15 - Those Who Knocked, Uninvited

The dread was continuously increasing that night. The rowdy shout kept repeating while the people outside were getting more hectic. A lot of running and panic squeals were heard.

If I were to compare them with the sounds of war, I would find little difference in them.

She picked my body up before checking the window, seemingly confused too about the whole racket. While I was on her lift, I could see the view outside for the first time.

Our house was actually in a village filled with wooden houses similar to us.

Similar to what I expected, a riot was currently ongoing outside. However, the poor lighting hindered me to get a clear view of the houses.

In the distance, flashes of light dashed at a high speed, running from something. With further inspection, there was a group of people running together while holding torches as light sources.

Their shine flickered on the nearby walls, reflecting not only their own shadows but also their pursuers. One of the creatures with unexplainable features instantly pounced on one unlucky late runner. I was perplexed when he got removed from the group and got bitten by it.

My vision caught a glimpse of the round head that the creature possessed, but the light source had outrun the attackers, thus making their identities still a mystery to me. The roars of horror from every side only served to make my family members worry even more, especially the woman.

"Kobi sasiada garukh ramiya gono? Tade laropana pula!" the woman was inquiring and complaining something to the man at the same time. Her clutch on me was getting too intense for my comfort.

"Haumana kutau mengina Tu garukh! Kukan jaknia anakita, sifi taberi taupula adaru min garukh," her man explained while clasping a sheathed thing on his hip.

He raised it in front of him to be unsheathed, revealing the rapier that lied inside.

The long silverish blade glinted inside the room which made me gasp. I had never witnessed a weapon with such finesse in my lifetime.

He then took a handful amount of powder from the pouch on his other hip and furnished the blade with it.

The man approached us and grabbed the woman's shoulder firmly with his free hand. "Anakita man bay saja, ya?" he continued with a serious look.

She bit her own lip as her eyes were reflecting more distress. "Ya, hardu," the woman nodded after a while and proceeded to barricade the window with a wooden tile, pushing it hard enough until it was jammed.

He swiped the blade once again with bigger force and the rapier was suddenly ablaze with fire.

Not a usual flame came out, but a blue flame. The fire danced wildly on the tip and single-handedly lit up the whole room.

The commotion eventually reached our house and people were rushing over our premises hurriedly. The girl was abnormally turning her head all over the place, panicking as the sound passed our home.

Amidst the riot which was heating outside, her eyes were closed all the time and she was on all fours as if looking for something.

"Saira, udake temu is garukh?" the woman asked the girl. However, I guessed that she wasn't trying to question the girl's action.

The girl remained in her position for a while, turning her head to check every corner of the floor until she paused all of a sudden. One of her fingers was raised slowly, shiveringly pointed somewhere below us.

Then, the man was the one who asked her this time. "Ada brapaja merka?" he lowered his body to met her level and spoke urgently. The girl slowly looked at him as she raised her fingers to make a count. She extended all fingers but the thumb and pinky.

Three.

Without any halt, the wall was banged all of a sudden. Screeching noises were heard alongside the senseless beatings.

We flinched altogether but the parents directly regained their composure. He made a sign to not make a single noise as we carefully stepped out of the room. The man lead us downstairs, his vision scanned everything without fail.

By then, the crowd had distanced far enough from our house, creating a void of sound which was unnerving. The only voice that accompanied us was the creaking woods that we stepped on cautiously.

As we stopped in the destination downstairs, we were frozen in place while listening to every violent knock the unknown creatures did.

The man raised the rapier in front of him to prepare for any counter-offensive. The girl was still pointing her finger outside, eyes closed once again.

*DHUAARR*

Before I readied myself, the wooden wall was breached with a loud crash.

Next to us, two creatures forced their way in. They looked like giant insects with no eyes, six legs, and a round scaly head. Their brown color and sharp teeth were spotlighted from the man's burning sword.

They leaped with two legs toward us and used the other four to assist with their sharp claws. The woman rapidly moved her free arm with great force, creating a wind strike that knocked them back. The two of them blocked it well as there was no damage on them whatsoever.

On the man's back, the string that was connected to the girl's finger shone its gold color. As if filled with vigor, he dashed to one of them and stabbed his flaming blade to its chest.

The insect struggled even in that position but the man immediately grabbed the rapier's hilt harder.

In a flash, the fire exploded and spread into its whole body, thoroughly burning its entire self. He kept on clinging to the blade, not letting go until the insect stopped struggling.

The other insect which barely recovered rushed to him for an assault, but the woman repeated the same wind attack before shifting her attention to a bucket on the table.

She moved her hand in the direction of the bucket, controlling the water by raising its content onto the air. A big clump of water was amassed on her palm, ready to use.

With one fast succession, the water was shot hard from her hand straight onto its neck. The water projectile punched through the neck's surface, creating a hole on it that startled the insect.

But it wasn't enough. She knew it.

She repeated the same motion of collecting and shot it again to the same place, this time piercing through the skin and left a gaping hole on the neck. The man had removed his rapier from the first insect's chest at the same time.

Two fresh corpses fell, one being burned alive and the other dropped lifelessly with green blood spilling. A grotesque sight to behold.

The woman dropped me on the table and inspected her surroundings again. Perhaps she would move more freely if I wasn't in her hold.

The man counted the corpses and seemed confused before turning to the girl. "Prasatadi Saira ngaman adatiri. Ijilo ginyama na?" he asked the girl. She then did her eye-closing again, pointing her finger to the opposite side of the wall this time.

The pair stared in the direction the girl showed as they prepared for another wave of attack. Before long, the wall was broke through again by a bigger insect, somehow confirming the prediction of the girl.

The string connection shone once again as they sprawled into action. The man ran into it while switching his rapier position to the side as if he was going for a slash. The woman made a paddling motion with both of her hands which produced a stream of strong blowing air.

Her power was keeping the insect in position and it was up for him to finish it. He stepped powerfully before swinging the blade, trying to behead the insect.

The rapier entered the flesh at first, but to his surprise, the blade was not able to cut further and got stuck.

The man was agitated as he attempted to pull the burning rapier, which resulted in nothing. The insect twitched from the fire and raised its sharp claw. Its claw struck the man before he could notice, forcing him to back off with a large gash on his chest.

"Hardu!" the woman shouted before stopping her wind and tried to use the water again.

The moment she looked at the bucket, she was struck when she realized it was not enough for another shot.

"Jana heti srangan!" he shouted at her before standing up and dashed to it again.

He formed a fist and punched the insect's chest powerfully but to no avail. The insect only went more furious and whacked his head out painfully. He got knocked down as a result and the insect extended his claw in order to stab him.

However, its claw was shot with a powerful wind from the woman. The insect was shocked by the damage and canceled the attack, saving the man at the last moment. He retreated to my side near the table and talked to the woman.

"Makase, tapika kite.. akabutu rincada," he spoke to her with difficulty breathing.

The insect was starting to get over the writhing and going for an assault.

"Hardu, kekeru situ mhit!" she hastily said before swirling the air with her fingers. He simply nodded at her.

The insect started to run toward the man in high speed.

Out of my expectation, he ran straight into the insect, ignoring the trouble he had beforehand. When they were almost going to clash, he leaped as high as possible with both of his feet.

"Kin!" the woman shouted and shot a heap of wind onto one of its legs.

The insect instantly fell sideways, leaving the side where the rapier got stuck prone for attack.

"Yahh!" the man screamed when he descended onto the insect.

Both of his legs were opened, and when he almost landed on it, he stepped on his own rapier. With the help of force from his legs, the rapier thrust through its whole neck and beheaded the animal.

Its head slowly rolled to the side, dripping the same nasty blood as the one before.

Three total corpses.

There was just silence between us that moment, or maybe they were just as speechless as I did.

The flame which ignited the rapier rustled awkwardly in the vacancy of our words.

And then, the first thing that broke our silence was the man's huge exhale. He ran to our side once again and hugged the woman so tightly as if she would be gone if he didn't. His face was showing a mixed expression of happiness and the urge to hold a cry. They stayed like that for a while before taking me and the girl to join in the group hug.

They embraced me altogether in their proximity, not saying any word in that already cozy state. I studied their face as we hugged, learning their expression thoroughly in this experience. There was not any extreme happiness nor deep sadness on their faces, but just an ideal combination of both.

For a reason I didn't know, I was really grateful to be here.

To be able to feel this warm sensation was a joy to behold.

We remained there for a while, enjoying the time to be together.

But then, loud knocks to the door interrupted our moment. "Huru Sayaka! Huru Sayaka!" a man was yelling outside the door desperately. Everyone was shocked by the abrupt disruption but the woman spoke first with a whisper to the girl.

"Na, cepakhe gara sinya!" she said to the girl, trying to sound as quiet as possible.

The girl nodded and followed her words immediately whatever it was. She stood up and left the members as she dashed to the kitchen, to the mysterious room of hers.

After she had gone from our vision, the man hurriedly opened the door to reveal a stranger with a bloodied head.

"Huru! Tolanla banu anakan!" his face was filled with fear and his hands were carrying someone.

In his hands, a child was held with cloth splashed with blood.