Looming Clouds on the Horizon

On his way back, Theodore walked past one of the abandoned mineshafts. Long since forgotten, the entrance was surrounded by weeds and shrubberies, making it appear no different from a natural cave. However, Theodore remembered what had occurred there ten years ago, when he was found on the temple's doorsteps. Within this abandoned shaft, there slumbered a beast, a creature known as the Corpse Eater.

Back then, for the Demon Lord's Aether, the Corpse Eater was but a tool to get their chosen vessel to safety and a potential pawn for later. For the Demon Lord's Aether, there was no higher priority than to pass down the Demon Lord's memories. However, for Theodore, the creature was Merry, a being that inherited a portion of the same corrupted Aether as he did. Though the memories were the Demon Lord's, the brain processing it was that of a ten-year-old boy. In Theodore's young mind, Merry might as well be a sister of his.

"Must be lonely to be in there all by yourself," Theodore muttered. "I'll come fetch you one of these days. Once I'm older and stronger."

He'd be more than willing to go find her immediately, but he wasn't naive to that extent. He knew that Merry was a beastly being. To unseal her without the capability to handle her would be most foolish and reckless indeed.

"One of these days..." he said again before continuing on his way.

***

Running down the dusty path into town, Theodore raced against the winds. Looming behind him in the distance were dark clouds, gradually approaching. It was going to rain and the laundry had yet to be collected.

Regulating his breaths, Theodore kept running without being tired. The young body was easy to move in and Theodore himself had always been an energetic child.

"Hey Theodore, slacking off today?" a middle-aged man called out teasingly as Theodore passed him by.

"As if! I've already done all of my chores!" Theodore shouted back.

"Theodore! Playing in the hills again? You should be careful, I saw a boar the other day and it's a big one. Maybe you should stay out of there for a while," said a young man, tanning the hide of a beast he had recently hunted.

"It's fine, I'll be careful. If I spot it, I'll climb up a tree. Just come find me if I don't come back before dark," Theodore responded, running off before the young hunter could say anything more.

"Theodore, thanks for fixing up my roof the other day!" yelled another after hearing Theodore's voice, this time it was an old lady.

"Sure thing! It wouldn't be funny if you fell from that height," said Theodore as he jogged on the spot, checking on the elderly woman. "Anyways, I gotta go! The rain is coming and the laundry's still out."

"Oh my, is that so?" The old woman looked into the sky and saw that there were indeed dark clouds on the horizon. "You're so responsible for your age."

"Wish you'd tell that to Lina. She's nagging at me a whole lot more these days. Now, I really should get going."

Growing up in this town, Theodore had a fine reputation as a kind and helpful child, if not a little on the wild side with his constant escapade into the forest in the hills. The reputation was the result of neither schemes nor conspiracy. It was merely the nature of a boy raised lovingly by the people of this town.

In hardly any time at all, Theodore arrived at the temple. While it was somewhat too spacious when only a pair of clergywomen lived here, with the addition of Theodore and four other children, it was about just right.

Circling around to the back, Theodore spotted a dark-haired woman in the midst of taking in the laundry. She was the younger of the clergywoman who had taken the children in, Maria. The elder of the two, Eliza, had passed away three years ago and Maria had to be responsible for everything in the temple ever since.

"Maria, I thought I was in charge of the laundry today?" Theodore called out to her.

"Oh hi, Theodore," Maria responded with a smile. "Since it looked like it was about to rain, I thought that I might as well bring them in. Isn't it fine? Just because it's your turn doesn't mean I can't help out when needed."

"Besides, if we had waited, it might have already started raining by the time you come back," said another voice from behind, bearing a small hint of displeasure.

"Well, guess what? Here I am and the rain is nowhere to be found yet," Theodore quickly turned around and retorted to the pig-tails-wearing girl behind him.

"You just got lucky. Who knows what might happen next time," said the girl with puffed cheeks.

"You know, Lina, you've been getting somewhat bossy lately."

"I'm not getting bossy. I'm just worried about you. You're the second youngest here, but you keep running off into dangerous places."

"It's just the hills, how dangerous can it be?"

"That fact that you think so is exactly what worries me."

"I don't need you to worry. You're only two years older than me anyways."

"That still makes me older, so you should listen to me."

Faced with such childish reasoning, Theodore shrugged and tried to argue no more.

Of the children taken in by the temple, Lina and Theodore were the closest in age. Perhaps due to this, the two butt heads more often than the rest, with Lina seeing herself as something of a charge for Theodore to his chagrin.

"What's this? Is it raining already?" said Theodore, reaching his hand out as if to catch a droplet of rain. "Maria, let me help out!"

"Rain!? So soon?"

Raising her head, Lina looked to the sky. The sky was still bright and there was not a single droplet to be found. By the time she turned around, the remainder of the laundry had been gathered and Theodore had already slipped indoors.

***

As the rain clouds drew close to the town of Eastcliff, three armored men on horseback approached the hills just outside of the town from the opposite side.

"Halt!" said the man in the lead before dismounting from his horse. Lowering himself closer to the ground, he began to examine the dirt road.

"Are those tracks?" asked the other man.

"Looks to be it. If I remember correctly, there were mines in the hills up ahead. Perhaps our mark had gone and hid in one of the abandoned mineshafts."

"Will we have to search all of them? Just the three of us?"

"We will do what we must in order to capture the demonkin!" the one furthest in the back hollered at the other two. From his voice, it was clear that he was the youngest of the three here. "Besides, he was injured. He can't have gotten too far."

"The rookie isn't wrong," said the man in the lead as he climbed back atop his horse. "It's not ideal, but we'll have to work with what we've got. Better than doing nothing, I would say."

Their course decided, the three men pressed forward, entering the hills just as droplets of rain began to fall from the heavens above.

This rain would be a heavy one.

***

End of Chapter 5

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