Elevation of Mana Chapter 23 Beasts of Darkness

Distracted mother may have been by the incoming crisis, but forgotten I was not. While her sister, the traitor, quickly wrapped my creations in a small leather pouch I was led back to where the group was.

Elaya was counting, each and every group was also making sure that all of their members were there. During the counting she sent up several of her little light and sound shows, trying to attract the attention of whoever had gone missing. After the main gathering though, nobody joined us.

"One of our scouting groups didn't come back, we know their track, and several of the hunters will need to go and check. Larus has agreed to lead that group while the rest of us stay here," she said.

The leader of the hunters did not look pleased as he picked out several of the men to join him, father included. I now knew almost everyone in the village and his choices were clear. He was taking all the strongest fighters. I didn't know what he was expecting, but it seemed it may end in a fight.

As the group of elites disappeared into the brush everyone else took up defensive positions. The smallest children were kept near the middle, along with those who didn't have much in the way of defensive abilities. On the outside were the remaining men, backed by mother and Elaya, eyes scanning in every direction.

Minutes passed, as time flowed away, it crawled for us in the field, unable to help our friends and family. We waited and waited for what seemed like hours, hoping for some indication, some sighting. Sentries eventually switched and the sun soon began to fall.

Before twilight could take us the group reappeared, with them they had two large skeletons, as well as two injured elves. One of them was Larus, head lolling side to side as he was carried from the brush. The largest man of our tribe had seemed invincible, but now he couldn't even walk, instead being carried. Dad was there helping haul him along, a panicked look on his face as he sang, wisps of mana flowing over his injured friend.

Mother hurried toward the injured while Elaya just froze, looking at the corpses. The men were in a panic as they lay the two large, piles of bones.

"Put up lights, now!" She yelled at us.

Without hesitation a dozen or more balls of magic shot up all around. Most were dim, as my own crested high up, bathing the area in radiance. I though the elder would move to mother's side and haul her up from the way she looked over towards her, instead she began yelling at everyone nearby to get ready for battle.

"What's going on?" I asked loudly, feeding the ball above us magic slowly.

"Why did you fools bring the bodies back?" She asked several of the men.

"Larus told us we needed them," one said, looking a bit worried.

"Of course he did, didn't think he'd get hurt did he!?" She nearly screamed.

"What's going on?" I repeated, louder.

"Well, I can tell you what killed our scouts. There shouldn't be more than three more, but there will be at least one, and it will be coming for us."

"What?" Mother asked, looking worried as the injured men's bodies knit themselves back together under her care.

As if to answer her question there was a deep, pained-sounding howling. The keening noise echoed again and again, spreading throughout our little valley. It seemed to come from everywhere.

"Twilight beasts, pack hunters and about most dangerous animals in the region," she answered. "Get ready everyone, they're smart, fast, strong, resistant to our light, and they know we killed two of theirs. They'll come soon, tonight if I were a guess, everyone stay within the bright area, they're able to shrug off injuries in the darkness."

"The bodies?" Someone asked.

"Have to draw them in to kill them," Larus wheezed, finally stirring from his sleep. Mother tried to push him to the ground, but he struggled his way up, her magic giving him just enough strength to sit up a bit. "Only way is to kill some, they'll want vengeance."

"Yes you daft boy, but you brought them back TO WHERE THE CHILDREN ARE!" Answered our elder. "How did you even manage to kill two of them!?"

"They were eating, one of ours," he said. The pain in his voice was clear, everyone here were close, either by blood, or by friendship.

As she finished her rant one of the hunters spoke. "There!"

I followed his pointed spear to where a huge form trudged out of the darkness. It was a wolf, only it was nearly the size o a horse, and seemed to flicker like a shadow in candlelight. The most striking thing though were the eyes, eyes filled with hatred and rage as it made its way into our little clearing.

"Another!" Came a call from the other side off our group. I couldn't see, but I was guessing that a second beast had appeared.

"Elian," Elaya said. "Whatever you do, keep the area bright."

I watched as the two beasts circled us. They took their time, trodding, carefully looking at all the members of our group. Not once did they leave the shadowed edge of the forest, not once did they charge and try to rip us apart.

We waited, and eventually they fled back into the darkness. I didn't understand it, if what Elaya had told us was true then they should be coming, and quickly, but they didn't. They didn't attack, and I got the sense that they wouldn't just... leave, not like that. I wasn't sure why, or what was going on, but there was nothing else, not a scratching, nor another howl, just... nothing.

"Did they leave?" Someone asked.

"How smart are they?" I replied.

"Smart," Larus and Elaya both answered. He was still in and out, but tried to speak. "I don't know why... normally they just come in and attack..."

"There's a lot of us, and only two of them though.  They know the light is bad and we can't flee right now." I surmised. "Do we have anything else that could hurt them?"

"In the light everything hurts them," she answered, still looking around.

Night deepened, and they didn't come.  The moon and stars rose, and they didn't come.  We stood there, stuck in the circle for hour after hour, and they still didn't come.

As the stars and moon made their trek across the sky I felt myself begin to weaken.  Keeping the mana light above us on wasn't hard as such, but it was effort, and I was still physically a child.  My eyes began to droop and two or three times I nearly fell asleep, only to be jolted back awake.

As all things must though, the night ended.  Darkness gave way to the morning light, the growing brightness in the eastern skies until finally the sun crested the edge of the little valley and bathed us all in its golden rays.  I nearly passed out, finally letting my own illumination fall after holding it in place for so very long.

Slowly our group moved back to the village proper.  If nothing else we could fortify it a bit and wait them out.  With our stored foods for the oncoming winter we had a couple of weeks to wait, something Elaya didn't seem to think our enemies would do.

When we all finally stumbled our way to our home what we found was devastating.  Huts were torn from their foundations, ripped like paper in the hands of an angry child.  The few watchers who'd stayed behind yesterday littered the ground, eyes staring lifelessly into the sky.  Tools and goods were strewn about, torn apart.  The monsters were smart enough to track us, smart enough to know where we'd come from.  Even our cold room was dug up, the meat inside now out in the morning air and attracting flies.

It was crushing, all we'd struggled to prepare for the last  several years was now wrecked by a pair of vengeful monsters.  I could see several people on the verge of weeping, others were just happy to still be alive.

"Where do we go?"  Mother asked to no one, looking at our hut, now little more than a dying bush.

"Cave," I said tiredly.

"What?"  My aunt asked.

"The cave Elaya took me to to train.  There's only one way in, but we'll need to move the rock at the back."

I could see the elder's eyes widen as she looked at me.  "Smart boy!  Everyone, grab whatever you can carry that's still good, we don't have much time, we need to go before the sun is fully overhead!"

I heard a few people start running towards their ruined homes as sleep finally overcame me and my eyes shut.

A/N:  I had an impossibly hard time with this chapter, going back and forth again and again.  Some of you might recognize the enemy that our dear Justin is facing, and the name change is intentional.  They're the same thing, but different cultures, and even the same culture over the course of how long ago this was change what they call things.