Chapter 107: Ranger

"Kennedy, take them to the guest house." The village chief instructed.

"Yes, Village Chief." The young man replied.

"Thank you for the meal, Village Chief," Aurelius said as they stood at the entrance of the community centre.

It was already night, and cold winds from the mountains blew past the settlement. The lights from the surrounding poles and buildings lit the streets.

"Ah, don’t worry about it. It’s the least we could do." The village chief waved her hand. "And do remember to stay on guard, alright? A beast raid could happen at any time."

"Understood."

Adam and Aurelius then hopped into their jeep and followed after the black truck their guide drove. The drive to the guest house took just a few minutes, the two-floor motor lodge building coming into view.

They parked in the parking space, Kennedy stepping out of his truck and gesturing for them to follow. Picking up their backpacks and supplies, they followed after the young man.

"Hello, Mrs Green." Kennedy greeted the woman at the reception desk. "The Village Chief-"

"I know," Mrs Green chipped in, smiling warmly. "I’ll take it from here."

"Alright." Kennedy turned to the two boys and nodded. "See you guys later."

"Thanks."

They watched as Kennedy left the building.

"So you boys are the ones sent to deal with the raids, huh?" The woman remarked warmly, stepping away from the desk to take a closer look at them. "The academy sure has talented youngsters. Follow me."

"Thank you, ma’am."

They followed the woman up the stairs, looking around as they did. A few art pieces decorated the grey walls. They were nothing fancy, but they gave a bit of depth and personality to the guest house.

"Would you like your own rooms or a shared one?" Mrs Green asked as she looked over her shoulder. "This place is usually empty when it’s not harvest season."

Aurelius looked at Adam, who shrugged in response.

"We’ll take a shared room." Aurelius turned to the woman and answered.

"Alright, then."

The woman led them to one of the doors at the end of the hallway and opened it.

"This should do nicely." She turned to the two boys and passed the keys to them. "Have a good night."

"Thank you, Mrs Green."

"You’re welcome."

Adam and Aurelius entered the room, finding two single beds with a bedside table in the middle. To the side was a window that gave a view of the surrounding buildings, the fields and mountains in the distance.

The room came with a television, a small refrigerator, a table and two chairs. It was minimally decorated,as it only served the purpose of resting.

"I’ll wash up first," Aurelius said, dropping the backpack on the bed and picking up his bathing items.

"Mm."

Adam nodded and did the same, moving to the window. He stayed silent for several long moments, staring into the distance. ’This place looks nice during the day, but it’s a different story at night.’

The mountains looked spooky for some reason, the darkness blinding. Only the structures within the fields gave some form of illumination, but they did very little in pushing the darkness away.

"You can go in now, A-John." Aurelius stepped out a few minutes later, a towel in his hands.

Adam turned around and looked at the beast master curiously.

"What?"

"You know... I thought you’d make a fuss about how small this place is." Adam shared his doubts freely.

"I may come from a privileged background, John, but I’m not that pampered," Aurelius explained as he sat down. "And I’ve even lived in the wilderness before."

"That wilderness trial did-"

"I’m not talking about that trial." Aurelius cut in. "That barely qualified as wilderness survival. I’m talking about something I did before I even awakened."

"Looks like there’s more I still don’t know..." Adam shook his head as he prepared his stuff for the bathroom. "See you in a bit."

***

[10:56 p.m]

"John?" Aurelius called softly, glancing at Adam’s sleeping form.

A few hours had passed since they took their baths. They went over some of the things the village chief shared before turning off the lights.

"You can’t sleep either, huh?" Adam sighed as he turned to face Aurelius and sat up.

"Yeah..." Aurelius sat up as well, reaching out for the small lamp and turning it on. "And my beast wants to come out."

"Now that you mentioned it, I don’t think I’ve seen it before," Adam mumbled. He looked out the window and then at Aurelius and suggested. "Wanna step out?"

"You read my mind," Aurelius grinned as he and Adam stood up and put on their boots and jackets.

Because they were warned to be prepared for a possible night raid, both of them slept partly dressed. Once an alert came, all they needed was to put on their boots and jackets.

Opening the window, the chilly night air rushed into the room. None of them showed any reaction to the cold, shrugging it off as though it didn’t exist. Adam jumped down first, smoothly landing with a soft thud.

Aurelius followed a second later, landing beside Adam. They looked around for a moment, not seeing anyone.

"Alright, show me that beast of yours."

Adam watched as Aurelius’ shadow stretched as though it was an entity of its own. From the darkness, a beast jumped out and sniffed around for a moment before locking its pale-blue eyes on Adam.

"A SilverIce Wolf, huh?" Adam muttered softly, taking a step back.

"Yeah. His name is Ranger." Aurelius introduced proudly, ruffling the creature’s head. "And don’t worry. It only attacks what I tell it to."

"Right..."

The beast stood at more than half the height of Aurelius, its massive body larger than any wolf of the old world. It had dark-blue fur and a silver-white mane, its body radiating faint traces of ice, though it hadn’t awakened the Ice Element yet, as it was only at the Second Realm.

The fangs and claws on the beast gleamed dangerously under the surrounding lights, hinting at a sharpness that could tear other beasts and people to shreds. It radiated a beastly aura that felt oppressive and dangerous.

Ranger suddenly raised its nose and sniffed in a direction.

"What is it?"

Adam asked, looking in the direction the beast was sniffing. His passive hearing picked up unusual disturbances a moment later, informing him of trouble.

Before Aurelius could answer, the SilverIce Wolf growled and took off, swiftly disappearing into the distance. It was heading in the direction of the farms.

The beast master looked at Adam and grinned excitedly, "Looks like our mission starts now!" He took off a second later, leaving Adam behind.

Adam grinned and ran after the beast master. No sooner had they disappeared into the darkness than the farm alarms went off, alerting the people.