it is currently 1:57 AM. it is December 20th. A day before the Solstice.
I can't sleep.
her eyes...
they were dead. glazed over, as if reliving something far more stressful than what she had described.
why did none of the adults react as if there was anything wrong...?
that voice, the same one that lead me to this very situation, told me to make sure she got home safe.
I get out of my bed, clothe myself for the harsh weather, and silently make my way out of the house I share with Da -.. Mr. Haleson.
it takes me thirty minutes, but I can't bring myself to focus on anything but my objective.
...
I make it to what my memories inform me is her cabin.
there are massive pawprints, they seem to come in from the right, and then charge to the left.
the home itself is a wreck, her door is collapsed on the floor, there are splinters everywhere. her pantry has been ransacked, and the window on the other side of the one bedroom cabin has been left wide open, and is actively letting all of the warm air out, the fire place has recently gone out.
and the most unnerving, all of the things that my memories has labeled under her hunting supplies, are in a heap in one of the corners...
I walk out of the wreck and go to the back of the house. I find some footprints, looking closely, they are from a person not wearing shoes.
the tracks stop almost immediately, after five minutes of searching for more to no avail, I move on to the pawprints of the creature.
the creature is clearly rushing, but at what, or to where?
it is then that the prints lead me to the seeming aftermath of a shocking scene.
the ground is muddy and there are a collection of unnatural lines and symbols dug into the dirt.
maybe, a runic array..!
but, one this size...
my throat tightens unconsciously, as I try to unearth the meaning of the symbols, but they are in a language I have never seen.
something this size, surely would have taken a massive amount of mana to supply, I have no clue what it would be used for, due to a quarter of it having been disturbed by the beast's steps, but, seeing as the snow is all gone, and on top of that, and that the ground is charred, it was most likely a powerful fire rune...
the beast seemingly got slammed into the ground by something, possibly the array? no, there is no way a twelve year old could create something that could so more than one thing... maybe is was another beast?
but that wouldn't explain the rune...
maybe a squad of magic knights came through here, drew the beast here, where they had already made a trap, and finished it off by slamming it to the ground?
but, the beast's prints continue even further to the left... and at an even more frantic pace...
it seems that it was going so fast, that it simply disregarded the trees in the way, what ever this beast is, it is massive.
I pick up the pace in order to hopefully find the body of the beast and retrieve Ms. Shepard's corpse...
Surely, the beast was on it's last death throws, and it's carcass will be just over this hill.
I stomp into the snow to slow down faster, due to the fact that, just over this hill... was a massive drop.
down into the deadliest part of the grand mana zone that the town was famous for...
...
it was for what felt like hours that I stood there, staring down at the drop. there are clouds in the way, I cant see down that far with them in the way...
exhausted, and with a mind full of thoughts, I make my way back ho- to Mr. Haleson's home.
I need to rest before I break the news to Mr. Vale...
- - - -
the end of this little bonus chapter.
:)