Miles ahead, across lands both peaceful and lonely, there stood his destination: The Thundering Mountains. As the name not so much suggested as it directly stated, The Mountains, or more accurately, the summit was always swathed in a cloak of blackened clouds from which there tore down endless sheets of violent rain. From the great tip, The Mountains stretched out horizontally and from the rest of its great body there jutted out several other tips, tips which looked like the bladed teeth of some ancient, colossal beast that was trying to tear its way out of the very earth. An ominous sight it was, one which could strike fear into the most dauntless hearts, really, even the smallest of glances could send anyone running off in hopes of never having to lay their eyes upon those wicked peaks ever again.
But Kyro Longyou would not be frightened away.
He refused to be frightened away.
Two weeks now he had spent traveling to The Mountains; turning back now would be worse than even the most heinous of crimes.
After a few more moments spent gazing upon his goal, Kyro drew in a deep breath and then slowly let it out. Just then, a low, guttural hiss came from below and right after, he felt himself be jostled from side to side, as though the ground beneath him was shifting.
Upon steadying out, he looked down.
In truth, Kyro had not been standing, but rather, he had been sitting upon the back of his steed. While most people would prefer horseback for any kind of journey, especially long, dangerous ones, Kyro favored the company of Mi-Sun, a great, feathered lizard slightly larger than the average horse. Her body was like that of a Komodo dragon's, long and rippled with muscle and coating it were dozens of rough scales. Sometime during her youth they had once shimmered a vibrant emerald green, but time had taken their toll on them and they were now wrinkled and dull. Adorning her head was a crown of deep blue feathers and the tip of her long, sinuous tail bore them as well. Bent, torn and tattered they may be, but they still held some of the regality they once had. While many might consider Mi-Sun to not be the most impressive of steeds in terms of appearance, to Kyro, she was and would forever be the most beautiful of beasts, not just in Galane, but in the entirety of The Three Realms. Besides, despite her old age, she was now slow in the slightest and she would make her way across any terrain, no matter how unfamiliar or dangerous, moving along with a liquid grace that seemed near impossible for a creature of her age, size and build.
But Kyro always had faith in Mi-Sun, for she had never once failed nor faltered and Kyro knew she would continue to be just as reliable as she had always been.
Another low growl came from Mi-Sun and she then followed it up with a huff that had a sort of irritated tone to it. Kyro leaned forward, ran his hand through her feathers and then placed what he could of his long, slender fingers upon the top of her head. Here he kept them firmly and at a slow, gentle pace, he began rubbing with circular motions. To this, Mi-Sun gave another low growl and at once, Kyro could tell she had already been put into a more relaxed state. Kyro knew that with each passing day Mi-Sun was growing more and more annoyed with him, for he took very few breaks and those he did take were only when he needed to relieve himself or when night fell, but even then, the sun always find sleep far sooner than he ever did. Because of this, Kyro felt deeply sorry for Mi-Sun, as he knew that she wished to rest for far longer than what he was allowing. She wished to climb upon a rock, lay flat on her stomach and bask in the warmth of the sun. She wished for him to lift his weight from her back and allow her to roam free, to hunt and swallow up whatever poor creature had been unfortunate enough to be chosen as her next meal. Kyro's heart ached at these thoughts, at what he was restricting his loyal steed from doing. He wanted Mi-Sun to be happy, he really did, but he had to keep going and he could only stop when necessary and for only short period of time. He had to, for if he didn't, it would take far longer to reach The Thundering Mountains and he needed to get there as soon as possible. Perhaps when he did finally get there, then he could let her go as he didn't wish to have her scale such perilous heights. Yes, that's what he would do, he would make sure of it so then she could be free and do whatever she wished to.
But until then, he had to keep going.
With that, Kyro gave Mi-Sun two pats to the head, drew back his hand, grabbed onto her reins and then gave her a kick to the side. Understanding the meaning of the kick, Mi-Sun gave a soft but deep hiss and then continued on, tail swaying and tongue flickering.
For the next five hours they continued without halt and Mi-Sun made no further sounds of complaint, evidently having accepted the fact her master wasn't going to take any breaks till the sun itself made its bed in the west and went to sleep. Once again, Kyro gave a silent apology and wished she could understand his reasons for such harsh travel.
The day continued to wear on and soon the sun came to a point where it was directly above them, it's brilliant light hugging the land with its long, golden arms. And yet, despite this, Kyro was not hot in the slightest, since although winter was nearing its end, the land was now yet as effected as was during the summer months, meaning the sun could be high and bright and Kyro still wouldn't break a single sweat. Not only that, but a gentle breeze was coming from the west and here and there it would stir up, blessing him with a moment of cool as it brushed past his cheeks and weaved its way through both his long, inky, black hair and the white ribbon that kept up his bun. Both these elements combined helped make this stretch of the journey quite enjoyable and Kyro wished it could be like this the whole way. Of course, he knew this wouldn't be and so he closed his eyes and enjoyed it while he could.
Another hour melted away and they continued to venture across the seemingly endless sea of grass. Eventually, they came upon a part of the land that sloped upwards and Kyro quickly realized they were going up a hill. Of course, Mi-Sun was able to scale it in no time flat and when they reached the top, Kyro pulled her to a stop to allow her a moment of respite before they went further on. To show his appreciation for her efforts as well, Kyro leaned forwards and gave her some pats to the side of her thick neck. As he did, he looked ahead and saw that this side of the hill was far steeper than the one they had come up. However, Kyro knew this wouldn't be an issue, since if going up had been easy then going down would be much the same. His eyes went on and he saw that just a little ways ahead was a small forest, but this wasn't what had caught his attention. Instead, he was more focused on the equally small village that had been built within it, each building appearing to have been placed in the very spot where the tree that had been used to construct it had been chopped down. As Kyro stared, a thought came to mind.
When was the last time he had come upon a village? And more importantly, when was the last time he had stocked up on supplies?
He began thinking and then it came to him: two weeks ago.
That was when, when he had just begun his journey to The Thundering Mountains. Had it really been that long? It had to be. Though the time it took for him to recall things varied, when the memories he was searching for did finally come, they were never wrong. However, Kyro still couldn't help but be surprised by the amount of time that had slipped away. And then, another thought pierced his mind.
Did he even still have supplies?
Kyro withdraw his hand from Mi-Sun's neck and reached into one of the saddlebags that hung at her side. Inside he found nothing, nothing but some bandages and a bottle of water. Feeling how light it was, Kyro held it close to his ear and gave it a few shakes, revealing its insides had long been drained of all its liquid. Disappointed, he placed it back in the bag and went rummaging through the bag on the right. His hand came in contact with something long and thin. A pain came in his heart, and he drew his hand from the bag.
He went back to eying the village.
They had to have something there, right?
He wouldn't know till he went over and checked. Hoping Mi-Sun had enjoyed the break while it lasted, he grabbed her reins and had her go on.
As expected, it didn't take long for them to make it to the bottom of the hill and it took even less time to arrive at the village. As he entered, Kyro was greeted by the sweet songs of unseen birds and the laughter of children as they played on the cobbled streets together. The houses were all made of warm colored wood and bore no more than one floor. Here and there Kyro could see the bottom of the houses were beginning to be swallowed by the nature that surrounded them, leaving them covered with a thick coating of green. All around there was a sense of calmness that enveloped Kyro, making it seem as though the very air had been imbued with the very essence of peace and tranquility. And yet, despite all this, there was still something Kyro found to be very odd about the village, and that was the fact there seemed to be very few people living there. While yes, this village wasn't all too big, Kyro still felt there should've been more people than there actually was and he wondered why this was the case. Perhaps these people had been a group of nomads who had stumbled upon the ruins of a long abandoned village and decided to make the place their home. Either that, or the village had been struck with disease or some other natural disaster and because of that, the population had declined. While both theories had some plausibility to them, Kyro still couldn't be a hundred percent sure of either and he knew the only to get any true confirmation would be to ask around. But that would require him to put his journey on pause, an unnecessary one at that and he did not wish to waste time on learning trivial information about a village he would most likely never see again.
Kyro strode on and he soon came to a merchant's stand. Here he stopped and when he did, the merchant perked up, gave a smile, clapped his hands together.
'Hello sir,' he said as Kyro dismounted Mi-Sun and took out his water bottle. 'What can I do for you?'
For a moment, Kyro said nothing, for he was rummaging around in his sleeves in search of something. He soon found it and pulled it out, revealing the item to be a money bag. From it, he took out a few silver coins and placed them on the counter alongside the water bottle.
'Some water, some food, and some raw meat please,' he said, voice flat.
'You got it sir,' and then he swept up the coins, took the water bottle, turned on his heels and went into his shop to retrieve what his customer had ordered.
After that, Kyro was left waiting for far longer than what he would've liked and he couldn't even begin to imagine what could possibly be taking the man so long. His mind went right to the raw meat he had ordered. Perhaps the man had none and rather than inform Kyro of this, he had instead slipped our some unseen back end of the shop to go get some. Kyro's second assumption, and the more likely of the two, was that the merchant had simply misplaced either the food or water, and was now searching for it.
Either way, Kyro knew he was going to have do some waiting and his only means of passing the time was to stare at nothing and hope his mind would wander off, allowing time too slip by in an instant.
At least, that's what he hoped would happen.
Instead, he quickly grew tired of looking at nothing in particular and so began to swivel his head around in search of something to keep his attention. His eyes ended up falling upon Mi-Sun, who had laid upon her stomach, body splayed out and head held high, grateful for how the suns rays washed over her and soaked into her scales. Happy to see her happy, Kyro reached out and gave her some pats.
As he did, his gaze drifted off, going a little ways beyond Mi-Sun and falling to the other side of the cobbled pathway. There, he could see four young men standing side by side, all with their hair tied into buns and donning dull green robes. The men all wielded spears, each having its own subtle uniqueness that differentiated it from the others. The four were all staring his way, beating expressions beyond description, and here and there one would lean over and whisper something to one of the others, evidently trying to be secretive about it. Becoming wary of them, Kyro attempted to read their lips but they quickly caught on to what he was trying to do, and so they used their hands to shield their mouths. Kyro grew even more suspicious.
They were planning something.
They had to have been. For why else would they be keeping their words secret and trying to seem as inconspicuous as possible?
Maybe the reason this village had so few people in it was because it wasn't a village at all, but rather a cover. A hiding place of sorts, one made for the sole purpose of allowing bandits to take shelter in, so they could attack whoever happened to be passing by. This would also explain why the merchant was taking so long. He was either a bandit of lesser skill or a weaker stomach, and so he had taken shelter to avoid witnessing any of the ensuing bloodshed.
But then what of the children?
How did they fall into all this? Where they slaves? No, they seemed far too happy and carefree for that to be true. Perhaps then they were the bandit's children. An odd possibility, but still a possibility. Still, with these thoughts in mind, Kyro turned back to the merchant's stand and placed a hand on the sword that hung at his side.
He waited, the teeth of anxiety reaching up and gnawing at his heart, forcing it to bear faster and faster in hopes of escape. His grip tightened, knuckles turning white.
Then, he felt a presence come up behind him.
'Excuse me sir,' said a voice, presumably one of the guards.
Kyro stiffened. He hadn't expected them to speak, especially in such a straightforward manner too. Without looking their way, he gave a response.
'Hm?'
He never meant for it to be a good one.
There came a moment of pause and Kyro fixed his grip on his sword. Then, the same voice spoke again, 'may we ask you something?'
Not wanting them to catch on to how he had caught onto them, Kyro turned to face them, muscles tensed. Again, his response was simple, a mere 'mn,' and with it, he gave a nod of his head, silently telling them to ask whatever question they had for him.
'Well, firstly, are you good with that sword of yours?' The one was speaking and had been speaking this whole time seemed to have been the leader, or at the very least the oldest, a position made clear by the way the others stood behind him, listening. Not only that, but it seemed they wanted him to do all the talking for them, their lips sealed shut.
For a moment Kyro said nothing, as he quickly looked down at his blade. Then, he gave them a nod, brows narrowed.
The young man also said nothing for a moment, looking around at the other three, as though searching for signs of reassurance for whatever he was going to say next. At last, he spoke,
'Well then, if such is the case, would you mind going out to slay a beast for us?'
Taken aback by this, all Kyro could do at first was blink. He had not expected them to ask such a question, and in such a genuine way as well, as though they had actually wanted him to carry out this task for them. In all honesty, Kyro hadn't expected them to say anything at all, not unless it was some sort of silly quip about how they would see if he was good as he thought he was before attempting to cut him down. But nothing of the sort happened, and though Kyro's grip on his sword loosened, he still kept it in place and his muscles remained tensed.
Just in case.
'Slay a beast?' He asked with a slight tilt of his head, confusion lining his voice.
'Yes,' said the guard. 'If you're willing to anyway. We wouldn't want to force you to do something you don't wish to, though we'd very much appreciate it if you did. You see, many of the villagers here have fallen ill and while they're not so bad off now, it won't be long before they're completely bedridden. And who knows,' the guard's face darkened and his voice took a solemn tone. 'They may never leave those beds again. The beasts guts can be used to make a cure though, so we need someone to go out, kill it and bring its guts back for us. So again, we ask you, can you help us?'
Kyro went silent, thinking. Well, that answered his question as to why there were so few people there and surprisingly, it wasn't nearly as bad as he expected. Still bad yes, but not not nearly as much as it could've been. Kyro could easily think of worse things.
Much worse things.
His mind went back to the question he had been asked. On one hand, he would be doing these people a favor by helping them out, but on the other hand, he would be putting a delay on his journey. While both options would technically allow him to help these people, one was in a more indirect manner and would take far longer.
He stole a glance of The Thundering Mountains then looked back to the four, specifically to the spears they held.
'You have weapons,' he said. 'And there's four of you. Why not do it yourselves?'
'You see, we would go do it ourselves, but it's for the better if we stay here and keep watch. We don't know if you've heard or not, but a traveling merchant stopped by here not long ago and told us that Ellacia and several other places had been attacked by demons, and not a single man, woman or child had been spared.' Again, his voice lowered and he spoke as if he were in pain. 'Horrible stuff. I... I can't imagine why something so awful would happen out of the blue like that, but we wouldn't want the same to happen to our little village here. It would be a tragedy for us to leave for only a few hours and come back to nothing but death, death which could've been so easily prevented. So again, we ask, will you help us?'
Upon hearing the name Ellacia, Kyro felt as though he had been thrust into the most horrific of nightmares. A terrible pain gripped his shoulder and then blazed across his back, burning his flesh and searing into his nerves. Fear and panic expanded within him like a bubble and unconsciously, both his hands clenched into fists so tight that if his nails pressed into his palms any harder, crescent moons of blood would've formed. Though both were firmly closed, only one began to tremble as an extension of his panic and with each second it grew worse and worse. Despite all this, Kyro had maintained his composure and masked the sudden flurry of emotions that had tore through him. He hoped so anyway. To make sure of this, he looked up at the four guards and judging by their expressions, it was clear he still appeared calm and collected and they most likely believed he was trying to settle on a decision and so remained patiently waiting for an answer. Before doing so, Kyro knew he first needed to calm himself and so he uncurled one of his fists and placed it upon the one that had been trembling. He took in a deep breath and then exhaled. Very slowly, his fingers began to unfurl and the tension in his hand released alongside his breath, just as a flower blooms as the sun rises into the sky. After taking a few seconds to ensure he had truly calmed, Kyro looked up and gave his response.
'Yes,' he said, brows now narrowed with determination. 'I'll help.'
At once, the guards faces brightened and they all gave Kyro a bow. 'Thank you sir,' said the presumed leader. 'If we could thank you a million times we would.'
To this, Kyro couldn't help but smile, even if it was barely noticeable. While he didn't wish to put his journey on hold, Kyro knew he had to do this. For one, it would be rather cruel to leave these people after they had explained their plight and begged him for help, and for another, it was clear these people had never faced demons before. At least, not strong ones or a whole horde of them. Even the simple way they spoke the word demon made it clear they thought of them as just people with strange abilities. But Kyro knew otherwise. While their default shape was a human, they could also shape-shift into monstrous versions of animals and could cultivate energy, energy which they could then turn into elements such as water or fire. While each demon could only wield a single element, it didn't make them any less of a threat, especially when they were in groups. These four would be nothing to a demon horde, like small rodents to an army of tigers. If this village were to be discovered, it would be wiped out in only a few minutes and after a meteor year or two, it would be as if the village had never existed. Kyro hated this thought, but he knew there was always a chance of it happening and if it did, he did want one of the last memories these people had to be him denying them a simple act of kindness.
Kyro had to help these people. He needed to.
Just then, a voice came from behind.
'Here you go sir.' It was the merchant and for whatever, his voice was strained. A look over his shoulder revealed the reason for this was because he was carrying everything he had ordered all at once. With a great heave, he roughly placed the stuff on the counter and gave a breath of relief. 'Some food, some water and some raw meat, just as you ordered.'
'Much appreciated,' said Kyro. 'Just leave it there for now. I have to go do something. Also, you can take the raw meat away. I wont be needing it anymore.'
'But — but I spent so long looking for — ah fine. Whatever. Do you want some of your money back?' The merchant looked annoyed.
'You can keep it. I don't mind.'
'Thanks, I guess.' And then he took the raw meat and went back into his shop.
When he left his view, Kyro turned to the guards. 'Before I set out, could you tell me what this beast looks like?'
A different guard spoke this time.
'If you want to know that, don't ask Chen here.' This guard was the shortest of the for, and judging by his tone of voice and overall demeanor, he was evidently the youngest. 'He's none too good with descriptions, but I sure am!' Chen gave him a look of annoyance and then followed it up with a punch to the shoulder, the harmlessness behind it made clear by the way one end of his lip curled up. The youngest went on. 'It's an ugly beast you see, real ugly! And I'd say it's only slightly larger than your lizard there. It's mostly gray and OH! It's got this big spike coming out of its back, and it's tail kinda looks like a crescent moon. Does that help?'
Kyro went quiet, as he put this description together to figure out what creature they were referring to. Slightly larger than Mi-Sun, ugly, gray, big spike and crescent shaped tail. And then it came to him.
'Land shark,' he uttered.
'Is that what's it called?' Asked the youngest.
'I suppose so,' said another guard, voice monotonous. 'I hear normal sharks live in the waters I wonder what those look like.'
'We'll ask whoever comes by next time,' said Chen. 'Anyway, now that you know what it is, do you think you could handle fighting it? Or do you need one of us to go help?'
Kyro put up a hand and shook his head. 'No need,' he said. 'I'll be good on my own.' He went to Mi-Sun, hopped on her back and grabbed her reins. 'I'll be back. If it's a good day, it shouldn't take me long.'
He turned Mi-Sun, and with a word, they were off.