Rain was pouring hard. The clouds are still getting blasted with the earsplitting thunder from the lightnings. Cold air is now enveloping the land of Sibu where the small village of Liones is situated. Nevertheless, the atmosphere surrounding Phyxius is as hot as a boiling water. He walked the road from Tristram Valley and arrived at the gates of Liones, towing the cart carrying the cold corpses of his family. His swollen puffy eyes has ceased crying during at some point of his despairing walk from the valley. However the rage in his heart has yet to simmer down.
"Who goes there?" The soldier gaurding the gate asked, suspicious about the man's identity. "Please verify your yourself and lower down your aura." Unconsciously exuding his aura, Phyxius just stares at the soldier for a few seconds then reach for his pocket. "Wait!!. What are trying to do?" The soldier got anxious because in his point of view, it looked like he was going to pull out his sword. Phyxius did not stop and just continued to pull out something from his pocket. "Stop!!... Or I'll shoot you in the head!" The soldier is now holding his bow and arrow aiming at him nervously. He was on a rampart of the gate the only defensive wall the village has. Phyxius did not even flinched and just continued pulling out some sort of a card. The soldier mistaken it for a weapon, released the arrow aimed at his head and shouts at him "you fool!" With just a slight movement of Phyxius head, he manages to dodge the arrow without a problem and almost simultaneously shows the gaurd his Identity Card. "I am Phyxius Ezriel, son of Odessius and Gressylia Ezriel. First batch cadet and a graduate of the Dawn Academy."
The soldiers eye widened realizing his life biggest blunder. He sprints down from the stairs, unlocks the gate and falls down on his knees with his forehead touching the ground begging for forgiveness. "Please forgive me sir! I was just following standard procedures when dealing with a posible infected person!" Phyxius, who has noticed that he has activated his aura, turn it off and just stares at the soldier once again. "What is your name soldier and which lord are you affiliated with?" The soldier was hesitant to answer but when he looked up and saw the rage on Phyxius eyes, he knew that one wrong answer could cost him his life. "Garrick sir, Garrick Oswald and I served Count Darius Etherious." Phyxius was surprised as if he had realized something. "I see, get out of my way, before I report you of trying to harm a radiant candidate." Garrick cleared out of the way immediately. "Thank you so much for your generosity sir, I will never forget this." Phyxius did not even bothered looking at him and just continued walking inside the gate.
The village of Leones, at present,
is crumbling. Currently, most of its food storages wouldn't even last for a year and the taxes that the citizens are paying has been doubled from last year. Citizens disgruntled faces are evident throughout the village. A village that once has a bustling streets full of people that are just minding there own business, is now like a ghost town that you could hardly even see a mouse running around the corners of the village. Phyxius, on the other hand, thinks something is amiss. Especially for the one who runs village, the village elder and the one who owns it which is Count Etherious. He has his own suspicions before but he might have confirmed it now. All he needs to do, is to make a thorough investigation about it and present it to the king directly. As of the moment, what he really needs to do is to bring his family to the church for them to prepare Dusk of the Dead Ritual. It's the formalities that is needed for corpse infected by a demons bite or claws. The bodies will undergo cremation that would involve using UV-rays. The ashes will then be placed on a specialized urn where the members of the church would perform their final incantations to bless it with holy power.
"Heavens! Phyxius, why are you here what happened to your family outing? And why is shirt all torned apart? Oh! Is this b blood?" It was priestess Rosillia who saw him first at the front of the church. She run towards Phyxius and visibly shaken from the condition he is in right now. "Please perform the Dusk of the Dead ritual." Muttering these words, he points at the cart behind him. Rosillia was taken aback by his words and turns to inspect the cart and as if to affirm her thoughts, what reveals before her eyes are the dead parents of Phyxius and a chest which contains her sister in liquefied state. She throws up the lunch that she had just ate two hours ago. Phyxius wasn't shock from her reaction. "I'll bring them inside for the ritual. So please be ready by then." He picked up his father's and mother's bodies carrying both of them in one shoulder and placing the chest on other one. "Wait, Phyxius tell me what happened?" Rosillia who couldn't understand anything, demanded an answer from him. "Demons!" Enlightened by the words that he just spoke of, Rosillia composed herself. "I understand please bring them inside quickly, please tell me about the details later, got it?" Phyxius just nods without looking at her and proceeds inside the church.
It took about two hours for the ritual and explanation on how it all happens to finish. The sun was setting down when Phyxius arrive in the village, now it's completely dark outside. This could spell trouble for them since demons thrives on darkness but the land is protecred by the barrier, that will repel any demonic being, was installed around the continent of Philippus. So it was a mystery how demons could appear in the valley since it's within the premise of the continent.
"I want to change my profession." Rosillia was stunned by his words. "Haaaa!!!!???.."