Preview of next song: It is the short out of date version    Children of Circinus

A fire trapped around several small rocks let out its warmth to the many bodies surrounding it. The cart and horses that protected their back shield them from any sneaky creatures. The forest was pitch black and they could see nothing but each other.

It was quiet in the depths of the hidden forest behind them, they could only hear the slight sounds of trees rustling in the distance. The small open field they sat in was open enough to give them a chance at running or fighting If they needed to. With a decent feeling of safeness, they indulged in each others company with laughter.

[Reginald: Hahaha, that's not what I heard from my pops back in the day! He said they used to have all sorts of dumb days where they ate cookies, cakes, and the meat from chickens just for fun. Sounds ridiculous!]

Reginald took a small sip from the flask in his hand, being mindful not to drink too much.

The pale man next to him with a fine jawline, Osmond, had raised his hand for a second to get some attention for what he was going to say.

[Osmond: I’m sure we’ve all heard about how there used to be days when people would celebrate. Days where people would take their significant other on dates and days where their mothers would be praised with gifts. I personally think that's strange to choose one day to do that.]

Reginald handed the flask to Osmond, who also took a small swig. A short young woman named Mei sat next to Osmond, she beckoned for him to hurry and pass the flask. She hurriedly snatched the flask and took a drink. Everyone looked on cringed expressions as she waived it around carelessly, already slightly intoxicated.

[Mei: I don’t think its that strange, but days where celebrations are done sound very interesting. I specifically like the one where you go on dates!]

Mei looked to Osmond with a leery look. In return, he acted as if he saw nothing. Mei angrily shoved the flask in the direction of Anina, who was next in the circle of people. Anina declined, for the 6th time, and passed it to Yale.

[Anina: My grandmother told me there used to be this day they called Christmas. She used to love telling us about how her parents would bring her presents and toys. It’s a shame she died a few years ago, I sort of miss her long dumb stories…]

Yale made a face of disgust as he took the flask and passed it to the next person. A man with a rag covering his mouth took the flask.

[Yale: My father used to be a big fan of the stars. He doesn’t pay attention to them as much anymore, but he says lots of religions died out after Circinus was born. Apparently day and night was different before, and seasons didn’t last as long. So maybe all those past religions couldn't match everything up and just went away?]

[Osmond: I could see that. The old world was probably full of idle times if there was time for people to celebrate days of hunting for eggs.]

A woman with black hair and fair skin gave a chuckle to Osmond's statement.

[Mirella: Even though you're always idle whenever we want to keep traveling a bit more?]

Osmonds brought on a smug face, spitting out,

[Osmond: Yeah okay Ms. I want to sleep with the Horses.]

His sister stood up, with a defiant look.

[Mirella: Don’t say it like that! They’re just really warm!]

An older woman with glasses crossed her arms jokingly and said,

[Silph: You would want to do such things to a poor horse! My, you’ll make me faint! Hahaha]

Mirella’s face went as red as a tomato, she stomped the ground and was about to make a retort until the ragged face man interrupted her.

[No Name: Ms. Fox you seem to be taking after your husband with that laugh and humor of yours.]

[Silph: Oh please! The only thing I would take after him on is the pure love for sweets he has.]

Reginald clapped with a bold laugh.

[Reginald: Damn straight, we used to make all the right kinds of sweets, anything could find recipes for.]

[Anina: Blah, sweets. My grandmother loved them and would try and make us eat all the leftovers because its close to Christmas season. You couldn’t see me eating those tooth numbing apple-pies.]

Another woman of young age joined in with them.

[Nia: What about that sweet alcohol I gave you two weeks ago? You drank it so excitedly.]

[Anina: Hmph, that's different. Sweet alcohol has its place in my heart, the cake does not.]

This book is hosted on another platform. Read the official version and support the author's work.

They all begin to laugh at Anina’s wry joke. As they indulged in their conversations, the wind began to blow more briskly. Mei with her nose to the air and slightly slurred words said,

[Mei: Eugh, do zhu guys smell that?]

Everyone's laughter started to die down. They all began to sniff the air due to her statement. The wind picked up even more and soon plunged their noses into hell.

[Osmond: I know this sme- Shit! Everybody cover your noses and mouth with something!]

A sense of fear began to envelop them. It was too dark to see around them and the moon was nowhere to be found. They all began to scramble for something to breathe through. Muffled by her sleeve, Anina cursed while looking for something.

[Anina: Dammit where is it!]

Her eyes met with what she was looking for, her satchel. She hurriedly unzipped it and began digging through it.

[Anina: Found it!]

She yelled as she held what she was looking for, an imperfectly spherical shaped crystal. While it was a light purplish color, it was also opaque and almost see through. She quickly tossed it into the fire. It didn’t do anything at first, but then an audible pop sound could be heard. Slowly, a purplish light began to spread around them.

Filling the dark forest with a spherical light, everyone at the camp could see the short distance that the light had given them.

[Noname: This is why I said passing by that lake would be stupid.]

[Reginald: Oh hush, they’re just a bunch of frogs.]

[Noname: Before I was taken by that crazy woman, those things used to roam the lands around my town! They aren’t just some frogs!]

[Osmond; He’s right Mr. Fox, I’m from around the same place and I could never mistake that smell.]

The camp members formed a defensive circle, Yale moved the drunken Mei to the center of it. The ground began to shake slightly and everyone got ready to face the enemy that was coming toward them.

A large brown webbed foot took its place inside the lit sphere of light. Hairs protruded its legs and secreted a thick gooey liquid.

[Noname: If it’s just as disgusting as I remember…]

Another large webbed foot entered the area and with it, a loud deep bellow erupted from the forest. A large round face came into view with large dark hairs sticking out from below its mouth like a beard. Slowly it waddled closer and was fully in view to the camp.

[Nia: Ew, what the hell! It’s got hairs and stuff.]

[Anina: It looks like the Santa guy grandmother used to tell me about…]

[Mirella: That’s not even the wort of it…]

As if on cue, the enormous from made a large croak. From the edges of its fingers and the backs of its legs, razor-sharp blades of bone suddenly shot out. Several other giant frogs hopped into view, mimicking the first frog.

Silph gagged at the sight of juices spilling out from where their bone came from.

[Anina: That's gross! There like four of them too!]

[Nia: Those things lived near you Mirella!?]

Mirella gave her an agreeing grunt.

[Osmond: I know their disgusting but focus. They could easily poison us or cut you to pieces. Hurry and grab some weapons from the cart.]

Osmond always carried is machete on him. Yale backed away cautiously and reached for the nearby spear. Mei threw up. Anina took out her knife and several labeled crystals of various colors. Noname grabbed the fold-able crossbow from the side of the cart. Silph grabbed her prized glaive, the metal blade had several holes with thin pieces of red crystal embedded inside. Nia also began to gag at the smell, but still took the time to grab a generic sword she found on a corpse. Mirella similarly took out a long bladed weapon like Osmond.

Amidst everyone taking arms, there was a man who couldn’t help but laugh.

[Reginald: It’s been a while since a large monster came. I like it when they're big.]

A smug smile appeared on his face as he grabbed his weapon. Wrapped in cloth and smells of oil, filled his nose. He picked it up and unwrapped the cloth. The sphered edge at the bottom of the shaft smashed into the ground and a small flash of light quickly passed through the crystalline shaft.

[Yale: Calm down with that thing Reginald. It’s annoying!]

[Reginald: Frogs are sensitive to light right? I have no choice.]

[Osmond: The smile on your face doesn’t say you're doing it for the advantage. At least wait for us to go with you!]

Ignoring other moans and complains, he charged forward towards the large frogs that entered the area.

[Reginald: CLOSE YOUR EYES!]

Upon his request, the camp members shielded their eyes. With a powerful yell, he tossed the halberd forward, gripping it hard not to let it escape his grasp. The crystal moved inside the shaft from back to front, ending at the head, where it created a blinding flash of light. The bright light flashed from the entire shaft and blinded anything looking in his direction. With a loud boisterous yell as if he were having fun, he charged toward the stunned bearded frogs.