Tribal calamities

The place where the rift was a damp forest, where mosquitoes abounded, and the air smelled musty.

Nathan was wearing a long-sleeved shirt that came down to his wrist, mainly to protect himself from the annoying mosquitoes.

The rift was a little bigger than the ones he had seen before, but nothing spectacular. 

All the cadets stood, waiting for orders from the soldiers who would be supervising them. They waited for confirmation over the communicator when a few minutes later they received confirmation from the man in charge and were told to go in.

One of the soldiers went in first, followed by the cadets and then the last soldier.

As soon as Nathan opened his eyes, he found the landscape even more depressing than before he had entered the rift.

The area they had entered was a swamp, with water up to their calves and trees with large roots in the way.

"Ugh... I feel dirty" Syril complained as she kept pulling her feet out of the water.

Nathan wasn't too comfortable either, but he had other things to worry about. He had learned the hard way that realms were dangerous places, and this was one of them. There was no way of knowing what dangers there might be, so they had to do some reconnaissance first.

During the first week, Dilliard had taught him some survival skills. It was not known exactly how long they would be in the realm, but it was possible that they would have to spend a few nights inside.

But compared to the first time Nathan entered a realm, this time it seemed difficult to find a place similar to the church, a safe place.

Nathan went to one of the trees to support himself and suddenly he heard a small breeze coming towards him.

He did not hesitate, he knew very well what the sound was, so he drew his katana and deflected an arrow that was aimed at his head.

The sound drew everyone's attention and before Nathan could say anything, one of the soldiers shouted.

"Ambush! Get ready!"

Everyone immediately readied their weapons and scanned the area carefully for any danger, but the attacks they were expecting never came.

Nathan also carefully watched the direction the arrow had come from. But no matter how long he waited, another attack never came.

The swamp was dark and not easy to observe from a distance, so it was easy for enemies to hide from a distance and watch them, waiting for a moment when they would let their guard down.

While everyone was tense, a soft melody began to echo through the swamp. Nathan immediately looked to where the melody was coming from and frowned.

He had little knowledge of musical instruments, but he was sure that what he heard was a flute.

'A calamity can play the flute?'

Nathan didn't understand what was going on; the disasters were supposed to have little intelligence. They lived only by their wild instincts to eat and reproduce. That was why most of them were dangerous.

While he was still thinking about this, the water in front of him began to move, as if something was approaching. Nathan braced himself until the water had calmed a few meters in front of him.

The water was dark enough that Nathan couldn't see what was underneath.

"Did anyone else see the water move?" one of the cadets asked.

'Then I wasn't the only one...'

Several other cadets nodded, and even the soldiers had seen the same thing.

Suddenly Nathan felt a small disturbance in the ground beneath him, it was like a slight tremor, so slight it was easy to overlook. It was only because of the training he had done the previous week that Nathan had been able to feel it.

Without thinking, Nathan slashed at the ground, burying his sword several centimeters in the mud under the water.

Then he pulled it out and looked at the blade.

'Blood...'

Nathan was about to warn the others, but as he turned, he saw those with sharp weapons already burying theirs in the ground, finishing off whatever was underneath.

His gaze unconsciously shifted to Syril and Maya. Syril was wielding a scythe with a chain attached to the end, a rather odd weapon.

The young girl remained silent as she watched the others destroy the hidden calamities, mainly because her weapon was not very functional in this situation.

Maya, on the other hand, who fought mainly with her fists, did not care, and Nathan watched as the young woman prepared to strike, then crouched down and hit the ground, splashing water in all directions.

Seconds later she pulled her hand back and Nathan saw that she was holding some sort of snake.

'Snakes, huh...' Nathan understood what was happening.

The snakes had swum up and then gone underground, confusing the cadets, and causing them to come out of the ground in a surprise attack. Unfortunately, the cadets' senses had overpowered the snakes' plan.

The problem was the melody that had sounded earlier, as it was unlikely that the snakes were responsible for it.

A few minutes later, all the cadets had finished with the snakes and looked at each other.

"Any ideas?" asked a female cadet wielding a short sword.

"We have to be careful, we don't know if they will ambush us again" replied another cadet wielding a normal long sword.

As they debated among themselves, Syril approached Nathan.

"What do you think?"

Nathan looked back at him and was silent for a few seconds as he thought about everything that had happened.

"I also agree that we should leave and look for a safe place to set up our base..."

Nathan pointed in the direction of the melody.

"Preferably over there"

Syril looked where Nathan was pointing.

"From where was the melody heard and where did the arrow come from?"

Nathan felt and began to move his sword along the underwater floor as if searching.

"Exactly, it's our only clue... it should be here somewhere"

A few seconds later Nathan felt something with his sword and rolled up his sleeve before reaching his arm into the water to pull out the arrow he had deflected earlier.

The arrow was very rustic, made from a wooden stick and a sharp stone tied to one end of the stick with string.

"I thought it might have been the government that hadn't ambushed us, but that doesn't seem to be the case"

Syril scowled at the arrow.

"...Tribal calamities"

"Tribal calamities?" asked Nathan, not knowing what that was.

Syril nodded.

"They are like the indigenous tribes of ancient times, the most human-like calamities in biological terms. They are like little children with masks that cover their whole face"

Nathan tried to form an image in his mind, but without much success.

"They are especially dangerous because they always work in groups, and they are very organized"

Nathan sighed.

"So, they're clever"

Syril nodded.

"Compared to the other calamities, yes"

As the two of them talked, the cadets had finished talking to each other, then joined Syril and Nathan in deciding what to do. During all this time, Maya had said nothing, just nodded at the others' ideas.

Nathan wondered if the young woman was always like this, or if her attitude was due to his presence. She had nothing to do with him, so it was not his problem what Maya thought of him.

In the end, they all decided to find a safe place in the direction the arrow had come from. So, without much delay, they started walking, studying their surroundings carefully.

Because of the thick leaves on the trees, the light hardly reached them, making it difficult to find their way. Several times some of the cadets almost tripped over tree roots, but otherwise not much happened.

About an hour later, everyone came to a cautious halt. In front of them, a totem pole made of bones attached to a stick indicated that they were in the right place.

"Tribals..." Syril whispered, confirming her earlier thoughts.

"We are entering their territory" Maya said being her first intervention.

Nathan nodded and began to approach the totem pole to study it, but suddenly he felt something step on it and in an instant a spear shot out of the water, so fast that Nathan was unable to avoid it. The spear struck him in the jaw, piercing his skull and impaling him to death.