We distributed the belongings of everyone, or well, what we could find out of them, which took around an hour. While doing that, Lucifer and Partner prepared a meal, stew made out of polar bear meat and snow wolf meat (we had tons of that thanks to the Frost Army). That accompanied with some freshly baked bread, and herbal tea to soothe the soul.
Everyone gathered around a table Emeraldine made using her magic, and they sat down to eat while wearing new and warmer clothes made out of these frost monsters pelt, which worked at calming down fatigue and drowsiness.
"Ah, such a warm meal…"
"I feel my heart healed…"
Most of the people were old humans, or elves. There was barely a few children. I felt worried that they were taken away somewhere else, but they explained this village's population was slowly declining.
"There's only a few children because we elves barely have them due to being long lived." Explained August. "The humans here are mostly all married with us elves too. Our children, much like Emeraldine, desired to explore the outside world, so very few had stayed with us… I guess half-elves much have a strong desire for exploration and adventure, a unique trait."
"I see…" I nodded. "Well… Let's get to the point, what happened here? Emeraldine told me this place was much more mystical, and beautiful…"
"I-I am just as surprised…" Emeraldine cried. "W-What's going on, uncle?"
"…" Her uncle remained in silence for a few seconds. "It is all my fault…"
"Your fault?!" Emeraldine cried. "T-That's not true… I refuse to believe that!"
"Well, I believe it is my fault… I'll explain." He sighed. "It happened… about two… three months ago? I cannot properly recall… A little boy showed up, all tattered in front of our village. He had long ears, and red eyes, with pale white hair."
August continued explaining that when they found this boy, they were slightly afraid. His aura was dark like the night, but he looked so weak and frail, that they couldn't help but help him. At the end, he took him to his house, and healed him slowly, bit by bit.
"That's when I saw what he was… I don't know when or where did he came from but that boy… He held something on his chest. A pitch-black crystal." Said August. "It seemed to not hurt him, but it allowed him to gain strength and also… somehow made miasma flow through his body, helping him live. I was amazed, and deep down, aside from helping him, I wanted to examinate how it worked. I was so foolish…. I thought that maybe if I figured out how he survived in such a way, we could find a definite component that could destroy the dangerous Miasma."
That description reminded me of Takeshi and Laura. They also have Demonite Heart Cores, which transformed their bodies, giving them the ability to survive by absorbing miasmic energy and generating their own "demonic energy" or something like that.
Could that boy had been another test subject from somewhere else?
I noticed how Takeshi and Laura glanced at one another, and everyone in my party realized the similarities, yet they remained in silence, thankfully.
"We named him Ash due to the color of his hair. We wanted to protect him and help him out… But the boy wasn't able to talk, he was always mute. Yet… he was a good boy, he helped us as he could with our crops, and was always there to cooperate." Sighed August. "Yet his hands… He was unable to control his miasmic powers, he ended corrupting the ground, and the crops… When everyone grew restless, I tried to protect him, to keep him in our village, but that only led to this…"
"Why? What did he do?!" Emeraldine cried.
"The boy was apparently amnesiac…" Sighed August. "However, one day, when he hit himself on the head by walking downstairs… the true entity dwelling within him woke up. His memories came back. He tricked me into bringing him to the tree and… And… Someone else appeared."
He explained that a mysterious, tall man resembling a vampire wearing a mask appeared, guiding the boy to the tree…
"I couldn't do anything, I was unable to fight that man's powers, he paralyzed me with just his gaze…" August cried. "I led him to the tree… Foolishly, believe he was just a good kid… That he wanted to be understood and loved… Yet when he touched the tree, and the great Spirit Tree quivered in pain, he smiled back at me… and said "Foolish old man"…"
August explained that the vampire also said something.
"Your pitiful village might soon be destroyed, but fear not, your existence has been of great use for us. We will now take this forest as our own and produce powerful monsters. We'll use their might to destroy the humans that have oppressed us. Your sacrifice is necessary… for a better future."
"What?! What sort of bullshit is that?!" Partner asked angrily.
"Those damn Vampires appeared here too…" Lucifer gritted his teeth.
"I-It can't be… So Ash… Where is he?!" Emeraldine asked.
"When I came back to my senses, I only ran away from the tree, scared of what it had become… And when I arrived back in the village, I found gigantic mushrooms everywhere, attacking us, destroying our houses, and dragging us down into the underground…" Sighed August. "T-That's all I remember…"
"This is awful…" Emeraldine sighed. "W-We need to do something…!"
"I know." I nodded. "We'll do what we can. Whatever this is, those vampires must have orchestrated it."
"Ash… Was he really a bad person?" Wondered Takeshi. "M-Maybe… he was being forced to do this."
"If you found him tattered and almost dead before, it means he escaped." Said Laura. "Maybe something happened… with those vampires."
"I don't know…" August sighed. "I'm worried but- Cough… cough…"
"Uncle! Y-You should go rest for now." Emeraldine cried.