Brenden turned around as he felt a peculiar sensation coming from the rear of their group. His eyes shifted around nervously as he tried to make sense of it. Only the disgruntled expressions of the crew met his gaze. 'Wasn't there someone else?'

He quickly counted the number of their group. 'Forty-seven. Yeah, that's right. Guess it was nothing then.' With a confused expression, he turned back to face the front and continued to shuffle onwards. A few minutes passed before he felt the same strange sensation again.

He quickly swivelled on the spot, only to meet the curious gazes of the crew that were paying any attention to him. His eyes darted around as he began to count again. 'Ten.. twenty-five.. thirty-four.. Forty-six.' He counted once again, just to make sure that he had not miscounted. 'Forty-six. Nobody is missing.'

Brenden sighed with relief as he turned around again to continue the journey. 'This place must be getting to me. 'Even the Captain doesn't seem fazed.' Brenden's eyebrows knitted into a knot. 'How much farther until we find something?'

Time passed slowly as they trudged ever onwards. Complaints started to come from the crew about the need for food. Brenden began to get a headache from their bellyaching. 'Sometimes I wish they'd just disappear! Save me from all of this hassle!'

He turned back to silence the group, but he froze in place. He felt the same strange sensation once again. Even as his mind tried to convince him that there were people than before. He began counting rapidly, double and even treble checking the numbers. 'What the fuck is wrong with me! Thirty-seven. There's exactly thirty-seven of them! Which is exactly the same number we set out with!'

"Shut yer holes! If you can find food, then be my guest!" Brenden admonished the crew. 'I better have a word with the Captain. We can't let this turn into a mutiny.'

Brenden quickened his pace to pull up alongside Josh. He seemed lost in thought as he stared dead ahead. Brenden had no idea if he was thinking about something important, but he could not afford to put the issue off any longer.

"Captain.."

"Shh!"

Brenden stared at him in shock. 'Did he just shush me?' Brenden wore a perplexed look on his face. He did not dare go against Josh, but he felt like what he had to say about the crew's state was far too important. Just as he was about to interrupt Josh again, that strange feeling returned.

He felt the urge to perform the same actions he had done before, but that just led him to be even more puzzled. 'Twenty-eight. That can't be right!' He studied his own memories, but he only found traces of these twenty-eight crew members there. 'That's not possible! There's no way we could man the Freedom with only twenty-eight sailors!'

"Twenty," Josh grunted, startling Brenden, who turned to stare at him again as they walked side by side. "We've lost twenty sailors."

Brenden stared at him with a puzzled look. Sure, forty-eight sounded like a reasonable number to man a ship of that size. However, he distinctly remembered setting sail with only these twenty-eight. He was about to question the Captain's sanity when a thought passed in his mind. 'What does that say about those strange feelings then?'

Josh spared him an approving glance. 'Seems like he knows something is wrong. If he continues like this, then he might be next.' Josh cursed to himself. He noticed when the first of them disappeared. He did not react because he did not want to startle their hidden enemy into doing something stupid.

However, as time went on, more of them began to disappear. Josh had spotted a trend in who would be chosen. By the sounds of the voices that were complaining, it was always those who were mentally struggling somehow. He could guess that they probably all stopped to look around at some point as well. 'Maybe they even saw what is hunting us..'

Josh felt like this was some kind of test. His senses were not picking up any hostility at all. If whatever it was, was doing this just to kill them, then there should have been some reaction. 'I bet it's some kind of guard. This path is most likely some kind of mental test.' He nodded slowly at his own reasoning.

'However, what kind of ability do they have to make the others forget about those we have lost? Why doesn't it affect me?' Josh pondered the mattered as his boots continued to crunch against the dirt. 'Maybe it's not just me.'

Since he had not looked back even once, he could not be sure if anyone else was aware of their missing comrades. It was a tough dilemma.

"Brenden," Josh whispered with a solemn tone. "Slow down and fall back. Alert the crew to not stop moving forward no matter what. Tell them to hold in their urge to look around and only focus on the path ahead. Warn them that it might cost them their lives if they fail to follow my orders."

Brenden gulped as a cold sweat erupted on his back. He slowed his pace until the first lines of the crew caught up with him. He was quiet as he took his time to whisper their Captain's words to each one of them. Slowly making his way to the rear of the group.

Silence ensued as everyone tried to contain their panic. Just because Josh had basically said they would be fine if they did as they were told, that did not make it accurate! For all they knew, they might be picked off regardless! Still, for now, they could only follow his judgement.

The atmosphere surrounding them became suffocating. Josh kept tabs on their number as they inched forward. The rate of losses had slowed down. They were only losing one every so often now. 'Seems like I was right. Tch, those guys just couldn't contain themselves.' He cursed as their number dropped to nineteen. It was far from an optimal number, especially if they had to endure any more tests.

Brenden's clear voice could still be heard from time to time, encouraging his comrades to continue onwards. Another hour or so passed with no new casualties. Josh began to relax. Seems like we've lost the dead weight. A strong aura came from up ahead. Josh bathed himself in the sensation to try and gauge its actual strength.

'True enough. It seems like we're reaching a new trial.' His wariness spiked once again. It seemed like whatever was waiting for them up ahead would test their physical abilities. This was just a guess on his part. Silently he hoped that there would be an easier way to pass it. The crew began to speak out once they entered the range of the aura.

Some were concerned that it felt too powerful. Suggestions began to arise that they should turn back. However, that was quickly shot down when they were reminded of Josh's words. Just circling back might be enough for the silent threat they had just passed to act on them. The crew felt like they had been boxed into an unwindable situation. Josh even found himself agreeing with their sentiments.

It was like a constant threat at their backs. One that declared that if they turned back, they would definitely die. If they pressed on, then they only might die. The choice was a no brainer. Brenden pushed his way up to the front again. Taking his place by Josh's side. As the strongest two of their group, it would be up to them to hold the threat back until they could figure out how to get past it or defeat it.

"What do you think it is, Captain?" Brenden asked. There was no trace of fear in his voice. He would rather face something that he could see, even if it were stronger than him. Rather than go another round in the passage with its thinly conceived threat.

"No idea. Your guess is as good as mine." Josh shrugged his shoulders as a brighter light began to appear in front of them. "I can tell you this, though. It's stronger than all of us put together."

Brenden gasped at Josh's revelation. "How can it be stronger than you?!"

Josh sighed as he looked at his second-in-command, "There's plenty of creatures out there that stronger than me. For now, anyway. Is it really so unusual to find one of them here? Besides, you know as well as I do that most of our unique abilities have been sealed."

Brenden's eyes went wide as he considered that. In truth, he had not even considered how much power Josh would have lost because of the condition of his body currently. 'Fuck, let's hope there's an easy way out of this!' Another fifteen minutes of walking passed by before they finally stepped into the chamber that housed the brighter light. Everyone's eyes scanned what had been waiting for them..