Pythier Scwazen Academy: The Powerful Princess

Chapter 45

The whole party together with Varan tramps their way towards Aeredale; a village of kindhearted elves whose lives were engulfed with white magic: the magic that is benevolent in nature and is conducted for selfless purposes. The village is widely visited by people who need healing with their body, mind and soul. The magic dwells in the elves’ lives for hundreds of years but is now slowly diminished of its vitality and power. Only few of the ancestry remains to thrive even in a weaken state.

Now, the few that remains are killed one after the other, with an unknown culprit and purpose.

As the party draw nearer to the scene of the crime, they spot a drop of blood meter after meter. They still look fresh and wet. The walk is starting to intensify for the entire group.

They have arrived in Aeredale and dread over the eerie atmosphere the village gives off. It was so quiet and almost felt like a ghost town. There were very few elves inside their houses peeking very slightly behind their windows and when spotted by anyone from the outside, the elves will look away and hide as if they are now scared by everyone. Drops of blood are turning to puddles as they continue walking.

“How can there be blood in every step that we take?? How many did they kill?” Finley asked softly to break the silence.

“The killings might have been brutal and gruesome. The people behind this have no mercy.” Kasstin replied.

“The one told me it was indeed brutal that it actually traumatized him when he came knocking on my store.” Varan mentioned in despair.

“The people behind this must have a very strong desire to get rid of all the elves. We have to find out why.” Scarlet spoke.

As they walk, Scarlet feels a hint of shadow lurking somewhere. She then warns everyone quietly of the danger that the place imposes on them. The killers might still be around the corners or somewhere in their hiding places.

Likewise, Finley felt like someone passed by quickly in his peripheral vision.

“Everyone should be on a look out. They might just ambush us from anywhere we stand.” Kasstin warned them. She sounds fierce and fearless. It is because she has been going to real battles where killings are involved so she is already used to these kinds of stuff. She learned how to deal with them and to always be alert. She learned all of her skills right after her father was killed.

Minutes of walking passed and something weird and gross is starting to smell. They kept walking and the smell worsens. Few meters ahead, they saw four bodies covered and drowned in a fresh pool of blood. The limbs of each one is scattered all around as if they were brutally pulled out with no mercy. It was as if the killers intended to cut the arms and feet of the elves, even the tongues so they would be totally incapacitated and soon die.

Finley, whose first time it is to witness such morbid scene, started to gag. He feels as if he was about to throw up any moment from now. They were all hesitating to come any nearer to them. It was very inhumane that a real monster might have caused it.

“Let’s just go quickly and see if we can like get a clue or something.” Kasstin declared.

They drew nearer to the area and explored the scene. It’s hard to find any clues with all the blood everywhere.

After a few minutes of searching, Varan called on everyone to look at what he noticed.

“Look at here. You see those black ashes right there? It means they also burned something at the same time. As I discern it, I can tell that the ashes look like remains of a burned book or maybe books.” Varan declared.

“Oh we’ve got the same thing over here.” Finley announced from one spot where he was standing. But what he saw wasn’t just ashes. There were remains of a burnt paper lying on the ground and luckily, the blood weren’t able to soak it since there were only drops of blood in the very same spot. Before telling everyone, he first picked up the piece of paper and tried to see if he could read the ones written from it. The first piece he picked up was small that there was only half a letter or like a symbol of some sort left in it. Then, he saw a bigger piece, which was like a half of a whole page and he picks it up.

It says on the paper:

And amidst a fallen realm

Will the dark reign across the skies

All of which the light shines upon

Shall perish in the cold

And meteors of gore

Shall fly at every turn

It’s quite figurative and vague that it doesn’t quickly entail much of a clue in Finley’s perspective but it all made sense once he connected the dots to what’s been going on in the kingdom.

“Oh, wait a second. This kingdom might be the realm indicated here since it’s already fallen in the hands of the evil king. And all I’m getting is the gore and that it might be the elves’ gore but this doesn’t give much of a clue on why they’re doing this and who might they be.” Finley thought to himself. But he decided to tell everyone and show them the paper. He then called out on everyone to come to him this time.

“So, what have you found?” Kasstin fiercely asked him. He showed the paper and read what was written on it, loud enough to be able to be heard by the whole party but quiet enough to not be heard by anybody else.

“Well, that is what’s already happened and is still happening here. It doesn’t give away much at all.” Kasstin remarked.

“You know, I don’t know if I have mentioned it but the elves are known to be the most kindhearted people there is. Before, people would always go to them to ask for healing and help. That went on for many, many years but only few of their ancestors are left and are still visited by few. They never really revealed how they were healing people. They wanted to keep it private for some reason.” Varan informed.