Kaelon stepped forward after Thalasar fell silent. He had one more thing to ask the serpent God.

  "Can you help us get back to Altium City? We have to hurry back to investigate the Sin Congregation."

  The serpent's eyes narrowed, He seemed to recall something as He spoke.

  "Sin Congregation... Never heard of them."

  Kaelon's expression dropped at the Gods reply. He got his hopes up thinking he might get some intel from the ancient God. It seemed his hopes were too high.

  "Whag about getting us to the city though? You can surely do that."

  An insulted expression appeared on the serpentine God.

  "Can I get you to the city? Of course I can, at least near it anyway. What's the nearest shore to Altium city? I'll have you wash up there."

  Kane contemplated the question, Altium City was pretty far inland. The nearest shore was quite far north of Altium. At least double the distance from Altium to Vinhal. There was a city there, a bustling port city called Windstone Harbor.

  "Windstone is the closest port to Altium. Can you take us there?"

  The snake fell silent as if trying to locate Windharbor in its mind. It's eyes shot open as it recalled the city.

  "...Windstone should be easy enough. When do you want to leave? I know you could use some time to rest."

  Kane shook his head, his eyes resolved even if tired. He resolutely began to equip his armor while speaking.

  "No, we're leaving now. The faster we rech Altium the better. I can rest plenty while on the road."

  Thalasar nodded and turned to face both Kane and Kaelon.

  "Now leave, you two disturbed my rest enough. Feel free to come back at some point later when you two grow stronger."

  Water engulfed them once again as the cavern vanished from their vision. The two of them floated through deep waters for a while. After ten minutes light pierced the water. they swam harder as the light came into view.

  Finally they reached the surface, breaking the water they could see a bustling port. Windstone stood before them, the loud clammor of its streets reaching them all the way in the ocean.

  Kaelon's eyes were wide in surprise watching the city. He had never seen so many people in the streets. All moving about with some putpose unknown to him. The sheer scale of movement was different from anything he'd seen.

  Kane nudged his sude, snapping him out of his stupor.

  "Come on Kaelon. Let's swim ashore and head into the city. We have to get some things before we leave for Altium."

  Thus started the swim toward Windstone. Both Kane and Kaelon struggled against waves and currents for a while before finally reaching the shore. Kane fell on his back, panting aggressively. Kaelon fell right beside him, sitting on the sandy shore.

  The two didn't move for a moment before groaning as they stood. They weren't too far from the port and were able to get there without issues. People stared as they walked by, their figures standing out a lot.

  Kane was a giant of a man with striking blond hair, not to mention Kaelon. His bright red hair made him a beacon of attention everywhere he went. Their armor just made it worse. As they made their way through the bustling markets of Windstone peoples heads turned in their direction.

  "Hey! You! Tall knight! You seem strong, how about a new sword? It's cheap, only 15 gold coins and it's yours!"

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  Many such pitches would echo at them as they made their way through. In the end they only stopped to buy cloaks to cover their stand out appearance. They bought some other essentials for their travel and headed for the city's exit.

  Kane stepped into the local stable and came out with two horses. Luckily Kaelon had sold that bear hide on their way to Vinhal. Otherwise they wouldn't have had any money to rent the horses at all.

  Striding through the gates Kaelon looked back at the city of Windstone. Although their stay was short, Kaelon could feel that he would be coming back here. His gut feeling told him that this city was going to be someplace important to him.

  "Come on Kaelon! We have to hurry up!"

  Kane yelled back at the stationary demigod, snapping him out of his daze. Kaelon strode to meet him and both of them set off. The road was long and time was short, they moved while taking as little breaks as possible.

  About five days into their journey they found themselves in a rural village. Only it was too quiet, they couldn't see or hear anybody around. There weren't any signs of combat or struggle anywhere either. It was as if the entire village decided to just up and leave one day.

  Kaelon turned to Kane wearing a stiff expression.

  "This is weird right? There's no way people would just abandon their homes for no reason. Do we just leave or do you want to investigate?"

  Kane worr a serious expression, nodding.

  "Let's just take a look around. If we don't find any clues or anything, we leave."

  He strode foward and Kaelon followed behind him. They tied their hirses to a post before getting off to investigate on foot. The village was quite small, there were only ten houses scattered around.

  Walking through these houses they saw nothing out of the ordinary. As if the people living here were just away from home. Belongings were still scattered about but no people were around.

  It was the same thing in every house they knocked on and entered. Kaelon wore a geave expression on his face. He turned to Kane, who was equally disturbed.

  "This is getting weird man. There's only one house left, should we just leave?"

  Kane shook his head at Kaelon.

  "No, we started this. Let's finish, whatever we find might be related to that cult. There's no way all these people could disappear for no reason."

  The two of them walked up a hill, on top of it was the last remaining house. It was larger than the others, clearly the house of the village chief. Approaching the door they knocked on it loudly.

  "Anyone home?! If we don't get an answe we're coming in!"

  Kane yelled out as he nnocked on the door. The two waited for a reply before just kicking the door in. What they saw on the other side theh had seen before.

  An empty home, with no one in sight. Books lined the right wall and there was a staircase right in front of them. The hall tk the left led to a kitchen or living area.

  Walking theough the empty house, Kane and Kaelon looked around for a while. In the end there was nothing out of the ordinary here either.

  Leaving the house, the two of them got back up on their horses. They rode a fair distance before coming across something horrific. A ritual array drawn with blood. At its edge was a leather bound book, Kaelon got off his horse and picked it up. Opening the book, he began to read.

  It detailed a village chief's encounters with the occult. His name was Victor, he was a man of ambition. Unsatisfied with his life as a chief of some small village. He longed for glory and power beyond imagination.

  One day a man came into the village, his name never revealed in the book. Victor became quick friends with the traveler, seeking him out for tales of the world. It was with these tales that the man seduced him.

  He fed him tales of people achieving superhuman strength and rising above humanity. Victor couldn't help but ask how they achieved it, his own longing for power practically leaking out of him. The man gave him a book, a method for achieving power through sacrifice.

  A simple array dedicated to the Seven Deadly Sins was all he needed, Victor became almost frenzied as he began preparations for the ritual. The last pages of the record depicted Victor's final preparations. How he began by doing a small ritual, using his own wife and daughter as the sacrifice with the traveler helping him through the process.

  With the power he gained from it he manipulated the villagers into also becoming sacrifices. The man left straight after the first ritual, claiming he had matters to attend to and he would contact him soon. Victor paid him no mind, having already attained power and learned the ritual, he didn't need the man for his plans.

  On the day he bagan his last ritual he gathered the entire village in a clearing not far from here. A large array was painted on the ground with their blood as they chanted. Victor believed he was doing everything correctly but without the man to guide him he made a critical mistake.

  The ritual spiraled into something it shouldn't have been. A mistake in the arraya formation meant that even the caster was considered a sacrifice. Victor didn't realize until it was too late that he was also sacrificing himself.

  The record ended with Victor's mad scrabbling as he realized he was bound to die. Kaelon looked down at the array below his feet, an angry expression on his face.

  "This is going a bit too far for me. These bastards are sacrificing people! The book says it was to the Seven Deadly Sins, it obviously had something to do with that Sin Congregation. We have to hurry back to Altium, now."