The sound of a hoe hitting the dirt resounded in the area. The sun had barely risen, yet a young girl was already up, digging the fields. It had been ten years since Sera took the Soul Sea test. Today would be her first day of school was today, but the teenage girl wanted to help her parents out by getting as much work done as possible. Once Sera felt that she had done enough, she walked over to the well and pulled a bucket of water to the top. She splashed half of the water on herself and started scrubbing the dirt off.
As the sun peaked its way above the horizon, her ears picked out some noise coming from the direction of the forest. Sera wasn’t too sure about what it was, her best guess was that it resembled the shrill cry of an animal cry. However, that shouldn’t be possible. The teenage girl hesitated for a bit, yet the cries continued, and her curiosity got the better of her.
Sera had grown up playing in that forest, which she only knew to be peaceful and silent, yet the deeper she went, the more distressing the sounds became. About a mile into the forest, Sera found a faint trail of blood. As she followed it, she could hear the creature getting louder. “I guess this is the right direction.” She thought to herself as she increased her speed.
Behind a tree, she found a large, fluffy, white creature covered in blood. It was the size of an elephant, with a coat as pure white as fresh snow. Its outer appearance most closely resembled a very muscular hare with long ears. The only difference was its size and the length of its legs. The legs were quite long for the creature's size, making it look slightly weird to Sera
As she approached, the creature noticed her and started to thrash around and scream louder. Sera closed the distance very slowly, talking calmly to the creature. “Hey now, I'm not here to hurt you. I’ve heard your cries, and if you just let me look, I can probably help.” Sera had no idea whether the creature understood her words, or if it simply sensed no danger from the teenage girl, but it stopped screaming and thrashing about. Once she was close enough, Sera saw a deep gash in the creature's hind leg, left by something else with three claws.
“What is a Sherike doing here?” Sera muttered to herself, gently petting the creature to calm it down some more. “I’ve never seen a single creature in this forest, so where did you come from?” As she was petting the Sherike she inspected the gashes in its thigh and an overwhelming fear spread through her. It wasn't until she was this close that she truly realized how large the marks were compared to the Sherike.
Sera took a few steps back away from the animal. There wasn’t really anything she could realistically do for the creature, so the smartest thing to do seemed to report everything to her father. Before she could turn, Sera heard the soft thuds of footsteps nearby. As she looked in the direction, a beast larger than the Sherike was walking in their direction.
Sera froze, taking in every detail of the new arrival. This beast was large and seemed canine in appearance. Its face was long like a fox, but its build resembled that of a wolf. All up and down its body were markings of silver that weaved through its orange fur. What’s more, there were numerous weapons embedded into its skin. Wounds and blood covered it, showing this thing had been attacked by humans.
The beast walked right past Sera and onto the Sherike, who at this time started to thrash and scream. It tried to get up, but was too weak. The large wolf-like beast stepped on the Sherike’s shoulder, pinning it to the ground, biting straight into its neck. The next sound would be burned into Sera’s memory for the rest of her life. The Sherike started to attempt to cry out, but with the sharp teeth puncturing its neck, all that it could let out was a gurgling sound as it slowly suffocated on its own blood.
Sera was now drenched in sweat as the large beast let go of the now lifeless body in its maw. After the Sherike died, the forest became deathly silent before a voice rung out in Sera’s mind.
“Tell me, human child, where is this place.” The voice was deep and sounded surprisingly elegant. Sera was confused where the voice originated from, yet as she looked around all she could see was the large predator that was now staring directly at her. Sera began to shake in freight. After a few seconds of more silence, an aura emanated out from the predator, causing the teenage girl to collapse as the world felt like it was pushing down upon her. “Child, don’t test my patience. I’m speaking directly into your mind, so don’t pretend that you didn’t understand my question.” The voice rung in her mind once again, this time more aggressive.
The beast took a step closer with its long legs, now almost on top of Sera. “I will ask only once more, human child, where is this place?”
Sera reluctantly replied as she felt the weight on her increase with each passing second. “N-north of a c-city named P-Proodos. We’re i-in the outskirts of the V-Valenheim Kingdom.” Every word felt agonizing as Sera began to have difficulty breathing. Suddenly the pressure released around her and she took a few gasping breaths.
“That wasn’t so difficult, now, was it, child?” The creature began to sniff the air and its ears shot up. “Ah, I was going to devour this poor animal, but those pesky human cultivators will be far more suitable for healing.” At the words the beast had said, Sera lifted her head.
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“Wait, please don’t hurt anyone! Eat me if you have to!” She pleaded with the creature, realizing that she had just told the creature exactly where she would find her family, and the other people of the town. At that moment the pressure came back stronger than before.
“Insolent child! Did I tell you to address me?” The wolf-like beast snarled as it looked at Sera. “You are weak and without the ability to cultivate. Why, by the gods on high, would I ever devour your pathetic carcass?”
A surprising feeling spread through the wolf as it looked away from the teenage girl. A slight pain seared in its leg. Looking down to the source of the pain was Sera, trembling and pushing a spear that was in its leg deeper. The beast immediately swatted her away, causing Sera to smash hard into a nearby tree. Seeing the girl still breathing, it walked over to her body.
“You’re surprisingly resilient, child.” It looked to the left then back down to the girl. “However, the other humans are here. A shame that we don’t have a bit more time to play.” The beast began to walk away as it suddenly heard a soft wheezing.
“Don’t you dare go after my family!” Sera stood up, just regaining consciousness. The beast tilted its head slightly and activated its aura again. This caused Sera to collapse onto her hands and knees. This pressure was far beyond what she had previously experienced.
“Stay there, child. I’ll be through with them soon enough and come back for you. You’re an interesting specimen. It might be entertaining to see how long you can keep up that spirit of yours.” The wolf turned back around, its aura still active. Sera struggled to breathe, but clasped her hand around the spear that came loose when she got hit. With a burst of adrenaline, Sera stood up and rushed forward, going under the beast. It did not expect this, having left itself wide open. Sera, using all the strength she could muster, plunged a spear deeper into the wound it had been left in, and kept pushing.
The beast wailed out in pain and looked down at her. “How dare you!”
It bit down at Sera, aiming for the girl’s head. Sera tried to dodge, yet the beast still caught her right arm. It picked her off the ground and shook her around, causing her arm to bleed intensely. After it finished shaking its head, Sera got thrown against a tree. Blood littered the teenage girl’s body as she lay on the brink of unconsciousness. The beast walked toward her angrily and activated its aura to the max.
“Creatures twice my size bow to me, yet here you are defying me! Bow to me! If not, I’ll do as you asked and eat you before I devour your entire town!” The beast exclaimed as its face was only inches away from the girl.
Sera used what little strength she had to get up to her knees. The beast looked as if it was smiling before a piece of the spear handle was plunged into its eye. It roared and started to thrash around before falling to the ground, its feet trying to dig the spear handle from its eye. Serra grabbed a large rock near her and walked slowly and groggily towards the creature. Before it noticed her, Sera brought the rock down upon the end of the handle. This caused the beast to roar in pain, but its body went limp.
“W-wait, child! Stop what you’re doing and I promise to leave now! I won’t harm anyone and I’ll even take you in and make you stronger!” The handle must have caused its motor functions to stop because it just lay there helpless. Sera wordlessly brought the rock up as high as her one good arm would allow. Her eyes were vacant, as if she wasn’t truly conscious. Before she could finish the job, she passed out.
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Sera slowly opened her eyes and found a familiar looking ceiling above her. She glanced around and realized that she was actually back in her own room. Sitting up straight, she felt pain rush through her entire body. It was nearly enough to make the still weak teenage girl pass out again, but taking a few deep breaths, Sera managed to stay conscious.
There were loud voices coming from the other room. One of them she recognized as her father’s voice and although she was unable to assign the other voice to one particular person, it did not sound completely foreign to her.
Sera stood up very slowly, clenching her teeth all the while. She walked over towards the door at a snail’s pace. She leaned up against the wall and used her right arm to support herself. Her left arm, the one which had been injured by that beast, had at one point been bandaged and was currently resting in a sling.
"Why was there a Sherike in that forest? Such a creature does not appear out of nowhere, and the forest has been devoid of larger creatures ever since we were kids!" Sera’s father exclaimed towards the other person, his voice slightly shaky.
The second voice attempted to calm her father down. "Listen, Alec, I can understand where you're coming from, but…"
At this moment, Alec furiously cut him off and his speech pattern changed slightly. "No, you DON’T seem to understand ANYTHING!!! My daughter was almost killed out there! What have y'all done about it, huh? God-damn nothin' is what! I provide the entire town with high-grade ingredients, an’ all I ask for in return is peace and fucking quiet!"
The man stayed quiet as Alec rightfully vented his frustration. "Three! Three of the houses on the west side have been destroyed! I’ve known those families for most of their lives! All of them were either killed or heavily injured! Ya fucking lead it here while chasing it! Be lucky it wasn't my place or I'd ……"
Despite being angry, he knew better than to finish that sentence. An awkward silence formed throughout the house. Alec rubbed the bridge of his nose, before he took a deep breath to calm down a bit, his speech returning to normal. "Chi-Woo, I understand you're only doing what you need to, but you still haven't even caught the beast that did this to my little girl. Not only that, but you're not even giving me any details!”
“Imagine it would have been little Mara instead!”