Chapter 139

Lykan

The Village

To say that the people of the small village were odd, would be an understatement. Each person seemed to both be unique and remarkably the same. Lykan for his part couldn’t put his finger on exactly why this was. He kept glancing at Brenna to see if she had any further insights into why the people came across as strange but to his surprise, she didn’t seem to notice the people.

Realizing there was something either wrong with him and his perceptions of reality, or with Brenna he paused to consider the facts at hand. First, he had an abnormally high set of visual skills and a Perception Attribute that was nearing the seventh threshold. All this went to say that his ability to notice his environment was well and truly at the master level. Added to this was the fact that while he had been initially confused by Brenna’s confession, he still felt it wasn’t an invasion of his privacy.

In retrospect he was happy that she had chosen to disclose her abilities to him. He did feel a little shamed at the way he let her stew in her emotions. Especially when he realized his lack of response was causing her mental anguish that she acted upon. Still, he was lost in the whole concept of what such a vulnerability entailed. Did this mean that others could use it to determine his attack patterns? Did this mean that Titans who had powers far beyond most mortal comprehension could use it to gain an advantage over him? He thought to test these hypotheses, and the only way he could imagine determining such actions as facts was to have Brenna perform the same set of conditions he was posing. To see if she could do the things he was imagining. While the Titan’s possessing such abilities was not known, it could not be discarded.

While the one Titan he had fought, well fought was a rather weak term. The Titan that he had encountered and barely managed to survive against. While that titan hadn’t managed to spot his trail, didn’t mean that others couldn’t. Nor did it mean that finding the mind of suspected targets was in any way out of the question. The true problem came from the way he had limited ability to test his thoughts. The only way he could conceivably test his thoughts was by pushing Brenna in mock battles and duels. Only then could he see what his brain was saying about his actions. He even went so far as to spark a thought of ambushes, though the idea of attacking Brenna, even for practice was beyond him. Even if it did mean that he could save her life, or his life by learning how to hide his thoughts.

There were just so many things that the previous conversation sparked, many of which would take far more than a day to resolve. This of course led him to the village. A village where they couple hoped to find replacement clothing, and maybe a few other tools. While they had plenty of wealth for cultivators, in the forms of dense qi cores and qi infused meats. The part that would really go a long way were the coins they had gained from attacking orcs and other bandits along the way. While the rate of exchange would likely be high in such a back water place, this was the perfect place for the two to find a moment to relax and rest. Or at least that had been the thought when trying to find such a town in such an out of the way location.

As it was, the couple feared that they would be considered deserters. Only Lykan’s ‘Vov’ moniker for his last name would prove he wasn’t. But there was still the process of trying to hide Brenna. She was more than of age, at thirty-three even dwarven military units would let her join as she passed age of consent. The only reason she had avoided duty thus far was due to her being with Lykan. To protect her and avoid suspicion, the two planned on being brother and sister. At least while traveling through human settlements. This was more than enough to pass the oddities that existed between the two.

When they first practiced their tale against a troop of wandering merchants, their story was readily accepted. Lykan was an injured war veteran who went home to find his sister, Brenna, as the last survivor of their house. With nothing left, the two decided to flee their old house and set out to make a new living. With that they practiced their lines, until their roles became almost natural.

It was only the odd occasional glances from both Brenna and Lykan that caused few to wonder about just how close the siblings were to each other. This was an unavoidable part of their story, as the story made it, so they were close. Their true and growing feelings for each other were evident to any who would stop to notice. While such compassion between siblings was often seen as endearing, anything more would be considered garish at best. So, while in the company of others the two said they would at least try to keep their blooming relationship a secret.

Still Lykan was surprised by the fact that Brenna was unable to notice all the different villagers who were surrounding them. Many were keeping persistent eyes on them as they made their way closer to the village. Or at least the perceived outer perimeter of the city, the part that had been fully cultivated into fields of wheat. While it was the late winter months, the fields still showed clear signs of being worked.

He was about to comment when Brenna caught wind of something. Or rather someone.

“Huh?” A faint sound of wind being sucked into her lungs was the only indication that she had noticed something. Still, he couldn’t warn her about the other dangers that surrounded them. He couldn’t tell her about the people that were watching from concealment nearby. As he figured if Brenna couldn’t notice the hiding villagers, then a normal human wouldn’t either. Thus, he decided to keep his senses open for any signs of an attack, particularly as Brenna seemed to be distracted by whatever it was, she was thinking about.

Finally, she turned and made her way over to an alcove. It was a small dead tree, but one that Brenna instantly identified as having a person in it. Only once they were upon it, and being direct straight towards the hole, did Lykan himself notice the signs of frequent use. Little scuff marks from feet. Torn and broken branches nearby. The all too telling signs of branches scraping against a tree trunk. Everything when taken in totality showed Lykan what Brenna already knew that someone was hiding in the hole.

Well to be fair, Lykan himself could not determine that much, at least not at first. The person in there, if there was a person in there at all possessed neither a substantial amount of qi, nor a substantial amount of mana. Only by focusing his senses to their utmost did he even realize that someone had to be in there. The reason for life was simple, the tree itself was dead, but at its core existed enough life to denote a tree.

It should be noted that in his experiences, plants needed less to survive. As such they showed far less signs of life. Realizing the faint signs of life, Lykan realized that either the form of life was either dying, or unnatural in some way.

With many protective instincts going off all at once he moved quickly to place himself between the tree and Brenna. Then without pausing he leaned forward to remove the trunk. This last part he did slowly, at least he tried to do so slowly, even though his speed caused a strong breeze to flow.

Still when he opened the false opening, his eyes were shocked to see what lay inside. There was a small boy, one who had been malnourished and nearly left for dead. He was half dead with exhaustion, but once he saw the pair appear seemingly from nowhere, he panicked. Silently he tried to dig his way deeper into the hole, but his back was already against the far wall. Instead, all he could do was look on in mute horror at the pair of hooded death figures. The one was so tall and thin that his staff was thought to be a scythe.

Seeing the boy in a panic, Lykan paused. His initial fear of there being something sinister hiding in the stump was unfounded. Now he was left to contemplate what.

No sooner had he taken a step back, then Brenna moved forward to comfort the sickly boy. Her hood back revealing her exotic beauty and complexion.

Lykan for his part, noticed how the numerous sets of eyes that had been watching their progress so far all turned to watch them. Many seemed to move about to ambush.

With that insight into the fact that they were being stalked, Lykan tapped his staff on the ground twice in quick succession.

Thump, thump.

Hearing that Brenna turned to see that Lykan was already moving into position to protect both Brenna and the boy.

“We need to go.” Brenna said, as she gracefully reached out to grab the boy. Before he could protest to much, her strong short arms grabbed the boy who was, or at least should have been taller than she was. The only problem was it had been a while since he last ate properly. It was also clear that he tried to protest, but his weak arms and frame made it so struggling was nearly impossible.

With the boy in her arms, Brenna began to stand.

“Go, I will cover our retreat.” Lykan said.

Hearing that Brenna gave a quick nod, then began sprinting out the woods the way they had come.

Lyakn had already begun circulating mana throughout his body. While he still couldn’t use mana in any meaningful way, this was the best way he could see fit to use it. He found that the larger his mana reserves were, the faster he could go, as such even if he could use mana, he would rather have the speed and maneuverability that having a full mana pool offered at these times.

Like a ghost of the woods Lykan took off, taking out the sets of eyes that had only moved once they revealed the boy’s hiding spots.

To his surprise, ghoulish men. If that was what they were came from the woods. Their bodies dark and formless. Looking at these creatures they were filled with a strange form of dark qi, there was no other way for Lykan do describe the power that coursed through their bodies. They moved faster than normal humans could and would easily be able to chase down a scared and tired boy. But they were no match for Brenna, despite her short legs. Nor were they any match for the speed of Lykan and his flying attacks.

Swish. Smack. Splat.

He struck at and destroyed the ghoulish humans who dared to chase after his Brenna. At first, he felt sorrow for what he was doing, as it was clear the people were not in their right minds. The dark qi circulating their bodies seemed to corrupt them somehow. The dark qi was enough to force them to change from their base instincts and charge forth recklessly. Even after the first few of their kind were beaten to a pulp, the others kept coming. Even when Lykan inflicted wounds that would be enough to permanently cripple a human, the possessed monsters continued. The beings were dead and dying but were still forcing their way forward.

Lykan spent an hour killing every creature that came for them. Then once he was sure no more of the possessed human shells were coming, did he gather all the bodies, and burn them. Using his [Searing Touch] ability to cause his staff to glow brightly with fire before setting the corpses ablaze. The flames consumed the bodies and the corrupted qi in their bodies making them burn like torches in the night.

Finally, once all traces of their dark qi was burned and sent back to the land, Lykan relaxed slightly and decided to head back to find Brenna and the boy. There was something odd going on, and Lykan wanted to know what was corrupting qi so badly, as this was something he had never witnessed before. And anything dealing with qi, always led his mind back to the Titans and what their true intentions were for this planet.