Not Time To Rest

A heavy atmosphere loomed over the tribe like a gigantic shadow, plunging everything into darkness. The usual chatty evenings were gone, replaced by a deafening silence, and now, only the sound of whistling wind echoed throughout the settlement.

Nyell closed his eyes, stretching his ears as he took in the silence. Such a dead calm felt unsettling in a tribe that had been bustling with life not even a week ago. But since it was his fault, he could not complain. And it wasn't like he hadn't expected it; he just hadn't thought the change in the atmosphere would be so drastic. In the end, he might have deluded himself into thinking the impact wouldn't be so bad. 

However, the elders were ultimately the tribe's core, and people looked up to them. Now that they were disappearing one after another, it was no wonder the tribe members were despairing. The overwhelming distress of his people tugged at Nyell's heartstrings, even if he knew this was a necessary evil. Whatever word of comfort he told himself, it still hurt.

'I guess my method is no better than the elders',' Nyell scoffed at himself. Still, he could not stop his scheme from unfolding, not anymore. 

Thanks to said little scheme, the Black Moon tribe had been turned upside down over the course of only four days, morphing into something akin to a ghost town as fear crept into the people's hearts and rooted itself deep into their everyday lives. Nyell knew it would leave scars, but he could do nothing about it. He could only watch from afar as the situation took its toll on the people's minds. It had grown to the point that, unless absolutely necessary, no one dared to leave their houses. They all tacitly agreed to lock themselves inside their huts when the sun started to settle down, shutting the doors and windows. No one wanted to become the next victim and vanish overnight. If they turned as still as corpses, the curse might overlook them. It was a foolish hope, but that was all they had to hang on to not lose themselves to despair. 

They just wanted to survive the night. 

And so, when dusk came, the settlement became void of life. It was eerily quiet, just as was the jungle, and the tribe appeared to have been deserted in the snap of a finger. People hadn't been spirited away but seemed to have vanished into thin air regardless.

"This is an unsettling sight," the warrior, appointed as a guard with Nyell, whispered under her breath. She needed to make small talk to ease her mind, for this disturbing atmosphere made her skin crawl. "My mate has been telling me to give up on my duty and stay home with him and our kids. But I don't think locking myself inside would make any difference, you know? Whatever is causing the people to disappear doesn't give two shits about walls and doors."

The woman let out a mocking scoff. The thing's disregard for locked doors and windows was well-known, but it seemed like people had forgotten about it these past few days in the frenzy. But how could she blame them? It was the first time since the beginning of the disappearance case that people kept vanishing day after day without respite. Before, it was at most one person per week. However, now it was one person per day. Four elders were already gone, and only three were left. 

"Still, it's a little weird. It feels like the elders are purposely targeted this time. None of them or even the people close to them had been affected before…" 

"Cloe," Nyell called the warrior, interrupting her monologue. Her blabbering was going in a direction he did not want to hear. 

"Yes?"

"Stop chitchatting and focus."

"Oh, yes, leader!" 

"We're not on a hunt, so don't call me leader."

"Yes, sir!" 

Nyell felt his mouth twitch, but he decided not to bother. Cloe was the type of happy-go-lucky person who blurted out whatever was going through her head. She was the worst chatterbox he had ever met, and he knew that if he let her blabber on, he would never hear the end of it. Even if she was kind, she was a little too lively to his taste, and her loud voice echoed throughout the tribe, covering every other sound. No matter how good his hearing was, Nyell wasn't omnipotent, and he'd have difficulty discerning faint noises if Cloe kept distracting him. 

That wouldn't do. 

Guard duty wasn't anything new to Nyell as he voluntarily did it these past few months, but there was something different about today's round. His goal wasn't to fend off the intruder; it was the opposite. He was to divert his fellow tribe members' attention to something else while Myur made its way inside the tribe. The familiar spirit could easily hide itself from prying eyes, but Lapis, who was guiding it, couldn't. Although Nyell had shown the shaman every corner where he could conceal himself and every shortcut possible, the security increased tenfold since their return, making it harder for Lapis to navigate the tribe without getting caught. 

Burg wasn't an idiot, and fooling him was getting more difficult by the day. Nyell knew outsmarting that old crock wouldn't be easy, but he hadn't expected it to be this challenging.

He managed to trick him the first few days, thanks to the preparation he had made in advance. The first night Myur came, Lapis showed it every hut it'd need to target the following days while indicating in which order it should do it. It worked well for four days until Burg realized something was amiss. He had posted his trusted aides at every hut to protect the elders, but none reported anything unusual. They hadn't seen anything during the night, neither the victim, nor anyone else, for what mattered. 

That simple fact spoke volumes.

After Tuppel and another elder disappeared, Burg became certain they were targetted and thus broke the array that messed up people's memory of the disappearing victims. Karen had given him the key before leaving for the canyon, allowing him to control the array however it pleased him. And so, Burg resolutely shattered it. He could always ask Karen to make it again later; for the time being, the elders' safety came first, and one way to ensure it was to make sure they could be seen when they were taken away and stopped in their tracks. It was a simple measure that should have done the trick. Yet, it didn't.

Now, the guards could see the elders leave, and if they hadn't, it meant someone or something else was erasing the event of the elders walking off on their own. Or, they were using paths in the warrior's blind spots. 

However, increasing the number of guards and tampering with their planned rounds didn't help the following days. It made Burg suspicious that something else was at play, and with that in mind, he ordered his fellow elders to switch huts with a member of their family for the night. With this simple move, Nyell's preemptive measure had been rendered useless, and Myur had no idea where it should go. It had to be led to the right hut again, meaning that Lapis had to wander the tribe and risk being spotted by the guards. On the bright side, Corriel managed to find out where the elders were hiding. Being the chief had its perks sometimes. 

Still, knowing where they were wasn't really that helpful if they could not make use of that information. Myrven told them not to stress about this, as Layla could somehow conceal Lapis' whereabouts, but Nyell was nevertheless nervous. He wouldn't feel reassured until tomorrow morning. While standing at his post, his heartbeat drummed at his temples, and he could not help but remember the conversation he had with his father during dinner.

"Shouldn't we skip tonight?" Corriel had asked, aware that if Lapis were to be caught, their plan would go downhill. "Pursuing the plan is risky. We can always wait a few days until the elders lower their guard."

"Do you actually believe Burg will let down his guard after a few of his own disappeared? No, he won't rest until he gets his hands on Dangu and eradicates the threat he poses. We have to keep pushing and offer no respite."

"Even so, I don't wish to put Lapis in danger to get our way. He's not even a member of the Black Moon tribe! If he's caught, I'm pretty sure the excuse we prepared won't work. Burg will never believe he was out to investigate. No, instead, he'll probably turn things around and push the blame on the White Moon tribe. The easiest way to get rid of Lapis would be to convince the tribe that the White Moon tribe was behind it all. And you know how very little effort that would take with how terrified our people are right now. They need someone, anyone, to pin the blame on and get themselves out of this gut-wrenching despair."

Nyell couldn't open his mouth and reply to his father, for he knew he was right. Surprisingly enough, it had been Lapis who raised his hand and reassured Corriel. 

"Don't worry, I'll be fine. And even if I'm not, it's alright, too. I'm not just helping you out of the goodness of my heart. If I want my chief to come back to our tribe, we need to deal with the problem plaguing his destined mate's tribe first since he definitely won't leave without Nyell. And as your son said, we need to push now. Giving too much time to Burg to think would only allow him to devise a counterattacking plan. We have to act while his shaman isn't in the picture."

"About that," Myrven spoke, "I don't think we need to mind the shaman."

"How come?"

"Well, I felt her presence near the canyon when we left. And knowing Allen, there's no way he hadn't taken the opportunity to deal with her. She's either dead or in his clutches, so…"

"Poor kid," Lapis shuddered. "But I guess it makes one less thing for us to worry about. So, what do we do?" 

"Don't you already know the answer?" Nyell scoffed. "We offer Burg no respite. There's no time for us to rest."

And so, tonight, Nyell's role was crucial in misleading the guards. He had to do it somewhat naturally, although, even if he didn't, it wouldn't change things that much. Burg seemed to have already made up his mind about his involvement in the elders' disappearance. The lack of proof held him back, as Burg could only base his suspicions on coincidences. He could not go after Nyell without a solid basis, lest he wanted to get on the tribe's bad side. Whether the elders liked it or not, Nyell was akin to something like a hero to common folk. Recklessly attacking him would do no good. 

"I hope nothing will happen tonight," Cloe's voice snapped Nyell out of his thoughts. "I really hope so."

"So do I."