Chapter 19: Dusk and Darkness

The mother cried, “Oh my beloved husband… is he still alive?”

“We don’t know. But you should evacuate now since there are nobody else here,” answered Grunt.

“Not all villagers left the village. Many houses here have small compartments so there should still be a number of people here who are just hiding,” said the mother.

“Can you tell us what exactly happened?” asked Lillin.

Wiping her tears away with her hands, the mother replied, “We were sleeping very peacefully last night. Suddenly, we were awoken by screams from nearby. We found out that the undead was raiding our village.”

“Undead? I thought most of them perished a few years ago,” Lillin said with surprise.

“And we were gravely mistaken,” added the woman. “My husband and some other men quickly took their swords to repel the undead. Some of the villagers ran away while others hid in these small compartments.”

“I see,” Grunt remarked. “With all the recent happenings, I can only say that someone or something must be controlling them. Forest animals attacking other people, enemy captains and leaders with tainted eyes, and the undead being resurrected, we’re up against one tough foe.”

“God Chaose from the prophecy?” Lillin asked.

Grunt nodded in affirmation.

“We’ll wait here and see if the undead will come back. You should take this time to run and find a safe place to stay,” ordered Grunt.

The mother continued to cry. “There is nowhere else we could go. We’ll just try and live our normal lives on day time and hide here at night.”

“Poor lad,” Lillin said then hugged the woman. “Isn’t there anything we can do, Grunt?”

“We’ll stay here until midnight and wait if the undead are coming back,” Grunt said. “If they arrive, we have to defeat them and banish them from Uld forever!”

“You’re really a brave guy, Grunt. Let us prepare, then, for this huge battle,” Lillin remarked.

“Count me in!” shouted Leo.

The three adventurers stayed with the mother and her children inside her house and comforted the family from the loss of a husband and father. It was a very touching scene, very different from the vicious battle that’s going to happen that same night.