36 Day Seven #5

Later that same day, there were quiet footsteps that had approached the area that had been attacked.

Inis had appeared and cautiously halted in her movements before she had stepped out into the open.

Her eyes caught the broken branches and prints made on the ground beneath her. 'Humans have been here?'

The more that she looked and had gotten closer, the higher her caution became. 'Is this a random act of the humans or is it related to something I have done recently?'

She was uncertain if the humans had ventured out of their own territory where it was safe for one of many reasons of their own or if it was related to her recent actions since she had been reborn.

When she was closer, the bloody smell in the air had reached her nose and only grew stronger the closer that she got.

There were no humans left behind in the area and the tracks left behind had shown that they had travelled away from near the Gremlin habitat.

The blood stains were left behind along with some bodies of the Gremlins that had not been taken with them.

The humans from the village had only taken what they thought was useful to themselves and left behind anything else before leaving.

It allowed Inis to see the wounds left behind on the bodies left behind.

Her hand touched the inside of the wound and her face became serious. 'This seemed like a one sided slaughter but what has me most worried is the wound.

It is not like a normal bullet or have the usual damage caused by any other sharp weapons. The wound itself seemed to have been burned a little so it could possibly be some form of magic or energy that was used. Has technology advanced that far?'

She did not know what kind of opponent that she had provoked but she did not want to take them too lightly.

If they possessed such weapons then they could be used to kill herself and she had just narrowly avoided that by turning up late.

Her head shook as she was still in thought. 'No.. there must be some kind of energy supply needed or powered humans to be able to do this. If it is the first one then there would be a need for them to be careful about their energy supply.

If it is a bigger group that has connections and funding then they will be dangerous but judging by their tracks and the wounds left behind, they do not seem like well trained experts so I have to judge them as possible civilians or a group of hunters.

If that is the case then it is possible that this attack may have put a drain on the weapons and energy that they have access to. There may even be a limited number of these weapons available to them.'

They were just her speculations based on her findings but she was quite close to the truth.

In order to reduce the amount of times that Aether Masters would be sent to smaller and less important locations to carry out monster extermination missions, different technologies were developed to be used to deal with lower realm monsters.

They were made available to all kinds of communities that could pay for them so it made up enough profit to be able to send some to other areas for a reduced cost.

The village was one such place that gained a limited supply of energy type guns but there was a big catch involved.

The guns would be completely useless without the ammunition so the villagers would still need to find their own way to purchase the needed ammunition once their own had run out.

They had come to claim the head of Inis after learning that she was a growing threat but they did not find her.

They did not get what they came for so they took what they could so that they could make up for what they had used up.

Inis slowly walked into the cave to see many of her belongings already gone and her eyes looked towards the body of the old Gremlin. "Old guy."

There was not that large of a connection between herself and the other Gremlins but the old Gremlin had been the one to welcome her into the world and to give her a new identity.

He may have intervened in some things to keep the peace but he never got in the way of her main goals.

Seeing his body that had been pierced just like the others, she noticed the way he was positioned over a cocoon.

He had tried to shield her own cocoon before his death so she couldn't help but feel a little gratitude towards his final efforts.

She tried to check to see if there were any signs of life within the cocoon but just like the others, the humans had made certain to destroy each and every one of them.

There was not a deep connection between herself and those within her own species but she did not have a deep hatred towards them.

They were all bound the the same area and had to live together to survive but they were among those that were left behind by herself and suffered such a fate in the end. 'Should I have tried harder to get them all on my side? Perhaps this could have been prevented.'

Her eyes turned colder. "We cannot live.. here anymore."

The old Gremlins was picked up by her and was buried shortly afterwards out of a sign of respect for him.

Inis said her final farewells to the old Gremlin and was preparing to leave but had gave one order. "Eat all. Grow stronger."

The Gremlins around her had ran towards the other bodies that lay around and started to devour everything they could before leaving along with her.

"Akakaka."

"Gihi."

As they were heading back towards their new location where they would be staying, Inis helped them get there safely but afterwards she had returned to follow the tracks left behind by the humans. 'I need to know why this happened.'