At the other side of Mount Sun, there was a small village, housing about sixty or seventy people. Ever since the meteor fell, a lot of weird things have been happening in the village. Each of their sheep grew an extra tail while goats grew an extra horn. After eating them, the taste of their meat didn’t change, and nothing happened to them, or so they thought.

Currently, the five village elders were gathered at the chief’s house, where they were discussing a more stressing issue. It has been two weeks since the village had a peaceful time.

“How many casualties do we have so far?” asked the village chief. He was a blind, gray haired and gray bearded old man. He was sitting on a stool, holding a staff in his hand.

One of the elders, a middle-aged man wearing a red robe, answered, “10 people have died so far ever since they started attacking. Only seven people have survived with critical injuries.”

“What of my grandson, Walter?” asked the village chief.

Another elder answered with a sorrowful voice, “He’s no longer with us.”

Tears streamed down the village chief’s wrinkled face. His son had left the village to look for employment in a town very far from the village. He had left his father to take care of his wife and unborn baby. The baby grew up under the guidance of the village chief. The chief’s daughter in law had died earlier due to a disease, and now his grandson had followed.

“Did anyone find out the cause of that earthquake that occurred earlier?” asked the chief.

“No chief. We did not manage to find anything. It’s quite difficult to leave the village, with all these attacks going on”, replied one elder.

As the meeting was still occurring, a young man burst into the chief’s house, in a fit of rage.

“Hezron, why are you barging into the chief’s house? Do you not have respect for your elders?” asked one of the elders, who was another middle-aged man with neat, short hair.

“Let him be. What is it young man?” asked the village chief, wiping the tears from his face, and covering the face with a smile.

Hezron knelt down before the elders who were sitting in a circular fashion. He answered, “I mean no disrespect, elders, chief. I would like to know when we’re evacuating the village.”

“Ev--”

The chief raised his hand, motioning the red robed elder to be silent. “Would you like to tell me something, Hezron? Where would we go?” asked the chief.

“With all due respect chief, we could move away from Mount Sun. I think anywhere is better than this place. For how long do we have to suffer at the hands, or claws of the mutated dire wolves?” asked Hezron, with an anxious expression on his face.

All the elders in the room exchanged casual glances, mixed with worry and anxiety. The terrifying thing was that he was right!

“How do we carry the injured, women and children along? Where would we be able to find food? The reason why we settled here was that it is closer to the forest. We can find fruits, we can hunt and we can survive as well. As long as we manage to survive the attack of the dire wolves, we will become stronger”, responded the chief.

“At what cost, chief? How many more people do we have to sacrifice before we have peace?”

“What do you think?” asked the chief, glancing at the surrounding elders.

The red robed elder spoke first, “Chief, you have more years than us. In other words, you have more experience and wisdom. The younger generation has much more to learn from you. As for us, we will follow whatever direction you decide to steer us.”

“What?! Please listen to the voice of reason! Some of the children have developed unique gifts. We cannot let more people die, since that would leave those children without parents! Please chief, I beg of you”, responded Hezron, with teary eyes, voice getting weaker.

“I’m sorry, young one. I believe it’s a passing phase we must endure. One day we’ll look at it as a symbol of our strength and unity. It’s a test of endurance from the heavens. If we cannot survive, then even if we leave this place, we’ll be wiped out by either hunger or disease. As for the gifts you mention, those are curses! Never mention them in my presence again!”

“But chief--”

“That’s about enough, young one. Is there another matter you wish to discuss?” asked the chief, cutting off Hezron.

“That was all, chief.”

“You may take your leave now. Can you do me a favor?”

“What is it, chief?”

“Keep the children safe, and entertain them with your music”, petitioned the chief.

“Yes chief, I will do my best”, replied Hezron, with a dejected look.

As Hezron left the house, the village elders exchanged another glance, without saying anything.

“Chief, are you sure that was a wise decision?” asked one of the elders.

“I’m afraid the young man might be right. However, we cannot just leave the village of our ancestors.”

“What do you suggest we do then?” asked one elder.

“Some of the young men will leave with the women and children. The capable men will remain to fight against the mutated beasts. Even if we perish, the spirit of our ancestors and our bloodline will survive through the young ones and the children”, replied the chief.

“That is a very wise decision, chief. When are they supposed to start evacuating then?”

“They should start packing right now. It seems the flood of mutated beasts has been getting worse and worse. It’s like they’re being driven by something. Tori, can you investigate this matter? Something funny is going on. We need to know what it is.”

“Yes chief, I will do as you have instructed”, replied the red robed elder, as he stood up to leave.

“You’re all dismissed. Let us all do our best to make the village survive”, spoke the chief.

“Yes chief”, replied the elders in unison.

After Hezron left, he walked through the narrow passages between the village houses. Some children came up to him and he swatted down, so he could play with them.

“Brother Hezron, please play us a tune”, said one of the children.

“Are you sure? Have you been listening to your parents all week?” asked Hezron.

“Yes brother! I was a very good boy”, replied the child.

“No, don’t listen to him brother. He was being naughty!” interjected one of the children.

“Is that so? What did he do?” asked Hezron, with a warm smile.

“He refused to eat vegetables. His mother was shouting at him because of that”, replied the child with a loud laugh.

“No I didn’t. Don’t listen to her. She’s jealous!” said the boy.

“Okay okay. Why don’t I play all of you a song then?”

“Really?”

“That would be cool!”

The children started getting excited, as Hezron took out a long flute. He spoke, “I call this song ‘The Calm Sea’.”

“Brother Hezron, what is a sea?”

“It’s a very big area with lots and lots of water. You know how some of you have gifts?”

“Huh? You mean the curses?” asked one of the children. He went on, “My mother said those are curses from the heavens, and we’re not supposed to talk about them at all!”

“Well, they’re whatever you want them to be. Do you want them to be a gift or a curse?”

“Ummm. What if our parents scold us for talking about them?” asked the girl.

“Don’t worry. Everything will be all right. Do you want to hear the song or not?”

“Yes. Please play the song for us, brother Hezron”, spoke the children in unison, with shy giggles.

Hezron began to play a soft, warm tune. The sound of the tune permeated the air, floating through the entire village. It evoked a sense of peace, and made warm, tender feelings to arise in everyone who heard it. The children giggled shyly, as they listened to the tune, while some of the adults who heard it stopped what they were doing.

As Hezron was playing his tune, a distance away, there was a pack of dire wolves heading towards the direction of the village. A wolf with a horn, and three tails was leading this pack, while the rest had two tails. They were gray in color, and as large as an average human adult was. In total, there were five wolves altogether.

Inside a cave far away from the village and its problems, the nine-tailed tiger was still eating the remainder of the meteorite. Slowly, bit by bit, the size of the stone dwindled, but its purple glow remained. The tiger kept eating the stone, and when it finally finished, it let out a loud roar that disrupted the activities happening inside the cave.

ROOOAAAAARRRRRR!

The roar echoed inside the cave, and when the echoes left the cave, every mutated animal inside the forest let out whimpers of fear. The tiger grew a tenth tail, which was a bit shorter than the other nine. As the tail grew, the tiger let out a loud howl, as if it was in pain. The tail had a sharp point at the end, which was pitch black.

ROOOOAAAAAAARRRRRR! ROOOOAAAAARRRRR!

The beast gave some more loud roars, each more intense than the last! A purple wave of energy billowed and towered towards the heavens. The cave was reduced to dust, leaving the beasts inside it exposed. More waves of energy emanated, spreading outwards, reducing nearby trees to splinters! Any creatures caught by the waves died instantly!

The tiger finally stood upright, and then issued a bone-chilling, spine-tingling, awe-inspiring roar!

ROOOOAAARRR!

All the beasts that had survived the waves of energy approached the roaring tiger. Most of the beasts had four tails or less. Among the beasts, were bears with four long tails, bees with eagle-like wings and four stingers and so on. There were also tigers with three tails, some with two heads and snakes with two tails and two heads. The beasts reached the site where a cave once stood, and prostrated themselves. Some dire wolves howled, other beasts roared while some hissed.

There were two other places that were scary to approach, at the edges of the forest, in different directions. In each of these places, there was a beast with nine tails! The first was a gigantic bear with bull-like horns; four arms with sharp claws and it had six eyes as well. The second beast was a gigantic fox, with large ears, human-like arms and blood red eyes!

The nine-tailed beasts stood up, after hearing the loud roar, and then headed towards the ten-tailed beast king. Inside their caves, there were also beasts with five or more tails, the highest having eight tails!

Ryan, Gonin and Rose arrived at the edge of the forest. As they arrived, they started hearing loud roars that caused their scalps to tingle, and a chill to creep up their spines.

“This is it!” declared Gonin. He continued, “The Beast King awakens! We are definitely in trouble!”

“Huh. Why do you say that? Why would we be in trouble when we’re this far away?” asked Ryan.

“If you can hear the loud roar this far away, what else do you think the beast is capable of doing?” asked Gonin.

“It doesn’t matter. As long as we reach the monastery, we can always--”

Before Rose finished speaking, there was another loud roar, this time followed by an earthquake of sorts. More roars filled the air, creating a tense atmosphere. The sky changed color, and dark clouds gathered and churned. The sound of thunder permeated through the air, as lightning flashed across the dark skies.

“This power... No one can contend with this...,” said Gonin, as he hung his head in surrender.

Meanwhile, in the tiny village at the other edge of the forest, dark miasma rolled out from the forest, as the Beast King roared! An assistant was helping the village chief out of his house, while the others were helping evacuate the women and children as far away from the village as possible.

The chief looked up into the sky and said, “These dark ominous clouds, our end may be near!”

His assistant looked at him with a puzzled expression.