Sadara Forest
Something was off about this place.It was a thought that had come to Jacob the Kecleon on more than a few occasions as he stood at his stall in the Selenian village of Sadara. It was a quiet, idyllic location, sandwiched between a vast forest and a tall rock face, beyond which was the endless expanse of Ardalion’s western seas. If one listened closely when it was quiet, which it often was, they could hear the sound of the waves crashing against the cliffs nearby.
Sadara was a sleepy village, unused to visitors. While its inhabitants did not show outright hostility to him, Jacob was inflicted with a sense that he did not belong among them. They hung around their own cliques and made no big fanfare of his arrival. Some noted it and greeted him, but there was a sense of what the Kecleon could only describe as…reluctance.
As though he were intruding onto their personal space.
It made him wonder if the offer to set up a branch here was even worth it. This village wasn’t very populous, not enough for him to have an Esau along with him. At his previous post, he had a purple Kecleon with him, known within the Mercantile Association as Esaus just as green Kecleon like him were known as Jacobs. Not having a companion made him feel even more alone in this village.
Nonetheless, he picked up on a number of details about Sadara during his tenure. The village was a dead end with no other road leading out of it other than its entrance. There were no towering structures, the closest being the church and even then its steeple was low-lying and modest. A gentle brook flowed nearby which the villagers used for drinking and bathing, claiming it to be among the freshest water in all the land. The houses, to Jacob’s surprise, were very neatly kept, with even the shabbiest cottage looking as though its whitewash had been given a fresh lick of paint not long ago. Ivy lined houses in a tasteful manner, cut away by the villagers for aesthetic, and they looked rather well for an isolated hamlet. Jacob couldn’t help but be impressed. The slums of Iria could learn a thing or two from this place, he thought.
Next to the village, there was a vast forest beside which Sadara dwelled. Very few went down the path that lay within, and there was a sign by its exit written in a strange script that Jacob never got a close look at; however, he imagined it warned people to keep out, given how the villagers never entered it and scolded those that attempted to. Jacob had caught sight of a little Chespin boy attempting to enter and being told off by his Chesnaught father for doing so.
He’d come to know that boy’s name. It was Kolya, and he often came by to fetch supplies for his mother. There were some other regular customers too; a Pangoro named Tihomir, a labourer with a fondness for liechi berries, and a Miltank named Morana, the village priestess who often came by for libation wine for her sermons. All were kindly, and Jacob soon settled into his work.
“Thank you very much for shopping at the Kecleon Market!” he’d always say after a purchase. “We hope to see you again!”
Being a Kecleon merchant was in his blood, and keeping up a positive attitude was only one of the facets that kept the customer coming back and what made the Kecleon merchants a household name of reliability and trust across Ardalion.
And certainly, most people in this village hadn’t been unkind to him.
Well, most of them.
There had been one encounter Jacob couldn’t quite shake from his mind.
It was a bright morning with a cloudless sky, a few days since Jacob had come to Sadara. After an uneventful morning where only two customers had come by, Jacob spotted an unskirted Lilligant walk up to his stand.
“Hello, ma’am,” he greeted, adopting his familiar smile. “Welcome to the Kecleon Market! How can we help you?”
Strangely, the Lilligant didn’t reply immediately, instead rifling through a small satchel they wore on their side. After a short bit, they dug out what looked to be a battered rolled-up scroll.
“This is for you,” the maiden said, handing it to Jacob. Their voice seemed oddly emotionless.
“For me?” Jacob was puzzled. Was it a notice from one of his brothers? No, the parchment wasn’t of their quality. It felt strangely old, like he was unravelling an ancient text.
And after unfurling it, that was the first conclusion the green Kecleon had come to upon seeing the text on it.
“Erm, I don’t mean to be rude…” Jacob lowered the piece of parchment to look at the Lilligant. “But what does this say?”
The Lilligant had no reaction to his question. She only tilted her head as she seemed to gaze him up and down.
A discomforting feeling came over Jacob. Just who was this person?
“...You will find out in time.”
The words came out, almost as a whisper, before the Lilligant abruptly turned her heel and began walking away.
“H-Hey! Wait!” Jacob called after her. “What do you mean by–”
But the Lilligant wasn’t turning around. Before long, she rounded a corner and disappeared.
“...Well, that was weird.” The Kecleon shrugged, before returning to his stock counting.
That encounter had stuck with Jacob all throughout his time in Sadara, and about a month after moving in, he still hadn’t shaken it off.
Even stranger was that the Lilligant never approached his stall again. Jacob asked around about the Lilligant, and to further his bafflement, the townsfolk seemed rather…cagey when talking about her.
“A Lilligant? …N-No, I’ve never seen anyone like that here before.”
“Mus’ be seein’ things, lad. If I knew a Lilligant here, that lassie’d be the star of the village, she would! Ha ha!”
“...Why are you asking? Don’t you have a merchant’s stall to run, outsider?”
There was more to this than met the eye, Jacob thought. And judging by the Lilligant’s words…
…He had a feeling that indeed, he would find out in time.
Over the next few days, the weather changed. It had been a balmy few days, but as the heat rose, clear skies gave way to looming dark clouds and rain that bucketed from the heavens, as though Kyogre had been revived once again. Thunder boomed and lightning flashed. It was weather to hunker down in and wait for the tumult to blow over.
A distress for Jacob, as with Sadara’s square empty in this storm, there was no use setting up shop. Not in these conditions, anyway - all the merchandise would probably just be blown away by the big winds outside.
Therefore, Jacob took to bookkeeping, noting the totals he’d gathered that week. It was difficult to concentrate, though - the howling wind and the ear-splitting thunder had made his heart jump a good few times throughout the morning.
It didn’t help that his feelings had been heightened by a tense feeling he had come to feel over the time since moving into Sadara.
And now that the town was empty and he didn’t have the stall and his wares to focus on, Jacob was more aware of that feeling than ever.
It felt like he was being watched.
And not by one gaze. It felt like the eyes of many upon him, as though they could see him for all he was - in his virtues and his sins.
Unease stirred in his gut.
Maybe coming here wasn’t such a good idea after all…
He happened to glance outside the window at that moment.
And there he saw her again.
The Lilligant.
She was impossible to miss. The only person in the town, out on the streets - which given the force of the tempest outside was a sight that boggled the mind. Jacob wondered if he was seeing things.
He blinked - but no, she was still there. Without even so much as a garment on her person to protect her from the elements.
Is she mad? Why is she not taking shelter?
But given that this was the first sighting he’d seen of her in weeks…
Jacob grimaced. That storm could cut a ‘mon in two; the fiercest he could recall in all he had experienced. Why, not even Selenia’s annual autumnal storms could rival this one!
Yet…
There that Lilligant was, standing there, alone.
No one was calling her in out of the thunder and rain.
…Should I? She’s probably soaked to the stem!
Jacob had a feeling he was also mad for what he was about to do.
He got up from his desk, grabbed a cloak, slung it around him…and stepped outside into the chaos of the storm.
The wind slammed the door shut with a loud bang. And immediately a wall of rain lashed against him, threatening to blow his cloak and him away.
But Jacob held firm as he approached the Lilligant and called out to her.
“Hey!” He had to shout to be heard over the howling winds. “Come inside! It’s not safe out here!”
The Lilligant turned around to face him.
Stone cold. Blank. Unmoving.
Jacob felt a chill staring up at her, one that wasn’t just from the rain on his drenched cloak.
“Wh-Who are you?”
The question came out a lot more fearful than he intended, and the Kecleon felt his teeth begin to chatter.
She looked him up and down with a scrutinising look. Her left arm went to her chin, as if in thought.
“...Come with me.”
The voice felt like a whisper, yet Jacob heard it clear as day.
Then the Lilligant started off at quite a brisk pace.
“W-Wait!” Jacob was caught off-guard, and followed after her in a rush, almost tripping over his cloak in the process.
Sadara’s small size meant that it didn’t take long before the Lilligant reached the edge of the village. However…Jacob stopped dead when he realised where she was headed.
She was going into the forest.
Somewhere the townsfolk, for the most part, did not tread.
But if he was to follow this Lilligant…then he would have to break that rule.
Jacob gulped, as the Lilligant stopped and looked at him expectantly.
He could just step back inside. That was an option. Probably the wiser one. His cloak was soaked through, and he’d get pneumonia if he stayed out in these conditions for too long.
But…he did not.
Jacob found himself stepping towards the Lilligant, unable to ignore her.
The Lilligant continued her path.
And Jacob, chained to his curiosity, followed after her.
In his concentration, he failed to notice the sign at the forest’s edge.
Within a minute, Jacob knew he had stepped into a Mystery Dungeon.
The sudden descent of fog gave it away, and though mist came with this storm, blotting out the distant views of Mount Lysagora, the thickness intensified the moment he and the Lilligant stepped beyond a certain point.
The light dimmed also. Absolute darkness did not reign and while the day was dark as it was due to the storm, the change in lighting provided yet another indicator that a Mystery Dungeon had now entrapped him. He looked back, hoping for a slim chance of the path back to the town still remaining there, but it had vanished behind a wall of mist.
Jacob gulped, looking around him. Though some Kecleon merchants willingly set up shop in these places to cater for the dungeoneers that explored Mystery Dungeons, he himself had no such bravery. Cities, towns, villages, places where he was safe and not surrounded by chittering ferals - that was his game.
“Come.” The Lilligant beckoned her left hand. As if by instinct, Jacob followed her command.
One step into this place and already Jacob felt out of his element. More and more was he regretting following this mysterious maiden and not staying in his warm, dry house. Alas, now that he was in the Mystery Dungeon, he could not turn back until he had reached its end, as was their law.
The rain, though it had lessened slightly, still buffeted the Kecleon, and the distant boom of thunder reverberated through the Dungeon. In a way, it was a bit more sheltered than being outside, but that did not ease Jacob’s nerves any.
“H-Hey, so…” He hoped conversation would help. “Who are you, ma’am?”
The Lilligant did not answer him, continuing her march forward.
“Why are we heading into this forest? You do know this is a Mystery Dungeon, right?”
Still silence from her. Jacob heard instead the wind whipping around him and the rain pelting the trees’ leaves above.
“Er, hello? You can hear me, can’t you?”
The polite façade was beginning to fade. Between being soaked to the scales, dragged into a Mystery Dungeon, and now this Lilligant’s obstinate quiet, Jacob was becoming quite ticked off indeed.
Still nothing - which prompted a slight growl from the Kecleon.
“Can you at least tell me your name?”
At first…nothing. Jacob could feel his rage rising, almost like when thieves had stolen from him before. He wasn’t asking the world of her - these were simple questions! The fact that she was giving him nothing in return was an insult - why, if he ignored his customers in the same manner she was ignoring him, business would undergo quite the downturn!
“...Please, there is no need to be aggressive in your tone.”
Oh, now she talked.
“If you wish for my name…then I can tell you. But I cannot say more here, lest I break the pact.”
The pact? Jacob quirked his head at that. What’s she talking about?
“My name is Vesna.” The Lilligant’s eyes seemed to brighten just a little bit at that name.
“Well, uh…Vesna. Could you tell me why you’re out in the middle of a storm like this?”
“I cannot tell you now. But…the answers lie within this Dungeon.” Vesna turned away from Jacob. “Stay by me. The fog gets thicker from here.”
The Lilligant was certainly correct about that. All of a sudden, the thin mist suddenly became much more dense, to the point that Jacob could barely see the trees in front of him. If the Dungeon wasn’t eerie enough already, this certainly unnerved him all the more.
He was no combatant, and the fact that they were in a prime position to be attacked by a feral had him on edge. It wasn’t just the chill from his wet cloak that was making his teeth chatter, and said cloak was weighing him down at this point with how soaked it was.
Yet one thing stuck out to him as they trekked deeper into the fog.
One key source of noise was missing. Perhaps it was the storm that had scared them all away, but…
“Where are the ferals?” Jacob asked out loud, darting his eyes left and right. Would he speak too soon? Was one about to jump them?
“...They do not live here anymore.”
Vesna’s response was wistful, the Lilligant putting a hand to her chest as if in pain.
“Wait, they don’t?” Jacob quirked his head in confusion. No Mystery Dungeon he’d stumbled in had ever gone without an encounter of a feral. Yet to hear that in this one, they had all died out?
Did something happen here?
“Halt.”
Vesna suddenly stopped. Jacob didn’t do so immediately, and stumbled into her.
“Ack! Sorry!”
But in that instance, he noticed an odd lightness when he pushed against her. Enough that the both of them would’ve toppled over if the impact had been any heavier. Enough that he was even thinking about this.
Something’s…not right about her.
“...It is no trouble.” Vesna didn’t seem the least bit fazed by Jacob’s stumble. “But…stay by me as we head further. You may lose your way if you are not careful.”
She extended a leafy hand out to him, which he took in his. Once again, it felt light to the touch - as though he could press harder and the hand would bend out of shape. Strangely it also felt cold, and Jacob got the feeling that wasn’t just from the chilly weather.
What the hell is this feeling…?
They walked, with Vesna leading the way and Jacob chained behind her by their joining hands. The fog continued to thicken, to the point that the Kecleon could barely see two feet in front of him. The trees only became visible once they were close to them, their tall trunks and sheltering foliage looming overhead like giants in the fog. Vesna weaved through them, as if knowing her way like the back of her hand, while Jacob trailed behind her, hoping to the Creator above that she did.
He held her hand tight, like a child to their mother. In an odd way, the Kecleon felt she gave off that air. Does she have any children? he absentmindedly thought.
“I do not.”
“Ah!” Jacob almost jumped out of his skin upon Vesna’s reply. He nearly broke from her grip, and in a panic, joined hands with her again. This thick fog was not somewhere he wanted to get lost in.
“My apologies for frightening you.” Vesna’s expression hinted at her honesty in that moment, which Jacob felt slightly glad about. “Now come. We are nearly there.”
Through the fog they marched, with Vesna seemingly knowing where to tread, moving in a certain pattern through the forest. Jacob followed her movements, just to be on the safe side. Given what he didn’t know about this Dungeon, one wrong step could spell doom.
This continued for a short while until Vesna then stopped.
“We are here.”
For the first time in the whole Dungeon, they had come across a landmark of some kind. And thankfully, the thick fog cleared up around them at that exact moment that Vesna and Jacob stepped upon stone instead of muddy ground. The fog still remained around them as part of the Mystery Dungeon, but did not smother the surroundings like it had done only seconds before. Also as if by magic, the rain lessened to a light drizzle, and the tumultuous winds died down altogether.
It appeared to be a ruined altar of some kind. Three tall pillars stood either side of a walkway up to a staircase, two to the left and one to the right. There was room for a fourth, but as Jacob saw as they walked up to the altar, it had fallen over and was now being feasted upon by ivy. Overgrowth infested parts of the altar, and what looked like small buildings - perhaps vestries of some kind? - had collapsed in on themselves. This place, whatever it was, had evidently not been touched for a very long time.
Or had it? When Jacob ascended the steps with Vesna at the end of the stone walkway, he saw an altar table and a huge rock wall behind it. Both, oddly, were spick and span, as though they had been cleaned only the day before. It was a strange sight, a splodge of upkeep amidst this decaying ruin.
Jacob then laid his eyes on an inscription burned into the altar. It was written in runes he was certain he had seen before. These, however, were faded, crumbling, and barely legible.
Something then clicked in Jacob’s mind.
“Hang on, isn’t this the same writing you gave to me a while ago?” he asked Vesna.
“It was, indeed,” Vesna replied. “They do not take well to outsiders.”
“Wait, ‘they’?” Jacob’s attention was drawn by that. “What do you mean, ‘they’?”
Vesna did not answer him directly. Instead, she looked up at the rock wall behind the altar.
“They are here.” She pointed. “Look.”
Jacob looked up to where she was pointing at, only to blink in surprise.
Was that…more writing on the wall?
“Um, excuse me?” he asked Vesna. “Do you…know what this reads? I don’t know what it says…”
“I see you are not well-versed in this language,” Vesna remarked, in an almost pitiful manner. “As an outsider, we can forgive you for that.”
We?
“It reads, ‘We are Unown. We are many. This is where we dwell.’”
“Unown, huh…” Jacob squinted at the text. “I can’t say I’ve ever heard of it.”
“It is a well-kept secret among those outside of Sadara,” Vesna replied. “None are more knowledgeable on the Unown than they.”
“...What’s so special about this writing, though?” Jacob couldn’t make heads or tails of it. It looked transcribable, in that some of the words looked familiar to him - he was a businessmon after all, and they needed to be literate for their mercantile work - but he would need some time to figure out what exactly the letters said. “Just what is ‘Unown’? And why do we not use this elsewhere?”
In response to that question, Vesna…let out a laugh?
“Unown isn’t an it, outsider.”
Then all of a sudden, her eyes dulled, and her voice suddenly distorted as if multiple beings were saying the same thing.
“W̸͚̣͛ȅ̸͖͝ ̸̰̱̀â̵̪ŗ̸̎̉e̶̱͛ ̴̳̬́̃U̴͈̥̍n̴͓͕̂ȍ̶̰̘̚w̸̢̱̍̿n̵̲̾̏,̷̼͖̿͗ ̸̟̬̑̋ȧ̵̗ǹ̴̝͊d̷̠̿ ̸̲̺̔̕ẁ̷͙̮̒e̴̡̊͋ ̶̱͑à̴̢̋r̸͕͇͊e̷̟̐ ̴̣̈́͐m̵̗̑a̷̳͒̆n̴̜̝̄͒y̴͕̽.̴̤̾”
Then suddenly the body of Vesna glowed brightly before combusting in a burst of bright, reddish-tinged light.
“Ahhh!” Jacob yelled, as from the light, a myriad of new forms emerged from the light where Vesna once stood. They looked identical to the runes on the wall, only these were actual beings that properly moved and blinked their eyes. A psychic energy filled the air around them as they came in closer.
There were roughly about…thirty of them, Jacob guessed, that emerged from Vesna’s light. Each one’s eye honed in on him, examining him with a steely gaze. Jacob gulped, with the feeling of being watched back in Sadara multiplied a thousandfold.
“Wh-What do you want with me?!” he cried.
The Unown quirked their bodies in response to his question, before they spoke in a haunting chorus of multiple voices.
“You are an outsider,” they voiced. It was less distorted, but still chilling to the onlooking Jacob.
On the wall, one word appeared in big letters.
“Outsiders defile,” the chorus chanted from behind him.
“Outsiders raid and pillage,” sounded off the Unown from Jacob’s left.
“It is by outsiders’ hands that this altar no longer enjoys its purpose,” the Unown from Jacob’s right droned.
“Wh-What…?” Jacob looked around him. With the altar in the ruined state it was, there was a sign it had probably been attacked long ago.
He needed to know. Once again, his curiosity reared its head.
“What happened here? What did the outsiders do to this place?”
Every Unown stood rigid, eyes wide, as they told him.
“We were created by Lord Arceus, our Creator from on high. We were beings cast upon His new land, wandering until we found a home. This forest…was that that place.”
Jacob’s teeth chattered as the Unown droned on.
“Soon, more beings came to this land and settled in it.”
Then suddenly, a psychic glow came off each Unown as a multitude of figures - Pokémon, of all shapes and sizes, appeared the altar below them, kneeling as if in worship.
“We…did not expect such reverence from them. But they were of good heart, and thus we welcomed them, at first. They built an altar for us and began to worship us. They saw all of our forms and began to forge a writing system by which they used to communicate through glyphs, tablets and papyrus. This, we did not expect either…But their kindness was not one we rejected. They followed in the Almighty’s ways and bestowed gifts unto us.”
A Mienshao came forth onto the altar and held up an offering of wine, pouring a libation. They were wordless and their body was hollow, naught but only imagery conjured by the Unown surrounding Jacob.
“We…were touched by them. They were precious to us. And Priestess Vesna was perhaps the most precious of all.”
“Vesna?” Jacob uttered, before the Unown conjured the body of Vesna once again. The Lilligant looked down at him with happiness in her eyes.
“She looked after our altar and presided over worship of us. She was no zealot, but she was devoted to Almighty Ardalion’s ways, and by proxy, ours. Violence never once breached her thoughts. She was pure and innocent - just as our land should always have been.
“It was peaceful for a long time. Until…everything changed.”
Jacob could feel a shift in the air. From an air of wistful remembrance came the gradual drift of a new emotion – one fervent and emotional. Everything suddenly darkened around them, as though it were dusk, and on the wall, the letters morphed, and more symbols appeared on the wall.
But instead of a sentence or two comprised of these runes, one singular word appeared in big, bold runes.
“Madness gripped one of our worshippers, who was new to their clan. They suddenly declared us a false entity, and attacked a sermon full of those who had stood with us.”
An Emboar suddenly appeared by the altar, raising their fiery fist and slamming it onto the altar, with destroyed rock and smashed china shrilly sounding out. In the distance, cries could be heard, while the Emboar turned and ran down the altar into a panicked crowd. A huge pillar of flame burst forth, and the wails of the suffering intensified.The symbols changed on the wall once again.
“It was murder of those who we loved. And…destruction of the place we called home.”
The worshippers and marauder disappeared. But the cries for help still rang out, which made Jacob cover his ears. He couldn’t bear to listen anymore.
But unfortunately for him, the Unown were far from finished. New words appeared on the wall.
“Our forest was set alight. But these were no ordinary flames; they were flames that could not be quenched by any water. Only water blessed by Almighty Ardalion could have saved us, and in our hour of need…our pleas were not heard. The fires burned, our people were struck by the blaze, and many perished by its flames.”
Jacob felt tears prick at his eyes. All this suffering…and for what? Some worshipper stingy about their beliefs?
“It was a fell magic that conjured that fire; one cast by an unknown evil. That outsider did not act of his own volition; that evil crept into his doubtful heart and claimed him for itself. We came to know that evil by a foul name.”
The words on the wall morphed to another message. This one was five letters long and it sent a chill down Jacob’s spine once he saw the letters at their biggest.
Then an unusual creature appeared by the altar. It was feline, tall and thin, with two big arms and lightning markings across its body. It looked completely unfamiliar to Jacob; perhaps they were an ancient species lost to time?
Its eyes glowed a menacing red, and as it reeled a fist back, black lightning crackled from its fists.
“We fought our utmost against it. That it had possessed a Mythic angered us all the greater, and to use a Zeraora’s power for itself…we were sickened. We lashed out with all of our power, every rune summoning their Hidden Power to resist the darkness by any means. Our home had been destroyed - it did not matter what destruction we wrought.”
Unown were shown firing beams at the feline, who effortlessly blocked the attacks and swung at them with its lightning fists and fiery feet. On their own, the Unown seemed to be ineffective. But then they began to group up with their attacks, and the beams of Hidden Power grew more colourful and powerful. The possessed Pokémon seemed to be feeling the force behind them, and staggered back a few times. But Jacob saw the gleaming, fanged smile on the creature, and drew back in fright.
That was a look of a crazed killer. ‘Great evil’ was an apt term, alright.
“We held it off until it bid a retreat. It sought other targets with greater Quintessence than us.”
Jacob couldn’t comprehend what was going on anymore. Quintessence? What were these symbols going on about?
“But Almighty Ardalion and His saints fought it fervently, and with time…they managed to seal it away. Alas, the destruction wrought across His blessed land could scarcely be healed by any holy magic. While this forest grew back, thanks to our collective Hidden Power…the scars remained, and our people did not return.”
At that moment, a series of forms appeared before Jacob, floating in the air before him. He looked between the species, before a chilling realisation came upon him.
He recognised a number of them.
A little Chespin.
A muscular Pangoro.
A Miltank priestess.
Th-These…I’ve seen these people before. Th-They’re…!
“All those you have interacted with in Sadara…”
Upon the wall, a new word formed. Instead of the blood red outline they had before, the light to them had faded slightly, as if to signify the anger and rage had given way to sadness.
The word was cold and pronounced, and the sinking feeling grew in Jacob’s chest. 
“Wh-What…?” Jacob’s tail stiffened in shock. “N-No! It can’t be! I saw them! They were all tangible! I made physical contact with…them…”
He trailed off, realising the brush he’d had with Vesna on the way in, and the considerable lightness of her frame that felt unnatural. Vesna had disappeared directly in front of his eyes by the Unown, but…
“The whole village?” Jacob began to shake. “They’re all…dead?”
“Phantoms of a lost time,” the Unown replied. Their monotone drone of multiple voices continued this whole time. “They…do not want to leave. Their time on this soil was cut short. They wish to live out the rest of their days upon this ground, however long that may be. And as their guardians…we will see it that they earn that due respect.”
Their collective gazes suddenly hardened, and Jacob felt akin to a Stantler caught in an Ursaring’s leer.
“Our defence of this forest is our utmost priority. It will rise again, that great evil. Any outsiders risk their defiling of this hallowed forest, and may bring it to our doors once again. That is why…”
The Unown then moved to block Jacob’s exit on all sides.
“We cannot allow you to leave here.”
“W-Wait, what?!” Jacob cried out in shock. “Hold on! I’m not a harbinger of evil or anything! I’m just a merchant that sells my wares!”
The Unown quirked their bodies, as if in confusion. On the wall, the symbols changed once again.
“But…I’m not like the ones who came before!” Jacob pleaded. “I’m not a murderer or a thief or anything like that! Just a merchant who wants to provide for people! There’s Kecleon like me all across Ardalion who are just the same!”
There was silence after he spoke. The expressions of the Unown were a mixture of scepticism and curiosity, their eyes and tilting bodies being the only hints of how they truly felt. It was truly unnerving, and the Kecleon was more than wanting to be rid of this ordeal and go back to his normal work.
Except I can’t even do that anymore. Now that I know my customers were all ghosts…
“We sense…reluctance from you.”
Jacob nearly jumped out of his skin at the telepathy of multiple voices.
“You do not want to be here anymore.”
Shit, had they read his mind?
“Our people are not worth anything to you now that they are dead. Do you think this way?”
“What? No!” Jacob waved his hands to indicate his denial. “That’s not it!”
“Then what is ‘it’, outsider? Are our assessments of your emotions misguided?”
“It’s…” The Kecleon bit his lip. These symbols had considerable power at their beck and call. Even if he had fighting potential, he would stand no chance against them.
But there was one power he had that the most powerful warrior in the land wouldn’t have.
The power of negotiation, honed by years of dealings as a merchant.
Perhaps…it was worth a try to use it here.
“I don’t think your people are worthless. Quite the opposite,” he began. “I’m sorry they had to suffer like that. No one deserves to die like that, not in a forest fire of all things. No one deserves to have their life cut short like that. Especially young ones like Kolya! That little boy…He shouldn’t have died at so young an age!”
The mention of the Chespin’s name made several Unown blink in surprise.
“And then there’s Morana,” Jacob went on, thinking of the Miltank priestess. “I saw the devotion in her eyes when she collected the berries for her libations. She always wished for Almighty Ardalion to look down on me - I think she might’ve meant Arceus? I dunno, but I appreciated her kindness nonetheless. And as for Tihomir, that Pangoro, I enjoyed his enthusiasm and his jokes. Plus he really did love those liechi berries I sold him.”
He did great business with me, he almost said. But a thought struck him to not speak of profits too loudly to these Unown, lest they mistake it for greed. In fact…they had probably read his mind already and detected such feelings.“But I enjoyed their company!” he insisted, quickly moving past that thought. “Yes, I haven’t known them for long, but I saw a quaint little community that didn’t seem to have any bother about them! They were nice to me! And for a merchant, building a good relationship with your customers is the most important thing of all! Yeah, there’s some bad merchants out there who’d try to swindle customers out of every Poké they have, but I wouldn’t dream of doing that! I’m a good ‘mon through and through, honest! Read my heart and tell me otherwise!”
There was a brief pause after this, with the Unown drifting around him and their bodies undulating back and forth, as if to wonder if the Kecleon they surrounded had a point. Then Jacob could feel it: a thin pressure in his mind, an indicator they were reading it. Reading him, and his every intention. The Kecleon had never had such psychic pressure applied to him, and a mild pain split through his head, making him grit his teeth and breathe heavier.
“Calm yourself,” the Unown spoke. “We cannot follow your request if your mind is not at ease.”
How can I be at ease at a time like this?! Jacob was tempted to say, but didn’t say it. Not that it mattered - since they were reading his mind, the Unown had no doubt picked up on it.
Then the pressure eased as the Unown pulled away - a blessed relief for the straining Jacob.
“You…seem to be speaking the truth,” they determined. “You have not told any lies to us.”
Jacob breathed a sigh of relief. Finally, they seemed to be listeni–
“But we do not want outsiders in our midst either.” Just like that, his relief shattered into a million pieces. “Sadara is for those that have fallen, and when the great evil truly has been vanquished…then perhaps they shall finally be able to move on to the afterlife. But even if your intentions are pure…those at rest should remain at rest, and the living should remain among the living.”
One of the symbols floated up directly to Jacob’s face, more intrusively than any of the Unown had been until now. The Kecleon couldn’t help but think they resembled a F.
“Hold out your hand, outsider.”
Jacob bit his lip, nervous as to what was about to happen, before obeying. The F seemed to hover around his hand, analysing it, looking at it in a strange way. Jacob found it truly odd. But then these living symbols were oddities in and of themselves. Man, what a story that would be to tell the rest of his fellow merchants–
“Do not think of it!”
The collective cry came out harsh, and before Jacob could react, the F-shaped Unown suddenly slammed itself into his claw!
“Agh!” Jacob hissed, before looking at his claw. He wasn’t bleeding, but it felt awfully sore, like it had just been burned by a hot flame. And worse still, it was a pain that only seemed to grow.
His hand was burning, he realised. Jacob looked around him frantically for a water source to dunk his hand into. In spite of all the rain, there was none. No fountain of holy water to be seen even. It had probably been destroyed in the fire long ago.
Then the pain reached a sudden new height, drawing a cry of pain from Jacob. He clasped his other hand around it, trying to mask the searing pain to little effect. He breathed heavily in panic; gods, this was torture.
“It is…insurance,” the Unown said. “Be still. It will be over now.”
A few more seconds passed, as the burning reached its apex. Finally, after a short torment that felt a lifetime long, it began to ebb.
“Lift your hand and bear witness to what lays beneath.”
Jacob felt a sudden trepidation at what he’d see, and his hands began to shake. As he pulled back his left hand, he blanched at what he saw, emblazoned in a dark purple on his right hand. 
Jacob gulped. Given the leers of suspicion piercing him by every Unown on the altar, he did not want to find out what they meant by that last part.
“Now then…our business here has concluded. We have one more demand of you.”
The Unown began to encroach upon him once again, encircling him tightly.
“Wh-What is it?” The Kecleon’s gaze frantically darted between all of them. “I-I’ll do whatever you say! I won’t break the pact, I swear!”
The Unown didn’t answer him. But on the wall, the runes formed another word in big runes.
It was a short and simple message.
Jacob reappeared at the village square and immediately doubled over.
“U-Urgh…” Nausea came to him in waves, and he could taste bile at the back of his throat. Teleporting was not a fun experience for him in the few times he had taken it.
At the very least, the storm appeared to have died down from before. The downpour had lessened to a drizzle, and the fierce winds only became occasional gusts. It was safe enough for the villagers to come out of their houses and assess the storm damage.
Jacob looked at them, a dark pit forming in his stomach as he remembered what he had learned.
“Hey, it’s Mr Jacob!” a youngish voice cried out, and Jacob caught sight of a Chespin boy running over to him. “What are you doing away from your stall?”
“K-Kolya…” Jacob could hardly meet his gaze.
Kolya reached his hand out to the Kecleon. Jacob took it in his own, but nearly let go when he felt it in his own.
The boy’s warm smile belied his chilling, ghostly light touch.
N-No…He looks so alive, full of life! How could it be that…?
“Are you alright, Mr Jacob?” Kolya looked up at him, concerned.
“Were ya out in that storm?! Look at ya!” The towering form of a Pangoro came over, and he peered down at Jacob incredulously. “You’re soaked to the scales! C’mon, we’ll get ya inside an’ get ya dried off!”
Jacob felt a bolt of terror down his spine.
“I-I’m fine, thank you,” he said to Tihomir, trying to keep the panic out of his voice.
“Did you go out in that storm, Jacob?” Suddenly a Miltank approached him from the side. The cross-wheel necklace denoted her as a priestess. “Don’t be a hero, now! Almighty Ardalion wouldn’t want you joining Him so soon!”
Jacob began to shiver. The urge to vomit increased all the greater, and he began to hyperventilate.
“I-I’m sorry,” he blurted out shakily. “But I can’t, I can’t, I can’t…”
He turned away from them.
“I have to leave.”
His voice was strained, with tears beginning to drip from his eyes. He pulled up his hood so they couldn’t see him in such a pathetic state.
“Wait, Mr Jacob!” Kolya called out. “We just want to help!” He reached out his hand again. Jacob only batted it away.
“I’m sorry, but I can’t accept it,” Jacob replied, before beginning to walk away.
His pace then turned brisk, and before he realised it, he was outright running from the village, not looking back lest it trapped him inside forever or something of that nature.
The Unown’s words rang in his mind as he ran.
Let those at rest stay at rest, and let the living remain among the living.
Before long, Sadara was long out of sight, and the rain had stopped. An overcast sky still hung overhead, but the faintest glimmer of the sun lay behind the clouds. Jacob felt himself begin to relax. However, with what he had seen back in the forest, his nerves were still shot to pieces.
He’d been walking for a while; no doubt it was time to rest.
The Kecleon sat down at the base of a fallen tree, felled by the storm. Oran Berries from above littered the ground, but Jacob felt too sick to his stomach to muster eating them. He laid back against the trunk, feeling the cool breeze against his wet scales.
He, however, still felt a familiar feeling long after Sadara was out of sight.
The sensation he was being watched.
And as he thought this, his right, branded hand glowed a dark purple.
Well done for listening. You are a good soul.
It was one voice, thankfully. Not a garbled mess like back at the altar.
You were wise not to make an enemy of us. Thus, you may continue your life as a merchant.
Jacob bit his lip. Perhaps it was a mercy he made it through that ordeal. The Unown, from what he grasped of them, did not seem the least bit benevolent when it came to trespassers.
Yet…this brand was permanent, wasn’t it?
Yes, it is. Speak of Sadara and its inhabitants at your peril henceforth.
“Great,” Jacob sighed. As if he needed a reminder of this event. He’d much rather be wiped of all memory of it. He’d have to hide the mark some way before anyone caught sight of it. If he cut off some of his cloak and used it as a makeshift glove…
Jacob used his claws to cut off a rough patch from one of the cloak’s ends. It would have to do until he could find something more substantial.
He looked back at the path, weaving its way through the trees and down towards the haunted village. He’d left his merchant’s cart behind, he realised. Oh well - the villagers could help themselves to its contents. And maybe the loss in stock would convince his overheads to never consider going into Sadara ever again.
He lifted up the patch, looking down at the brand.
“...I’m sorry for disturbing your home,” he mumbled. A tear fell from his eye.
There was silence, before his brand glowed again.
…Remember your trespass, and repeat it not again.
Jacob could only nod as his tears continued to fall.
Notes
This was written as part of a Writing Prompts Bingo challenge in March 2025 held on the PMD Writers' United Discord server. I never did get around to uploading it to the various fanfiction sites initially, but since it's Halloween at the time of upload, I figured there was no better time than now given the haunting subject matter in this oneshot.