Interlude 1 – A bloody anomaly

[Pheyis's Point of view]

I wake up in almost complete darkness as usual.

A glance at my Status confirms the night is barely over: dawn quarter started a handful of minutes ago. That means I have plenty of time before checking in with the chief. The old man is never awake before mid morning.

I automatically start my morning routine, stretching as much as my body can bear, holding each position for about twenty seconds. Left arm, right arm, left leg, right leg, torso and back. Then again in different directions. And do it all once more.

The scout's ritual of dexterity, a routine that has been drilled into my mind and body decades ago.

Stretch each day a hair further and grow your dexterity.

I sigh.

This used to be easy and now I can't remember the last time I got a spontaneous attribute growth anymore.

At least, unlike most of this village, I'm not slowly losing stats. Not that anybody would admit to it, but its pretty obvious when a regular slacker suddenly shows up to every training session for a couple weeks. Well, at least I notice. Weak willed fools. What they really need is some actual danger to remember them what world we live in.

Of course, watching time flow in this village, I understand that they don't have the drive to push ever further. The only noteworthy events of the last three years were the three times the chief collected the King's Due. This place is just too far away for real problems. Living in this forgotten valley deep in the Enatoms, it's easy to grow soft.

Well, there are the occasional monster hunts but people don't need to be particularly sharp for those. Overwhelming force is the only proper reaction to dangerous monsters and that's where I come in anyway.

I spit in a corner of my hut. Just thinking about this is making me angry and that serves no purpose. I briefly consider going to this morning’s exercise to shake them up a little but I’m not in the right mood.

Truth be told, maybe they are right. I chose to retire here precisely because I was sick of the endless wars in the plains. Wars against faraway nations, wars against natural beasts and disasters, internal wars, bloody wars and silent wars, I saw them all tme and time again. People fight over the rich fields and the blood helps the fields grow for the next year. But there are no fields stretching all the way to the horizon up here in Wathamber.

I'm sure the mountains surrounding us are rich too, but almost nobody feels the need to come all the way out here. The kingdom is huge but not that populated, people die too much. When people die, new land is suddenly up for grabs. Settlers and neighbors get comfortable. Then twenty, fifty, or even a hundred years later for the lucky ones, its over their blood that a new landowner stands. The only exception is of course in the King's city, Alvadorra.

Alvadorra is also a great place of war, but it is a subtler war : the war of the nobles, a war of words, rumors and reputation. Even in the city of wonders, some people only want to see others bleed. I wanted none of it, so I left to as far east as possible under the King's Safety, at the foot of the sturdy giants of rock that have ever watched over us. They saw our blood seep into the ground from afar ever since the first gilfeith was born, and they will still be here when the last of us is gone. I'll try crossing to the other side of these mountains one of these days. As far as I know, nobody ever came back from the other side. At best, people make it to mountains that are too great for them to cross and turn tail. Maybe its a good place to meet the gods.

A suitable place to die.

Eugh, enough brooding. Old man Garron used to tell us that if we had the time to think during the ritual of dexterity, then we weren't stretching far enough. He was full of shit but he sure was one of the best scouts I ever met. "It should feel like meditation, clear your minds and breathe deeply." As if he wasn't thinking of cheap girls and plentiful booze half the time. If I could tell my younger self that one day I'd remember that old bastard fondly, I'd get slugged in the face.

The things time does to us.

Breathe in. Pull. Hold. Breathe out. Let go.

Then again.

- - -

I clean myself with the wet piece of cloth I leave hanging on the water bucket. I efficiently go through a breakfast composed of dried fruits and yesterday's bread then I gear up for a hunting trip. I always check in with the chief before leaving, just in case he needs something done. It’s part of our agreement, and it’s also part of the agreement that he almost always tells me to do as I please. Anyway if he does have a problem for me, its definitely to investigate monster sightings so I want the hunting gear anyway. That happens every now and then. Sometimes its alright, and sometimes we have debacles like the mutating spiders from last summer. That infestation of spiderlike-things still has me unreasonably suspicious of spiders. Those could breed, and isn’t that wonderful? If we missed some and they go out of control in a hidden cave we’ll have the same problems again, and nobody wants that. The only acceptable horrible monsters with too many legs and teeth are the dead ones.

I figure it’s probably alright to go check on old man Guemeros now, at least to knock a first time at his door to let him know I'm waiting.

I'd done just that when I saw something unusual. A large number of black dots far away on the horizon, like a swarm flying over the forest, coming down from the mountains.

When you see something unusual, check it with mana sight. That's some really solid advice from the basics of scouting.

So, what I saw all over and going much beyond the swarm of black dots looked like an absolutely massive dome of denser mana. A terrifyingly huge bubble covering most of the horizon and rising beyond the clouds. A wall big enough to casually swallow multiple mountains.

It didn't take long for the chief to open his door and for me to see that the dome was slowly expanding.

I nod in greeting while pointing in the direction of whatever was going on.

"Chief. You have mana sight, right?"

He blinks at the unexpected statement. Still half asleep I see.

"Yeah. Why?"

A scout's eyes is their pride and joy, so of course he couldn't see things as clearly as me and my vision-enhancing traits. The phenomenon was going on at least two hours walking away, not even really in our valley yet. Long story short, what I saw as tiny flying dots probably didn't register in the old man's eyes. But he certainly couldn't miss the wall of thick mana inching our way.

"What the hell."

"Yeah. I'm not sure either, never saw anything on that scale before. I can’t even tell how wide that bubble really is. But whatever that is, it's growing and pushing a lot of things our way."

There was a glint of fear in his eyes as he looked at me.

"If we're lucky it's going to be mostly benign animals riding the high of the dense mana. No way to tell from here for now, depends how much mana there actually is"

I left unsaid that there might be some very nasty monsters from the deeper mountain also riding the high of denser mana. Wildlife loves higher mana densities, most animal and monster instincts are overridden by the presence of enough mana and they just sort of gather in it.

It also works on us really. Dense mana gives a feeling of power and satisfaction. If there's enough, you don't need to eat, drink, or rest. People may stop aging altogether, and I've even heard claims of aging backwards. Traits are known to appear faster in higher mana densities, sometimes as quickly as in months instead of years. Truly a panacea that we crave just as much as animals and monsters instinctively do. But mana is a fickle thing that rarely stays put. The only thing that can reliably hold mana for a long period of time is the mana pool of individuals. Once the mana is a part of someone or something, it doesn’t move anymore and becomes your tiny personal source of extra power. For that reason, almost everybody tries to pick up at least some mana related traits. Not that it matters much, from what I've seen and heard, the effect of that internal source of mana is only really noticeable on truly talented mages with mana pools in the thousands.

It’s well known that pockets of denser mana appear regularly for all kinds of obscure reasons, and they quickly attract everything around them before dispersing over a few weeks, months or years.

Well except that particular place of course. There is one place ever gilfeith knows with a stable, impressively high density of mana. A place known as Alvadorra where centuries ago, Kosrakir Donoghan built a castle and called himself King.

And King we've called him ever since.

- - -

To their credit, the villagers react quickly enough in setting up the best defenses they can. There’s barely over a hundred souls living here but the village does have some walls that will serve as a good base. Hopefully, everything at ground level will simply flow around these and mostly ignore us as the beasts try to keep up with the moving mana.

I'm currently on the lookout for anything really nasty. I’ve had plenty of time to note that this … ‘event’ is moving unusually fast. Somewhere between a fast walk and light jog, but ignoring all the features of the terrain. Needless to say, the animals are quite busy just keeping up. I'm worried because this look like some kind of spell rather than a natural event. Like someone or something with mana control completely off the charts is pushing away all the mana in an area. The power needed must be insane, and why push the mana away instead of bringing it in? Nothing wants less mana.

Suddenly, the coarse voice of chief Guemeros calls from below.

“Pheyis! I’ve got most people reinforcing the gates and checking the wall, a dozen is infusing as much weaponry as possible back to best conditions, and a couple are gathering the children so we can tell them what’s going on. How long do you think we have to prepare?”

I glance his way before turning back to the horizon. This might just be the first time I see him not looking at least a little aloof. Worry doesn’t suit him.

“Probably a bit more than an hour.” I pause for a second. “You know, this might actually be a great chance for the village.”

He doesn’t speak up but I don’t need to look to know he must be slightly confused right now. These people really have it too easy. He also hasn’t seen yet the literal swarm of birds flying above the forest.

“We’re getting a major wave of benign animals delivered straight to our doorsteps in a very mana rich environment. Odds are some will progress more today than in the last couple months. I think even the kids can benefit, better to let them kill some birds rather than hide them in a cellar. you just need them to give them slings or something.”

And if things go wrong, the survivors might harden a little, grow something resembling a spine. But Guemeros doesn’t need to hear that.

“Alright, I’ll bring everybody back here in about 50 minutes. I’m sure you’ll have a great speech in mind for them.”

Fucker. I hate speeches. Nine out of ten times, it’s all about stating obvious things and people are amazed like I hold some deep wisdom. They are just too lazy to think or learn by themselves and I’m just repeating the same old common sense I’ve heard so many times.

“Sure thing chief, they are going to love it.”

Well, being ominous is pretty fun at least.

- - -

Even in the best days, scouting isn’t an easy job. You often have to stay hidden while something or somebody is trying to kill you, you often have to keep a sharp watch in uncomfortable and boring places for hours, and worst of all, sometimes you have to keep an eye on an awfully chaotic situation and report anything that might throw a wrench in carefully crafted plans. Of course we are going for the last variation today.

Except our plan today is terrible. Nothing more than just holding on as best as possible. Stand our ground and do what we can while assuming everything might go wrong.

Well, I think that's the plan for most of the villagers anyway. I have some extra ideas.

I’ve been able to see the beasts that aren’t flying for a while now. It really is quite a bizarre sight. Wolves, bears, smaller stuff like squirrels, raccoons or the occasional grumpy badger, and also herbivores like bucks or wild horses, and everything else you can think of that walks or skitters or runs at ground level, mostly ignoring each other as they are busy keeping up with the area of dense mana. A rather dense stampede that almost looks like the ground itself is alive and running.

The low pounding rumble of dozens of great beasts running silently forward is truly a sight to behold.

Sure there must have been some fighting, but those who fight slip out of the area where their instincts tell them to be. Even stubborn animals like bears must eventually realize that catching up and moving forward feels more important than whatever pushes them to fight, and so they stop the fights and keep running.

The monsters on the other hand are easy to make out, they are often capable of more aggressively lashing out at whatever gets close to them without breaking stride, making them stand out as solitary outliers in less crowded little teardrop-shaped areas. The big ones I’ve spotted on the ground mostly aren’t on a colliding course towards the village at least, but the airborne monsters – because of course there were airborne monsters around– are more worrisome: they move completely unpredictably. Well, even then, there's nothing out of the village's league. If I had spotted something like a dragon I would have told everybody to hide. Stupid flying overgrown and overpowered lizards. Thank the system and the gods, whichever is responsible, that there's very few of them and that they sleep for centuries at a time.

Guemeros just told me that everybody should be ready soon. There’s already quite a crowd armed to the teeth nervously waiting in the central alley of our little village. Weapons have been sharpened and infused with some mana to be more reliable. A short lived but powerful boost. My own daggers, in spite of their age and their countless scratches, are darkly gleaming at my belt as if they were brand new and freshly oiled, radiating their very own thirst for blood. We shall get there soon girls.

I look down on them all from the top of the walls and take a deep breath. Then I speak with the strength only experience and confidence can bring. One of the oldest tricks in the military book.

“LISTEN UP!”

All their confused nervousness instantly turns my way and I let it break past me like a wave. I don’t have the voice tricks generals get, but I like to think I can be impressive enough.

“As you all know, some kind of mana anomaly is causing a large wave of wildlife to come our way.” I pause for a second, arms crossed in disdain above their lack of confidence. “That’s great! It’s a chance to progress on your levels and traits. What’s more, this wave is caused by a heavy mana density. You’ll have the energy to fight like never before!”

They don’t cheer, those poor excuses of gilfeiths. But I can see some fresh resolve replacing the worry in most of their eyes.

Too bad they will have to worry a little.

“The beasts will be easy kills and experience as they are mostly busy moving forward. It’s an incredible feast coming our way. The problem of course, is the monsters.”

Yep, there is the worry again.

“I didn’t spot anything headed our way on the ground, but I want everybody to keep an eye on the sky. If a monster comes swooping down, yell and everybody will pile on it.”

Alright, now for some hope.

“We shouldn’t have to fight for long in the village. And after that, I’ll lead those who want to hunt for more. The fight is going to start in about 10 minutes, I want half of you on the wall and the other half in the street killing whatever slips by us.”

Unsurprisingly, there’s a clear lack of people in much of a hurry to jump up and defend the wall.

Their loss.

As I absentmindedly sharpen my claws, I ponder jumping down and taking a few kills before the wave truly hits us. I can see a bear from here that really has that “free kill” look : big enough to hopefully be worth some experience with the high concentration of mana, but not smart enough to know better than fighting me.

Well, it's coming this way anyway, I'll give it some time.

- - -

[Zervius Guemeros’s point of view]

I shouldn’t have climbed on the wall, I’m too old for this. But Pheyis would never let me live it down if I didn’t show some spine in the face of whatever is currently happening.

I sigh. I guess it’s also part of my duty as chief.

Well at least I get to skip the clean-up afterwards for sure.

A clean strike of my spear pierces right through an overly ambitious squirrel that chose to try and run past me.

It’s not really necessary to kill all those animals, we closed the houses as much as possible, safely securing the food. Unless the mana wave stops right on top of us, they should keep following it without excessively disturbing the village.

But this truly is an opportunity, I might just make it to level 24 today.

Strange to agree with the wisdom of the same woman who’s currently fighting like an unstoppable calamity over fifty strides ahead of the village, apparently completely disregarding her safety as she moves from monster to monster. Her arms are drenched in blood because she’s saving her daggers for monsters and large beasts. A trail of bodies both small and large are behind her, all the animals that didn't move away quickly enough to dodge her sharp claws. She didn't even seem to try to kill most of them. They were in the way and she snuffed the life out of them effortlessly.

I worried for a second when I saw her jump down the wall and rush at the huge bear. I shouldn't have.

Pretty sure I heard her whisper something along the lines of “ohh, no you don’t.” to herself when she saw that it was starting to turn to go around the village.

The poor thing didn’t stand a chance.

By the time it registered the threat, she was already in the air above its head. The dagger slid in all the way to the hilt into its skull while she balanced herself with her other hand on its shoulder. Then she flexed her arms to jump up. A sharp move of her tail let her spin in the air and she fell back on her feet somewhere behind the bear. The beast crashed down still carried by the remains its running pace.

The whole kill was almost instant.

Scary woman. I got used to her presence, but this is a stark reminder that titled warriors are not to be trifled with.

The beasts sense it far more than me. Her presence at ground level has almost everything actively avoiding her. She’s a constantly moving spearhead splitting the flood. All we have to deal with on the wall are small critters and birds. Lots of birds. And even more insects but there’s not much to do about those.

I crush the rat that is trying to sneak around the dead squirrel with a quick stomp. Still, it takes a second hit for the system notice to drift into my mind. I don't even look at it though, can't have those distractions, I'd rather avoid the same fate as Riloth and Gervus.

Nobody saw it coming, it was some kind of hawk covered in living shadows. A monster as big as a house. Riloth probably died from the impact before knowing what hit him : even the piece of wall he was standing on didn’t weather the hit. Which was a nice turn of luck because the monster half buried itself in the rubble and wasn’t able to take off quickly with Riloth’s body. It shrieked in panic, which shook everybody out of their surprise and then a dozen spears quickly killed it. But not before Gervus took a powerful outburst of some kind of gray fire point blank.

I just hope his kid didn’t see it, the burned remains will already be bad enough.

Damn monsters. You think they are stuck and that going for the head is a good idea? Turns out they can spit something nasty at the last second.

At least the crumbled wall is a great chokepoint attracting beasts, it’s some premium killing ground over there.

- - -

Time seems to crawl forward, we’re doing our best to ignore the countless bugs that have been swarming us all. At least they aren’t being aggressive but it’s still a major nuisance. People are mostly killing the birds flying everywhere with various unconventional weapons, from chain linked bolas all the way down to simply well thrown rocks. Most of those were improvised this very morning, but we also have a dozen slingers who are having the time of their life. Of course everybody is also keeping spears and the like at hand for monsters.

This exhausting butchery has been going on non-stop for about thirty minutes when I notice that the mana is finally slowly growing scarcer in the air. Don't even need to check with mana sight to know this, my body already doesn't feel as strong and energetic as when the rush hit us.

Nobody else died after the hawk incident, but there were a couple injuries. in particular a lot of burns when a burning feline monster jumped over the wall. It was over about two meter tall, had a scaly hide, nasty sharp claws and it was engulfed in magical flames. It bowled over a few people, and it was about to take a bite out of Velwal who was on the ground when Aetmon ran a spear through its open mouth. I saw the spearhead come out through the back of his neck. The hit wasn’t an instant kill but it sealed the monster’s fate: it started flailing around in pain and panic, which didn't achieve much except give people good openings for cheap strikes.

Suddenly, my knees feel weak, and it takes all I have not to fall from the aura bleeding out of Pheyis, who just made it back to the wall. I barely register her words as she yells at the top of her lungs over the various noises around us.

“We’re mostly clear but stay alert! I’m going to give chase and keep hunting down monsters in the horde, those who want to benefit should group up and follow!”

She thankfully didn’t stop to talk, her long strides relentlessly swallowing the ground, just like she never stopped once she started fighting. How she can speed through the village like it was an open field rather than a crowded area with people and blood puddles everywhere is another mystery that will remain unanswered.

As the mana is getting thinner, I can feel how my body craves for more. The exhilarating feeling of power and energy is really intoxicating. For someone with outstanding attributes like her it must be even worse. Chasing the mana is reckless but I understand her.

As I look at the sheer mass of death she left in her wake in front of the village I reconsider. It isn’t reckless. Maybe, for her, running through hundreds of wild animals and the occasional monster isn’t more than a calculated risk. A small one.

I’ll have to send her to investigate the origin of this anomaly though, that certainly didn’t look like a natural event.

I sigh. Time to be a proper chief. I don't have the same trick as Pheyis to turn my voice into a booming thing of power, but I do know how to infuse a couple mana points to make it reach everybody regardless.

“Alright, everybody who’s staying and not injured, I want some people on the walls watching for any stray monster. We also need to collect all this meat quickly and cleanup the village. Make some teams to bring in buckets of sand and water from the river banks. Zaimeia, I’ll let you see how you handle the food. Everybody should have a share, and we’ll keep some for trading.”

I see Skarix assembling a few people with his boisterous voice, and Guervac is doing the same over there. The injured are out of sight, which probably means Datari is busy taking care of them. Yes, that should do it for this morning. I need a nap.

Wait, I almost forgot about the dead.

"We also need a couple people to dig Riloth's body out of the rubble. We'll give him and Gervus a proper funeral after Dusk."

Two casualties… Things could have been far worse.