The Blue Pearl

There was to be only one monster that destroyed the village. Nina hadn"t been more helpful in her information than that. She was more interested in Ava and her arrival than the monster.

Ava was coming, but Olean needed to examine the land before she arrived. It was her first time being alone in a mission, and she felt a strange feeling in her chest. And it made her want to break into a giggle.

She walked around the edge the roof, trying to feel the wind but nothing came. She only found stillness and silence, except for the swirling fog below, no matter how hard she stretched her senses. The sweet smell of ash and dust rose and fell with the waves of the mist. She had never been in such silence before; the wilderness at night had always been loud. The critters and the nocturnal animals, busy with their lives kept her senses full.

Most of it, Ava couldn"t hear. But for Olean who even could tell the flutter of a moth"s wing, the night was an orchestra performed by millions. And here, she heard nothing but a soft sigh of the mists. She let both her feet slip by the edge and fell sitting on the roof and sighed. Frowning she let her eyes pierce the darkness, far and wide she only saw fog and dead trees and ruins. Another sigh and she was about to get up when she heard a stone shift somewhere up North. A creak of a stressed bough, more shifting of stones, wet flesh slithering over bones, swiftly swooshing as it swam through the fog. She rose in an instant and set her eyes on the direction of the sound. Something was coming, she felt herself shake, giddy with antic.i.p.ation, she pressed her lips as not to grin and bounced on the b.a.l.l.s of her feet.

It was fast, among the creatures she had fought before, definitely in the top five. Big too, but she couldn"t get any idea of its appearance by the sound it made. A ma.s.sive dark silhouette in the horizon, sound of bones with a lot of joints that shifting and slipping over each other. There was flesh, thin and weak, and rotten. But as more she had gathered about it the more her excitement sank. A creature of legend, she had been expecting. It was supposed to be a beast of Endahar after all. Instead she saw was a weak, half dead barely hanging together pathetic excuse of a lump.

It got closer, slithering forward and digging its claws into the ground for more speed. She watched dispa.s.sionately, all her excitement drained like bucket with a big hole.

It came near and sank down and Olean couldn"t see it anymore. It was swimming underneath the surface of the fog, like a fish in the water. A bit more concentrated and her eyes pierced the fog, making the dark mist look like clear still water in a shallow lake. She saw its ever shifting shape clear as day. Numerous tail, spread out like a thousand limbed octopus. It made sounds like laughter from the grinning mouth with many giant human like teeth.

It was the so called creature of legend? Well it was definitely legendarily ugly.

It headed for the temple at a speed that its shape wouldn"t suggest. It rose above the fog in a sudden movement. Bloating like a blowfish, turning bigger and bigger until it stood as tall as the temple. She heard the stones crush under its weight. In a sway of its tail and rocks shattered into sand. She grimaced, the temple wouldn"t be able stand such force. She wondered how the temple had survived if the monster was that strong but now was not the time for it. Its many eyes glowed red and looked everywhere. A glaring red light at the end of a small stalk slithered and moved in the air, like sniffing the air for prey. Hundreds of them spread around and looked. And suddenly they all stopped and turned toward her as one of them saw her and the monster moved. It ran into the temple but was forced away by an invisible wall. The entire ground shook in the impact as its colossal weight hit the barrier. It hit the temple with its tails, more and more times. Each time she felt the barrier slipping down just a little. Olean couldn"t wait for it to crumble and without much of a plan she jumped down.

Tail whipped toward her as soon as she left the barrier, coming straight toward her head. She grabbed it and it crumbled under her grip. Weak bones in slimy and rotten skin and muscles. More whipped by her and on her; she dodged some, tore others. They were weak but numerous and also regenerated as soon as they were broken. So it was not too long before she was overwhelmed. Too many of them covered her entirely, wrapped like a spider did its prey.

They slipped into tiny wires, binding her with tiny razor sharp bones, tearing into her clothes and trying to invade her. He mouth, nose and ears and ...other places. They failed of course. She again tore through them, heading straight for where its main body was. It too waited for her to come, opening its giant mouth with those spade like teeth. It tried to bite her, she punched and two of its teeth broke like gla.s.s. Another punch went through the rotten bones and broke the jaw. The beast finally seemed to realize that it had been, for a while been only losing to Olean and had managed to do nothing but tear some of the clothes she wore. It stopped its a.s.sault and she was dropped on the ground.

The entire ground was scattered with its broken body parts, bones and sludge, all crawling toward the main body, giving it more ma.s.s. She didn"t let it, rushing toward it, she broke them faster than it could rebuild. Somewhere in the chaos a small part broke through and escaped, leaving the bigger ma.s.s to distract her. She fought through it, tearing it to shreds with her fingers only to realize after embarra.s.singly long time that it was already dead. She gave chase. The track was not hard to follow, smell still strong and the prints left by the dripping slime also helped. She sped after the tracks, hidden by the clouds and heading up the mountain. It slithered inside the forest of dead trees, Olean jumped over the trees, it was faster like that.

Across the forest the beast slipped inside a cave in the mountain. Olean followed it in and was immediately swallowed by a fog of darkness.

There the creature had gathered more ma.s.s, fog becoming a part of it, swallowing the whole cave by its size alone. She pushed through her eyes but only saw blurred lines like seeing from behind layers of transparent curtains. Regardless, she fought through it, inside it, in near blindness. Smell and sound overwhelmed her form everywhere and she had to ignore most of them to make sure she was not fighting the walls. After what felt like hours of fighting she was finally out and could clearly see. It was a completely different place that stood around her. She stood in the vast expanse of black sky and mud, and thousands of creatures hiding in it and waiting...

They attacked first, and then the ma.s.sacre started."

***

Tristan looked at her mouth agape at her story. They were already nearing the village that he hadn"t noticed. Ava was awake, looking slightly better but still on Majteer and looking at Olean with unreadable eyes.

Olean fussed the moment she realized. Asking in hushed voice over her condition and health. Tristan to give them some privacy walked away from them.

Her story had been fantastic, unbelievable even. But her words didn"t not hold any ego or pride, or embarra.s.sment just facts.

After short while of silently walking Olean joined him. She didn"t speak and headed straight for the village square. There were three poles raised in the middle of the square and on each of them them, Tristan squinted, someone was hanging from it.
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"That"s Nina and Nicola." She said turning to Ava who then frowned and signaled Majteer to jog ahead past them.

Olean and Tristan after a brief exchange of their eyes followed.

Their arrival did not go unnoticed. A hooded figure stood beside a broken hovel silently staring. Tristan couldn"t tell who it was in their mask and cloak but someone came running as soon as he saw Tristan"s group. Eyeing them critically as Ava entered the square with Olean and Tristan following behind. He must have recognized Tristan as his gaze lingered on him just a little longer. On the three poles Lepin, Nina and Nicola were tied. Tristan knew that most villagers hated both Lepin and Nicola for some reason but seeing this, this was something new. It looked like some form of execution. There had been executions before in the village and it was always carried out by the Elder"s guards.

Was it because they were missing?

Tristan thought not really caring much about it. it had been long since he cared about anyone but his own and his master"s death. But seeing Nina too was alarming somewhat. what could she have done to deserve this? Nicola and Lepin even looked bruised, the woman more so with purple swollen face and dry blood painting her entire chin. Her clothes were torn and half of her chest was exposed. Embarra.s.sed he looked away and only realized later that Nicola and Lepin hadn"t been conscious. Only Nina, untouched of the three watched curiously at them, her eyes innocent to what was happening.

Only a few steps from them and Ava paused and dismounted her giant steed. Being with Majteer Tristan had already forgotten how intimidating the creature really was. Ava took a step toward the hanging trio and froze. She turned and frowned at Tristan before proceeding forward again.

What was that about? He felt his mind utter in silence.

Ava signaled the rest of them to stay behind. She walked tall, no sign of her recent weakness.

"Stop! Who are you?" The masked man warned, shiver in his voice but also steel of hatred. Tristan couldn"t tell who it was, he hadn"t much talked to anyone to recognize by voice.

Ava took a long while to study him before she replied.

"Ava Anlauf" She said and turned to the ones on the poles and added, "Of Sharak."

The man flinched at the name, took half step back then stopped. He glared from behind his mask, not bothering to show his face.

"Why are they tied up?" Ava asked, casual as to show she didn"t so much care about their fate.

"V-village business." The man said curtly, she still shivered a little but hate and anger almost masked it completely.

"So you don"t know..." Ava stated in a flat voice and took a step forward toward him. The man visibly bristled and hissed. Ignoring him Ava approached the one tied to the wooden poles. She looked at Nina then Lepin and finally Nicola. Removing the cloak she covered the Exposed woman with it and then proceeded to touch Nicola"s feet with her bare hand.

"Wh-what are you doing?" The man tried to stop her in a panicked rush but was held in his place by Olean. In the scuffle his hood came off and Tristan saw the panicked face of Abor"s surviving son. Only a few years older than him, Tristan didn"t know his name.

Nicola awoke with a gasp and coughs, her bruises visibly lessened and she blinked her shocked and curious eyes at them.

"Wh- you-" she said, eyes wide and looking at Olean, "You"re back."

Olean didn"t answer and looked to Ava who went to Lepin and did the same. The man to awaken cursing and spiting that almost fell on Ava. She slowly turned to the man in Olean"s grasp.

"Go! Call who is in charge here." Ava ordered to the man.

He froze, wanting to protest but quickly wilted under Ava"s sharp gaze and ran off.