A Trail of Darkness (Part 2)

…

Marco and his friends rush to the chief's side. As they arrive, the chief is surrounded by his bodyguards. Scias attempts to walk in first but quickly halted by Marco.

"Let me, dude."

"H-Huh…" Scias then stepped back.

Marco approaches the chief with utter fear rising under his skin. Successfully, he manages to speak to him without getting the bodyguards' attention.

"Oh? Sir Marco is it not?" the chief greeted.

"Yes, it is me, old man. Let's just get to the point. I know who's behind that flash of light!"

"You knew, too?" the chief unexpectedly replied.

"H-Huh? What do you mean by 'too'?"

"Well, I have been informed of who's the one behind that sudden light. It's an outsider, right? If he is such a threat, then the entire village will evict him out of this village. Well… not only that, though… there's also a quite number of forces rounding up near us. I wonder where they are from…"

Extremely surprised, Marco didn't realize he had taken three steps backward.

"Hey, hey… this ain't funny, old man."

"Oh? What are you trying to say? I was informed in such, so it can't be false, right?"

"…I see," Marco stated. "Then, I will be going. P-Please take care of yourself, old man!"

Marco in a rather panic state runs with full heart back to his party. He then explains that someone has bypassed them and told the chief already.

"B-But who?" Aily wondered.

"I don't know, I don't even bother asking," Marco replied. Tremor is within his body as a result of shocked by the chief's attitude.

"Hey, Marco…" Nina called. "I might be wrong but… if the chief had known it, then that might explain why these people are lining up at the outskirts."

"…Hold on a second…" Marco thought for a split second. "Maybe you're right, Nina. It explains the sudden change within the people suddenly from confusion into anger. We saw many of them bringing hoes, pitchforks, scythes, and knives. Just what are they planning to do with them, going to war?"

"Mister Marco…" Pio called hoarsely.

"What is it, Pio?" Marco responded.

"Pio can't think clearly. Pio maybe sleepy, but Pio is also scared. Pio can't contain every emotion in this village… as a result Pio unable to use esper ability."

"It's okay, Pio, no need to force yourself if you don't want to," said Nina while crouching down to her.

"Uuu…. I'm sorry."

"What are we going to do now…?" Aily said in a despaired voice.

…

..

.

Ognist tries to find a way into the village without wounding a single villager. But in all attempts only gave him the result of impossibility to enter the area without hurting one.

"Dang it, isn't there any other way of getting through?"

No matter how hard he tries, he always ended up getting blocked by the villagers. It is as if they know where he is going. He takes a few steps back, only to be greeted by a sudden flash of light. In a blink of an eye, both Taizun and Zeugen have warped in beside him.

"Huff… took us some time to connect to you, barbecue head," Taizun stated.

"Ayayayy… Herr Ognist, just how dost zee activate ze teleportation module? Zee seems to activate it so easily, ja?"

"Zeugen… Taizun… I've told you to evacuate everyone. Why are you here?" Ognist nagged.

Taizun crosses his arms while saying, "Oh, please, how can we do that if everyone hating on us."

"You, too? This is an outrage."

"I know. We need a different approach to do this. Then, what are you doing, Ognist? It's rare to find you sweating like this," said Taizun noticing droplets of perspiration running down on his face.

Ognist explained with certainty, "My senses are tingling, Taizun. You know what that means."

"What? Are you serious?" Taizun asked in disbelief.

"Ayayayy, if thy senses jingle like carol bells, zen I suppose zee hast detected a grand trouble," Zeugen stated.

"Indeed. Even now, I can still feel it. The problem here is that my senses detected it inside the village."

Zeugen offhandedly rubs the back of his head, "Yeah… zat ist a problem."

Taizun takes a breather as he discerns his senior's words, "Haah… meanwhile here we are unable to go into the village. You sure your senses were not broken, Ognist?"

Ognist nods, "Of course it's still trustworthy. Even though my physical appearance is old, my abilities are not."

Taizun looks away in a slow motion, "Yeah, you're right. That passive ability of yours makes our lives easier. So what are we going to do next?"

"I'd highly suggest we move *THUD* furzer away from ze village," said Zeugen while pointing into the wilderness. "These *THUD* rocks und steines art testing our patience,"

Ognist yesses him, "You're right. Come on, then."

Zeugen appears piqued. In his mind thinks, "Why am I ze only one is getting hit by those rocks just then?"

After getting far enough from the village, the dragonians stop by a dead tree. The area seemed free from disturbance. There, they discuss of their next actions to be taken.

Ognist takes the chance to smoke. He used a match from a box that was given by one of the villagers beforehand.

Seeing his senior smoking, Taizun frowns, "Can't have a better time to smoke, barbecue head?"

Ognist puffs out a smoke, "Ahhh, how refreshing. I barely had the time to properly smoke, you know? Even the last cigarette I smoked was forced to be thrown away, considering the situation around me, hmph!"

"Why not just say you're a damned cigar addict?" said Taizun annoyed.

"Enough of my smoke, now onto mission," said Ognist. "Let us gather what we knew so far," he added while tapping his cigar. Not so long afterwards, the fire dragonian flicks his finger to start a campfire.

Taizun walks near the dead tree and leans back against the tree. As he calmed down, he tells his side of knowledge, "The people in Yugos village are being hostile to us under unknown reasons. To be honest, if this kept on going, the mission will surely fail."

Zeugen squats down and picks up a tree stick on the ground. "Vell…" he said subtly. Shortly, his hand draws something on a sandy surface with the stick. "Zis mission ist sure hard, ja? Attempting to accomplish it vithout hurting any of the villagers, it ist nigh impossible to be done. It ist different if ze people zon't become enemies, though."

"Using lethal methods isn't going to work. Even though it is possible, it will not end well. Not only that, Emperor Xelderon commanded us not to harm any of them," Taizun argued.

"Indeed, Taizun. The key reason was that if we resort into using violence, the people will solidify their perspective upon us, viewing us as enemies, not as allies. You two know this well: Using violence to control the people would make you a tyrant. The people don't follow us as proud loyalists or citizens, but out of fear of getting rid of. It is something the emperor wanted to avoid doing."

At the end of Ognist's speech, he had his cigar already half consumed.

"Though… there are some points where instilling fear IS necessary," he added assuredly.

A brief silence among them, but shortly, Zeugen speaks, "Sayest… there ist one conundrum zat I don't get. It annoyed me, yet it intrigued me none-ze-less,"

"And that is?" Taizun asked.

"I believe'eth zee hast seen zis particular human child, portraying of a petite boy. Among everyone, he ist ze only one zat ist seen acting normally."

"You're talking about that strange kid who bumped into me, no?" Taizun asked for confirmation.

Zeugen nods twice, "Aye, aye, it's zat boy."

"Indeed, that boy was quite strange to bump into someone in the middle of the night, moreover in an empty place. Not only that, I saw him again in the middle of the crowd, staring at us."

"And zat stare is rather odd, ja?"

"I hate to admit, but yeah."

Ognist recognizes the boy, too. He discerns the dialogue between his two colleagues and understands that the trait of the boy they spoke of was the same as the one that he saw as well.

"I saw him, too," said Ognist, catching their attentions.

"Ayayayy! Zee also saw ze human child? What coincidence!" Zeugen replied in excitement.

Taizun then comments, "But you know… humans are rather unique. Each individual have different personalities. Many of which are odd for our perception because their custom is quite far beyond our understanding."

"Yup, that's right, phew…" Ognist agreed while throwing away the tobacco in his hand. "Even us the race of the dragons, Dragonia is slowly merging into their ideals."

Ognist proceeds to lean against the dead tree beside Taizun, "Because of that, we were able to communicate and understand the humans. Though, some are quite gruesome and rude to not accept us, heh."

"Anyway, back to topic," said Ognist short, "The boy you two have stated was indeed acting aloof. But still, a kid is a kid. That boy might just a simple human child with personalities that we've yet to learn."

"What an optimistic thinking, Ognist," Taizun complimented, but meant for the other way around.

The wind blows a bit harder tonight. The breeze and coldness makes it really suitable to sleep soundly, but in this situation, it makes things rather gloomy.

Suddenly, the wind blows differently, surprising the steam dragon. "Uwah!"

"Huh, what's wrong steam punk?" Taizun asked harshly.

Shortly, a dozen of voice is heard in the distance, followed by rough footsteps. They think it'd be the villagers gathering to exterminate them as some of them brought torches along.

"T…This is bad…" Ognist stated his fear. He readies his arm to swing a sword if necessary.

"You don't say…" Taizun replied. The ice dragon increases his focus significantly.

As the voices close in, the dragonians prepared themselves. Oddly, however, Ognist noticed there were no pitchforks or hoes that serve as weapons for the villagers.

"W-Who?" he thought.

Not long after that, a group of people arrived before them.

"Finally, found you!" one of them screamed.

Zeugen suddenly felt a post-traumatic stress disorder upon seeing the man before him. He reflexively awakens from his squatting, sweat runs insanely on his skin. He didn't even realize he was using the tree stick as weapon instead of his sword.

The group of people in front of them was no different. They are all surprised and have their weapons drawn.

And in the next second! Rough stepping on the ground, jumping into the air so wild with cynical eyes watch unto each other's face!

"Zeugen!!!"

"HERRR MAARCCOOO!!!"