Chapter 2 - First Wave

“Everyone get up!”

The shouting scream jolted me awake from that pleasant dream, it was about Atarneus running around in a field of white flowers.

I have no idea what is going on, but it can’t be good. The familiar voice of my father in a state of anger made me unwilling to question against his tyrannical shouting.

Father had returned home with bad news it seems.

Throwing mother’s knitted blanket away from me, I reached towards Atarneus’ sleeping back. My eyes were still locked onto my father’s demonic appearance, through the open door of my room.

I grasped the place Atarneus’ is sleeping at, in order to wake him. He is quite a heavy sleeper in the first place, and only awakes on his own accord. However, this matter is extremely urgent and sleep comes after it.

My hand touched only the straw that was placed on the floor. He wasn’t there. I retracted my gaze from father’s presence and looked beside me.

“Atarneus is missing!” I screamed as loud as possible.

The hurried and panic-stricken movements within the house turned frozen. Everyone slowly waded towards my room like snails with eyes that seemed dead inside.

“Weren’t you with him, how could he have gone missing?” Crystal stated the facts.

I looked at mother for help, but she just looked at me with hatred filled eyes. Her heart frozen in ice, and her gaze were blades that slashed me open.

Atarneus is gone, and the mother I once knew, is gone too.

It’s how things are: if someone is reported missing, their most likely dead. I am blamed for the unknown death of my brother.

“We need to move, now!” My father broke the moment of silence with a calm shout. His calmness showed that he did not care one bit, even if everyone in the house died.

“Bear!”

A scream from our neighbours only made us move that much quicker, as we left the house and ran like mad. Father, -the village guard- spared no glance towards the bear that split apart our neighbours bodies.

The first wave has begun, and already the village is no more.

“Get to the base, hurry!”

Father rallied people into a stampede, as we followed closely in fear. We met friends on the way, and overheard grave news repeatedly. Chaos has fallen.

But the pain is not leaving my heart. Atarneus is gone.

The masks that covered the faces of the villagers fell, revealing their true nature. As they started to swear, shove and punch in hopes of getting to safety faster. Patience lost and ripped from them by the beasts that invaded the village.

There is no way a person can be calm in the face of one of these, unless he is already one of them.

A devastated cry for help broke out from the back of the crowd, someone is being ripped apart. The beasts have come, but the defenders have ran. Father is running alongside us, hiding his suit of arms by his home clothes.

The gallant father who rallied us in the first place, has fallen to fear. Like the rest of us.

Running away from danger made me feel safer, and knowing that we are going to the base I felt thankful to be alive. I am able to experience these kinds of feelings; fear, danger, excitement.

I am filled with excitement, along with fear.

I look to the side and see Crystal carrying both Gate and Autumn. Her face distorted in anger, and her arms rippling with muscle. She caught me staring at her, so she turned her head and looked at me with hateful eyes.

“Don’t make eye contact with me you slug. You killed the one with potential, so I will see you become a whore in the future.” She stated loud enough for anyone to hear. But no one showed any disgust and simply nodded their heads, as they kept running.

My future is set.

No tears emerged from the eyes of the little one’s, and their faces calm.

Soon, outside the fortress we saw Flare adorning a set of knightly armour with a sword and shield, being commanded by an officer. The troops were said to be around one hundred, but only a handful of heads could be seen currently.

I looked to father who is going to join them. But, he only lowered his head and covered it in a dirt cloth. His eyes looking a different direction.

He fears the thought of dying on a field and not living another day. We all do.

“Men, defend the fort and rally all the villagers, then get them underground. We only have five minutes left before the next wave, so we need to clear them o...” We ran straight past the old swordsman and into the hardened building, like scared rats.

People are going to fight against the endless waves of beasts, whilst we grin happily knowing we don’t need to lift a finger. We just need to run from danger, and it will keep us alive.

Looking around, I saw my father dispersing into a dark corner together with countless men. They are all “defenders” of our home, the place we cherish and fight for. But I don’t see anyone with the will to fight against the beasts. The dark ashen faces of everyone in here is evident that this village is a goner.

“Spring, where is Atarnu?” A sweet voice broke the tension of my thoughts, it was an unpleasant disturbance.

Atarneus?

I look down and see the person who called out, it was Autumn. Her face still calm with a fiery determination in her eyes to know my answer, I will tell her and explain everything to her. Hopefuly, she will stop distracting me...but, Atarneus is dead.

I doubled over from the pain in my heart, I need to get away from this pain. Need to change my mind in order to rid this pain. The triggers always happens when his name appears.

“Are you okay?” Autumn rubbed my back with her smooth hands. I sat myself upright, I don’t need help from anyone younger.

I look at Autumn, her face not showing any worry for me.

Why is she still calm? We are going to die soon, the underground won’t save us.

Why do you remind me of him? You are too calm for a kid, just like him.

Has he affected you too?

“Atarneus has died, he was slain by the beasts at night.” I told her seriously, in an attempt to make her cry and get rid of her. I need to think hard, I don’t need distractions.

“Then what are we doing here?” She asked again, her voice still calm but her eyes revealing. Tears streamed down her face like a waterfall.

If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

Her resolution is amazing, but her questions are stupid. They should just be left…her question.

What am I doing here? Saving myself.

What will I achieve by staying here? Eventually, it will be death.

I ran towards the corner filled with armed men, and bumped into a familiar body. My hands went to work during it, going underneath his dirty rags and gripping the hilt of the sword.

“Spring?” I made eye contact with his fear-swollen face, hideous.

Turning my knees, I unsheathed the sword with a swift movement, almost like a leaf floating accordingly to the wind. His reactions extremely slow, the hand reached out too late, it was evident he had already figured out what I was doing.

I charged towards the front entrance with swift feet, easily maneuvering around the horde of people.

I can fight for my life.

The light from outside shined onto me, giving me a spotlight as I reinforced my determination and resolution. The doors closing ever so slightly made my mind go into chaos, am I really going to do this? I have to do this, I need to.

For Atarneus, the child who changed my life in only one year, his every glance gave me something. It was the passion to live life to the full. A glance shouldn’t be able to do that, but it was something I experienced first hand to be wrong.

Atarneus was destined for greatness, and he gave us that feeling. If he hadn’t died, maybe he could have changed the world.

My last steps within the fortress were the slowest steps I have ever taken. I am sure I was going the same speed, but the world began to slow down.

I felt everything as it should be felt, and saw things I haven’t seen before. However, if only for a mere second, it that was enough to get a glimpse.

I felt the cobblestone walls, and the wooden doors. Information flashed through my mind. I saw their life, and how they ended up like that. The doors came from the surrounding forest trees, carved into the structures they are now by men with big hammers and chisels. The cobblestone was mined out from a far of land where beasts were abundant, the place where beasts multiplied by the thousand every day. The sword in my h~

I experienced the profoundness of the world through these eyes, only for a little bit.

“Spring, I didn’t know you were capable of this.” A voice slithered into my blissful moment.

I turned my head and saw Crystal standing beside me, her hand grasping a longsword. She is going to fight.

“Remember what I told you earlier, it’s still going to be your future. So make it out alive for it to happen.” She gave me a hard thump on the back and sprinted outside with a smile on her face.

Inhaling a breath, I ran outside too. Leaving my family behind to cower by themselves.

000

I didn’t stand a chance against the wolf. His fangs clamped down into my torso, I was carried off.

‘I am going to die’

Is this what all humans felt when I ate them? Did they know that death was approaching and they had no chance to get out alive?

They did not. Humans always struggled till the end.

The insides of my stomach are being eaten by little cubs, at least they will survive longer because of me.

“Slayer, you found a child today?”

A voice rung out from the inside of the cave, the voice sounded disgusting and horrid.

The wolf that brought me here howled in response, his eyes showing no savageness. So most likely, he is in a close relationship with that voice.

I heard the footsteps of a human come nearing me, approaching me in a steady manner. The cubs were still devouring my insides, as the blood of mine began to empty. Hopefully I don’t see that human’s face, otherwise I will kill him. No beast should create a relationship with humans, they are the ones that hunt us.

It’s a rule of the wild that does not need to be said: never think a human to be friendly; kill on sight.

“Slayer this one is still alive, I didn’t know you were into that.”

The sharp fingers of that voice went inside my mouth doing whatever they wanted, and as he probed around inside, he left something. It did not go down my throat, but just stayed inside my mouth.

I tried to grasp the hand that went into my mouth, but my whole body was numb and incapable of moving.

“You now belong to me child. Slayer, I am claiming this one as mine. There is some meat outside that I personally butchered, you can have it instead.”

The human spoke once more in that horrid tongue, and the beast did not oppose any of his decisions. Taking the cubs away from my already dead body.

Then after a while, I saw something that even I could not comprehend.

A monster stood in front of me, arms covered in black scales with sickly crimson wings sprouting out his back. The beak of an eagle where the human nose and mouth should be, his eyes identical to ones of a serpent. The lower body of a goat, but with human feet instead of hooves. Torso coated in a muscular shell that looked to be from a turtle's, his appearance made my numbed body shiver. Monster.

“Don’t worry child, I won’t hurt you. In fact, I will save your life and make it better.”

He inhaled a sharp breath whilst looking all over my body with his snake eyes, forked tongue slithering out his beak and slapping against his beak’s pointed tip. The beak opened once again:

“I will make you into a monster just like me.”