Artemis wasn't prepared for the sight she saw when Stephen teleported the group to Charhelm. Admittedly, she had never been to the place before. But she knew what a village was supposed to look like. This wasn't it.

All of the wooden buildings had been burned down. There wasn't a soul in sight. Mysterious brown stains littered the inside of buildings. Whatever happened here, it happened a long while ago.

Stephen kicked a burnt piece of wood in frustration. "Why didn't I hear about this?! The entire village... it's gone! Were there any survivors at all?!"

Elyan muttered a spell under his breath. "I... I don't sense any magic. There's no one here. We should look for clues - this doesn't seem like a bandit raid. There's still some valuables left inside these buildings."

"That's... a little odd, though," Ursula frowned. "Even once a village has been destroyed, you get looters. Judging from the blood, this happened a long time ago."

Artemis' eyes widened. "D-Did you just say... blood?"

"It turns brown after years, trust me," Stephen told her, "I'm a little more worried about the people... I'm going to check on where my mentor used to live."

Whilst Stephen headed towards a small stone watchtower, Artemis picked through the rubble to try and find some explanation. Every so often, she would find a skeleton - or what was left of one.

"The majority of the bones appear to have shattered ribs," Elyan pointed out, noticing Artemis' hesitancy to look at them. "Well... most of them, anyway. I don't see a bullet anywhere. Perhaps magical? No, I would've sensed if it was..."

"Stephen really is the expert on this sort of stuff," Ursula mumbled, "We should wait until he comes back before drawing any conclusions..."

Artemis looked down at one skeleton and saw blood on the wall behind them. She grimaced and looked away. "Um... Elyan... I'm not very good at..."

Elyan nodded and bent down to have a closer look. The skeleton was resting against the wall. "I wish I knew some sort of magic to witness their final moments... alas, I'm not a demon."

"Oh, look. There's something in the skeleton's hand," Ursula bent down to take a closer look, prying the skeleton's hand open. Inside was a torn off piece of fur. "That's... odd? You don't see this type of material often. It's been taken from a piece of clothing - see the seams?"

"It looks... familiar," Artemis mumbled, "But I... I don't know any rich people that would have fur clothing..."

"That desk over there has a skeleton on the desk," Elyan pointed to the skeleton in question. "Looks like they were writing something. We should-"

"No!" Artemis exclaimed, "It's wrong to read the private thoughts of the dead!"

"We need to know what happened, don't we? Relax," Elyan leaned over the skeleton to take a closer look at the writing. "Mm. I always wonder why people that are about to die decide to write their thoughts down instead of doing anything else."

"What does it say already?" Ursula rolled her eyes. "Can you read the writing?"

"Of course!" Elyan shot back, "To sum it up... the writer says that the village was under attack, but they could hear no horses. It seemed to be only one person. They could hear the screams of those dying around them. They had locked their door, and hoped that the person would ignore them... oh, it gives this person a gender! It's a he!"

"Does it say anything else?" Artemis asked him.

"Actually, the last line is... odd. Let me quote this directly. 'It's him' was what they said," he turned to the other two with a frown. "Implying, of course, that they knew their attacker. Too bad they didn't name them."

"How unfortunate indeed."

Artemis turned to see Stephen in the doorway (or what remained of it). "You're back! Did you have any luck?" She said.

"All of the books have been burned. The building survived, but anything flammable didn't," Stephen explained, "There's... skeletons in there, but I have no way of knowing if any of them are her or not..."

"I'm sorry, Stephen," Ursula patted his shoulder. "I hate to say it, but... we really should find a place to sleep. Is there a nearby village?"

"We're surrounded by coast and forest. It's too dangerous," Stephen argued, "Perhaps we could sleep in the church for the night. It's dry, so-"

"N-Next to all of the blood? And the skeletons?" Artemis whimpered, "No, no! I'd much prefer sleeping... anywhere else!"

"You know I need rest before I can teleport us again, Artemis," Stephen reminded her, "Come on. It won't be that bad. I'm sure we'll be able to find a room that hasn't got any skeletons in it."

Artemis begrudgingly followed the others into the stone church. At least the building was intact. Unfortunately, the same couldn't be said for the skeletons inside.

She stopped in front of one that was missing their head. "Oh... this one doesn't have a head. Do you think... he was... beheaded...?"

Stephen took one look at the skeleton and shook his head. "I don't see any trauma indicating that on the bones. Perhaps some looters took it," he paused. "Also, it's a she."

"Oh, that was it!" Ursula gasped and remembered her words from earlier. "Stephen, do you have any idea what could've caused those shattered rib cages we keep seeing?"

"I... saw those too, yes. I can't say I've seen such a wound very often," he said, "The only other time I've seen an injury like it is when a wooden pole managed to go through a worker's chest at great velocity."

"Yet there's no signs of any poles near any of the skeletons," Elyan helpfully pointed out, "But I get what you're saying. Whatever it was, it went through the chest at a great velocity. No normal person can do that."

"Exactly," Stephen agreed, "We're not dealing with a normal attacker. It would've had to have been something powerful. I just hope we don't run into it..."

——

Artemis was perfectly content, listening to Stephen and Ursula's conversation. She was sitting against the wall, a blanket wrapped around her. She was about to drift to sleep when Elyan sat next to her.

"You don't know many spells, do you?" He asked her.

She jolted upright at the sudden question. "Um. I mostly fight with my weapon. I do know a spell for when I need a light source - I used to stay up late reading, so..."

"Yes, but it wasn't very handy when Vyllax threw your weapon away," Elyan pointed out, "I'd much rather you keep your shield on you. Would you like me to teach you a spell?"

"Y-Your spells are weird, though," Artemis mumbled, "Your eyes flash, and you don't speak normal-"

"I know 'normal' spells, as you so kindly put it," Elyan rolled his eyes. "Here - take this bag of seeds. You'll need them."

Artemis took out a seed out of the bag and stared at it. "Okay. Um. I don't see how this is going to help me in battle."

"Stand up!" Elyan commanded, grabbing the girl's arm. "You need to stand like... this." He grabbed her arms from behind and positioned them out in front of her.

She could feel herself blushing. "Okay... what spell is this? What do I need to do?"

"It's called Moonbeam. You need to imagine a source of light - the moon - in front of you," Elyan explained, "Then, when you're ready, throw the seed towards the area. Perhaps away from the other two, yes?"

Artemis closed her eyes and focused on the moon. It was very bright. She knew that much. When she thought she had done enough thinking, she threw the seed into an empty part of the room. "Moonbeam!"

An unknown source of pale light shone down on the area. It was if a certain section of the room had been lit up. It... didn't seem very damaging, in Artemis' opinion.

"I know what you're thinking," Elyan grinned, holding up a feather. "Watch this." He threw the feather into the ring. The moment it crossed the barrier, ghostly flames lit up, burning the feather and destroying it.

"Well done, Artemis!" Ursula chirped from the other side of the room. "You'll have to use it next time! As long as you remember to put it out..."

"Hmph. If you wanted to learn a new spell, Artemis, you should've asked me," Stephen complained, "No matter... I suppose it'll keep you safe..."

Artemis turned to Elyan with a smile. "Thank you! This is going to help me out a lot! You're really good at magic, Elyan!"

"Aren't you supposed to be sleeping right now, Artemis?" Stephen reminded her before the conversation could continue. "Come on. You'll be complaining in the morning if you don't get enough sleep."

"Oh... sorry," she apologised, "We'll have to talk in the morning, Elyan. Good night."

"Good night, Artemis." Elyan smiled at her. "I hope you sleep well..."

——

Artemis was sleeping well until just after midnight. She heard a door slam and jolted upright. The others had heard it, too, and quickly gathered themselves together. Stephen gestured for them to be silent.

The footsteps grew closer. Louder. There was a somewhat... odd sound to them. Like the person was waddling. Artemis had never seen a penguin before. Was that what it was?

The door to the room they were in opened. Artemis charged towards the intruder, only to stop in her tracks.

A boy, about the same age as her, stared back at her. He held a lamp in his hands. From the dim light, Artemis could see his webbed ears and gills. His skin was tinted a light green.

"I thought I heard breathing," he said.

"N-Never mind that! Are you friend or foe?!" Stephen exclaimed, "And what are you doing here, in the middle of the night?!"

"Oh! I'm sorry!" The boy awkwardly stepped into the room, raising one hand in the air in surrender. "My name is Tohru Wahabashi. I'm a paranormal researcher."

"You're a Flittel," Elyan deduced, "What's a Flittel like you doing so far from home? And... a paranormal researcher?"

"I could ask the same about the Angelion over there," Tohru gestured to Artemis. "You saw the skeletons, didn't you? I've been reading about this place. Apparently, there's ghosts! But, anyway, what are you doing here?"

"We we're here searching for clues regarding a city of sand," Ursula explained, "I'm Ursula, that's Artemis, Elyan and Stephen. Although... what was that part about ghosts?"

"I'm surprised you decided to stay here," Tohru mumbled, "It's high in ghost activity. About twelve years ago, the residents here met an awful end. The village was destroyed, and there were no survivors. When the officials at Deuvine tried to figure out what happened, they encountered hostile ghosts. The Aurelian, Prosecutor Kumagai, couldn't even handle it. And that's the Aurelian!"

"What's a... What's an Aurelian?" Artemis turned to Stephen with a frown. She knew what Deuvine was - it was the city where the courts of Extremis were located, the centrepiece of justice.

"An Aurelian is someone that has been blessed by Forsaga, the Prince of Justice," Stephen explained, "There's only one of them in the world right now - Prosecutor Kumagai, did you say? I don't exactly keep up. The point is, they're blessed with power from the Prince of Justice. Not many people can defeat them."

"I think we should be focusing on the hostile ghosts part," Elyan pointed out, "We, um, haven't encountered any so far..."

Tohru produced a small device and turned it on. Scrambled noises burst into the room, causing Artemis to cover her ears. Tohru flinched a little. "This is my spirit box. It analyses sounds. Ghosts can communicate through it." He cleared his throat. "If there's anyone here with me, can you say my name, please? Tohru Wahabashi."

"SKKKT. SKKK - TOHRU WAHABASHI - SKKKTT."

Artemis' face ran pale.