The night before Fated sect was supposed to arrive and take away their conscripts was Olivers eighteenth birthday. His family, which were the nobles of their small town, showered him with presents and had him drink until he eventually passed out in his bed. The only truly notable thing that happend to him that night is Oliver contracting his first soul bound beast, a Shadow Weasel.
On the planet of Atlas you're given a system at the age of eighteen which starts you out at level one and grants you the ability to contract a beast, which binds said beast to your very soul. Another notable thing that you can do when you turn eighteen is choose a class for yourself, but to choose a class you must use a class stone of said class. At this point in time most of the class stones are held by guilds or large sects.
In Olivers drunken state he doesn't realize that shortly after he falls asleep a man busts into his family's reception hall, which is where the party is being held. The man is covered in blood and is one of the Shadowmeres Scouts who patrols the town in search of beast attacks. The family Shadowmere is Oivers family.
The man yells as soon as he bursts into the room "Beast tide!! There's a beast tide of Blood Apes heading towards our town of Shadow Glades! It will sweep the town in a matter of minutes. The outer wall has already been informed. they're coming from the Great forest to the east"
After such an announcement has been made you would think that everyone would start to panic and freak out but the room becomes deathly silent after the Scout speaks. All eyes turn to Olivers father, Arthur Shadowmere.
Arthur doesn't disappoint and says immediately "Everyone with a class and soul bound head to the east wall, everyone else head to the underground shelters and wait out the beast tide. This is clearly a situation caused by someone who's trying to wipe out our Shadowmere lineage. Ill try to contact the Shadow weasel king to get him to put pressure on the Blood Ape king to find out why he's attacking us all of a sudden even though we've had a non aggression pact for generations." After Arthur says that he rushes from the room and heads to his office where he has an array set up which allows him to directly speak to the Shadow Weasel king. Everyone above the age of eighteen heads to the eastern wall, all of them with grim but determined faces.
As Arthur is running to his office he begins to hear the towns bell ring out five times which is the signal for a beast tide, then it rings twice in quick succession to indicate that the beast tide is coming from the east. Right before he reaches the town hall where his office is located an arrow shoots towards him from the top of a nearby building, Arthur being hyper vigilant because off the crisis and his own training jumps to the side as he hears the whistle made from the arrow flying through the air. The arrow leaves a thin cut on his cheek as it goes by, the arrow was traveling at near sub sonic speed, the fact Arthur didn't have his head impaled is a testament to his training and reflexs.
Arthur stumbles into the wall of the town hall and starts to stagger. His vision begins to blur which makes him realize that the arrow had been poisoned. Not just any poison either, this poison was fast acting and he could feel his strength rapidly leaving his body. As he slides down the wall of the Town hall he hears foot steps approaching him.
Arthur looks up and sees a man completely covered in black standing over him. With no strength left to fight back he knows that he is at this persons mercy. The last thing that Arthur sees is the man drawing a sword from his side and pointing it at him. Then his vision becomes black and he can see no more.
Every able bodied person above the age of eighteen whether it be man or woman head to the eastern wall of Shadow Glades to fend off the beast tide. The ranged classes our own the walls as the melee classes prepare to defend them when the Blood Apes eventually scale the walls.
In a matter of minutes the first Blood Apes begin to appear. Each one stands at at least seven feet tall with short blood red fur that's already matted with sweat from their run to the town. Blood Apes have the ability to control their body's blood flow which makes them incredible close quarters combatants. They can also control their blood to fire projectiles if they're willing to injure themselves. The apes also produce their blood way faster than normal too, which means that even if you think ones close to death judging by the amount of blood they've lost you'll probably be sorely mistaken.
The apes clear the trees and start running towards the wall. Arrows begin to fire down upon them, followed by numerous different types of elemental attacks. Everything from fireballs to chains of lightening are falling upon the Blood apes. Numerous blood apes go down after the first volly of spells and arrows shot by the defenders but its not nearly enough, there's just to many of them. The tide is measuring in the hundreds, when one Blood Ape falls three more take its place.
The blood apes finally make it to the wall and begin to climb up it using their pure strength to create handholds for themselves. As the first on reaches the top it is impaled through the mouth and out the back of its head by a defender. It falls down like a sack of potatoes and knocks several of its kin off the wall with its swift descent.
All over the wall the Blood Apes begin to peek their heads over top of the wall. Most of them are quickly dispatched by the defenders due to have the terrain advantage but soon enough there's to many climbing over the wall to make that a viable strategy anymore because once the first Blood Apes feet touches the floor of the wall and is able to get its bearings, all hell breaks loose.