39 - Monster Wave

I woke up more groggy than usual, likely because of my midnight conversation. Katie rolled over to face me. I explained my dream and conversation with the Ancient the previous night, and we both got ready for the day. Celine met us in the hallway, and we joined the bulk of our team as they assembled for breakfast.

I heard the sound of logs falling, and of brick clinking on brick, and realized the construction crew were working on an outer wall rather than waiting for breakfast. I asked Greg - who was in charge of breakfast this morning - what was going on.

"Tim came back from his scouting trip with news of increased monster activity. He asked Jack to get the construction crew started on a wall around town. Said he'd like you to send him more people, but didn't want to intrude on your morning."

I nodded in understanding. "Shouldn't we just strengthen our hunting party? If there are more monsters, we could use this chance to stock up extra before winter hits."

"Maybe you should talk to Tim before making a decision. I don't know what it looks like out there, and he does."

"I guess that makes sense." I replied. Then, I left the pavilion to find Tim.

I checked both men's barracks, since I didn't remember which one he was in, but couldn't find Tim. One of the other scouts - who hadn't been on early-morning scouting - said he was with the construction crew. I thanked him and followed the sounds of construction. I found them about fifty feet east of the Temple's southeastern corner. The wall - or the existing 5 feet of it - was 10 feet tall, filled with stone, and bulked out to 5 feet of width, held together with some kind of cement. Surprisingly identical timbers lined the outer edge and increased the overall height to 14 feet.

Thankfully my goose chase ended there, since Tim was mixing the concrete stuff with another guy.

I sat down with them. "Tim. What's your scouting report?"

"Chief!" he exclaimed, startled. Then he answered my question. "Monsters seem to be moving north, toward us. They seem to be running from something."

"How many?"

Tim looked me dead in the eyes. "If I'm not mistaken, all of them."

Not quite sure I believed it, I stepped into the sky, patiently climbing a dozen flights of barrier-stairs. I stared southward intently, but couldn't tell anything was off from here.

Katie soon joined me with the powerful flaps of her wings. "What's going on?"

"Apparently all - or if not all, basically all - of the monsters in the south are moving this way, running from something. I can't see it from here, though."

"Should I do a fly-by?"

"If you don't mind."

She gave me a quick kiss, and swooped southward, flying much faster than she usually could on our dates. I watched her until she was barely visible.

"How likely is a group of monsters to flee its territory? I understand skirmisher-types, but generally." I asked the Ancient.

*They range from very likely - examples being skirmishers and harvesters, to almost never - titans and packs. If the Scout saw one of those coming this way, then a full-blown monster wave can be expected.*

"What is a monster wave?"

*When a titan-type reproduces or a pack splits, they don't usually just split the territory. They invade other territories. There is some room for overlapping territories, but if a region is too overpopulated, some of the monsters leave the area. This is a monster wave. They don't happen often, but reshape entire territory maps when they do.*

"How far does a wave reach? If it starts that far out, I can't imagine we're in danger."

*I would make a similar judgment. There are no monster packs or titans in the near vicinity. But... If too many of those types of monsters are displaced, it is possible that we may be in danger of a monster wave. Not even my dissuasion barrier or how established our territory is would have an impact.*

"We have established territory?" I asked, surprised.

*From the monster's perspective, yes. To them, you and they are not different. You have proven you belong here. All they have left to do is challenge your right to the territory, try to live their life hidden in your territory, or leave. And most monsters try to stick it out for as long as possible. You might be dangerous to them, but there is always something more dangerous out there.*

Katie flew back a few minutes later. I ran to meet her. "What's the verdict?"

"The Angel says that it's a huge monster wave. She thinks Tim was right, that our village could be in danger from those monsters."

"How long do you think we have?"

"A few days at most."

We went into emergency mode. With an estimated three days, I assigned half of the cooking crew and the bulk of the scouting crew - all of them except Tim and Katie - to the construction crew until the wall was done. With all the extra hands gathering resources and clearing the wall path, Jack guessed we might have a full wall in time.

Our clothing crew took spare branches and made javelins. Thomas took a half-day break from the construction crew to cast spearheads from the sword I had brought with me to this world. I silently thanked Xor for the trusty weapon, and Justys that Xor would never find out what we had done to his creation.

The hunting/ gathering crew and I practiced combat with the new javelins, though, in my and Silence's cases, also our Soulblades and abilities. We helped chop trees during our blade practice.

By the end of day one, the wall was halfway around the town we had settled in front of the Temple. As everyone else lined up for dinner, I inspected the wall, and used one of the handful of staircases to climb on top of it. I had plenty of room to get a good footing, and threw four javelins at the nearest tree, which was twenty feet out. Anything closer had been chopped down for the wall, and the majority of the trees inside had also been cleared.

I didn't know where they got all the stone from, and I was surprised that Jack had only taken four recharge breaks all day.

I retrieved my thrown javelins - only one had hit the mark, the rest fell short - and returned them to their places between the pointed logs on the outer edge of the wall. Then I joined the rest of our town for dinner.