Wallace and Martha watched in horror as they saw Raymond's Spirit walk towards them.
As he walked, a layer of ice spread over the ground, slowly inching towards them.
Wallace gasped as the ice covered his hand, turning it numb before freezing it in place.
He pulled hard, trying to break it free, but it only made cracks spread through his wrist.
With a loud crack, it snapped off, leaving him with a bloody stump, while his hand remained frozen on the ground.
Clutching his arm, he screamed in agony. Hot blood spewed out from the stump, only to be frozen in an instant.
Martha paled as she heard his screams, and she ran towards the back door.
"Wait, don't leave me here!", Wallace cried out, before rushing after her.
He saw Martha ram through the door, and followed her into the woods. But then he lost track of her, as a thick fog settled all around him.
"Martha! Wait for me!", he yelled as he ran.
He ran and ran, going as fast as he could, and yet, he could still hear the sound of Raymond's footsteps, calmly following him from behind.
He tried desperately to escape through the forest, hoping that would be enough for him to be safe from the ghost.
But all this fog made it hard to see, leaving him with no clue of where he was going as he stumbled aimlessly for what felt like hours.
He turned a corner, then turned another, before turning again, soon losing all sense of time or direction.
His foot slipped, and he tumbled down a pit. He groaned from the pain and tried to get up, but something below him had caught his leg.
He struggled to pull free, but his leg wouldn't budge.
"No! Let go of me!", he cried out as he looked to see what was holding him in place.
His eyes widened when he saw his foot stuck in a pile of bodies, their horrendous stench forcing bile up his throat.
Every one of them wore a similar shirt, having Wallace's family crest branded on the shoulders.
These were his men.
The color drained from his face, and he doubled his efforts to pull himself free.
But just as his foot was freed from the pile, a pale hand caught onto his leg, and he heard a hoarse voice coming from below.
"Sir...please...help...me...", one of the men, still alive, croaked.
But Wallace didn't have time to hear any of it, because he heard the footsteps again.
Only this time, they were even closer.
His eyes filled with madness and he unsheathed his sword, plunging it into the man's head.
As the grip on his leg loosened, he bolted— running for his life, and not daring to look back.
Yet no matter how fast he ran, or how hard he tried, he could escape neither the forest, nor the haunting footsteps.
Panic gripped his heart as he felt fatigue creeping in.
His vision dulled, his legs grew numb.
"Martha! Help! Where are you?", panting, he desperately called out to her, hoping that she'd be able to help him escape.
He heard footsteps again, and flinched when he saw someone approaching through the mist.
He prepared to run, but calmed down when he recognized the uniform that the person was wearing.
"Martha! It's you. I'm glad I found you! Quick, we have to find a way out of here!"
But Martha didn't respond, continuing to walk silently towards him.
"Martha?", he walked closer to her, but he froze when he noticed something else. A round object rolled towards him, stopping next to his feet.
He turned to see what it was, and screamed when he saw Martha's severed head.
A river of blood flowed out from her mouth, and she stared at him with horrified eyes.
Wallace's eyes widened and he looked back up, only to see Martha's headless corpse walking towards him with outstretched arms.
It grabbed onto his neck and tried to strangle him, but he wrestled free and pushed it away, pinning it to the ground by stabbing his sword through its chest.
He tried to run away again, but his legs buckled, and he fell down.
And that's when the footsteps returned. But this time, they were closer, louder, and came from all around him.
Looking behind him, he saw Raymond, walking towards him with a hateful gaze.
"Raymond, old friend, wait! Let me explain! I swear I'll tell you everything!"
But Raymond said nothing, and kept walking closer.
Wallace felt a crushing weight as Raymond drew closer to him.
Step. Step. Step.
With each step, the weight increased.
Step. Step. Step.
With each step, pain spread through Wallace's body.
Step. Step. Step.
With each step, his body began to age and shrivel.
Horrified, Wallace scrambled backwards, trying to get away, but dozens of skeletal hands rose from the ground, pinning him in place.
Another corpse walked up from behind him, it was the same man Wallace had stabbed through the head.
The corpse grabbed onto Wallace's head, its fingers digging into his flesh, and forced him to watch as Raymond approached.
Wallace cried out, "No, please, I didn't mean to do it! I was just jealous!"
Raymond kept walking towards Wallace, staring at him with cold fury.
Step. Step. Step.
A blinding pain spread through Wallace's body.
Desperate to make the pain stop, and not knowing what else to do, Wallace tried in vain to reason with Raymond.
"I was the son of a war hero, and yet I had no talent for the sword. Just think of how I must have felt as a child to see how a random orphan like you was so much more talented than me!"
Step. Step. Step.
His flesh continued to whither and die, and pieces of his skin started breaking off.
"That...that's why I used my connections to stop you from getting promoted when we went to the army. But that was it, I was happy with just that much!", he pleaded, his voice growing hoarse.
Raymond kept walking, paying Wallace's words no heed.
Wallace screamed, tears streaming down his face as his muscles melted under his skin.
"But then...then that beautiful wretch, Qulia, had to come in! She refused when I asked her to marry me, but then she went and married you! So I tried to drive a wedge between you two."
The steps continued to echo through the woods, and Wallace felt his bones turning to dust.
"But it's all her fault! I told her I'd kill you if she didn't stay away...she didn't listen...so I had no choice!"
Wallace pleaded desperately, yet no matter what he said, Raymond's steps never paused. He kept walking towards Wallace, paying no heed to his twisted reasoning.
Wallace's eyes bulged out against his shrinking skull.
"No, please, stop. I'm begging you!"
Step. Step. Step.
Soon, his entire body turned to a shriveled husk.
As Raymond came to a halt in front of his face, Wallace spoke one last time, his voice a faint hiss.
"No...I...I don't want to...die..."
And then, as the last traces of life left his withered corpse, he fell down with a thud. His mouth was agape in a silent scream, and his bulging eyes reflected the image of Raymond's vengeful ghost.
Some distance away, hidden behind rows of dead trees, Niko stood silently, his eyes shining with bright light.
As the light dimmed, the mist disappeared, and the skeletons returned below the ground.
He glanced at the two corpses laying in the dirt, before turning away and walking off.
He had kept his promise to help Raymond.