He had heard that people were acting strangely in the city by both the guard and Cudlin, however he never expected anything like this. For someone to lose all rationality and attack their own father, completely tunnel visioned to the point that they don’t even recognize pain was something unfathomable to him.

And yet Ilon had just witnessed it right in front of him. He was thankful that he brought his whip with him because the shock caused him to freeze for a couple of seconds, not allowing him to act instantly. He had faced monstrosities much worse than this in the form of Horrors, and even then he was able to react instantly in the face of death. If he hadn’t had his whip, he wouldn’t have been able to reach in time.

As if to prove that point he saw Maymun and Quyon rush past him as he brought the girl to the ground. Quyon ran directly to Cudlin in order to check the wounds on his neck to see if they had punctured anything important while Maymun ran out of the inn into the street.

Ilon focused all of his attention to his hearing and was very faintly able to hear screams out in the street, meaning that Quyon had probably directed Maymun out there to help.

“Ilon! I’ll handle the girl. There’s a lot of people screaming outside, go now!” Quyon shouted as she confirmed that Cudlin was fine. She ran over and pinned Fessal to the ground as she snarled and struggled. “From what I’ve heard it only lasts for a couple of minutes maximum. Try to restrain or knock out people, but if it’s too serious go for the kill if you have to.” Ilon was out the door by the time her last word reached him.

The scene on the street in front of him even made him, who had eaten people’s hearts before, sick. Dozens of people were laying on the ground with their throats torn out, the people who did it were on top of them continuing to eat. He saw Maymun tackling the crazed off of people who were still alive before attempting to knock them out.

“AHHHHHH PAPA PLEASE.” A young child's voice screamed out. Ilon looked over to the left and saw that a young man who looked to be mid twenties was on top of a child, pinning her to the ground as he held her arm and was taking bites from it. “I’m sorry papa please, it hurts. AHHHHHH.”

Rage consumed Ilon in that moment. He was used to seeing people die. He was used to seeing people suffer. Many Horrors did horrendous and gruesome things to torment their victims. But they were a natural part of the world, a fucked up part, but natural nonetheless.

And he had come to terms with that.

But this, this was no Horror.

This was likely the work of someone who had the power to combat those Horrors, but fell and became something worse. Whether it was to greed for power or something like revenge, it did not matter. Ilon would find them and kill them, just like he had done to all the Horrors he had met.

“Maymun! I’ll pass them to you, knock them out!” Ilon clenched his teeth before screaming out. His hand shot forward as the whip followed his commands and curled around the father. He snapped it back as the man was ripped from the ground and sailed in the air, the whip releasing him at the apex as he tumbled, landing and rolling right before Maymun.

“As fast as you can!” She chopped the back of the neck of the man Ilon had thrown, who was starting to get up again. He collapsed in a heap as she waited for a couple of seconds to make sure he didn’t get up again.

Ilon ran down the street capturing those who had bloodshot eyes and crazed looks, throwing them towards Maymun who was keeping up behind him to knock them unconscious. Whatever was happening to these people made them lose their rationality and made them unnaturally strong. He had seen an elderly man who looked to be in his 70’s or 80’s wrestle down a buff young man in his late teens. He had made sure to handle the elderly with a bit more care when delivering them to Maymun.

They had knocked out a couple of dozen people before, like a switch was flipped, the crazed and rabid people instantly returned to normal. The only thing that was different about them from before was the iron taste staining their mouths, their lips a few shades of red brighter than before.

But just as one type of chaos finished another one broke out.

“Wh..what have I done?” A man close to Ilon said as he looked at his blood covered hands that were covered in cuts from the rough road.

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“Kill me! I ate human, please. KILL ME.” Another person screamed out as more and more people realized what exactly they had done. They didn’t directly have any memories of doing it, but the corpses around them and the overwhelming iron taste in their mouths were clues enough to put two and two together.

Panic and hysteria broke out as people cried and broke down, replacing the iron taste with the burning taste of bile. Hatred and disgust overwhelmed Ilon, however these feelings were directed at himself. He had just feasted two days ago and now the people in front of him wanted to kill themselves for what he had just done two days ago.

The hatred, disgust, and rage all came together and transformed into a strong feeling of powerlessness. He had no clue what he could have done to stop this, what could be done to stop feasting, no clue what to do to help the people in front of him going through what he experienced the first time he feasted.

“You okay?” He felt a familiar arm reach around his shoulder and pull him into a half hug. Ilon felt Maymun’s grip on his shoulder tighten as she looked at the turmoil around the two of them. As he looked over at her, he saw eyes laden with unbridled rage.

“I’ll be fine. You?” Ilon truly believed that he would be fine with Maymun and Quyon being here. It would have been a different story if they hadn’t been here when this happened though.

“I’m going to find and make sure the fucker that did this feels unimaginable pain.” Ilon was glad to see that side of her never changed in the years that he didn’t see her. She acted out on her emotions instead of keeping them bottled up.

“And how exactly are you going to do that?” The third member of their small party called out as she walked up to them. Quyon’s sleeves were rolled up and her hands had blood stains on them, probably from helping out the couple of people still alive. “We have no idea what caused this or who caused this.”

“Anyways,” Quyon continued on, “the Guard are coming to take care of the remaining people and the deceased so we can leave that to them. Let’s ask some witnesses to see if there was anyone strange in the area, we can’t just meander about.”

“You’re right, but Ikiyoka be damned if this goes unanswered.” Ilon said in rage. “Let’s hurry up.” It was best to try and get some answers while the guards were busy dealing with the previously affected.

They asked around the street but no one saw anyone suspicious or doing something suspicious. It was pretty easy to identify Shamanism if one saw it, so that meant that either the range of the casting was large, they were hidden somewhere that wasn’t visible, or it wasn’t a fallen shaman that had done this.

Or a combination of the three. If it was then that meant that they were dealing with a very powerful unknown who had unknown powers and goals. Which is pretty much what we’re already facing. This might be more troublesome than dealing with a Horror.

After a while of getting nowhere the three of them decided to reconvene at the inn. The only thing of usefulness they had found out was that this outbreak was contained only to this small district.

“In the end we’re right back to where we started. By the way Quyon, what did you do with the innkeeper's daughter when we left?” Ilon asked.

“I got Cudlin and a couple of others there to help hold her down. I talked to him and she seemed fine besides the cuts on her hands. She passed out shortly after returning to normal.” Quyon responded as she plopped herself down in a chair, exhausted. Ilon and Maymun joined and took the moment to savour the slight peace in that moment. Unfortunately, that peace was cut short when a couple of guards entered the inn, one of them being a guard that Ilon recognized.

“Who woulda thought that the young boy I chatted with would end up being so helpful.” The female guard that was at the gate approached their group of three. “I heard from the witnesses outside that the three of you were responsible for saving many lives today. For that, I thank you from the bottom of my heart.” She said as she clasped her right fist over her heart in a soldier's salute.

Ilon studied her further and found that her black hair was disheveled and her face pale as snow. Even if she had only seen the aftermath of what had happened, it would be enough to scar anyone for life mentally. He could only imagine how fucked up the people that went through it would be, just like the first time he had feasted.

“I appreciate you coming over here to give your thanks, but we’re pretty tired so…” Ilon left his sentence trailing. At the current moment in time he really didn’t want anything to do with anyone. He wanted to just brood and think for a while.

“I’ll make this quick then. But first I'd like to know the names of the people I’m thanking. I’m Lysa.” She said with a slight smile that was obviously forced.

“I’m Ilon, the two there.” He paused as he turned around, seeing Quyon and Maymun leaning on each other with their eyes closed. He lowered his voice slightly. “Are Quyon and Maymun.”

“Well it’s nice to meet you, Ilon.” She closed her eyes for a couple of seconds before opening them again with a slight determination. “Frankly, we have no idea why this happened or what caused this, so we’re trying to get as much help as we can. Please inform anyone at the guard station if you see anyone suspicious around or if you get any information at all.”

Before Ilon got the chance to respond he saw Fessal walking over towards them. Her eyes were red and puffy and her hands were wrapped in ointmented bandages, likely the work of Quyon. She had provided quick aid to anyone of the injured who were still alive while they were restraining the crazed.

“Umm, Pa told me to tell you what I remember before I fainted.” She said in a slightly quivering voice. Gone was her cheery and bubbly energy. All that remained before Ilon was a young girl in distress.

“Please, any information will be helpful.” Lysa said in a soft tone of voice, trying to comfort Fessal.

“The last thing I remember before everything went hazy was a group of three people. I...I only remember one of them clearly. He had messy brown hair, brown eyes, and a marking on the side of his face.” Fessal said as she closed her eyes, trying her best to picture it. She put her hand to her forehead and clenched her teeth in pain.

“It was sort of in the shape of a horn. S-Sorry I don’t remember much more.” She stuttered out. “I can’t remember anything about the other two either.”

“No, no. Don’t be. That was more than enough, and thanks to you we have a lead of some kind now.” Lysa said as an actual smile formed on her face.

“ Oh,” Fessal exclaimed as she opened her eyes like something just came to her. “I remember something.”

“I remember that one of the people had violet eyes.”