Lioulo Village

Orange shade tainted the Lioulo Village, the sun was setting as every villagers ran inside their house. Soon after, not a single noise was heard throughout the entire village, cawing of ravens rose from the depths of silence.

"Is this so called "Beast Raid" the villagers were talking about?" Questioned a dark-haired youth, hiding within one of the houses. The Beast Raid was a conflict between a race of Horned-Wolves and One-Eyed Bears, when the resources was scarce, these beasts would come into conflict to expand their own territories and obtain more food. As Lioulo village was situated between these two territories, they would come involved into the battle, only being able to defend themselves.

The Village was firmly protected by the river surrounding it, but once in a while, a Horned-Wolf or One-Eyed Bear would try to tear down the village gates.

The village soldiers would quickly gather when the ringing of a bell was heard. The soldiers would come around and protect the village gates as the walls was too high and sturdy for any surrounding beasts to barge through. The Beasts weren't weak, the walls was simply too sturdy. The soldiers were strong, strong enough to hold off against 1 or 2 beasts, if not the village would've been consumed already.

"Filin, the gates has malfunctioned, gather the archers quickly, these beasts are no joke, tell them to get the ladders and climb up the houses and shoot whenever there is an opening. And get the repairmen afterwards to fix the gate." Shouted a fierce looking middle aged man.

"I'm on it, captain." Filin, a tall muscular man in his late 20's responded as he dashed towards the archers.

A Horned-Wolves was swimming rapidly towards the open gates, as it arrived, suddenly it jumped as a spear flew past where it was standing. As it lunged towards one of the soldiers, but their defensive formation wouldn't allow the wolf to get any closer. The soldiers suddenly split up into 5 each and started to stab with their spears. The wolf dodged every single sword swing as it tried to leap towards one side, an arrow flew past it grazing its thick fur. Stopping the wolf from advancing as it looked at where it came from. A young man, in his twenties was standing on top of a house with a wooden bow along with 2 others.

"Jiel is an amazing marksman, but these beasts are powerful, even if it landed; the arrow wouldn't do enough damage to pierce its skin." The Captain sighed.

With a swift move, he took out his sword and charged at the wolf, with the constant poking from other soldiers, the wolf took a direct hit from the captain's sword, as it sliced the skin leaving a scratch. The wolf flinched as it started to get frustrated and enraged, it lunged towards the captain but three more arrows came at it, two of them hit its chest but one went directly into its eyes. Frightened and hurt, the wolf started to run back at a rapid speed but the soldiers wouldn't give it the chance as they all attacked simultaneously.

After a weak but repeated attacks, the wolf finally fell down as blood flooded the village ground.

"You there and the boy with short brown hair next to you, take its body, the rest stay on guard." The captain pointed at two young soldiers, as they dragged the wolf's body towards the village warehouse.

"Luckily its was only 1 wolf, if there was another, a few deaths would be expected...." The captain spoke with a solemn tone.

"How long til the repair's done?" The captain went towards the repairmen.

"Unfortunate time for the gates to break down, we'll get it up in 10 more minutes." Replied one of them.

From a lone house at the corner of the village seemingly detached from all connection to the rest of the village, a sole figure came out of the house. He looked towards the soldiers then at the wolf's body.

"There will be a day where I, Clion Faurin, will single handedly defeat a Horned-Wolf." Spoke the youth.

"I don't know how long this state of conflict will last but I need to prepare for the worst."

The youth went back inside and opened up a tattered book lying on the bed.

"Basics of Energy Gathering, I've been studying this for 2 months yet I feel no progress…"

The youth sat down and started to meditate.

Hours goes by, as the youth slowly opens his eyes. It's pitch black, the howling of wolves and roaring of bears could be heard from miles away.

"Terrifying, terrifying." whispered Clion. He sat up and started to stretch his body after sitting still for hours.

"I can't just meditate, I need to strengthen my body. But first I need to eat." Clion said as he went towards the kitchen and started preparing what little food he had.

"Ok, physical training then weapon mastery." Clion inhaled a large breathe before starting his physical training.

"An hour a day, should be enough, I really need to practice only two weapons, more than that I'll be a Jack-of-all trades, master of none."

Clion said with determination as he picked up a bronze spear from his fathers weaponry room.

"This was also father's favorite weapon, I will prove that I will be just as good or even better" Clion sighed.

He grasped the spear tightly as he exited his house. Amidst the beast cries, he started to swing the spear.

Morning creeped in but the battle was still ongoing, but the battle cries weren't as intense as before.

Within a big tent, two figures were discussing the situation.

"The population of these beasts should've dwindled, but nevertheless still dangerous for us." An elderly man sitting in a wooden chair spoke.

"Before, the battles would last for days, but now.. just a night?" The captain spoke.

"The competition must be rough, these two beasts aren't the only race within this area." The elder said.

"Today is the qualification entry test to the military, our population is only 200… but we should expect at least 2 more people in." The captain said while heading outside.

After a few hours of what seemed like an intense fight, the sounds of the horned-wolves and one-eyed bear had died down. The battlefield was bloody, with the body of 7 wolves and 4 bears on the field. Along with the two race, there were few more beasts lying around. The population of these races weren't large but it's their strength that led them to become the untitled rulers of within the territory.

After 5 hours of sleep, Clion woke up as the day was halfway over already. He picked up his spear and other belongings, and headed outside.