God Ash: Remnants of the fallen.

Death's Barrow was a little bit more gloom compared to the other areas within the Sandsea region.

Everything from the origins of one's point of view down into the neverending horizon was just sandy plains, which all led back to a huge mound of sand in the distance.

With how huge this mound was, despite being very far away, it still appeared very close. The huge size of the Barrow could be the reason why this place was so huge, or there was something off about the area in general.

The light of the moon felt wrong, messing with his perception of distance and depth. It was extremely off-putting and unsettling, but he couldn't do anything about it besides turn around and head back.

Cain let out a sigh as he patted the dust off his armor.

They weren't to go through Death's Barrow. Instead, they would be making a detour around its boundaries. They had currently traveled a decent amount around the Barrow's boundary.

Within Death's Barrow were creatures called {Sand Wraiths}. They are monsters born from human and Mutant Creature souls that are still anchored to the world because of the power of Balangol.

They are creatures that do not conform to logic, but Cain had long come to terms with logic's position in this world of magic and mayhem.

It was non-existent...

'I'd rather not battle any wraiths for the time being.'

What was most important was getting to Valestorm in one piece...

According to Boulder and the rest, this place had become like this due to the sheer number of lives that had been lost in this place.

The story was tragic, but there was nothing he could do about it now. Death was the final destination of every living being. It was an old friend that would come eventually. Even Celestials couldn't live forever.

From time to time, he would see the remnants of what this City has once been. The foundations of a destroyed home here, the roof of a grocery store there, the broken remains of a fountain here, the burned husk of a car there.

Seeing things like that kept him grounded. It further solidified the feeling that had been in his chest since that fateful day.

The world has ended. There was no coming back from it. All they had, all they could do, was to do their best movie forward. It didn't make him sentimental. After all, he had nothing dear to him in that old world.

In this new world, born from the ashes of the old, perhaps he could make something for himself.

Boulder came to a stop,

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"We've made it a third of the way around the Barrow. She should rest for now."

"I don't know about that, Boulder. Something about this place sets me off." Lucia said, adjusting the rifle strapped to her back.

Gloria stared into the distance, "This place doesn't get any less terrifying, does it..."

The others seemed to agree with her.

Cain turned his eyes away from the barrow,

"How many times have you gone around this place?"

Gloria hummed as she counted with her fingers,

"I'd say... six? No, seven! Seven times, I'd say..."

Khan chuckled, "Then this would be the eighth time then."

A man in their retinue spoke up,

"Doesn't matter how many times we get past this place. Whatever we do, I don't want to see those things ever again!"

Gloria nodded then grinned at Cain,,

"Indeed. The {Sand Wraiths} are anything but beautiful. True nightmare creatures..."

Cain chuckled then stayed silent.

The ability to keep the souls of dead humans and other creatures tied to a place was quite in line with the power of Balangol. But if this was so, a question arose;

If he could tie their souls down to this place, why not release them?

The souls of these humans were trapped in eternal torment, causing them to become blood-hungry wraiths. Why not let their souls go so they can finally be at peace, removing the threat of the {Sand Wraiths} from the area entirely...

Was the existence of the {Sand Wraiths} just a product of time and place? Could it be that the power of Balangol just happened to trap these souls here because of environmental factors, or was there something far more sinister at play...

The question here, was what?

What could it be?

Quite frankly, Cain didn't quite believe the story. Not the part about the origins of all the souls here. Despite not having seen a {Sand Wraith}, from the slight tremor in the tones of those who spoke of them, Cain knew for a fact they were as hideous and frightening as he was being told they were.

Instead, what he had doubts about, was the purpose for the existence of the wraiths.

Why were they here?

In fact, why did any dangers exist in this place? A place meant to be a safe haven was littered with so many dangers...

There had to be a deeper reason for this. The Celestial was dead, not stupid.

'Could it be that its power is not adequate? Or rather, this is a direct consequence of having too much power?'

He could think about it all day long and still come up with nothing. So he decided to rest instead.

During their journey, they would take periodic, short rests. This was to make sure they remained in prime shape. During these rests, Khan would renew the blessing he had placed upon them to help resist the vitality drain of Sandsea.

Since he had nothing to do, Cain decided to observe Death's Barrow.

That was when he saw it.

The moment Cain saw it, he was hit with a deep sense of harrowing familiarity.

The creature he was seeing at the moment was quite similar to another he had the unfortunate luck of bearing witness to.

The {Sand Wraith} had a body of sand, yes...

But there was more to the creature than just sand. With deep shadows created from every contour and crevice the flowing sand would make as it glided across the sand, the creature was not very large.

Its body, or rather, the mass Cain had to consider its body, was oddly human-shaped, and yet at certain points in time, it would deform into something abnormally grotesque and evil looking.

What made Cain feel the most horror about the creature, were its eyes. Most of the time, when he stared into the eyes of a monster, he was able to see and feel the tremendous amount of bloodlust and killing intent the creature carried.

It was the deepest of desires that the creature felt, reflected in its eyes from its soul.

In the case of the {Sand Wraith}, all he could see was an infinite amount of pain, fear, and suffering. Like a desperate call from a heap of struggling souls within a burning abyss.

There was more to it than that, but Cain knew he would rather not face such a fiend. Tearing his eyes away from the abhorrent monster, Cain stared at his hands.

What was once a human had been turned into that. Even its soul was not feeling to return to wherever human souls go when they die.

Was this a problem of the Celestials, or just this Celestial in question, or was he just looking at things from a point of misconception. Perhaps there were things he didn't know. Maybe there was a valid reason as to why these human souls were cursed to be eternally tormented in these sandy shells.

Khan walked up to him,

"We'll soon arrive at Valestorm. Do you have a clear plan of what you want to do when you get there?"

Cain nodded, "Yeah. But it won't be easy to pull off."

He turned to Boulder, "I just need you to find an excuse to stay in Valestorm for a while."

Boulder nodded, "that is doable. I also have things to see to."

Khan smiled, "Well, it's been a while since I saw a few friends. I'd better say hello."

Cain glanced at him, but didn't say anything.

Lucia shrugged, "You all do whatever. I just want to see what it's like."

Boulder shrugged, "It's nothing too impressive. They are trying to build something back from the remains of the old world, but its putting a broken cup back together in my opinion."

Cain raised a brow, "Would it be better to tear everything down and rebuild from the ground up?"

Boulder shook his head, "No. But it is more ideal. With Mana Tech, building a house from scratch shouldn't take more than a few days at most."

Boulder's face turned a bit dark as he stared past Cain,

"In the end, the world we once knew is dead and gone. With a casual swing of its arm, a {Flame Devil} can an entire apartment complex to dust."

Cain sighed, "I guess you do have a point."

Boulder shrugged, "Makes me wonder. This... Celestial, what exactly does he plan to do with us."

Boulder clenched his fists, "In exchange for this bit of power, what do we give back? Our autonomy? I... We all still have ours. So what is it? We are rebuilding our world back from scraps and pieces.

Makes you wonder just what kind of tradeoff have we signed up for."

Cain's words were stuck in his throat. Boulder's words had forced him to think about it again...

Just what exactly was this Celestial after?