A black nimbus cloud encircled the man, his robes flowing around him as he set his eye on the small village of Calsera, the man’s scarlet eyes flared as he held up his hand. Ancient Arcane words began to flow from his lips, words that the land benith had not heard in ages long before the gods left the mortal lands. This was a power not ment for those of flesh, but this was the power of Elderic, New lord of the underworld, and soon Lord of the land.

Once the dark enchantment was finished, Elderic opened his fist, before dropping a small crystal shard onto the ground, turning his back on the small village. Let the land learn of terror, let the land soon tremble as they cry the name Elderic, as they did more then a millennium ago. Let them remember, who is the true lord.

Walking down the hill, Elderic ignored the piercing cries of the creatures he now commanded. The ones who would sweep across this pitiful village.

The scene in the village was peacful with the early morning sun near its zenith for the day. The towns folk going about their daily lives, and children playing in the square. All taking a pause when the shrill cries echoed over their town.

"Move it, lass, if the Sun's up, we're open, and this place can't look like this!" the pub keeper barked as his newest employee waved through the tables with a mop, trying to remove the evidence of yesterday's bar fights and overly drunk people. "I agreed to let you stay here, Tara, but you have to earn your keep!" Inside her mind, the dragon-turned-girl ran a scenario of torching the man for being so rude to her, but for now, Taraah had to swallow her pride. It did not do her good. Fortunately, she got to vent her frustration every midnight as the most uncooperative drunks needed some persuasion to leave, and her dragon strength was very handy for that, as the barkeep discovered.

How she came to be here? It was all an accident. Unexperienced in the world, Taraah found quickly humans were not as friendly as her griffin family. Once flying over their city, she found herself shot at and nearly captured. It was the first time she truly feared. She managed to land quickly, but the footsteps were coming. And all she could think of was: Hide. And then it happened. HEr untamed magic changed her, and she found herself looking like one of her pursuers. With her gift of Tongues, she managed to steer them on the wrong path, but dared not to continue.

Having nowhere to go, she attempted to hunt for herself. But despite keeping her original strength in this form, she had no luck. Eventually, half dead from starvation, she found her way into the village. Stumbling into the locale, she collapsed. That was a week ago. The villagers cared for her, nursed her back to life, and she felt like she was in their debt. Hence, she found herself a way to help.

As the morning was coming and first guests started to arrive for a glass before they headed for their business, a scream pierced the otherwise silent village.

Father,
Even though I began my journey a week ago, every morning I still wake up with that nervous pit in my stomach. I never realized how different it would feel, to be away from the place I hadd lived my entire life. Even so, I harbor no regrets for my decision, I wanted to explore when I left home and I see no reason to change my mind now. Yes, I admit that it has been more difficult than I had anticipated, but I'm not about to let a couple of mere inconveniences stop me. I just wanted to write to at least let you know that I have made it safely to the next village. I'll try to send you something every week to let you know of my progress, and by the end of next month I'll be home, a wiser man I hope.
Your son,
Cyril

After checking the letter he'd written once more, Cyril folded the parchment over itself and walked up to the counter. The man standing behind the counter lifted his head, adjusting his glasses to look at the younger man in front of him. Cyril offered a polite smile before pointing to the candle and wax beside the man at the desk, "Can I send a letter?"

"Certainly," the old postal worker reached over, with trembling hands, to carefully move the lit candle and the sealing wax closer to Cyril. Taking care to not let the molten wax drip off the brass cup at the base of the candle. Cyril opened his hand to accept the stick of red-dyed sealing wax from the worker when he offered it. Cyril immersed the stick of wax in the little flame licking at the end of the candle's wick, and quickly dripped the melting red liquid onto the letter, sealing it shut as it cooled and hardened.

The worker carefully lifted the sealed letter, looking to where the letter was addressed to be sent, "Well, young man, postage will be just a 5 copper to ship that close."

Cyril nodded and reached into his pocket pulling out a handful of copper coins, laying them with a metallic clatter onto the wooden countertop. Cyril smiled, "Thanks, you have a good day."

"You too," the postal worker agreed, tipping his head.

With that, Cyril turned around and departed from the postal office, opening the door to step outside. He placed his hands into his pockets while he stepped off the wooden porch. If everything went as planned, he'd stay a few weeks in this village before departing for the next. He'd get a chance to find a quick job to pay for his own way around, get a chance to write, then move on to the next place and repeat. He unbuttoned his waistcoat and loosened his tie, wiping his brow when the sound of a shrill screech seemed to echo through the village.

At first, Cyril was simply frozen; he'd never heard such an unearthly noise before, and wasn't sure what to think of it. While a small part of him was afraid, telling him to get away. Such fearful thoughts were silenced though, when curiosity instead filled his mind; he wanted, no he absolutely had to know what that noise was.

Scraping her knives against her whetstone Aya prepared herself for another day at the market. Ever since coming to Halrock, she's managed to sell at least three of her knives, but she feared that the small village wouldn't pay enough to fund a safe trip to the near by city. She swore she saw the same farmer or miner walk by her at least five times, telling her that everyone who had any interest in her wares had long since been met. All she needed was to sell two or three more for a good price, and she could pay of her inn tab and buy some supplies or a safe passage to the next city. "But it ain't ever that easy...."

Truthfully, Aya contemplated robbing some homes to get her money. But even if she would consider the option, she knew very little about this town aside from it's name. She didn't know who'd have money stored away, or who was trustworthy enough to fence goods for her, or even what sort of security this place had. The best she could try to do is pick some pockets, but as a stranger to this town that was more a gamble than she could afford. Once someone noticed their purse has gone missing they'll be pointing fingers at the newcomer, Aya, and they'd be right. No, if she was going to rob anyone, she'd need time to prepare. Time she doesn't have to waste on what-ifs. She just hoped business would do well today.

And from the shrieking that came out of no where, business was going to be the last of her concerns. "Gods... Just my luck..."

Malakaus Ironhide

Another day in the forest, another grove to be cut down. There was good money to be had selling lumber, but only the merchants ever see that gold. For the lumberjacks like Malakaus, they just get paid a few silvers for each log that's been chopped down and cut into manageable pieces. But since he doesn't get money by just cutting down trees, he needs to trim them too, as well as split them in half. That would require an axe (Which he has) and a lumber mill (Which he doesn't have). And it costs a silver to cut each tree down into logs, which in turn cuts his pay. And than he'd need help bringing the logs to the merchants, because he doesn't have a wagon or the raw strength to haul them himself. Depending on who was around to help, either he gets it for free or he has to pay someone another silver. Which leaves him down to one. And he should be so lucky if they don't charge him more, because he would have none to spare.

Being a miner wasn't much better. Turns out bringing over a bag of rocks don't bring much coin, if any. Pay was decided on how the smith used the metal from the ores; if they're just sitting around doing nothing, Malakaus doesn't get any pay for them. He might get a silver or a couple of coppers if someone breaks their shovel and gets it repaired, but that's only if they get it repaired at the same smith he brings his ores to.

Ultimately, he doesn't really make much money. The only reason he does it is because he can't just go around killing all the animals in the forest, or getting into fights at the tavern. At least he's not suppose to.

Boredom was perhaps the most dangerous thing in Malakaus's life, because with boredom he would do just about anything, safety be damned. For instance, instead of relying on his fairly useful axe to cut down trees, he decided for the next while he'd be kicking them down. It was a slow and painful process, but he heard from some traveler that there was a whole temple full of men and women who could clear a forest with nothing more than a kick, the traveler even demonstrated how it was done. Malakaus didn't quite have the form right, but he had the mechanics; lift his leg and bend at the knee, and when he was about to kick, twist and thrust from the waist, extend his leg, and into the target. He's been doing this far the past few days, and despite the massive scars that now adorn his shin, he has managed to cut down at least one tree. Of course this did nothing to bring him more money and it was just a waste of time, as he could have cut down twenty trees by the time he was done kicking down just one. But boredom makes him do some dumb things.

As he was in the process of kicking down a second tree, a loud screeching pierced the forest. He stopped for a moment just to figure out where it was coming from before she smirked and started walking towards the village. "This is going to be fun."

Xia Yang

"Thank you, please see me again next time!" Xia sold another bottle of the Stallion's Potion to an elderly woman, and did her best not to think of what reasons she'd need such a thing. Xia resumed her previous action, which was to mix some poisons for the town's hunters. The poisons wasn't deadly per say, but a mixture that would induce hallucinations and paralysis in the foe. More importantly, it wouldn't spoil the meat once it enters the prey's system, and that was what was the selling point in her poison. Of course she also sold more lethal poisons, but she only sold those to people she could trust to handle them well. Even so much as the fumes making contact with the flesh would cause painful irritation and flesh rot. Not something to be handled by minors, certainly.

After finishing a set, another customer came by. A young man whom she's unfortunately familiar with. He was a nice person, but it was fairly obvious that he was trying to proposition himself to her. She had little interest in romance, not to say that she was a stranger to it. But after the first few proved to be rather unpleasant (At best they allowed her to continue with her business of herbalism), she simply decided that she would chose her own mate when it suits her, not when they chose. The young man spoke sweet nothings to her, kept her company, and was generally pleasant, but Xia kept the relationship consensual and turned down his advances for outings. Honestly, she was starting to grow bored of Halrock herself. It was a nice place to raise a family for sure, but she didn't have any family right now. In fact, she planned to leave to find the last one she thinks is still alive, her father.

It's no secret that Xia's father is gone. Just about everyone who knows Xia knows that her mother is dead and that her father left just a year ago. Most people keep quiet about it, and she's fine with that. She already asked everyone in the village everything she could about what happened to him, but no one really knew. All they could do was extend their hands to help and gave her sympathy, and as grateful as she was, none of that would help her find her father. She wanted answers from him, to scream and yell at him for acting so abruptly, but mostly she just wanted to be with him.

Xia shook these thoughts from her head. They were silly things; childish. She had survived an entire year without him. She could likely live the rest of her life if he never came back. She didn't need him anymore, she just only wished that he at least explained to her why he left. It left a hole in her heart that made it hard for her to move on.

After the young man left, Xia went back to brewing new potions. It was around the right season for fishing, so she prepared some water breathing potions for the fishermen who fall out of their boats. A few healing tonics would also be handy, she imagined. They were always in high demand. And as she worked, screams echoed throughout the village. But it was an inhuman scream like nothing she has ever heard before. Xia gathered her things and quickly closed up shop, knowing that it was about time to leave.

Ruri's stomach let out another loud grumble. She was sitting on a stool and leaning against the counter, her feet dangling above the floor. With her head in her arms, all that could be seen was her bright red hair and the yellow ribbons that tied it into twin-tails. Well, that and the bright pink dress she wore. In the small, brown diner, Ruri stood out like a peacock among penguins.

An elderly woman with white hair and a kind smile set a plate of food in front of Ruri. She perked up immediately, thanking the woman for the meal before digging in with gusto. The woman smiled at the girl's energy, then went back into the kitchen to continue cooking.

Ruri was finished in a matter of minutes; she'd barely taken enough time to chew. Washing it down with the glass of water, Ruri grabbed all her dishes and jumped down from the stool. She'd go in back and help the nice lady do the dishes, Ruri had decided. Before she made it around the counter, though, a loud crash came from the back room.

"Are you alright?" she called through the doorway. There was no reply forthcoming. No reply from the front, that is. Behind her, coming through the front door from somewhere else in the town, shrieks and screams began to pierce the air. Ruri's eyes widened and she dashed into the kitchen.

The woman was dead already. Above her stood a black beast, almost human in shape. It's arms were thinner, spindly, as though they could be snapped like a branch, and at the end of each was a clawed hand. The legs were shorter than a person's, so the creature could run on all four limbs, and ended in the same sharp claws as the hands. The coal-black skin was stretched taut over its body, showcasing the lack of muscle and jutting bones underneath. But the most horrifying part of the creature was its face--white, pupil-less eyes, two holes instead of a nose, and a mouth filled with three layers of razor-sharp teeth. And coating those teeth was a red liquid, as well as a few flecks of white flesh.

Ruri screamed. Not a cry of terror; she screamed in outrage. She threw the dishes at the creature before it could take another bite, then raised her now-empty hands in front of her. "Yala naur!" she commanded. A ball of flame appeared before her palms and shot forward, striking the creature in its face. It shrieked in pain, turning away from its prey to face the threat. It did not retreat, fleeing the girl that gave it pain. It screamed its defiance and leaped at her.

Ruri screamed her defiance right back, bringing another ball of fire into her hands. This one she did not launch; this one she kept, growing it larger until the beast was dropping through the air. She raised it to meet the creature, thrusting it at the head full of teeth. The beast's body crashed down on her, but after a moment of panicking Ruri realized that the thing lay still. The head was a pieice of charcoal.

Ruri pulled herself out from under the thing, examining her hands as soon as she'd made it to her feet. They'd turned bright red and were stinging from the intense heat. Ruri grimaced; she'd let it overpower her again. But the sight of the woman's body on the floor reminded her that she didn't have time to reprimand herself right now. The small girl ran to the older woman's side, desperately hoping against all reason that she might be alive.

She was not. Looking at the chunk missing from her neck, Ruri decided it was better that way. That didn't excuse whoever had done this, though; somebody had brought an abomination into the city. Maybe not just one, based on the screams outside. These things were not natural; they were the product of evil magic, magic that was never to be touched. They were Ghouls.

Tears filling her eyes, Ruri straightened herself and looked back to the front of the diner. One very kind woman was dead already. She said a small prayer over the body, then ran off. More people were in danger out there.

Kiara opened her eyes as she turned on her toes, her white dress swirling around her. This was her favorite part of the day. This was the part of the day where she could be the person she wanted to be and not the person she actually was. Her eyes strayed from the crowd that was gathered around her and looked around the rest of the square. So many different people were walking around here. It wasn't like any other town she'd ever been to. Often, she saw the same faces over and over again, just on different bodies. Here, people seemed to be happy or at least as happy as they could be.

When her gaze found its way back to the people watching her, she remembered how she came to be here in the first place. It was interesting really, just happenstance. Someone who had heard of her dancing had sent her a letter in the last town she was in asking her to come to this one. Normally, she would ignore such things because she chose her towns carefully, but this... it inspired her. She needed to believe that she wouldn't be thieving forever, that one day she could be a better person. So, here she was, hoping that today she would make enough that she would not have to put on that cloak that she hated to look at.

She closed her eyes again as she stretched her arms into the air and stood on the balls of her feet. Just as she did before every dance, she prayed to be graceful and lovely and wise in her steps. However, this time was different. When she went to move into one of her favorites, she heard something that terrified her, and she froze. Never before had Kiara heard something so inhuman, something so awful. She looked around quickly, searching for the source, but could not find it. Grabbing her cloak and pulling the hood over her head, she made her way to the shadows where she knew she would be hidden.

Cyril continued towards where he had last heard the screeching noise, but as he drew nearer, he slowed and crouched behind a waist-high stone wall, The young man was able to hear a low gurgling and murmuring noise beyond it, what exactly it was was Cyril was not able to say; the most he could say is that it was not human. Cyril slowly peered up over the lip of the stony wall, able to see three near-identical creatures, all gaunt, black-skinned figures with elongated claws. The creatures seemed to not be particularly focused on their surroundings at the moment, chattering and mumbling incoherently. Ehat exactly they were doing Cyril wasn't sure, but he was less than inclined to make his presence known.

Unaware of any potential danger, Cyril reached into his coat pocket to withdraw a small book with a brown leather cover, flipping it open to begin taking notes. He wrote about what the creatures looked like, the noises they made, anything worth writing down. Cyril again lifted his head to look over the wall, starting to sketch out a rough illustration, but that was when he noticed a curious sight. The other two creatures looked to be attending to the third, who had recently taken to lying down on its stomach, exposing a kitchen knife that had been sunk half-way to the handle into its back.

The creature's breathing was hoarse and labored, interrupted only momentarily by the occasional sputtering. Cyril quietly capped his pen and closed his book, stuffing both into the corner of his pocket while he braced himself against the wall for a better look into the square below. Only now did he see the body of a dead man, horribly mangled and wounded by the monsters; it looked that the man had not gone down without a fight though, as the dead body of one of the black beasts was slumped over him, covered in stab wounds the same size and shape of ther kitchen knife embedded in the third creature's back. Only now did Cyril realize just how real the danger was he had put himself into. He turned to try and get away without being noticed, but stumbled into a potted plant and knocked it over.

The moment it crashed, he heard the beasts let out a roused shriek of warning. Cyril didn't even turn around to see if he was being pursued. The moment adrenaline started coursing through his body he took off, his loose tie flapping right over his shoulder. He could already hear the rough scraping noise of claws against the stone pavement on his heels. Glancing over his shoulder he could see the three beasts in pursuit. He finally exclaimed, "Oh God!"

To try and throw the creatures off, he started knocking over anything he passed beside during his run. A piece of patio furniture here, a couple of potted plants there. It was successful only in that it slowed his pursuers, but the black monsters kept running after him.

Madness. Insanity. Chaos. Those and many other words came to Taraah when she ran out after the scream, ignoring the protests of the innkeep. First she thought they found her. She was ready to flee the village. But then as she turned a corner, she came almost face to face with it. A creature of pure darkness, evil magic radiating from it. She has never seen anything so twisted, even when one of her own spells went wrong. The firestorm tornado she unleashed on a forest once and burned a few hectars to a crisp. That happened when she was angry, or scared. These things, the spells woven around them were purposefully thought out. The evil involved here was en exact science. Carefully, correctly wrong.

The creature shifted it's gaze to her. The white orbs would have freaked just about anyone else, but it would take much more to scare her. Not so much the Innkeep that followed her, his curiosity getting the better of him. All of a sudden, the ghoul finally figured out it was supposed to attack. Leaping at her, Taraah's heart worked before her mind did. Swinging her arm forward, she stopped the ghoul's charge with but a palm. Then, the black skin of the foul creature started cracking, fire leaking from it's core, before it went up completely ablaze and turned into a small heap of ash.

"You were a magi all this time?" her former employer said. She knew she wouldn't be able to hide here anymore. "What... what happened to your eyes?" the man asked, suddenly looking at her. Fortune smiled at her though, as much as another ghoul approaching could be considered fortunate. "Run!" she shouted, pointing at the direction. The older man spared a half a second glance in the direction before making a surprisingly fast retreat to the inn's basement. She hid behind a crate, avoiding the other ghoul. In doing so, Taraah caught a glimpse of herself in the puddle that has been left there from yesterday's shower. She cursed silently. Her mood was breaking her spell and her pupils changed back to the slits of a dragon. She had to run.

Charging away, she tried to stick to cover to avoid both the ghouls and the humans. But the farther she got and more screams she heard, the more she wavered. These people helped her when she was in need. She was in their debt. And the screaming and cries for help coming from everywhere around she just couldn't ignore. And when she saw a child younger than what she made herself appear to be running back towards the village to help with apparently nothing but her pink dress to aid, she stopped cold in her tracks. She had to help too. Because she could.

When Kiara first saw the creatures, she had stopped in her tracks. Never before had she seen anything like them and the fear she felt took her breath away. If ever she needed those disappearing skills it was now. Of course, she wanted to help. Everyone who had a heart would want to help, but she wasn't a fighter. She was a thief who stole in the night. There was nothing she could do for these people. The only thing she could do was get herself out of here in one piece, and that in itself was proving to be a hassle. Every corner held new horrors and new bodies creatures and humans alike.

The next time she turned a corner, she could hear the unmistakeable sound of EVERYTHING breaking. Honestly, it was crazy that someone would make so much noise when they should have been trying to survive. What really irritated her, though, was that it was going to draw attention to herself. When the source of all this noise ran past her, she reached out quickly and grabbed him by the arm pulling him into the alley. When she noticed that he was a boy, probably not much younger than her, she let go. If she hadn't, Kiara certainly would have as soon as she realized that three of those horrible things were right behind him. Again, she wondered why he had been making so much noise if he was trying to run away from something.

For a moment, she was frozen in terror. Her head whipped around as she tried to find a way out of this. This boy next to her had no weapons, and she had no fighting experience. The obvious thing to do was to run, but when she saw them coming towards her, Kiara did something she never would have expected: She grabbed the dagger from her waist and actually used it. She threw it at the creature's head, hitting right in the middle of it's forehead. Whether or not it actually hurt the thing didn't matter. It stopped all the creatures long enough for her to take off down the alley again, not even bothering to check if the boy was following. All she could think of was the loss of that dagger.

Out in the wood, down the river and around the bend there was a small clearing. The ground was moist and spongy from the nearby stream and the recent rains, from it grew great swaths of tall grass weeds and wildflowers. When she stood they grew up to her shoulder in some places, but instead she sat, her wool skirt kept her dry and and spread out about her, neglecting her duties.

Her laughter filled the clean air like a bell, disturbing locust who retreated from the human ruckus. Bits of the wild-grass and seeds tangled in her long auburn hair and clung to her cloths, neat homespun things.

She tossed a river-cabbage as far as she could over the grass. In a few moments a large buck-toothed rodent collared by a lilac handkerchief scurried through the grass toward her, pushing the cabbage along with his nose. Squeaking with delight and effort. His name was Raty. That was what Haven and her father called him while they though of a proper name, which they never did. So 'Raty' stuck, and suited him just fine.

As soon as the Cabbage was back in her hand, she threw it away one more, it and the rat quickly vanished into the tall grass.

She sighed, lying back to bask in the sunlight. It was a beautiful day. It was this, and other simple quaint things that made her happy. She loved her life, the village and everyone in it, the rat, the dad, and even the river cabbages brought her joy. She was a simple girl who loved simple things. She had not aspirations or desires of ever leaving home, or being anything other than a cabbage farmer.

SQUEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

Haven jolted upright. "Raty?"

The rodent appeared, and without the cabbage, leaped straight into Haven's arms. He nearly knocked her back into the grass, he curled into a ball and trembled. Haven felt something wet on her arm, and noticed red and black... Raty's blood and... and... some other tar-like substance draining from a gash in his side.

She stood, struggling to keep a steady hold on the large-rat.

From her full height, she could see the grass bending, something was coming closer.

"Hang on..." she whispered to her pet, and turned away. Running at full tilt toward the village. She did not know what was behind her, it had hurt Raty, and she was no hunter nor fighter. She was frightened, but confident that when she reached the village help would be there...

Malakaus Ironhide

While everyone else was in mixed states of pandemonium and confusion, Malakaus was having the time of his life. On his way over to the town he had slain four of the monstrous beings, and while he did have some nasty cuts, he was still combat capable. His strength served him well as he buried his pick-axe into the heads and bodies of the monsters, and with that same strength he was able to pull his weapon out in time for it to claim another. But little did he know, he was walking aimlessly. His mind was focused on the thrill of battle than any idea of escape or what he should really be doing. He wanted to fight and kill, and didn't think of anything else.

He added three more monsters to his kill count as he rampaged through the streets. He had already crossed the town when he reached the other side, disappointed that he didn't find anything else to kill. He heard movement from the forest and readied his weapon, but instead of another monster it was the cabbage girl. Malakaus knew her, somewhat. He would buy her cabbage whenever his mother brought home apples for his Apple Cabbage Stew. She had good cabbages, but he always felt that she was way too friendly with him. His parents told him not to be rude to her though, so he had to tolerate her nature. For a moment he considered leaving her since he wouldn't get any joy from doing her harm, but pausing to look at her did make his mind start remembering other important details. His parents were likely in danger, and while they were both stronger than he was, they were old and there could be more monsters attacking them. Than again, unlike Malakaus, they were smart and likely already escaped if not in the process of doing so.

Though he'd love to stay around to fight, he did agree the with himself that this was stupid of him. And while he doesn't exactly like cabbage girl, it would bother him if he just left her for dead. "Hey, cabbage girl!" Malakaus called out to her, as he did a quick sweep to make sure his shout didn't just call more of those monsters to him. He'd enjoy the fight, but he couldn't ensure the girl would be safe if they showed up.

Xia Yang

Things escalated quickly. By the time Xia had packed up her things the town was under attack. She didn't know by what though. Certainly not bandits, but neither by any mortal men either. What was attacking them was horrific black beasts. She couldn't describe what it was, partly out of fear, but mostly because she never stayed long enough to get a good look. She fled the market and ran towards the forest where her home was. She was no mage, but she did know that her father put up protective charms just for something similar to this. If she could get there, she would be safe for the moment. Or at least long enough to pack more of her things and leave for the city, because from the screams of the local townspeople, these monsters were not taking any prisoners.

As Xia was running for her life, she nearly crashed into another girl, likely doing the same as Xia. She didn't know who she was, likely a traveler, and for the moment Xia was just going to ignore her. However before she had the chance to run off two more of those monsters showed up and were already beginning to charge at Xia and the other girl. Instinctively Xia pulled out her dagger, but she didn't know how to fight with it, let alone if mortal steel had any affect on these things. When the monster lunged Xia stuck her dagger out, stabbing it in the chest. It still force Xia down to her knees, but it seemed to have stopped moving. In the heat of the moment, Xia stood on her feet and pushed the corpse towards the other beast, knocking it over and stuck under the presumably dead monster. Though she lost her knife this way, this gave Xia a chance to run. Looking at the girl, and in the alley another boy, Xia pointed towards the forest. "Follow me if you want to live!" Without waiting for their responds Xia ran towards the forest, drinking one of her stamina potions called Liquid Vim to give her a burst of energy so that she wouldn't tire while running.

The creatures born of magic not meant for this mortal realm, took no pity on the simple villagers, no matter how young or old. Those who were not slain, were dragged away bloodied and near death though the numbers were few. Their thoughts seemed to have no conscious rhythm beyond the havoc they wrought upon the innocent.

A terrible shriek rose from the mouth of a ghoul that was clung to the wall in the markets, or what soon remained of them. The unearthly creature set it's souless eyes upon a short female dwarf within the chaos, and without thought to anything beyond its kill leaped from the wall, its arms stretched out with intent to sink its claws within the diminutive being. Though the gods were with the young dwarf, even if not for the one who ran in the path before her, fleeing from others of the creatures kind. The man was the local butcher, his neck snapped from the impact, and dead before he went rolling over the dwarfs wares with the creature.

Bursting free from a small stables on the edge of town, a strong chestnut colored stallion bucked and ran while a ghoul clung to the poor animals back, though it could not seem to do anything more with the horses thrashing. When the horse stopped it's bucking, It was only to gallop forward at a startling speed with abandon only intent of ridding itself of the creature on its back. The animal paid no mind to those it past, or in the case of an alchemist who had garnered the intention of several dark creatures with her exclamation of escape, who it barreled over. The horse had came within inches of trampling over the poor girl, only to suddenly dig its hooves into the ground, and bucking hard once more to finally throw the black creature from its back, and turning to stomp on the thing's head repeatedly, before snorting as though it were mocking the ghoul for trying. The horse seemed to spare a glace toward Xia for a moment, though it did not move despite most animals instinct being to flee as fast as one could.

Cyril kept up his run until he was abruptly and suddenly yanked to one side by something that had seized his arm. Cyril immediately spun around to face whoever or whatever had grabbed him; his eyes open wide in shock and surprise while still hopping on one leg trying to regain his balance. His fist was cocked back in a position as if he was going to throw a punch, but he relaxed his hand and lowered his arm once it was clear that he wasn't in any immediate danger. Cyril was wordless, unable to even offer the most trite expressions of gratitude for Kiara's help, only able to catch his breath while the both of them apparently tried to plan their own way out of this mess. Then he noticed his rescuer reaching for the dagger on her hip.

"What are you going to-" the answer to the question he'd not even fully asked was soon clear when she whipped it hard right past Cyril. The blade sank itself part-way into the head of one of the black ghouls pursuing them. The blade became firmly wedged in the monster's skull. Cyril could only stare dumbfounded as the the other two monsters momentarily stopped to inspect the blow delivered to one of their own. Cyril at last recognized the opportunity to gain ground on his pursuers, and followed the woman already on her way away. Cyril's loosened tie continued to flutter and flap just over his shoulder during the full sprint. He called out to Kiara ahead, "By god, what are these things?"

On the way through the alley, something caught Cyril's eye, a broom just lying out in the alleyway. Checking behind him to make sure the monsters were out of sight, Cyril grabbed the broom. He held the handle firmly, and stamped hard on the shaft just above the broom head as hard as he could a few times. Finally, the broom head snapped off, leaving Cyril with something that might at least pass as a weapon of some kind. The sound of one of the shrieking monsters was quick to remind Cyril that standing still was not a good idea, and he hurried on his way again, broom handle in hand.

Cyril soon emerged on the scene of another woman, Xia, having already fatally stabbed one of the monsters. The woman was beckoning the both of them to follow her into the forest, something Cyril wasn't going to argue against, "Right then! Lead the way!"

There was little time to actually make an escape, as an odd scene unfolded. A horse barreled out into the streets, stomping a ghoul to pieces before standing out in the streets alone. Cyril might have been just seeing things, but he could have sworn that it was staring at Xia.

Kiara pulled her hood from her head as she tried to take in everything that had happened since this stupid girl ran into her, literally almost crashing into Kiara. She sighed slightly, her thoughts taking a turn. It wasn't exactly fair to call the girl stupid, after all, just because she was irritated with the situation as a whole. Irritation being her defense mechanism so that she would not be so afraid that she could not even move. What better thing to get your blood going than anger? Kiara wasn't quite to that emotion yet, but she was slowly getting there.

Placing a hand to her head in hopes that it would somehow force the information into her mind, she looked around again. So, there was a horse, a boy, a girl, and some dead creatures. Don't forget the broomstick, she thought sarcastically. Again, not fair to the boy. It was actually a clever idea. In fact, she needed a weapon too. She made a note to keep a look out for anything she could possibly use now that her dagger was lost.

Finally, her brain turned to the obvious decision, not able to even comprehend everything else that had happened. Should she go with this girl who appeared even younger than the boy, or go on her own as she had planned to do? It should have been obvious. Anyone else would have chosen to go with this strange girl in a heartbeat, like the boy did. However, Kiara wasn't so simple. She grew up in the streets and had learned early not to trust anyone.

Another sigh and she looked back to the boy who stood just as she did. If she let him go off on his own with this untrustworthy girl, what would happen to him? Wasn't it her responsibility to keep him alive now that she had saved him? Or had she even saved him in the first place? Maybe he would have been fine as he was. She looked at him again, and mentally shook her head. This was something she would have to see through.

Regretting every action and word almost immediately, she turned to the girl and said, "We'll follow you." Until I'm sure he's safe, she added in her mind.

Aya wanted nothing more than to get all her things and leave. All she had was her cloth tarp of folding knives, and even than it began to rip and tear since it was met to be used as a place mat, not a sack. She had to hold onto her sack with both hands, which didn't do her any favors when one of those monsters were lunging at her. She was able to duck under the first one, but when a second one came by, Aya thought she was a goner had one of the locals not run in front of her. He took the full brunt of the attack and was dead before he hit the ground. And while he did inadvertently save Aya, his body fell upon her sack of Folding Knives. Unable to remove the sack before the monster would recover and make another attack, Aya simply ran empty handed.

She still had her hammer and a dagger so Aya was totally defenseless, but this wasn't a brawl. This was some sort of raid, and she wanted to get out ASAP. Problem was, she had no idea where was safe. Everywhere she went, there was five or ten of those black monster things, killing people or about to. Only a very few people were actually fighting back, and they never lasted too long. As Aya was running around aimlessly she nearly got ran over by a large human looking lady. Aya recognized her as the woman who helped out at the pub she was staying at (Taraah). The woman always seemed like a strong sort, so Aya hoped that maybe she could help the dwarf out. "Hey, you there! What are you doing, there are monsters that way! Don't you know how to get out of here!?"

Eyes wide, frozen, stuck open.

She had come here to seek help...

She had barely escaped the creature chasing her in the wood, she finally evaded it by crossing the river into a tight thicket of trees and bushes. Nature slowed the thing down enough. Yet, her escape was futile, she now saw a dozen or more of the same shadowy monstrosity tearing her homeland apart. There were neat little piles of flesh and cloths, little streams of blood in the street, screams in the distance of whomever was left… they would not last long. How could they? This was an ordinary and peaceful place, they were not warriors, they were not wizards. They relied on just those people to protect them, despite the fact that there was hardly one to be seen in the village. They had wrongly assumed that their little corner of the countryside was safe.

“Hey Cabbage Girl!” a gruff voice brought her back to her senses. She looked up and saw familiar orc and her heart turned from despair to joy. He was a green island of hope.

“M-M-MAL!” She was quick-footed, and raced across the clearing toward him. She had to jump over several bodies to reach him, she tried not to look, but couldn’t help it they were... Betty the soon-to-be-bakers wife, Rolf the shepherd with a slight limp and a charming smile… all gone.

She rushed to Mal’s side, and would have hugged him, were her arms not already filled with her quivering injured rat-pet. Raty squeaked quietly every so often, but mostly kept his face pressed into her chest.

“Thank the swamp-mother you're alright!” It was amazing to her that anyone could fight these strange things. They seemed impossible, contrary to nature. Yet, the bold Malakus seemed to handle them easily enough. There was a glint in his eye, as if found swatting evil monsters was a good sport.

She wanted to shut her eyes and turn away, but feared that they might take her and Mal by surprise. She turned her back toward him, eyes wide. “W… What happened, Mal?” She would keep close to his side if he stayed or if he ran off. She imagined that she might be safe under the wide arc of his lumberjack’s axe. Would they flee? Would they seek Mal’s parents? Whatever the answer she would follow. There did not seem to be many survivors left, but if Mal had survived the onslaught, then maybe someone else had found a way to fight the beasts…

Malakaus Ironhide

Once the cabbage girl, Haven he remembered her name as, got to him, he quickly took her into one of the ruined buildings so that they were out of immediate sight of the monsters. Upon being asked what had happened, Malakaus himself wasn't too sure. As far as he cared to know, the village was under attack. He didn't think Haven was so dumb that he needed to tell her that. But as for why or what was attacking them, he still didn't know. Sure they both have likely seen the things attacking them, but he was sure that neither of them had the foggiest idea of what they were. Malakaus just knows that they can die. "I don't know what's happening Haven. I honestly don't, and for a while I didn't care. Still don't, because right now the only thing I'm worried about is escaping." Malakaus looked down the street and already saw a large horde of those monsters running by, trampling over those unfortunate to be running away from them. "We will have to flee into the forest. There may be monsters in there, but at least we'd be able to hide from them. My dad said that if I should ever need to leave the village, I should to to our secret hunting spot and get out river boat. We'd have to take the boat down the river to the city. It'll take half a day or so if we don't stop."

Taking another peek, Malakaus did spy some people fighting back, but not so much to defend the town as much to defend their lives. He's seen something similar before, back at his old home town. Halrock was lost; too many had died, and this place would be haunted by today. No one would want to come here, sans those who would come to mourn. He'd hope he wouldn't be one of them. "Unfortunately, we'd have to cross the town to get to my dad's secret hunting spot. It will take to long going around, and we'll be too exposed. But going through the town means that we will face some of those monsters." The orc turned to the little human and clasped her hands into his own. It was something that his mother did to him when she wanted him to make a promise. He now did it for Haven, mostly just because it made sense to him, partly because what he was about to say required Haven to something that might be hard. "Haven, you have to promise me that you will escape. Don't stop for me if should something happen. If I go down, nothing you can do can save me. I know it sounds dark, but right now there isn't time for you to play hero. I promise to do everything I can to make sure we both make it out alive, but if I can't save myself, I want you to be able to run, okay?"

Xia Yang

With the two strangers in tow, Xia was a bit more confident that they would make it. Or at least she would. As she was about to make her move, a horse emerged suddenly, carrying one of those monsters on it's back. Xia was going to flee had the horse not quickly dispatch the monster with much more efficiency than she could have mustered. She would have weighed the option of trying to ride the horse bareback with the other three, but one of the monsters from before was already freeing itself from it's dead ally, leaving Xia little time to make well thought decisions. The horse at least had reins, so she would have some control of it. She's only ridden horses with her father when they went trading in the city, but hopefully what little knowledge she had with horses would allow her to control one well enough to get to her hovel in the forest.

Mounting onto the beast, Xia paused only to allow the other two to get on. They would have to press their bodies together and hold onto each other if they had nay hope of staying on the horse, but the beast was large enough to hold the three of them anyways. The gods must have taken pity on her, and hopefully they wouldn't need to mourn her. "Hiya!" Wasting no more time, Xia whipped the reins on the horse and directed it towards the direction of her home. She did her best to avoid obstacles and monsters, but did nothing to help anyone they passed. She couldn't do anything for them right now.

Keeping his eyes on his prey, Anwar waited patiently for the stag to start eating the grass around it. Today, he had asked his father to go hunting one more time despite his previous failures but he was unfazed and on the contrary, you could say he was looking forward to it more than ever. Once Fendrel gave him the OK, he immediately picked up his jacket and dashed to the door, "Anwar, aren't you forgetting something?" his father asked while holding Anwar’s dagger in his hands, “I think i won’t need that today dad” he said with a faint smile. That was something he would later regret saying.

The stag didn't put on much of a fight. Once it became distracted with eating, Anwar lunged at it from behind the bush, caught it by the antlers and jumped over its back, twisting and breaking the stags neck in the process. Because of his poor sword skills, he had to come up with other methods of killing his prey and after a trial and error period, he was finally able to kill his first deer. Proud of his success, he tied a rope on one of the stags’ antlers and walked back to his house.

What he witnessed when he came out of the forest was something he would never forget. Everything was in ruins. Their stable had collapsed and he could see under the wreckage his father’s horse. Their lettuce and carrot farm was ruined and the nearby trees had caught fire but the worst of all was that their house’s east wall was completely destroyed. “What in the world happened here” Anwar thought while running toward his house. “Dad?Mom? Is anybody here?” he shouted again and again as he was nearing his house, fear shooting through him like a bolt of electricity.

The inside of his house was completely destroyed but that is not what caught Anwar’s eye at first. His father was lying on the floor severely wounded. In an instant, he ran beside his father, raising his head from the ground, “What...who...why?...” where the only words that came out of him mouth. Fendrel opened his eyes on the sound of his son’s voice. “I’m sorry...i couldn't do anything...they were so fast, these...monstrosities...I've aged, i could not reflect their blows…” Fendrel said. “Father don’t talk, you are going to be alri---” he couldn't finish his sentence as he saw his father raising his hand and pointing in the direction of his parents room. “The beast...it chased your mother after it dealt with me...save her..i beg of you…” he said with his dying breath. Instant tears came to Anwar's eyes as he saw his father’s eyes closing. He wanted to stay there and cry until his eyes dried up but he had to move. His father’s last wish was to save his mother and that was exactly what he was going to do.

Anwar stood up, wiped the tears from his eyes and started walking towards the bedroom door. Suddenly he heard a woman's scream coming from inside the bedroom. It had better not be what he was thinking because if it was, whatever was in there was going to pay dearly...