"My Lord, everything's ready."
The man entered the room along with so many other people.
"Heh." The lord laughed as he stood up from his throne, glancing at the peaceful island on the other side.
"I will rule the world."
In the peaceful village of a kingdom, stalls and people walks in the streets, buying things, eating and laughing. Until a feint rumble silenced the whole place. The clouds slowly turned grey, then completely turned dark. Others had a bad feeling and immediately returned home while the others are curious enough to see what's going on. Heart thumping, shivering bodies, terrified eyes stared at the black sky above them. And then, the sound of the bell was heard, echoing throughout the whole entire planet. An emergency bell coming directly from the capital of Exorian Kingdom.
"This is an emergency! Citizens, evacuate immediately to the protected area. Into the cave of life protected by the queen herself, near the port city. This is an emergency! All citizens must leave their homes and evacuate."
"Your Majesty!! People are in panic. The sky has turned black and the moon is slowly turning red. I-if this continue--"
"Brave soldier, you must be calm. We are in a situation where protectors must keep their ground." Says the Queen.
"I-I understand..." he quickly bow his head and immediately returned to his station.
"The waters from the Dark Continent has slowly turned black, your Majesty. Soon, it will reach our seas and taint our preserved coasts. If the time comes, fishermen will gain nothing." Danif appeared behind her, holding some reports.
"The black waters ... it carried such poisonous chemicals that would certainly destroy the lives under the water. Perhaps, also ours." She mumbled flipping through the old books and documents from the ancient times.
While soaring in the sky, HanNi has noticed the unusual color of the waters below them. The way the air seemed so thick and suffocating, the unusual brightness of the moon glowing red even though it was still day time. It all seemed strange to her - everyone must have noticed as well.
"A solid footing twenty-meters below us. I'm gonna drop you people." HanGyuk announced as he released the people clinging onto him and landed with a thud. It was once again, a nearby civilized area with little population, came into their sight. But something was not right.
"The place is a wreck. You think it has got to do with that bell we heard earlier?" Yuhan, being as observant as he is, picked up a dagger buried in the tree.
"Those clothes.." said a voice coming from behind the little shack revealing a man in ragged clothes and dirtied face.
"You people must've come from the capital, right?"
"We came from the Royal Palace. Actually, we are elite soldiers. Could you explain what happened here?" Minjun crossed his arms as he waited for an answer.
The man showed a little hesitation but gave up and told the story. He began telling them what happened early in the afternoon. As peaceful as it should be, everything was normal until a strange man looking half-dead was seen walking in the streets, creating suspicions and fear to the villagers. As far as they could tell, he was dragging his feet rather than properly walking. Soon, few more weird looking men came marching in from the direction of the coast. They wreck stalls and hurt people as the passed by until the bell was sounded.
Silence wrapped the air around them as they listened to his story. Seo on the other hand, had no interest on hearing a story from a suspicious man himself, decided to do some investigation around the area. Stopping on her tracks, a silent clattering noise was heard as red liquid met her line of sight.
With the touch of earpiece, she sent a message through, "Seo here. You don't need to reply. Just listen."
Minjun narrowed his eyes but kept his composure calm as he listens.
"I've found a body of a man in one of the empty houses. He's been...cut up quiet.. horribly. The wound marks doesn't look like man-made. It's more like..claw marks. Big and ugly. Just like---" the connection was suddenly cut off and threw the squad in a slight panic.
"Something wrong?" the man asked.
"Nothing. Nothing's wrong. Please, keep talking." Minjun said.
HanNi noticed the troubled look on their faces and scoot closer behind the captain. She tugged on his jacket and whispered, "I'll go look for her."
Yuhan slightly turned his head to face her and their eyes met. It doesn't seem like HanNi is going to stand by at all. He shook his head mouthing "You're not leaving our side, princess". She blinked then shifted her eyes to the man in front of them.
"Excuse me."
The man look up to her in confusion.
"If the whole village has been attacked and evacuated, why are you still here?" Straight to the point.
He was quiet and smiled nervously. "This place is very important to me. There's a stream residing just behind that forest there and it meant so much to me that is why I cannot leave this place."
"A stream?" They questioned.
"Of course you wouldn't know. You're all from the capital so you never knew anything about this small village near the coast." Now he's playing with his words.
"There is no stream behind that forest." She said firmly, "Behind the trees is the village's pharmacy, if I recall. If you are talking about a stream, there is one in the next village."
"Who are you?" HanGyuk glared at the man.
"W-what might you be talking about, sir? I'm just an ordinary chief villager---"
"The Chief was found dead by one of our comrades. So? Who are you?" Yuhan pointed the tip of his gun on his head.
The man's face darkened. He lowered his head as his shoulders started to tremble. Is he crying? Laughing? The connection with Seo came back and she told the discoveries on her side.
"Very sharp. Very, indeed." the man spoke and lifted his head to stare at them. Eyes has gone grey and blank, colours started to fade away from his skin and fangs started to show.
"This place will be destroyed soon. You elites from the high grounds would not realize. Destruction and calamity will fall upon the royal family who has carried the duty and power of their deities..."
Silently, they listened to the man while coming up with a plan at the same time. Their thoughts were connected with just the exchange of eye contact. The man spoke and spoke and preached about how the lives of those in the powerful family associated with the royals has led the formation of the dark clouds and waking up of the dark lord.
"The twelve guardians of the legends..."
HanNi flinched at the mention of her guardians. Clenching the hem of Minjun's jacket, she listened.
"....they will only appear to protect their master! They are useless!"
"You're wrong! That's not true!" she yelled, "the twelve-- MY friends are not useless! I'm not the only person they protect! Their duties are to protect the master and their people! You can't say anything when all you've been doing is hide in that dark island following the orders of the dark lord!"
"Princess, let us calm down." Hyun patted her shoulders.
"It..it was that man's fault... everything was his fault..."
To be continued.
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Hi!
So! I came back to life(?) I srsly want to kms 🙂 I couldn't find breaks to write. I know...how long has it been? 6 months? I AM SINCERELY SORRY.
This chapter is nothing exciting... I'm sorry.
I hope you enjoy the rest of your day ❤❤
-SakuNaga
author-nim