Chapter 13: Discovery and Disruption
It took him a while before he actually managed to get his thoughts together and react.
About five seconds later, Morden swiftly ducked to avoid attracting attention and also get his thoughts together.
He was horrified.
The sight he was a few seconds ago would almost always remain etched in his brain forever.
Images of the Mountain Lord lying on that raised concrete platform with his chest completely blasted open, leaving his organs exposed.
Morden had even seen his beating heart and inflating lungs.
’How is he still alive,’ Morden thought.
And that wasn’t even all; though he wasn’t completely sure about what he had seen, Morden thought he had faintly seen ghostly figures surrounding him.
’The opening is so clean, exactly where his scar was,’ he slowly started piecing together.
’Does that mean this isn’t the first time?’
’Continuous cycle of healing and opening up.’
The more he thought of it, the more horrified he became; everything that was happening was just too bizarre for a young innocent traveler from Earth.
"He must have someone taken the souls of those that the Red ghost had just killed, and now he is trying to absorb them or something."
’I think I have seen enough for tonight,’ Morden decided.
He originally came here to get more information about the incident, but never in a million years could he have imagined something like this.
Since he had decided to leave, Morden couldn’t afford to waste any more time here; while still in a ducked position, he slowly distanced himself.
Upon his arrival at the right distance, Morden stood back up, turned to look at the White Cat still silently sitting on the side staring at him, and then proceeded to increase his pace.
’I will be back by morning, and by that time we will finish everything,’ Morden thought.
But before he could walk too far, a thought suddenly flashed into Morden’s mind.
’Ohhh yeah yeah, that can work,’ he said while continuously nodding his head, and then he turned back to approach that house again.
This time he wasn’t just walking; he was also bending over to pick rocks all over the floor, and after checking his hands to see a sufficient amount of rocks and arriving at the right location, a smile formed on his face.
’Let’s go,’ he thought before throwing a rock straight at the roof of the Mountain Lord’s house.
He then hurriedly rushed to another location and threw another one with even more force; he repeated it again and threw the third one.
And he changed strategy; he headed towards the tents of the villagers and proceeded to throw stones as fast and precisely as possible.
"Get out here, you bastard," he screamed at the top of his lungs.
He did this to a few more tents before changing his target back to the mountain lord’s house.
He wasn’t targeting the roof anymore; he aimed at the window.
With a toss that contained almost all his strength, he threw the stone inside, breaking a few things. Immediately after the first one, another one followed and then another until about ten stones had been thrown.
"You can’t tell me that wouldn’t disrupt him." A satisfied smile formed on his face.
Following the conclusion of the major party, it was time for the minor segment.
His finishing moves plus escape.
Amidst all the chaos he had caused, Morden could hear some houses already awakening and people already moving around, and those exactly were his target.
Swishhhh!
A big stone hit the tent, tearing a hole through it and landing inside, and just like he wanted, the man of that household was immediately riled up.
"Get up, you weak man; the Mountain Lord summons you."
He moved to a slightly more distant place and did the same, but he wasn’t just choosing any random house he saw.
There were too many criteria that needed to be fulfilled. Firstly, there should be signs of activity in the house, and secondly, there must be progressively closer to the village exit such that when Morden did the last one, he was already out of the village.
And with that finale, he was heading back to the cave with a big smile on his face.
"Two things, no wait, three things successfully accomplished."
He had successfully confirmed that the Mountain Lord was actually doing some sort of weird ritual; secondly, he had successfully disrupted that said ritual even if it was a little.
He was sure he had disrupted it, as he could hear footsteps leaving their tents and heading towards the Mountain Lord’s home.
And the final success was being able to get a mental map of the village, which would be really helpful in his mission tomorrow.
’To think I was just going to leave like that,’
Still feeling very content with himself, Morden ran through the forest under the veil of darkness as fast as he could, but his excitement was slowly cut off when he remembered Layla, currently still in that cave.
"The Mountain Lord wasn’t able to actually kill her and get her soul too. I wonder if that will also affect the ritual."
At that point, Morden was already extremely close to where he last remembered the cave was.
’I wonder how she would react,’ he thought while he entered the cave.
He made sure his head remained low and was turned away, hoping to avoid Layla’s eyes.
"I can’t handle any emotions right now; I am currently a mess myself."
He walked for a bit before finally arriving at the area in the cave where Layla was supposed to be, but to his surprise, there was no one there.
’What? Where the hell did she go?’ he questioned while looking around, but it was difficult to see anything clearly at night this deep in the cave.
While still in a confused state, Morden suddenly felt his scalp tighten while alarms continuously blared in his head.
’Danger? Where?’
Then he saw it.
Something gleaming with faint light was coming straight for his head at an impossible speed.
"Oh shit, it’s too fast to dodge."