The Hidden Jewel of Sonis Village, Part 1

A GUST OF WIND howled through the window, sending chills down the spines of the fearful souls inside the pub. The last rays of sunlight dwindled over the horizon, and the militia of Sonis Village nervously exchanged glances in their grim gathering.

“Fear not, oh brave citizens! Her Imperial Majesty, Empress Henrietta of House Iustan, has dispatched a punitive force to exterminate these foul creatures! We need only endure one more week. I swear to you, reinforcements will come!”

A lone legionary tried to rally the villagers he’d pressed into a local defense, but to little effect. Fear had long taken hold upon their hearts, for they knew that a handful of peasants were no match for the battle ahead.

“They’re cyclopes, Oliver. We’re dead! They’ll eat us all before the knights arrive!”

The legionary winced at the wood-chopper’s desperate words. Deep down, he knew the young man was right. Sonis Village was an isolated settlement in the southeastern fringe of the Iustan Empire; with negligible strategic or economic significance, its military garrison was correspondingly scarce.

The militia, standard to any settlement, was supplemented by a mere two legionaries from House Argenta’s imperial legions. Despite their formidable magical equipment, their meager numbers made them no more than a token force meant to deal with petty bandits and wild animals, not a full-blown monster outbreak.

For a handful of years, the legionary Oliver and his comrade Richard had whiled their time away in their little corner of the Empire. Despite being a dull punitive posting, it was a mostly peaceful life... until the hand of fate decreed otherwise.

“Why did a dungeon appear so close to us? There hadn’t been signs of it before!”

It was a tragic and calamitous discovery, made by accident a week before while searching the woods for a missing child. The legionaries were part of a rescue team combing through the cold woods, but what their group uncovered wasn’t the lost boy in question, but a terrible monster den instead.

Legionary Richard laid down his life covering the escape of the others, while Oliver desperately pressed the civilians back to town. Yet try as they did to cover their tracks, a young cyclops was seen in the village outskirts a few hours ago.

Their prayers to the Goddess had gone unanswered: Sonis Village had been found.

“Have faith, my friends! Reinforcements are imminent! By the Empress and the Goddess we will be saved, so we must hold out!”

It was a desperate attempt by Oliver to keep the villagers from breaking down.

In truth, he had no idea whether or not a relief force was coming. Although he dispatched a messenger to a neighboring town to plea for rescue, that would take weeks to reach the military, let alone be processed into an armed response.

Alas, Oliver didn’t have the heart to tell the villagers that their only options were to either flee through the woods and be picked off by monsters, or mount a final stand inside the settlement.

The village elder had persuaded Oliver to bet on the latter, fervent in his belief that the divines wouldn’t abandon them… but not all the villagers possessed such piety.

“Saved by the Goddess? Oliver, spare us your crap. Little Noah and Richard are dead, both of them! Killed by the monsters that Lady Zarielle spawned next to us!”

“Blasphemy!”

“He was my son, damn it! My son is dead! That bitch of a Goddess killed him!”

“Shut your mouth, Nicholas! You’ll make the Inquisition kill us before the monsters do!”

“Let them try, for all I care! I’ve got nothing! Nothing!”

“Order, everyone! Order!”

Tempers were quick to flare among the distressed villagers.

Their peaceful lives had been uprooted by the whims of a cruel world, and given the nature of the world in question, pointing the blame to the higher powers was a given.

The land of living legends...

Such was the world of Imrath, where the mortal races lived side by side with the divines and the unholy. Angels and demigods reigned supreme, protecting the common folk from the horrors of demons and devils, in exchange of tithe and fealty.

Yet for all the great and powerful guardians that blessed the Iustan Empire, none of them could be bothered to show up in Sonis Village in its time of need. As the shadow of death loomed in the distance, all the villagers could do was to sink into despair.

“They were scouting us this morning. I can feel it in my bones; they’re attacking tonight. No question about it!”

“We can’t be sure about that. Come on, Oliver, let’s have a few of us keep watch and let the others rest already.”

“Why, that’s such a bright idea, Sullivan. Why don’t we swing the doors open too while we’re at it? Let the cyclopes come and eat us while we sleep. They’ll rid us of your damn snoring, at least.”

“Have some faith, you old bastard. Oliver said reinforcements are coming, so they’re coming and that’s that. The Lady will deliver us.”

“Oh, to the hells with you. The Lady this, the Lady that… she doesn’t give a rat’s ass about us. Nicholas’ child is dead! And Richard, armed to the teeth with magical gear, he still got turned into cyclops shit!

“And us? All we’ve got to fight with is some sticks and stones, and this stupid faith of yours. Thanks to your Zarielle merciful, we’re all joining Richard in his brown glory!”

“You pair of heretics! Off with their heads, Oliver! This is blasphemy!”

“For justice!”

“Order! I said order, everyone! We can’t do this!”

A gruesome brawl was imminent. The panicked Oliver was at his wits’ end, seeing how the denizens of Sonis were about to turn into a lynch mob before the monsters had even arrived. Should the cyclopes strike in the midst of such chaos, then the whole village would perish.

“Get them!”

The scene was one breath away from turning into blows. And yet, before the first punch could be thrown, the roar of a young woman blew all the rage away from the villagers’ minds.

“ENOUGH! What are you all doing, you morons? Can’t you see what’s going on outside? The monsters have found us and they’ll attack at any moment, but you’re fighting each other instead? Your families are hiding right now, trusting you will protect them, and this is what you do for them? Shame on you!”

The strength of her words crashed onto the villagers’ burning hearts like a tidal wave, cooling the tempers of all but the staunchest among them.

“But… But Milla! The Goddess, they…" One of the older villagers tried to object, but the woman in question interjected.

“What of her, Benjamin? Does Lady Zarielle need you to defend her? She’s got the angelic legions and the Imperial Inquisition for that. And if they’re not up to the task, then she’s perfectly able to smite whoever offends her. But Nicholas and Frederick are alive and well, aren’t they? So shut your mouth and listen to Oliver.”

The legionary tensed up as the young lady diverted the conversation back to him, bearing an unusually strong air of gravitas about her. Oliver had known and secretly fancied her for years, ever since he arrived at the village, but not once had he witnessed such strength of character from her.

Her name was Milla, and she was the adoptive daughter of Jund, the owner of the pub where the villagers had gathered. Normally, she was a friendly and charismatic young lass who worked in the pub as a waitress. But now, in the midst of a crisis, she somehow brought forth the bearing of a stout leader.

Seeing Oliver’s dumbfounded expression, Milla kept the initiative and took it upon herself to give the villagers the courage that he couldn’t.

“Listen… I know you’re all scared, and with good reason. There’s a dungeon less than a day’s walk away from here, and we know the cyclopes that live there have found us. Other creatures may come with them, and help might not reach us in time.”

The villagers exchanged uneasy glances as Milla spoke. Not all of them believed Oliver’s tale of a coming relief force; his claim of receiving a telepathic message from the military sounded flimsy at best. Milla, more than anyone, knew the legionary was lying. Yet the very reason she could see through him was also the source of her certainty, and that quiet conviction carried into the villagers’ hearts as she urged them on.

“The situation is dire. Richard is dead, little Noah is still missing and we only have our own power to defend ourselves. But when faced with these odds, will we just lay down and let ourselves be killed by monsters? Will we let some creatures trample into our homes and eat our loved ones? How? Why? When did we Imperials become so weak that some mindless brutes can show up one day and slaughter us?”

Chills ran down the villagers’ spines as Milla raised her voice, and some swallowed nervously. The woman in front of them wasn’t just the gentle waitress they knew. Oliver couldn’t help but gawk at her display of courage as she continued.

“We’re the sons and daughters of the Empire. We walk with demigods and angels, fighting and bleeding by their side! You remember the old legends, don’t you? How our ancestors drove back the Demon God and slew him long ago? Well, we are the children of those heroes! We can fight back against these monsters, too! So who’s with me?”

Driven by an unshakeable will to live, Milla delved into the rallying power of the old stories, passed down through generations of Imperial citizens. She raised her fist in defiance, drawing the villagers to join her… and slowly but surely, one by one they did.