Chapter 9: Alarm at Goldenwell
After listening to Elder Gavum's explanation, Demarcus decided, "Let's sound the alarm and prepare the village for the upcoming attack."
"I will alert the village's council. Elders, please prepare the defenses," Demarcus said.
Elder Gavum and Elder Toldelm promptly left to ready the village's defenses.
Then Demarcus turned to Alex and Hari, saying, "You guys go sound the village's alarm. Hari, you know where it is, right?"
"Yes, Grandfather, I know where it is, the village hall, right?"
"Great, get going. I will go alert the other village elders," Demarcus said and left to do so.
"Let us go, Alex. We must sound the village's alarm," Hari said.
"Yeah," Alex replied, a bit shaken, thinking, "A beast horde is going to attack the village, and those are wolves no less. My luck is so bad."
"Alex, are you okay?" Hari asked with concern.
"I will be okay. I have just never been in this kind of situation before, you know."
"I understand, but do not worry, our village has powerful people. We would not lose to those Sylvan Shadow Wolves; Now let us go. We must sound the village's alarm." Hari said trying to comfort Alex a bit as they started making their way to the village hall, but Alex was still a bit concerned, he never learned how to fight, he only reached Low Rank 1 three days ago, and he does not have any spells to protect himself.
"Do I need to fight, too?" Alex asked, looking a bit concerned.
"Do not be ridiculous, you just started cultivating, and you never learned how to fight. Just watch from afar how I beat those wolves," Hari said with pride.
"Don't worry, I know my place; I will just watch from afar."
After a few seconds, they reached the village hall. Entering the hall, it was quiet,
Hari then said, "The alarm is on the second floor!"
they both reached the stairs and went up to the second floor,
"The door on the right!" Hari yelled.
They entered the room and saw a wooden stand, and on it a bronze pendant resembling an eye.
Hari then explained, "This is a Grade 1 treasure called Guardian's Watch. Every village has it to alert the surroundings of an attack."
Hari then put his hand on the bronze pendant and channeled his essence into it. The bronze pendant immediately reacted and shone in a bright light that filled the room, and with an alarming sound, it rang throughout the village.
Everyone in the village started waking up to the alarm, and voices started sounding in the village filled with concern.
"Alright, our job here is done. Let us head to the village gate to prepare for the attack."
Hari and Alex both left the village hall and made their way to the village gate.
On the way they ran into the villagers, who asked them what was happening as both Hari and Alex came from the way of the village hall, Hari and Alex both explained that the village was about to be attacked by a beast horde of Sylvan Shadow Wolves, and the villagers looked concerned, some of them ran together with Alex and Hari to the village gate to prepare for the attack, and some went back to their house.
When Hari and Alex finally reached the village gate they saw the village head, and standing beside him were Elder Gavum, Elder Toldelm, and three more people.
Hari and Alex approached them. Hari then said, "Dad, you're here!" A tall middle-aged man with brown hair and green eyes turns to them. "Oh Hari, you here," he says.
The man then turned his attention to Alex.
"You must be Alex. I am Leo Goldenwell, I am Hari's father and one of the Elders in Goldenwell Village. I have heard a lot about you," he then reaches his hand for a handshake.
Alex shakes his hand and says shyly, "Nice to meet you, Elder Leo!"
"Hari, you go with the other guards and get ready for the attack," Leo instructed.
"And you Alex, unfortunately, there is nothing you can do to help us, so you head back to safety with the other villagers," said Leo to Alex in a heavy tone.
Alex looked a bit sad hearing what Leo said, but he knew he could do nothing, although he wanted to see what a battle of this scale looked like.
"I understand, Elder Leo. I will head back. I hope you come back alive," Alex said with a heavy heart and returned to the inn.
Elder Leo then turned his focus to the other elders.
"Elder Gavum, when do you think the wolves start attacking us?" Elder Leo asked Elder Gavum
"I imagine they will attack at sunrise, or later into the night, who knows," replied Elder Gavum
All the other elders had heavy expressions on their faces. Demarcus then approached them.
"Why do you all look so worried?"
The guards have finished preparing the defenses. "We are ready for the attack anytime," he said proudly.
"You are right Village Head; this battle is not a problem for us!" Elder Leo said with a smile.
"Elder Leo is right." Do not look so worried, now, since the wolves will only be attacking from the south side of the village,
The guards focused their defenses on that,
Now we need someone to scout ahead so we can have some reassurance, just in case.
"Elder Aerion, you are the best at scouting ahead with your abilities," said Demarcus.
Elder Aerion Arrowborealis is a middle-aged man with a tall and lean build, platinum hair and blue eyes,
"Village Head, I will get right to it," replied Elder Aerion, and he left to scout information about the beast horde.
Demarcus looked at Elder Aerion leaving, then turned his head to the other elders.
"In the meantime, while Elder Aerion is away, we should reassure the villagers about the situation."
I will go announce everyone to gather at the village center to inform everyone about it,
Elder Leo, you stay here with the guards, the rest of us will get to it."
Elder Leo stayed behind while the Village Head and the other elders headed to the village center.
In the village center near the Golden Well of the village, the villagers surrounded the village head and the rest of the elders to hear about the current situation.
The village head explained that the village is about to be attacked by a beast horde,
Hearing the village head's words, most of the villagers had worrisome expressions on their faces.
Goldenwell Village was not well known for its strength, because of the Goldenwell most of the people in the village focused on healing abilities, and there were hardly any fighters.
"I know that most of us are not fighters but rest assured that we will be able to defend the village," Demarcus reassured the villagers.
Demarcus scouted with his eyes on the worried faces of the villagers,
"On that note, when the battle starts, whoever can fight will be required to help in any way he can, and whoever can't fight, please stay in your houses until we say otherwise," said Demarcus and dismissed all the villagers their home.
Demarcus then turned his head to the elders beside him.
"Elders, I am heading to the Goldenwell Inn. Please notify me when Elder Aerion returns; there is someone I need to visit."
"Do not worry, village head. We have the situation under control."
Then Demarcus made his way to the Goldenwell Inn.
Alex was in his room at the Goldenwell Inn, trying to relax. There was a knock on the door, and it was Demarcus Goldenwell, the village head. Alex wondered why he was there instead of getting ready for the fight.
"Hello, what brings you here village head?" asked Alex.
"Hi, Alex, did I interrupt you with anything?" said Demarcus.
"Not at all, village head. I was just trying to make myself calm down about the situation. It is a bit concerning."
"Understandable, I came here to fulfill the promise I gave you, the library, and the spells."
Alex looked excited after hearing what the village head came here.
"That is great! Thank you for the opportunity, village head!" said Alex excitedly.
Demarcus smiled and said, "Let us go to the library then."
"Yes!"
Alex then got himself ready, and they both descended to the first floor.
On the first floor, Eliss, Nimma, and Syf were standing and seemed to be waiting for them.
"I will be taking Alex to the library, as I promised him." "Be aware tonight," Demarcus said to the three. "The battle can start at any time."
"Let's go, Alex."
Alex and Demarcus both left the Inn making their way to the library.
On the way, Demarcus did not forget to inform the elders that he would be in the library if anything happened. Then Demarcus led the way to the village's library.
After about 3 minutes of walking, they arrived in front of a simple 2-story building made of stones that were glowing in gold.
"This is the library. It is not big, but I hope you enjoy the collection of books here," said Demarcus to Alex.
Demarcus opened the door, they walked in, and Alex looked inside to see the library contained two floors with shelves filled with books,
"The library looks very nice and cozy!" said Alex.
"I am glad you liked it,
Do you want to choose your spells first or explore the library?"
Considering the current situation, Alex preferred to choose his spells first,
"I will choose the spells first, village head."
"Alright, let me show you where the spells are."
Then Demarcus led Alex to a room in the corner of the library,
The room was not big and was not small either. In the room stood three glass cabinets filled with books, and in the center of the room stood a wooden table with a few chairs.
"This is the library that contains all the spells in our village. But not all of it. There are, of course, also people who keep their spell books with them.
If I remember correctly, you need light elemental spells, correct?"
"Yes"
Demarcus then approached one cabinet and unlocked one of its doors,
"All our tier zero light spells are contained here,
I will let you choose one and if you need any help, I will be outside.
And call me when you finish choosing one, so I can show you the tier-one spells."
"Understood village head," said Alex excitedly.
Now by himself, Alex approached the books,
There are only ten spell books here,
Okay, let us see what the first spell is...