In a small city west of the capital, I was waiting for my new party near an inn. It had already been a few hours.
I came early in anticipation of meeting the new adventurers my mentor had set me up with, but I guess that was a mistake.
My patience was starting to run out, just where could they be? What is it that would make them so late?
Maybe they weren't even going to show up.
'I guess I should start packing up since the sun is already setting.'
No, I shouldn't give up on them that easily.
Who knows? They might've encountered a beast horde.
Or they could've been wiped out by a bandit group...
Nevertheless, I should stay in the city till tomorrow morning, if they still haven't arrived by then, that's their loss.
I went inside the inn and paid for a room.
As I was going into my room, I heard a muffled sound. At first I thought it was just my imagination, but when a few more sounds were made, I realized that someone was having a 'good time' in the room next door.
After a few minutes it started getting on my nerves.
'Can't they just keep it down?'
I don't really like wasting mana on useless things, but i had to make an exception this time.
If I wanted to have a good night's sleep, that is.
I cast silence on myself, and found pleasure in the complete silence.
'Peace, at last.'
.....
After I finished packing up, my thoughts went back to my missing party.
'What happened to them?'
I looked outside, only to see the moon in the middle of the sky, illuminating the streets.
The streets were... Red?
They were covered in a strange red substance, almost reminiscent of dried up blood.
Oh.
It was blood.
It looked like it had been there for weeks.
But that's impossible, I was out there a few hours ago!
Is this a trick?
Is this entire city under the control of a demonic wizard tower?
This might be the place they test their new spells.
'I need to hide my mana. Now.'
I immediately dispelled silence and put a mana veil over myself.
I took a peek outside.
Everything was back to normal.
There was no blood outside anymore.
'They must've placed an illusion spell outside, I can't put my guard down.'
Using normal mana should be alright, since it's present everywhere. However, the mana residue from spells can be traced easily.
I gathered some mana over my left ear to enhance my hearing.
Still, a sudden increase in natural mana could alarm them, so I had to be careful in order to not expose myself.
I had silence activated for quite some time, they must've realized that a wizard is here.
Strangely, I could hear a song.
The song consisted of a multitude of human and animal screams.
The sounds were too unnatural to be real, yet too horrifying to be a simple daydream.
'Am I going crazy?'
What made the song even weirder was that i could only hear it from my left ear.
This can't be the work of a wizard.
'What if...
What if it isn't a Demonic wizard tower...
What if it's a beast with hallucination abilities...'
I shuddered at the mere thought of that.
I turned towards the window and looked outside again.
The street was back to its bloodied state, this time though, I noticed skulls on top of nearby buildings...
They were placed as if a beast was marking its territory.
'Is this city under the control of beasts?'
'Maybe this is their feeding ground...'
'Have I... Delivered myself as a meal to them?'
I couldn't think properly. thoughts were filling my mind like a dam being flooded with water.
Then I realized.
This place is the beasts' home, the place they sleep and hunt.
All the bright red roses, all the brown buildings that were decorating the streets, they were all a facade to lure more unsuspecting humans.
The beasts had cast a city-wide hallucination spell...
From the corner of my eye, i noticed a pale tower rising from the ground, rotating every now and then.
It was as if... As if a beast was searching for prey...
In my trance, the 'pillar' had turned towards my general direction and i could see it...
The 'pillar' had a gaping hole with two smaller ones above it.
It almost looked like a mouth and eyes.
It wasn't a pillar.
As I continued looking at the strange white 'face', I noticed that it hadn't moved in quite some time.
It was staring at me.
It was staring at me...
I immediately closed the blinds.
But it appears I was too late.
The song had hastened and the 'pillar' drew closer.
It seems it already decided on it's meal for the night.
I could only blame my luck.
I started gathering mana around my heart, i would at least take the beast with me.
Then, It all stopped.
Everything went back to normal.
I couldn't hear the song anymore.
I carefully approached the window and looked outside.
I was greeted with the sight of bright red roses and brown buildings outside.
'What?'
'Am I really going crazy?'
'Hallucination beasts can't turn off their abilities at will.'
Then just what was that?
'Is my mind playing tricks on me?'
It was way too vivid to simply be considered a daydream.
My legs felt numb, I couldn't move anymore.
The mana around my heart dispersed and I dropped to the floor.
'I am too tired to deal with this.'
That could be the reason why I dropped down like a corpse.
Or it could be the disappearance of my legs.