Moonlight Castle

The wagon rumbled forward, its wooden wheels groaning beneath the weight of its passengers and cargo. The Umbrax roads beneath them had widened as they neared the ruins, stretching out in smooth, indestructible paths that defied time itself.

Then, over the horizon, a colossal road emerged.

The crew, except for Kazimir, gasped in unison.

"This must be the Umbrax Highway," Aldritch murmured, his voice laced with awe.

Before them lay a road as wide as an open field, vast enough for a hundred wagons to ride side by side. Though made of the same porcelain-like material as the other Umbrax roads, this one was grander, lined with intricate fences and adorned with gigantic statues so lifelike they seemed to breathe.

But what caught their breath most were the colossal trees that flanked the highway, their trunks as black as the abyss and their leaves as pale as fresh-fallen snow. They stood like ancient guardians, following the road’s path in an unbroken line.

They were Umbrax trees said to have been a gift of the goddess.

As the wagon drew closer, the sheer scale of the statues became clear. Each figure towered over them, carved with haunting precision, their faces frozen in expressions that seemed almost… knowing. Silent sentinels, watching. They were like ants compared to the giant statues that almost reached the clouds.

The wagon pressed on, the road stretching like a silver thread toward the distant ruins.

The statues watched them like giant sentinels. They looked like ants before them.

After a long silence, Jake, the red-haired man seated beside Kazimir, finally spoke.

"Judas... do you think our families are safe?" His voice was quiet, uncertain. "Now that we’ve left to hunt, there's no one left to protect them."

Judas, holding the reins, cast a glance back at him.

"For now," he said, though there was little conviction in his tone. "Our village is nothing but a forgotten speck at the edge of the map. I doubt many even know it exists."

Then he sighed.

"But you saw their faces before we left, didn't you? Starving, hollow-eyed. If we come back empty-handed, bandits are the least of our worries. If we fail, the village doesn’t just suffer, it starves."

Jake exhaled, rubbing a hand over his face. "Yeah... you're right."

For a while, they rode in silence, only the creaking of the wagon and the occasional snap of frost-covered branches breaking the quiet. Then, Jake spoke again.

"Do you think the Umbrax ruins still hold beasts we can hunt?"

Judas glanced back at him, his expression unreadable.

"Where else would you suggest we look? The ruins have been crawling with creatures for centuries. They’ve survived this long, maybe they’ll be the only ones untouched by the famine."

Jake shifted uncomfortably. "...Do you think the rumors are true?"

Judas raised an eyebrow. "What rumors?"

Jake hesitated before answering.

"The stories. That the beasts roaming the Umbrax ruins aren’t just monsters. That they’re... the former citizens of the Umbrax Empire."

A heavy silence followed.

Judas's grip on the reins tightened.

"There's only one way to find out."

No one spoke after that.

The wagon rolled onward, the statues standing in their eternal vigil, their unblinking eyes trailing the travellers as if whispering secrets to the night.

Then, as the sun dipped below the horizon, and the moon revealed itself, the world transformed.

The black trunks of the trees faded into the darkness, swallowed by the night. But the leaves, those ghostly white leaves, began to glow under the dim moonlight.

Soft at first, then brighter.

A gentle, otherworldly light pulsed from the canopy above, casting an ethereal glow over the road. It was as if countless stars had descended, threading themselves along the highway, illuminating their path with a cold, silvery shimmer.

Aldrich grabbed the silver moon pendant in his hands and said a silent prayer.

For the first time since they had set out, no one dared to speak.

And in the distance, the ruins of Umbrax waited.