Dagan Zephyr - POV;
"What's happened here?! This is terrible!" Alva exclaimed loudly.
"Maybe Xyder?! You think he's still here?!" Fira spoke up.
"He wouldn't do something like this!" Satella snapped somewhat uncharacteristically.
"I wouldn't want to believe it either, but he did murder the Team from Fenix. We have to look at the truth," Naomi stated.
"We can speculate who did this later. What's most important right now is we search for survivors and clues," I intervened before it escalated.
"We stick out far too much like this. We'll be an easy target," Rydia pointed out.
"You're right, I was thinking the same. We'll split here. Cover more ground. Our groups should be such that the Ailani sisters have adequate protection at all times. At no point should any of them be alone. We don't know what we're going up against, so we have to be mindful and protect them with our all," I explained.
"So we're splitting the three sisters between us to keep them safe?" Fira raised an eyebrow.
"Precisely," I confirmed.
"Oooooh! Ooooooh! In that case I'll take Ciara with me! We have so much more to talk about!" Alva announced excitedly hugging onto the young blonde.
"Um... you guys are sticking together right... Storm, Satella? Can I come with? I wanted to talk about Evelynn... if you don't mind of course! I don't mean to be rude!" Jaya spoke up.
"Uh... yeah, sure. I don't mind," Storm replied.
"I'm not sure we can tell you what you want to know but it's fine," Satella smiled.
"Then in that case, Naomi's with me," I concluded.
"I knew this wasn't just about protecting them," Fira snickered.
"What do you mean?" I shot her a questioning look.
"If it's just about keeping them safe, you wouldn't mind if she came with me instead right?" Fira grinned.
"Alright, then take her with you. I don't have a problem," I responded firmly.
"I don't really mind who I'm with as long as I'm not a bother," Naomi laughed awkwardly and uncomfortably.
"Nah, you stay with her. Rydia and I will stick together," Fira cackled.
"Alright, enough kidding around. Be on guard," I warned them as I led the way towards the hellish scene.
Slowly, I began to notice the signs... The putrid odour of decomposing flesh bled through the air tearing into our nostrils as it permeated the thick air. A heavy, stifling aura only added to this, increasing our burden ten fold. Not a single human could be seen as far as my vision could stretch, but the number of corpses of deceased animals and critters only piled up exponentially with each step we took towards the village. Even the flora shared the fate of these creatures in their dead and dying states.
Flies and vultures swarmed the area, with the former buzzing by us angrily while the latter eyed us suspiciously, maintaining their distance. I glanced towards the scavengers and their victims, taking note of the details before turning to my friends.
"Are you all okay? You girls too?" I enquired, placing a bit more emphasis on the Ailani sisters.
"We've seen our fair share of terror," Naomi responded.
"Blaze's hospitality was... eye-opening," Jaya murmered.
"Especially Duran's right hand man, Rex," Ciara shuddered.
"Then if we're all holding together, let's split. I'll head to the east side. You guys take the North, South and East. Be wary and keep your eyes opened. Call out if anything comes up," I told them as Naomi and I wandered off on our own.
I continued to scan the wreckage and debris, looking at every minor detail as I did and attempting to formulate some rationale for this disaster. We moved along in silence for a while before Naomi broke the ice.
"It seems your friends suspect that you like me," she chuckled, "Especially Fira."
"Yeah... yeah she definitely got that into her head," I responded absent-mindedly as I stooped to run my fingers along the drooping leaves of a flowering plant.
"Well? Do you?" she grinned, adopting a teasing tone as she bent over such that her face was right beside my own.
"You're a great person Naomi. That said, I don't see you in that light," I muttered, rising to my feet and continuing onwards.
"Aww. And I heard that you're quite the playboy at home in Zephyr. From what the others told me, half the girls in Zephyr are all over you. Somehow it rubs me the wrong way that you don't feel anything towards me. Are you insulting me Dagan?" she poited jokingly.
"You asked if my heart throbbed for you. I said it didn't, and it's true. If you asked me to join you in a lustful encounter, I'd say otherwise. Love and lust are very different things. Evelynn understood that well," I snickered.
"Oi, don't get ahead of yourself," she frowned and poked me in the side before we both burst out laughing.
"So then which one of those two do you like in return?" she pressed when we had recovered from our fit, "It's not healthy for you to have that kind of tension build within your group like that."
"Hmm? Who are you talking about?" I raised an eyebrow.
"Celes and Sorine, obviously."
"Sorine? Sorine likes me?" I questioned.
"Are you dense?" Naomi shot me bluntly.
"No, I had a feeling," I clarified, "She has just been kind of hard for me to read so I wasn't sure."
"But you didn't ask about Celes. So you knew about her?" Naomi pondered.
"Knew? You could say that. Really hit me in the head when she was suddenly naked," I snickered.
"When she was suddenly...." Naomi repeated as if processing what she heard.
"Oh... Oh!!!" she lit up as if having a eureka moment of her own, "So she confessed and then had her way with you!"
"Sums it up. I was innocent in the exchange. I didn't even know what was happening," I feigned being distraught and pained in a much exaggerated manner.
"You're so full of shit," she laughed and I could help but join in once more.
"Okay, that's enough about me, your turn to spill the beans. What's your deal with Xyder?" I prodded.
"Xyder? We'll I did have a teensy tiny crush on him...." she began to whistle as if trying to dodge further discussion on the topic.
"Oh no, no, no," I said, grabbing her shoulder, "You're not escaping so easily after making me bare all."
"I figured," she sighed, "I did think he was cool... I still do.... but he had so many other amazing people.... amazing girls around him and vying for him. I'm just a little country girl. He's in line to beco.e what is essentially a king, controlling many of the world's resources. I'm no fool. People like that can never come together."
"You say so, and yet Cheryl is the same. Sure some of the people going after him are future Elemental Clan leaders and childhood friends who've never left his side.... but then there are the Cheryl's of the world. Her father is the Mayor of the Estates, sure, but that title in itself may as well be the same as a farmer's compared tl the position Xyder holds.... and yet, Cheryl looked at all of that and still chased after him. You can be a Cheryl too. Who knows?" I shrugged.
"I'm fine being a Naomi," she smiled, "but I see what you're saying."
"Are you sure about being here Naomi? You and your sisters," I questioned her, growing a bit serious.
"Of course. I told you that this is something I want to... have to do. I need closure. I have to know what's going on. I don't want to believe that Xyder is the monster he is being made out to be," she answered firmly, "I wasn't particularly fond of the idea of Jaya and Ciara coming either but I understand them. Jaya's fully invested herself into this and she wants to get to the bottom of it. Not to mention she told me that she owes it to Evelynn. Apparently the two hit it off woth their similar love and adoration for history and research... or something like that. As for Ciara, she's been unbelievably happy knowing that she's found a family member in Alva. She loves as as her own, certainly, however it's clear that she's always been curious and even a bit saddened by the absence of her blood relatives. The ability to reconnect with that and to learn that she has familial ties to Xyder and Zephyr on top of it... that just has her over the moon. We just had to be here. I'm sure Zel and Emiko would have loved to come too, but we couldn't leave the villagers there, especially woth Blaze's threat. Those two were mature enough to give everything to lead those people to a safe location and protect them whole we came with you. I can't let them down now, right?"
"Crash!"
The sound of some type of glass object toppling over and shattering had captured our attentions spontaneously. We spun to face the origin of the noise, eventually figuring that it has escaped from one of the half-intact structures.
"Is it the culprit?!" Naomi questioned as I stepped forward, placing her behind me.
"I doubt it. This wreckage is already old. It's been some time since this village was destroyed," I told her.
"How do you know?" she pressed.
"A number of reasons. The broken edges where wooden beams were snapped have ready begun to dull for example," I explained.
"Then how has no one from the main town reported this?!" Naomi seemed to be growing angry.
"It could be as simple as they don't know. We were told that no one comes here other than the residents on a normal basis," I surmised.
"Wait, then doesn't that mean everyone's..." she gasped.
"Dead. Yeah. Although I haven't seen a hint of anything appearing to be a human body, dead or alive, so there's hope," I stated.
"Crash!"
"There it is again!" Naomi whispered, now clearly on edge. I crept forward silently, signalling to her to do the same. We kept low to the ground, closing the distance between us and the dilapidated abode. Pressing my back against the wall, I peered cautiously into the entrance and scanned the interior for any sign of movement. My eyes eventually fell on the small, dark quadrupedal creature laying casually atop a shelf. It extended its front paw and casually, yet mischievously swiped the china off and onto the concrete below.
"Crash!"
I kind of chuckled to myself as I realised what we'd been hearing was the work of a mere housecat.
"What is it?" Naomi enquired.
"A demon!" I shouted.
"B-be quieter then! You'll sell us out!" Naomi freaked out. I burst out laughing, much to her annoyance.
"Dagan!" she hissed.
"It's nothing! Take a look!" I told her, practically dragging her in through the entrance of the abandoned abode. Our not-so-subtle entrance spooked the feline whom darted off, felling the majority of the glassware left and I could see great relief sweep over Naomi as she realized the source of her fears.
"If it's just a kitten, don't scare me like that! Geez!" she moaned.
"Sorry, sorry."
"Ugh, I need a minute to catch myself," she sighed, placing a hand on her chest.
"You earned it," I assured her, "I want to look around a bit, but I doubt we'll find anything of use. Regardless, use that time to take a breather."
"One? I need ten breathers after the heart attack you just gave me, she grumbled as she staggered into the next room.
I circled the area twice, paying heed to anything that could possibly constitute a hint but nothing of such value arose, no matter how hard I looked. Crouching beside an ornamental cactus, I noted a curious fact for the second time. The bodies of the fauna putside were clearly marked with signs of violent deaths and the flora seemed to have met a similar fate by being trampled and crushed in the course of the chaos... at least for the most part. Some of the plants, much like this cactus, appeared to be wilting and dried, dying by some other means.
"Kyaaaaaaaaaah!" a scream rang out from the adjacent end of the structure.
"Naomi?!" I yelled, shooting to my feet. Remembering that she'd went further into the dilapidated abode on her own, I gave chase with a worried and weary mind.
"Naomi! Naomi!" I called out frantically, as I rushed through the cobweb-laden halls. At the end I found myself faced with a jammed wooden door. Without hesitation, I slammed my shoulder into it, splintering the structure and making my way in.
"Naomi?!"
There I found the young woman with both palms clasped over her mouth as she stared at the corner in horror. Turning my attention, I found the source of her fear; a young boy, no older that twelve sat with his back pressed against the wall. His eyes were sunken and empty, devoid of all emotion, and his pale skin seemed drained of colour as if his life itself had been sucked out from him. In his arms he held the headless body of what appeared to have been a much smaller baby and sprawled out infront of them were a pair of mangled and shredded corpses almost unidentifiable as humans. I could only assume that this was what was left of his parents.
It was only upon paying great attention did I notice the small movement in the twelve year old as he inspired and the realisation that he still lived dawned upon me. I hurried to his side, being careful to step around or over the viscera scattered on the soaked carpet.
"Hey, hey are you alright?" I asked, stooping down, "Listen, we'll get you help okay? Everything will be fine."
He weakly faced me and for a moment it seemed as if his face began to twist into a saddened and weeping one, but before it could his eyelids drooped and his body fell to the side and a small device flew out of his pockets. I caught him and immediately checked for a pulse.
"Is he...." Naomi squeaked out.
"He's gone," I muttered, laying him down and taking hold of the circular object before making my way outside with Naomi.
"My God, this is all so terrible," Naomi wept.
"We have to stop him.... if this really is Xyder's doing, we can't let him continue. I think we may have a clue at hand to that end as well," I muttered drawing out what I realised was a voice recorder being kept by the child.
I pressed the prominent button on its surface and surely enough, it began to play the note stored on it in a woman's voice;
*"If anyone is hearing this, please you have to make sure my elder brother is safe! He was visiting us and the children when all of this happened! There are beasts everywhere! Monsters are killing everyone! My brother says they are hell hounds and they were brought here by the strange visitors who came to stay with us the other day. My brother travels all over for his business so he knows the outside world much better than we do! He said the boy was some kind of global terrorist! My brother ran to the station to catch one of the fastest trains, The Golden Lion, in order to alert the World Heirarchy and other authorities to get us help! I saw the red-haired one chase after him. I fear it's too late but please... Please, make sure he gets there safely! It's the only chance we have to get help before it's too late!"*