'Why is this always so long'
Wiping the sweat from his forehead using his shirt, Ren wrinkled his nose as the rest of the latrine dirt was dumped into the fiftieth hole he had made today.
Covering the top of the latrine pit with dirt and removing the smell that came from the guts of 168 people not including the instructors and soldiers teaching them Ren coughed.
'I can't wait to get rid of the smell clinging to me.'
Waving his hand against his face while resisting the urge to close his nose with his hand, Ren held the shovel and bucket in his hands as he walked towards the River.
Moving past the hatcheted tree's to the rough location of the river, Ren sighed in relief as he heard the sound of running water off into the distance.
He couldn't wait to get rid of the smell clinging to both him and the tools in his hands.
Then he smelt the blood.
Blinking, Ren instinctively slowed his steps through the bushery as he raised his head.
The forest seemingly wasn't any different from any other night.
The sound of wind rustling through the leaves and the soft hum of the water rushing through the river was just as prevalent now as it was every other night.
What was different was the fact that the Cicada's which had always sung their summer song even at the cusp of Autumn had all disappeared.
This might be attributed to the fact that Autumn was nearing, but there was just this... Faint sense of unease lingering in the air.
Like a piece of plant stuck in between the gaps of your teeth, something that you knew for a fact existed but just couldn't get your hands on.
Trying to distinguish from the smell of gut waste and the iron, Ren compared it to his memories and his face fell.
'There's actually blood.'
In the course of the month, many a recruit had accidentally harmed themselves or had been harmed by either mistake on their part or anger by the instructor's.
That last case hadn't happened since the disappearance of scar lip, but it was something to note.
Ren himself wasn't safe from this phenomenon as he had a bad habit of biting his lip when he was holding back his emotions. Even now when he licked his lip, he could feel the scarring.
These new instructors were nicer at the least, although they did test his patience sometimes.
Absentmindedly rubbing the wooden dove hidden underneath his clothes, Ren's eye twitched.
He just heard something rather concerning and he was now hoping it wasn't so.
Crouching down and slinking into the forest ahead, the thing he saw...
It wasn't something he would be forgetting anytime soon.
---
Blood soaked the stream of once clean clear water as bodies littered the tree's like budding fruits.
And that...
Thing
Standing illuminated by the moonlight, it was... hard to imagine that such a thing could exist.
Taller than the rather short Osso, a monster stood in the middle of the river bed chewing on... something Ren really didn't want to identify.
Resembling a twisted incarnation of a fox, it's once fluffy tail had been replaced by a bloody grinning maw of teeth as its head mimicked its new tail.
Skinny and bony limbs pressing down on something laying on the ground with relish, a whistle from across the river caught its and Ren's attention.
'Who is that?'
Dressed like that of a grey fox, a figure blew several notes to the fox through a flute they carried as they left the forest.
The monstrous fox with two mouths immediately stopped what it was doing and bounded straight towards the figure causing Ren's eyes to widen in shock.
'What is he doing!?'
Jaws dripping scarlet red as the moonlight illuminated the scene right in front of him, Ren flinched as it neared the man blowing notes into the flute.
Anticipating the sound of crunched bones accompanying the nighttime ambience, when that didn't happen, Ren turned to look on in confusion
'?'
Bowing it's frontal head marked only by the existence of two barely recognizable ears, the man playing the flute got onto its bony spine, the Fox's tail twitching as the man gestured at the forest behind him
Then others began to walk out.
Holding blades and wearing fox skins over their heads, nearly a dozen of them gathered in the moon lit clearing soaked in red.
At this point, Ren would have to be an incredible amount of stupid to not realize what was happening.
'The Beast Barbarian tribes of the Rabid Wylds in the South.'
'They're invading' Thinking that as two shrill loud and one low note was played from the flute, the Fox started to bound forwards, lifting both of its heads in anticipation.
Tail head snapping at one of the bodies lying in the river as it bounded over, the fox suddenly paused and lifted its head his way.
Freezing in place as to not make any sudden moves, the Monstrous looking fox larger than it should normally be slowly stepped his way.
If it wasn't for the fact that the two shrill notes and one low note was played again, Ren didn't doubt for a second that he would become the Fox's second meal.
And seeing as it had two mouths, Ren somehow doubted that it had less appetite.
Gulping down his saliva as the last of the fox wearing barbarians disappeared into the forest across from where they had appeared, Ren thanked his lucky stars that bushes existed as he slowly pushed his way out of them.
Slowly of course.
Better not test how keen their hearing was even if five minutes had passed.
'If I was just a bit faster...'
Letting out a big sigh of relief that he didn't even know he was holding, sweat poured down his back like a waterfall soaking his shirt through.
If before it was hot sweat formed from the exhaustion of labor, this was a cold sweat formed from the intensity of fear.
Eyes shaking as he breathed unevenly, Ren slowly recalled the words of the instructors who had drilled into his head about what types of enemies he was to be facing.
'The Beast Barbarians belong to the Rabid Wylds of the South, and are responsible for the Unnatural Turnings that have created Aberrations like that two mouthed Fox that just passed by.'
Staring at the ruined clearing covered in bodies, Ren felt for the Dove under his shirt, completely unaware that its eyes were glowing.
'The Beastly Barbarians are like a natural disaster that can't be avoided, only faced head on. And the only difference between them and an Earthquake is that we use spears for Barbarians and Building mortar for buildings.'
His eyes shook as he slowly stumbled over to the River and ran his fingers through his grey hair, his eyes darting across the clearing that had just been a slaughterhouse.
'The place that the Barbarians come from is the Rabid Wylds, a place filled with a disease that eats away at the hair while causing weakness before the body bursts in on itself, killing those infected with agonizing pain.'
Kneeling against the river bed and feeling the cool river water running through his fingers, Ren hesitated for a moment before splashing his face, forcefully jolting himself awake with cold water.
Briefly recalling the time that he was rudely awakened by Scar Lip, Ren continued his recollection.
'The Beast Barbarians don't have a king due to them being barbarians, instead they have something called Totem gods who are nothing more than their mages.'
Ren splashed his face and gasped for air as he suddenly remembered something.
'And the Barbarians never do anything without the agreement of their totem god.'
Snapping his head backwards at the forest where the Fox wearing barbarians had disappeared long ago. He traced the path they had took and realized it led straight to the Training camp.
'They're in danger.'
Hurriedly stumbling to his feet, Ren tripped over something.
Looking at what he had just tripped over, Ren cursed mentally.
'Fuck.'
It was a hand left behind by one of the many bodies slain by the Fox, no doubt missed in the feast it had partook in.
Hot headedness returning to more safe levels, Ren glared at the forest as his heart beat thunderously in his ears.
He was going to get himself killed at this rate.
Hurrying over to the training spears he noticed were laying broken besides the splotches of red, Ren ignored the crimson puddles placed besides ripped apart limbs
'I'm really sorry about this.'
Suppressing the urge to look at the faces in the water to see if he recognized any of them, Ren grabbed a few more of the relatively intact spears and formed a rough bundle using ripped apart strips of cloth.
Using the little knowledge he had gotten from his father, the bundle tightly wound against his chest as the cool wind brushed against his exposed arm.
It wasn't durable, but it would have to do.
He had a feeling that they would be useful soon.
His feeling was right.
---
"THIS IS WHAT YOU ALL HAVE BEEN TRAINING FOR! NOW GET BETWEEN THE GATES RECRUITS AND FIGHT AGAINST THOSE DAMNED BARBARIAN- Hurk!?"
The Instructor holding a sword in his hand's voice cut off suddenly, interrupted by the blade penetrating his lungs and exiting out of his chest.
Blood exiting his mouth, the man turned and glared at the perpetrator and widened his eyes in surprise at the face he saw.
*Gurgle
Mouthing the words traitor as blood flowed out of his mouth like a waterfall, the traitor opened their mouth and bit into their neck, ripping into the flesh like a hungry ghoul.
And this wasn't a localised phenomenon.
Several points in the walls falling as soldiers who had once served in the army with them suddenly revealed their fangs, the line of defence fragmenting into several pieces.
And a line could only be called a line if there was a line to speak of.
Splitting into several dot like groups that were being slowly surrounded by Traitor soldiers and Barbarians, A certain Fox didn't bother with picking at the already injured wound.
Following the orders of the flute, the song of chaos replaced the once prevalent bird song as blood spilled in greater amounts than ever before.
Fire consumed it all and blood drowned the fallen.
But just because there was enough blood to drown someone in doesn't mean that there weren't those who couldn't swim.
"Damn Barbarians!"
Growling, Captain Harken swung his blazing sword and stabbed at the soldier who tried to slay him and only managed to inflict a wound on his side.
Traitor Soldier grunting as the blade dug deep into their guts, they opened their mouth as it to take a bite out of his flesh only to lose their heads in return, the Captain grunting with pain as the flesh began to slowly necrotize.
"Even Poison!?"
Raising his now glowing hand, the summer magic equivalent of coating a hand in fire found its place at the side where he was struck.
*SSSSssss
"Guh!" Groaning in pain, the Knights who had been accompanying the Noble Heiress faced down a large boil covered bat.
With Black oil like pus coating its chest, every time the Knights attempted at striking down the flying bat, black liquid poured down like rain, causing the ground to become slick with oil.
Nearly losing his footing in this black oil that had near magical properties, the Knight would've lost his neck at the hands of an eager Barbarian if Summer Magic in the form of fish didn't slam into their side.
"Miss Lorelai!?"
Eyes wide, Captain Harken grunted before he turned around and swung the blazing sword again, the blade of the sword detached from its hilt and transformed into a devastating rocket that briefly illuminated the starlit sky.
Now holding a wand, bolts of flame manifested around him and arced towards the bat in the sky as he hurriedly spoke to the Candidate Baroness
"What are you doing here Miss Lorelai? It's dangerous here!"
"And what did you expect me to do!?" She snapped, Blue hair fluttering in the heated air as flames both friendly and dangerous danced around them.
. "Be coddled in a tent surrounded by my guard as the world burns around us? Should I do the same when good men and women die for the lands that I am to protect!?"
Eels made of fire darted through the flames and bit at the Barbarians that had surrounded them at some point, the Captain bit his lip without a retort to her blunt statement as the boil covered bat hovered in the air.
"Nevertheless you should've stayed in the cave! Your safety is my priority because-!"
"Hah!" Heiress Lorelai laughed annoyedly. "And what Captain? Because of your order to protect me? Don't lie to me now, the only reason why you're protecting me isn't because of an order."
The Bat screeched in pain as small fish and arrows of flame peppered its wings.
"You protect me because it's the only way you can forget the children you lost by disobeying orders!"
"!"
Losing his concentration, the arrows of flame that he had manifested lost their form, allowing the Bat to free itself from the fishes.
The Heiress's eyes flashed with panic as she caught a glimpse of the bat rider directing their malicious eyes towards her way.
Raising her hands in a panic, teeth briefly flickered in and out of existence behind her as the flames failed to condense as the bat neared.
Panic filling her gaze, someone tackled her when she wasn't looking and pushed her out of the line of fire.
Slamming into the dirt, both bat and lady, Meredith Lorelai turned to look at her would be savior with brown hair and yellow eyes as Captain Harken returned to his senses and blasted the bat with a brilliant pillar of fire.
*SKREEEE
Turned into charcoal alongside its rider, the Captain stared at the charred corpse before turning to the Knights who had just slain the last of the Bat wearing Barbarians who had surrounded them
"As the Highest Ranking Lord in the nearest vicinity, two of you go round up the survivors, you, with me, we shall meet at my Quarters later."
Gesturing and pointing at the three knights, they saluted the captain before dashing off into the distance. The one Knight that the Captain pointed out moving to the side of the Heiress and lifting Amber up off of her
"Your service is appreciated soldier." Briefly praising Amber, the Knight then bowed to the Heiress and moved his hand. "I am glad that you are well Milady."
"..." Taking the outstretched hand and rising from the ground, the Heiress turned and stared heatedly at the recruit who held the spear in his hand silently.
"What is your name soldier."
"..." The man blinked his yellow eyes before belatedly reacting and forcing a grin on his face. "I'm sorry, what did you say?"
Furrowing her brows, despite the fact that the recruit had just ignored her previously, it was a fact that he had saved her.
And a favor always had to be repaid by a favor.
Always.
Eyes blazing with a barely concealed heat, she spoke again. "What is your name soldier?"
"Ah, it's Amber Milady-"
"Sorry to interrupt but you can continue this conversation some place else." Pushing in between them, the Heiress was slightly disgruntled at the fact that she was interrupted, but upon seeing the sight of the camp burning around them, she forced down the irritation and nodded her head.
She could give Amber something later when they weren't surrounded by Fire and Barbarians. Maybe a Knight Title or some Gold would do.
They were both easily accessible by her means after all.
And even if he declined it later... Well.
Meredith lorelai stared at the Mage Captain who unleashed a blinding blue bolt of fire into the air.
She would make sure he wouldn't
---
Everything is on fire and Ren had just stabbed someone.
That mighty big tear in space also looked very concerning
---
Guard's Log: Night Watch
- Event 1: Spouse of Henrietta Porker, Halsen Porker gave the guards a 2 kilo slab of pork meat as thanks for safely taking care of his spouse.
8 children came following the Orphanage director bearing gifts for the guards. (Currently set in guard house)
Research on the Porker Orphanage showed that they Porker family had 12 children, and when asked on where they were, Halsen answered that 2 were currently taking care of Henrietta Porker.
When asked where the last 2 were, Halsen Porker declined to answer.
Cross verification revealed that the last 2, Gary Porker and Lint Porker had joined the army.
Half of the money found to not have reached the Porker Family.
Investigation required: Request to be put on bulletin board [Approved]
- Event 2: Former 'Guard' Halsey found to have drugs bought from an unidentified source.
Request: Warrant to search through Former 'Guard' Halsey's home. [Approved]
+++
Tree that had posted the fifth chapter for today and will soon be starting the actual plot
Schedule should be determined in the coming week.