The night was long, filled with memory and joy. It was the Festival of Fate, celebrated to please the gods and bless their destinies.
"Mother, hurry up! We are gonna be late!" Lila said hurriedly.
"Lila, go ahead. Me and your father will be with you shortly," Anna said.
"Alright," Lila replied, leaving the house. "I'm gonna be with James..."
"Alright, dear. Take care," Anna replied.
At the village square, an old man said, raising his cup,
"To the fate that never dims!"
He gathered the children, telling them stories.
"Children, do you know," he said, "there is a beast sent by the god to protect us?"
"Huhhhhhhh! How come we never see it?" one of the children asked curiously.
"Well, well, that's because—"
"Old man, are you telling the kids useless stories again?" a young lady around twenty-five said, shouting.
"No, no, I'm not! I'm just educating them, right, children?"
"Right!" they all screamed in union.
"Hahhhh, I'm so tired of you."
...
Lila arrived at the festival.
"Oh my, it's beautiful," she thought to herself.
"Lila, over here!" James called.
She walked towards him with a smile on her face.
"Lila, you are late," he said, handing her a stick of roasted meat.
"Thank you," and sorry,she whispered softly taking it.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Somewhere in the forest, deep in a cave, two figures covered in black long hoods—
"Can you please hurry up? If we delay any further, Master would be furious," one of them impatiently.
"You think I do not know? I'm trying my best! The beast keeps resisting..."
"How long would it take for you to finish one task?" a cold voice echoed through the cave.
"Master!" they said gasped,going on their knees, foreheads pressed against the hard floor.
"What is going on?" The master demanded.
"Ma–Master," one of them said, trembling, "the beast... it's resisting."
"Silence! The master roared. "We must achieve our aim and kill the child." It doesn't matter who dies—she must not see the morning sun."
Then he stepped forward, chanting something ancient, blood dripping from his eyes, nose, and mouth.
Moments later, a dark shape—large, beast—emerged from the cave, its claws dripping with blood, the smell of rot heavy in the air.
"Hahaha! Behold, my beast has awake—"
Before he finished speaking, the beast grabbed him, biting off his head and chewing on the rest of his body.
"Ma–Ma... Master!" they screamed, they tried running out of the forest but the beast was faster.devouring them one by one with no mercy.
Then it got to the part where costumes of different beasts, said to be protecting them, were paraded around the village. It was the best part of the festival.
It began like a dream...
"Whoa! Who is the owner of that costume? He's definitely going to win!" Someone shouted excitedly.
"But it looks too real," the person beside Lila said.
Then, not a moment longer, they heard a scream—the first one,
then another and another.....
"Is this a show? If it is, you better stop!" one of the villagers said nervously.
Suddenly, the air turned cold. The screams increased. People started running. The music stopped, then came the roar of the beast.
Blood splashed everywhere—heads rolling down across the dirt without bodies.
A mother clutching on to her child, praying to gods to save her, but it was all in vain as the monster caught her, then ate her baby first. The mother didn't even struggle, her body torn into two.
Fire somehow starting from an already lighted lantern containing fuel — it fell over on a table, spreading fast and turning into a big one, burning house by house, shop upon shop, and bodies of the dead, leaving nothing but ashes.
"This is cruel," why is this happening,Lila thought to herself. She stood watching in shock as people ran past her, too overwhelmed to move.
"You! Who sent you?" she screamed, demanding answers.
Catching the monster's attention, it came towards her with full intent to kill. But before anything could happen, James pulled her aside, running towards a narrow path that the monster couldn't pass through.
Lila, finally coming back to her senses — "Father, mother, James, we have to go back," she said.
"No, we can't. It's too dangerous. Do you think we could kill that thing?" James said.
"James, please, I beg you, please," Lila pleaded.
"Alright, but I wouldn't go with you, James said."Don't worry, I would be fine. Anything for you." He gave Lila a goodbye kiss on her cheek and ran the opposite side, calling out to the monster.
"Please come back to me," Lila whispered.running the other way .
she could hear the screams, the prayers, the curses. "What a cruel fate," she murmured.
Halfway through the forest, she met her parents.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Father, mother, thank God you are okay. I was worried."
"Dear, what's happening?" Anna asked.
"Mother, we have to be on our way. We have to leave now."
"What about everyone?" Fredick asked.
"I will tell you on the way, but the beast came for her faster than she had thought it would,that means James…" she gasped. "James, he's gone…
Anna gasped. "What is this creature?"
"Stay back, the two of you," Fredick said, picking up an axe.
"Honey, what are you doing? Get back here, we have to leave," Anna cried.
"Do you think this thing would let us leave?" Fredick said, as he launched forward towards the monster, giving it a large deep cut.
The monster roared in pain, retreating. They thought they had seen hope, but it was just a way of toying with them.
Then he was about to swing his axe again towards the monster, but the monster, in anger and pain, grappled Fredick, raising him high up and squashed him like a bug.
His veins, bones, organs — everything shattered to pieces. Fredick was no more.
Suddenly it was quiet, only the sounds of breathing could be heard.
"No, no, no, you can't die! You can't leave me! We promised to be together, die together! How could you break your promise like this?" Anna said, screaming, picking up the same axe Fredick used, and ran towards the monster. But it just pushed her away — her back slammed against a tree trunk, breaking her ribs.
The monster, not satisfied, standing before her, its claws coming closer to her.
Lila, who has yet to recover from the shock — "Stop!" she said, screaming.
The monster roared in pain, its ears bleeding. Lila used this opportunity to get her and her mother away from it, running towards a familiar lake, tears rolling down unstoppable.
"Mother, stay still, we are almost there," Lila said.
"Cough… cough… Lila, my dear, you are a brave child. My child, always remember that," Anna said.
"Mom, stop talking like that, please. Nothing is going to happen, you are going to be fine," Lila said, placing her mother by the riverside.
"Lila, listen. My time's up already, I wouldn't last longer. Lila, there is something I want to tell you. Listen… I never gave birth to you. Me and your father found you in the forest with your mother. That day was the most beautiful day of my life. I could finally have my own child. But in the end," Anna said, chuckling faintly, "you were never my own."
"Nonsense, Mother, I do not care about that," Lila said, crying harder.
"I found this necklace with you the day we took you. I took it everywhere I go. Lila, though I know nothing about your original, but it must be great, and that is why I named you Lila," Anna said, her voice fading gently, placing the necklace in her hand. "Keep it well."
"Mother, no! Come back! You have to stay with me! Wait for me, I would bring a healer for you," Lila said, running back to the village, knocking at all the doors of the healers. But no one was alive.
Unfortunately, she met the monster on her way back — its mouth dripping saliva and blood, its fangs too sharp and too long for its mouth, claws clothed with blood.
There she was, standing face to face with the monster.
"Why are you doing this? Who sent you?" she asked, her voice trembling.
But for a monster who couldn't understand human language, it grabbed her by the neck, strangling her bit by bit, blood flowing out of her nose and mouth making her lose consciousness gradually. Then she saw him — Kael.
"Kael, run!" she managed to say, her voice bearly a whisper . But he didn't… he just stood there. Then he looked at her.
His eyes — that wasn't Kael, she said to herself, as darkness embraced her, and all she could hear were the cries of the monster.