Chapter 10: Red Ghosts
Those two words immediately started ringing in Morden’s head with a strange rhythm, prompting another line of thought.
"Red ghost? Was a Red ghost the last thing you saw before everything went south?" Morden asked anxiously.
He remained patient and watched as the girl blinked her eyes in approval to his words.
"Red ghost, uhhh? The speed at which it was moving must have been too fast for me to actually notice it well," Morden concluded.
He hadn’t doubted one bit that the girl actually saw what she said she saw, since he had heard her speak of evil spirits and ghosts before that moment and he had also had guesses.
"I am so cooked," Morden lamented while grabbing his head.
He was just new to the bearer world; it had been barely 10 hours since he got the tattoo, and now he was being forced to fight ghosts.
Having managed to get a bit of information from the girl, Morden decided to let her rest for a bit while he thought of what to do next.
"Right now, I think I have an idea what that Red light is now, but I am still oblivious to every other thing."
"Where does it come from? What does it want? What’s wrong with the people in that village?"
All of these were questions Morden felt he needed to find answers to before he could successfully finish his Assigned Mission, which means all his hopes rested on the girl lying immobile not too far from him.
In his sitting position, Morden couldn’t help but continue his analysis of what he knew at the moment.
’If it was a ghost or an Ethereal being, does that mean it possesses people and controls them?’ Morden questioned.
’That would actually make sense, as it supports why she doesn’t know what she has done and also the pain all over her body and paralysis.’
’I think all of that makes sense. I need more information to be able to come to a conclusion and make a decision.’
Seeing slight hope from all of this, Morden smiled again and turned to look at the girl, and he immediately noticed something different.
She was moving her fingers up and down constantly.
Seeing the change, Morden rushed to her side to check up on her and ask how she was.
"I see you can move your fingers now; that means you are slowly getting better, right?" Morden asked.
He watched the girl open her mouth much easier now and speak.
"Yes," she said before closing her mouth again.
Hearing her response, Morden’s smile deepened even further. She should be able to talk freely after a bit more time, and Morden was ready with his barrage of questions.
With the happiness still welling in him, Morden decided to pull up his status screen to see how much time he had left and also finish up some things he might have ignored.
[Name: Morden Tales]
[Race: Human]
[Innate Ability: Gene Evolution]
[Genetic shards: 1]
[Status: Emotionally Depressed and Confused]
[Total Genetic Slots: 1]
[Occupied Genetic Slots: 1]
[Ability obtained: Boost (Uncommon grade)]
[Strength: 15]
[Speed: 17]
[Durability: 22]
[Stat Points: 10]
[Assigned Mission: Stop the Mountain Lord’s Reign of Terror]
[Temporary Mission: Completed]
[Time Remaining: 14 hours, 20 minutes]
[In Inventory: Uncommon-grade Genetic Weapon]
Let out a deep sigh as he checked the amount of time he had left. The time had really run by, and he was almost halfway through it.
He moved his gaze away from the depressing time countdown and locked at the stat points he still had left and hadn’t distributed with a smile.
"At least there’s one thing that is exciting," he said with a dry laugh while thinking of how to allocate the points.
"I will add 3 points to speed and 2 points to strength and then keep the rest for emergencies."
[Speed +3]
[Strength +2]
Due to his physical stats still being fairly weak, Morden could feel himself grow noticeably stronger from those additions.
"I wonder how strong that Mountain Lord actually is," he muttered under his breath.
"He is very strong."
A voice suddenly responded from behind him, making his heart skip a bit.
Morden turned around to see the girl had already sat up and was currently resting her back against the cave wall.
"How are you sure about that?" Morden immediately asked again.
"I have seen him fight, once. It was an Outsider just like you, and the fight was extremely strange," the girl said.
"The outsider openly challenged the Mountain Lord, but when it was time to fight, he suddenly froze mid-fight and waited till the Mountain Lord got closer and killed him," her voice shaking slightly towards the end of her words.
"You are not thinking of fighting the Mountain Lord, are you?" the girl suddenly asked after a moment of realization.
Morden heard her words but didn’t respond; he only turned his head and averted his gaze, that was enough of an answer for the lady.
"Why? Why would you want to risk your life like that? aren’t you here to save us from the ghosts?" she said in a slightly raised voice.
This time, Morden didn’t remain quiet; instead, he opened his mouth to respond to her.
"I am here to kill the Mountain Lord...and I think he is the owner of those ghosts," he had paused before resuming again because he had just lied to the girl and immediately felt bad about it.
He expected the girl to lash out or at least call him a liar, but her next words were something completely different.
"Could that be why?" she said in a low, partially confused, partially questioning voice.
"Could that be why?" Morden urged.
"Could that be why he ordered us to always immediately head inside when we hear a scream at night?"
"He had told us it was for our own safety, and everyone believed him because after every night something like that happened, a whole family would be dead the next day."
"He said it was the families that refused to obey that ended up dying."
"So it was a lie all along; it was all his doing."
"I can’t wait to tell Mom and Dad this," the girl said at the end of her long soliloquy.
Morden listened to every one of her words with a frown, which deepened as he heard more, and after that last sentence his pupils were shaking in the socket.
"That bastard,"