Going through his memories, Emil turned the clock back to earlier that morning. Captain Maynard was in his office when received a report about a distressing scene in the town’s cemetery. Three bodies were there, heavily injured if not already dead. But it was impossible for anyone to get close enough to tell for sure. That was because there was a hideous, insectoid monster guarding the immediate area around the bodies. It hadn’t hurt anyone yet, but it lunged and hissed at any who got too close.

Hearing this, the captain puts out a call for all available guards to convene at the cemetery. Maynard then began to change out of his officer’s uniform and into a set of armor. Emil began to skip through the memories, fast forwarding to when the captain and his men arrived at the graveyard. A few of the guards had already taken control of the situation, barring any of the local civilians from going past the front gate. But a space away from, a crowd of onlookers had formed.

Captain Maynard entered the cemetery with a small troop of his forces. His weapon was gripped in his hand and ready for this monster. As they walked towards the center, the smell hit him before he actually saw anything. The putrid scents of both burnt meat and rotting flesh. Maynard glanced around to observe his men. Their faces went green as they smelled it too, he could see the suppressed urge to vomit clear as day in a couple of their expressions. Their lack of iron stomachs was to be expected, however.

The last couple of decades had been relatively peaceful for the guards. Most of these men had likely never done anything more demanding than dealing with the occasional brawl or drunkard disturbing the peace. Out of the active duty guards, it was only Maynard that still remembered a time before the good days.

Back when the smell of corpses was regular enough to barely provoke a reaction. When the scent of blood in the air seemed to permanently leave a metallic aftertaste in the back of one’s throat. The only other guardsmen who would have been old enough to remember these darker days were either now retired, or dead. The captain tried to clear his head of these thoughts, focusing on the present instead of the past.

He and his men continued forward, reaching the site described in the report. But as his eyes fell upon it, even the grizzled captain couldn’t help but grimace at what he saw. The insectoid creature was nowhere to be seen, but three human bodies were on the ground. The one nearest the centermost spot was in the worst condition. The grass and tombstones around were damaged in a way that looked like there had been a large explosion.

Most of the corpse was just a burnt-out husk, at least, that was for the part of it that was left. The majority of the top half was simply gone. Half-buried in the mud was a blackened head, a large section of the skull collapsed inward. Only a few pieces of tissue connected it to what little remained of the torso. Everything below the waist was largely intact, at least relatively speaking.

However, staring at the largely destroyed body, the captain noticed something. It was hard to tell for sure from where he stood, but coming out of the waist, there seemed to be small flickers of blue light. He would need to get closer to inspect it further, however. But before that, he looked over at the next corpse.

This one was in slightly better condition than the former. But as Maynard stared at what was left of its body and clothing, his eyes widened. If he wasn’t going crazy, the captain could have sworn he recognized it as the mayor. But that couldn’t be right. Mayor Duran was last reported to have gone home right before last night’s storm came in.

So the question was, why would a man like that have been out here? But as he studied the body’s features, the picture of the mayor’s face only became clearer in his mind. He forced himself to tear his gaze from it, and directed it towards the third and final corpse.

Whatever caused the apparent explosion had also blown this last one away. It was strewn like a ragdoll in between a pair of tombstones. As such, the stones surrounding it made it hard for the captain to see the body’s condition. But the severe amount of dried blood streaks on the grave markers and grass around it was clear as day.

“Alright men,” the captain began. “Keep your eyes out for this monster as we move in on these bodies. We need to confirm whether it’s still in the area before we do anything else. Keep your weapons ready, your arms steady, and remember your training if it attacks.” With that command, they began to approach. However, they took no more than a few steps forward before a sudden blur of movement caught Maynard’s eye.

“Hold! Stay in formation and remain on high alert!” Maynard barked as the monster swiftly dashed between the graves surrounding their group. It was like a shadow, quickly dodging in and out of sight. The thing was just too fast and unpredictable in its movements for him to get a good look at it. He could hear the creature’s spindly legs scratching against the tombstones as it moved.

Finally, it leaped into the air and landed on top of one of the grave markers. The stone it held onto was one of the ones the last body was in between. As it became still in that spot, the captain could hear his men gasping from behind him. And even wasn’t quite sure what to make of it.

Captain Maynard had seen his fair share of magical beasts and monsters in his time. Among them, there had been a decent amount of large insect-like creatures of varying shapes and sizes. However, this thing was different from anything he had ever encountered. At first glance, it would have seemed like it was just an oversized roach. But all it took was one good look to see that there was far more to it than that.

Its form wasn’t that of a single creature. Rather, its body seemed like it was made of fragments of countless individual pieces As if hundreds of bugs had been taken apart and then had their parts mixed together into one whole. They were tightly pressed together, but the fact that it was a mush of many smaller units was still noticeable even with the distance between him and it.

As this monster clicked its mandibles together and leaned on the tombstone, he could see separations in its underside. And from those small spaces in its exoskeleton, puffed out whisps of what looked like blue fire. The captain wanted to glance back at what he assumed was the mayor’s body, but that would have meant taking his eyes off this thing.

Was this creature the cause of the deaths? There was a local population of flame boar, did it also possess a special organ that allowed it to use flame-based attacks? If it was strong enough to do this much damage, then caution would be absolute. Captain Maynard silently lifted his fist into the air, and gave his men a hand signal. One that instructed them to spread out and encircle the target. If it did possess an explosive kind of attack, then the worst formation to be in was clumped together.

Everything was silent as this staredown went on. The creature did not move from its spot. The captain could tell how just tense his men were, but trusted that they would keep their fear in check. When one did not know the enemy’s capabilities, the smarter thing to do was carefully observe. They would wait for it to make the first move, and then react with the appropriate response.

It was then that suddenly, the quiet atmosphere was broken. From below the creature, a soft groan could be heard from the body on the ground. In that instant, the captain’s priorities became flipped on themselves. That wasn’t just another corpse, but someone who was still alive!

Which meant that they now had to ensure this civilian’s safety above their own. Even if this person was just an inch from death, it would still be their duty to at least try and save him. If the monster attacked, the captain would focus on keeping it away from this man. Captain Maynard and his men weren’t equipped to deal with someone heavily injured. Depending on how severe his wounds were, they likely wouldn’t be able to safely move him on their own. Maynard was intensely focused, trying to quickly formulate a plan to ensure the best possible outcome with the least amount of risk.

However, before he could think of something and give an order to his men, the civilian groaned again. This time, his body also shifted just a little against the ground. As he did, the insectoid seemed to stiffen up. Wide alert and ready, the captain tightly gripped his own weapon. If the monster made an aggressive move against the injured man, he would need to intercept it.

From under its shell, a set of wings stretched out of the creature. And just as the captain was prepared to make a move, rather than attack the civilian, it flew up to the sky. Before any of them had time to react, the monster speedily cut through the air. The captain could only watch as it flew away from the cemetery, and eventually disappeared out of sight entirely.

A few more seconds passed before he allowed himself to relax. He rushed toward the civilian, climbing around the tombstones. When the captain was close enough to see the extent of his injuries, he couldn’t help but curse under his breath. There was blood, far too much blood.

The top of the man’s head was caked with a mixture of it and dried mud. His face was horribly burnt, and the skull underneath was even visible in some places. However, even so, his chest still erratically rose and fell with his ragged breaths. Maynard had no idea how this man was still alive. But if someone wasn’t done quickly, he wouldn’t be for much longer.

“He's lost way too much blood, someone go get a doctor!” Maynard yelled out to his men. After the order was given out and one of them ran off, the captain knelt down beside the civilian. He began to inspect him for any other injuries. If there were any large wounds this person was currently bleeding from, then the least he could do was keep pressure against it.

If one of the people gathered outside happened to be a doctor or anyone with medical knowledge, then perhaps this man had a chance. However, as he got nearer, he could hear something. Maynard leaned in closer to listen.

It was just barely audible, too quiet for him to actually make anything out, but the injured person before him was trying to say something. The captain tried to listen as intently as he could, but he was still unable to get even a single word out of it. He stopped trying and leaned back to resume his immediate priorities.

It was at this point that Emil began to look through the memories more quickly again. Based on what Maynard saw, an assumption could be made. That even while barely conscious or even just alive, he had ordered Theo to back off and retreat. The rest of the captain’s memories between then and now didn’t have much more to offer, so Emil left his mind. Still possessing the older man’s body, he pulled out the memory orb he had managed to grab.

‘With the way I’m keeping his soul suppressed, I don’t think he’ll remember any of this. So if I can just use his body to get this and the rest of my important stuff back to the camp, that should be enough. I could then bring him back to the town, before leaving and letting him get back to his day. You got this Emil. Now that I’ve seen through some of his memories, I think I have a basic grasp of how he talks and acts. So just act natural and get this done,’ Emil thought to himself.

With that plan now in place, he put the memory orb away again. Then after quickly using the sink to wash up, he left the bathroom. Walking through the corridor to make his way back to the storage room, Emil just mentally prepared himself to play the part. All he had to do was pretend to be someone else. Should be simple enough to convince other people, especially since he was possessing the captain’s body. Now he just had to get the man’s personality and mannerisms right.