"E-Emory.."
Hearing the baby cry for the first time left Darian unprepared. His trembling hands reached for the sobbing child and lifted him up. "Now, now. Don't cry little Emory."
The next 30 minutes were spent soothing Emory, going from food, to toys, to burping. Nothing worked.
There was a knock at the door. While holding Emory, Darian approached to open it.
It was their neighbors 7 year old kid, Grant Ophul. "How can I help you?"
"My momma says your baby too loud." Grant had ginger hair and was sucking on a frozen fish, a delicacy in southern Trila.
He's only been crying for thirty minutes.. Darian's eyebrows twitched. "I'll try to get him to calm down.. Is that the only reason why you came here?" Grant took the frozen dead fish out of his mouth and held it near his face, "Yeah," He looked towards the crying Emory.
Emory looked at Grant, then shifted his gaze towards the fish. He stopped crying. Darian's eye's widened, "Oh my gosh! Finally!" He brought his face near Emory's. "Thank goodness!"
Emory's gaze was focused the frozen fish. Grant noticed and kindly offered it to Emory. "Here you go,"
"I've been meaning to buy some for him, but the markets are all closed." Darian thanked Grant and his generosity. "Yeah, my papa says a lot of people dying"
Why are they talking to a kid about this? Darian questioned Mr. and Mrs. Ophul's parenting methods.
"Be careful on your way back, go home straight away." Darian instructed the 7 year old. "Yeah," He hopped each step and landed with a thud on the ground, then scurried all the way home.
Darian went back inside and put Emory on the couch again, this time, the baby's gaze was locked on to a frozen fish placed beside him.
As Darian was preparing breakfast in the kitchen, a loud siren emanated the area. Like second nature, he grabbed Emory and the fish and ran towards a larger than average floorboard.
Darian placed Emory down and with as much strength as he could muster lifted the floorboard, revealing a chilling basement. There were a set of wooden stairs that he descended, closing the floorboard before reaching the ground.
His expression was cold, he knew the severity of this siren. It was only released if there was a monster sighting.
'Monsters' are alien like creatures that kill humans mercilessly. They're extremely powerful and some can ever use supernatural abilities like breathe fire or summon lightning.
They appear when a crack in the air occurs. It's like as if the air was a mirror, then a dark purple sliver runs through and releases a couple of monsters at a time.
They are only killed by the Elevated, people who wield supernatural abilities, or a special kind of sword that certain people wield.
Darian hid Emory in a bed down in the basement, he covered him with a black blanket and silently went to a small chest. Inside was a sword, he grabbed it and went into a ready stance. Darian's weapon was just a regular sword, but that's all he had at his disposal.
The two waited in silence, praying that the siren would stop and the monsters would be killed.
. . .
Eastern Trila,
A rabid dark purple monster was running through the street. It had 3 eyes and 4 arms, it's mouth was protruded outwards and it's teeth were sharper than knives. It was 2 meters tall and around 190 kilos. It's muscles were defined and the claws on it's hands were extremely sharp.
As it traversed the area, destroying everything in its path. The common houses of East Trila were not spared. The monster needed human flesh, it needed to kill something.
In the corner of its eye, it noticed 4 children, pounding on the door of a nearby house. Their faces painted with horror, screaming for the residents to open the door.
The monster, in a split second, landed in front of the four children, two boys two girls. Its breath heavy, its claws twitching, its tongue licking its teeth.
The children stood there frozen at first, before the first of the four was mercilessly slaughtered. The monster grabbed both ends of her body, tearing her like a candy wrapper before eating her insides. The girls screams deafened the area before she lost all the color in her eyes and went silent.
The rest of the children shrieked in terror. One by one, they were getting slaughtered. Their screams were to no avail, no one was coming to save them.
As it reached the final child, a shockwave of bright yellow aura filled the area. A man wearing a white suit and yellow cape began walking towards the monster.
Each step the man took, the ground beneath him trembled. On his waist, an obsidian claymore rested. With his hand on the handle, he began unsheathing it. A blinding light escaped as the black sword was exposed to the cold air.
His cape fluttering in the wind he created, the ground shook, his powerful aura had filled the air.
The monster twisted its body, there was about 19m of distance between the two. It roared, trying to cement its dominance. The muscles on its calf clenched as it pounced towards the caped man.
The man with golden hair and beautiful blue eyes glared at it. He slowly raised the blade, and with a powerful horizontal slash, the air current caused cut the monster in half.
The monster squirmed on the ground, shrieking in pain. A gurgling sound was escaping from its wound. Its intestines and skin was slowly reappearing. The monster was regenerating.
The golden haired man did not fret, he took one step, the air around him twisted. He landed in front of the monster in a split second. The monster looked at the man above him and cowered in fear. It plummeted on the ground and got in a surrender stance.
The man raised his obsidian black claymore, and with two powerful slashes, cut the monsters face diagonally twice, like an X.
The monster gradually disintegrated. The man sheathed his claymore and approached the traumatized little girl. On the floor beneath him were the bodies of the other 3 children. The man looked down in empathy, "I'm sorry I didn't get here sooner.."
He embraced the girl, who was frozen. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry." That was all he could say. The loud siren stopped, the girl was still frozen, and the man remained embracing her.
Military officials arrived and a they took the dismembered corpses away. What was left was the little girl, who finally processed what was happening, and broke down in tears.
The man in the cape and suit brought her close and lifted her off the ground. "I'm sorry, little one. Let us find your parents." He called over 2 men in military outfits and they immediately saluted.
"Find her parents." It was one cold order, the men quickly ran off after affirming.
Another man approached him, wearing a black suit with many military badges. He had short black hair and a scar on his left cheek. "General Alanus," The man saluted at the caped hero. "Captain Turo" Alanus responded.
They were both apart of the Theales military, Alanus was a general in the Special Force, targetting the assassins and monster sightings. General was the second highest rank one can achieve, only behind commander. There are only 4 generals in the Theales military, Alanus being the strongest.
"While this was not the deadliest monster attack, it is most certainly the most traumatizing." Turo glanced at the girl with tears in her eyes in pity.
"Indeed, once we find her parents, make sure she gets into extensive mental care. I will recommend some apothecaries to help with the trauma." Alanus walked and Turo followed behind.
In the background, many soldiers were scouring the area for any extra monsters. Turo coughed before speaking, "With the assassinations increasing, and now more monster sightings, we most likely will not go on break any time soon."
"Right, get in touch with commander Alvaron. I'd like to discuss some irregularities regarding the monster I killed." Alanus had never witnessed a monster regenerate, nor seen any monster not cower in fear after sighting him for the first time. This monster did both.
"Yes, sir." Turo left quickly, saluting 2 soldiers who were walking with a crying mother on his way.
"Sir, here is her mother." Before Alanus could speak, the mother cried and ran towards her daughter. The moment the little girl met eyes with her mom, she broke down in tears.
"Kaila! My baby!" The mother was crying louder than Kaila. Alanus backed up to give them space, "You two, make sure to give them a report on what happened. Don't leave them in the dust. Also, get someone to find the parents of the dead children. They need to be compensated."
The two soldiers saluted before one of them ran off.
Alanus turned to walk away before feeling someone tug at his cape. It was Kaila, she embraced his leg and thanked him meekly. Alanus smiled and patted her head. Kailas mother hugged him and kissed his cheek. "I-I'm just doing my job, ma'am."
After a couple minutes of repeated thanking, Alanus walked away from the mother and daughter. His expression turned grim as he saw his commander, Alvaron arriving in a carriage.
Alvaron was bald and had one of his eyes gouged out by a monster, leaving behind a nasty mark. His hands are full of scars and his eyes are stained with countless battles. He was one of the two commanders of the Theales land military. Although he is a commander and Alanus is a general, Alanus is widely considered to be the most powerful land military personnel in Theales. His only other competition is Flora Wales, commander of the Naval military.
"Commander," Alanus saluted. Alvaron acknowledged him with silence. He was a man of few words. Alanus took initiative and began speaking, "I arrived at the scene at 12:36 PM, three of the four children slaughtered, one remained.
"I began my assault and released my Authority, the monster didn't respond and pounced at me. I then sliced it in half with the wind of my weapon. The problem was it did not die, but regenerated instead. I got closer to it and it finally responded to my Authority, I then slashed it twice on the head to assure its death."
Alvaron listened silently, nodding occasionally. "Commander, they are evolving. No monster has ever withstood my Authority in my life. I have also never witnessed regeneration. It looks like 'They' have begun their true assault."
Alvaron spoke, his tone grim, deep, "I understand. Our first priority is to protect the emperor." While Alanus didn't dislike emperor Magnus Van Selwyn, he worried about children like today. "What about the public? Should not we focus on them?"
Alvaron did not respond at first, he instead glared at Alanus before returning to his carriage. "My orders are absolute." He said before the carriage left.
Alanus stood there, eyeing the carriage with a look of annoyance. He turned around and walked one step before warping out of the vicinity.