Hearing the description of the incident, it was necessary to call on a witness to give a description of the culprit. So far the killer had been referred to as a creature, monster, and even 'the terror' but what or who exactly was it?
One of the old men in the crowd answered Service Zia's request and stepped forward to recount last night's incident. Old man Wema lived just a few meters away from the deceased woman's household. As a man who had lived for over 70 years, he had watched both the mother and child grow up. Even now, his eyes were still red from the sorrow.
Wema had lived a long life. Therefore, not only did he witness many deaths but he had experienced the loss of loved ones. Wema had even lived through Toro's cruel civil war a decade or two ago. Nevertheless, the death of the young mother and her little girl affected him far more than he expected.
"Such young lives, snuffed out just like that!" Sigh.
While the incident had filled him with sadness and anger, he did not dare to think about revenge due to the terror he and the other neighbors who were first to respond experienced when they were face to face with that creature.
"I would like to think that I have been through almost everything. In my life, I have fought in wars as a soldier and hunted all kinds of monsters as a mercenary, but what I saw last night, I cannot even explain that feeling in words." Even just recounting the events of the previous night had Wema trembling.
"Just the aura emanating from that thing was enough to freeze us all in place! I felt like I was nothing."
The old man described the killer as a humanoid creature with "Great black wings and a horrific face." It was so terrifying that all the people who saw it were frozen in shock. Even after it beheaded the man named Mokene and flew off into the sky. Everyone was still left rooted to the ground. They could neither chase the creature nor run away.
The creature had an aura that made them feel as if they should surrender their lives to it. Even the strongest warriors at the scene knew they would have no better fate than Mokene had the creature come after them.
"If the creature had targeted me instead of Mokene [may the ancestors guide his rest], I could only have stretched out my neck and offered up my head."
Hearing this statement, Service Zia more or less had some idea of the creature.
"Is it a suppression of state of being?" Officer Kaguzi voiced out his thoughts toward the other two silver guards.
Service Zia came to the same conclusion as Kaguzi on the cause of the incident, "Probably, like the meeting between a completely high level creature and a low level creature; like a rabbit standing before a lion. This does narrow down the list of possible culprits by a great deal. It has to be a creature capable of completely dominating humans."
After observing the crime scene, hearing the witness accounts, and analyzing the creature's habits, the silver guards already had some suspicions on what kind of creature they were dealing with.
"It could be a Pink Baby." It was Officer Kaguzi who spoke once again. However, don't let a cute name like 'Pink Baby' fool you. This creature was a hairy giant humanoid creature. The only reason it had 'baby' in its name was because its body structure was similar to that of a baby: a large head and short arms and legs. However, everything else about it was scary and unnatural. It had extremely hairy limbs and sharp black claws. The origin of this creature was extremely mysterious and there were all sorts of rumors about how Pink Babies were born such as from the corpses of babies or from pregnant women who were cursed.
"It might be but as far as we know, very few Pink Babies can fly. Importantly, none of the eye witnesses mentioned the Pink Baby's most defining physical feature." Service Zia replied to Kaguzi explaining why it was unlikely to be such a creature. After all, the most defining physical trait of a Pink Baby was a bright pink area around its chest that looked like a tumor. This contrasted with its dark skin and hairy fur. If one was attacked by one from the front, they would surely notice this contrast of colors.
"Could it be an Amanani or an Adze?"
"There is no way it is an Adze otherwise the smell of blood would not be so strong. Usually, Adze don't even leave a drop of blood behind within or outside their victims' bodies. They are greedy for blood in that manner. Also the description does not fit an Adze at all."
"Indeed, but it could also be another type of Vampiric creature that's a picky eater like a Bat Vampire or a Nightwalker."
As the three men spoke, all manner of creatures were discussed. It seemed they had forgotten themselves and started a discussion on mysterious creatures, some of which no one else at the scene had even heard off.
From bloodthirsty Adze, to giant Chebekere, to different kinds of Marimu, to flying Kishi, to high ranking flying Manani, to Chemakut Teret – the monster with a strong appetite for the flesh and blood of humans, all sorts of creatures were brought up.
When he heard the three silver guards' discussion, old man Wema who had come face to face with the creature decided to chip in.
"No no no. The creature it was just like, it was just like, ... …!"
However, in the middle of the sentence, the old man started stammering leaving everyone in suspense. His finger started trembling as if he was sick.
Another man in the audience could not help but make fun of him, "Old man, have you started going senile mid-sentence? Are you having a stroke?"
Some in the audience could not help but laugh. It felt as if the little drama had helped alleviate the mood even if a little bit.
However, old man Wema's wife was quick to berate them, "You mango-heads, is this the time to joke?"
Looking back to her husband, the old man was still standing still as if rooted to the ground; Wema's finger was pointing to the sky as he let out, "Ah ah ah" sounds. Finally, everyone realized that something was wrong and looked up into the sky where the old man was pointing.
When the crowd looked up, the sight almost terrified their clothes off. Some of them could feel their legs shaking at what they were seeing. It was a black figure whose massive wings almost blotted out the morning sun that had just started peeking out of the dark clouds and heavy fog. The sunlight had just started to show before it was snuffed out again by this terrifyingly huge creature!
"Creeeeeeeew."
A terrifying cry that assaulted everyone's eardrums was released as the creature swooped down from the sky.
Even the most courageous people in the crowd could not keep calm anymore and scrambled away while screaming in terror.
"The monster is baaaaack!"
... End of Chapter ...
New Words and Terms
Wema – wellness
Mokene – keep quiet. He is the 3rd victim.
Vampiric Creatures – Adze, Giant Bat Vampires, Nightwalkers
Marimu, Chebekere, Manani – mythical creatures that are neither human nor animals (Amanani and Manani are interchangeable sometimes based on the number)
Chemakut Teret – a flesh eating monster that could even survive after it was killed, skinned, and burned. Its skin managed to survive and fly away