In Search of the Ancient Ones (II)

As I walked along I started thinking about something that has been going around in my mind ever since.

Certainly he referred to those beings as "invaders". According to him they are alien to this world, destroying the ecosystem of nature and being different from creatures considered to be of legend or fairy tales, such as Shadow Dragon. Indeed he has connections with these animals, which makes me believe that I can trust his words to be true.

Even so, we know nothing of where they come from or the purpose of their visit to this planet, we can only affirm that they began to appear since the day of the Apocalypse.

In addition, we have not witnessed any invader attacking an animal, the almost null appearance of fauna in the sectors annexed to the cities makes me speculate that they are also victims of them.

We also do not know their diet or if they even need to eat to survive. The most approved theory among us is that they feed on human beings, this is reflected in the fact that the larger the city, the greater the scale of the constant attacks of the invaders on its inhabitants. Whether they adopted this taste for people once they arrived on this planet or whether it comes from before is unknown.

Likewise it seems as if they can somehow sense the presence of the Spiritist's weapons, although this has not yet been proven. It would make a lot of sense since they were both born in the same event, it would not be strange to assume that they are related somehow.

With these points in mind, living in such a small village in the middle of nowhere makes it a perfect location. The cabin where Maria lived was quite safe if we obviate the case of that strange lizard.

If there is anyone who had the instinct to run to the countryside for shelter, they were right.

Eventually we made it to the place indicated on the sign. A village of rustic aspects, as if everything had been frozen in the past ignoring the passage of time. The houses seem to be made of wood and are small enough to house only a couple of people.

Unlike the big cities, there is apparently no damage caused by the creatures here.

We approached the nearest dwelling and knocked on the door, waited a bit but there was no answer. We tried again at the one next door, then at another, and so the minutes passed without any success. In the end none of the homes deigned to answer us.

"It seems that this village is completely deserted"

"And we deviated from our route for several days just to get here? What a disappointment" complained Maria leaning on her cane with both hands and letting the rest of her body slowly slip, until it touched the ground.

"Still suspicious"

"What?"

"I'm sure on the way here I heard people talking. I doubt it was a mistake on my part, could they be hiding from us?"

"Really? What a pain in the ass they are, how dare they ignore us!"

"Wait Maria, I have an idea"

I headed towards the middle of the street and stopped.

"What are you doing?" she asked sprawled on the ground looking at me, still holding on to her beloved wooden stick.

I closed my eyes and took a deep breath, then shouted as loud as I could so that my voice could be heard clearly.

"We're just travelers passing through! We're not here to harm you! Will someone please listen to what we have to say!?"

As I finished my speech echoed, then only the sound of the wind blowing could be heard.

"Do people really live in this place so far away from everything? If so, they're pretty rude for not even answering"

Maria stood up, wiped some dust off her clothes and walked towards me.

"I was convinced that I heard something, maybe I just imagined it"

"Should I try it too?"

Surely anyone would take more notice of a pretty girl like her instead of me.

"Thank you Maria" I said stroking her head. "... apparently that won't be necessary"

From one of the houses I could see a silhouette peeking out from behind a window. As soon as he realized I was looking at him he immediately hid. Still, it's too late, we know you're there.

I gestured to her and we both headed in front of her door.

"Hello~ is anyone home?"

She was already knocking constantly at the entrance to no avail.

"Excuse me, we don't want to disturb you, would you be so kind as to chat with us? It will only take a minute"

Again only silence ensued.

"How rude these people are! You can tell they don't know how to be polite!"

"Perhaps if we use another approach"

"Like what?"

"Remember what I told you before, about your greatest virtue?"

"That thing about me being cute?"

"Exactly. You can use that to your advantage to solve anything"

"Emmm I guess I could try..." she said looking to the side. "But cover your ears Asriel, It's embarrassing"

"Understood, as my lady says"

Heeding I stepped back a bit and turned away pretending not to hear. What's coming for sure will be pure gold, I can't miss it for anything.

"Ahem. Sir, if you could let us in, I'd really appreciate it~. I'd like to sit down for a while and rest, we've been walking for several days and my feet are starting to hurt~. Seriously I would be very happy if you would open up and let us have a cup of tea, with cookies~"

"..."

After a few seconds it didn't seem like the strategy was paying off.

Strange, I was convinced that there would be no man capable of resisting such a provocation. Maybe he's deaf?

"I told you to open up! He made me say such shameful things and he doesn't even react? Evil! You pervert!"

Maria was clearly upset and began to knock louder and louder. While she served as a distraction I looked out the window, inside I could see a silhouette of an elderly man kneeling with his back to the door with one hand on his chest.

Aha! He's resisting her charm with all his might! I knew there was no way he could withstand that critical blow in one piece, if he did he would have no heart at all.

In any case, other measures will have to be taken.

"Maria" I called out to her and tapped her on the shoulder.

"What's wrong?"

I motioned for her to stop and move a little away, she agreed by stepping to my right.