Iona was a packed village.
The three main parts were the Outer Rim, Inner Rim, and Core. The Outer Rim contained a tower for reconnaissance, the village market, and the gates. The Inner Rim contained their armory, garrison, and settlement, and the Core contained the treasury.
'The town square is in the Core. If the villagers were to hide, then it would be their best bet…' Augustus glanced from left to right, calm as Aaron led them on, massacring the raks. 'The town square is close to the treasury, and it's fortified for... well, hiding.'
Felix, Aaron's son, held his mother Arlene tight. They watched for anything suspicious while Augustus remained in thought. Catching a glimpse of an approaching rak out of the corner of his eye, Augustus spun around and swung his fist, smashing into its face.
The force from his punch rocked through it, flattening its body mid-flight and blowing up the air around it. Augustus straightened his stance and dropped his fist. "Raks are fast and deadly, but they are far less durable than the average man."
Aaron, who was ready to jump in, sighed upon hearing that. He turned around, then gestured to the buildings in the distance, massive stone gates behind them. "You'd reach the square after those gates, but this place is crawling with raks."
"If we don't clear out the raks, then the rot will not disappear," Arlene explained to the observant Augustus, returning her gaze to the path that led down to the town square. "All the houses here were abandoned, and raks may have invaded them to hide."
"You're heavily mistaken. Killing these raks would not stop the corruption." Augustus cast a quick glance at a dancing silver flame, then scoffed. "The flames are another issue. The raks move in swarms, I stress that, and they are only attracted to the silver flame."
"What?" Aaron paused, turning around to give Augustus a weird glance. "You must be speaking of foreign raks, traveler. The flames appeared with the raks' invasion, and they attacked in small parties—not a swarm. A swarm would've wiped out the village."
'—There. Information.' Augustus's eyes lit up upon hearing Aaron's words. He turned his back to them, holding his chin in deep thought. 'This likely means that someone trained a creature talent and used it against the village. They must be a moon slave.'
The silver flames only appear when the moon's blood is spilled on a burning crow—an expensive sacrifice—and the flames are coveted by the corruption. Al Rak and his minions, for example, develop ten times faster basking in a heavy concentration of silver flames.
'The question now, though, is who performed the sacrifice and why in the village.' As he delved deeper into his thoughts, everything else blanked out. 'They must have had access to the raks' locations, knowing the implications, or be rookies or madmen otherwise.'
Augustus smirked, turning around to find Aaron's family already meters away. He kept his chin held high and his eyes narrowed, then shifted his glance to a building—this was where he sat as the demon horde swept through this path and massacred everyone inside.
Compared to the demon horde coming in a few months, these raks were tutorial quest-level at best. Augustus chuckled, thinking back to the hint Aaron gave him. "Well, knowing what to search for once this is cleaned up only makes things easier for me."
He turned to the building and approached it. He reached the wooden door, pushed it open, and as soon as he did, a small shadow darted out. With his lightning-fast reflexes, Augustus grabbed it.
Holding the slender neck in his hands, Augustus frowned. It was a young woman with long auburn hair, wearing a short gray gown. Her small frame allowed her to move faster than he expected, but when she lifted her gray eyes to glare at him, she froze.
"What the fuck are you doing here?" Augustus spat down, but he was too slow. Before the last word left his lips, his feet were already off the ground and in the air. He landed on his back, and the young woman towered over him, her brows furrowed.
"This bastard? How are you alive?" She blinked, then sighed, stretching out her hand and offering it to him, rolling her eyes as he accepted it. "They all voted I follow her here, but I got baited into some weird cult's trap. I thought you were one of them."
"Bastard? I've not been called that in a long time." Augustus calmed himself down. He sighed as the slender woman—about his height—helped him to his feet. "I knew that the others would need to eliminate their competition, but this—this is wicked."
"Celina and her court have moved to Silverna northwest of this hellhole." She briefed Augustus, her eyes darting to the approaching young man every two seconds. "Since she had a hand in this, it means you and I cannot trust anyone."
"True." Augustus nodded, placing his hands on his waist, sighing and shaking his head while clicking his tongue. As Aaron took another step, his eyes flared in a quick light, and he reached out a hand to grab the nearly escaping woman. "Lily?"
"Let me go, bastard! This is not the time or place!" Lily snapped, pulling out a dagger with her other hand and slashing it at Augustus's face. Seeing him dodge, she groaned in fury. "Are you nuts or something? I can't be caught by them because of you!"
"Let you go where? You know my location, Lily. Don't trust anyone, remember?" With a heavy stress on the last words, Augustus cemented his stance. Lily wore a long face, but he just shrugged. 'Sorry, kid sister of this world, but I can't be caught lacking.'
"Oh, it's Ylil." Aaron turned to the young woman Augustus held. He returned his glance to Augustus. "It's okay, you can let her go. She joined the village a year back and has been a great help to us. Hurry up, Arlene and Felix are waiting for us."
Augustus turned to Lily, staring directly into her eyes. She chuckled dryly, seeing his expression turn disdainful in an instant. She cleared her throat. "In the heat of things, it was the best name that I could come up with. Not like they would find out…"
"Look at me, girl…" Augustus sucked his teeth. "…It's beautiful."