by John Nest
“Eight,” answered Buktot. He fidgeted and forcibly stuffed his hands into his pockets to stop them from shaking. “Anyway, my theory is that the Aswangs have returned to the Sawtorn Continent.”
“Um…What are Aswangs?” asked Smoke, curious.
“Oh, you don’t know about them?” asked Buktot. With a raised eyebrow, he eyed Smoke up and down.
In response, Smoke covered himself in amethyst flames, embarrassed at his mismatched equipment.
After Smoke resumed his fiery avatar, Buktot proceeded to talk. “Well let me tell you what my grandfather told me when I was a kid…”
Smoke waited for Buktot to continue talking, but the hunchback stopped. He looked around all paranoid as if someone was eavesdropping on them.
“Let’s go back to my house,” said Buktot, pulling Smoke with him. “Aah!” he screamed, as he was scorched by the purple flames surrounding Smoke.
“Sorry, sorry,” said Smoke, canceling his flames and stepping away from Buktot. “I didn’t know you were going to touch me.”
As Buktot clutched his injured hand, Smoke offered him a roll of gauze and some burn ointment. “Here, this should help with the pain,” said Smoke.
“Thanks,” replied Buktot, allowing Smoke to wrap his hand around it. “Anyway, let’s head on over to my house.”
An obedient Smoke followed Buktot and left a wide distance between them, careful not to hurt him again.
On the way to the house, Smoke spotted a few children near the windows. But all of them had adult companions standing next to them. They held onto them tight. It was as if they would be plucked away from them at any given moment.
The rest of the village was a succession of the first few houses Smoke saw. None of them gave him a welcoming smile. Instead, they gave him the eyes of distrust.
“We’re almost there,” said Buktot, taking a sharp right corner on their supposed market area.
With one quick glance, Smoke could tell that there was nothing there to sell or trade. The place was empty. There were five stalls, but only one of them had wares to sell. The only vendor there sold bread, rabbit meat, and other items accessible to a Novice.
“Here, this is my house,” said Buktot, leading Smoke into a medium-sized home.
It was a modest log cabin. If not for the stacks of barrels outside the house, it could easily pass off as any of the other houses.
“What’s in the barrels?” asked Smoke.
“Oh, those?” replied Buktot, nervous. “That’s just something I’m playing around with. You don’t have to concern yourself with them.”
Smoke stared at Buktot and back at the barrels, but decided not to pursue it any further.
“Well, why don’t we go in?” offered Buktot.
Once inside, Smoke was forcibly ushered to a wooden stool next to the door. Whereas, Buktot himself rushed over to a shelf, where he covered a wooden box with a towel.
“Sorry about the mess,” said Buktot, pointing over to the pile of clothes on the floor. He pulled another wooden chair and placed it next to Smoke as he sat on it.
“No, it’s fine,” said Smoke who gave him a smile, only to realize that his face was covered by his gora helmet.
“You don’t mind if I remove this, do you?” asked Smoke. He wanted to gain the hunchback’s trust, and hiding behind such an intimidating helm would not be the way to go.
“Sure, go right ahead,” replied Buktot, still clutching on to his injured hand.
After removing his helmet, Smoke smiled and gave him a small nod. “Does it still hurt?” he asked pointing to Buktot’s hand.
“Hm… not really,” replied Buktot. “It was my fault anyway. Who in their right mind would touch a flaming man?” he added and gave out a forced chuckle.
“If you’re feeling up to it? Why don’t you continue your talk about the Aswangs?” asked Smoke.
“Of course, of course,” said Buktot. “They’re horrific fiends from ancient times. Some say they are as old as the Magietrois itself, if not older.”
“Fiends? Are they beast type monsters?” asked Smoke. “What do they look like?”
Buktot gave him a nervous laugh. “To be honest, I don’t know. But my grandfather said that they could look like anything.”
“Wait a minute,” said Buktot, who suddenly stood up and walked over to his shelf. There, he picked up a book. “He gave this to me when I was younger, but there are no pictures in it,” he said and handed the book to Smoke.
With his increased Wisdom stat, Smoke acquired the knowledge of the book in a matter of seconds.
Aswangs
Are shapeshifting monsters commonly possessing a combination of traits from vampires, ghouls, witches, or a different species of werebeast.
Yet, their Queen is said to possess the trait of all of them together.
It is the subject of a wide variety of myths and stories, but the most common one of them is how they take the forms of grotesque people and like to abduct children for eating.
Rumor has it that these Aswangs travel from continent to continent. This is one of their ways to avoid themselves from being found.
Susceptible To:
> Flames, Salt, Garlic, or Holy Water
While Smoke was reading the acquired knowledge window, there was a knock on Buktot’s door.
“Excuse me,” said Buktot and went to answer the door. “Yes?”
“Buktot, you need to come with me,” said the villager at the door. “Hinala and Duda are gathering up the other villagers to remove you from your post.”
“What? I thought they were just making empty threats,” said Buktot. He then turned to Smoke and said. “I’m sorry, but I have to go. Can you wait outside my house for me?”
“Oh, sure! No problem,” replied Smoke. He obediently stood up and walked out Buktot’s home.
“I’ll see you in a bit,” said Buktot, running after the villager who called him.
Smoke waited a few more minutes for Buktot to leave. When he sensed that no one was around, he reached his hand for the flaps of his hooded cloak and pulled out Daga.
“Take a look at that box covered by a towel,” he said to the little gray mouse.
Daga nodded and got off his shoulders. It scampered towards the door and squeezed its little body in between the gaps. As soon as it got in, it went for the covered box and opened it, investigating its contents.
In less than ten seconds, Smoke’s Shade returned to him with its findings. He offered Daga another nibble of ancient bison jerky, as he read the report window.
Daga’s Findings:
Box contained the following items:
> 200,000 zecs
> A scroll of the price range for miraculous healing at the Thanotl Kingdom
> A picture of a young Buktot and a beautiful black-haired girl
‘Hm. This looks interesting,’ thought Smoke, motioning for his Shade to return to its hiding place.
After a few more minutes, Smoke heard a scream coming from the direction of where Buktot and the village ran to earlier.
Posthaste, Smoke sprinted towards the source. It took him less than a few seconds to find the Nadaya villagers cowering in one corner. On the opposite side was an Ork, who had a child locked in his arms.
“Your pathetic excuse of a village is perfect for us to kidnap your children!” screamed the Ork.
Smoke reflexively created an earth-pillar to capture the Ork, but he was careful not to make it to tight, so he could avoid hitting the child.
However, this move proved to be advantageous to the Ork.
Before Smoke could react, the Ork released the child and squirmed out of the earth-pillars. The green giant then swiftly ran out of the village. He moved with the same speed as the Ork Colonel Vergewaltiger and disappeared from sight.
Smoke wanted to fly in the air to get an aerial view, but as he was now disguised as a Magic Knight, he decided not to.
With his movements restricted, Smoke focused in on his Cunning of the
Dire Fox. Yet, even with his Master Level ability, he could no longer sense the presence of any Ork.
“Is Everyone alright?” Smoke asked the crowd.
He found Buktot in front of the crowd. He was shielding them from the attacking Ork.
Meanwhile, Duda was far in the back. She was huddled together with the other children, her baby held tightly in her arms.
“Who are you supposed to be?” angrily asked Duda.
At once, Smoke turned on his dark flames. However, he quickly retreated some distance away from them. He feared that another villager would get accidentally hurt by his fiery facade.
“The name’s Ilad, the Magic Knight. I was sent here by Magietrois Florissant to help your village,” he boldly replied.
“So, Buktot wasn’t making up stories about sending for help after all,” said Duda. She then turned to the crowd. “Anyone got hurt?”
On the other hand, Buktot ran towards the boy who was held captive by the Ork.
“Biik, are you okay?” Buktot asked the plump boy.
“I’m fine,” replied Biik. “Now, let me go! Before you infect me with your disease.” The little boy then ran towards his mother in the clustered crowd behind Buktot.
“See? I told you it was the Orks who were taking our children!” exclaimed Duda. “Now, what are you going to do about it, Buktot?”
“I’m not so sure,” interjected Smoke. “That Ork didn’t act like any of the Orks I’ve ever met before and—”
Smoke was stopped mid sentence, as Duda shushed him by raising her hand. “Sir Ilad, excuse me,” she began. “But can we ask you for a favor?”
“Right now?” said Smoke confused, as he had just met the woman.
An eager Duda nodded and said. “Buktot was clearly mistaken. As everyone witnessed, we need to defend ourselves against the Orks.” She paused and tilted her head. “Perhaps, you can reinforce the village walls with the earth magic you used earlier?” she asked in a forced sweet tone.
“Sure, I can do that,” replied Smoke with a troubled face. “But I don’t think that the Ork was your usual—”
This time, Smoke was cut off by the interim village chief.
“No use arguing about it, Sir Ilad,” said Buktot. “Come, I’ll take you to the parts of the walls with the least defenses.”
Buktot then leads Smoke to a different part of the village, away from the rest of the assaulted mob.
* * * * * *
Using his Earth Manipulation, an obliging Smoke created sturdy walls worthy enough to defend a small city. Despite having worked for the past hour, he only covered up to 10% of the village.
“You know? I could surround the entire village with a shorter wall,” Smoke said to Buktot. “And it will be quicker too.”
“No, no, this is fine,” said the hunchback, who was sitting in the shade doing nothing but observing Smoke all this time. “This is just to pacify their clamor of upgrading our walls.”
Buktot then stood up and dusted himself off. “Besides, I have a feeling that tonight will be the last.”
“The last what?” asked a passive Smoke, not looking at Buktot. He pretended to be immersed in the creation of the solid fortifications.
“Nothing… was just talking out loud,” replied Buktot. The hunchback paced back and forth before finally speaking again. “Um… I was just wondering,” he said. “But is it true that once you Sonstwelters leave for your world it will take some time before you get back?”
Smoke stopped working on the wall and turned to face him. “You know, you’re the first Zectian to ask me that.”
“Really? I didn’t mean anything by it,” quickly said Buktot. “And you don’t have to answer if you don’t want to. I was just curious, that’s all.”
“It depends on the Sonstwelter,” said Smoke. “But in my case, it does take some time before I return.”
“I see,” replied Buktot. “Thanks for telling me. Well, I better leave you to it then. I don’t want to cause you any delay,” he said and walked towards one of the log houses.
Smoke watched him leave before he resumed working on the walls. “Follow him, Daga,” he said under his breath, without facing his Shade.
The little gray mouse jumped out from its hiding place and dashed with its tiny feet after Buktot.
“Right, better get this thing built then,” said Smoke to himself.
Sensing no one near him, Smoke raised a full section of the wall straight up from the ground. However, its height was only three-fourths of the one next to it.
‘That’s all I can make at one go, huh?’ he thought disappointed. He wondered how far he was now from Ledur’s level of Earth Manipulation.
He stopped working and stared at the two walls next to each other. ‘Maybe I can cover the entire village if I alternate the height?’ he debated with himself, but stopped as soon as he felt the presence of somebody watching him.
“Come out, I know you’re there,” he said to the log house where he sensed someone.
“Wow! You can even tell, huh?” said Duda, stepping out into clear view. “You are Sir Ilad, right?”
“Yes. I’m just reinforcing the walls as Buktot instructed,” replied Smoke. “Where’s your baby?” he asked, as he noticed that she wasn’t carrying one anymore.
“He’s sleeping,” replied Duda. “My sister Hinala is watching him as we speak,” she quickly added, all defensive.
“That’s good,” said Smoke. “You can’t be too careful. What with all the missing children the past few days.”
“Exactly!” replied Duda. “You know what? You seem sort of reliable,” she blurted out. “And I should know because I’m a great judge of character.”
“Really?” asked Smoke. “Then, you think Buktot is really up to something?”
“I’m not a hundred percent, but something is definitely off about him ever since he became the village chief.”
“So, you think he’s the one kidnapping the children and selling them for zecs?” asked Smoke.
“Oh no! Buktot would never do that… I think,” she said, hesitant. “That was just my sister drawing her own conclusions.”
“I don’t get it,” said Smoke. “I thought you hated the guy? But it looks like you’re defending him.”
“Well, he may not be the prettiest boy on the planet, but he does have quite a few good traits about him,” replied Duda. “In fact, he’s the only one who volunteered to take the on the mantle of the village chief. At first, I thought it would be great. He could do so much for the village, but then he neglected… Anyway, he ran unopposed as most of the villagers already migrated to the Thanotl Kingdom.”
“Is that so?” asked Smoke, investigating further. “Why do you know so much about Buktot, anyway?”
“Um… Growing up, we were different from the other children. Back then, we used to be really close,” began Duda. “We played all day, and even pretended to farm the barren lands outside the village.” She let out a merry sigh, as she reminisced. “But all of that changed when he heard I got pregnant. He even went and became the village chief. It’s just silly really, considering that he’s—” she suddenly stopped herself from talking. “Hahaha,” she forcibly laughed. “Look at me blabbing my guts out to a complete stranger.”
“I don’t mind hearing more,” said Smoke, smiling as he tried to gain some rapport with her. “What if Buktot had some money with him? Would that something to be alarmed about?” he quickly added, as he hoped to acquire additional information.
“If it’s anything over ten thousand zecs, then something is definitely up,” replied Duda. “But don’t mind me, that was just some useless blabber,” she said, apprehensive. “Anyway, what about these walls, huh? I’ve never seen anything like it before. I just hope that they really keep out the Orks.”
“Yes, about that. I don’t think that the attacker was an Ork,” said Smoke. “For one, I’ve never seen one all alone and—”
“Then, he’s a rogue Ork,” interjected Duda. “You c
an’t deny what your eyes see, and I saw an Ork. Didn’t that monster look like an Ork to you?”
“Of course, he did but—” began Smoke but was interrupted again.
“Then it’s settled, build the wall as Buktot ordered,” she said. “That’s the one thing he’s doing right, or he could just quit being the village chief and return to being more compassionate.”
“Compassionate?” asked Smoke, confused.
She paused and recomposed herself. “Anyway, I was wondering about something.”
“Yes? What’s that?” replied Smoke.
“I heard that you Sonstwelters often leave Zectas to return to your world,” said Duda. “Do you know what time you’re planning to leave today?”
“I usually leave at about six or seven,” replied Smoke, observant on her reactions. “But I make it a point to return before five in the morning, if I can,” he quickly added.
“I see,” said Duda. “Well, thanks for telling me that. My sister was asking about it,” she added. “It was a pleasant chat, but I have to return to my son.”
Smoke waved goodbye. As he watched her leave, he could not help but wonder what was the history between Duda and Buktot.
* * * * * *
After three more hours, Smoke had fortified 50% of the village. Many of the villagers also came to watch him, which slowed down his pace, as he wanted to talk to them about their opinions on the current happenings in Nadaya.
As it had grown late into the afternoon, Smoke was given an empty log cabin to rest in. It belonged to one of the many families who migrated to the neighboring kingdom.
Smoke was resting in the dining area, devouring a bowl of sand cheetah broth. He resorted to using the gamey meat of the fast desert monsters, as his supply of ancient bison was already running low. Despite his Master level Cooking ability, the sand cheetah meat still gave a pungent odor which now filled the entire cabin.
Then, a little gray mouse snuck up behind him and stood next to his bowl.
‘Looks like Daga already gained the Perfect Sneak ability,’ thought a smiling Smoke, as he was now unable to sense his Shade with his Cunning of the Dire Fox.
