The village head stood up and there was a screeching sound as pushed his chair back under the table. He didn't say anything else as he walked over to the door, but Isaac and Abbie both followed him.
Leon brought them out onto the streets and led the way through a twisting trail of alleys and roads which brought them towards the edge of the village. This was the opposite side of the village to where the team were currently staying; this was the side of the village which was hit by the 3rd attack.
Just as they were nearing their destination, Leon spoke,
"The first attack was very brief. It was almost like a probing attack to see how strong our wall was, and the beast left after attacking the wall just a few times. Nobody got a clear view of it. During the second attack, the beast stayed a bit longer but not by much. It left soon after our guards arrived, and again nobody got a clear view of it. It was only during the third attack that the wolf entered serious combat with our guards."
A pained expression crossed Leon's face,
"Over a quarter of our guards died that day. Another quarter were critically injured and are still in intensive care. The only blessing is that, with their sacrifices, we managed to wound that blasted wolf and drive it off!"
Leon's eyes burnt with intense fury when he mentioned the wolf. He couldn't contain his anger when he thought of the damage that beast had done to his village and its people. His spirit was ablaze with the desire for revenge, but alas! He lacked the strength to avenge the village by himself; he had to rely on this team of teenagers from the Full Moon Sect. Leon had often regretted not becoming a cultivator, but he regretted it more than ever right now.
But would regret help in the current situation? Would 'regret' save the village? Of course not. As the village head, he had to stay composed. It was his job to lead these teenagers from the sect; he had to give them whatever help they needed to find the wolf, kill it, and resolve the danger looming over his village. So he continued to explain,
"Astrid was one of the guards who was wounded in the third attack. She's one of the only people who fought the wolf and isn't still in a critical condition, so she should be able to answer your questions."
They walked on in silence for about 2 minutes before arriving at their destination; a small-ish hut right next to the village wall. In fact, there was a set of stairs leading up onto the wall just 5 metres from here and there was one of the guard outposts on the wall nearby as well.
It was obvious the resident had bought this cabin because of its convenient location. It was a great spot for a guard to live since the journey to and from work took about 10 seconds and you could respond in an instant if there was an emergency.
Unfortunately, what was 'convenient' was now 'useless'. It was a convenient location for a guard to live, but Astrid could be a guard no longer – her career was over. Isaac and Abbie saw this for themselves when Leon knocked on the door and it was opened by a woman.
Isaac's attention was immediately grabbed by the scar which drew a horizontal line across her face. It started at her right ear and stretched all the way to the bridge of her nose. Half of the scar was obscured by the eyepatch Astrid wore over her right eye, but Isaac could guess it ran right across her eyeball.
Other than the scar, there was more damage on the right side of her body. There was a lot of bandages and strapping around her right shoulder and her right arm looked heavily injured. The limb hung limply by her side like it was made of jelly.
Astrid wasn't surprised when she saw Leon – who was looking at her with sympathetic eyes – but she was confused when she spotted the pair of teenagers behind him.
"Village head, why're you bringin' kids here?" she asked in an exasperated voice, "I have enough on my hands just lookin' after myself without you visitin' every day."
Leon sighed. He felt deeply sorrowful about all the people who'd been killed or injured defending their village so he regularly visited the doctor's quarters to see how the injured guards were doing. He also came to see the Astrid, the only guard who'd been released by the doctor.
"I'm sorry to bother you once again, but these are not 'kids'. They are cultivators sent by the sect to kill the beast which inflicted those very injuries upon you. They said they needed a better description of the wolf, so I brought them to you."
Astrid's reaction was not one of happiness. Instead, her jaw almost dropped in disbelief,
"They're sendin' kids like this to deal with a monster like that?! The Full Moon Sect must've really declined recently!"
"Astrid! Regardless of their age, they're honourable visitors from the sect! Please stop calling them kids and start treating them with respect!"
"What's respect worth in a world like this? Respect won't protect them when they try to fight that monster. And if they want to punish me for showin' disrespect... so what? I ain't got much left to lose anyway."
Leon tried to respond, but Isaac interjected before he could,
"We have no mind to punish you regardless of what you call us. We'd simply appreciate your help catching the beast which killed your comrades."
Abbie added her own thoughts,
"If you doubt our abilities and don't wish to help us, we'll leave you alone. We'll have to fight the wolf whether you choose to help us or not. The mission might become harder without your information, but we'll still have to complete it."
"You–" Astrid was going to object, but she stopped herself, sighed, and spoke softly, "If you've decided to dig your own graves, that's your own choice; I won't try and stop you. If it's a description of the wolf you want, then I've seen it closer than anybody else. In fact, I've seen it far too closely." She pointed to the eyepatch covering her eye, "I'll help you out. Come in."
Astrid stepped aside so Isaac and Abbie could enter. Just as she was about to close the door, Leon stopped her,
"Do you have any more need for this old man's presence?"
He half-joked. Isaac responded,
"Thank you for your time, village head. If we need you again, we'll come to find you at your residence."
Astrid closed the door. Then she went over to her kitchen and started brewing tea without saying a word. Meanwhile, Isaac and Abbie had sat down at her small table.
"We don't want any tea."
Abbie commented, but Astrid's reply was short and sharp,
"I wasn't making it for you."
5 minutes later, Astrid joined them at the table with a cup of herbal tea. Then, before Isaac could even ask, she began to explain,
"The beast was a wolf," she shivered as she remembered it, "with pitch black fur – as black as the night itself – and orange eyes. Fierce, fiery orange eyes."
She paused for a moment and sipped her scalding hot tea, trying to remember the wolf as well as possible despite how painful those memories were,
"It was roughly the same size as a normal adult wolf, or perhaps a bit smaller. But despite its size, it was stronger, quicker and more powerful than a normal wolf could ever be. Sometimes when it attacked, a large black phantom would appear behind it. The phantom looked somethin' like a claw, but I couldn't make it out clearly since it blended in with the darkness of night. The only thing I could be sure of was that when that claw appeared... nobody that stood in its path would survive. I thank the gods it only had a short range, otherwise I wouldn't be sittin' here today... just like so many of my colleagues..."
Astrid began to break down at this point. In fact, it was admirable that she kept her composure for so long to begin with – watching friends and comrades being mercilessly killed must've been incredibly traumatic. And then having to recall those horrifying experiences just days after they'd occurred... she wanted to cry, but she couldn't even do that properly due to the ruptured tear ducts in her right eye!
It took a few moments for her to pull herself together. Abbie went over and tried to console Astrid, while Isaac sat in his seat like a statue and watched the scene unfold.
With Abbie's help, Astrid didn't take too long to compose herself. She took a deep breath and continued to speak,
"It had one other ability; sometimes it would just... disappear. Then, a few seconds later, it would pop up somewhere behind our defences and start wreaking havoc..."
That was all Astrid could say before she broke out into sobs again. Abbie went over to try and comfort her again. She tried to put her arm around Astrid, but the warrior batted the arm away,
"That's *sob* all I can tell you. *sob* Please. Please kill that bastard wolf."
The last sentence wasn't spoken with anger or rage. Nor was it said with sorrow. It was a sentence uttered with cold, gritty desire.
When Isaac heard this, he realised that Astrid had already helped them as much as she could and wanted some time to grieve alone. Isaac was more than willing to oblige – he had no reason to stay here after all.
He got up and tapped Abbie on the shoulder, then whispered into her ear that they should give Astrid some time alone. She nodded lightly and the two of them left.
After closing the door behind him, Isaac only walked 2 paces before he heard the smashing of a teacup. Then came a loud scream.
"Fuck! Why couldn't it have been me?! Why did you have to leave me all alone?! Damian!!"
Abbie looked back at the lonely, isolated shack, but Isaac kept on walking.