Salvation of the Doomed [BL]

"Waahh! Mother, stop hitting me!" The oldest of the kids managed to escape from the clutches of his mother and hid behind Kael. They had just returned from the forest. When they arrived at the village, a group of men was preparing to enter the forest to search for the kids. They rushed when they saw them, but after tight hugs from their parents, they were now being scolded. "Please, conduct yourselves properly in the presence of Solvantar's servant!"

Look at this child, using me as a shield from his mother's ire. Playing in the forest despite his mother's warning was indeed deserving of punishment, Kael thought. He wanted to move out of the way, but the terrified child had grasped his robe tightly he couldn't pull away. 

The old woman paused after hearing that. She scanned Kael from head to toe. Then, she exclaimed, "My goodness! Are you perhaps a priest on a pilgrimage, young man?"

"He's a pilgrim!" One of the kids shouted. 

"Shut it!" That kid's parents chided, then went on about the wrong in interrupting an adult's conversation.

"Yes, I am, ma'am," Kael replied politely. 

The old woman's eyes brightened. She glanced over her shoulder and shouted, "Chief!" Before long, an old man with a white goatee was approaching them. The oldest kid's mother explained to the old man that Kael was a priest on a journey, and the old man's worried eyes lit up as well. 

Kael wondered why. So, after witnessing the wonder in his eyes, the old man who was the chief of this village hurriedly explained, "Good priest, might you be able to help us with something? After the torrential rain and thunderstorm last night, we sent out a group to search for the kids at dawn, but this group hadn't yet returned. We agreed that once daylight comes, another team would come up the forest and they should return to rest. However, whatever worms the early birds caught had been digested, and they were still not in sight!"

"Is there any way to communicate with them?" Kael asked. 

"There is," the chief answered. He pointed at the man holding a hunting horn. Kael understood that it was the sound he had heard this morning. "We sent a signal using our hunting horns. Once they hear it, they will send a signal too. But they haven't. We thought that they might have ventured farther into the forest. But this forest leads to the Devil's Mountain, so we couldn't decide whether to go or not." 

Kael nodded. It was a wise decision not to proceed. The Devil's Mountain was not named for mere dramatics. It towered like a jagged black fang against the sky, its peak perpetually veiled in stormclouds that never strayed and never softened. Lightning forked its summit even on windless days, and strange, unmelodic howls drifted from its slopes at dusk, neither beast nor wind, but something in between. 

The air around it was always colder, as if the mountain exhaled dread into the world. Legend whispered that the mountain had once been a god or something older that was cast down and buried beneath the stone. Some say it still dreams, and the dreams bleed out as madness, calling wanderers to climb...only for them to vanish. Thorned trees grew upside-down near the lower cliffs, and glowing fungi spread in spiral patterns where no sunlight reached.

At the foot of the mountain is the vast, dense forest where they came out. At the heart of the mountain, it was said, lay a deep, hollow scar known as the Devil's Maw, a chasm that pulsed faintly with crimson light. Some believed it to be a gate. Others said it was a wound from which the world bled sin.

Few who climbed Devil's Mountain returned. But all of them were never the same.

"There used to be a monk down the road, not far from here, but he suddenly vanished and just left the small shrine he built himself. We're afraid to search the mountain without any blessing and guidance. We don't want to be possessed." The old chief grabbed Kael's hand and gripped them together. "Please, help us, good priest. Most of the men who left are the village protectors. Without them, our village will be in peril."

Kael roamed his gaze around him, and indeed, the men who gathered could be counted on his two hands. And some of them were elderly. Since his journey had been unfruitful to this day, and he traveled where his feet took him, he figured that lending a hand wouldn't shift his path either way.

The rest of the young, capable men joined Kael in the search, including the young lad who held the hunting horn. Because these people were born and bred in the village where the main livelihood was hunting and farming, tracing the path the missing group took was easier for them. 

"We're lucky it didn't rain this morning and wash away their footprints," one of the village men knelt and checked the dents on the slightly muddy, damp ground. He followed the footprints with his gaze until it stopped at the massive, weeping tree. "Oh, no…"

Everyone's expression turned grim. Even Kael knew where the path led past that old weeping tree. He passed by it when he climbed the Devil's Mountain after all. 

The man stood and turned to Kael. "Good priest, may you bless us with Solvantar's grace and mercy," he said with a bow. Then, he looked at his companion one by one. "We're going in. Two of you will come with me. Let's find them before the sun sets."

At the man's command, the other two men stepped forward and followed him. Kael sighed despite himself. He turned to the rest of the group. "If you see a dove descend in that tree, blow your horn and leave the forest." 

"What does it mean?" 

Kael turned to the one who asked. He heaved a long, deliberate sigh and answered solemnly, "It means we're dead. May the great sun Solvantar light our way." With that, he leapt over the protruding root above ground and followed the three brave men. 

 ***

Past the weeping tree, the mountain slopes and variations were more visible. Rocks and boulders were scattered across its rugged terrain, and at a distance, you would not find the peak due to the dark clouds covering it, but you could witness the unceasing thunderstorm. 

The air was cold and gloomy. The soil was black, and you'd wonder how a dense forest thrived at the foot of the mountain. The wind howled like the wails of ghosts and trapped spirits, turning you pale and frozen if it ever blew right past your ears. 

"You can't go farther than here," Kael warned. "Any farther and you will catch the attention of vengeful spirits wandering the mountain. Once they latch on to you, they might not possess you, but you might bring them into the village."

The three men stopped. One of them asked, "Do you think they went this way?" 

"No," Kael replied. "If they passed the weeping tree and ended up here, they would have returned the same way, possessed. But we didn't bump into them. I'd say they veered off this path and went elsewhere."

The man nodded. "Brothers, let's search the area!" He pointed in three different directions, and each of them took one. "Let's meet in this spot in an hour!" he shouted, then walked away. 

Kael went straight ahead. He was a priest after all. Even if his spiritual power wasn't strong, he could at least smack away those vengeful spirits. He continued wandering ahead, but to his surprise, what he expected, a wave of ghosts and demons as a welcome, did not happen. 

Far away from him, there was a lone tree shrouded in the darkness. Now and then, lightning would flash and illuminate the tree. That was why Kael could not have been mistaken. Underneath the tree was a figure of a man. Whether his back was turned on Kael or not, he couldn't tell. The figure was barely a shadow; everything about it was hidden. 

But perhaps, if I move closer, I will be able to see who it is, Kael thought. He moved his foot forward. At the same time, a scream tore through the dreadful morning, taking Kael's attention from the figure. When he turned to look at the tree again, the shadow was gone.