The Omen In The Clouds

"Bad omen in the cloud, my lord." The Shaman uttered in fright after tracing her boney fingers across the blue sky.

When Kaiya, the leader of the Ironwood tribe, saw the terrified look of the village Shaman, he had a dangerous premonition which sent a chilling tingle down his spine.

He was clearing his thoughts when he suddenly heard an alarming sound inside his head. Immediately, he stopped running forward, arched his waist, covered his ears with both hands, and screamed in pain. But as quickly as it appeared, his pain vanished.

When he adjusted his body and slowly raised his head, he found that the movements of everyone around him had surprisingly slowed down.

He glanced at his wife and son who were running in front of him, and knitted his brows together in a frown. Although they looked eagerly anxious to get away from the danger, their movement was extremely slow. What was happening? 

Looking around, he saw his clansmen in running stances, but it appeared as if they were walking in a snail-like manner. It was as if they were deliberately trying to show one another who can walk the slowest.

Turning to look around again, he saw the Shaman running towards him. Her mouth was opening and closing, releasing some incoherent intermittent words. He shook his head to clear his mind but the things in front of him began to distort in shapes.

The originally peaceful landscape, mountains, trees, every yurt, every clan member, everything began to slowly twist and slowly rotate in front of him.

The chirping in his ears disappeared, but he felt as if he had lost his hearing. The surroundings became so quiet all of a sudden that only the sound of his breathing and the voice in his head, kept echoing in his mind. The voice was so clear, and so loud.

"Antherions!"

Antherions, why? Kaiya shook his head vigorously, and the spinning scene finally stopped. But in its place, was a blazing fire, all around him. His clansmen were still fleeing slowly like snails, and it seemed they were shouting, but Kaiya couldn't hear their voices. Only the sounds of his wn heartbeats echoed rhythmically in his mind.

He could see the antherions, appearing behind his clansmen, chasing and killing them. The movement of his people was so slow that every detail could be seen clearly, even the saliva at the corners of the antherions' mouths and the splashed blood of his clansmen were clearly obvious. It was more than a few drops of blood. What was going on here? What's wrong with him?

Kaiya stood there blankly, seemingly watching his village turned into a sea of ​​fire. He slowly raised his hands and put them in front of his eyes, feeling they were real. They were really his own hands.

Suddenly, his hearing seemed to be recovering. Now, he could hear the sound. What was the sound? Somebody calling him? Was it him they were calling? Who was calling him? He turned around, only to see his wife dashing towards him, shouting in horror. Her voice coming intermittently.

"The antherions...attack...danger."

Antherions, attacking his village? What was going on? Were these hallucinations? Kaiya was questioning his own sanity when he suddenly saw a reflection in his wife's eyes. His own reflection. And behind his reflection, was a wolf-shaped antherion, rushing towards him. He turned around abruptly, and saw a huge fanged mouth that quickly enlarged in front of him. Two rows of sharp teeth suddenly gnawed at him. He could even smell a foul stench coming from the mouth of the antherion. "Aaargh..."

"Patriarch....Patriarch."

Kaiya was startled as he felt someone tapping him on the back. Immediately, he put down his arm which was covering his head and opened his eyes. There was no fire, no antherions killing his people. It was just a lot of his clansmen running around due to the alarm raised by the village Shaman. Did he just see an apparition of a wolf antherion in front of him?

When he turned around, he found Wynter patting his back, and asking him anxiously. "Patriarch, what's wrong?"

Kaiya glanced at Wynter blankly. Kneeling on the ground, he lowered his head and gasped for breath. His whole body was already soaked in sweat.

"My lord, death is coming this way. I can feel it's disastrous power." The voice of the Shaman also sounded again. "We must leave the village immediately!"

"She's right, patriarch. I detect powerful essence fluctuations coming from the forest. There must be a high-level force leading the antherions towards our village. We need to go now, patriarch." Wynter also shouted anxiously. He was a level seven essence conveyor, the highest power among the Ironwood tribe, but he himself knew they couldn't face what was coming.

"Okay." Kaiya quickly took a deep breath, raised his head sharply, grabbed Wynter's hand and said. "Please, protect my wife and son. As the leader, I can't abandon my people. I have to see to their safety."

The patriarch was about to run towards the middle of the village when he was pulled back by Wynter. Although he was small in stature, Wynter had greater power in his body since he had high level of essence. So he held Kaiya back effortlessly and ran after Lynn, the patriarch's only son, and Kiara, the leader's wife.

Kaiya couldn't break Wynter's hold, so he could only follow him. They momentarily stopped in front of the Shaman who ran over. The patriarch quickly directed. "Alert the whole village. Tell them the antherions are coming, and must evacuate the village immediately. Hurry up."