Chapter 24 - Nightfall: Shocking Revelation

In the forest near the tribe, Spencer, Quintus, and Hagen could be seen sprinting towards the mountain in which the attacking tribe could be found. Spencer was in front, leading the group while Quintus and Hagen were behind him struggling to keep up with his speed.

The group had taken a few breaks as Quintus and Hagen could not keep up with Spencer, he wasn't even slightly out of breath from running for what appears to be 12 miles in 30 minutes, while they were about to collapse from fatigue.

After a quick break, the three continued their pursuit of the tribe. An hour passing, the three had crossed the mountain and were observing a small settlement at its base. It held large huts and tents organized in an almost thought out fashion, this was almost completely different from what Quintus and Hagen's tribe was like, the people of this tribe also seemed to be more advanced, wearing clothing made from a variety of animal skin and tools made from stone.

Upon seeing the tribe, Quintus and Hagen were shocked at how developed the people of this tribe appeared to be. They were slightly intimidated by the weapons they had, but this fear was quickly buried when Spencer placed his hands on their shoulders.

"These are the people. They have the same scent as the ones who attacked our tribe."

Listening to Spencer's words, the two were quickly filled with resentment and began looking at the tribe with nothing but bad intentions welling up in their eyes. Spencer removed his hands from their shoulders and began to think. Looking down at the tribe, he could see that they had a relatively large population.

Spencer could easily wipe out this entire tribe by himself without any difficulty, but now it was different. He had Quintus and Hagen and the two still had to get their form of revenge for the people they lost, he could not rob them of that by wiping out the tribe by himself.

"Hmm… Let's come up with a strategy." He said, squatting down.

Quintus and Hagen followed along. The three began to think and devise a plan on how they would wipe out the tribe in the most efficient way possible. After several long minutes of thinking and planning, they eventually devised a strategy. The three lied in wait covered by the bushes, waiting for the nightfall to set in, to set their plan to motion.

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Nightfall was approaching, Spencer decided to go over the plan with Quintus and Hagen one last time, to make sure that they understood what they were supposed to do.

"I will go within the tribe to find its leader and capture him. Quintus, you will hide in the shadow and kill all male members of the tribe in their sleep, except the children. Hagen, you will follow Quintus. Your job will be to kill any of the patrolling members of the tribe. Did both of you understand it?"

After going over the entirety of the plan, Spencer looked at them to see if they understood what was expected of them. Quintus and Hagen gave him a firm nod, indicating that everything was okay.

"Good. We will wait for the moon to rise to the highest."

Waiting until it got dark enough so that their movements would not be seen, Spencer, Quintus, and Hagen immediately began running into the tribe in a crouched position, flickering through the tribe without disturbing the silence.

Quintus entered through the back of tents and began playing out the plan, killing of the males in each tent swiftly and cleanly.

Of course, some tents held more than just males, a few had female members as well as children who were woken up from Quintus invading the tents and killing only the males. The screams of those extra members could be heard wringing out in the shroud of the night as more and more tents were invaded.

Without a doubt, the tribesmen who patrolled the area were placed under high alert as the screams rang out without end. The patrolling tribesmen were unable to do anything, as a majority of them were already killed by Hagen who was fulfilling his role in the mission.

As this was all happening, Spencer was walking within the shadows of the tribe, hiding his presence in search of the tribe's leader. He had already been through many tents in the short time that they commenced the plan, he would also kill any other males that he could find if he didn't see them as being the leader.

The task of finding the leader was getting tedious the more he searched. That was until Spencer came to see a tent that was covered in a little too much decoration compared to the others around it, along with the fact that this tent was located in the rear center of the tribe. Noticing this, Spencer instantly flickered from view and appeared in front of the tent.

Upon opening the clothed entrance, Spencer's face was immediately on the verge of becoming intimate with the tip of a spear. Moving his head to the left, he avoided the thrust, only to see a tribesman winding back and preparing a second attack. Spencer responded by grabbing the weapon and kicking the assailant. The kick sent the man flying back and tumbling on the floor.

Scanning the rest of the tent, Spencer came to see more tribesmen holding spears and pointing them in his direction. Behind these warriors was a single man, donned in extravagant tribal painting all over his body. His whole attire screamed "LEADER!".

Seeing this, Spencer sat down with his legs crossed and placed his hands on his knees, looking up at the group.

"I'm assuming the weakling behind you is your leader?"

Spencer spoke their crude language perfectly because he absorbed one of their members before arriving at this tent. The guards and the leader were startled by this. They never have seen this man in the tribe before, but for some reason, he could speak their language fluently.

"Are you the leader of this tribe?" Spencer asked in a calm tone, holding his anger, looking at the painted man in the back.

Hearing the tone and the question, confused the leader greatly.

���Who are you? Why did you attack my tribe?" He fired his questions to the strange outsider.

The leader was aware of his people's grief, the sounds of their screams echoing through the night had caused him to summon his guards to the tent in the first signs of the attack on his people. He wanted to know who was it that attacked his people and for what reason.

"I am from the neighboring tribe that your people had attacked. I have simply come to avenge them and murder you all."

When Spencer said this, a sliver of his anger escaped his grasp and the air around him grew cold in an instant. The guards felt this and backed away in fear, but the leader was the most affected, he was growing frantic from Spencer's presence and the sudden change in the atmosphere.

At this point, the screams of the tribe's people were silenced, indicating that Quintus and Hagen had fulfilled their objectives. Noticing this, Spencer began to speak.

"Ah, my men have already finished" Spencer said with a smile on his face.

Hearing Spencer saying this, the guards and the leader grew even more scared than they were a moment ago. The leader overwhelmed with his fear, could not hold his composure any longer.

"KILL HIM! KILL HIM NOW!" He bellowed.

Shouting his command to the guards, they quickly ignored their fear and began to rush at Spencer. Time slowed to a stop, Spencer extended his right arm, summoning his claws. He vanished from his previous location.

In the next moment, the wet bone-chilling sound of flesh rending sounded out within the tent. The bodies of the guard's splitting in half and falling to the floor in a puddle of blood and guts. The leader was baffled, he couldn't understand what was happening, one moment his men were attacking the intruder, the next they were on the floor, torn to pieces.

The leader could see Spencer sitting in the same spot as before without a drop of blood on his body. An overwhelming feeling of dread consumed him, especially upon seeing the indifferent look on Spencer's face.

"Now… let's try this again, okay?"

****

In the city of Hy-Brasil, the Atlantean capital city, a group of people were rushing towards a big pyramid-like structure. They were all garbed in tribal attire, but compared to the others theirs had much more decorations. Colorful feathers, stylish paintings signified their higher social standings.

Arriving in front of the long staircase leading up to the top of the building, their fervent rush was blocked by two golden spearheads placed across in front of them.

The guard on the left opened his mouth and with a stern expression, he spoke. Compared to the primitive, mostly imitative dialect that the cavemen and Spencer used, this was one much more refined. One could clearly feel the traces of grammar, and sophistication in it.

"HALT! You can't with his majesty without prior notice. Even if you are the High Priest." He roared at the group.

The Man in the front, who was wearing a feathered golden headgear on the top of his head, looked at the guard with contempt and snorted.

"Imbecile! Go inform his majesty that we finally made contact with the GODS! GO, otherwise, you and your family will be the next offering!"

Hearing the High Priest's words, the color left the guard's face. If what he said was true, and he did make contact, that was huge, groundbreaking information. This has never happened before, all the attempts for making contact had failed so far, for centuries.

Understanding the graveness of the news, he quickly bowed and looked at this partner who had similar reactions.

He gulped audibly as he looked back at the High Priest, who basked in his glory with a smug look on his face.

"Please wait, High Priest, I will inform his Majesty at once!"

With that he turned around and ran as fast as he could to the top of the staircase, to meet with his majesty.

Along the way, while struggling to control his breathing, he already shouted.

"H-his Ma-jesty, H-hi-his Ma-jes-ty! Th-ey… Th-ey… ma...de…." He only managed to squeeze out scraps, bits, and pieces, as he desperately crossed a thousand stairs leading to the top, the highest elevation in Hy-Basil.

Eventually, as he crossed the last few, he fell to his knees before the two royal guards guarding the top of the stairs. Looking through them as they have instinctively crossed their spears, blocking the entrance, he stutteringly shouted to the golden armored man sitting on a lavish throne.

"H-his Ma-jesty! T-the H-high Priest, h-he is waiting, downstairs. H-he… H-he…"

The golden armored man looked at the guard struggling with his breathing. Raising his hand he silenced him.

"Relax. Take a few moments to collect yourself and tell me, what did the High Priest want?"

Obeying the order, he took a few seconds to calm himself, before he answered, causing a huge shock at everyone present, including their king.

"The High Priest and the Priests…. They made contact with the Gods, your majesty! The Great Calculha responded!"