"Wah… I am so sleepy,"
Someone yawned and said.
"I told you to rest in the evening, but you didn't listen to me."
"How could I rest with all that's going on."
"What's going on? Be happy that nothing is happening for now. Who knows if we can even rest in the coming days?"
Two guards were having a conversation. They were standing on a wall that had been erected in the past few days. There were many cultivators guarding this wall.
"If I remember correctly, something like this happened a few decades ago, right?"
"I am not so sure, but I did hear it from my father. He said that even though he was out of the village at that time with his father, he saw the village in ruins after returning. I am not so sure though."
"Even I heard it from my grandfather. They say that a fog also appeared just like this at that time as well. It surrounded the whole village. Nobody knew what was happening, but everything happened suddenly."
"I hope it's not true: otherwise, I am not sure if we can survive this."
There was a gloomy atmosphere here. Their conversation didn't seem like a rumor people spread for just showing off.
"What's that?" Suddenly, a guard saw a pair of eyes shine in the fog.
It's night, and darkness has already taken over the day. The thick fog only deepens the obscurity, making everything even more blurred and indistinct.
The gates of the village have already been shut tight. This has been a routine for two days already. At night, the gates are closed.
This pair of eyes disappeared, but after a while, something shocking happened.
Wh, wh, what's happening?!!!!
The guard's eyes widened as he stared at something.
After the pair of eyes disappeared, a moment of recess appeared before the eyes appeared again. This time, it was not just a pair of eyes, but this pair turned into pairs.
The guards are staring with wide eyes all around the village. A wall had been erected around the whole village. Every area of this wall had cultivators on them.
The eyes disappear again. However, they appear again, this time, many figures are also appearing outside of the fog.
The guards are in a stupor: lost. For a moment they forgot what they were ordered to do. They are just staring.
The cultivators had kept the fog from enveloping the village, and the area around the village was also cleared off the fog for a clear vision. So, the figures were becoming clear as they were advancing outside of the fog.
Alert everyone, we are under attack!!
A guard jolted awake from his stupor and shouted, rousing the others. Two or three guards quickly descended from the wall and dashed towards the clan leader's residence to report the situation.
Hounds begin to appear out of the fog. Many hounds: uncountable. In a mere seconds, the whole village is surrounded.
Guards start to attack: no holding back. No command was passed: everyone is attacking on instinct.
Whooo, grrr, grr wahoo!!!
Howling and growling sounds begin to appear. First, it was just one, then two, then three, then many—first from one side, then from all directions.
As night descends with shadows deep,
The howls and growls begin to creep.
First one lone cry, then more arise,
A song beneath the darkened skies.
Yang Zhai opens his eyes, abandoning his cultivation. His feet helping him, he stands. He looks at the window, walks towards it.
The window opens, a view of night with clouds covering his eyes. In this serenity, silence is broken.
He jumps outside the window and lands on the ground. People are running out of their houses. Emptiness of the streets is filling up.
As the loudness is too deep
A dread in the night creep
What's happening?!!!
Someone shouts,
"We are under attack!! Hounds are attacking from everywhere!!"
A reply arrives.
"But how, there were no signs of them?!"
A fear is enveloping the voice.
"What do you mean? Wasn't the silence too loud?! A silence before the storm!!!"
As if disappointed, the voice carries a fierce wiseness.
Yang Zhai cares no further as he dashes towards the perimeters. He stops just before he reaches the gate.
He stares at the situation. Shouts are everywhere, cultivators are running everywhere. Nobody cares about him.
One even brushes him to the side.
Yang Zhai tries to ask someone,
"What's happening?"
The person ignored him. No one replies, no one cares.
Yang Zhai asks no further. He goes back and walks in a certain direction. After walking for a while, he arrives at a place covered with darkness with no an ounce of light.
He calls,
"Reen, come out."
"Yes, master?" Reen appears and stops on his right shoulder.
"Check the current situation outside the village and inform me."
"As you wish, master."
Reen wastes no time as she flies away into the sky.
Yang Zhai is looking around through the night owl's eyes. His eyes see everything, and no traces can be seen around him.
After a while, Reen rests on Yang Zhai's shoulder.
"Master, the village is under attack. Hounds are everywhere. The cultivators are trying to keep them away from reaching the village's walls."
"Forget about that, how many?"
"The cultivators remain unaware, but the hounds are innumerable, scattered across a mile, with more still arriving. There is a ninety percent chance that this village will be annihilated," Reen replies.
Yang Zhai is thinking.
"Master, you should leave this village as soon as possible. Take the first opportunity to escape" Reen says with a deep voice.
"Fine, you can leave." Yang Zhai orders Reen to return
Yang Zhai looks around and returns back to his room.
At first, he wanted to witness the situation firsthand, but had no choice but to order Reen.
"One mile, huh? Even if the Luo Sect has three rank 5 cultivators, they will have difficulty dealing with this. They need to be prepared to sacrifice at least one rank 5 cultivator." Yang Zhai mutters.
/!*****!*****!/