Return of the Fallen Volume 3 Chapter 8
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Author: Blue_Rat
ch8
Asuna helped the young girl up and covered her head with a cloth to try and stop the bleeding. After knocking it against the solid ground, a bloody wound was only natural.
“First, let’s talk a minute. You want our help but I have no clue what the situation is. Don’t you think maybe you should explain whats going on before asking for favors?”
The small girl nodded before walking inside the large building behind her.
“Please follow me.”
All of the kids crowded around the girl and escorted her inside.
Kazuki and everyone else shared a look. With a shrug of his shoulders, he followed after them.
Inside, there were several long tables. The oddity with them though is that they were all pushed against the walls and even the front door they entered had a table near it to block the entrance. The floor was covered in bedding for them to sleep and in the center of the room was a furnace. Opening a small metal plate in the front, you could feed wood or coal into it. The entire room was quite warm. A young child pulled a lever near it and a metal flap inside shifted, allowing the smoke to rise out of the roof. It seems they had it closed earlier on to try and hide when they heard Kazuki and the others coming.
Besides the bedding, off in the corner of the room were several buckets. Inside said buckets were shit and piss. Another child saw Kazuki and the others glancing at it every now and again. The girl grew embarrassed and emptied them out a nearby window.
Kazuki noticed most of the windows were blocked and the structure had been terribly fortified, no doubt from the children.
The girl with a wound on her head began to give a few orders and the children went into action. First, they cleared the bedding, folding it up and placing it to the side then a few chairs were brought in from a back room. Sitting down, the girl offered everyone a seat and a few seconds later a few children brought over some cups filled with warm water and offered that as well.
Nunully sat beside the girl and started healing her. The girl thanked her before introducing herself to the group.
“Thank you, big sis, I guess I went a little overboard with my pleas. I’ve embarrassed my self. I suppose I should have introduced myself first but I don’t see outsiders often and…anyway…I’m called Hina. Yes, I was named that because of my main feature, no, it no longer upsets me.”
Hina introduced herself and her name truly did match her features. With bright green curly hair and even brighter green eyes, her name matched quite well. Usually, Hina meant good vegetables or edible greens. With hair and eyes so green, Kazuki was reminded of broccoli.
Asuna, Kimi, and Tsura, on the other hand, found her name to be cute and perfect for her. Even Nunully lit up hearing her name.
Kazuki replied back.
“You can call me Ryuta. The one healing you is Nunully followed by Asuna, Kimi, Tsura, the small one running around is called Mei. Ths big one who won’t smile is called Sam then there is Danny and Shin.”
Hina’s brows scrunched as she tried her best to remember so many names at once.
“So, seeing as there are no adults in sight and you look to be only 12 or so, something has happened, right? I can’t say for sure that we can or will help you but at least I’m willing to hear you out.”
Asuna and Tsura both had the same reaction and felt upset at those words. The two didn’t know what was going on but it was obvious that something was wrong. Especially Tsura, seeing children abandoned like this did not sit well with her.
Mei was playing with the other children causing a needed distraction in the background while Hina began to explain the situation at hand. Looking down into her cup for a moment, sadness clouded her expression.
“Our parents…They were all taken.”
Many thoughts flashed into everyone’s minds. From bandits to slavers, they all had their theories but what Hina said next disturbed them.
“A monster…It took them all.”
Asuna abruptly stood up.
“What!”
The playing children stopped in their tracks and stared blankly at her for a moment. Asuna knew she had overreacted a bit and sat back down.
Mei began to run around some more drawing the children’s attention away from their talk.
Danny rubbed his chin in thought.
“Are you sure it was a monster, what evidence do you have that can prove it and you said taken. Why would a monster take a human and not just kill them or eat them?”
Hina’s hands trembled and it looked as though she were on the verge of tears from Danny’s questioning. She did her best to speak but you could hear the frailness in her voice. Much different from the bravery a few minutes ago when she defended her friend.
“It was definitely a monster, I saw it with my own eyes, many of us did in fact. If that thing isn’t a monster then the gods have blinded us all. As to why it took them…I don’t know.”
Hina’s voice cracked several times as she did her best to try and explain.
“So is this why you have this room fortified? You think it’s coming back?”
“Yes.”
Kazuki held some doubts.
(What type of monster takes adults and not children. When it comes to who the easier prey is, it’s obvious. Not only that, why take them and not kill or eat them. Also, this village looks like it can hold almost a thousand people. Are you telling me this creature did this without damaging the village whatsoever.)
“Hina, take me back to the very beginning. How did this all start?”
Hina grew hopeful that Kazuki and the others would help them but seeing Kazuki’s expressionless face, she felt that he only wanted to understand the situation and wasn’t promising anything. Her shoulders slumped as she did her best to suppress any wishful thoughts.
“It happened over a month ago.”
According to Hina, everything started on a peaceful night. Nearby, there was a tall mountain called Shinsei that many of the villagers found to be sacred and they worshipped it. On this particular night, a loud explosion rang out from the mountain. Since this was considered to be a sacred mountain, even though it was night, hundreds of villagers gathered near it. That is where they found a large crack in its side that led to the opening of a never before seen cave.
This, of course, caused a controversy among the people. The next day when the sun was at its highest, the village gathered to talk about it.
Those that did not worship the mountain wanted to enter this new cave and explore it, while those that found it to be a sacred thought this to be blasphemy and demanded, no one set foot inside. This led to arguments but nothing physical. The vast majority worshiped Mount Shinsei and won in the end or so they thought. A few people were still curious and snuck in at some point.
After that, it appears that something was awakened. The men that explored the cave, their missing presence was noticed and many people went to the cave, to see if they were around. That’s when the monster appeared.
Its body was several houses long and it was thicker then a large barrel. It had thousands of sharp legs that jutted out from its sides. As soon as it came out, that day alone it dragged nearly a dozen men and women inside before it came out no more.
The people in the village were terrified and thought it was a demon or a curse and had the villages holy man try and exorcise it but he too was then taken, never to be seen again. After that, it would come out every single day and take any who wandered off alone or were by themselves.
With its long mandibles and its great strength, no adult alone could fight it off. That’s when several men and women picked up their weapons and tools and formed a hunting group to try and kill it. It had already gotten to over twenty people at that point. The reason why it took so many days for the villagers to finally decide to fight back was that they were still under the impression that the mountain was sacred and felt they couldn’t step foot into that cave without being a sinner doomed to hell. That and they were absolutely terrified to face the creature.
Finally, a man among them said something that changed their thoughts entirely. He told them that the moment the gods gave them life, they also gave them choices, they could choose to step onto sacred ground and kill, becoming a sinner or they could choose to not fight back and watch as all of their friends and family are taken. He then said, the love we share for the Gods, they would want us to use that very same love to protect those we care about. If the Gods can’t forgive us for protecting our loved ones then are they really Gods worth our love and worship.
Once these words were said, a fire was lit under them and a large group of them went to slay the monster. The outcome was… no one returned. Hope then became lost and the creature continued to take people. Now, only Hina and several children are left.
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Hina finished her story with a heavy heart.
This story was hard to believe but it wouldn’t be the strangest thing in this world. The thing was, how could they prove it.
Sensing the doubt from them, Hina stood up and walked to a corner in a room and grabbed something long that was wrapped in a cloth. Its length was longer then she was and seemed to be almost 6 feet or so long.
“I know you don’t believe me, I know you probably think I’m making it up but if so then how would you explain this?”
Hina unfurled the large object in the cloth and said object fell to the ground.
*Thud*
Everyone’s gazes focused on the object below before Danny picked it up and inspected it closely. His voice was low but everyone heard him clear as day.
“Millipede or maybe a Centipede.”
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