon rushed to the village entrance and stared intently at the child. Acheron's eyes narrowed as he felt the subtle flinch of the child. This whole situation was off.
The old man soon turned to him as he smiled "Thank you sir. We're thankful that you saved Kexing in time. Due to low temperatures we often have to rely on the pond you found her in. However only people who can swim usually enter."
Acheron smiled "She must have been so cold that she took the risk huh?" The old man nodded at the response.
"It's quite a pity but that's how it is in this winter region. If you don't have a place to stay, how about you accompany us for a night and have a meal with us?"
Acheron accepted the invitation as Kexing subtly clenched and grabbed at his sleeve before whispering "Run".
Verbal confirmation had aroused his suspicion. This village was harboring a dark secret, Acheron intended to find out what it was. He patted the child and whispered, "I'll be fine."
That night the slow sound of winter wind lulled him to sleep. He suspected they would make a move tonight.
His dreams were greeted by the Horizon of Existence. The same scene every night. Only listening to the pitter patter of the rain they landed onto the still waters of the horizon.
Small red flowers passed by every now and then. Silence, just the rain and his thoughts. At least until the water of the horizon rippled and the waves grew turbulent.
Acheron's eyes opened as time halted. In an instant non-fatal slashes covered the intruders before time resumed once again.
"A night like this should be silent right?" Acheron stared at the gasping cloaked men. The group once again tried to rise up only for Acheron to snap his fingers causing the shallow cuts to instantly deepen as pain erupted from their soul as their bodies fell into pieces.
The stench told him everything he needed to know.
"Tch, demonic cultists." He stared at the bodies before trying to put the story together.
A warm pond in the middle of a frozen tundra.
Demonic cultists
A child warning him to run.
All these were interlinked somehow, he was just missing a connecting piece.
He slowly expanded his senses as he realised there was no-one in the village right now.
His instincts told him to go look at the pond. His breath slowly disappeared from the world as he made his existence into nothing.
White, a stealth technique that operated on the use of the Nihility to erase your presence.
The pond slowly emerged and at that moment his mind was made up. This whole village would be wiped out today. There were numerous kids at the pond and so were the village members. Each with glee, throwing kids and outsiders alike into the pond as they boiled alive.
The color of the pond slowly turned red as soon after they were done. They all started consuming the left over cooked flesh.
It was then he noticed a corpse, and within the Acheron River he saw her. The small child that had warned him. Reality overlapped as the Kexing stared at him.
"Big brother, why do you look all red and white?" She asked.
Acheron simply bent down with a gentle gaze and gave her an embrace. "I'm just slowly losing my color. Nothing much I can't handle."
Kexing simply remained in his embrace as she asked, "Where is this place?" Acheron sighed, "This is a place where no one should go to. It's the wrong direction. Follow the color of red, red is the color of existence. That color is proof you once lived."
Kexing froze, "I see, I'm already dead then big brother?" Acheron nodded, "So that means my warning wasn't enough for you."
Acheron shook his head, "No I'm alive. I'm here as the watcher of the Acheron River, guiding lost souls out of the Nihility. Go follow the red flowers, that'll guide you to the afterlife."
At this point Acheron had gotten a good grasp of the situation. The villagers had been kidnapping children and tossing them into the pond to lure in kind helping strangers. At which point after they would all be tossed into the pond to boil alive.
The villagers themselves were grinning with glee as they consumed and feasted on the flesh. The wind howled and snow blew, yet none could reach that area formed by the pond.
The sound of joy from the villagers grated his nerves.
Lightning struck from the sky in response to his anger. Purple lightning struck again and again in the mountains where he watched from.
The villagers took that with even more joyful expressions. "Look! The heavens are mocking us and they can't do anything! Feast my bretheren! We shall one day welcome back the Blood Demon and that day is not far!"
In an instant, the lightning changed color and struck with crimson intensity. The world turned gray as a solemn voice was heard clearly despite seeing no one.
"I wish to mourn the departed. Weeping like rain to swell the crossing stream."
He saw the little girl playfully picking up the crimson flowers one by one as she slowly made her way to the other side. Others followed her lead as they sought out the crimson color of existence.
"As the tide arrives, leading you back home."
In that instant the Acheron River had been emptied.
"Dusk's rain, it too shall fall!"
Naught struck out with speed invisible to the naked eye as a black swirling hole shattered with crimson red as a blinding white light soon covered the frozen expanses leaving only crackling of red lightning.
The light soon died leaving only him standing on the mountain with the village gone, leaving the only evidence of it's existence, a hole in the ground.
That too soon started to be filled in by the howling wind and snow, not caring whether anyone remembered them or not. To nature, their existence was meaningless.
He stared at the falling snowy sky.
"This time, the night is silent."