Far in the distance, camouflaged against the land, a large pack of Skrucks migrated the lands, it looked like waves moving through the sea. Memor and the hunting party disembarked the wagon.
"Skrucks used to be animals from before the Passion Curse, but now they mutated into this atrocious form." Calypso stated as she carried the quiver down the wagon," They attack other packs of Skrucks, and if they were not able to catch prey for long, cannibalism was always an option."
Luni shivered at the thought.
"Calypso," Theano called." Enchant the arrows so we can get this over with it."
"Alright alright, don't rush me. I'm trying to educate the children."
Calypso dropped the quiver, grabbed an arrow and started enchanting. The tip of the arrowhead rippled— a coat of distorted space seems to surround the arrowhead as if underwater. She placed it down on the ground carefully.
WOO!
The distorted space pulverized the ground, leaving a circular dent at where the arrowhead is placed.
"WOW! That's so cool! What is that?!" Luni exclaimed.
"It's my Unique Fragment Ability."
"Sis! I don't know what that is!"
Calypso looked at Luni, letting out a little sigh," It's complicated Luni. Don't you have a library at your academy? Go there or something." She spoke in a fed-up tone.
Calypso carefully enchanted another 4 arrows, each chipping a part of the ground when placed down.
"Think you can make a shot that far?" Calypso asked Memor holding the sixth arrow in here hand.
"Yeah." Memor replied in an even tone.
Seeing his response, Calypso enchanted the arrow, then handed a bow to Memor from the wagon. "Here, you get a share if you hit one."
Despite his young age, Memor is skilled in swordsmanship, archery and wilderness survival, he trained from a young age under Ceres's guidance. His training only stopped when he started attending Learners Academy.
"Alright people, let's begin." Theano order.
Everyone grabbed bow and arrow from the enchanted ones except for Elena, who had the job of scaring the Skrucks away once their shots hit, because the Skrucks will either cannibalize their own dead kin or rush the hunting party.
They stood in a row, bows in hand.
"Draw" Theano order
Each person drawing their bows back with ease, except for Memor, struggling a bit.
"Shoot."
The arrows flew, cutting space in an arc, the whistling of arrows falling upon the unsuspecting pack of Skrucks.
It hit. 6 Skrucks fell, the pack went haywire, furious roars echoed through the distance, but something was off. The pack didn't rush at the attackers nor did they feed on their fallen kinds. They ran.
Theano was the first to notice, raising a hand to stop Elena from scaring the Skrucks away.
PANG!
A thunder clap howled—the distant sky flashed faintly in purple, concealed by the dark clouds.
"EVERYONE ON THE WAGON NOW!" Theano yelled, his voice faintly tainted with a sense of panic, making the hunting party comply without a second word. Theano himself went to the front to untie the horses.
Back on the wagon, everyone was tense, except for Memor and Luni who stared at Theano, their curiosity piqued.
"So... what was that about?" Luni was the first to speak.
"It's a Sorrow Rain. The pack was running away from the rain."
"What's so scary about rain?" Luni said, feeling a little baffled.
"You don't know since the rain in the village filtered by the Fragment Shield, but out here, rain can kill. The rain is infused with the sadness Eros once felt, it makes one experience unimaginable sorrow, even if you were to use Memorable Nerves it would not get rid of the grief." Elena spoke in her sweet voice.
"How does it kill?" Memor asked.
"It doesn't...you kill yourself from the grief."
Just then, sparce rain drops fell, growing more rapid by the second. Soon all there was, is the sound of raindrops hitting the dry-land.
Crack! Crack!
The hunting party all turned their heads to the direction of the sound. What they saw, left them disturbed— Two horse, slamming their heads into a nearby boulder.
Crack! Crack!
They kept going, till their heads were marred with wounds, till their skulls cracked into shards, till their brain matter spilled the ground in white.
Crack! Crack!
Till their bodies lay lifeless in the mud.
"There goes our ride." Haris joked," Hey Theano, the horse money is coming out of your pocket."
"What? We rented the horse together."
"But you were the one who let them loose."
Theano turned to face Haris, his expression turning more fed-up by the second and all Haris did was reciprocate with a smug smile.
Whisps of vapor rose from the ground, contaminating the inner parts of the wagon. Elena was the first to notice, interrupting Theano and Haris from their dispute, she voiced her worries.
"Hey, people I think we need to be careful. The rain this time is much larger than what we faced before, we may get infected."
Right after finishing her sentence, everyone felt it. The cold breeze of sadness crept into their souls like a tidal wave.
Tap. Tap.
Luni was the first to shed tears, his whole persona seems to fade, leaving behind a single part of him, melancholy. His eyes lost the luster that children had, turning distant and bleak. More tears fell on the floorboard, but not only Luni's. Calypso, Iro, Elena Haris and Theano joined him in grief. Their minds whirled the memories of their loses, their pains, their unfulfilled desires.
Everyone was tense, battling the urge to surrender. They were focused, too focused to spot the white skin clear of tears. Memor was in a better state than the others, he didn't cry, he didn't weep. It might have been because he was the only one to eat Bayel flowers, but he knew better.
They will get suspicious if they found out I didn't cry later. Haa come on come on think! Think!
Time passed slowly, the battle between rationality and suicidal urges went on for what felt like an eternity. There wills held, held long enough for the Sorrow Rain to stop.
Theano was the first to escape his trance like state, looking around he saw his companions faces, dripping in tears.
"We will rest a bit then move to collect our prey."
Everyone nodded, their minds too tired to retort. Theano was about to step out to check the surrounding, but was grabbed by a panicked Luni.
"Isn't the rainwater dangerous! Why are you going out! You wanna die?!
"No Luni, the water itself is fine. The raining is what brings the sorrow, once the raining stops, the raindrops just become normal raindrops." Theano reassured the panicked Luni then step out the wagon.
The mudded ground sent a distinct odor of earth into his nostrils. Looking up at the eclipsed moon, he figured that they spent about 3 hours in the rain. There was still half a cycle left.
After the rest, Iro moved to the front of the wagon, pulling it towards where they killed the Skrucks. He didn't struggle against the weight of the wagon, as his body was that of a Grade 1 Mnemonist.
Memor looked out the wagon, they were close enough to dead Skrucks to make out its details.
Grey fur covered the Skruck's body, it had a head of a wolf and the body the size of a rhino, its four feet protruded with black claws almost scythes.
Disembarking the wagon, the group made their way to the dead Skrucks. The carcasses were cold from the rain, but the arrow wounds still flowed with crimson blood.
What a unique enchantment. The wounds on the corpses did not hold arrows, they were through and through, the arrows burrowed past the beast's hides, traveling out the other way then implanted themselves in the soil, with only its fletching poking out.
Luni would have jumped at the destruction those arrows caused, but his mind was too exhausted to show such emotions.
"Calypso, Send the Skrucks back to the village, the rest of you drag them to the front of the wagon." Theano ordered, pointing at the dead Skrucks." Memor, Luni, you two drag one together."
Theano was the first to pull a carcass to the front of the wagon. Calypso, already at the wagons side, placed her hand on its wooden frame, the carcass rippled, similar to the enchanted arrowheads. At its center, a darkness rift formed, eating up the carcass as if being dragged into a black hole, swirling in circles, gradually pulled into its embrace, until all that remains is the memory of the space it once occupied.
The rest of the carcasses were sent to the front of the wagon one at a time, taking turns in being sucked into the rift.
Once finished, the hunting party made their way back to Sal Village, taking turns between the Grade 1 Mnemonist to pull the wagon.
Back in the village, Memor made his way home, escaping the wrath of the owner of the dead horses.
Back at his humble abode, Memor laid down on his child sized mattress and got to thinking.
I should be proud of myself for coming up with such a smart idea. He chuckled a bit. Back during the Sorrow Rain, he kept his eyes open for as long as the rain lasted to shed tear, since he couldn't really feel emotions when only Bayel flowers, or because of his unique physique making the Sorrow Rain not have much of an effect on him.
I should meet Alara in the library next cycle, she's probably more enthusiastic about sharing knowledge on Mnemonists than Calypso. Memor turned his head to face the window, he looked at the stary sky then the eclipsed moon, there was still quarter of a cycle left.
Should I visit Uncle Ceres? I only ate a bit of jerky on the way back from the hunting trip.
Memor was tired, he just wanted lay down and rest, but his stomach was unrelenting, growling every few minutes. In the end Memor surrendered, he picked himself up, then made the trip to his uncle's home and workplace in the forest of pale wood trees outside the village.