Chapter 15

Day three of the investigation and they still have no clues so far as to what the heck was going on.

This was the last village on their list to check out and this was the one where the most recent disappearances took place.

Hopefully, Elijah and Catalina will finally get some clues and some good information.

Their appearances caused a great stir in the village.

Catalina and Elijah waited for the crowd of people to quiet down before they explained that they were investigators from the royal capital and they were here to investigate the murders and disappearances of people in the countryside.

They were doing their own investigations in the forest after they came to the conclusion that the murders and disappearances were not the work of a human being. Perhaps some wild animal was behind it all. This was after they had already investigated and examined three villages-or what was left of them.

Everyone started to talk at once until a system of order and organization could be created to interview and gather information from the villagers to the months prior to the disappearances and murders.

It had started with their animals.

Entire herds of cows, countless numbers of chicken, numerous pigs, horses and goats that all disappeared during the night.

Everyone first thought that it was an animal thief at first but when claw marks and signs of some wild animal were found near the places where the animals once were.

A wolf or a bear had eaten up all their animals.

A patrol was set up and people were sent off to hunt down the supposed beast in the nearby forest.

Nothing.

The animals just kept disappearing one by one until there were no animals left.

Then came the disappearances.

The blacksmith's daughter, Juliana.

A pair of twin boys.

A pregnant woman who left behind a husband and two children.

A pair of sisters.

The people disappeared at night, vanished from their beds without a trace.

The people didn't know what to do and fear began to grow as the days turned into weeks, weeks into months and they never saw them again.

The worst was assumed and they were written off as dead.

To make matters worse, three more kids went missing.

Jermany, Susie and Gabriel.

The hysterical parents begged Catalina and Elijah to find their children-or at least their bodies.

Catalina and Elijah agreed.

They then hurried off to investigate the forest-the place where they believed might hold some answers to the mysterious disappearances.

….

The once safe and peaceful forest that overlooked the little village that was now in a panic over the missing kids and from the recent disappearances.

The pair entered the thick and wild forest.

It was rather peaceful and calm with tall and towering trees in every direction, the worn out dirt path under her feet felt soft, little green plants and wildflowers carpeted the forest floor.

The sunlight that was filtering the sunlight casted a warm, soft golden light on the trees, grass, plants while bird song rang out in the air but the two couldn't relax or let her guard down.

What caused the disappearance of those kids?

Some sort of hungry wild animal?

Greedy robbers and bandits using this forest as their hideout?

They were looking for anything: blood, hair, pieces of clothings, signs of a struggle, anything to indicate that the missing kids passed through this area.

They had now walked even deeper into the forest. The vegetation had gotten thicker and wilder and Arya was now certain about one very strange and troubling detail: There were no animals.

Normally, the forest would be teeming with life. Little squirrels. Rabbits. Birds. Deers.

Nothing now.

The dead quiet and eeriness of the forest sent chills running up Catalina's spine and made her blood turn cold.

She looked over her shoulders to…see that Elijah was no longer there.

Wait, did she somehow get separated from him? She swore that just a second ago, she was with them. She didn't hear anything so they weren't attacked.

A rustling noise and growling snapped her out of her thoughts.

….

Elijah slashed his right sword at the zombie warrior. The creature ducked and swung its sword at Elijah's exposed neck. His left arm brought the left sword to block the swing and then he countered with a quick slash that forced that creature to retreat.

Elija was swinging his twin swords, slashing, stabbing, blocking and cutting at the hoard of zombie warriors that were swarming him.

He grunted. He crossed his swords, channeled his mana into his swords and unleashed his mana that was now hardened and reinforced aura. The X-shaped aura attack sliced through the hoard and killed many zombies at once, their bodies cut into pieces by the attack.

The powerful attack didn't stop the hoard of zombies from coming at him however.

His swords danced in the air, his footsteps getting faster and faster as he weaved between and dodged the undead warriors, slashing, stabbing, jabbing, deflecting attacks, cutting off their heads.

Heads went rolling and limbs went flying as Elijah continued his attacks. He needed to create an opening in order to use his fire. He couldn't right now with the horde of undead warriors surrounding him.

An opening appeared and he leaped back and put some distance between himself and the hoard with his back against the cold stonewall of the cave.

He channeled his mana and summoned his flames.

Bright, red and burning fire ignited in his hands and he sent them in the direction of the zombie horde that was approaching him. He was able to quickly do this to fill the entire cave with flames.The wave of fire sent the zombies into a panic, they ran into each other, tripped over themselves, as the flames consumed them and they were soon reduced to ashes.

Elijah leaned against the wall. How did it come down to this?

One minute, he was with Catalina looking for those missing children and the next, he suddenly found himself inside this cave and was attacked by a swarm of what looked to be undead warriors welding swords, spears, knives and battle axes. Something he had only ever heard about in storybooks.

He didn't know how long he fought but he felt dead tired and worn out now. He used up a lot of energy and mana with that powerful fire attack.

Suddenly, something caught his attention. At first, he thought it was a trick on his mind, but he soon realized it wasn't.

It was the crying of a child coming from somewhere in the cave.

It could be one of the missing kids. 

Elijah forced himself to get up and start looking for that kid.

He spotted a flash of movement in the corner of his eyes and it came from behind a large boulder.

Elijah knelt down and put on a calm and friendly expression on his face.

"Hey, it's okay. You can come out now. I won't hurt you."

A little boy cautiously poked his head from behind the boulder.

He had mint green hair with pinkish-red eyes. He wore a pair of brown pants with a gray shirt. He was covered with dirt and he looked at Elijah with an expression of relief and joy.

He raced into Elijah's waiting arms and Elijah picked him up and started to examine him.

He didn't look any older than 8 years old and he wasn't hurt or injured anywhere as far as Elijah could tell. Other than looking a bit dirty and scared, he looked completely fine.

"Hey, kiddo, can you tell me who you are and how you ended up here?"

Elijah really didn't want to push this kid after he went through what could possibly be a very traumatic experience but this kid could know something about what happened to the others.

"Monsters. I saw them. Me and my friends went to pick flowers and then those things came…I got so scared that I ran and hid inside this cave….I'm such a bad friend…."

He burst into tears and buried his face inside of Elijah's shirt while Elijah patted him on the back to comfort him.

Now his priority was to get him and this kid out of this cave safely and in one piece.

He was screwed. He was wiped out after fighting all those zombies. 

But he wasn't going to leave a helpless little kid all by himself inside this dangerous cave filled with all sorts of dangerous creatures like those zombie warriors.

….

Catalina nimbly dodged an attack by a goblin and she reached out to touch it, her fingers barely brushing up against its face, but it was enough for her poison to spread itself inside of that goblin and kill it. 

It twisted and jerked its body in pain as the poison killed it by eating away at its heart and lungs and it was able to breathe anymore and it shocked to death.

Purple smoke filled the air and killed off the freaks who clawed and gasped for air, coughed up blood and were poisoned by the purple smoky gas. The purple poisonous "thorns" that she created poisoned and killed the globins whenever they penetrated their flesh and bodies, acting the same way that stingers or fangs do for bees or snakes respectively. Catalina threw them like knives, leaching three "thorns" a second with practice and experience. Each one found its mark and the globin succumbed to her poison.

Catalina stood among the growing pile of dead goblins like a war goddess.

A goblin charged at her, club raised in its head, but Catalina dodged the swing and sent a right hook into the goblin's face. She put so much force behind that punch that the globin went flying through the air and crashed into a tree. The force behind the force caused the tree to be ripped right out of the ground and topple down backwards with a loud crash.

Catalina panted and gasped from all the effort it took to kill off the swarm of globins that ambushed her.

She swore that one moment, she was with Elijah, the next, she was busy fighting for her life against these disgusting little green men.

Her shirt was covered in sweat and she was drained of all energy.

But she couldn't afford to rest-not when she was in hostile territory and there could be more of those little green men or beasts here.

Catalina mustered up the remaining bits of her strength and started to find her way back to her brother.

….

Catalina made a mental note to herself to exercise more-if and ever she was able to survive this shithole and made it out alive.

She had to be walking around in this forest for what seemed like hours now and the sky was getting dark. So far, she didn't know if she was on the right path or if she was making herself get more and more lost inside of this labyrinth of a forest.

She was winded and tired and she felt like she would die more from exhaustion and hunger than from any beast or monster roaming around in this forest at this point.

So far, she got lucky. No monsters attacked her and the forest was unnervingly quiet and peaceful. But Catalina had a bad feeling her luck was about to run out sooner or later. The stakes were even higher this time as she had two little kids to look after one-one of whom was seriously injured.

She wished she could have prepared herself for an attack but she couldn't as she was carrying a little boy in her arms. A little girl walked alongside her, clinging onto her shirt.

Jeremy. That was the boy's name. He had soft creamy white hair that went well with his doe-like golden-brown eyes. He didn't look any older than 8 years old and he looked like a little angel in her arms despite all his cuts and bruises on him. He had broken his right leg so Catalina decided to carry him in her arms. But that wasn't the main problem-the cut on his stomach was. It was bleeding badly and hard. Catalina's shirt was soaked in blood and he was getting weaker and weaker by the minute. She had already stripped off her coat and tied it around his stomach as a sort of make-shift bandage but it was now completely soaked in blood. If Catalina didn't get him help soon, he could die from blood loss.

Susie, the little girl, was doing a lot better than her friend. Other than a small cut on her forehead, she was otherwise unharmed, though a little shaken and traumatized. She had beautiful locks of icey pale blue hair that reached her shoulders with matching icey blue eyes. She was the kind of little girl that everyone said will grow up to be a very beautiful woman in the future.

Catalina's mind raced. If they were attacked, she would have to let go of Jeremy in order to protect them. But that would also leave them vulnerable at the same-two helpless little kids at the mercy of scary monsters.

A sudden flash of movement in the corner of her eye stopped her dead in her tracks. 

A wolf-like monster appeared in front of her and blocked her path. It was massive and its teeth were as long as swords. Its fur was pitch black and it was drooling and snarling loudly.

Susie screamed. Jeremy started crying and Catalina prepared an attack.

Too bad she used up all her mana when she had to fight her way through a pack of undead warriors, then a hoard of those creepy green monsters, a flock of killer monster crows(what the fuck?). She barely had enough mana left inside of her now for a single attack.

Suddenly, a wave of burning and roaring red flames erupted from the treelines, reducing the surrounding trees and vegetation into ashes, setting some trees on fire, and setting the wolf-like monster on fire.

Large and wicked flames burned and ate away at the wolf-like monster. It howled loudly and went into a frenzy as the fire washed over it before it was entirely lit on fire and reduced to ashes in a matter of seconds.

Catalina turned around in the direction of the fire and saw that it was Elijah.

His white hair was a mess with twigs sticking out of it and dirt caked into it. One leg of his pants looked to have been ripped off. His shirt was reduced to rags. But he was alive and well with a little boy at his side-one of the missing kids.

"Catalina, thank goodness, you're safe and okay. I was so worried about you, lil sis."

Catalina felt all the tension melt out of her.

"Yes, good to see you too, brother."

Catalina looked at that little mint green haired and pinkish-red eyed boy clinging onto Elijah's pants. Elijah noticed.

"This little boy is Gabriel and I found him while I was inside a cave. Damn, it was insanity. First there were these undead warriors, next there were wolves that were bigger than a horse and downright nasty, then I got tangled up with something that looked like a living tree!!"

Catalina sighed. It was a relief that some of the missing kids were found alive and that she reunited with her brother.

Gaberial rushed over to Susie and Jeremy and the three reunited.

Jeremy was looking a bit pale and moaning in pain. Catalina quickly started to rock him and soothe him. She anxiously kept looking at the sky, at the darkening sky and the sun that was sinking lower and lower in the sky.

Elijah was also looking a bit concerned and he was getting worried about having to protect three kids with this creepy and dangerous forest.

"Do you have any clue where we are, Catalina?"

"Nope. I talked with some of the parents-the kids aren't allowed to venture inside the forest without someone else supervising them. People avoid this forest like the plague unless it was to hunt for food or gather medical herbs. I got lost inside here and I lost the map during the fight I had with ugly, little green men here."

Elijah remembered how the residents of the village described the forest, all the animals living here, the sheer beauty.They didn't mention anything remotely dangerous or life threatening at all. Nothing about monsters or horrific creatures that had a taste for humans.

Elijah shook his head to clear his thoughts. Right now, they needed to get out of this forest before night fell. That was their main priority.

Growling and howls from the distance reinforced this concern even more.

….

The people of the village saw them coming and they rushed over to greet them. 

The parents of the rescued children were crying and thanking the siblings so much that both brother and sister were flustered and embarrassed by it.

The father of Jeremy and Susie were there. The father thanked them for saving his children. Arya noticed how much Jeremey resembled his father with the same golden-brown eyes with creamy white hair. Susie must take more after her dead mother then with her icey blue hair and matching blue eyes. The siblings were raised by their father ever since their mother died five years ago. 

The parents of Gabriel were the last to thank them for saving their only son. Gabriel had his father's mint green hair(his dad had purple eyes) but he had his mother's reddish-pink eyes(his mother had pale pink hair). He was a mix of both parents and Catalina thought he inherited the best from both parents in her opinion from his mother's good looks to his dad's playful and cheerful personality. 

Jermery's condition-tough nasty looking and horrible-was not anything fatal or serious except for the fact that he lost a lot of blood and that the cut could get infected. An old woman-taking the little boy into her arms with gentleness and love- who acted as the village healer woman examined Jeremy and declared that he would make a full recovery after several days of rest and healing. Then he was rushed off to receive medical aid with his sister and father following behind the old woman.

Everyone cheered and clapped at the good news-which was desperately needed after all the tragedies and horrors that this little village suffered from for the last 3 months.

Elijah and Catalina looked at each other and realized that they now had to get back to the capital and inform the royal family about how monsters and all sorts of monasteries were roaming around killing people.

….

The carriage ride back to the capital was silent as Catalina and Elijah stewed around in their own thoughts and tried to process what they just saw today.

"Call me crazy but I fought little green men with pointed ears and sharp men today."

Elijah nodded, eyes glued to the floor of the carriage.

"I fought zombie warriors."

Yeah, because if they didn't see it with their own eyes, they might have not even believed in the existence of those beasts.

"We need to inform everyone about this. This poses a serious risk to the entire kingdom."

"Catty, who's gonna believe us? 

Catalina slumped back against her seat and just watched as the sun set behind the horizon, painting the sky pink, orange and yellow.

"No one-"

CRASHHH!!"

Catalina and Elijah screamed as their carriage was knocked over to its side by some large object.

The carriage driver cursed and then screamed in horror, growling and snarling could be heard and the horse was panicking and screeching.

Bad luck struck Catalina and Elijah as they had just been ambushed by a pack of monster wolves.