Chapter 9: Cara
Resistance was futile. They were trapped by the thousands of monsters surrounding them.
While some brave men still tried to fight them off, most of them just accepted their death.
The monsters were slaughtering their way towards the center, there was no room to escape.
Not a single human remained alive. Acrine had fallen.
---
The next day.
Steve opened his eyes. He was very unfamiliar with the environment he found himself in.
A girl was sitting next to him. When she saw Steve opening his eyes, she ran outside.
"He woke up! He woke up!" she shouted.
Meanwhile, Steve tried to sit up straight in his bed but was still hindered by the extreme pain in his left arm. He looked around him, it seemed like he was in some sort of wooden cabin.
Through the window, he could see a lot of tree leaves. Could it be he was in a treehouse?
'What happened earlier... I remember fainting inside the barrier, after fighting the coyote... Did we win?' he wondered.
As he was still recollecting his thoughts, 3 people entered the room he was in.
They were the girl from earlier, a drop dead gorgeous woman... and ... Butch?!
"You're finally awake," Butch said with an audible sadness in his voice.
"What happened?" Steve asked.
"We lost the fight. Acrine is no more. They got overwhelmed by the sheer amount of monsters attacking. As a last resort, they retreated into the temporary barrier. A rank 2 monster came and destroyed the barrier. The rest seems self-explanatory," Butch explained.
"Then why am I alive, how did I get here? What is this place?" Steve inquired as he didn't get why he didn't die with them.
"Don't ask too many questions at once. Look... I came to get you inside the barrier, as I saw the situation was turning bad... there was no-one around who could fight a rank 2 monster. I had to get you out of there while it was still within my power."
"But why me? Why let all those other people die?" Steve asked.
Butch's face turned grim.
"You really think I wanted to let those people die?! They were my friends, my family, my customers, my..."
He stopped talking for a bit, as the anger and sadness caused by his inability to save them got the better of him.
Steve figured he had crossed a bridge too far. He didn't mean to, but he had kind of blamed Butch for the deaths of those people.
"Sorry Butch, I didn't mean to..." Steve said.
"I know you didn't. You're right, though. I wasn't strong enough to save them all..." Butch said as he got himself together. It seemed like he had just created a new resolution for himself.
"Still, why save me? You barely know me!" Steve asked once more, as he couldn't understand why Butch would save a weakling like him.
Butch looked towards the woman next to him, she nodded affirmatively.
"We...we know you're an Earthling," she hesitatingly said.
Steve was surprised. They actually knew about Earth?
"You knew? What's the importance of Earthlings?" Steve asked.
"We had our assumptions, but now we know for sure," she said.
'Well let's just hope it's a good thing then...' Steve thought, 'I need to be more careful with my words...'
"Earthlings are valuable on Elea, as they get... special powers. Eleans have a high chance of becoming a mage, but Earthlings have... unique abilities," she said.
"We don't know what gives them these abilities, but they all have different ones."
"Some aren't really strong in combat, but they can still make a big difference for a clan. For example, a known earthling was able to communicate with the monsters."
"That evil monstrosity of a man was one of the most influential persons Elea had ever seen. Not only could he command hundreds of thousands of monsters to defend his kingdom, but also to attack the others. Even rank 5 monsters were at his command."
"In other words, Earthlings are essential to a lot of fights. We, The Silent Legacy, would like to offer you a contract, Steve."
"We would help you discover your power and help you nurture it. In return, we ask for you to join us and fight for our cause."
This was a lot to take in! According to this woman, Earthlings were key players in the Elean wars.
"May I ask, what is your cause?" Steve asked.
"You sure can," she smiled as she answered, "My name is Cara and together with Butch, I have created The Silent Legacy. We are all agents, trying to protect people from monsters."
"That's all good, but... why create a separate entity? Couldn't you just have joined Acrine's guards?" Steve wondered.
"I'm guessing you haven't been in Elea for a long time. It may seem like agents are treated equally, but in reality... they are hugely suppressed by powerful mages. They are scared of us because it's hard to gauge an agent's power. On top of that, they have 'delusions of grandeur'. In their eyes, only mages are allowed be powerful, since they themselves are mages and should be the strongest ones."
"However, just like most mages, we just want to protect our people," she concluded.
As Steve saw her talking about The Silent Legacy, he couldn't help but be amazed by her devotion to it. She seemed like a bright, dazzling star.
"Is that why you hide in the forest, to avoid getting suppressed?" Steve asked.
She smiled, as she figured Steve understood, "Exactly. Here, we are able to grow to our limits. As we get stronger and get more members, I hope to create a place where both agents and mages can grow to their limits. A place where defending its villagers is the priority, not the fight for power and money."
"I hope you'll join us. If you have an amazing power, my dreams might become reality. I'll give you some time to think about it though."
"For now," she continued, "let's go to Acrine and clean the place up a little. We might find some useful stuff."
CREATORS' THOUGHTS 
Morinu
Morinu Late (&shorter) chapter, was having fun enjoying the nice weather :)
I'll make up for it tomorrow
also: a bit of an infodump, I'm sorry
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