Souls Online: Mythic Ascension
Chapter 276: The Cemetery

Chapter 276: The Cemetery

When the laughter died, a question was left in its place: Where to next?

The Garden was more or less a maze of horrifying and disgusting plants and flowers that made ones skin crawl just by looking at them.

Only Lily seemed to be unaffected and had a smile on her face as she summoned Moku and pulled out her pet egg, cradling the latter while the cute puppy stayed at her heel.

"Shall we go for a walk and find a way out?" she purred, sounding very uncharacteristic for her. Luna narrowed her eyes in suspicion at her best friend and growled softly.

"Who are you and what have you done with my Lily?!"

Lily turned to face Luna and stuck her tongue out in a mock taunting gesture.

"Love you too bitch!" she shot back before she picked a direction and began walking. Penny immediately started following her.

"She may be crazy but in a garden of creepy and evil looking plants, I am gonna stick with the person who can use plant magic! I’ve seen enough horror movies to know who I should go with!"

Leo let out a dry laugh and adjusted the strap on his gear. "She’s got a point. If something tries to eat us, at least Lily might be able to ask it nicely to spit us out."

Adam scoffed and muttered something under his breath about being surrounded by idiots, but he moved after them all the same, his long strides easily catching up.

The group fell into a loose formation, boots crunching over gnarled roots and soft patches of moss that oozed strange fluids when stepped on. Every so often, a plant would twitch or turn ever so slightly toward them, as if watching.

Crystal walked near the back, her hand resting lightly on the hilt of her weapon. Her gaze scanned the foliage, sharp and alert.

"This place feels wrong," she said softly. "Like the whole garden is alive. Not just the plants either. The ground... it breathes."

"I noticed that too," Rachel chimed in from somewhere above, crouched on a twisted tree branch like a monkey in her natural habitat. "Feels like we’re walking on something that doesn’t want us here."

Lily didn’t respond. She hummed a little tune under her breath as she walked, gentle fingers stroking the egg she cradled against her chest.

Greg frowned as he passed a massive flower that reeked of copper and rotting fruit. "What’s up with her?" he asked, glancing sideways at Leo.

Leo shrugged. "She’s always been weird, but this is... different. Maybe the garden is affecting her. Or maybe she just really likes this place."

Suddenly, Lily stopped. Everyone behind her nearly bumped into one another.

Moku gave a low whine.

"Shh," Lily said, not looking down. Her eyes were fixed on something up ahead.

Between two towering stalks covered in black thorns, the path opened into a clearing. The light filtering in from above was greenish and dim, casting warped shadows across the overgrown space.

The clearing was a cemetery.

Cracked headstones jutted out from thick tangles of ivy and moss, their inscriptions faded and weather-worn. Some of them leaned at odd angles like they were being pushed from below. A crooked iron gate stood half-open at the far end, wrapped in vines that pulsed faintly like veins.

Penny stopped dead in her tracks.

"Nope," she said, taking a step back. "No thank you. I know where this leads. Creepy garden to creepy cemetery? That’s straight-up Horror 101."

She turned to retreat, but Aria reached out and gently grabbed her wrist. Her voice was calm but firm.

"You sure you wanna walk back into that garden alone?"

Penny looked back the way they came. A branch twisted slowly behind her, curling like a beckoning finger. Something slick and dark slithered under the moss. Her face paled.

"...Okay, fair point," she muttered. Then she raised her chin and added with theatrical flair, "But I want it on the record that I’m doing this under protest."

Greg didn’t smile, but he gave a dry nod.

"I’m with her on this one. This feels like walking into a trap. But we keep moving."

Rachel dropped down from her perch with a soft thud and pointed at a nearby grave where the earth looked freshly disturbed.

"This place hasn’t been empty long."

Crystal’s hand tightened around her weapon.

Lily said nothing. She stepped forward into the cemetery like she was being drawn to something, the egg still cradled against her like a newborn. Moku followed, tail low and ears twitching.

Leo cast one last glance behind them before following the others in.

The gate creaked as they passed through. The air inside was colder. Still.

And something was watching.

Adam knew exactly who it was. How could he not, the almost overwhelming bloodlust was being focused entirely on him and there was only one person he could think of that would hate him this much.

"Elise. Stop hiding and get out here!" he growled, his expression twisting by his own rage. His spider-like limbs flared out as if they were ready to stab the first thing that came near him.

"Oh my~"

A slow clap echoed through the cemetery, crisp and deliberate.

Elise stepped out from behind a broken gravestone, her smile too wide, her eyes glassy and unfocused. The sound of her hands meeting was wet, almost sticky, and it wasn’t long before they all saw why.

Gasps rang out across the group. Even Lily stopped in her tracks, her expression twisting into one of disgust and anger.

From the neck down, Elise was no longer human. Her body had become something grotesque, like a humanoid shape made of translucent sludge. Her skin had liquefied into a writhing mass, streaked with dark veins that pulsed with every movement. Vague outlines of bones floated within the slime, shifting and bending like they no longer belonged to her. Her right arm hung low and boneless, stretching unnaturally behind her. Her fingers ended in dripping claws that clacked together when she flexed them.

"I must thank you peasants for bringing this mutt to this place for me. Will take less time for me to bury him once I have killed him~!" She cooed with a feral glint in her eyes.

"My one regret is that I didn’t kill you with my own hands back then. This time I get to fix that mistake!"

Adam snarled back as everyone else got ready for the inevitable fight that was coming. A fight to the death between siblings who had gone too far