Chapter 83: The Legendary Beast Of Eruit Part 2

At certain tavern at the certain town on the outskirts of the Korlon kingdom was a group of men rambunctiously discussing the war between two bordering nations. "Amak has pushed us back again." One disheveled and visibly wounded man said with a solemn undertone, yet on his face, there was only a smile. "bah!!!" his neighbor shouted as he patted his friends back, "this war isn't lost yet." The wounded man smiled but on the inside, his mind raced with thoughts about his wife and daughter who lived near the border. He would have deserted if not for the strict rules they were forced to abide by, deserting would end in his family's execution and he didn't have enough confidence to reach his family before the high officials caught wind of his crime.

"what about you?" the wounded man said looking at the young man to his right. The young man was a handsome youth of seventeen and had recently joined the war effort. The young man was quiet and didn't immediately respond, he chose instead to take another swig of his drink before turning to face the two men. "I'm not too worried, not here at least." The two men looked at each other with some confusion. "they say there is beast around here, quite powerful. the Amak army has surely experienced some of its attacks. Entire caravans and groups of soldiers demolished. The beast doesn't seem to kill but the injuries it causes are no laughing matter. The only way to avoid it is to go around the Eruit forest which is a longer journey and easily interceptable. Korlon is probably using this forest as a buffer and the young and wounded as an extra precautionary measure."

"the beast of Eruit? I thought that was just a legend." Said the hearty man to the left of the wounded man. The young man smiled with a grin that for a movement, the wounded man couldn't help but think of the words, "fiend" but the malicious twisted grin quickly returned to that of a young man with ambitious goals. " around 9 years ago, we were chasing after a group of spies who had important information about our army." The two men's ears perked up, they certainly remembered the devastating defeats they faced nine years ago, it was defeat after defeat, Korlon had lost four provinces by the end of the year, three of which he had never been able to reclaim. The young man continued, " Our pursing force was hot on their trail but just before they could reach them, they were intercepted by the beast who was said to contain such powerful destructive energy that it terrified the soldiers. They fled and abandoned their mission. Upon returning home they explained to his majesty Korlon why they had fled, he asked them what the beast looked like. None answered for they fled before even laying a single glance upon the beast. The party then pointed the finger at the scouting mage in their party as he was the one who pleaded for them to flee. His majesty Korlon then ordered his execution on the grounds of treason, which was fulfilled three days later." The men were silent for a moment and then asked, "how do you know all this?" the young man's expression turned dark, "that executed man was my father but now thanks to his warning, Korlon never lost a soldier to the beast." The young man finished his drink and proceed to leave the tavern, just as his foot reached the exit, from behind him he heard the wounded man call out to him, "I don't think I ever got your name?" the young man turned around and gave a light bow, "Sarec of Burt, now if you'll excuse me, I'm due for a long rest."

The following morning Sarec and his allies formed a small battalion of three hundred and marched on the border of the Eruit forest; they were no different than border patrol officers. As the days went by more men came to fill the shoes for those who had healed and sent to more dangerous battlefields; Sarec and others his age remained some bored and others happy that they would not see bloodshed. As such, Sarec was noticeably peculiar the manner in which he meticulously combed the Eruit forest, sometimes daring to enter far deeper than any of them were permitted too. On the fifth day of the third month of spring, an incident occurred.

To the far west was the country of Amak ruled by Mork, considered to be a young god despite his long time as a god. Mork and Korlon had always been at odds since the start of their kingdoms but after a small hunting party injured a relative of Mork, all pretense broke down which sparked a war for that had lasted, up to the point for two decades. Korlon a once fair-minded rule had become extremely strict with regulations, sometimes going so far as to control every aspect of the lives of those who lived in the capital city. the change, however, prevented the loss of his kingdom and it was followed by a retaliation that, although hadn't been completely effective in its goal, succeeded in reclaiming a portion of his kingdom.

Mork had grown begun to grow impatient, Korlon had managed to make a stand in several strategic locations which prevented Mork from pushing his army forward, the Eruit forest that bordered both their territories was the simplest and most advantageous path to take as it the first had several downward slopes that led into Korlon’s territories, however the sudden appearance of an unknown beast put a stop to his plans. Mork could see the fruit of victory but could not take it, he had become frustrated and so that day, on the fifth of the third month he had sent a small elite force to squash Korlon once and for all.

The skies were growing dark and the daily patrols for that day were nearing the end when from out a thicket game a gravely wounded young man, his mouth was agape as a large slash covered one side to the other, splitting his mouth seemingly in half. The first men to witness this quickly sounded the horn they all kept at their side.

The horn was a deep powerful echo that startled the wildlife deeper into the wood and the birds high into the air. The hearts of the young and wounded palpitated with a mix of fear and excitement as they rushed back, in search of possible enemies.

It was not just the Amak and Korlon armies that heard the horns but Terra too who at that time had been resting peacefully beneath a fruit tree before suddenly being awoken by a fallen fruit that fell from its position from the jolt of sound that loudly echoed about. The fruit above her had smacked down onto her skull and stained her face with a sticky and sugary resin. She stood up and growled lightly in irritation. She was no longer a child, she had grown taller and stronger with the appearance of a fifteen or sixteen-year-old girl. her clothing consisted of mostly leaves as the fairies she had befriended taught her but if one inspected closely, they would see little pockets of the earth that held her clothing together. She stood at a modest 4 feet and five inches a great contrast to her future height. Her eyes were an emerald green and her hair was an elegant brown. She walked forward with a lazed demeanor as she scratched her dust-ridden head. A puff a smoke bloomed as she shook her head from side to side and groggily wiped the sugary liquid off her face. "who's entered my forest?" she muttered with an almost cute snarl, however, despite her relative innocence, her aura still commanded a respect that all beasts obeyed. All creatures understood that all who stood in her path were pigs for the slaughter and angering her was a grave offense.

She spread her wings while still in her humanoid form and quickly sped towards the commotion which by that point had already become a war zone. The Amak army consisted of some high-level soldiers of the soldier rank while most of the Korlon army was made of up injured peasant ranked fighters, it was a slaughter and despite the overwhelming advantage in numbers, the korlon army had quickly lost ground. Many felt despair in their hearts and anger in their veins.

"I must return alive." one soldier thought as he shouted a powerful warrior cry as he sliced down with his mighty axe but was met with a powerful arm that easily blocked his strongest blow. This same arm then tightened its muscles and hit him like a fallen tree, his mouth bled as his body was sent flying. Another warrior who wished to prove himself ran straight into the battle but he did not take one step into the conflict before his head was severed from his body by a powerful-looking man who held two blades in each hand. This single man was enough to hold off a team of thirteen fighters, killing one every few seconds. More impressive than the swordsman was the mage at the back of that small incursion force who with a few whispers spread terror and tore flesh. His way of fighting was malicious as his fallen foes would surrender their blood for him which was then used to form blood golems which pierced through their enemies with a frightening force.

Sarec, during all this, was at the front line, holding off several of the soldiers on his own using his vast knowledge of military tactics to gain his advantage, sometimes using his allies as a buffer but in the end, he would cut foe after foe with his blade. His face was stained in blood and his sword had torn to its hilt when she arrived. Her arrival preserved his life as his opponent let his guard down at that moment, allowing Sarec to rob him of his blade and impale him with it.

On the korlon side, only a few dozen soldiers remained with a loss of over five hundred, on the Amak side, a little under two hundred remained, with a loss no more than fifty men. Terra looked down on these men covered in the guts of their enemies and snarled which to the humans who had little connection to their instincts, felt nothing, but even they saw and heard the world grow quiet and leaves cease movement as if the trees themselves feared this being in front of them.

The battles ceased and the first to speak was the swordsman who with some bravado, shouted at Terra. "Are you the supposed beast of this forest," he sneered and mocked as Terra's gaze grew sharper, "a little girl just barely old enough for marriage???" the mage at this point turned to the swordsman and shouted, "SILENCE!!! FOOL!!!" the mage's heart shook with a primordial fear he had never felt in his life and would never feel again. The same mage quickly turned back to the young girl and fell to his knees and bowed, "if all you want to live do as In do!!!" he shouted to his allies, only half of which obeyed, all of them were befuddled. However, Sarec and some of those who knew him followed his lead and bowed just like the mage.

"forgive us for intruding, we did not believe you to be real." Terra silently looked at the men in front of him and wonder what she should do. The last time a group of men in armor intruded upon her territory, they destroyed a spot she enjoyed playing in, she had intended to scare them away but they attacked her instead, leading to her using very aggressive measures, over half the men that day never walked again and although Terra never directly killed them, many died on their way back to their kingdom; the mage wanted to avoid that fate at all costs. Like those of the Korlon kingdom, these events were almost fairytales, the events were certainly true but the cause was always a mystery but now as he stood in front of the very being, who with his magic sense could see a bottomless pit of power, he knew these stories to be true. For 8 years, that single event was enough of a deterrent for both armies to cease activity in the Eruit Forest and now he saw why she was a rumor, would anyone tell their superiors that they lost to a half-naked girl no older than sixteen? "she was even younger then." The mage thought with some horror that froze him in his prostrated position.

"The smell of your blood irritates me, the smell of the iron in your veins is impure and filled with a disgusting mix of mana. Leave now and I won't harm you." Terra said in a fierce voice. although she had never met her father, she remembered his listens while she was still an egg and remembered that Mortals fear beings like her which had then in that instance, proven true. A part of her wept in sorrow as she had wished to one day see a human city but seeing the grotesque slaughter committed against one another she also wished to never see one in her life. It was in her nature to avoid conflict, even the fairies which she had spent a part of her youth with were more aggressive than she but her father also taught her that she must stand her ground or be stepped all over by the other races.

The swordsman, however, had other plans, he was not privy to the truth and thought the whole ordeal to be nothing more than a joke. He took his blades and dashed forward and attacked Terra. The mage's heart sunk at the sight of this but he wasn't quick enough to do anything. The swordsman slashed thrice, two with his right hand and once with his left which all happened in nearly an instant, in the same instant, a startled Terra, who was unaccustomed to being attacked, punched forward leaving a gaping hole in the swords man's chest. The swordsman fell to the ground with a dull thud and then there was only silence. A moment later terrible screams echoed about as all the men who were kneeling had now stood up and began to flee. Everyone from both sides fled in fear and terror, they thought of knowing but their own survival and during this entire turmoil, only Sarec noticed Terra's reaction. She looked at her bloodied hand with terror and her hands visibly shook as if she couldn't believe what she had just done she had hurt others to defend herself before but never had she experienced the direct death of another by her own hands, tears streaked down her face and then she disappeared out of sight, leaving Sarec thoughtful of the beasts true nature.

"egh." Scitus found himself kneeling and vomiting as the emotions of a young Terra flooded his consciousness. with painstaking detail, he could feel her emotions at that moment. Disgust, shock, self-hatred, a whirlwind of emotions invaded his mind as he desperately tried to suppress her most painful memories from attacking him. "Hera, get him to the city, I need a better place to check his condition!!!" Sia said with an unusual concern in her voice, as she simultaneously cast an illusion spell to prevent both enemy and allies from seeing the full situation.

It was not only he fighting this battle of memories; those of the Lizardfolk territories felt terrible trembles shake the world beneath their feet, on occasion hearing a dull sound that if one listened closely too, would come to understand that this sound was a dreadfully pained scream. Terra, the caster of the soul contract, felt the emotions more strongly than Scitus, she felt the memories more real and to her who never had a family of her own was then granted one by Scitus's memories and then for it suddenly to be stolen away from her, it was painful and heart wrenching; for the second time in her life she had lost something precious to her.

It would take her three days to finally suppress the memories from invading her.