“We’re going to make you scream.”
In the world of Eden, danger could strike at any moment, especially from the monsters that roamed the lands. Although monsters needed to ‘make love’ with humans in order to breed, that didn’t mean that love was always in the air or that their intentions were peaceful for others. Some monsters didn’t care about the humans at all aside from using them to reproduce with, others took delight in killing those they copulated with afterwards, and a few even preferred to spill blood more than anything. Being forced to either run or fight may be the only options one might have to survive. But sometimes the direction in which to flee may not be clear, or the incoming threat too dangerous to take on.
Sometimes the danger may be unavoidable, and death may be inevitable.
*****
The sky had only a few small clouds passing by in the night, the stars and the moon above casting the land down below with a soft bloom and providing the only real light for anyone to see with, something that was obviously suspicious while looking at the village of Eston which had no lights on at all throughout the settlement. Riding towards the darkened town a white horse was galloping along a dirt trail at a quickened pace, with Daniel riding on top with Triska and Alyssa behind him. As they approached the outer village limits Daniel slowed Lucky down as he and the two girls took notice of the same thing.
“Um, why is it so dark here?” Daniel asked.
“That’s weird, not a single lamp or fire seems to be going,” Triska said glancing around, watching as they trotted into the village down a dirt road with darkened buildings on both sides of them. Houses, shops, and even the streets were completely vacant as well as void of any light, with the moon above giving the only slight illumination to the area. It was enough to at least see what was around them for the time being and to notice that something was not right with this village.
“This doesn’t seem right,” Alyssa commented with a raised eyebrow.
“I don’t get it, there’s no patrol or night watchmen, where is everyone?” Daniel asked.
“Hello?” Triska called out as they slowly trotted down the street, her voice echoing out yet offering no reply from anyone.
“This village wasn’t marked as deserted, it should be livelier than this,” Alyssa said shaking her head.
“Hello? Please, we need help, is anyone here?” Daniel called out. They heard nothing but Lucky’s footsteps on the grains of dirt below them.
“You’ve got to be kidding me, there has to be someone here, anyone,” Triska said with confusion.
“This is a village out in the middle of the outerlands, they have to have someone keeping watch for trouble,” Daniel reasoned unsurely.
Lucky stumbled against a bucket and shovel, the horse letting out a neigh as the three riders quickly held on so not to get thrown off while the clanking of the metal rang out in the air.
“It’s so dark here, we can hardly see what’s around us,” Daniel said with concern.
“Well… I do know of one way we could shed some light on this situation,” Alyssa carefully mentioned.
“You’re not thinking what I think you’re thinking, are you?” Triska asked dryly.
“And it’ll certainly get the attention of anyone who might be here, I don’t think they’ll be ignoring us then,” Alyssa continued.
“She’s thinking what you think she’s thinking,” Daniel replied simply with a glance back to Triska.
“No way, Alyssa, we’re supposed to be here to talk peacefully with the village and ask for their help, not scare and likely provoke them into attacking us,” Triska argued.
“Scare who? Look around you, nobody’s here,” Alyssa pointed out while waving her hand around.
“We can’t-” Triska said before Lucky neighed and bucked back, with the riders falling off his back onto the ground as the horse cried out and shook his head with a grunt.
“
Ow
! What was that for?” Triska asked as a cloud passed by overhead, casting the town into darkness around them. Daniel and Alyssa looked around then towards the sound of Lucky as he scraped some dirt ahead of them with another neigh.
“Something’s getting him riled up,” Daniel cautioned.
“Alright, that’s it, I’m putting an end to this,” Alyssa grunted as she stood up.
“Don’t, not here, not like this,” Triska argued sternly.
“Lucky, bandits!” Alyssa shouted out.
Lucky neighed and bucked around as Daniel and the two girls quickly backed up, watching as a bright red flame appeared ahead of them from Lucky’s tail setting ablaze. The horse cried out as he shifted into his demon form, his skeletal wings erupting up from his back while his hair shifted to black. His crimson eyes glowed softly in the darkness as faint wisps of fire and smoke came from his mouth, outlining his head with a fiery glow. The area around them slowly lit up a bit from the horse’s fiery tail, with Alyssa holding her hand out towards the burning flames.
“Now, let there be light,” she stated distantly.
“Alyssa, I swear to god, if you burn down this village…” Triska warned with growing concern.
“Shut up and let me focus,” Alyssa snapped as she concentrated her magic, watching as the flames licked and flared up from the animal’s tail. Daniel looked around worriedly while hoping that this wasn’t scaring anyone who may be hiding nearby.
“Alyssa,” Triska slowly cautioned while watching Lucky’s fiery tail, with Alyssa narrowing her eyes which glowed softly along with her focuser crystal. The witch took a slow breath then swung her hand out to the side, casting a fiery trail of red flames to extend out from Lucky’s tail and swirl around in the air above them. Alyssa held both her hands up towards the flaming ring as the fires sizzled and burned with a soft bloom above. Daniel and Triska watched with wonder as Alyssa seemed to strain herself while trying to keep her magic from going out of control, the witch feeling the surge of energy growing in her palms as she held the flaming ring in place with her power.
‘You can do this, Daniel believes in you, plus he’s watching you right now. Don’t screw this up, you can’t screw this up, whatever you do don’t screw this up!’
Alyssa shut her eyes and focused her magic with all her might, feeling the pull and sheer energy in the flaming ring above her which was hard to concentrate on as it kept wavering slightly in her grip. The fires burned brighter and spun around faster, with Triska and Daniel watching the ring carefully while Lucky was now looking around while stepping in circles as he kept on guard for whatever was nearby.
“Alyssa?” Daniel asked softly. Alyssa smiled a bit at hearing his voice then opened her eyes, the soft purple glow from them being overpowered by the crimson light above her.
“Let there be light!” she declared, and then swung her hands out to her sides. In a flash the ring shattered with a loud bang, throwing fiery streaks out in all directions. The scattered shots of flames flew through the air before striking into nearby lampposts that were set around the street, the fires almost seeming to hone in on the candles as they burst through the glass forcibly and set the lamps alight. All around the group lamps were struck with the flying fireballs and lit up, with one fireball streaking past a lamp and crashing through a large window into a building. Alyssa gasped as she looked over to seeing a bakery window shattering and dropping to the ground as fire started to burn inside the building, with Daniel and Triska watching with surprise as well.
“Alyssa!” Triska cried out.
“Whoops,” Alyssa said nervously. The street around them lit up with the glows of several lampposts, with some even being further down the block as well. The windows of all the nearby buildings gave off a soft bloom from the burning lamps while the bakery next to the group cast a large red glow out from within as fire was spreading throughout the establishment.
“Dammit, Alyssa! What did I tell you?” Triska yelled out before she ran over to the broken window. Alyssa whined and looked to Daniel while trying not to cry, the boy turning to her as she whimpered and shook her head quickly.
“I’m sorry, Daniel, I tried, I really tried to use control, honest,” she pleaded.
“Oh my god!” Triska cried out. Alyssa shut her eyes and looked down while straining not to scream.
“I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m-”
“Daniel, Alyssa, get over here!” Triska shouted out. Daniel looked to her then quickly ran over, with Alyssa whimpering before looking around nervously. Even with the bakery on fire and the streetlamps having been lit there was still no movement or sound being heard throughout the village. Nobody was looking through their windows or coming out of their doors, not a soul was checking on the disturbance at all. Alyssa glanced around with a puzzled expression before looking over to Daniel and Triska, the two just staring into the bakery while remaining silent as the building continued to burn inside.
“Oh god, tell me I didn’t hurt anyone, I didn’t mean to do that,” Alyssa pleaded as she ran over to them. She looked inside the bakery then jumped with a gasp, the three of them seeing bodies of women lying all over the floor. The light from the fires showed all the people were dressed in simple villager clothing, had stunned expressions on their faces, and pale facial complexions as they all remained motionless on the floor.
“What happened, why are they all just lying around like that?” Daniel asked. Triska quickly barged through the door, breaking the frame and glass with a shatter, before she raced over and knelt down next to a woman.
“Hey, are you alright? I’m sorry, my friend is just god awful with her magic, she didn’t mean to…” she started before trailing off and looking at the body with wonder. She budged the woman and got no response, then leaned down with her ear next to the woman’s mouth, hearing no breathing from the motionless villager.
“Is she ok? I didn’t kill her did I?” Alyssa asked nervously.
“No, she’s not ok. She’s dead,” Triska said looking to her friends with disbelief.
“What? No, I didn’t mean to, I really didn’t! Oh god, Daniel, please forgive me, I didn’t mean to do that!” Alyssa cried out as she grabbed hold of Daniel and started to cry.
“Hold on, Alyssa, I don’t think you did this, you didn’t even hit any of them,” Triska said looking around at the bodies.
“She’s right; they’re not burned at all. In fact, I don’t see any blood, or wounds,” Daniel said looking around at all the bodies. Alyssa sniffled then looked into the bakery with worried eyes. The humans on the floor had no visible injuries or markings on them at all, and aside from having a pale complexion and being dead they looked physically ok. Triska rolled another woman over onto her back and examined her as the fires spread along the back wall and ignited some of the drapes near a backroom, the teen eyeing over the body as she couldn’t see any visible markings or wounds on the woman. Her clothing even appeared perfectly fine, with not a single cut, scratch, or drop of blood on it.
“What happened, why are they all dead like this?” Triska asked with puzzlement. She looked over the dead body carefully then shook her head as she couldn’t figure out how the woman died like she did.
“There’s no wound at all, it’s like she just… dropped dead,” she said with a shrug.
“Do you think she was poisoned?” Daniel asked.
“I don’t know, maybe, but
all
of them? What could have poisoned everybody like this?” Triska replied while looking around at all the dead humans in the building.
“Triska, get out of there!” Alyssa yelled out, with Triska looking up to seeing fires spreading up along the ceiling, the wood burning and creaking loudly as a few of the beams started to crack and give out. The teen quickly got up and bolted out through the window before the ceiling collapsed down with a crash behind her, with Triska, Daniel, and Alyssa watching as the fires burned brightly from the debris.
“That’s unsettling,” Triska commented as she brushed some dust off of her shoulder. Daniel blinked then slowly looked around the area as Lucky was finally calming down in his demon form.
“I don’t like how nobody is reacting to us burning down a bakery, seems like the kind of thing that should at least warrant threats from the locals,” he cautiously pointed out. The girls looked around slowly as the town, aside from a burning building, was completely quiet and peaceful still.
“Alyssa just burned down a building, how could they all be ignoring that?” Triska asked carefully. The three looked to the burning bakery where the bodies of dead women were now buried and aflame before they slowly turned to each other with the same disturbing thought.
“You don’t think…” Alyssa said softly with widening eyes. Triska quickly ran over and grabbed a burning piece of wood in the window before running over to the neighboring building and kicking the door open. She held the torch inside and looked around in the darkened home before jumping with a gasp.
“Yeah, I think,” she said nodding as she saw more dead humans lying on the floor of the living room, with two woman and a young girl seen sprawled out on the floor with stunned expressions on their pale faces. Daniel and Alyssa looked around with growing concern as Triska ran across the street and kicked open another door, the teen peering inside and seeing three dead women along with a young boy lying on the ground, all of them having the same shocked expressions frozen on their pale faces.
“They’re dead… they’re all dead!” Triska cried out.
“How can that be, what could have wiped the whole village out?” Daniel asked looking around quickly, seeing nothing but darkened buildings all the way down the street with no sign of anyone among them. Triska eyed over the dead bodies in the home before running back over to her friends.
“I don’t get it, there’s no blood or wounds at all, it’s like they all just dropped dead,” she said shaking her head. Alyssa looked over to Lucky as the horse trotted over to her, the animal grunting softly as she reached out and slowly brushed the horse’s nose to soothe him.