The Record of Unusual Creature

Nangong woke up and discovered himself lying on a hummock in the middle of nowhere. He rubbed the back of his head as he got on his feet. The sky was gradually turning bright. The spooky moment in the crypt was like a bad dream.

He frowned as the pain in the back of his head as well as the unbearable burning smell in the atmosphere made him sick. He continued to cough and mumbled, “What happened to me?”

Hao Ren signaled Vivian, Lily and Y’zaks to keep quiet as he smacked Nangong on the shoulder. He said, “Awake? Let’s see the headline.”

“Hao Ren?” Nangong was surprised to see the three of them as well as the stranger who looked like an imposing villain. “Are you guys alright? Did the evil wraiths hurt you? Who is this gentleman… Holy moly, what’s that?”

Nangong finally saw the crater, which was spewing smoke and ashes. He also saw a couple of stones left near the crater. Judging from the landscape in his surroundings, he could tell it was the Yorkford Castle. However, a pit and a puddle of ever so slowly cooling lava were all that was left of the old castle after just one night. Nangong was totally dumbfounded at what had transpired.

“You wouldn’t believe what just happened. A meteorite fell from the sky and hit the castle. It’s gone just like that.” Hao Ren spoke with straight face.

Nangong listened with awe as he rubbed the back of his head again. “Wait a second. I was fighting the evil wraiths in the crypt. There were wraith knights everywhere and you guys were right behind me… And then I felt a pain in the back of my head. That’s the last thing remember.”

Hao Ren acted even more sincere this time as he spoke with a trembling voice, “Speaking of which, I’m still shaking like a leaf. It was a miracle that we got out of that damn place alive. While you fought fearlessly in the crypt, the roof collapsed on you. You passed out and I was rooted to the spot, waiting for my final moments. Suddenly, all the wraith knights dropped down like bowling pins, lying motionless on the floor. We broke our backs trying to get you… and this old man out of that hellhole. We thought of waiting for daybreak so that we could hitch a ride back home. But, this place is too creepy to stay even a second longer so, we kept running. That decision saved us all as a meteorite fell from the sky 10 minutes ago and the rest is history.”

Hao Ren had been pretending to be like clueless, common folk. He did not try to explain why the armored wraiths fell and lied down on the floor motionless; he did not bother to explain how on earth a meteorite could have struck the castle into a pit with surgical precision. He simply used a bizarre story to explain it, leaving Nangong to fill in the blanks.

Hao Ren was being crooked: I’m just a clueless guy. Bite me—

Nangong simply could not wrap his head around it but he did not question Hao Ren. He did not suspect that the common man and two innocent maidens had anything to do with all of it. This ‘expert’ was using his logic to make a conjecture: “Maybe the wraiths were controlled by something larger in the crypt. Such things happened all the time in places with hundreds of years of history… That has to be the case. After all, I’m an expert.”

Hao Ren and Vivian spontaneously rolled their eyes in secret. Such a thick-skinned fellow!

Staring regrettably at the pit of Armageddon, Nangong knew there were secrets down there—secrets which would explain why the wraiths suddenly dropped to the ground and how he was saved by these three common folks. However, there was nothing left to see let alone investigate now.

Hao Ren gave Y’zaks a grateful glance. The meteorite was seriously a Swiss Army knife. Normally during a meteorite strike, as long as the magic was not performed in plain view, you did not have to worry about the narrative. No one on this planet would ever believe that there was someone capable of bringing a rock back from the Kuiper Belt. The only ones who would delve into it were astrophysicists—and this half-baked ghostbuster.

Soon after, crowds of spectators from Brewshire started to pour in.

A few jeeps pulled up near the spot where the castle formerly stood, only to be held back by the thick smoke and strong heat of the molten space rock. In fact, people from the small town had seen the fire during Y’zaks’ landing. The spectators and paranormal enthusiasts prepped their gears and departed at once from the town. However, there was no access road from the town to Yorkford Castle. Vehicles could only tread along the rocky terrain. Not even the best jeeps could go much faster than that. That meant the folks had only spotted the tip of the iceberg: the moment the fireball fell from the sky.

Even the bravest person would not dare to head straight towards a falling meteorite. They only arrived after they waited the shock wave and explosion out. They surrounded the spot of the vanished castle and discussed among themselves. One was sending tweets out with his smartphone, one was taking a selfie in front of the crater, one was holding a ghost detector with a sad look, one was sitting on the ground and behaving hysterically while one was proclaiming to be the Lord of Yorkford. He appeared to have something to say—this one was still energetic after a restless night.

Most of the folks were shocked. These people did not have the reasoning ability of a professional. They felt like they could brag about these major events, which happened one after another near their small town.

Hao Ren and the rest were ready to drop after the restless night so, they hitched a ride heading back to town. In the meantime, Nangong and the Indian monk, who was still half-conscious—the old man was indeed less fit as he took a considerably longer time to recover—were on foot. The half-baked demon hunter kept babbling, “How could it be? How could it be?”

All evidence had been vaporized, not even Sherlock Holmes could have traced it back to the demon, which descended from heaven.

The company arrived back in town. They could have in fact headed back to London straightaway, but Vivian had another idea; she wanted to go check out the lodge owner to make sure there would be no trouble in the future. Hao Ren and Lily had no objection to that, of course. On the other hand, Y’zaks had been silent ever since they left Yorkford Castle as though something was weighing on his mind. He only responded by nodding his head.

Hao Ren did not bother with him as this was only the first time they had met. They did not know each other well enough to poke their nose into each other’s business.

Four of them finally arrived at the little lodge at the edge of the town. Just as they had expected, the lodge owner, Angus was not at his usual spot greeting his guests at the reception area.

“Boss was sent back last night. He looked ill. I haven’t seen him since then.”

The young lady behind the cashier counter (not from the day before) told the guests frankly.

Hao Ren breathed a sigh of relief after coming out from the lodge and said, “Looks like he didn’t go around telling everybody. Furthermore, he doesn’t even know our true identities.”

However, Vivian knew better. She had dispatched her little bat to scout for him. Angus was found lying in bed with a blank stare on his face somewhere in the lodge. It seemed like the fat owner had been scared out of his wits the night before. He was probably going to be fine after some time. About the truth down there…

No one was going to know about it.

They eventually headed back to London. Unlike the last time, they did not book some fancy high-end hotel but checked in to whatever hotel they could find. After all, they just needed a day of rest before leaving. Plus, Y’zaks was waiting for his travel documents to be processed.

While hanging around the hotel, Hao Ren got in contact with Raven 12345.