Let shift our story to Orca Village, the nearest human settlement to Heavenly Villa.
Orca Village
30 seconds to The Experiment
The villagers were fast asleep. While the humans in the village were deep within their dream, a night dwellers came out from their hiding. The insects showing off their skill, the owl pursuing its prey and sometimes a howling sound could be heard from a far. The village was peaceful at night.
A night concert was still going strong when suddenly a shockwave sweeping the area. All electronic devices were burned and all sounds came to stop.
BOOOOMMM …
A loud explosion could be heard, followed by a continuous tremor.
Meanwhile, in the chief’s house, Pai Chow, chief of the Orca Village also slowly waking up. He look at his side, at his lovely wife who were still deep in her sleep, oblivious to the sound of the explosion. Both of them were at mid fifties while his wife have some problems with her hearing. No wonder the loud sound didn’t even budge her from her dream.
Pai Chow became a chief for almost 15 years already. He and several friends decided to built this village as they want to seclude themselves from the modern world. They were tired living in the city. Within this 15 years, the numbers of the villagers never stagnant. Someone come and someone goes, Pai Chow never hold them. Whoever want to live in this village must be someone who are willing to live with the nature. If they’re hunting, they hunt for food, not for entertainment or trade. They hunt for what they need only. They grew their own food and fishing from the nearby lake. Live with nature, that is the idealism shared among the villagers.
The number of villagers were close to 150 peoples. Currently they were close to 100 active hunters, men and women alike. The rest of them focused on gathering herbs, fishing, gardening and other domestic chores. Money is not a problem here in this village, because most all of senior members were a successful people before. They just tired of modern living, so they treat the village as their retreat. While the young members treat the village as a challenge.
“What was that sound? Why there is a loud explosion nearby the village. I hope we wont face any problems”, Chief Pai were in deep thinking while he move towards the bathroom to refresh his body. He knew that his subordinates will come after him to report about the sound. So he need to get ready.
‘Knock, knock, knock’, suddenly a knocking sound could be heard. “Damn, so fast. At least let me take a piss first”. He move towards the door after refreshing himself with warm water. A young man were standing in front of his door while holding a torch. He met this young man at the city several years ago. When he talk about his idealism about the village, this young man immediately decided to follow him to the village.
“Why are you holding a torch? Why there is no light in the village?”, he asked the young man.
“The generator was fried by the shockwave, Chief Pai. In fact, all electrical equipment also broken. That’s why I use a torch”, replied the young man with an awkward smile on his face.
“I see. Duo Nan, gather the elders, we will hold an emergency meeting now”, said Pai Chow as he took a step to go to the meeting room.
“Err, Chief Pai, I think you should wear a pants first”, Duo Nan said as he clearly holding himself from bursting from laughter.
Looking down at his legs, a shocked expression appeared on Chief Pai face and then he also laugh out loud. Soon after, he come out with a pants. Duo Nan lead the way to the meeting room.
“You better not telling anyone about this. Give me face ok”. “Yes Chief, Hahahaha”.
=====================================
In the meeting room
“Good morning everyone, lets begin our emergency meeting”, Chief Pai greet all the elders and young leaders inside the room. “Duo Nan, you may start your briefing”.
“Greetings everyone, right after midnight, there is a shockwave sweeping our village, frying all electrical devices. I suspect, it was EMP wave. Shortly after the shockwave, a loud boom was heard, which is the one that woke us up. However, the night guard reported that they didn’t see any explosion near our village, which is really weird considering how loud the booming sound is”, Duo Nan paused and then continued his briefing, “Other than electrical devices, no other damages reported. That’s all”.
“How about the cracking noises that come after the boom?”, asked Elder Daquan. Elder Daquan was one of martial arts instructor in the village. He was incharge with close range combat while the other two instructor was Elder Fai and Elder Ma. Elder Fai was a weapon instructor, specialize in sword mastery while Elder Ma was a hunting instructor. This three elder will supervise the safety of the village and prepare the villagers with necessary knowledge to survive in the wilderness.
“I have no idea what cause that cracking noise is. Also, there is also several tremors after the boom which is also with no explainable reason”, replied Duo Nan.
“What do you think Elder Ma”, asked Chief Pai. “I never face anything like this during my service. But, I strongly believe that we must be prepared for the worst case scenario, considering how weird the situation is. If you look at the moon, it was red now”, replied Elder Ma.
“Red?” Everyone in the room shocked and start making noises. They were in hurry before, so they have no chance to look at the moon.
“Yes it is. As far as I know, red moon only appear in the legend, which is also called a blood moon. It was a sign for catastrophe and chaos. I know it sound superstitious, but the moon indeed bloody red, so I suggest we must be prepared”, said Elder Ma.
Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author.
“Elder Ma was right, we should prepare for the worst. Duo Nan, after the first light in the morning, bring with you some hunters to scout the perimeter. If you encounter anything strange, do not engage. You must return as quickly as possible. Zi Yi, check our food stock, make sure everything was checked. Brother Fai will have to check our weapons storage and make sure all hunters were ready. Brother Ma will be with me to check the village defense. Dismiss”, Chief Pai gave his orders.
“Yes Chief”, replied everyone.
==============================
6 hours after midnight
Hello everyone, I’m the overseer of your world. I believe all of you felt the tremor and heard the cracking sound since the past 6 hours. Due to some good for nothing idiots, the barrier between your world and another dimensions shattered. To make thing worst, your world and the worlds from another dimensions are combining together. This is just a beginning. Don’t expect a warm welcome, prepare for the worst and fight for your survival.
The panel you currently viewing is part of the system I implemented to increase your survival rate. Don’t die too early. Have some fun and good luck
“What is this?”, muttered Duo Nan when he got the notification. “Hey, did anyone got blue panel on his sight?”, he asked fellow hunters who are preparing for scouting mission with him. “I got it too, brother Duo”, replied someone. “Me too”, replied another confirming that everyone got the notification.
“Brother Duo, should we abort our mission?” asked a hunter. “No, we continue. We will report to the elders once we return. I believe everyone got the notification, so it will be useless if we go to them now. Lets go everyone”, replied Duo Nan as he put his bow on his back and move towards the forest.
===============================
2 hours after the notification
In the meeting room
“Brother Ma, did you find anything strange inside the village after the notification?”, Chief Pai asked Elder Ma, who checked dutifully inside the village, looking for anything strange or loophole in security.
“Nothing so far brother. The situation inside the village is the same as ever. But I already forbid everyone from leaving the village until we’re clear about the situation”, replied Elder Ma.
“Thanks brother. I hope nothing bad happen to us. How about our weapons, brother Fai?”, asked Chief Pai. “Swords and knives have been sharpened, the arrows were counted and our guns were ready to use. I think if we were attacked by the otherworlders, we can fight them”.
“Good to hear that. I will entrusted both of you to keep the village safe. Zi Yi reported to me earlier, we have enough food stock for 3 months”, said Chief Pai.
While the elders were discussing about the situations, Duo Nan return. His face look worry and his steps were rushed. Looking at that young man, Chief Pai couldn’t help but asked,
“What happened Duo Nan? Did you found anything strange outside the village?”
“We might have a problem Chief”, replied Duo Nan while he tried to calm down. Then he resume his report. “We found a strange creatures 5 kilometers to the west. They were half man half horse. I never found anything like that before”.
“Half man half horse? Do you mean a centaurs. That’s a creature from myth. Are you sure you’re not mistaken Duo Nan?”, asked Elder Fai with a frown. “I 500% sure elder. That what my squad and I saw. There are only 5 of them, most likely a scout. When they discover us, they fled. I’m afraid they will return with bigger forces”, said Duo Nan.
“What do you think Brother Pai?”, asked Elder Fai.
“If I didn’t see the blue panel earlier this morning, I will also think what Duo Nan said as impossible. But, since last night everything have been strange. Lets prepare for an attack”, said Chief Pai. “Duo Nan, elaborate further about what you saw”.
“The creature were 2 meters tall and their speed was like a normal horse. They use longsword and some of them have bow on their back. Other than that creatures, we also found that the landscape around the village have change a lot”, Duo Nan paused for a while and then continue, “The range between our village and the southern mountain range have been increased and the lake we use to fish have been enlarge too. We also found many animals that we never seen before. We really lucky that they didn’t sense us”.
Hearing what Duo Nan said made everyone inside the room quiet. Everyone tried to fathom what was happening. After a long silence, Chief Pai sighed and said,
"Lets mobilize everyone". "Yes chief", replied everyone inside the room.