Birth Of The Crafts-God

While Baylands city-state could be described as a large nation, the districts within —apart from the five districts of Baylands City— were somewhat of states within this nation. Alleva district was a 'state' with many cities and large towns within it. In turn, these cities and large towns had little towns or villages surrounding them.

Garena town, for instance, was surrounded by a few small towns and villages. Some of them were caught in the attack, while the others were emptied of their citizens, who managed to flee before the process.

Southvale Village was an example of the former.

Being slightly far away from Garena town, Southvale village was one of the lowest-ranked villages in the area. Its population wasn't large, and the only way the village held onto its economy was that it was a large producer of a specific type of grain.

The grain, when dried, could be processed into a special mixture that was used in the process of making an alcoholic beverage much like beer. However, it wasn't until a couple of years ago that the grain was used for producing a new strain of hallucinogens—illegal substances with hallucinatory effects.

Due to the fertile land in the area that was suitable for growing this grain, the underground force that ruled close by took control of the village. However, they didn't treat the inhabitants poorly, as one would expect from an underground gang.

The villagers were recruited as farmers and duly compensated for their hard work. Many of the villagers were either mixed-breeds or humans, and such treatment was very well appreciated by them, who had been abandoned by society. Life in the village might not have been the best it could be, but it was okay for the people.

That was until the beast tide approached.

When Rosewood City was first struck three weeks ago, while there was fear, no one had evacuated from their residence. Although the prices of items had skyrocketed due to the attack, everyone was still somewhat calm. They believed that the security forces would be able to handle the situation, and even then, it was unlikely that the desolate beasts would head in their direction.

There was no reason for them to have been targeted, and so, the people in Garena town remained calm. This same feeling spread around, and soon, even the villagers in Southvale village were not worried about the desolate beasts wave.

Things proceeded on like so, until about a week later, when the desolate beasts tide was discovered to be approaching Garena town.

Emergency measures were put in place, and an evacuation order was given out. Similarly, the news reached the surrounding smaller towns and villages, who were requested to leave as soon as possible. Your next read awaits at empire

Being located right in the grey zone yet far from any desolate beasts habitat, Alleva district wasn't properly equipped to handle a desolate beast wave of such calibre. Added to the fact that it was created to be a grey zone for illegal dealings, the security, as regards to handling desolate beasts, was inadequate. An evacuation was the only move they could make at that point.

Southvale village was at the outer edge of Garena town's vast territory, and even after receiving the news, many didn't want to leave. To abandon their heaven for a place where life could be much worse? Why would they? They'd rather pray to any God for a miracle, or hope that the desolate beasts wouldn't move in their direction.

As fate would have it, they were quite lucky, and the wave only affected Garena town and the villages closest to it. Southvale village was safe, but some of the villagers knew that it was only for a moment. However, the new reaction by the district's military gave them more faith and confidence to remain.

After the destruction of Garena town, the district's military was more aggressive in their actions and managed to force the wave to remain in the surroundings of Garena town, preventing them from expanding their influence. Everything finally looked like it was coming to an end, and the villagers sighed with relief.

Until yesterday.

Yesterday, a small group of desolate beasts had escaped the perimeter set up by the military around Garena town [1]. The group consisted mostly of avian desolate beasts, which made it difficult to track down, and by the time the military had done so, they had already attacked Southvale village.

"...run, run as fast as you can. As long as you can still breathe, keep running, my daughter." An alien lady stared at the young girl before her.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

The woman had pale blue skin and a pair of antennas on her head, making it quite obvious that she wasn't hyuman, but an alien species known as Nysa.

The girl before the woman was her daughter; a crossbreed between a Nysa mother and a hyuman father. However, she inherited more of her father's DNA, appearing exactly like hyuman. Despite being so young, she already had the making of a beauty, but that was all washed aside by the clear signs of malnutrition.

After the destruction of Garena town, the people of Southvale village went for more than a week with little food and inventory to survive on. Prior to Garena's destruction, the prices of food had already increased after Rosewood city's fall. With Garena town following suit, it made life even more difficult for the people.

Many experienced dramatic changes in the span of those three weeks or so, and for those whose financial situation wasn't the best from the start, their changes were even more pronounced.

The little girl and her family were somewhat ostracised in the village. While the treatment wasn't severe, it was still pronounced. This was a unique situation but not entirely. The majority of villagers were mixed breed and humans, whereas her parents were a hyuman and an alien species.

Even though they tried to adapt and live in harmony, some in the village would sideline them due to their hatred of "pure bloods".

Another factor was that her mother, despite being an alien, appealed to the tastes of many men in the village and they envied her father for that. Many wanted her, but the risk of offending a hyuman with stellar cultivation strength was a problem to them. While they held themselves back from extreme actions, they mistreated the family of three with whatever chance they could get.

For instance, some might overcharge them during a transaction or deny them the right to purchase an item, and so on.

Alleva district was an abode of crime. It was a place where one would find it difficult to find someone truly good and compassionate. Even the poor and less privileged had dirty hearts, so such behaviours weren't unheard of.

Having already lived a difficult life, one could only imagine how worse it became after food prices rose. But they held on. That was until the village got attacked.

As one of the few stellar practitioners in the village, the little girl's father was supposed to join forces with the other men to defend the village, but he didn't. Instead, he did his best to protect his family and tried to evacuate them. As a matter of fact, he wasn't the only one who acted selfishly, as all the other practitioners made the same decision.

Defend the village? Against such powerful beasts? That was simply suicide.

However, compared to avian desolate beasts whose home was the skies, there was no way anyone could escape far. Many of the villagers were killed, and even the little girl's father died protecting his family. And now her mother has followed suit.

"Please. Please, don't look back, and keep running. Survive! Run!" The woman yelled at her daughter as she stood behind her.

With her meagre strength of second level Apertures Opening stage, she had decided to sacrifice herself and seize the attention of a fourth level desolate beast, so as to offer her daughter a chance at survival.

Her husband was already gone, and all she had left was their daughter. To the woman, having lost the man she loved most, she was already heartbroken and beyond fixing. To her, losing her daughter was much worse than dying at this point. As such, she had no fear in her eyes as she faced the desolate beast two levels stronger than her.

Rather, deep in her eyes were emotions of anxiety, desperation, and vigour.

Even amongst alien species, the deep meaning of motherhood existed. Just as humans and hyumans had emotions and empathy, they did as well. They could cry, they could laugh, they could smile, and they could love.

At this moment, the greatest act of love was being demonstrated, but there was no one to witness it.

Afraid, yet abiding by her mother's instructions, the little girl ran away. Tears streamed down her eyes, her body hurt in multiple places, her lungs hurt from the intense breathing and speeding. But no matter what, she kept running and never stared back.

With her eyes glaring cold blue light, the woman stared at the avian desolate beast, bursting out with strength beyond her level and engaged with it in combat. She was prepared to die, but wanted to make sure her death was worth it. A minute, half a minute or even a second longer, she wanted to delay the desolate beast as much as she could.

Regardless of how dire and hard she fought, after a few minutes, the light in her eyes darkened as the embers of life within her dissipated. Her last thoughts weren't sadness, relief or the such, instead it was regret; regret that she couldn't hold back the monster even a second longer for her daughter to escape.