"W-What the hell is that...?"
Kael spoke with a stutter as he stared at the horrific sight in front of him.
Imperia had specifically told him to be prepared; she had told him the sight would be grueso, but nothing she could have said would have been enough to prepare him to see what he was seeing.
"Kael...?"
Lavinia, who was in his arms, called out, a little shaken seeing how Kael had just frozen mid-air. Since she was hugging him from the front like she usually does, she couldn’t exactly see what was happening, but noticing his reaction, she moved her neck into an awkward position to see what it was, and very quickly, her expression changed as well, finally understanding Kael’s reaction.
In front of them were the bodies of six Velmourn soldiers that Imperia’s Ants had found. Of course, just dead bodies alone wasn’t enough to get such a reaction out of Kael; he had been in this world for a while now, he had seen quite a few dead bodies.
These, however... weren’t just dead bodies.
They were mutilated.
The limbs and heads were torn from the torsos and were arranged in a sickening pattern on the snowy terrain.
Arms were twisted into unnatural shapes, legs bent backward, torsos stacked like logs, and heads placed in a circle, their lifeless eyes staring up at the gray sky.
"Kael, move down."
Lavinia spoke in a low but clear voice.
Kael didn’t listen; he was still frozen.
"Kael!"
Lavinia shook him strongly, bringing him out of his reverie.
"We need to go down and look for clues."
She spoke with a solemn look on her face. Kael stared at her with a pale face; the Mage nodded reassuringly, and he slowly nodded back, collecting himself as he gulped and stepped down from the wind step he was standing on.
The mont he landed, the strong scent of blood and torn flesh assaulted him, making his stomach twist. Unconsciously, he tightened his hold on Lavinia’s body; the Mage, however, slowly patted his back and freed herself, moving away from him and crouching near the bloodied snow.
"The blood is still fresh; they must have died an hour ago at the longest."
She comnted. Not just that, she observed the torn limbs and the battle marks on them and—
"This clearly wasn’t the work of beasts either; these are not claw or bite marks. They were made by human weapons.
They were ambushed, and considering how there isn’t even a single beast body here, the enemies must have taken away their Bonds, alive or dead."
The Mage began ntioning everything she felt was necessary as she continued investigating the horrible sight.
Kael, on the other hand, just stayed silent. He was barely fighting the urge to vomit; his stomach churned, his legs felt weak, his fingers dug into his palms because of the discomfort he was feeling.
This sight was... revolting, and the sll didn’t make it any better.
He was about to turn around, not wanting to see this sight, but—
"Stop."
Lavinia spoke in a cold voice.
"Do not turn around."
Her purple eyes stared into Kael’s.
Kael stared back at her with a weak gaze, and before he could say anything,
"You need to get used to such sights, Kael."
"This... is not a sight one should get used to..."
Kael answered, clearly a little shaken. Even now, he couldn’t stare at the mutilated bodies for more than a second.
"Pull yourself together; this won’t be the last ti you will be seeing such a sight. There still isn’t the rotting stench since the bodies are still fresh; that would have been much worse."
Lavinia then slowly stood up as she walked towards Kael and—
"You need to strengthen not just yourself, but your stomach too."
She spoke as she tightly held his hands.
"Get used to these sights; understand the responsibilities that are on your shoulders. I know this is not fair to you since you were never prepared for any of this.
But at the end of the day,
You are now a part of this world, Kael.
You are the Hero, the Dragon Rider, and all other titles you hold or will hold in the future. You will face the Twilight and their Power of Corruption, you will face my Father and the Drakthar army behind him, and you will face whatever enemies remain after we deal with the known ones.
A sight like this cannot faze you; you need to be stronger than that. I cannot have you freezing at the sight of blood and mutilated bodies; there are too many lives dependent on you."
Lavinia then looked into Kael’s eyes and—
"Mine and your children’s included."
She added, using the words she knew were going to affect Kael the most.
Was it manipulation?
On a certain level, yes, but Lavinia knew Kael needed it.
He was... too naïve for the power he holds.
And while she loved his naïve and just side, she also knew that Kael needed to grow bigger than that to deal with the threats they will be facing in the future.
Just as Lavinia expected, her words shook Kael. Igni and others sitting in his Sanctuary remained silent as well; they all knew Lavinia was correct, and sowhere in his heart, Kael knew it as well.
He forced himself to stare at the horrible sight in front of him; his body scread at him to move away, but he didn’t. His nose felt like it would be burned away because of this pungent, disgusting sll, but Kael forced everything onto his body, even controlling the vomiting urge he was feeling that was getting stronger and stronger.
Lavinia inwardly nodded at his attempt; she then finally turned her head and stared at the horrible sight again.
"Krii..."
"Guruuu..."
The Spirits around her were uncomfortable as well, but they heard Lavinia’s words, so they were trying to be brave, forcing themselves to stare at this filthy sight even though they found it repulsive.
"Whoever was behind this,
They wanted us to see this."
Lavinia comnted with a solemn look on her face.
"What...?"
Kael turned towards her with a frown.
"Look at how the bodies are placed; it is clearly not random. Whoever killed them, they later tore their limbs from their torsos and placed everything in the position they are in.
Forming... whatever it is.
A symbol of sorts, a marking or...
Or a ssage."
"What ssage...?"
Kael asked, unsure, but Lavinia shook her head as well. She knew as much as he did, even less since she didn’t have access to all-knowing Imperia.
Thinking about it, the Mage turned towards the Ant and—
"What were they doing here anyway, these soldiers?"
She questioned.
This area was quite a bit farther away from the Velmourn Wall, so Lavinia was wondering why these soldiers ca here.
"Hunting."
Imperia moved her head out of Kael’s pocket and answered in a heavy tone. Even the Mother of All Ants felt a bit uncomfortable in front of this sight, but she was obviously more than capable of handling herself.
"Hunting?"
Lavinia’s expression changed.
She, together with Kael, had stayed on watch for a while, so she knew that one of the Watch’s duties was to leave the Wall to hunt wild beasts.
There were several reasons for it,
The primary would be food; the people needed at. A single wild beast’s at could feed about 50 people; it wasn’t sothing the Velmourns, who always had a shortage of food, could ignore.
Another reason for these hunts was that if they didn’t regularly hunt the beasts in these terrains, more and more beasts would gather, and it would result in a beast tide.
Yes, unlike the Main Lands, where the beasts, unless corrupted, usually are friendly towards humans, in an environnt as harsh as the Heights, it was every being for himself; the beasts and the humans saw each other as food, so things like beast tides were common if the beasts are not hunted in ti.
The last reason was the Beast Eggs.
Even though the Velmourns didn’t have the resources to let every Velmourn have Bonds, the n of the Watch obviously had Bonds, multiple if they were deed worthy.
Obviously, these Bonds didn’t just co out of thin air; their Eggs are hunted like this and are then collected by the Commander of the Watch, who then chooses capable children who would bond with the beasts inside these Eggs and start their journey as the n of the Watch.
So yes, hunts like this were extrely important for the Velmourns; both Kael and Lavinia knew it.
"So how did these soldiers escape your Ants?"
Lavinia questioned directly as she stared at Imperia.
With the network Imperia had made, there should have been at least one Ant behind every Velmourn; these soldiers shouldn’t be exempt.
But obviously, if Imperia’s Ants were with these soldiers, they wouldn’t have found them in this condition; Imperia would have inford them what was happening before it happened, and they would have had a chance to save these n.
So...
Lavinia wanted to know what happened.
And Imperia—
"They moved too quickly,
My children couldn’t follow them."
The Ant answered honestly.
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