Volume 3 Chapter 1: Part 4: The Abnormal

Ca? What is that? Onyx looked through the alleyway, wondering what the man's dying words meant. Walking through the alleyway, the first noticeable thing about it was how dark it was.

Really dark. Even with the sun out, Onyx almost couldn't see what was in front of him. As he took his step,

Blood. There was a strong smell of iron in the alleyway! Onyx continued to walk around. But what he felt the next second caused him to stop moving. He understood now.

The question was on Onyx's mind the entire time: Why aren't many bodies out in the open?

They were here.

Every time Onyx walked around, he could feel his legs brush upon something. And there's no need for him to guess what it was.

They were hiding here. Many villagers probably ran into the alleyway, trying their best to hide from the monster.

But this may have been the worst place to hide. The alleyway was narrow. It would be hard to move around if everyone hid there.

What was more, it was so dark that it was next to impossible to move around. It was the perfect place for the monster to corner them like a mouse.

I gotta keep moving. Onyx felt his face lose all color. But he knew he couldn't stop right now. He continued to walk deeper in, trying his best not to make contact with the bodies.

Ca? Does he mean carriage? But there are no carriages around here. Onyx began to think about the man's words to get his mind off. But the more he thought about it, the more clueless he became.

As he continued deeper into the alleyway, he felt it. Onyx had his hand on the wall, using it as a guide. But he felt something else.

Claw marks? And it wasn't just one. Onyx squinted his eyes, and he noticed there were multiple marks on the wall. He placed his hands on them,

These didn't come from a large monster. These marks were smaller, more razor-sharp.

Onyx continued down, feeling the claw marks through the wall. The deeper he went, the more destructive it became. The claw marks became blows as the wall got destroyed.

That following led him to another street. Onyx's face turned wide, but his eyes turned into a sneer. So that's where you went. Whatever that thing was, it did not care about smashing through a wall.

It went straight, smashing through a house and charging into the woods.

Onyx wanted to charge into the woods, chasing after the thing. But he stopped himself. No, I can't do that.

He had something else he needed to do.

Onyx couldn't forget about his objective. Find survivors. He continued to search around, doing his best to find people. After a few minutes, Onyx's face turned dark.

Nobody. House, carriages, and shops. Onyx checked all of them possible. And yet, there was nobody there.

Dammit. Onyx cursed. He didn't want to believe it. But after all that searching and he still couldn't find anybody.

What made it worse was the man's words.

"I can't figure it out!" Onyx screamed out in frustration. Throughout the search, he still couldn't understand what the guy meant. He kicked the garbage on the ground, launching it into the air.

Calm down. Getting angry wasn't going to help you. Onyx sighed, calming himself down. He picked up the garbage and tossed it into the garbage can.

Wait a minute. Onyx's mind went blank as he screamed, "I'm an idiot!"

He got it.

Trash can. The person wanted him to look at the trash can. Onyx didn't think anymore as he searched through the trash cans.

That was the only thing he didn't look at. It wasn't on his radar at all. He began to backtrack all his steps, looking through every garbage can.

As he continued to search the cans,

He heard it. Onyx looked over to a group of trash cans.

Shaking sounds could be heard from them. Onyx walked over and opened up the center one. And there, he saw her. It was a little child.

"Are you-" "Wahhhhhhhh!" Onyx was going to ask if she was alright, but the child started bawling her eyes out!

"!" Onyx's stunned by the sudden cry.

"Stay away, monster! Stay away! Stay away!" The child screamed out as she threw out garbage toward him!

Onyx dodged all of the garbage thrown at him. He picked her up from the garbage can.

"Hey, kid. Look at me. Do I look like a monster to you?" Onyx used the gentlest voice possible to soothe the child.

Hearing his words, the child stopped squirming around before looking at Onyx.

"I'm not going to hurt you." Onyx smiled, trying his best not to make the child afraid of him.

And it worked. Seeing Onyx's gentle expression, the child calmed down a bit. And what came after is,

Grrrrrr.

That came from the child's stomach. Hearing that, Onyx took out an apple, "Here, eat this. It's sweet and tasty." The child didn't think a second as she snatched the apple. She stuffed her face in it as she ate.

"Slow down; I'm not going to take it away from you. You're going to choke if you eat so quickly." Onyx smiled and took out another one, "There's more to come."

Hearing that, the child slowed down. She only stopped eating after she finished the fourth apple.

"Hi." "!" And like that, the child jumped back to the garbage can, hiding behind them. She grabbed one of the lids, holding it up like a weapon.

"..." You know this doesn't work after you just finished off four apples, right? Onyx didn't know what to say to the child. He could tell she wasn't wary of him compared to the beginning.

"Name?" The child spoke out, questioning Onyx.

Onyx smiled, "My name is Onyx Silver. And you?"

"Rita."

"That's a good name."

"Why are you here?"

Onyx answered softly, "I came here with my comrades to investigate this town. Do you want to come with me?"

"Mommy and daddy told me not to go with strangers." Rita became wary of Onyx as she slowly backed away.

Onyx praised, "That's the smart move. Do you know where your mommy and daddy are?" The moment Onyx said this, he instantly regretted it.

The child looked down, "Daddy ran after the monster. And mommy put me in the can and told me not to make a sound."'

"...I see."Onyx didn't need to know the full details. From this information alone, he could tell the girl's parents sacrificed their lives for her.

Then that. Onyx realized the dying man's identity. He was the girl's father.

"Daddy and mommy. Waaaaaaaaaahhhhhhh!!!" Rita had an inkling of what happened to her parents too. She knew she would never see her parents ever again.

Onyx knew he couldn't do anything for her. The only thing he could do was hug her and try his best to console the child.

...

After a few minutes, Rita calmed down as she asked,

"What's going to happen to me?" Her face was downcast.

Onyx patted her head, "I promise nothing bad will happen to you. I'll bring you to Advent city: and I'll ask my friend to help you out." The best thing to do was to bring her back and ask Oliver for help.

Hearing this, Rita nodded her head. She opened up her arms, wanting Onyx to pick her up. With how Onyx consoled Rita as she cried, she trusted him.

Onyx picked her up and froze a bit. He realized he shouldn't move yet. Wait, she's going to see all of it. There were dead bodies around them. He quickly took out a blanket from his magical bag.

Rita was surprised by it, "Magic!"

"Mmmhmm." He draped the blanket over her head,

"Big brother, what are you doing?" Rita asked. Onyx went from stranger to big brother in just a few seconds.

"Today is chilly," Onyx smiled.

"Ahh," Rita understood and then asked, "Big brother, you can use magic?"

"mmhmm."

"My daddy knew how to use water magic. He can make water spew out from his hand; pew pew!" Rita begins to recount some past memories.

Onyx listened to her stories and chimed in with "Oh, I see." from time to time as they walked. Seeing the child talk brightly, he felt slightly relieved.

"Then daddy, daddy." As Rita talked, she yawned. Onyx chimed,

"Take a nap for now, Rita. I'll wake you up when I meet up with my friends." Rita was still a child. Of course, she would be tired after all of that.

"Ummm." The girl slowly nodded, sleeping in Onyx's arms. And Onyx walked a little faster.

He tried his best not to take a street with a lot of blood. Eventually, he arrived back at the carriage. Rena and the coachman were already there.

Noticing Onyx, Rena asked,

"Master, that is." Onyx waved his hand up and down, signaling her to lower her voice, not wanting to wake up the child. Rena and the coachman nodded.

"This is the only person I can find. The rest are...." Onyx couldn't finish his sentence. But the other two got the picture.

"Have you guys found anybody on your end?"

The coachman and Rena shook their heads,

"I see." "Mmmmm." As Onyx's face became downcasted, Rita started to wake up.

"Did you have a good nap?" "Mmhmm." Rita nodded and then noticed Rena and the coachman. Seeing the two, she becomes wary of them.

"Don't be afraid; these are my comrades," Onyx added. Rita's wariness of them eased up.

"Rena, can you take care of her for a few minutes? Go into a house and try to find some clothes for her." Her clothes were covered in garbage. Onyx didn't have enough time to go find some for her.

Rena nodded, "Understood." "Also, you know." Onyx made faces, telling her to check for blood before they went in. He didn't want Rita to see any of it.

Rena nodded as she smiled at Rita, "Come along now. Big sister will take care of you." She extended her hand to her. But Rita looks away from her and stuffs her face into Onyx's shoulders.

"Rita, don't worry. My friend won't do anything bad to you."

"Promise?"

"Promise." Hearing this, Rita took Rena's hand, and they walked off to find clothes for her.

"You're good with kids." The coachman praised. If he did the same thing as Onyx, the child would probably cry the whole time.

"I have a little sister around the same age as her." Lily was around the same age as Rita. Seeing her reminded Onyx of his sister.

"But enough about this; what did you guys find on your end?"

The coachman began to talk. It was basically the same thing as what Onyx found.

So only one monster did all of this damage? Hearing how there were the same claw marks on their side: it was either:

One monster did all this damage. Or multiple monsters of the same type doing this.

"What do you plan to do after this?" With everybody dead, they didn't have anything to do here.

"I know what we have to do." Onyx took out a piece of paper and wrote something on it. He handed it to the coachman, "I want you to return to Advent city and hand this to the guild master."

"Huh?"

"Mmmhmm. The guild master needs to know about this."

"And you want me to take the child too?"

"Please." Oliver would know how to handle Rita.

"Then what are you guys planning to do then?"

"I'm going to be chasing after the beast." The coachman's eyes turned wide, "Are you serious right now? That thing just massacred a village!" And you want to chase after it?

Onyx nodded, "Mmhmm, I want to chase after it." He took out the map, "It's probably going to the next village." From the direction the monster took, he figured out the next town it was going to.

"It'll take half a day to get there." And that thing got a head start too.

"Are you sure you want to do this?"

Onyx nodded, "Mmmhmm. I want to hunt it down before it causes any more trouble."

Onyx didn't want to say it, but it became personal.