The forest ground was covered in freshly fallen snow from the previous night’s blizzard, crunching beneath our heavy boots with every slow step. The trees looked like jagged-limbed ice giants, cursed to stay in place and silently observe while we passed between them. Every knight, state official, and servant in the royal delegation shivered, frozen to the bone. Yet I alone felt as if my skin were turning to liquid from how much I was sweating. I'm sure the two hundred pairs of eyes behind me were staring at the heat rising from my body like thin clouds in the cold winter air.
It was always a hassle for me to blend in with humans. My body looked mostly like theirs, yes, only with some small dissimilarities. My pale skin, icy blue eyes and small stature always made them think I was a sick young boy. I always defended my adulthood, of course, but it was still unpleasant to correct everyone on the same thing. Alas, even acting like their equal didn't stop humans from fearing, or some even revering me the second they saw the colour of my hair. I'd have traded that yucky, light-blue mop for a black one in a heartbeat if it meant avoiding all the stares. So, I quickly learned to keep it covered by hoods and beanies.
For the last five years—which were also the first years of my individual freedom—I've been offering my services as a guide and bodyguard for humans in need of one or the other. A few months before, I even got to meet the king of the only leading powerhouse of Solaethra—Solan. By that time, I've already learned to blend in with humans by applying makeup to make my skin appear less white or wearing the clothing I saw everyone else wearing. Already being known as the best guide on the continent at the time of my meeting with the king, I was tasked by him to lead his entourage on a diplomatic mission. Naturally, wanting to engrave myself further into human society, I agreed. So, at the moment, because of my stubbornness with keeping my origins a secret, I was sweating like a child with a high fever while on the job. A job to guide the king and his family while avoiding areas most infested with deadly beasts.
The target village of our wanderings—the Caroti village—was finally starting to become visible as we emerged from the treeline. I figured I could wait a few minutes longer for some privacy to get rid of my irritatingly thick coat and finally cool down. I was already imagining how it would feel to lay in the snow in nothing but a thin shirt. To be completely honest, the two weeks of staying on guard drained a big chunk of my strength. The only thing I wished right then was to take a long and peaceful rest. But fate had other plans.
Something felt off when the sharp edges of the houses ahead started becoming more detailed in my vision. The sounds of people chatting with each other and horses huffing could be heard behind my back—same as the last two weeks of travelling sounded like. But for some reason, I couldn't hear even the faintest of sounds from the settlement ahead. Despite my better-than-average hearing there wasn't as much as a soft rustle of a bug scuttling on wood I could pick up on.
When I took this job on from Solan, I was briefed on how grandly the commoners of the Caroti village always welcomed his arrival when he visited. I was told, with utmost certainty none the less, that the farmers who lived there are going to cheer and shout with joy at the retinue with the royal family amongst our ranks. When I didn't hear anything whilst in the forest, I just shrugged it off as the locals waiting for the first few figures of our group to show. But now, seeing that not only was the village quiet, but there was no movement between its houses whatsoever, I was starting to get an ominous feeling. It felt like some sort of inexplicable threat was closing in on the humble clearing.
I gradually slowed to a stop to get a more careful picture of the wooden houses, buried partially in the snow. The people walking behind me halted as well, trusting my judgement to a degree, but still groaning and complaining about my halt just a few hundred meters before reaching our destination. I was searching for what it was that made the hairs on the back of my neck stand on end, but not a soul in sight. I strained my eyes and ears as I brought my gaze from the houses to the clearing's perimeter. The whiny voice of the young princess rang out behind me, her head peeking out of the grand carriage in our midst, but I ignored her. She was the most annoying person there, but was of high status amongst the humans. If I were to exchange as little as two words with that brat, I'd be tempted to cut her tongue out. So, I kept my distance.
When I caught the source of my bad feeling in the treeline, my heart froze with unbridled dread. A thick, white mist was pooling around the sturdy tree trunks and spilling from all sides towards the central settlement of Caroti. In that moment I forgot all about the discomfort I was feeling from my coat and the humans' irritated grumbling. My legs moved and voice boomed before my brain got a chance to catch up to the threat my eyes were seeing.
“Everyone run! Get to the village plaza, now!“ Despite my voice coming out a little bit more hoarse than I wanted it to, it did the job just as well. Seeing me run as fast as my legs could take me—a sharp contrast to my usual composed and calculating self—the various knights, servants and officials ran after me. Confused and increasingly frightened by my apparent distress, the mass of people encouraged their horses and each other to run in my footsteps. All I could do at that moment was hope that they were quick enough. I didn't have a split second to spare on explanations, so I just had to trust the humans' fight or flight instincts.
The village had a tall encirclement of fire stone in the center of it. With what I knew from my people's studies, I was fairly sure that the strange construction was precisely for a situation like this one. It was our only haven if we wanted to survive the next moments. Only the ones who got there before the mist closed in were going to live through that day.
Thanks to my improved physical state I was able to get to the amber wall before the mist fairly easily. I leaped over the two meters of solid marble and landed inside. Men and women flooded in after me. Despite their lack of knowledge what kind of danger was closing in behind them they came together to help the weaker ones get inside the encirclement. With no time to spare, I ignored anyone trying to question me, and joined the efforts of helping everyone scale the smooth marble. There was a few stacked slabs of wood along the inner circle of the enclosure, making it easier for the ones inside to help rest.
The white mist was coming in quick on the vacant Caroti village. It has already engulfed the marginal houses in its mass and was proceeding further inward. It would only last a few more seconds for it to reach the central plaza. With haste I reached out to the first person I saw struggling to pull themselves up—a young, curly-haired maiden. I boosted her up and set her down inside the encirclement just in time for her to escape contact with the white fog when it reached the outer circle.
The while of chaos was overturned by deadly silence, broken only by the winded people's panting breaths. The sound felt deafening to my knowing ears. Turning back around, I scanned the ones safely inside, heart sinking. There were no more than fifty heads I counted in that moment—not nearly as many as I'd hoped to see out of the original two hundred. Maybe if I had more authority and respect amongst the group, if I weren't just a guide to them, the rest would've ran immediately after my say and gotten to the wall in time.
“Shit,” I cursed under my breath. “Not even a full quarter,“ I pinched and rubbed the bridge of my nose in frustration, trying to plan a rescue mission but quickly letting go of the foolish idea again. Some of the rough fifty were looking around at the lingering, dense mist in slight fear, others were just immensely confused while the rest glared at me with hostility, thinking I was the source of the strange situation. They must've been inwardly cursing my name.
I felt a heavy lump forming in my throat, but swallowed it down as quickly as it appeared. Alas, I was helpless to the fate of the rest at that moment. So, the least I could do was to round up those who were safe and sound inside the encirclement and explain the situation. Letting out a deep, exasperated sigh, I stepped away from the wall. My talking will take their attention off of what's going to be happening outside at the very least, I thought. Nobody should watch their loved ones die…
Trying to sound a little softer and more empathetic than before, I called out again. “Everyone calm down and gather in the middle! Don't stick as much as a single hair outside of the wall.“ Most of them listened to my command timidly and shuffled to the center of the amber enclosure, eyes big and frantically flickering around with fear of the unknown.
A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.
Three of the humans, however, did not quiet down like the rest. Two of them were young boys I've surprisingly come to like because of their entertaining naivety. The curly-haired girl from before was holding the twin children one in each arm as they reached their fat little hands towards the hidden treeline. They were trying to go back out into the foggy landscape. What for, I didn't know at first glance. Thankfully, two of the knights came to help the maiden hold the struggling boys, subduing them easily with little effort, so I didn't have to deal with them myself.
The raven-haired twins were the sons of the knight commander—a kind man, and the only one I never felt like a stranger around. Him, I didn't see no matter how hard I strained my eyes to manifest his image. A small jolt of hurt stinged my heart as a realisation hit me. The boys were struggling because they wanted to run back to their only parent. Their eyes were working to wet their frost-kissed cheeks as their squeaky, prepubescent voices broke with pleas and cries. If I could, I'd run back out there and rescue their father myself. Sadly, there was too much mist for me to deal with what was outside alone. And the humans too were too distraught for me to trust them not to do anything stupid without supervision.
Irritatingly, the third disturbance wasn't going to be dealt with for me by others. It was the princess of Solaethra—Lumice. If I were to guess she was turning all of her confusion and fright into anger and directing it at me as the only one, who knew what was going on. “My parents are still out there. We have to go retrieve them at once, you mongrel. You can't just order everyone to 'stay put.'” the extravagantly-dressed, blonde spoke in ill will. It sounded more like ear-splitting screeching than anything to me. I was already plotting to throw the girl out and let her die, but held my temper back for the sake of the innocent bystanders.
“Princess,” I started in as much of a respectful tone as I could muster, “what you're talking about is a suicide mission. Do you even know where that mist comes from?“ I fixed the young, dolled-up girl with a unaffected look, crossing my arms over my chest. I thought that implying it's best to listen to someone, who has experience is better than acting on one's emotions, would make the girl shut up and let me think. Lumice just scoffed and lifted her chin defiantly.
“As if, you sorry excuse for a bodyguard. I'm royalty. What I say goes.“ She hissed back at me, pulling out a gold coin from her pocket. I let out a frustrated groan at the gesture, thinking she'll try to flaunt her wealth to get her way. But to my suprise, Lumice raised her hand and pointed it in my direction, her thumb poised to flick the coin straight at my forehead. “Either convince me you didn't somehow lead us into this bizzare trap or do something about the people still outside. If you don't, I swear on my family's name that I'm going to blow your brains out,“ she said in what I guessed was supposed to be an intimidating tone. But coming from someone I knew was way below my league in strength it sounded more like a harmless puppy's bark.
Looking closer at the tips of her fingers, however, I could see a faint, yellow glow. 'Sacrum', my mind immediately recognised the shining energy. I've never seen it conjured by a human before. Maybe there is something to the royal bloodline after all, I appraised with a certain level of begrudging respect. Still not enough to rival me, though. The corner of my mouth faintly twitched upward despite the seriousness of the situation, already making up theories on how a human gained access to the forgotten powers of life itself. But, I put that conversation on the back shelf for the moment, focusing instead on dealing with the problem at hand.
“You won't do anything with that flimsy piece of metal, Your Highness,“ I replied in the same calm, leveled voice as before. I still wanted to end the conflict as fast as possible so I could focus on how to get the fifty souls out of there. “But since it's clear you're unwilling to listen to reason, and I have neither the time nor the patience for your incessant complaining… Just don't blame me if you reconsider wanting to see everything.” I added with a small, dissapointed sigh, deciding to stop trying to convey my point through words and use actions instead. To avoid wasting strength from the humans' side was of high priority in that situation, so I sacrificed a little portion of my own energy to get everyone on the same page.
With a soft movement I stomped my foot on the ground. The white, faintly glowing sacrum from my body released outwards, pulsing into the surroundings in the form of a faint wave. In effect, the thick mist in the village dissipated a fraction, which allowed everyone to see what was happening outside more clearly. The few dozen people gasped in shock, most likely never before having seen anyone perform sacrum techniques. They didn't dare ask any questions anyhow, far more interested in what happened with the rest of their brethren.
Shuffling awkwardly to the edge of the enclosure, the shaken humans stepped onto the slightly elevated wooden platform to get a clearer view of the village. Princess Lumice, glaring at me with her hand still raised in threat, opened her mouth to make a snarky remark again, but quickly reconsidered. Hearing the other humans' murmurs of horror overrode her stubborn indignation with worry for her royal parents. With a final scoff she joined the crowd and scanned the perimeter with wide, emerald eyes. Thankfully, the fifty folks were still listening to my commands from earlier—avoiding any contact with the white condensation in the air. Most of them were staring in the direction we came from with silent horror, their body's frozen in place like statues.
The raven-haired twins, still being held in the middle, got spurred on by the sudden chance of getting to see what happened to their father and resumed their whining for freedom. I gave a brief glare to the children and unexpectedly, they quieted down in an instant like frightened puppies. It wasn't my intention to scare them. But, upon deeper consideration, it was still better than them running off and getting hurt. After nodding curtly to the curly-haired maiden, who thankfully seemed to understand that I wanted her to keep the two boys in the safety of ignorance along with herself, I joined the rest near the amber marble wall.
Looking out myself, I was met with exactly the scene I expected. Alas, no amount of knowledge could prepare me for the deeply disturbing sight. The other three thirds of our original group were walking through the snow like zombies. In the time Lumice spent arguing with me, five approximately seven meters tall beasts have come out of the forest. These creatures, which resembled massive, white bunnies, were the source of the milky mist. Their almost cute appearance may have been disarming for some, but they were still carnivores, and vicious predators at that. They hunted by releasing chemicals into the air to make their pray dazed and then just waiting for pray to come to them. Inhaling the white condensation in the air made people delirious, it switched their perception of good and bad, which made them come closer to the giant creatures without a second thought. Once close enough the monsters would pick people up and eat them.
Humans were stripped of their unappetising clothes and crushed in huge, fluffy hands like fragile nutshells. Their limbs were getting twisted in unnatural directions before getting torn off completely. Some of the beasts, the more brutal ones, were slowly peeling the skin off every maid, knight, official, even the horses like ripe oranges. Blood was staining the white snow and the monsters' fur, their large red eyes glowing with mirth as they feasted. Every tendon and muscle was stretched until it snapped off the humans' bones with a vicious tearing sound. The drugged people had a blank look in their faces all throughout their torment, seemingly unaffected. But upon closer inspection, their eyes were red and heavily flooded with tears. They were unable to make even as little as a small squeal of protest in the face of a slow, torturous death. The lucky ones, mainly women and younger lads, passed out from fear or pain before experiencing too much of the gruesome treatment. The hardened soldiers of the kingdom had it a thousand times more difficult. Their endurance made them experience every second of their bodies being mangled and abused as long as they had life in their veins.
I could see the knight commander, the sturdiest of them and the kind father to the two twin boys, already missing his left arm and half of his right leg. His broken bones were peaking out of his bare, limp body from all sides and angles. His skin was torn, scratched and soaked with his own blood as one of the beasts feasted on his flesh. My jaw clenched, my body tensing up with rage. I wanted to help them, to break, bludgeon and stab those monsters until they begged for mercy. To make them feel the pain and suffering they inflicted on others tenfold. If there only weren't so many of them. If I tried, I'd be able to take down one or two of those things, maybe even three if I were to sacrifice my health in the process. If I did go out there and fight, however, I'd most definitely get gravely injured. So, I stood my ground even as my heart seathed with fury and injustice.
I was sure, that if I were to glance to the side at that moment, I'd see a canvas of faces painted white like the snow itself. I would've finally fit in amongst the group of humans I felt so distant to for days. But that fact didn't make me feel even the least bit better. Right then I finally understood why every man and woman I met in my years of travelling was worried about my health when they saw the paleness of my skin. For humans, being pale meant being weakened. Humans' faces turned lighter in shade when they were scared, ill or in immense distress that could often precede fainting for the weak of heart. So right then, despite finally looking like a valid addition to the group, I felt anything but content.
