A Trail of Darkness (Part 1)

…

Everyone in the village is shocked by the sudden flash of light. Confusion erected among them, asking to each other about the phenomenon that just took place. Some start theorizing, some scared, and some don't even care.

Most villagers at the village outskirts are running into the village square. Some people bombarded the village chief about what's going on. The chief replies that the flash just now is no doubt a magic of a high level. He commandeered the men before him, which are the toughest people in the village, to control the situation.

That joyous night turned into a horrific one.

Nina tries to comfort everyone, but seemingly ineffective. Scias approaches her and counsels a bit to her.

"Nina, let the chief handle the villagers. We m-must find Marco, Aily and Pio first."

"Oh… you're right."

The two dash across the village to search for Marco and the rest. With everyone panicking, it is difficult for them to locate.

"I'm very confused right now."

"Me, too," Scias replied quickly. "What just happened? That flash was so bright. It was so close to this village."

"Y-Yeah… if anyone wandered near it, they might've been blinded. It flashed so bright and in an instant, as if a thunderbolt hit the ground."

"N-No," Scias declined. "That was no thunder. That flash was more like a holy light."

"T-Then… was it that girl from before?" Nina wondered.

Shortly, gasping as he and Nina run through the roads of the village, he replies "…Maybe."

It doesn't take long for them to meet back with Marco, Aily and Pio. They met them in an intersection near the village outskirts to the west.

"Aily! Pio!" Nina screamed. "I'm glad you two are alright," she said sincerely.

Scias asks to the point, "Do you know what happened, Marco?"

In reply, Marco says in a bit of gasping, "H-Huh? Oh, yeah, I know. We've got some company."

"Who?" Scias and Nina asked simultaneously.

"They're the—*THUD*—ouch, geez, what the?" Marco got bumped by a kid, whom he recognized.

"S-Sorry, mister," the boy apologized.

"Whooey, aren't you Toma! Haven't seen you lately, where have you been?" Marco asked the boy.

"Oh! Mister, I erm… have been helping my uncle lately. I'm sorry I bumped you, mister," the boy named Toma apologized once more. He appears to be in a great hurry.

"It's okay, it's okay," Marco stated kindly. "Where are you going anyway? Running off into people like that,"

"I'm so sorry! I really need to go now, mister. My uncle might need my help in these times."

The boy proceeds hurriedly through the road, leaving Marco and the others. Before he disappears into the crowd, he says one thing, "Mister! Avoid the forests!"

Silenced and confused, Marco wonders what the boy is talking about. Scias nudges his friend and returned him back to his senses.

"You really love to lost course, huh?" Scias stated coldly. "We're amidst of a rampant panicking and you can still talk leisurely, I praise you for that, seriously."

"O-Oh, sorry, mate. Anyway, where was I again? Oh, right, the source of the flash, was it?"

"No need to continue anymore, Marco. Aily and Pio has told us while you're busy talking to that boy."

"Aw, hell no," Marco wailed in disappointment.

The source of the light has been told by Aily. Learning a dragonian in the village makes them restless. But knowing the dragon brought a company with him makes them incredibly anxious. Why now, all of sudden? They wondered. They've yet to recover completely, and now another one rose into the mess.

"Have the villagers warned about this?" Nina asked.

"No, not yet," Aily replied. "But I believe it's best we do so, sis!"

"No, don't do that," Scias cancelled her. "It will only instill much bigger panic."

"Then what are we supposed to do?" Aily asked hurriedly.

"For now, let's inform the chief in secret," Marco suggested. "The villagers here are all magicians, right? Then we might be able to stand a chance against them. Come on!"

"Pio hates this situation…" Pio wailed.

…

…

Drumming sounds of horse shoes spurred hurriedly into the village followed by many carriages. The riders of them are fully armed Imperial knights. But as they approached the village entrance, they are forced to stop. Many villagers armed with pitchforks, scythes, spears, and knives are blocking the entrance. Not so long, the Imperial soldiers were thrown with dozens of gravels. Though ineffective, but getting thrown by rocks are still hurt.

Shortly, hundreds of words from the villagers shouted upon them. They are all evicting them from the village.

"Go away, you filthy knights!"

"Don't you dare raid our peaceful village!"

"Go back to where you come from fools! Slaves of a kingdom! Careless! Arrogant!"

In the knights' side, they are all but fully confused.

"What the heck with these people?"

"Are they nuts?"

"Being cursed must've turned their brains sideways, bro."

"But Sir Taizun stated that the curse has been lifted from them…"

Shortly, the Ice Dragonian, Taizun, hops off a carriage and approached the villagers. The villagers kept throwing rocks at him, but he's undamaged by them as if he's invincible.

"Good people! We are not here to raid or do any malice to you. We are here to—

Before even accomplishing a word, the people cut his words and shouted at him.

"Bullshit!"

"You guys only came here to ransack our community."

"Go back to your nest! Creep!"

Confused, Taizun wondered, "Why are they like this? We haven't even introduced ourselves."

Several seconds later, Taizun spots the boy that bumped into him previously. He is staring him silently yet in an expressionless face.

"That boy from before…" the dragonian murmured.

"HERR Taizun!" a loud voice cracks the mobbing villagers, making them stepping backwards a bit. The boy is surprised, thus runs away, probably out of fear. Taizun turns his attention to Zeugen that shocked him nonetheless.

"These people seemingly not going to accept our hospitality, ja. If zis is ze case, then it can only mean one zing."

"You don't mean… someone has known that we are here?!"

"That's ze only possible meaning'eth. But moreover, do they knowest of our identity yet?"

Despite being thrown by endless barrage of rocks, the two still stand unmoved. They appear to be humans, but their inner self as a Dragonian makes them extremely resistant to physical damages. Rocks thrown to them are like a minor yet meaningless harassment.

"I have no idea," Taizun answered. "Even if we ask them, they're unlikely to answer our questions. Their hostility is confusing."

"So, so, it ist best vee withdraw for now. We must'eth attempt a different approach."

"…I agree. Violence against violence won't help in this case."

Shortly, Taizun commanded the entire legion to turn back and return to their encampment. The Imperial knights affirmed and turned back while remaining in formation. Shortly, Taizun and Zeugen boarded the carriage and thus the legion went away.

"Now, let's go to that barbecue head's place," said Taizun while sitting in the carriage.

"Herr Ognist wanted to approach in solo. Was it okay for us to go to him now?"

"There's no other choice. We must find out what's making them hostile. Or else, our mission is completely a no go."

…

..

.

In the village outskirts, Ognist runs alone with his hand readied on his sword's handle.

"Just as I thought, that rustling bush from before still disturbed me. It draws me to inspect it no matter what. Where was that bush? Between two trees…"

Ognist meticulously looks at the trees scattered across the meadows. Despite the darkness of the night, a dragonian can see things quite clear as day because of a passive ability Dragon Eyes.

Several minutes later, Ognist finds himself at the corner of the village already. Though unnoticed, he is rather desperate for not able to find the plant from before. The reason of it was that his senses no longer detect an abnormal presence in the area, which hardens him to locate the right place.

"Dammit, did I miss it?" he thought to himself.

He goes all the way back to where he came from. On the way, several villagers noticed him and start throwing rocks at him under unknown reasons. Ognist easily dodged all of the rocks and stood stably while keeping a distance from the villagers.

"What are you doing?" he asked to them.

"Get lost you filthy creature!"

Stunned by their answer, Ognist replies seriously, "That doesn't give any answer at all… Fine, then, I will think that my teleportation module had caused you to notice who I am."

In the next minute, Ognist ignored their mockery as he is deep in thoughts, "As expected, the village is alarmed by my teleportation module. It was unnecessary for me to use it, but if I don't do that, this village will never know the danger that crept near them. Might as well I try to calm them down and try telling the truth?"

And then, a rock finally hit his cheek unnoticed, causing a minor bleeding.

Ognist closes his eyes and chuckled, "Hahah, nay, nay, that's not going to work. Alright, then… what should I do to deal with this mess, hm?"

Suddenly, Ognist's opens his eyes in an instant while his pupils shrunk drastically as his senses tingling once again. "This is it!" he thought. "This is the one! Okay, to find it…"

A few seconds later, from the crowd of villagers, a boy caught his attention. Ognist notices him moving away.

"A human boy…?" he wondered. "What an odd boy. Everyone is shunning the heck out of me even the children here do it. Why is he not?"

Ognist is ignoring the fact that he's being thrown rocks at. He is virtually invincible to them. But somehow, a rock that hit his cheek managed to injure him.

"Maybe just a shut in, well, I suppose to look for the source of this tingling sense within me."

As he trots into the meadow, another shock strikes him. The tingling feeling is fading away. "It's dissipating? No-no-no-no-no, I must not lose its track!"

Ognist reflexively steps backward. Once more, a major surprise hits his realization. The tingling feeling drills harder as he shortened his distance to the village, even though the slightest bit.

Slowly, he turns around at the village, "Wait a second… you can't be serious about the source of this uneasiness, right?"

"Tell me this is a joke…" he said to himself out loud. His control over his own temperature is lost and now he appears sweating hardly.

Gritting his teeth in disbelief, he piques, "The curse has yet to disappear from this village. This… is completely bad."