”I hope not to see you again David” Logan mumbled,
”Or whatever your name is”
Logan closed the drawer and left the room.
As he walked out of the room, he saw the villagers with various makeshift weapons in their hands. Man, woman, child, every single one had some kind of weapon.
The old man with a long white beard approached Logan, scratching the back of his head,
”Sorry Logan, they are all pretty adamant about following you. They all want to find what’s going on here”
Seeing the villagers with weapons reminded him of Ross’s team. Although Logan worked with many mercenaries and saw many of them die in front of his eyes, what happened on the undead island stalks him to this day.
He felt so insignificant and powerless in front of David, an entity who could use magic inside the void line. Ross and the team were the best of the bests yet they were no match for David. He killed them in a matter of seconds. If he had wanted, he could have killed Loga. For some reason, David left him alive, with the card and the pendant.
”I can’t take all of you with me” Logan sighed,
”WE ARE ENDING THIS LOGAN!”
”YES!”
”I AM SICK OF THIS!”
”LET’S GO!”
The villagers violently shouted. After being worried and scared, the villagers now became pissed. They decided to deal with whoever was killing and kidnapping their neighbors and friends.
”It’s risky and dangerous”
”NO!”
All the villagers shouted in unison to interject Logan. He was a good leader and the villagers respected him, that was why they were following him. However, they couldn’t stand behind not anymore. Every single one wanted to go out and find the person who was responsible for the kidnappings.
Looking at the resolution in their eyes, Logan realized there was no use arguing with them.
”Jerry, stay here and look after Tess” Logan whispered to the old man standing behind him,
The old man knew how much Logan loved his wife Tessa. It was a pity that Tessa fell sick and became paralyzed. The village healers told Logan that it was one in a million illnesses that can’t be cured by anything.
Many advised Logan to marry another one and have children only to get outright rejected by him. Regardless of her state, Logan loved her as he always did.
”Of course”
”Everyone, wait outside. I’ll be with you in a minute”
After the villagers left the hall, Logan looked at the old man with a worried look on his face. The fearless leader wall he erupted in front of him crumbled down, revealing the vulnerable side of Logan.
”Follow me” the old man followed Logan into his bedroom and saw Tessa sleeping peacefully, or at least, the old man thought she was sleeping peacefully,
The old man saw Logan open up the wardrobe and soon, he took out a black card and a pendent,
”If I don’t come back, bring this to a man named ‘H’ in Crilta and ask for David”. Logan himself did not clearly understand the reasoning behind his order.
”I have this sick feeling in my guts about this Jerry. It’s like something evil is hovering over us” Logan lowered his voice and said to the old man.
Surprisingly the old man nodded, “Me too Logan”
”Do as I said. Sometimes we need one evil to defeat another”
The old man didn’t comprehend the meaning behind his words. Logan turned his gaze towards his wife once again.
”Take care of her” Logan’s voice stuttered as the old man patted him on the shoulder,
”You should go, the villagers are waiting”
Logan nodded back, leaving the hall. He only carried his Warhammer on his back. He didn’t even wear armor because armor would restrict his movements, thus, reducing the power of his attacks.
The heavy rain was pouring down from heaven as everyone was soaked wet. Nevertheless, the villages gave no crap about the rain. They were too tired of this. At this moment, they only wanted to find the criminal and stop living in fear.
”Leave the children at home” Logan couldn’t bring himself to lead a bunch of children into a place that might be a death trap. Most of the children among the villagers were between twelve to fifteen years old. They wanted to fight but Logan had no intention to bring them with him.
The villagers took a few minutes to think about it and decided to leave the children behind. Of course, the hot-blooded kids refused and tried their best to accompany them to the forest but no avail.
Everything said and done, the villagers led by Logan made their way towards the forest. The village’s hunter, Mort followed the blood trail left by Dewey. Because of the heavy rain, the tracks were nowhere to be seen except for Mort who was an expert tracker. With his help, they were able to follow the trail.
The downpour was so heavy that to be caught unawares meant being drenched to the skin. Each drop was as large as a cartoon tear and they fell like gravity had been turned up a notch. The flashes of lightning were their only light source that lit the path before him and enabled Mort to locate the blood trail. Following the trail with great difficulty, they entered the forest far away from their village.
Usually, the hunters would go into the forest to hunt for meat and pick up herbs for healers.
The forest was huge, dense, and diverse. Its canopy was demanded by juniper, birch, and cottonwood, which provided just enough openings for light to pass down for a variety of ferns to flourish in the fertile soils below.
Coiling branches held onto the occasional tree, and a variety of flowers, which grew dispersed and sparingly, stood out against the otherwise uniform backdrop. At the moment on top of the twigs breaking sound, a mixture of animal sounds, belonging mostly to prowling animals, reverberated through the air, and were in harmony with the barrage of noise coming from the rain.
For Logan, this reminded him of the undead island so much. Cornering all the thoughts about the undead island in his mind, he followed behind Mort.
”SHHHHRRR”
”Grrrrrrrrr”
”Grrgghhhh”
There was barely any light for the villagers to see what was in front of them. It was pitch black darkness around. Thankfully, there were some fluorescent mushrooms glowed in a vague red color, dimly lighting the surroundings.
All of a sudden Logan quickly raised his hand as the villagers halted their steps,
”Shhh” Logan shooshed, telling people wordlessly to shut up. When the villagers stopped moving and whispering to each other, they were able to hear a vague indescribable sound appearing from a near distance.
Logan focused on the sound. The more he heard, the more it sounded like something feasting on something.
”Logan” Mort, the hunter who wore a cloak called Logan silently,
”It doesn’t sound like any animal I know. This might be what’s killed Dewey and the men. If it is, we can’t let it escape”
These people were not strategists or geniuses. So instead of thinking that whatever killed the most trained people in their village might kill them easily, they decided to surround it thinking they have the advantage of numbers. They didn’t think that they might be outnumbered or walking into a trap. These villagers were kind of dumb and Logan knew that. Still, he had no choice. Besides, he himself was not a strategist or equipped to deal with powerful entities. The toughest challenge he face since he became village leader was a seven-foot grizzly bear that terrorized the hunting grounds near the village.
”Mort, take some of them and try to lay a trap. Whatever it is, I have a bad feeling about this “
The villagers moved slowly in the direction of the sound following behind Logan. Another group of villagers followed Mort in another direction to flank whatever was making the sound and trap it. The villagers held the satchels, clubs, and makeshift spears in their hands tight. Their numbers gave them the strength and courage to face whatever was in front of them.
However, their courage and strength were shattered when they saw a cloaked figure feasting on the entrails of a body. The cloaked figure emanated some kind of red mist that lit up the surroundings and in that light, the villagers saw the dead bodies lying around.
The cloaked figure slowly stood up, its movements almost looked as though it was floating in the air. As soon as it stood up, the villagers felt a chill. This l male before them had snake eyes that were shined like rubies. His thick, straight, white hair was medium-length and floating out from the cloak covering his head. In the glimmer of light produced by the red mist around him, they saw his chalk-white skin, a skeletally thin body, and long, thin hands with unnaturally long fingers.
”So much blood, so little time” the cloaked figure spoke in a clear, cold, and high-pitched voice.
”What are you?” Logan was the first to question the frightening monster before them since Logan had the experience of meeting another terrifying person.
”A cattle shouldn’t ask questions” the cloaked figure let out a menacing peal of laughter.
”How is that young brat? I never thought he would bring his whole village for me to feast on” the villagers shuddered after hearing the cloaked figure,
”I assume you want to fight although I’d recommend you not to resist. It will only make your death more painful” As he said, the figure removed his cloak, revealing his skull-like face and the two long canines that grew longer visible to the naked eyes when he grinned.
Whoosh!
In a blink of an eye, the cloaked figure turned himself into a mist of red. He disappeared from their sight but they soon saw him, biting a young man’s throat.
”AH!”
The villagers screamed as the figure sucked on the young man. In utter fear of what they had just seen, the villagers were stunned. While they were standing still, shivering, the man drained the blood. Just like that, the youngster collapsed to the ground but none of the villagers could recognize him anymore. He was mummified.
”Youngblood, so refreshing” the man licked the blood dripping down his lips,
”Let the feast begin”