Chapter E3: Thoughts and Recollection

(Effinshia's POV)

*Bam!

I slammed my fist onto the trunk of a tree in anger.

All that effort to chase the figure and I let him get away scot-free. What a blunder. That stupid wolf managed to buy the figure enough time to fly away into the forest. I tried to give chase, but by the time I reached the forest, the figure was already nowhere to be found. I flew around with Torarias and scoured the woods as far as the eye can see but found no trace of the figure other than a path with broken tree branches. It took me the whole day following the general direction of the tracks only to lose the trail at a large river. The trail let me all over the place from hills to vast grassy areas to unmanned caves. The figure must have prepared these tracks in foresight to deter pursuits. Like it or not, I've been duped hard.

...

Tsk, what a waste of time this all proved to be. Now I'm here in some forest in the middle of the night. There was no moon, so it's pitch black. I'm feeling awfully tired too(emotionally), probably cause I have been fighting and running non-stop since yesterday. The worst part is that I could have gotten the figure if that dumb wolf hadn't blocked my path. Worst yet, I could have totally got the jump on them if I didn't have to worry about the smell that stupid lizard left on me when I killed it.

Urghh... Bad luck upon bad luck. Though, it wasn't as if there was any other lead that I could have followed anyways.

What now? Do I continue to head west, the general direction the unknown figure went during his escape? Or do I return to A'bell and try to see what else I could uncover there? Logically speaking... going back to A'bell was the reasonable and sound choice, I could still find more clues and investigate the city further. But... This is anything but an ordinary event. The figure had an escape plan from the beginning. It is most likely that all the clues I could have found in A'bell have already been cold. Or even worst, erased.

Sigh...

I took off the cap from my head. You could still see monster blood and dirt on it. I took a look at my coat, and the same could be seen for it as well. Despite the neutralising potions best work, they still smell like rotten cheese. It's time to do some spring cleaning, I guess. Luckily there is a great river right in front of me. But before I go with the deed, I plop down on the floor to recollect my thoughts and consolidate all the information I have. I thought of all the questions that I still haven't had answered about the invasion of A'bell.

1. Where did the monsters come from? How did all those types of monsters suddenly appear in A'bell in such a short time?
2. Why are the monsters not killing each other? Who or what is controlling these monsters?
3. Why are there tunnels underneath A'bell? What can cause an earthquake so massive that these large holes appear all over the city?
4. The defence of the castle... it's too good, was the invasion expected by the brass at the castle?
5. What was the unknown figure doing with all those dead bodies back there? It looks as if they are being swallowed by something.
6. What is the ultimate goal of the invasion? Is there something more sinister behind it, or was it someone who just want to destroy things?

I think that's about it, all the questions I could muster at a moments notice.

Firstly, the monsters... I don't know where and how they manage to get into A'bell, but I could think of a few ways. They could have come in from the subterranean tunnels, for example. Or the two Dragons could have airdropped the monsters to the cities. Or perhaps even both. The smaller, more agile monsters could have just come in from the tunnels, and the bigger, more menacing looking ones could have come from the air. But there is a big hole in my theory, there was simply way too many monsters, and those holes that lead out of the subterranean tunnels is sixty meters deep, It wasn't a distance those small fries could easily climb. Yet there weren't any monsters lingering in those tunnels when I investigate it earlier. I expect at least some of them to be stuck down there, and I found none. The only other explanation I could think off... is that it is an inside job. Or someone created a portal for all those monsters to go through...

Hmm...

No point thinking further really, It doesn't matter how they get in, the fact of the matter is that they DID get in and someone was powerful enough to make it happen.

Which comes to my second question, why are the monsters not attacking each other? Monsters are territorial, and some of them are known to hate each other and will kill each other without question, and yet I saw Kobolds, Trolls, Ogres and Goblins working as a team. The only time this ever happened is in a dungeon, or when some monster lord appeared. It's not a dungeon I can tell that much, I know how those things are created, and it's not this. Which means there was a monster lord somewhere in the city. Hmm... A monster lord? A jet black mutt came to mind. If it was that dog, then I can understand why the monsters avoided the tunnels.

Speaking about tunnels, why are they tunnels underneath A'bell? And those large holes as well. It reminds me of a large hole caused by mining, but, As far as I can remember, A'bell was never a mining city, nor have I ever heard it build upon some old mines. It would be strange for some settlers to suddenly decide that they want to build over large holes after all. But the tunnels aren't recent, the support beams and general wear and tear of the shafts all points it to be very old. If A'bell was built upon these tunnels, then I am surprised that the city hasn't collapsed all these times.

Collapsing... Wait...

I see it now... I was thinking about it the wrong way. It's not that the earthquake causes those holes to 're-appear'. It would make more sense if it were the other way around. The tunnels and these holes appear underneath A'bell during the invasion. The sudden appearance is what caused the earthquake. A portal large enough to transport entire underground passage underneath a city... It matches my theory that the monsters came from a portal as well.  But why? Why go through all that effort and energy to transport an underground mine to A'bell? If the unknown figure aims to collect corpses, why not just double down on the monsters? I am suddenly reminded of the invisible sphere the strange figure was tossing bodies into. Hmm...

What about the castle? In an invasion that ravaged the entire city, they are the only ones who not only manage to defend the inner castle all night. They even had enough magic to project that barrier around the castle continuously. Not to mention the availability of personnel that can cast spells strong enough to take down even dragons. Was the invasion expected on their side? Or they just so happened to be coincidentally prepared for some reason. I find both unlikely. If they expected the invasion... then why let the whole city burn? Why only protect the inner castle and leave the other parts of the city to fend for themselves? I see no profit that could be gain by letting an entire city destroyed to the ground. Damaged maybe, but not to the extent of what happened to A'bell. Then could it have been just coincidence after all? I mean I was here in A'bell by coincidence too, and I could beat the crap out of both dragons if I wanted too, it wasn't a stretch to believe that there are other individuals or a group of people who could do such a thing as well.

Hmm... There wasn't any answer that I could think of for that question unless I investigated the castle myself. But it's probably too late by now. 

Then my fifth question. What was the unknown figure doing down there with all those corpses? I remember clearly that the figure was dragging those bodies to toss into this invisible sphere. Then it looked like the body was crushed into nothingness. Is that invisible orb still there? Or could that be the portal that caused all of this in the first place? It wasn't a world core, nor it was some ancient magic container either. Would I find that orb if I went back to the tunnels in A'bell? Or had the figure taken it when he fled the scene?  Is the unknown figure the mastermind behind all this? After all, that wolf seemed to be undisturbed by the figure. A person who can even control a monster lord... 

Lastly, what was the entire point of the invasion, anyway? I see no profit in destroying a bloody city. There have to be better ways if you want to make bank. Then was it revenge? Someone may have a beef with the city and decided to destroy it all? No, it can't be. If it was revenge, then why run away? Wouldn't you want to destroy the city till the very end? Could this be some international conflict? A message to be sent to the nation of Rydark? If it is, then it has to be one of the worst ways to declare war if I ever saw one.

...

Just great, a deranged mind that has no qualms to kill thousands of innocents. Whatever that unknown figure wanted to do. It's clear that he is dangerous. I stood up and looked westwards, beyond the river. It's probably better to return to A'bell right now, to find more things I could find, but my heart tells me that it's pointless. It doesn't matter why or how or what happened, what matters is that it did happen and the culprit is moving westwards. I got a hunch that wherever the unknown figure was heading, a similar level of disaster will occur and I want to be as near to the location as possible whenever it does happen.

I took my first step towards the river.

* * * * *

"SHAA!!" "HISSS!!"

"Woah! Stay still, this is for your own good!" I yelled as I held down two objects with an indescribable shape, continually changing from one form into another in a flow of cold water.

One of them had yellow tiger stripes and the other black as the night sky. Disembodied hissing sounds could be heard as they struggle against me. 

"Stand still! I need to get this smell of you guys!"

"Shaa!!!" "HISS!!"

The two shapeshifting weapons continue to struggle against me as I try to wash off the blood and dirt off them.

* * * * *

Droplets of water fall off me as I sat on top of a large tree branch, my clothes and hair soggy from all the water. Those two dumb shapeshifters actually dragged me down into the river. We struggled for a while before I finally got off all the blood and dirt off them.

The cold air breezes by me, practically freezing me on top of the tree branch.

Sigh...

I took out Justicar and Stopwatch and saw that they too were soaked with water. Justicar seemed fine with all of it(good girl), but one could feel some sort of dejected emotion from it, it's not showing it but I could tell it's not happy about it. Stopwatch on the other hand... Just looking at it gave me some chronic headaches. The throbbing painful feeling of blood pumping through your head could be felt. It's probably pissed that her entire inner mechanism is wet. A blast of sinister aura attacks me.

Not willing to deal with it, I just stashed stopwatch aside into my pouch and just ignored it. She'll stay like this for at least a month. I then took a look at my partner Kirin. Just a good plain normal sword that does its job. Nothing more, nothing less.

"As expected, you are the best, why can't the others be like you..." I said to the sword.

No replies, of course. Just like the others, Kirin is the silent type that doesn't talk much.