The elder took another sip from his hot drink. His movements were slow and calculated. He lifted his gaze towards Logus as he sat down on the chair.


    “Have you noticed anything strange in the forest recently?” the elder questioned. Logus felt the sharpness of his tongue, almost accusatory.


    “I have not” he paused, looking directly in the elder’s eyes, his voice confident “Fewer animals lurking in the woods than last year, but I take it as the winter’s fault.”


    The elder took a while to answer, which only made Logus more agitated about the situation. He had never inquired Logus about his trips to the forest.


    “A few days ago, the alchemist’s daughter went to the forest to collect some herbs for the shop.” He paused; his eyes drifted away as if lost in thought. He took another sip and continued. “She hasn’t returned ever since”.


    Logus mind lingered on the elder’s last words. In the two years he has been hunting in the forest, very few things would prove dangerous. Sure, there were the wolves but their hunting grounds were far from the village. ‘The smell of burned wood was a good deterrent for the majority of the animals’, Logus thought.


    The elder seemed to take notice of Logus’ silence. His brows dipped slightly; a small hint of displeasure ran across his face.


    “Answering the pleads of my friend, I ordered a small scouting force to the forest, in hopes of finding the girl. And just like her, they went missing” “


    Logus was shocked by the revelation. A missing girl in the forest was one thing. Disasters can happen, especially with in harsh winter. But a small scouting force, experienced and well-armed, was different. Just how did he fail to notice anything in the forest? How could a group like that disappear without a trace? Logus mind was overloaded with questions.


    “The snow only made their job harder, something very dangerous is lurking the woods,” said Logus, a small chill running down his spine. He too could have been part of the list, though he doubted anyone would care if he disappeared.


    “That something could very well be you,” said the elder. His eyes grew darker and his tone wasn’t nothing less than accusatory.


    Logus was used to the way the villagers treated him, but this was going too far for him to tolerate. He snapped and with a swift motion he punched the table.


    Irritated, he pointed towards the elder. “I’m barely surviving with scraps from the forest! I live isolated from everyone and you dare to accuse!”. Logus hazel eyes were slowing losing its colour, and a bright purple colour was taking its place. The palm of his hands leaking small sparks.


    The elder was unmoved by Logus reaction. He took a small cloth from his inner pocket and cleaned the table while never taking his eyes from him, gesturing the soldiers at the entrance to step back.


    “Just look at you right now, barely controlling yourself” said the elder, his gaze filled with quiet superiority “You’re a marked one after all”.


    “You called me here in the middle of the night to accuse me!” replied Logus, his voice heavy with disbelief and injustice. Sparks leaked from his legs towards the ground.


    “I’m the perfect escape goat; the village would finally be able get rid of me.” Said Logus, the realization hitting him suddenly.


    The elder was taken back by Logus’ words, his expression betraying his surprise.


    This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it


    “Prove your innocence to the village, tomorrow you will joi---” the elder was suddenly interrupted by a large whistle that ended in a bang.


    The guards at the entrance reacted immediately, two similar sounds followed as they entered the room, their usual disciplined expressions were gone, instead a worried look was engraved on their faces.


    Ignoring Logus current state they headed towards the village elder, with a small courteous bow, one of them added.


    “We need to escort your grace out immediately, something terribly wrong is happening at the village walls” The guard’s voice was rushed, but he did not fail to convey the message properly.


    Ignoring them Logus rushed outside, the privileged location of the council would allow him to observe the village from a high ground, helping him understand what was happening.


    Logus saw a faint red glow in the night sky. His eyes wide open in disbelief. The village main gate was under fire and it was slowly spreading inwards like the roots of a tree.


    ‘Could this be related to the disappearance of the scouting force today?’ Logus asked himself, he had never seen such thing happen in the village in his 17 years of life.


    With the lingering energy of his legs, he swiftly headed towards the village gate. On his way he dodged a few villagers who were too panicked to notice Logus running. Some were carrying buckets of water trying to stall the fire to spread away while others were trying to assess what was going on.


    Logus covered his noise with his scarf, the smell of burned wood and blood was too strong. The closer he got to the gates the chaotic the scene around him became. On the top of the wall’s soldiers were firing their arrows. On the ground closer to the well, was the alchemist and a few of her workers tending to the soldier wounds.


    He saw a familiar face among the soldiers. It was Marcus, his left arm was missing, in its place was a cloth servicing as a tourniquet to stop the blood. His face was pale but his eyes showed unwavering determination.


    Logus approached him, he crouched to stay at eye level with him and asked “What the hell is going on?”


    “Marked one” Marcus replied, his voice was low and weak. “By the time we noticed something was wrong it was too late, they had already climbed the walls” He touched his wound with his remaining hand.


    “Attacked by what exactly?” asked Logus.


    “Monsters, they look like spiders” Marcus replied, his gaze grew distant as if lost in thought


    Logus was at disbelief at his words. ‘So that’s why the animals at the forest been scarce lately, it was not only the winter’. Logus thoughts were interrupted by Marcus’s plea. “Please use your powers to help us”.


    He would help, but only because of his mother, this was her birthplace. Logus felt disgusted by the warrior’s request. Both he and the village shunned him because of his birthmark and the powers that came with it. How dare they ask for help now?


    Logus turned his back on Marcus and headed towards the village wall. He climbed the stairs towards the top and grabbed his bow. The soldiers around him looked tired, the supply of arrows was slowing growing thin. He gazed down below and sure enough a small swarm of what looked like spiders were chirping away the wooden gate. A spider in the middle grabbed Logus attention. It was bigger than the others and her fangs were sharper and larger.


    Grabbing his bow, Logus took aim and fired a small volley towards them. Some of the arrows grazed the creature heads, failing to cause any damage.


    With a quick thought Logus took aim again, this time aiming towards the creature’s chest. The arrow reached its mark. Digging dip at the spider’s body. The creature stumbled almost if it was crying in pain.


    Realizing this Logus screamed towards the soldiers nearby, his voice hoarse “Aim for the body, it’s their weak point”.


    The soldiers hesitated for a moment, exchanging confused glances with each other, but they quickly followed Logus advice. They knew this was a battle against time.


    Logus took aim again towards the small swarm but this time he would give them a small surprise. With a deep breath, small purple sparkles started to form at the point of the arrow, Logus short brown hair slowly reacted to the static.


    As he released the shot, as it shot forward, it left a glowing purple trail in its wake. In mere moments, they were dead. The arrow crackled with electricity as it struck one of the spiders right in the chest. The charge spread like a chain reaction, jumping between the nearby spiders. Their legs trembled violently, and their mouths frothed as the energy consumed them.


    Logus clutched his fist in celebration as he saw the effectiveness of his powers against these creatures. However, his celebration was short lived.  Shortly after a sudden impact shook the settlement walls.


    Worried Logus quickly looked down below. His heart skipped a few beats as he noticed the large spider had managed to break in the settlement.


    ‘Shit, this is bad, really bad’.