Chapter 4: Chapter 4: A Distorted Hope

It was relatively quiet outside as only a few noises could be heard. They were coming from the villagers inside their homes who were getting ready for the assembly. The crows from the rooftops were eyeballing B and the rest of the group as they were making their way to the stable.

"I have a feeling we're being watched," the girl said.

"Don't mind it. It's normal taking into consideration everything that happened these past years. The crows here are usually extra aggressive as they are used to feeding on the bodies floating down the river. It's like they know that we'll die and are waiting for it to happen, so they can feed on our eyeballs and brains." The reply came from Paul.

"They are so used to eating humans that if they see someone struggling on the ground or sleeping outdoors, they will attack. That is just another reason for people not to go out at night."

"Picking on the weak, ay?" were B's thoughts. She was staring back at one of the crows fascinated.

"Come you two. I want to show you something." Anta said increasing the pace and waddling like a penguin.

The small group reached a twenty meters long tent from which one could easily hear people suffering and feel the smell of death from more than a dozen meters away.

"Oh, my lady! You came to visit me." A man's thick and hoarse voice came from the right.

"AAAA!" B got startled and jumped behind Anta. She was looking at him with the eyes of a scared cat showing no trust at all.

"Calm down, kid. This is Victor, he is a true gentleman as you can see." Anta said with satisfaction as the weird-looking man kissed her thick hand.

He was a rather tall man despite having some visible back problems. The blue cotton vest with buttons that he was wearing and the elegant long trousers on his long and thin legs were indeed giving him the impression of a gentleman. He was mostly bald as only a few strands of hair were hanging on the sides. His big and creepy triangular face that was down in front of his chest because of the neck hump was the reason B got startled.

"So what's going on, Doctor Victor?"

"Not good, my lady. The number of people with severe malformations is increasing rapidly. We had to put some blankets outside on the grass as there is no space left in the tent." Victor answered as he led them inside.

All the men inside were suffering from some kind of malformation. Whether they were back malformations, hands, hips, knees, the ankle of the foot, or found in some other place on the body, they all seemed to be in their final stage.

"Poor fellas," Paul's words were filled with sadness, "Is my fate sealed as well?"

"Your disease is in a very early stage. I assume you will probably live for another two years, but the pain will get much worse in time," was the doctor's answer.

"Unless nobody brings me some plants to try and create a cure, all men will end up like this eventually."

"Just so you know, B. Once they reach a critical stage and wish to die, we usually let them leave the village. Most of them seem to get attracted by something out there. We think that by doing this, we please the monsters and they refrain from attacking us, just like with the weekly sacrifice." Anta explained.

As they were leaving, B saw a man outside the tent and close to the big fence circling the village. He was hugging his knees at his chest while swinging back and forth like a baby.

"Well, that's a first," the girl said deciding to ignore him and move on as she was starting to get used to seeing strange things by this point. The creepy man turned his lifeless face towards B and watched her leave.

 

*

The blazing fire was rising majestically towards the night sky filled with stars as far as one could see. Around the three meters tall fire, the villagers gathered were sitting on tree trunks and logs whispering to each other and drinking.

"Aham!" The old woman pretended to cough loudly in order to get everyone's attention.

"I will start our meeting by saying that our strongest warrior, Mordor, is now dead."

The people in the crowd chaotically started mumbling among themselves. They were shocked.

"How could that even happen?" a man stood up and asked dumbfounded.

"He was our trump card! I thought he could even kill some of those creatures by himself."

"Fear not!" Anta raised her voice and stopped the chattering. "We now have B, the new girl, who is even stronger."

"Pleased to meet you!" the girl smiled proudly, put a hand on her chest, and bowed at a ninety degrees angle.

"She swore she will protect us with her life on our next journey outside the walls of this village!" the old woman stated shamelessly.

"I never did, you scummy gran."

"How can a small and fluffy girl defend us from the devil?!" a man shouted angrily.

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"He is right, how the fuck are we supposed to go outside without our brute?"

"Get the hell out of here, punk! This ain't no meeting for kids." another man with a long beard threw a bone from the steak he's just eaten toward B.

"Huh?! You want a piece of me, sleepy dick?" the girl replied immediately clearly expressing her anger.

The man spat on the ground, stood up, and approached the girl, "What did you just call me?"

As the girl was about to say it again, another young man intervened, "Shut up, all of you! Get the hell back, Luke! She is much stronger than you think."

B recognized the man that interfered, he was one of the guards that saw her killing Mordor.

"Strong you say?" Luke smirked and quickly turned around to punch the girl. He didn't even have the chance to finish his swing because B's fist was already plunging deep into his stomach. A hit that was followed by a kick in exactly the same place was executed so fast that most people didn't even see her moving. Luke flew five meters back through the air and landed in the stable, breaking the door from the impact.

"Don't kill him!" Anta shouted as the girl went after him inside the stable.

"Don't worry, gran!"

Moans of pain and heavy punches could be heard coming from the stable.

"As you probably already know, the village is running low on food and herbs. If we don't do anything, we'll eventually die, all of us!"

Some of the people nodded in agreement.

Anta raised a hand.

"We'll go on an expedition next week. We'll bring every man who is not suffering from the sickness of the village, but we cannot risk the lives of our women. If we lose them, we all die. We'll stick together and we'll search for supplies. If we somehow manage to get out of this miserable place without any unlucky encounters, we'll take the opportunity and leave the village behind no matter how cruel this sounds to the ones remaining. We will save as many people as we can."

She looked around and made sure she made eye contact with every man, trying to make them understand the gravity of the situation.

"So get yourselves ready. Train hard, eat, sleep and repeat! We need to be as prepared as possible because we don't know what to expect."

Anta finished her speech.

"What if we'll upset them? We've never done this before. If we get forced back into the village, and then they decide to attack us all together the next day, we're all doomed!"

"Are you chickening out?” the muscular young lad with a mustache asked. His name was Oliver.

"I think it's time for us to shine! We'll go out there and fight with honor. Better to die with dignity than bow to those creatures begging for our lives. We stay, we die. We leave, we probably die too. But at least, this way we try to do something!"

A few men stood up and applauded him, followed by the whole crowd. They were finally reaching an agreement and cheering up a bit.

Not long has passed since everyone's spirits had been lifted and they were already down.

"Something extremely bad is about to happen!" B said in a low tone looking down at the ground and trembling as if she was standing naked out in the winter.

Everyone went quiet and looked at her. They didn't know why, but seeing her trembling in fear like that was scaring them to their bones.

A feeling of unease sized everyone around the fireplace. At that moment, they all felt like their lives were in the palm of a true demon. An entity so strong that it could squeeze their hearts making everyone drop dead in a matter of seconds.

Out there in the long distance and in the heart of the mountains, between the trees and into the black forest, sitting on a grotesque spider-like monster with human flesh, the strongest being that ever stepped on Earth had its red eyes on the village. She was a young beautiful lady holding a twenty-five centimeters long magic wand made of wood in her left hand.

The girl had red-ginger hair perfectly cut in a bob style. She was slim and was wearing white gloves, white boots, and a black long dress barely revealing any skin below her neckline and shoulders.

"No matter what you do now, you'll play in my hands by my rules, old hag. There is no escape for you. Rotting in the middle of these mountains far away from civilization, just like the rest, will be your fate. That's what you get for allying with humans and betraying us."

Monsters were swarming all around her like ants around a piece of bread.

Down there in front of the fire, B was now looking up at exactly one point on the distant and dark mountain, the place where the otherworldly strong entity was sitting. The young girl's acute vision allowed her to see much further than a normal human could, even in the dark. Her fear was slowly overcome by anger. She didn't know why, but she was despising her from the bottom of her heart. She wanted to kill her right then on the spot.

Without being aware of it, B was now smiling nervously and sweating. Her nails and teeth were slowly growing in size.

"A witch!"

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