He looked around and realized he was in his room, sitting up on his bed. His mother entered the room, looking alarmed.
Mother (frantically):
-"Are you okay? You scared me so much! What happened?"
Attu:
-"Yes, I'm fine. How did I end up here?" he said, trying to calm her.
Mother:
-"Gans brought you here. You were gone for a long time, so I went to Gans to ask if he knew where you were. He told me you went toward the river. Together, we went to search for you and found you unconscious. Gans carried you back. He said he'd come to check on you tomorrow. But what happened?"
Attu explained everything that had occurred. After hearing his story, his mother asked:
Mother:
-"Are you feeling okay now? How are your eyes? Tomorrow, we're going to see the healer."
Attu knew exactly who the healer was. The last time he'd visited, it was for a cold and a cough. The healer had given him some herbal tea that made him feel better initially. The healer had confidently claimed that the herbs would cure his illness entirely, and he wouldn't cough again. That part was true—Attu didn't cough or even sneeze afterward. But that was because the so-called "healing" herbs had caused severe food poisoning, leaving him too weak to even move. He ended up spending most of the next day in the outhouse. So when his mother mentioned the healer, Attu immediately imagined a man holding a jar full of poison.
Attu (nervously):
-"It's fine, everything's fine. I'm perfectly okay! I just need to sleep, and I'll be fine. There's no need to visit the healer. Really, I'm okay!"
Mother:
-"Maybe I'll call him, just to be safe."
Attu:
-"I'm telling you, everything's fine!"
Mother:
-"Alright then, if you say so."
Attu:
"By the way, what time is it now?" he asked.
Mother:
-"It's night."
Attu was surprised to realize he had been unconscious for so long.
Mother:
-"Well then, have a good rest. If you need anything, just call me," she said as she left the room.
Attu lay down on his bed and fell asleep. After a while, he started hearing screams and cries. He tried covering his ears to block out the sounds, but it didn't help. The noises wouldn't let him sleep and felt like a horrifying nightmare. Then, he realized the sounds were coming from the direction of the village.
He got up, went outside, and looked around. In the village, fires were raging everywhere. When he reached the main street, he saw all the houses ablaze. Women, children, and men's bodies lay burning, and monstrous dogs were gnawing on the corpses. Attu stood frozen in shock at the horrifying scene.
(The Next Morning)
Three hours after Hans had spoken to Attu, a young man came running to him.
Young Man:
-"Gans, Commander!"
Hans:
-"What's going on? Why are you so frantic?"
Young Man:
-"A demon attacked the neighboring village! What should we do?"
Hans:
-"Hmm, this is serious. Warn everyone in the village. No one should go outside tonight. Gather as many men as possible for protection."
The young man ran back toward the village. Hans was about to leave when Aurora, Attu's mother, arrived.
Hans:
-"Hello, Aurora."
Aurora:
-"Hello. Hans, have you seen Attu? He's been gone for quite some time," she said with concern.
Hans:
-"He went to the river this morning to gather firewood. Hasn't he come back yet? Shall I help you look for him?"
Aurora:
"Yes, that would be good!"
Hans and Aurora set off toward the river.
Hans:
-"Don't go outside tonight unless you have to. A demon crossed the border and attacked a nearby village."
Aurora:
-"Demons can't cross the border. How did this happen?"
Hans:
-"I don't know for sure. Sometimes demons can cross the border. I don't know if it's coming our way or heading somewhere else. One thing I do know is we need to be well-prepared to ensure our safety."
He thought to himself, "Demons usually don't attack during the day, so we have time to prepare."
They walked for a while and reached the river. When they saw Attu lying there, Aurora panicked and screamed, "My son!" and rushed over, crying. Hans looked at Attu and thought, "A wild animal must have attacked him," and began scanning the area. There were no signs of any animals, and there was no blood around Attu either. They rushed over, turned Attu's face toward them, and saw the blood dripping from his eyes. Aurora became even more frightened.
Hans checked Attu's pulse by holding his neck. He felt the pulse and relaxed a little. Then he opened Attu's eyes. Looking at them, Hans felt a chill run down his spine, but he didn't let Aurora notice. He thought to himself, "What's this? What kind of eyes are these?" He had never seen Attu like this before.
While holding Attu, Hans felt something else. He realized, "This... this is it." He had learned about it back at the academy when he met with a sorcerer. But with Attu, it felt much stronger, chaotic even. Hans thought to himself, "Now is not the time. Aurora needs to calm down; she's in a panic. We can talk about this later when she's stable."
Hans picked up Attu and, along with Aurora, started heading back to the house.
Hans:
-"Aurora, it's fine. He's just unconscious. I don't know what happened to his eyes, but his condition is stable. We just need to wait for him to wake up, and then we can ask him what happened."
Aurora:
-"What should we do now? We need to call the healer, maybe they can do something."
Hans:
-"The healer is not in the village right now. He went up the mountain to gather medicinal herbs this morning. He won't be back anytime soon."
Aurora:
-"What should we do then?"
Hans:
-"Everything will be fine. We just need to wait for him to wake up, that's all."
They arrived home. They gently laid Attu down in his bed. Aurora held her son's hand and couldn't stop crying. Hans placed his hand on Aurora's shoulder and said:
-"Calm down, everything is fine. He just needs to rest. When the healer comes, I'll tell him to come here and check on Attu. Stop crying now."
Aurora sobbed:
-"Okay!"
Hans:
-"Alright, I'm leaving. I'll come back tomorrow to check on Attu."
And with that, he left.
Aurora sat by her son for a long time, not eating anything, waiting for him to open his eyes. During this time, she managed to calm herself. Seeing that evening had come, she thought, "If my son wakes up, he needs to eat something." She went outside to prepare some food.
Meanwhile, Hans was preparing in the village. The night passed, and it was almost dawn. Hans had assigned the young men in pairs for the night watch.
A while later, the sun was about an hour away from rising. The young men in the village had barely slept.
Two young men were on duty:
-"Ugh, when will I ever get married?" one said.
The other replied:
-"With the way you're going, definitely not this year. Grab another torch. The surroundings don't look too good."
They continued talking in this manner.
As they passed the main entrance of the village, they suddenly heard the sound of a dog barking from outside the village. They stopped.
One of the young men said:
-"Hey, did you hear that?"
The other responded:
-"Yeah, the dog's barking..."
Before he could finish, a spear flew and struck him in the head. He fell instantly, dead. The first young man, still in shock, looked down at his fallen friend and didn't look in the direction from where the spear had come.
From the darkness, a huge dog emerged and lunged at him. The dog was enormous and terrifying, its teeth looking like those of a monstrous creature. The young man screamed in terror as the dog bit him.
The villagers heard his scream. In the main street of the village, the young men gathered, grabbing anything they could find in their hands. A pack of enormous dogs began entering the village. Hans remembered the name of these dogs — they were the demon Baskerville dogs. Everyone tried to hit the dogs with whatever they had in their hands, but it had no effect on them. Hans killed several dogs with his two swords. One dog came running towards him, and Gans stabbed the sword into its stomach, kicking the dog away and pulling the sword from its belly.
One of the young men beside him was attacked by a dog. As the dog lunged at his fallen friend, Hans stabbed his sword into the dog and knocked it to the ground, then thrust his second sword into the dog, ending its life. He reached out his hand to the young man lying on the ground.
Hans:
-"Are you alright?"
As he helped the young man get up, a spear flew through the air and pierced the young man's heart. His blood spilled in torrents. Gans was splashed with blood on his face and froze in horror. He struggled to turn around and gather his strength. As he looked back, he saw Baskerville entering the village.
Baskerville, dressed like a high-ranking medieval noble, had two long horns growing from his head. Hans's body trembled with fear as he stood ready to fight. Baskerville slowly approached him, and with each step, Hans felt as if his body could be torn apart by the demon. He felt like a small rabbit standing before a giant wolf.
Hans didn't have time to look around, as he was focused on Baskerville. The dead surrounded him, and many of the young men had already fallen, their corpses being mauled by the dogs. Some dogs had even entered homes, attacking women and children. Almost half of the village was burning.
Gathering his courage, Hans attacked the demon. Baskerville easily dodged Hans's strikes and countered with his own, hitting Hans. Hans gathered all his strength and delivered a blow from above. When Baskerville attempted to deflect it with his spear, the spear broke in two.
Hans thought to himself, "I've freed myself from the demon's weapon. Now I must kill him." But he was gravely mistaken. For just a moment, Hans let his guard down. At that moment, he heard something hit the ground, and he looked down in surprise. It was his right hand, which was now crying out in pain.
Baskerville had kicked Hans in the stomach, sending him to the ground. Hans didn't understand where the spear had come from. He thought, "How? I just broke his spear!"
Then, the demon's voice echoed menacingly.
Baskerville:
-"Humans are so foolish, so weak. You are good for nothing but to be our food."
He raised the spear and aimed it at Hans's chest, directly over his heart. Hans felt death approaching. Just as Baskerville was about to strike, he suddenly stopped. Hans didn't understand what had happened. Baskerville froze, holding the spear over Hans's chest, and looked toward the end of the main street. Hans, not understanding what he was looking at, followed his gaze. His eyes fell on Attu, who was standing at the end of the street. Baskerville sensed the power emanating from Attu from a distance and said, "Who is this boy? What kind of power is coming from him? I'll check it out now."
Baskerville whistled, and all the dogs, hearing his signal, began to move toward the main street. Attu didn't understand what the demon was doing. Fear was the only thing on his face. When Baskerville whistled again, the dogs started running toward Attu. Attu was frozen in place. At that moment, Aurora shouted, "Run!" and grabbed Attu's hand, pulling him away as they started to flee.
Seeing this, Baskerville chased after them. Aurora, holding her son's hand, ran with all her might, glancing back frequently. They plunged into the forest. Aurora thought, "If we can get to the river, we can escape by jumping into the water." They ran with all their strength, with the dogs almost on their heels. Aurora and Attu were getting close to the river.
Aurora:
-"Just a little more, please, my God! Just a little more! Attu, just a few more steps…" she said, looking at her son. Then, she saw the demon preparing to throw a spear at them.
Just as they were about to reach the river, Aurora suddenly stopped. Attu didn't understand why she had stopped. Aurora turned to face Attu and pushed him toward the river. As Attu was about to fall into the river, he saw the spear that had pierced his mother's abdomen. He saw the tears in her eyes and the fading signs of life on her face. With all his strength, Attu cried out, "Mother!" as he fell into the river, carrying all the pain in his heart.