After about three seconds, in which the villagers were processing what happened in their head, the whole village went into a panic.
Janro, the elder, shouted his orders, desperately trying to break through the cacophony of terrified screams that filled the village.
"Shoot them damnit!!!!"
And whether they managed to hear him or not, those among the village archers who didn't give in to their fear released an unsynchronized volley of arrows towards the three men, most aiming at the one wearing blue, hoping the other two don't share his abilities.
Unfortunately, every arrow that hit one of the men, simply bounced off as if hitting a wall.
"Die!!!!!"
One of the spearmen rushed towards the men, hoping to impale the man in blue.
*crack*
The spear collided with the man. All of the spearman's arm strength and the force generated by his sprint were focused on the man in blue, as if the spearman was trying to pierce a block of wood, rather than a flesh and blood man. However, when the spear and man collided, it broke at the shaft, and the spearman fell on his back.
"Silence!" shouted the man in yellow.
Suddenly, every person in the village aside for the three men was incapable of breathing. For thirty seconds, every single villager was desperately gasping for air.
"You over there, bring me some fucking food before i slaughter everyone in this village!"
After the man in yellow stopped doing whatever the hell he just did there, the whole village started to breath again, but terror prevented them from uttering any words.
The young woman whom the man in yellow pointed at ran as fast as she could towards her hut and came back with some fruits and bread.
She didn't have much, since there weren't many farming lands in the woods, and she didn't have any leftover meat nor the time to cook it. She begged every god she knew that these monsters wouldn't get angry.
"Well i guess that's a start"
The trio started to munch on the food with great fervour, as if they hadn't seen any food in months.
The woman, seeing them engrossed in their feast, started to walk back towards the village. She was stopped abruptly when the man in red pulled on her hair.
"Ahhhh please stop!" she pleaded.
"Where do you think you're going whore?!"
With a wave of his hand, the woman's clothes were torn apart, leaving nothing to the imagination.
"You and i are going to have a bit of fun" He said. A lustful grin covered his face.
"Don't touch her!"
Flom ran towards the man and started hitting him, but each punch felt as if he was beating up a tree.
"Flom, you idiot!"
The boy's mother rushed in and pulled him away. Drem wanted to help the two. He wanted to try and protect them. Alas, fear glued him to the ground, preventing him from taking any action.
The man in red threw the young woman on the ground with a strength that a malnourished man shouldn't be able to wield, and grabbed Drem's mother by the neck instead.
"Hahahahah" He laughed maniacly.
"You really shouldn't have done that"
the man in red stared directly at Flom, making eye contact. Suddenly, the hand holding the throat of Flom's mother started glowing in a yellow light. Her skin began to dry and crack, starting from her throat and spreading to the rest of her body until nothing but ash remained.
Flom didn't even have the time to scream as the man in red waved his other hand, and Flom's head separated from his neck and fell to the ground.
Drem fell to his knees in despair, crying without a sound as fear and sorrow paralyzed him.
The rest of the villagers stared at the event as it unfolded. They felt helpless in front of these monsters who appeared like men, and were furious with themselves for being unable to do anything to save the precious members of their family.
"If you haven't realized it by now, you are our slaves, and we will do with you as we wish" the man in red shouted threateningly.
"Now where was i?"
Once again, he grabbed the young woman, now on the ground and covered in Flom's blood.
"Maybe if i violate this girl in front of all of you, you'll finally get my point!"
*zzzzzz*
The air shimmered, drawing the trio's attention. The man in red released his hold on the woman once again. His face was colored in deep seated terror and despair, and so did the faces of his two compatriots. It seemed as if they were more terrified by this phenomenon than the villagers were terrified of them.
A circle, roughly three meters in diameter, opened just a step away from the three men, and through it came two men who appeared to be around twenty years of age.
Unlike the trio, these men weren't malnourished, nor did they wear tattered clothes.
They both seemed healthy, and wore clothes from fabrics that the villagers have never seen before.
One of them, a black haired man around 1.80 wearing a violet robe, stared at the three men and spoke one word.
"die"
Three earthen spikes rose out, instantly impaling the trio, killing them on the spot.
The villagers didn't know what to think, but no one dared to say anything, as they feared that these new men might just kill them out of spite.
The encounter with the trio made it painfully clear that these type of men have no qualms with slaughtering them, and they certainly demonstrated the ability to do so.
"Hmmm, now that we've dealt with this scum, we might as well check if any of these savages hold any magical power" said the second man.
He was a brown haired, almost two meters tall handsome young man. If the women of the village weren't so busy fearing for their lives, they might've blushed at him, rather than looking at him in terror.
"Suit yourself, but i doubt you'll find anyone worthwhile" said the man in violet.
the brown haired man stared at every villager one at a time, as if assessing some goods at a market, and his gaze came to a halt when he made eye contact with Drem.
His expression changed, as if he was staring at squirrel but suddenly realised he was actually looking at a human. He no longer looked at Drem like one looks at a pebble by the side of the road. It seemed that he acknowledged him as a human being, a treatment that was denied to the rest of the villagers.
He walked straight towards him and introduced himself.
"My name is Loand" he said softly. "Will you tell me yours?"
"i, i'm Drem" He stuttered, still in shock by the death of his famiy.
"Just drag him over so we can get out of this shithole already" said the man in violet, clearly eager to get back to whatever place he came from.
"Shut up Kof" Loand said, irritated. "You'll scare the kid"
"Those two over there were your family weren't they?" he asked sympathetically.
"y yes" Drem answered. He started crying, no longer capable of stopping himself.
"I can take you to a place where you'll receive power beyond your comprehension" Loand Said.
"You'll no longer have to fear that anything like this will happen ever again"
"If you come with me, you'll be able to protect all that you hold dear"
He reached out his hand towards Drem, waiting for him to grab it.
"Will i really be able to protect everyone?" Drem asked, Tears still streaming down his cheeks.
"I guarantee it" Loand answered him with a warm smile.
Drem grabbed his hand, and once again a circle opened itself.
The man in violet was the first to enter the circle, and he disappeared as soon as he entered it.
Loand helped Drem to get up on his feet, and then led him to the circle.
Many of the villagers didn't want Drem to go with these strange men, who could kill humans as easily as squashing ants, but no one dared to try and stop them.
The circle closed as soon as Loand and Drem passed through it, leaving the villagers grieving and confused.
From that day forward, noone in the village dared to even dream about leaving the woods, and the stories of man-eating monsters were changed into ones about monsters wearing human flesh.