207 The Scene of Slaughter

"Would you slow down?" Elero asked as she stared at Thomas, who was both devouring his breakfast and paddling in a bizarre display. The group had been traveling for a little over an hour. The ruins were gone, replaced with thick patches of plants and shallow bodies of water commonly found at the center region of the swamp.

"I'm…" Thomas said in between bites. "Starving. Even though this still pretty bad, frogs never tasted so good." After he finished off the bundle of cooked meat, he took out another, which he began to munch on as well.

"Seriously, slow down," Elero put a hand on his shoulder and they came to a stop. "You can't be full on frog meat when you fight or you might just vomit it back up. You'll be back at square one with a rumbling stomach. I'm not saying starve yourself but at least have some semblance of restraint for the goddess's sake."

Thomas took one last look at the half-eaten piece of frog meat before putting it into his spatial ring. "I just want to eat like usual," he muttered before pushing off the water with his paddle, his shoulders slumped. However, when he was sure Elero could only see his back, he took his breakfast out and ate the rest.

"Thomas," Elero's breath sent chills down his spine. "I may not be able to see you but I can hear you. How old are you, four? I swear, I know children that have more restrai-" She paused and paddled past him.

Frey and Doevm were crouched on a section of dirt and peering through the dense layers of vegetation ahead. Thomas went to call out to them but Elero shushed him. As the two paddled closer, Thomas activated life essence around his ears.

"What do you think did this?" he heard Frey whisper. "Do you think if you did your-" Elero's gears clicked. Doevm and Frey both whipped around and their hands flashed to their weapons. "Sorry," Frey said as he sheathed his Kopis.

"What are you guys looking at?" Elero asked as she stepped off her Amphiboard and crouched next to them.

"See it for yourself," Doevm pointed through the vegetation. "We should go search in another place. We might have to forget the plan entirely." He held his forehead and closed his eyes. "Yet another variable we have to worry about."

When Elero peered through the bushes, Thomas could almost see her confidence falter. Her jaw dropped. Her mouth opened and closed several times before she finally spoke. "This…This is just plain wrong. How in the hell are we supposed to compete against that? It wasn't a group either, since they would have taken everything they killed."

Doevm peered through the bushes again. "Even the severed parts are still twitching." Everyone went silent.

He pushed a branch out of the way to reveal an enormous yellow eye, staring right at him.

He recoiled. The severed eye, dangling from a branch, plopped to the ground.

Thomas swallowed his breakfast down before it could rise out of his throat, shook his head, and pushed the branches to the sides.

The many ancient trees had been ripped out of the ground and tossed to the outskirts of the massive crater along with thousands of uprooted, green plants. The streams of clear water pouring into the brown crater turned red. Floating on the surface of the newly formed lake were the remains of hundreds of bullfrogs. Insects gathered in droves, their delicate little wings buzzing on top of the feast. There were limbs, corpses, eyes, organs, entrails… Thomas tore his gaze away, unable to hold his breakfast down any longer.

Elero pat him on the back as he lurched forward. "Keep your chin up so the vomit doesn't go through your nose."

"Thank-" Thomas lurched again and suddenly felt a lot better. His stomach grumbled but he wasn't hungry. He wiped his mouth with a leaf and turned to Doevm. "Do you know what did this?" Doevm shrugged. "Do you have a plan for it?" Doevm shook his head. "I didn't mean a plan to fight it. I meant hiding or running like what we did for the Bullfrogs."

Again, Doevm shook his head: "This did not happen because a beast got hungry. This fight, this massacre, was an example. It discourages the other beasts from rampaging through the swamp like the Bullfrogs did." He got on his Amphiboard. "We should find out where it went."

"What?" Elero blurted out. "You want to follow this thing? Are we talking about the same creature that you just said you didn't have a plan for?"

"Of course I have a plan," Doevm cut her off. "Find out where it is and avoid it."

"That's the same as running aw-" Thomas yelled only for Frey to clamp a hand over his mouth.

"We don't know if it is still close so we need to stay as quiet as possible," Doevm whispered. "If we run from this area, we have no way of telling if we are running away from the creature or towards it. I want to know where it is simply because I want to put as much distance between us and that creature as possible. Or we could use…" He paused, staring off into space for a few moments before shaking his head. "No, never mind. That plan is too dangerous."

Before anyone could object, he paddled straight through the bushes. The rest of the group exchanged worried looks before following behind him.

The smell of iron and decaying remains washed over them. From the corner of his eye, Thomas saw a shadow shift. He whipped around and got into a stance onto to find it was a severed leg, twitching and slapping against the surface of the bloody lake.

"Why is it doing that?" Thomas asked. He poked the leg and flinched back when it violently twitched.

"Residual reactions," Doevm responded as he stuffed the leg into his spatial ring. Thomas cocked his head to the side. Doevm sighed: "The Bullfrog was trying to run when it died. This twitching is what happens when the limb doesn't realize that the body is dead." The closer the group drew to the center of the lake the more the stench of iron and rotting flesh assaulted their senses, growing to the extent that they were forced to cover their faces with cloths. "We shouldn't go out during the day anymore." Doevm warned as he prodded something out of his path. Clusters of small worm-like creatures fled from the severed Bullfrog head and disappeared in the red water. "That means we only have one night left. We have to beat Trak's group tonight."

Doevm reached into the bloody water and pulled something out the size of Frey's shield: a single cracked scale. After flicking the red water off the scale's slimy green surface, he yanked out an old rusted old dagger from the crack. On its hilt was a symbol of a book. He stared at it for a time while the others waiting for his decision. He stuffed both the dagger and the scale into his spatial ring: "Search the area for any tracks. This thing, the guardian of the swamp, could have snuck up on these Bullfrogs from anywhere. Look specifically for any streams that give enough berth for a massive alligator to swim through. We'll split up. Elero, come with me and let's search the south-side. Frey and Thomas, you two get the north-side."

"Shouldn't we stay together if the guardian might still be in the area?" Elero asked.

Doevm shook his head: "If that thing finds us, it won't matter if we are together or split up. The best chance we have right now is not being found in the first place. Smaller groups are quieter. Also if we run into Trak's group, we need to be quiet or else they'll just overwhelm us with numbers. Be quick, be quiet, and most importantly, avoid fights. Surrender if you have to." They went their separate ways. As Frey and Thomas turned over limbs as they moved towards the north end, trying to find any semblance of tracks within the chaotic mess of gore.

"Did a beast really do this?" Thomas asked, more to himself than Frey. "I thought beasts mostly killed when hungry. Why did this one leave so much…food, behind?" He lurched forward again but nothing was left for him to cough up.

"Dunno," Frey said, paddling to the right of him. While on paper, he was scanning through the surroundings, even Thomas could see that he wasn't actually looking. He had put up those invisible walls of silence again, trapped within his thoughts. Thomas's guess was confirmed when Frey paddled right past a wide path of flattened vegetation.

"Frey, over here," Thomas said, pointing at the imprints leading further into the forest: a wavy line between three sets of four-digit footprints. "Should we follow this path a little longer before we return, just in case it changed direction?" Frey nodded although Thomas wasn't sure if the giant could hear him. Thomas took one last look at Doevm and Elero over by the other side of the lake before following the tracks. "Alright. If you say so." Thomas had to hold out a light crystal because the already-dimmed sunlight was blocked by the many broken branches overhead, dangling from scared trunks. "How big do you think this thing is?" Thomas asked, staring at the divide between the broken and intact branches. Frey nodded, so naturally, Thomas smacked him with his paddle.

"Doevm what the hell?" Frey called out, the walls crumbling. Thomas wacked him again, harder. "Oh." Frey held his forehead, a little red from the smacks. "Sorry, I wasn't paying attention."

"By the Goddess," Thomas debated hitting him again. "Frey, what is with you today?" The giant shrugged. "We are in-" he took a breath to calm himself, remembering he was supposed to be quiet. "I thought you were supposed to be the veteran. Frey, are you happy in life?"

Frey scratched the back of his head: "Where did this come from all of a sudden?"

Thomas smiled for a second before frowning. "Sudden? You've looked like crap since this morning. Even at the start of initiation, something was off about you. Now you're spacing out." Thomas looked to the ground, hesitation for a second before continuing. "Also, I might have asked because of something Elero said to me. I can't get it out of my head. Do you think I should ask Doevm about it instead?"

Frey sighed, and glanced around the area. "No, I don't think you should talk to Doevm, whatever may be. How long were we following these tracks?"

"Just for a bit, maybe a few minutes." Thomas shrugged. "What do you mean by: "I shouldn't ask Doevm?"" They rounded a bend in the destroyed path, going a little more northeast. The trees became denser and the patches of water were nowhere to be seen.

"Doevm is wise in a lot of things," Frey began. "but he's not normal. He's-"

"Well I know that already," Thomas interrupted. "But he always gives me an answer, most of the time."

"W-well, I'm not him but you asked me anyway." Frey smiled. "Yes, I would have counted myself on the happier side of things. Ignorance is bliss."

Thomas scrunched up his eyebrows: "What about the Virility guards. Are all of them happy? What about everyone in Petal Town?"

Frey shook his head. "I never really talked to them so I don't know."

Thomas took another jab at Frey, who caught the paddle and glared at him. "I was just checking to see if you spaced out. How could you have never talked to them? You lived alongside them for most of your life, didn't you? You knew their names and they knew yours, right? Didn't they ever tell you about their lives?"

Again, Frey shook his head. "I was too busy taking care of Gwen for the most part. Before I was a guard, I worked whatever odd job I could find, earning just barely enough money for her next dosage of medicine. I was too bulky and uncoordinated to pick in the fields so I did odd jobs. Sometimes I couldn't even eat. I never had anyone to talk to around my age. Lord Virlity made you and me spar but you would be dragged away before we could interact, and I always had something else to do. Everyone was just too busy playing and I was working. I ate scraps quickly then went on with my life."

"But you must have talked to the guards after you became one of them."

Thomas's face paled when Frey shook his head for the third time: "No one really talked to me until Doevm came along. They saw me as a kid. That was fine. I got paid. That was all I needed from that job. I did become squad leader for a couple of months, but nothing changed between everyone. I did talk to them a little more at the front lines, but they were in different squads, the noble squadrons."

"And you still counted yourself on the happier side of things?"

Frey nodded: "I had family, what was left of it anyway. I had food, a roof over my head, a place to sleep, and worked. What more could I want?" Before Thomas could butt in, Frey looked at him with this smile ignorant of luxury.

"S-so that's happiness." Thomas force the edges of his lips upwards, looked away, and cursed at himself under his breath. 'So that's what she meant.'

"Still," Frey looked up at the branches hanging high overhead. "Even though I already have so much, I feel that there is something more I need, and Doevm knows what that something is. I can't quite see it, but I know it's there. There is something that I need to do which isn't related to family, it isn't related to friends…just something." He glanced back. "What do you think it is, Thomas?" He glanced at Thomas to his left only to find trees, broken branches, and nothing else. "Thomas?" He got into a stance and moved life essence around to his ears. Over the silence of the swamp, was the echo of a muffled scream.