Midnight; Milele Town; North West of Jua Village

Shaaaaaaa.

On this dark gloomy night, the rain was so heavy that it blended into a long droning sound. The night hung over the town like a dark curtain obscuring everything. One could not even see 5 meters ahead of them if they were walking outside. The houses were tightly locked and all the creatures of the night whether birds or insects were all absent, chased away by the hammering rain and freezing cold.

Within one of the wooden shacks in Milele town, a young mother was tucking her child into bed. The child was a girl of around Mwana’s age. Even when tucked tightly underneath the thick and heavy blankets, the girl was still very scared. The hammering rain, the occasional terrifying lightning flashes, and the rumbling of thunder made the little girl all the more jumpy.

“Mum, I am scared.”

“Shhhh, shhhh, it is just rain. It is just rain.”

“When will dad be back?”

On hearing this, the mother could not help but feel a trace of sadness but she hid it well before assuring her daughter with a smile; but who truly knew when or if the girl’s father would be back. Even the mother was not sure.

Drops of water continuously dripped from the house’s roof. In fact, rainwater had been leaking into the house for a while now but there were several containers inside the shack to catch the falling water. This was clearly a poor family where the ‘man of the house’ was absent. It was not all too uncommon for some men especially those of lower status to work far away from their families. In this case, the father and husband in this family worked one of the more dangerous jobs that were usually taken up by the poorer in Toro. He was a Transporter.

The man’s job put him in the lowest social and financial position in Milele and as such he could only afford a shabby house in the town’s outskirts. This house was so rundown that most of the windows had been walled up. Of the few windows that remained, they were rustily barred and covered with torn curtains. The house was located in an isolated area behind an old brewery. However, no brewing was happening in it, and the brewery had clearly been inactive for long long time.

After getting her daughter into bed, the mother decided to relieve herself before settling for the night.

As she picked up an old curved umbrella at the side of the bed, she could not help but lament at its worn out state.

‘Sigh.’

“It was once beautiful and purple.”

Each of her steps through the house was accompanied by the creaking of the old moldy wooden floors. The whistling of the wind outside caused the entire house to rattle. A thick soily smell spread in the entire house due to the rain. The smell was so strong that although the woman was indoors, she felt as if she was already outside. However, after opening the door, the difference between the moderately cold inside and the extremely cold outside was immediately clear.

As the woman walked to the small toilet a few meters away, the cold wind blew at her body causing her to retract further into her clothes.

“Why does the wind smell so strange? Are the toilets overflowing?”

The strange cold air passed in between the heavy raindrops with neither the wind nor the rain interfering with each other in an unnatural scene.

“Nature truly is strange.” Many thoughts rushed through the woman’s mind before she reached the small toilet. On reaching her destination, the floor was extremely soggy that she almost did not dare step inside. It was not uncommon to hear stories of pit latrines collapsing when it was rainy causing occupants to fall into them and be buried in sh*t.

“It would be the worst way to die!” She could not think of any worse end.

Within the small toilet, it was as if all the stormy rain outside had been muted out. A truly strange atmosphere pervaded the entire time.

As she was finishing up in the latrine, she heard a thumping sound that penetrated the humming of the rain. It was so hushed that it made her doubt her ears but even when she peeked into the pitch black outside, she could not see anything.

With a quick light step, she rushed outside running towards the house. Every step she took increased her heartbeat as she ran across the water that was pooling outside. The umbrella was completely useless as the rain now fell in a diagonal angle. By the time she entered the house, she was already shivering. However, whether it was because of the cold or an unknown fear, she could not tell. All she knew was that she had to get back to bed with her daughter.

“What was that?! Was it a shadow?”

The woman seemed to have seen something flash in the darkness by the window right across her but when she approached it, there was nothing there.

‘It’s just the old curtains.’

Even though she did not see anything, her heart was still palpitating in fear. When she touched her own palms, they were already sweaty despite the rain and the cold. She quickly rushed to bed and got under the covers with her daughter. However, when she put her arms around her daughter to cuddle her, she felt as if she had touched something cold and hot at the same time.

“You!” However, as a mother she still held herself back from getting angry.

‘Sigh.’

“Honey, did you wet the bed? You have only slept a few minutes and you already could not hold it in?”

However, a mother’s instinct is still nothing to laugh at. Even though it was extremely dark, the woman could sense that something was wrong with her child. Worse, her nose which had been numbed by the cold outside could now smell something else after her sense of smell recovered. In fact the smell was getting even stronger, making her nauseous. There was also a constant sound of something dripping; however, she could tell that the frequency was different from the rain leaking into to the house.

What was it? What was happening?

Immediately, dread, pain, fear, and a multitude of other emotions assaulted the woman’s mind. Her pulse started racing once again and her hands started to feel clammy as if the sweat on them was solidifying into a paste. She was shaking! It was delayed but what followed was a hollow scream, almost frantic.

She screamed her daughter’s name while desperately trying to wake her up but there was no response. Therefore, she could only rush to light the single lamp that the family owned. Unfortunately, she ended up tripping on something hard and slippery like a wet log causing the lamp to crash down. She was a bit disoriented at first and could not stand but she still managed to grab onto the lamp. However, a task that only took one whip of the hand in the past seemed to take forever as her shaky arms could barely ignite the light.

Moreover, another sound that filled her with even more dread entered her ears. The woman could hear munching sounds coming from right beside her on the bedroom floor. When she looked behind her, she saw two torch-like spots staring right at her. The two spots were bright green eyes that vaguely illuminated the face around them: ugly, hairy, scaly and cracked, jagged teeth like a crocodile, and covered in blood.

At that moment she managed to light the lamp but what broke her spirit was not the scariness of the ‘beast’, but what it was holding instead. In its arms, the ‘beast’ was holding a bloody mess. The creature seemed to be gouging itself on raw flesh! What followed were the mother’s screams; tragic screams that decorated this chilly night.

On the next morning even before first light, a crowd had already gathered outside the house. They gathered despite the unfavorable weather which had yet to settle. The morning was dark and gloomy due to the heavy fog that filled the entire town. Moreover, the cold rain was still falling like sharp arrows only that it had become a bit sparser now. As a result, the ground was filled with pools of muddy brown water everywhere.

Most of the people who had gathered here were all dressed in thick hide or leather cloaks due to the extreme cold. Standing among the crowd were Mwana and Malkia. In fact, apart from the two of them, there were also a few more people from Jua village within the crowd. The reason Mwana was here was because he had finally become an ‘Intermediate Warrior’ over the past few days. Therefore, he was finally eligible to leave the Jua village and travel outside. When he had learned of a caravan heading to Milele town, Mwana made sure he was on it.

This time, Mwana, Kia, and Fury accompanied their aunt Jumatatu when she came to Milele town to do her own business. Jua Umeme, Waya, and Mkata-mwezi had also been in the same travelling group for different reasons. The group had just arrived in Milele town when they happened to bump into this tragedy. They had only rested for a few hours before the activity woke them up.

Due to the commotion, Mwana and Kia had rushed out first thing in the morning to find out what happened. All they could hear were the voices of people talking, each of them filled with fear and confusion as they reacted to the unbelievable scene.

“Goodness!”

“That poor thing!” Whether it was horror or pity, everyone reacted in the same manner.

“It’s the woman and girl from that house.”

On the scene of the crime, some men who belonged to the town’s local authorities were maintaining order and trying to shoo people away. In the small area outside the house, Mwana and Kia could see two white sheets of cloth covering two objects which could only be human.

‘A corpse? Or pieces of corpses?!’

One of the covered objects was the size of a football while the other seemed the size of an adult man.

On listening more to some of the knowledgeable people in the crowd, the situation became a bit clearer.

“It is not just the two of them.”

As it turned out, the terror had claimed a third victim.

“A headless corpse!”

“Aaaaaaah, is that true?” Immediately, some middle-aged women among the crowd reacted in horror while covering their mouths.

“Hey, hey, is that really true?”

“Yes.”

“My god that’s terrible!”

The confirmation almost sent people into frenzy.

“What is happening in this town?”

“Can we even be safe in our houses?”

The crowd’s rising state of alarm and furor was interrupted by the sound of horse hooves.

Tap tap, tap tap, tap tap.

The crowd quickly gave way as three horses rushed to the scene. All 3 horses were white as snow and looked extremely robust and muscular. Instantly, Mwana understood that these were the Roaming Divine Steeds of the Silver Guard.

A saying rushed to his mind: ‘The Silver Guard always arrives on white horses.’

As the horses entered the small compound, a deep voice sounded, “Why haven’t you cleared the area yet?”

The one who had spoken was the horseman in the lead. He did not even wait for his horse to stop or slow down before jumping off it and landing elegantly. He had a thin face and was dressed in all white which made him blend in with the morning fog.

The 3 men who had just arrived all wore white clothes made of thick sheep wool with a Silver armor on top of the clothes. The armor was made up of a breastplate, helmet, and armguards. Additionally, all 3 men wore a set of gloves and boots lined in glowing silver-blue silk. The entire uniform was completed by a long flowing cape with patterns of silver feathers sewed into it.

The man who had just spoken had a thin face, sharp eyes, and long hair that peeked out of his helmet and reached his back. The other two men were almost undistinguishable under their helmets. The thing that stood out the most was the large eagle emblem curved onto the 3 men’s breastplate. In fact the entire armor including the helmet, breastplate, belt, shoulder-guards, and cape, all had an eagle motif. From the emblem on their breastplate, everyone understood that this was the investigative unit of Toro’s Silver Guards, the Silver Eagle Corps.

After the admonishment from the thin-faced man, the local authorities tried to verbally defend themselves but were quickly dismissed.

“Just do your jobs and keep people away.” The three men did not bother to bicker and quickly entered the house to begin the investigation.

“It seems as if something big has truly begun.” Kia could not help but add and Mwana could only nod in agreement. This was the first time he had seen members of the Silver Guard in person. It seemed as if this case was not a simple one.