Under the moonlight…
An ape demon beast crawled away in fear. It has been crawling for a while, enduring a beating all the way and leaving a trail a blood behind. Its body's been broken thoroughly. It was just having fun unfortunately it pissed of a lot of people.
How did it come to this?
From having fun to crawling on the ground in a few seconds. Its breath was soon cut off. An old man seething in rage, tears in his eyes, bashed its brain with a hammer.
The next day, everyone in the town could be seen wearing a white mask, gathered on and around the mountain on the south-side of the town.
Three figures can be seen on the peak of the mountain, observing the people below. An old man, a middle-aged man and a middle-aged woman discussed while the pot of tea listened.
"More than ten people died, how did it sneak in? It took you quite some time to get to it."
The elderly man said wearily, his robe fluttered in the wind.
"I had to deal with some things, they took the opportunity to slip by me." The middle-aged man answered, his voice slightly muffled under his helmet.
"You know what to do, this wouldn't even cross their mind a few years ago, but now... I only have a few more years left." The elderly man said before descending the mountain, comforting the friends and families of the the deceased.
"Ion, Grandfather can't wait any longer. We might have to give up some resources to let the kids grow faster. Hopefully they break through before grandfather passes away." The middle-aged woman spoke, her voice hoarse and strained.
"If they practice normally they might take a decade or more, I don't know how much we can cut from that."
"In five years, if they still can't break through, I will advance even if I have to force it. Whatever your decision will be at that time, I will support it. For now, let's go join Grandfather."
In a moment, with the town elders' instructions, from the gatherings to the food to the compensations, everything went smoothly.
...
As the sun started to set several groups were formed on several campfires.
Old men catching up with each other, several people cooking food for snacks, young men showing off, group of people singing together, young women chatting, even kids playing their own games, today and for the rest of the week they are permitted to play and stay up late.
"Old man Felix, you were there, right? What happened there?"
"That monster was... laughing. It pulled their hair and broke their neck. That monster tore off Little Abbie and Soren's neck with its sharp teeth." Old Felix said after a long pause.
The fire continued to eat the firewood as the smell of smoke and meat are carried by the night breeze. The people in the group stared at the fire as waited for Old Felix to continue.
"You know.... I couldn't believe what I was seeing, Amire was no different. Probably even worse, that's his whole world right there. Amire was driven mad, tried to tackle that ape. Several young men tried to help. But that thing was fast, nimble... strong... in the end they were left with broken bones. Most of them died before the sun came up, the others are no longer the same. Thankfully Nephew Ion came, a few strokes of his sword left the monster paralyzed before it was beaten to death." Old Felix continued, his eyes glued to the fire.
Silence ensued.
Most people in this group are old men, the others, middle-aged. All of them have their own immediate families but all of them are of the same clan, the pain of losing a clansman will always be there no matter how small the feeling is. They were part of this community, they have seen their senior leave the world before them, they have raised the children together as a community, they have been through so many situations together.
"This is not the first time our clan has been hit with setback but this disaster will have its own page in the book. I am worried how this will affect the kids." One of them finally said after a long while, breaking through the silence.
"That's true, I sure hope this does not affect them as seedlings." A middle-aged man said, his eyes darting around the children running about.
"Don't worry about that, whether they can perceive mana or not is up to fate. Be worried if their development will be affected negatively. Now that they have seen the destination, I wonder which path they will take."
"Well, Ancestor, Ion and Soren will be there to guide them at least. Leo, Miran, and Isla are usually in seclusion. The other 4 are still too young and are currently on patrol."
"They say blessings come after disasters, I hope its true."
"With whatever happened yesterday, we all hope it is."
...
Ion went back to his station shortly after. Its been years since he was deployed here, things rarely changed. He and some mortal soldiers build a rock tower on top of the mountain for more elevation, housing and storage, its generally where the border patrol agents sleep also. Of course his room and office is on the top floor. He lit the fire in the middle of the room and stood near the window, hands on the window.
'First attack in a few years, new border patrol, rotation, blind spot... false alarm. There's no way this is all a coincidence... the chances that this will happen again...'
Ion took out a cloth, a brush and ink and started writing. A few minutes later, called his attendant and instructed him to send it to the clan.
A few moments later, Ion called the deputy...
"Find out who lit the alarm during that moment, make sure find out what happened, get whatever information you can take out of him the method does not matter. Get someone to replace him."
'Let's hope it was just an error otherwise...'