"So, what is it you wish to speak to me about?" Gal queried.
The dark brown-haired man sighed. "On my first day here, you mentioned that this village is protected by the gods so you do not get attacked by external evil."
"No," Gal replied. "I said we have protection against Hex, attacks from other beings are still plausible, some of our villagers have even been disappearing recently."
The dark brown-haired man nodded understandably before shifting his eyes to the man with the wound scar. "Also, I believe someone in the village wants me dead."
"Nonsense… I will not tolerate such accusations on the people of this village… know your limit."
Eryth sighed. "Right, apologize for such words. I will watch what I say from here on."
The dark-skinned man nodded. "Thank you… but lemme be honest with you," he paused for a second and gave a hand sign to the man behind him.
The man nodded before running towards the village hall. "… It was I who ordered the kill on you," he revealed, but the look on Eryth's face didn't shift. He continued to hold a small smile on his lips while looking at the chief of the village.
"I'm sure you know your friends' sudden illness was not just a coincidence, I ordered that your meals be poisoned," he revealed. "But somehow, it didn't affect you."
Eryth sucked his teeth while cracking his muscle. "If I may ask, why?"
"You see, a group of people we call the collectors have been terrorizing our little village for the past ten full moons… they come and take any person with much energy," he continued. "I planned to offer you three to them and save my people till the next full moon, but you being fine ruined everything, and our physicians convinced me to not do it."
The man Gal ordered away returned with a long sword and passed it to the chief of the village who collected and stabbed it into the ground.
Eryth turned to see the physician with the Green eyes staring at them with her arms crossed. The villagers began to gather around as Gal stabbed his sword into the ground.
"I see," Eryth ran his hand through his hair. "If these… collectors are taking people with much energy, and I'm right, then it seems Hex is using others to get into your protected village."
"Hex," the man stayed quiet for a second before placing his hand on his face. "I should have known that was it." He sighed and looked up at Eryth.
"You must be powerful to be resistant to poison, and that is why I want to ask for your help to fight and defeat these collectors."
Only then did the dark brown-haired man's brows shift closer together. He moved his hand to scratch the back of his head. "Well, no… I will not." Eryth turned his back to Gal. "You have a lot of balls asking me that after many attempts to kill me. But I leave your village before the full moon tonight, and I will not help you…" he let his words trail off as he locked eyes with Pelee, the girl he had shown a little about Energy Act.
Gal pulled his sword out of the ground. "Then I guess I'll have to kill and deliver your body to the collectors myself."
Gal bolted forward and swung the long sword at Eryth but the latter, without turning back, ducked, letting the sword fly past his head. He spun around and forced his attacker back with a punch.
Eryth didn't waste any time as he pulled out his sword and parried Gal's next attack. The dark-skinned man channelled his full strength and swung an attack but Eryth effortlessly parried and looked straight into his eyes while pressing back Gal's sword. "You don't have any Act, do you?"
"I don't need it." He pushed back Eryth's sword and swung again but the dark brown-haired man stepped on his sword and propelled himself up. While in the air, he pulled out his dagger and hurled it at his opponent.
The chief of the village moved his head just in time to let the dagger fly past his head. He moved his sword to throw it at Eryth while he was still in the air, but Eryth suddenly disappeared and reappeared behind Gal with the dagger in his hand but he didn't attack. "If you are this strong, why didn't you fight the collectors?"
"I get it, I'm a coward… so why don't you stay and fight them to find out my reason?"
He turned to try another attack, but before he could, Eryth hit the long sword from his hand and easily tackled him to the ground. "I will help fight the collectors, but if you do anything to hurt my friends or anything in this village, I'll kill you."
The dark brown-haired man turned and walked into the woods. He continued until he reached a lake before curbing in front of it. He sighed and dipped his hand into it, splashing the water over his face. He then dipped his hand again and rubbed it over his head before rising to his feet. "Are you gonna just stay and watch me?"
"I just might," Syrie's soft voice came in from behind. "You have an aura I could watch till the last hour."
Eryth chuckled and turned to face the arctic blue-haired woman. "Is that so?"
Her eyes flickered down to his neck then back up to his eyes. "Yes."
He noticed the look in her eyes and shook his head. "Just ask, you are here to feed on me, yeah?"
She was quiet for a split second before replying. "I don't know what is wrong with me anymore," she started. "Before you came along, I used to have control over it… it took many full moons before the desire to hunt and feed resurfaces again."
"But since you, the desire to kill hasn't levelled, I am barely keeping myself from going on a rampage… or perhaps it's because I didn't kill you while I fed."
"Well," he paused. "Do you want to try again?"
The arctic blue-haired lady immediately closed the distance between them and bit deep into his neck.
"Fuck!" Eryth groaned as she dug her claws into his back. The wound from the enchanted blade closed up as she swallowed.
She stayed that way for a long moment, stealing groans and winces from the dark brown-haired man before pulling back, and looking into his eyes.
"Thank you."
Syrie leaned back in, but this time, she pressed her lips against his, kissing him passionately. She held his hand and guided it to the arch of her back before wrapping her hands around his neck.
The dark brown-haired man placed her against a tree and pulled down her clothes, kissing her down to her neck.
.
.
.
That night, the moon was brighter than anything the villagers had seen since the collectors began collecting. The new priest, a disciple of the last priest, a Priests of Anitehr, claimed it was because the faith of the village and the villagers was about to change.
Every individual was locked up in their homes, peeking out the window, watching as Gal, and Eryth both stood still with their sword in hand, waiting for the collectors. They had torches surrounding the village which also added to the brightness.
"Look at you, standing all brave beside me while you've let these collectors slaughter innocent lives," Eryth said.
The dark-haired man took a step back. "I used to be an Illusion Act user, but one of them had the Green Eyes and he stopped the flow of energy in my body, now I'm just Gal with the long sword."
Eryth turned to face him. "That doesn't mean you just wait till they return every full moon to kill more of the villagers… you should have come up with a plan to fight those people instead of blaming your wife for giving birth to a cursed child. Perhaps it was you who was responsible for the child being that way."
"They are coming!" The scout's voice said from afar. "The collectors are coming!"
....
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