CHAPTER 37: gather before me

"No. no, that can't be true! It is way too early. How can they possibly have travelled so fast in such a large group?"

She stammered with a pale face.

"That doesn't matter now. The people in the village don't stand a chance the way they are now."

It became harder and harder to speak under the force of the holy energy.

"Gwen. Stay calm."

She was hyperventilating with tears forming in the corners of her eyes.

"I need you to gather all that is holy in the monastery and everyone who is here at the moment. Can you do that for me?"

She nodded. I could see that she really tried to stay calm at the moment, but despite that she was still ever so slightly trembling. It couldn't be helped. She was still scared of me and the possible repeat of something terrible she had witnessed didn't make it better.

I took a few steps back. My whole body felt heavy, but the increase in distance between me and the building helped a little.

Eventually Gwen came back with some other nuns. Each of them was carrying books, crosses and little statues. They were all terrified to see me standing in front of the monastery. But I didn't have the time to set them at ease.

"I will take half of the items with me and head to the village. Just in case you can't make it in time."

"But wouldn't that hurt you?"

"if I put it in a bag it would help a bit. However, I would still get hurt. But we can't place me above the possibility that the people in the village have a bigger chance of survival!"

She started to give the other nuns the order to separate the items and put them in one big bag.

She then handed me the giant leather bag filled with holy items.

With that I immediately headed in the direction of the village. After running for some time, I stretched my wings, and jumped up. I flapped my wings, only to fall down soon afterwards.

("If I manage to fly to the village it will save me a lot of time. And right now, every second counts.")

I didn't stop moving while I was trying to fly. If I fell down, I would continue running.

After countless tries, I finally managed to stay in the air. It really helped when I used my tail for balance.

The wind blew in my face and often made me nearly lose balance and slam in a nearby tree, the bag with holy items didn't make it easier. It burned my hands and made me lose orientation. But, my predictions where correct, flying truly was a lot faster than running.

The hours I had wasted running through the woods caused the dawn to break when I neared the village. At this time, dark red blood was dripping from the wounds caused by carrying the bag. But besides that, the thought of dropping the bag never crossed my mind even once.

I could hear people screaming when I flew over the wall. I had already expected such a reaction. But I didn't expect that there where so many people on the streets on this hour.

I decided to land on a roof so I wouldn't accidentally knock someone over. And it was a good thing that I did.

I basically crashed into the roof and rolled a few meters afterwards, what nearly caused me to fall off. Small pieces of rocks loomed over the edge of the roof before their inevitable fall.

The sound of clattering stone drew the eyes of the few people who weren't already looking. This caused a lout rumour, waking everyone in the village.

The people needed to know what was heading in their direction, so I needed to bring the message over in a way that would cause them all to listen to me. But, the inhabitants of the village were already fleeing to their homes.

I remembered how the silvery demon from the castle said that it was amazing what humans would do under a bit of pressure.

I smirked. I never thought that something that came from the mouth of that being would help me in this situation.

("If humans really do crazy things under pressure, then I will apply pressure on them.")

I stretched out my consciousness to affect everyone in the village. Of course, I couldn't break the mind of more than a hundred people, but I could bring great pressure upon them.

Some who were still standing on the streets turned white when they felt that something that wasn't them tried to enter their minds.

A new wave of panic was released on the already scared crowds that was trying to flee, spreading out like the shards of a plate on the moment that it shatters.

This made it even easier to apply more pressure on them. The way they handled the situation was so pathetic, it was almost laughable.

Standing on the stone roof I spread my fiery red wings to appear as big as possible.

I deeply inhaled the cold morning air before I screamed louder than lightning.

"Inhabitants of the dragon lake village, if you wish to live gather before me!"

As I suspected, their minds where clouded by the pressure I made them bare. In their confusion the most reasonable option would be to follow the command of the being that inflicted this great pressure on them.

My gaze shifted over the crowd forming before me. I saw men clutching their woman tight, I saw mothers holding their crying children and elderly standing bravely in front or cowardly behind their families.

It took me only a moment to spot the ones I had travelled with. All of them where looking at me in great confusion.

Again, my voice rang trough the village, "There is a small army of monsters heading to this village. I give you two options. One you flee, taking care for those who are unable to fight. And two, stay here to fight the monsters and buy as much time for the ones fleeing as possible. I shall execute and claim the souls of all that disobey these orders!"