Near the cabin where the first battle was fought, incinerated bodied of the Malumtis Empire lay in the ground, the bodies still alit with char and minor flames. The cabin, much like the Militia, was unharmed sa pamamagitan ng the column of fire. Somehow, when the column hit the ground, it weaved around the warriors of the Militia, and left them unharmed, burning all Malumtis in its patth. The Militia now sit sa pamamagitan ng a bon apoy where they burn bodies. Sanae is praying that her God have mercy on their souls; somethat's not likely.

There was a curious aura amoung the members of the Miltia. They did not know much of each other, yet they had fought a cold hearted battle. Eventually, Menae's curiosity grew too great.

"Hey,"Menae began,"you never really told us what happened when your family was murdered."

"I don't think that would be something that-"gatage began, but was cut off sa pamamagitan ng Noctus.

"It's okay, Gatage," Noctus said. "I don't like talking bout it, but I guess if I tell my tale once with everyone here, I won't have to say it twenty different times."

Gatage nodded in agreement, and Noctus carried on in his testimony.

"I remember that araw as though it were yesterday..."

I woke from my straw bed. Isaw all the vegetation, and the trees the greens. I could tell where he was: kakaw Island, about a buwan ago. Bird chirp, and related Lynx hunted for their food, while others farmed. There was also a small pile of pagkain on the shrine for the Moon, and the diety that freed this island. It was rumored at that time to be a yellow soro with unusual pair of tails, but I never believed in rumors.

I stood up from my bed, and saw some unfinished work I had from the night before. After completing the work, which consisted of watering most of the vegtables, and catching some prey for the night's meals, I headed inside the house.

I couldn't eat red meats due to a genetic disorder. Because of this, I was shunned of doing most of the activities that most 'honorable' Lynx did to worship the diety and the moon, apart from serving the chief, which usually denied this service. But there was one thing that the chief told his people never to do: "Do not ever go onto the beaches, are we clear?"

The chief never explained why that rule was in place, but I would soon discover why, and that deed would fall on me.

"Father?" Noctus asked into the house. I searched for a couple of segundos before a arm wrapped around my neck, and began to choke me. Through instinct, I elbowed my attacker in the gut, and salmmed the back of my ead into his nose. I could tell his gender sa pamamagitan ng the way he yelped. My attacker let go of me, and revealed himself to be my father when I turned around to confront him.

"It would seem that I have taught you well, son" my father said.

"You won't catch me sa pamamagitan ng surprise anymore," I lied.

"Oh, I know," he sinabi sarcatically, sensing my lie. "But regardless, I think I've taught you enough to have this," he said, presenting me with a sinturon that had a pouch for storage, and a sheathe to kaluban ng baril a sort of knife.

"I think there is something missing," I told my father.

"You have a keen eye," my father congratulated. "But realizing that somehting is missing is only part of the problem."

"I think a kutsilyo is missing."

"ood. But, where is the knife?"

"I.."I started, but noticed something peculiar in my fathers hand as I took the sinturon from his hand.He held a kutsilyo with a specific kind of carve and forge to it that made it a kutsilyo perfect for the carving of meats, though I could eat none. When I went to reach for it, my father pulled his hand away, and beared a smile that said, without words, fight for it, son.

I kicked my father's leg, and he scratched me in the face. I lunged at him, but he shoved me down, making my face and chest scrape against the stone and soil ground. I feigned a punch, making my father react, and I instead kicked him across the face in the same movement. This knocked him off balance, and my lunge knocked him to the ground. I placed a claw on his neck, and that was the end of the battle.

"I'm too old for this," my father complained. "That's the only e=reason you won."

"Father, you always told me that denying the truth is bad under the eyes of the moon," I sinabi back.

My father chuckled, sighed, and was silent thereafter. My mother walked inot the room, and saw my father, her mate, on the floor with his son, her offspring, in a position in which if I wanted to, I could kill my father.

"So he won, it will not make that I pag-ibig you any less, or that the moon will give you less power," my mother stated. "Just give him the knife."

"Very well," my father told my mother, and handed me the knife. "Now, son, listen: this is a kutsilyo that is specially carved for you. Soon enough, you will begin hunting for the elders, so this kutsilyo will be useful on taking down prey, not fellow Lynx. Do you understand?"

I nodded in response.

"Good. Your mate will meet you in the morning. You may want to get accuainted with her. If at all, you can impress her with the knife," my father joked.

"Don't listen to your father," my mother said. "Knives never impressed me."

"But one of my knives did," he sinabi in return.

My mother turned away. I guess it was something that I wasn't supposed to know for the amount of moons I had, but I presumed that I would learn once I was old enough.

I bowed to my father, bowed to my mother, who had a red face for some reason, paid my respects to the moon, and went to my kama to sleep for the susunod morning.

Something was on me. I could feel that something was on me while I was near waking up, but I just didn't want to wake up. The weight in me, however, kept bothering me, so I opened my eyes. Atop me sat a Lynx whose face was near mine in distance. I was startled. She smiled at my surprise. She seemed to be pleased, but I had no idea what she was pleased or pleasured of.

"I am Stelux," she told me, still on tuktok of me.

"He...llo..." I sinabi slowly, still in this suprise. "Umm... could you please get off me?"

"What, why? You are my mate, are you not? Am I confused?" she asked, though I could not tell if she was asknig me or herself.

"Umm... I would suppose you are my mate?"

"Then, if I am your mate, then why must I get off of you?" she asked. "You do know what mates do, right?"

"No," I replied.

This made her become silent, startled, and suprised, almost like me, but in a different way.

"You honestly don't know what mates do to... each other?" she asked.

"No," I replied honestly. "What are you trying to tell me?"

"I'm going to have to explain to you something, but I can't explain it to you here. I must do it somewhere secluded."

I nodded, and told my parents that I was going somewhere with Stelux.

"I'm so happy for you, Noctus," my father told me. I was puzzled, but I did not bother to ask him. Stelux's secrets compelled me too much.

We made our way through the forests near our village, and went straight to them. The vines dangled and and latched onto trees, almost as though they may come to life once we are gone,, and try to eat carnivorously.

But that would never happen.

"How much further do we have to go?" I asked.

"Not much further," she assured.

Sadly, 'not much futher' meant the beaches. At night, some of the garins shine like the stone on the kuwintas of the chief.

She sat me down on the sand, and she sat across from me.

She was about to begin to explain when I began to involuntarily cough. Stelux saw this as a rude and offensive gesture since I never had the chance to let her speak to me for that moment.

Off in the distance, a sort of creature in the sky sailed toward us. It shined like the pretty metals on the shrine of the Moon. The problem of this was that this bangka released a surplus amount of smoke. This was what caused me to cough.

Not knowing of this mysterious beast in the sky, we ran towards the villiage. There, we consultaed the chief.

"Chief..."I sinabi in a pant, but cough say no madami between coughs and pants.

"Can you say no more?" the Chief asked me.

"There is a monster in the sky, Chef," sinabi Stelux.

Stelux pointed towards the sky, and as sure as the moon, the monster approached us. As I was turned, the chief saw my rear end, and all the sand it beheld, since I had not brushed myself off as we left.

"Did you go to the beaches as I had prohibited you to? It was you who brought this unto us!" he shouted, but the noise and mystery of the beats caught the atention of the tribe madami than I coudl catch a bird.

Then, it began to decend, and mysterious wind gusted and pushed at us. Soon enough, the monster touched the ground with a loud thud.

A shaft on the monster's mouth opened, and and a pathway extended from the mouth. Several shining deamons came out of the mouth, and an alien with a bald head began to speak with the chief. It had seemed to me that the alien could not communicate with the chief, and vise versa. The alien, after some time, simply waved off the Chief, and gave him his back, an extremely disrespectful act. Everyone gasped.

Then, a pair of the shining demons grabbed the Chief sa pamamagitan ng the arms, and dragged him inside. As the Chief was inside, rumors began to spread as to what was happening inside the monster's stomach. But soon enough, our curiosities would be cured.

After a couple of mintues, The old man's demons dropped our chef on the ground. He was half shining demon, half Lynx, but all dead. The alien waved us all off again, and the stomach, the very belly of the beast, opened up to reveal the largest of the the shining demons.

"I don't think I can continue," Noctus said, shaking his head, and almost beginning to cry. "It's all just too much..." he sobbed. Sanae attempted to sooth him. Noctus had been getting madami and madami saddened of what had happened that night.

"You don't have to explain everything that happened," Gatage assured. "Just tell us to the best of your ability what happened."

Noctus nodded. "Cry baby," Tenemae scholded. Noctus ignored her.

"That was when the killing started.." Noctu began again.

The large shining demon came to life. The smaller demons shot beams of light at out Lynx bretheren. Stelux and I hid as best we could in the vegetation. Unforunately, a demon found us, and was about to apoy me with a light beam. I unsheathed my knife, and prtected myself with it. The light aparently bounced off my knife, and hit a nearby tree, starting a fire. I then did the only thing I could think of doing: Run. I heard a peculiar scream of pain and agony. I was may father. A large blade from the largest demon pertruded his body. Large gashes in the demon's skin told me my father died fighting; died a warriors death. Then, it turned to me, and ran towards me, and lunged at my scrawny body. The blade hit flesh, but I couldn't feel a thing. My puso skipped a beat, and time slowed to a crawl. I opened my eyes to Stelux with a blade through her body.

"This is what mates do..." she said, and I understood her perfectly. Being her mate meant that she was chosen for me and vise versa sa pamamagitan ng the powers of the moon. This also meant that our relationship was meant to be. But her death brought was too mcuh to handle for me.

"I can't do it!" Noctus cried.

"Don't worry, Noctus," Sanae said. "I know it hurts, but I'm here with you now. I always have been." Her words soothed me so much. He guessed it was because Sanae reminded him so much of Stelux.

"I'll finish this," he confirmed confirmed, and continued tohe tale. Many madami Lynx bretheren were being killed senselessly. The demon who had killed Stelux launched her near dead body into the air never to be seen again.

I ran, and climbed a puno that wasn't on apoy at this point. Houses burned, livestock cried in fear, children screamed in pain, Stelux and my father was killed, and it was all sa pamamagitan ng the order of a bald alien, whose reason for the murder of my family was somletely still undisclosed.

I ran, and jumped to the sea. I swam andfast and hard as I could, only stopping briefly at islands to get a moment's rest. I wasn't a very good swimer, nor had I ever been one, but this occasion was different. I had a good reason to swim, and I took that cause to heart.

"To this day," Noctus concluded, "I still hold a grudge on the blad alien. I didn't know his name, so I just called him Baldy."

"You can't be serious," Menae criticized. "Aliens and demons? What exactly did you grow on your farms?"

"We grew fruits, vegetables, and- why do you care?"

"Noctus," Cooro warned, and that was all the warning I needed.

"You both nee to be quiet," Gatage said. "No one else was there, so Noctus' testimony is final."

At that note, Sanae lowered her head. DId she know something Noctus did not?