(Lian Li POV)
Moving through the streets of the city, we were greeted by the same sight of people who were standing around listlessly.
As we were told, this was supposed to be a trading city and there would normally be a lot of people milling about the streets to do their business. These people were now simply standing still and staring off into space, showing no reaction to us when we were moving amongst them.
It was quite surreal to be honest, like inside a dream. The fact that we could still feel the presence of these people was also making it feel a little unsettling.
Tatiana frowned, "How did this happen and yet no news reached us?"
"Didn't you say you had some people stationed here?" I asked.
"I did. They were supposed to send weekly updates and they did not miss last week's. This week's was due tomorrow so if this wasn't reported, they were either sending fake reports or this only happened recently. Anyway, they should be stationed in an inn further up ahead."
"You seem to know a lot despite supposedly being stuck in a room all your life," Diao Chan pointed out.
"Even so, I am still their High Maiden. Our God gave me a role for this country, of course I wouldn't spend my days doing nothing even if I'm stuck inside a room, I still have people reporting to me and deciding courses of actions."
We nodded n understanding, refraining from throwing any insults for now since this was not the time to be sowing discord amongst ourselves.
"Have you seen something like this before, Lunamaeniera?" Guiying asked the other, more experienced woman in our group.
She shook her head, "Nothing of this sort at least. People who were turned into the shambling undead by a necromancer, those I've most definitely seen though. But something like this is the first for me as well."
Conceding that this was something we know nothing about, we concentrated on reaching Tatiana's contacts first.
Reaching one part of the street, we realised that it was so tightly packed with people that there was no space for us to walk by without bumping into anyone which we were trying to do all this while.
That was easily solved by us flying over them and carrying those who could not fly over the section of the street with us.
Since it was a little embarrassing for the ones who could not fly, we did not want to resort to this in the first place.
Landing back down at a junction with fewer people, Tatiana pointed ahead with a finger, "That's the one. There should be two paladins we left here to keep an eye on this city."
The building looked normal enough, if you were to ignore the people that were just standing still outside of it. But aside from that, it just looked like any other inn that we have seen before on our way here.
I turned to my sisters, "Let's split up, a few of us can go inside to find those 'paladins' while the rest of us keep watch outside in case anything happens so we aren't trapped in the building."
They agreed and it ended up with Diao Chan, Elaria, Tatiana and myself going into the inn while the others stayed outside.
Pushing open the doors of the Inn, we found a similar spectacle inside as well.
Patrons and staff alike were standing around the entrance hall looking just as listless as the people outside. There were people who were sitting at the dining area but they also bore similar expressions as well.
Some of them were simply sitting up straight and looking ahead but a few of them were lying on the table as though they were asleep.
Diao Chan went up to one of the patrons and stuck her finger in what looked like a bowl of stew before pulling out to give it a lick.
"Hmm... Rather stale... I'm guessing maybe a day or two since it's been left there? Judging by the contents of the food on the table... I'm guessing this was lunch time when it happened." Our Witch concluded.
Tatiana looked around the room, "I don't see the paladins, they might be inside the rooms but I don't know which one."
Elaria raised an eyebrow at her, "I'm surprised you know what they look like."
"That's natural, they came to the Sanctuary to pray for God's protection before leaving so I did get a good look at their faces."
Diao Chan turned towards the stairs leading up to the rooms, "I don't suppose we should expect them to answer a polite knock on the door so we're breaking them down?"
"Check the innkeeper's counter, there might be spare keys there," I suggested.
Elaria went behind the counter and rummaged through its drawers, ignoring the innkeeper who was just standing right beside her.
"Found it!" She called out, jingling a set of keys held together by a small chain.
I was expecting the innkeeper to react but he continued staring into space.
Elaria led the way up the stairs, holding her metal tube weapon pointing in front of her. She stopped at the edge of the corridor and peered over the side before stepping out towards the first door.
We kept watch as she started trying the keys on the door and managed to unlock it on the third try. She then unlatched the door using the handle before pushing it open with the barrel of the metal tube, peering inside the room cautiously.
"Empty," She declared, moving on to the next room without hesitation.
The second room revealed a couple staying inside, also in a similar state as the people downstairs. They were lying naked in bed so we left them alone.
Moving on to the third room however, revealed a scene entirely unexpected.
Every single piece of furniture inside the room was smashed into pieces as though a meteor had crashed into the room, the destruction even tearing a part of the ceiling off.
The window which looked towards the inn's backyard was smashed as well, leaving only a single pane hanging by a broken hinge that swayed slightly with the wind. The curious thing was that the window looked like it was broken from the outside, since the other half of the window pane was inside the room.
The other interesting thing was that despite all this destruction, there was no blood or any indication that someone was hurt inside here. But yet, we could see personal items that should have belonged to the room's occupants scattered around the floor.
Did this happen while the room was empty? If so, why?
"Hmm... Interesting... Do you think your paladins were here?" I asked.
She shook her head, "They would be wearing armour if they were in a fight and parts of that would have been broken off in a scuffle like this. If they were caught without that on, then I don't see said armour laying around the room either."
Diao Chan shrugged, "We still have a few more rooms to go through but let's be more careful now. Let me take the keys, Elaria."
The rest of us agreed and Elaria handed the keys over to Diao Chan who proceeded to the next room.
Our Witch managed to get the right key on the first try but when she tried to open the door, it refused to budge.
"Hmm? Something's blocking the door from the other side... Is anyone in there?" She called out.
Silence.
No. I heard a soft clink of metal brushing against metal.
I looked towards Tatiana and she nodded, moving herself towards the door.
"Michael? Ariya? Are you there?"
More silence... And then a muffled voice came from the other side.
"High... High Maiden?"
"Ariya? Yes, it's me, what's going on?"
"Oh, thank Founding God! Our prayers have been--"
"Don't be fooled Ariya!" A second voice, who must have belonged to Michael, cut her off. "How can our High Maiden be here?! She can't leave the Sanctuary! That thing is obviously pretending to be her to draw us out!"
"It really is me, Michael. Founding God came to visit our country remember? He granted me true immortality for my devotion and I no longer need to be confined in the Sanctuary anymore. I'm here because of our God's Divine order."
"Nice lie! But you're definitely not getting in here! Our God will rain Divine Judgement on you soon enough!"
I was about to suggest we simply break down the door but Tatiana just sighed before taking a step back.
The woman braced on a foot and kicked her other one out, smashing the door and whatever was behind it into pieces with a single kick.
There was a scream and something shiny was slashing through the air towards Tatiana's head.
She reached forward and grabbed something, stopping the metal that I recognised was a sword from reaching her neck.
She then used her free hand to punch forward and a man was blown back into the room, a fist sized dent imprinted on his plate armour.
"Hi... High Maiden Tatiana! It really is you!" A woman cried, though she still maintained her combat stance with her sword pointing at us.
Tatiana waved, "Yes, hello Ariya, it's me. So could you explain what's going on here?"
Ariya looked at Michael who had fainted from the blow before turning back to us, "Ummm... I don't know where to begin, High Maiden..."
She gestured around the room, "How about when things started getting weird here?"
"Umm... In that case... You might want to sit down, High Maiden... It's going to sound very weird..."
Right as she said those words, the entire building began to shake.
Now what?
