Moving through the foggy, dark woods, my breath unseen from where we stand. Anger bubbling within me, from going in circles, to my slow realization that we will not be enough. We will die, not from mother nature, but from the Dark Night. We know very little about how to go about this and how to defeat the guy.

Locus seems to have a loss for motivation as well. We nearly died so many times, I wanted to be able to make all the pain go away. It was clawing deep in my soul, screaming out for me to see. We are nothing, we will never change what is to happen. And this, This stabbed me so hard in the heart. My friends, now my family, will die over this childish idea of defeating the Dark Night.

Feeling the red hot sting of tears wanting to fall, I choke on a broil that had claimed skillfully up my throat. Focusing on the sound of our boots crushing the leafs below our sluggish forms, I mentally start to count the trees.

As the chill of the night air start to dance around us, I started to get the feeling of dread. Not from my thoughts and not from Locus, but from somewhere else. But where. Before I could wrap my head around what could be pulling the alarm, Locus, Like a mad man, let's out at laugh and sighs in relief.

"There's a cabin over there!" Silently hissing at his girlish shrieking of happiness, I sigh. Relieved to not sleep in the cold damp woods, I smile.

"Let's see who is there." We hastily made our way to the lonely cabin. Questions start to burn their way through my mind. From the location, to the dreadful aura that danced around this place. I start to silently regret our excitement.

Reaching the cabin porch, I began to see the dirt trail that wasn't there before, right? Shaking my head from it's overwhelming worry, and from it's over thinking things.

Locus's knocks on the door grab my attention, and I make my way up the creaky steps. Upon reaching the final step, the door was yanked open and a unsettling old lady stands before us with a smile at told me, We Are Screwed.

"Welcome. You both must be freezing, come! Join us." She elegantly allowed us with much respect. Not sure of what we should do, we entered without complaint. The house was gorgeous upon entering, everything was screaming out rich, and well known. And yet we heard nothing of this family. Closing the door behind us, she leads up to the living area and close to the fire.

"Warm yourselves up and then we can get on the business!" Before we could object, she was gone. Locus shivers and frowns at the fire.

"It's as if it doesn't exist. There's no heat coming from it." I silently agree with him as I watch. It was as if we were still outside, but yet here we stand inside. Looking around at the many family photos, I could see that there were at least three people here. An elderly couple and their Daughter, each sharing such resemblance to get away with many things.

The sound of youthful footsteps appears behind us. Turning to see the young daughter, I slightly relax. "We are so glad that you came. When we heard Master was sending you our way, we were grateful." Locus was the first to shift at her comment.

"Master?" His voice unnaturally fearful. But why, I couldn't pinpoint. It felt as if we weren't inside this amazing cabin, but in this nightmare.

She laughs hierarchically at his response and waves it off. "I'm sorry. I forgotten that you are not wanting to be caught. Well, let's talk about the mission." Nodding at her, I looks to Locus, who is shivering now, and lead him to the sofa.

"Yes... please remind us of this mission." By now I could tell they didn't know exactly who we were, but it didn't hurt to want to at least understand exactly what they are so worked up on.

"Ah yes, Dark Night must have told you very little of the mission." It hit me harder than a rabid bear, and nearly made me lose my own self understanding. Locus wasn't shivering from the cold, but from understanding. He placed it together quicker than me.

"Dark Night send you on this mission because of this pesky group of bugs are getting closer to finding his weakness." She carries on without noticing our panic. "Since we are the only ones who know where the stone is, he made sure to send you."

My mouth dry as I watched her move over to a desk. Opening one of the drawers and pulling out a map. "Here is the marked location of the stone." She points at the red circle on the map, "There you will retrieve it and destroy it."

Locus now seemingly on edge, shifts around more as the elderly couple enters the room. "Madison, Are you already getting them aware of the location?" The man chuckles darkly.

"Yes, Dad. I informed them of the location and of the mission." There was silence, before the sound of bones breaking slices through the air. Whipping my eyesight over to the elderly woman, I let a scream exclaim out of my guts.

The woman's mouth had dislocated from her jaw and stretched out as black blood bubbled out. Her fragile body had twisted and misshapen into unsettling form. Her arms dent in the most gruesome ways possible, as her back spikes in and out her flesh.

While my mind tried to wrap itself around what was happening, Locus had already gotten up and gotten a hold on me. With a yank he was pulling me towards the exit. My eyes will watching as the bodies of the family had merged together like a spider, each head had misshapened into each other. And as Locus pulls me out into the dark forest, I began to see the house disappear revealing the chard remains of the cabin. As we flee the sound of the families howls fill us with motivation to get out of here.

After a long time of running we slowed to a stop. Locus shivering beyond what I believed, as the words that left his mouth marked this night, "Those who stay."