Order of the Bright Light

It was already dark outside when he left his friend's house. Through the dark alleyways, only the light of the candles lit near the windows made the alleyways appear less dangerous.

The shops were closed, houses already shut their doors and only a handful of people walked around in the dark. They are mostly from the tavern nearby as it is the only building that is still doing business during nighttime.

Bug reached his house and quickly got to his bed. This time, he was able to sleep in minutes. Bug once again slept like a baby.

THUD

Bug woke up when he felt his bed suddenly shook. At first, he thought it was an earthquake, but when he looked around, he saw a woman staring at him ferociously. Her arms were crossed and was still kicking his bed.

"Why are you here so early, fly?" Bug said as he yawned while rubbing his eyes. Although he expected her to visit him once she knew he was home, he didn't think that she will come so early! Bug noticed Fly's mood. "what? did I do something wrong?"

Fly gritted her teeth. "You bastard! you didn't even try to visit me yesterday! I wanted to know if you were okay, okay!?" Fly said as she continuously bashed her feet on the bed's frame.

"Hey! stop! you're ruining my bed! I'm here. I'm okay. You happy now!? Besides, I needed to visit Beetle, you know that right?" Bug got up from his bed and washed his face with the rainwater collected weeks ago. "Thanks for cleaning and taking care of my house by the way"

"Hmph" Fly pouted. She tried to look angry but with her chubby cheeks, she just looked more adorable. "My mother made you breakfast. You should eat" Fly sounded irritated as she handed the meal to Bug which he gladly accepted.

Bug was preparing two plates but Fly said "I already ate" To that, Bug placed the boar meat, stale bread and two fried eggs at the table. Bug and Fly sat facing each other. While he was eating, Bug felt Fly's cold stare. She just looked at him with her arms crossed like she was analyzing him. Bug was getting distracted so he asked her.

"Okay, what's the problem now? huh? Why are you staring at me like that?" Bug said with an irritated voice.

"Nothing. You just look...different. Are you really Bug?" Fly said as she leaned closer to Bug. She knew Bug too well. In fact, she can even recognize Bug without even facing her! After all, she was also his childhood best friend. They have been friends for almost all their lives.

They became even more closer when Bug's parents died. Her mother always gave food to the young Bug back then and she was the one who always delivered his food. Their houses were close to each other so she didn't mind. They would always play around and just talk with each other until the night came.

Bug choked on his food because of the sudden question. "Of course I am Bug! I just look more handsome now hahaha" He said while shoving the rest of his food in his mouth.

"You were never handsome, though. Hahaha. But right now you look...average. Someone will finally like you!"

"Ha! Lots of women like me you know!" Bug said with a confident voice.

"You wish! with your bumpy face, not a single girl looked at you with a smile! Hahaha," Fly tried to mock Bug by pointing her fingers at his face.

"Shut up" Bug felt down because he knew that what fly said is true. He then asked a different question. "How's your mother?"

"She's fine. Still looking good" Fly said with a smile on her face as she twirled her finger on her black hair. "What about you? How did your first hunt go?" Her face was full of curiosity and anticipation. She knew that Bug really wanted to become a hunter and when he finally got the chance, he looked so happy and excited the whole day and that also made her happy.

Bug looked solemn when he heard the question. "It didn't go what I expected it to be. Worm and Stick died" His voice trailed off as he finished his sentence. There was a hint of guilt on his voice.

Fly was shocked when she heard him. She felt sad for him. That was his first hunt and someone already died at his party? How unfortunate. Fly couldn't say anything. She just patted Bug's back to try to console him.

Bug quickly recovered from his sudden mood shift and smiled at Fly. "Well, I'm still alive. I think that's more important. Anyway, thanks for the meal! say thanks to your mother for me!" Bug said as he rushed outside his house. His incredible agility prevented Fly from catching up to him.

"Wa-wait! You're leaving already!?" Fly grumbled to herself as she stared at the used plate on the table. She sighed and started cleaning the table.

Bug got pretty far away quickly from his house. He didn't want to talk about his hunt with Fly as he knew that Fly would constantly nag at him when she heard the rest of his story. Fly is a very sympathetic woman.

Bug entered straight into a tavern. It was still early in the morning, yet the tavern is already filled with drunkards and passed out drunkards. The smell of vomit and alcohol mixed in the air which made Bug hold his breath for a moment. Round tables and barrels as a chair were placed evenly on the tavern.

Bug ordered one cup of beer and sat at the vacant table in the middle. He then started listening to people. Bug always did this even before he started his first hunt. He would always sit somewhere and listen to hunters around him. The tavern was basically a hangout place for the hunters. His main goal at that time was to find hunters he can join in. In fact, this is where he met Worm and Stick.

But right now, his goal was to find out anything about the convoy or the supposed war preparations of the Alters. He was also hoping to see the three hunters here, but as he looked around they were not here.

As he sat there, one of the groups of hunters on his left said something that picked his interest.

"Did you hear the news? An Alter convoy was ambushed! Hahaha," A hunter with a long beard said as he gulped his beer.

"Really? where did you hear that news?" The skinny man next to the hunter looked skeptical. He knows that his companion always says something ridiculous or outright lie when he's drunk.

The man burped. "I heard it somewhere!" He smashed his fist on the table as if he was defending his case. "I also heard that the Order of the Bright Light did it" The man smiled.

Order of the Bright Light was an organization built after their liberation from the Alters. It is said that the organization was built by the fanatics and worshippers of their liberator, Sir Thorn. To them, he is a god.

The organization only recruits the strong. They are the best of the best of humanity and they only have one goal, it is to eradicate the Alters. But even then, fighting the Alters head-on would be suicide. So them ambushing the convoy was unbelievable and will certainly result in catastrophic consequences.

The skinny man also knew this fact. "They might be strong, but they can't possibly do that. Besides if they actually did that, the Alters would undoubtedly retaliate. Where did the ambush happen?"

The man was frowning. It seemed like he understood the gravity of their situation. "Its...not too far from here. Maybe 30Km north from here"

"I'm getting a bad feeling about this. How many died?"

"I don't know. I just heard that it was successful! That's all I know!"

"Shit! We gotta go!" The skinny man dragged his drunk companion out of the tavern hastily. He seemed really distressed.

As Bug listened, he realized something. "Maybe their mission was to inform us about the repercussions of their ambush! By the graces! They sacrificed us!"

Bug left the tavern. But when he got outside, there was already a large congregation of people. In the middle was their village chief, he was preparing for a speech. Some people seemed bewildered others were scared or did not care at all.

Bug looked around only to find Mud and his companions standing amongst the crowd. He approached the three then shoved Rat causing him to fall to the ground.

"Assholes! Why did you sacrifice my village!?" Bug growled at the three. He was so angry that he can't even think straight. Just the thought of his loved ones Fly, Beetle, and his family, losing their only home. They might not even survive this even if they evacuate now.

The Alters won't stop until they find the culprits of the ambush. They will destroy an entire village to send a message to the culprits. And it might not be the end of it, they will destroy the village after village just to satiate their anger, and his village is the first one to be sacrificed.

The three were shocked at the strength of Bug, but they immediately regained their composure.

"We did what we had to do! it's for the sake of humanity!" Mud said with a loud groan. He stepped between Bug and Rat. "We warned your village chief! We even have designated evacuation centers prepared by The Bright Light Order"

"Do you think that will help? huh? By now Alters might have already started their hunt! we're doomed! Even your organization won't be able to protect us!"

"Don't get too agitated. Our intel said that the Alters are still busy preparing for war. Most of their soldiers are not in their kingdoms. Still, they can allocate some of their soldiers, but they won't be sending their full force! That's why we have evacuation centers. Some of our men will also be guarding them"

"Damnit! I won't bet at your protection. No matter how many men you bring, even if only one noble commanded the hunting party, all of them will die and you know it!"

It is said that a noble Alter can literally burn an entire village with one magic or freeze them entirely within seconds and that's only a noble with the lowest rank. There is no stopping a noble. Only if tens of bombard magicians and magic warriors attacked at the same time will they have a chance to kill a single noble.

Bug ran to get Fly and Beetle away from this soon to be ruined village. He can't just leave them here to die, especially Beetle. Bug already knows where to hide his friends and their families. They will just have to ride out the wrath of an Alter hunting party by hiding deep underground and pray to Sir Thorn that the Alters won't discover his place.

But Bug won't just hide there, No. He will fight! after all, it's his home too that the Alter is going to destroy. He will defend it even if it costs his life. Plus, he's got NAP with him.

After Bug left, the village chief started his speech. The villagers were shocked at the news their village chief delivered. All of their sacrifices for the village, their belongings, their homes will soon be burned and destroyed just because some stupid organization decided to anger the sleeping giant. They were already living peacefully for god's sake!

Anger and resentment were thrown at the village chief and the organization. Even though some of them supported the cause, it's still not right to sacrifice hundreds of lives!

The villagers don't have a choice but to leave their peaceful lives. It's either they defend their village and die painfully or run and they might survive.

Still, many hunters chose to stay to defend the village. They will let women and children go first. Then, they will stall the Alters.

Hunters might cower in front of a strong monster, but it is entirely different if the lives of their family and their only home are at stake. Even though they know that they won't last a single hour, it would still be enough for the others to reach the evacuation center.

With the heads up from the agents of Order of the Light, they approximately have 1 day to prepare for their defense.