Hours, days, five days passed and the High Knight of Hex were yet to arrive. The village had already taken action they believed would be precautions and ways to fight back and protect themselves from the Knights but it was all for nothing as no one came.
Eryth walked up to the top of the tower in the village where he met Blutox.
"Hey man," he said before standing by his side.
Blutox dropped the binoculars he was holding and glanced at the approaching mage before turning back.
"How is it looking out there?" Eryth asked.
"Still no sign of them."
"It's been five days since, they should have found this place if they had started looking then, what do you think they are planning?"
Blutox looked through the binoculars again. "Don't know."
Eryth remained quiet for a couple of seconds before speaking. "You know, Monk Zumma is really smart," he started. "He knows everything about other Acts that aren't his and can teach it to others, despite it not being his original Act."
"It's just Mind expansion, an ability from his Act, nothing serious," Blutox explained. "The Mind expansion makes the user to be able to grasp things that you and I can't comprehend."
Eryth nodded, he looked at Blutox and then back straight ahead. "Do you think he'll also know the reason your kind is with the High knights?"
Blutox stared at the forest where the enemy was to arrive from without saying a word. His kind, the Kanreis are of three clans; the Red Kanrei, Green Kanrei, and the Blue Kanrei, also called the War Kanrei.
Blutox knew the answer to Eryth's question, but he remained quiet, for a moment at least.
"Unlike the Red and Green Kanrei who tend to stick to the production of goods and resources, the Blue Kanrei always pick a side that will lead to the battlefield, we believe we were children of Achim, born to always be on the battlefield and fight battles. So when Hex attacked my hometown, the Blue Kanrei agreed to join and fight for him."
Achim- god of war.
"But you didn't?"
Blutox scoffed. "I never agreed in the ways of my people, the Blue Kanrei, but some would say it is because I am afraid to join the battlefield, a coward they would call me."
Eryth nodded understandably. "I see… and you are sure you wouldn't fail to pick up your sword against your own?"
The child of the Blue Kanrei held Eryth's stare for a moment before turning away without a reply.
.
.
.
• At the Underground area where the villagers were.
Grevla curbed in front of a child and began using her healing ability on him. The child lay on a bed, sweating excessively with no physical injury but he couldn't keep his eyes fully open.
"It's okay child, you will be okay, Ruhe will protect you," she said before placing her hand on his forehead and saying a prayer to her god.
After a while, she stood up and moved to a different child who also lay on a bed unconscious and did the same thing she did to the other child.
"Will they be okay?" Daya asked while walking to Grevla's side.
Grevla stood up to meet the Expansion Act user and shook her head no. "They are still breathing, but no improvement. I've said a prayer to Ruhe…"
"We both know Ruhe is not what we need right now," an old voice said from behind.
The duo and the others in the room turned to look at the speaker. A grey-haired elderly man who looked in his late sixties stood with his hand behind his back and four younger individuals behind him.
He raised his hand and pointed at Grevla. "You and I both know that we need more than a prayer to Ruhe if we want them to recover."
"You want to make a sacrifice, Ahdam?" Daya queried.
"No!" He yelled.
"We have been locked in here for five days now but no sign of the people you CLAIM will attack us."
Grevla pinched the bridge of her nose as the man continued.
"This has gone far too long! Our children are falling ill from the bites of the cursed insects in here, we have left our farms with no one to tend to them! … It's been five days, and we want to return to our homes."
As he spoke, the people around slowly began to nod their heads in agreement with what the old man was saying.
Grevla raised her hand. "Please remain calm, we will get through this eventually. We do not know what the enemy is planning, but we are sure they will find this place."
"Are you certain?"
"Did your god tell you that? Mmm."
"Priestess of light?"
Words flew towards Grevla from amongst the crowd.
"Maybe she has been forsaken."
"She's been praying for days now and it doesn't seem like any of her prayers are being answered," another voice said.
"Isn't she the Princess of the dead King? It is her fault that we are in this mess."
"Yes! Why couldn't you stop a single man? It was just him alone before he annihilated your entire home and turned them into his army."
"Yeah, she is forsaken, we should get away from her before she rubs off on us as well."
Grevla stared at them speechless. She couldn't get at them as they were right, it was what she'd always thought to herself; it was her fault, everything, all the evil that had befallen Herimol, it was all her fault.
The crowd continued to throw hurtful words at Grevla until Daya stepped forward.
"You are right," she asserted. She moved toward the door and pulled it open. "Those that desire to leave, should. Make your decision."
The old man who started the matter, Ahdam gestured for his supporters to follow him. The majority of the villagers packed their things and followed the man out of the underground area.
Meanwhile, Eryth and Blutox continued to scout the area while having their little conversation.
"I see something," Blutox said, cutting Eryth short.
He passed the binoculars to Eryth and quickly moved to pick up a flaregun which he was instructed to shoot if the enemies were sighted.
As Eryth looked through the binoculars, he caught sight of two of the High Knights of Hex, the ones he had previously encountered, Ash, the male fire Elemental Act user, and Gama, the formless-headed figure with the Self-duplication Act.
Blutox loaded the flaregun and raised it to the sky but it didn't fire. He tried several times but it still didn't work.
"Fuck!" He groaned.
His eyes moved with fear as he opened the gun up to try and fix it.
"Why the hell are they outside?" Eryth asked, gesturing at the group of villagers, marching out of the library.
"Fuck! Fuck!"
Eryth looked between the High knights and the villagers. He turned to Blutox to see him struggling with the flaregun.
Eryth raised his hand to the sky and shot a fireball which exploded in the air before jumping from the top of the tower. It was a high distance, but he didn't care, strangely, he knew he'd make it.
He landed on the ground and began running toward Gama who had already multiplied into a large number.
The old man, Ahdam quickly turned and dashed towards the library with the other villagers screaming and following behind him, but before he or any of them could make it into the building, a large dark bird appeared in the sky and dropped the last of the High Knights, Maya.
She landed on the library and spat out a pool of acid from her mouth, burning down the side of the building until the rubbles blocked the entrance.
A mischievous grin slipped off her lips as she took out a tiny round orb which exuded black smoke.
"Feast."
She breathed on the tiny ball before throwing it on the ground in front of the villagers. As the ball landed on the ground, it released a small explosion before turning into multiple shadow monsters that immediately began attacking the people.
....
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