Streamer in the Omniverse

WinterHord (5) – Strange Atmosphere, Fables, and Eye Irritation.

The first thing I did when we entered WinterHord was to look at the city still inside the Humvee.

It was obvious, as there was a barrier covering the city, but it wasn't snowy.

The part of the city I could see had a layout similar to the realm, the major difference being that the houses were made of a dark wood, Boreal Wood, if I'm not mistaken.

It was a beautiful color; if I were to build a house in Terraria, I'd probably end up using that wood.

Well, at least the dye of the house could be made from this wood, since, if the choice was between building a house reinforced with steel or something even more resistant than that wood, the choice was obvious.

The second thing I did was essentially done at the same time as the first, which was to look at the Terrarians at the city gates.

The vast majority of them had matching armor and uniforms, so I'll guess and say they were the city guards.

All of them, without excluding a single one I could see, had a tired and worn-out appearance, with huge dark circles, as if they hadn't slept for days or had been sleeping very poorly.

Even the three people who stood out among the guards, wearing different clothes, seemed tired, albeit to a lesser degree.

"Do you know she can't see you, right?" I looked at Selina, who was waving to Dylan's sister, who was staring at the Humvee as if she would kill the first person to come out of it.

Had she forgotten that the Humvee's windows had a black film that blocked the outside view?

"I know!" Selina said amused with a smile on her face. "That's what makes it funnier for me!"

Ignoring Selina's weird sense of humor, at least she had recovered from the effects of the scream, everyone had, actually, which was good.

I needed to use Analyze: Item on some of them to see the real effects of that scream. I hadn't done it until now for one reason.

Everyone, Dylan, Gilbert, Robyn, Selina, all cost too much to be analyzed.

The cheapest, which was Gilbert, cost about five hundred thousand SP.

Did I have that amount of SP? Yes, but if possible, I would prefer to analyze some random resident of WinterHord to save.

I highly doubted that no one in the city had heard that scream, if that was really the only scream that thing gave. If that were indeed the case, well, I would accept the loss and analyze Gilbert.

Pushing those thoughts to the back of my mind, I stopped the Humvee and opened the car door, which would normally let in a cold wind, but thanks to the still active external barrier, the temperature change was minimal.

I was wearing a winter outfit completely engraved with Mystic Symbols and bathed in a paint made from Scarlet Ore, which also helped.

The moment I stepped out of the Humvee, I felt the gaze of everyone around fall on me, along with a sense of heaviness and ominousness.

Something was wrong with this city; I just didn't know what. It was as if the air in the city was heavier, darker...

It was an unpleasant feeling.

While the others got out of the Humvee, I looked at the three who stood out in the crowd of guards.

The first thing I noticed was Dylan's sister, as I had seen her before at the top of the city wall.

She had a medium height; I'd guess around five feet four to five feet six.

She had blonde hair hidden under a white beanie.

Her eyes were a darker greenish color, looking at something behind me as if waiting for someone to come out of the Humvee.

She had her mother's face, which meant she was pretty; not even the slight dark circles and fatigue could hide that fact.

As for her clothes, she wore white winter clothes with some red details here and there, like the cross painted in the center of her chest.

The nurse... Dylan's sister was the NPC nurse.

I had suspected this when Dylan described his sister as one, if not the greatest combat medic in the realm, but seeing her confirmed it for me.

The second person I noticed was the man next to her.

He was tall, probably as tall as me.

I couldn't see the color of the man's hair as it was hidden under the winter beanie he wore, but if I were to compare it to the man's beard, I'd guess it was black or at least dark brown.

The man had dark tan skin and brown eyes staring at both me and the Humvee with a slight suspicion.

His outfit was a complete winter suit, like Melissa's, but instead of white like the nurse's, his suit was an opaque green color, and he wore black winter boots, unlike Melissa's, which were white.

I didn't know if he was an NPC too, but if he was, I had some suspicions of who he might be...

He also looked tired and had the same dark circles as the nurse, perhaps even more than her.

Finally, the last person on the left side of Melissa, the other woman in the group.

The first thing I noticed about her was the long red hair falling out of the beanie she wore.

It was a light shade of red, almost pink, but still a few shades darker than Princess Charlotte's hair.

Unlike the other two who seemed to pay more attention to the Humvee and who else would come out of it, the light green eyes of the redhead examined me, just as I was doing with the three of them.

As for her clothes, like the other two, she wore a full set of thick winter clothes, but hers seemed to be somewhat more stylish, serving as a chic outfit rather than just protection against the cold.

The outfit was a soft blue color blending with shades of purple and a darker blue that managed to conceal some of the fatigue on her face.

I wasn't the best with fashion, but it was a beautiful outfit. Even her boots looked like something out of a fashion magazine.

What was she? A stylist...

Damn.

WinterHord had the highest Wall Creeper production, right? Wasn't the NPC stylist found in the game inside the cave of those things?

While I had my little epiphany, the others finally got out of the Humvee.

The first to step down was Dylan, who walked to my right side and stopped, looking at his sister with a complicated expression.

Melissa mirrored the guide's gaze when she saw him, halting her steps and staring at her brother.

They seemed both happy to see each other and somewhat wary. What was that? Were they in a feud or something?

The second to descend was Robyn, who, the moment her feet touched the ground, stretched, flexing her muscles.

As for her animals, the fox, to Robyn's dismay, had jumped on the ground and rubbed its face on my leg a few times before returning to the zoologist, who picked it up and held it close to her chest.

The owl seemed content to perch on the roof of the Humvee and silently observe everything.

The third to exit the Humvee was Gilbert, who got out of the vehicle on the other side and walked to stand next to Dylan.

Finally, the fourth and last to step out, who instantly caught Melissa's attention, was Selina.

When the nurse noticed the presence of the steampunker, she averted her gaze from her brother and stared at Selina as if she had committed a serious sin.

I didn't know if it was out of anger, shame, or the cold; it was probably a combination of all three, but Melissa's face had gained a flushed red tone.

"I'll be kind and give you five seconds. After five seconds when this barrier drops, I'll come after you." Her voice didn't hide the promise of aggression; it was as if she wanted Selina to know what would happen.

She was lucky I had deactivated the sound suppression matrix; otherwise, this threat wouldn't have been heard.

"Oh~ My dear cousin, is this the reception you give me? Even after I came to this frozen hell looking for you?" Selina had a teasing tone in her voice that seemed to irritate the nurse even more.

"I'm grateful for that fact, believe me, I'm really thankful from the bottom of my heart, but one thing doesn't exclude the other, right, cousin..." The nurse replied without missing a beat, walking almost to the edge of the Humvee barrier.

"Are they always like this?" I asked the guide, who still had a complicated look on his face.

The question seemed enough to pull him out of any thoughts he might have had.

"They've always been like oil and water." The guide explained. "Always poking and provoking each other at the slightest opportunity that arose." Dylan's voice sounded tired just remembering.

I guess it must have been an experience growing up with people like that.

"Well, let's get going then." I said aloud while activating the Mystic Symbols on my clothes, preparing for the cold that I knew would come.

I won't leave this barrier on, even though it alone cost less than complete protections, it still cost something! My stock of Artificial Sapphires had been damaged enough.

The others, seeing my actions, did the same. Selina was the only one who seemed not to notice what was happening and didn't activate the symbols on her clothes.

"Kya!" Selina practically curled up into a ball when the cold wind hit her body after I turned off the barrier surrounding the Humvee and stored the car in my inventory.

The angry look she gave me while activating the Mystic Symbols on her clothes to warm up was one that promised revenge.

A look that only seemed to intensify even more when she heard the laughter from the rest of the group.

"You know it was a joke, right?"

"Of course, I know, but as I said before, one thing doesn't exclude the other, right?"

Before I could decide whether to interfere or not, someone did it for me, the redhead.

"As entertaining as it is, and I'm used to the cold, I still prefer the sweet warmth from inside my home..." The stylist said, taking a step forward and placing herself between the two groups.

"...Let's keep going and continue this in a warmer place?" She asked, looking at Melissa and then at me.

"Alright." Melissa said with a sigh in her voice.

I simply nodded in agreement and gestured for her to lead the way.

"I don't remember everything, but it was basically like this: In the snowy mountains, in a frozen place, a demon with large horns and one eye was sealed..." She took a few seconds to think before continuing.

"Do not wander at dusk, where shadows come to life, do not make noise to avoid waking it, for when hungry, it awakens and will try to devour you..." She paused.

"That's it, it's not exactly how my grandmother told me, since I don't remember everything, but essentially that's the fable."

Okay... Even though Annabel might have forgotten some parts of the fable, that was enough.

The description was simple but vaguely matched the Deerclops's description. What gave me more certainty that this fable really talked about the boss was its last part.

"Do not wander at dusk, where shadows come to life..." I murmured, catching the attention of everyone at the silent table who were thinking.

"The hallucination..." Robyn said with a furrowed brow when she realized what it was, the same happened with almost everyone at the table.

"That's what I thought too..." What were the Hallucinations if not shadows that had come to life?

Nightmares that became real?...

"Who told this fable to your grandmother?" I asked. How long ago had this guy come to Terraria?

"Her grandmother." Was Annabel's answer. "And her grandmother before that and so on. It's a very old story, even before WinterHord was WinterHord."

Magnificent!

We were dealing with a very ancient "demon"...

Did its seal weaken? Or was it released by someone? The goblins, perhaps? Or the cultists?... Damn, there were those guys, weren't there?

What would someone gain by releasing the Deerclops in WinterHord other than killing everyone in the city?... Unless the target wasn't WinterHord...

A smokescreen for what's going to happen in the kingdom, perhaps? A distraction?... Something to disperse the kingdom's forces?...

"This thing, this Deerclops." Melissa's voice pulled me out of my thoughts. She seemed to be the most stressed among the three.

"What about it?" I asked, just as everyone paid attention to the nurse's words.

"Does it take hits?" Does it take hits?... What the hell kind of question was that?

My indignation must have shown on my face because Melissa rephrased the question, this time asking something that a person with a good eight hours of sleep would ask, not the two hours Melissa seemed to have slept.

"Does it die? Can it be killed?" She asked, the same question Dylan had asked before.

"As far as I know, yes." Nothing so far indicated otherwise; we even received the bonus information that it could be sealed.

This answer seemed to satisfy the nurse, who sighed and leaned back in her chair while yawning with her hand in front of her mouth, which, in turn, made Annabel and Darnell yawn as well.

The three seemed tired.

I didn't even need to ask to know that the screams were to blame for keeping them awake.

"The hallucinations, is there someone you know who sees them in a recurring way?" I asked Annabel without revealing the urgency in my voice.

We didn't have much time to waste. Forget the city barrier running out of mana, how many days would it take for everyone in the city to go crazy from sleep deprivation and hallucinations?

Annabel hesitated for a moment before answering.

"The prison, my guards arrested some men who had started a revolt; they must be the people who see the most hallucinations in the whole city." Perfect.

"Can you take me there?" I said, standing up. Before anyone could ask why, I specified. "I want to see if I can find out something about the hallucinations." Analyzing a random prisoner would cost much less than analyzing anyone in this room.

"I can take you there." Annabel said as she stood up. "I got curious to know what kind of discovery this is." She explained.

With that, everyone at the table began to stand up. I thought Dylan might want to say something to his sister, but both he and she seemed more interested in what I intended to do.

It took about ten minutes to get to the city prison, and if I could summarize the atmosphere inside in one word, it would be: Horrible.

It was like the city, only several times worse. It was as if I had just entered an abandoned insane asylum that I was sure was haunted.

"Nice place." I said ironically as I descended the stairs towards the prisoners' cells.

Downstairs, the few occupied cells were illuminated by torches, and the prisoners, well...

"GET ME OUT OF HERE! SHE'S GONNA GET ME, THE SHADOWS ARE COMING!"

Let's say that a twenty-year resident of an insane asylum would seem saner than some people down here.

"Isn't this kind of cruel?" I heard Robyn murmur behind me.

"Just kind of?" Selina asked back. "For what reason do you keep these men alive?"

"These men were arrested yesterday..." Annabel's voice sounded sad about the prisoners' state. "They're not criminals; they're just people who went mad."

"Encouraging..." Gilbert muttered.

"THERE!" Before I could approach any of the men in the cells, I heard Selina scream and point to the side.

"There's one of those things there... Damn, they really look like bugs...." The Steampunker's body trembled nauseated as she took a few steps back.

Looking in the direction Selina had pointed, I... saw nothing.

"You guys don't see it, do you?" She asked.

"No." Almost everyone answered.

"But I see another one there." Melissa said, pointing to the other side. "They only attack if you're in a really bad state; before that, they just stand there looking. Ugly little things."

Voyeur hallucinations, incredible!

"If I attack them, what happens?" I asked, looking to where Melissa said she saw the hallucination.

"Nothing, only those who see them can attack them; others just pass through them like smoke." Melissa replied without missing a beat.

"How does it feel?" I asked. "What's the sensation when someone else's hallucination passes through you?"

"Nothing, it's like they're not even there." Darnell answered me. "I tried to attack a few times when Melissa said she saw them, nothing happened."

Hmm... The more I learned about these hallucinations, the fewer answers I had.

Well, let's analyze these guys quickly and get out of this place. I'll take the opportunity to throw some Purification Powder in the cells; even though it's not a cure, it should help these men a little.

[...]

POV: Selina Steamhord.

Now I understood why Robyn was disturbed by the hallucinations; they were disturbing...

What I didn't understand was why Devas seemed unaffected by them or the environment around him.

As ironic as he was when he entered the prison, he didn't seem altered. It was as if being in this horrible environment didn't bother him.

"What are you going to do?" Dylan asked, watching Devas walk to the nearest cell.

"I'm going to see if I can figure out what..." Devas stopped the sentence halfway and blinked his eyes a few times.

"Something happened?" Did he see a hallucination or something?

"No, just... My eyes started itching..." His eyes started itching? Is he serious?

"SHE'S GOING TO KILL ME, LET ME OUT!" The screams of the men in the cells didn't help either.

I know they're innocent, but at this point, death was more of a blessing than a punishment.

"SHE'S COMING!" The man in the cell closest to Devas shouted, pointing forward, next to Devas.

Devas turned his head slowly in the direction the man had pointed and looked in that direction as if following something with his eyes, moving his head slowly as something only he could see moved.

Before I could ask if he was okay or had seen a hallucination, he moved.

It was a fluid and quick movement that I could only partially perceive because I was focused on it.

A strange wooden sword appeared in Devas's hand, and he struck forward in a single blow attacking the air...

"Interesting..." I heard him murmur.

...Or at least, I thought it was the air, but the man in the cell seemed to have a different opinion than mine.

"SHE'S DEAD! SHE'S DEAD!" He seemed happy, still insane, but happy.

She's dead? Who, the hallucination he had talked about?

"You killed a hallucination?" Melissa asked with a confused voice. "Did you see his hallucination?..."

It was only then that I realized Devas's eyes had changed; they were still the same light brown color as always, but around the iris, the veins of his eyes were reddish, as if he had been days without sleep.

He also had dark circles that had appeared out of nowhere.

"Yes." He replied. "Yes to both questions."

"..."

WHAT THE HELL!?