The Big Bad Voarmus
#2 of Oesha Stories
Another addition to the 'Oesha Stories' series that takes place in a friends world.
This time we look at a brief encounter between the Deer like Ceripy and the wolf like Voarmus
The Big Bad Voarmus
The golden sun across the horizon was setting across the vast forest in which the Deer like Ceripy and Wolf like Voarmus live. The Ceripy are known for their smarts, the Voarmus are known for their strength and sadly in the far lands, rarely, if ever do the two see eye to eye as the Ceripy fear the strength of the Voarmus and the Voarmus resent the intellect of the Ceripy.
As the sun set a small but prosperous town where the Ceripy lived was bathed in a golden glow, the waning light of day that for all but the guards, it was time to bring a close to the day and go to bed. In a small, little house in the town a mother and daughter lived and they loved each other very much. The mother was putting her child to bed and as she closed the curtains and put on lamp for a soft, low light, the younger Ceripy spoke up gently "Mommy, why do we have scary looking guards?" she said gently "To scare away the Voarmus dear" the mother replied with a soft smile The daughter looked a little unsure before she spoke up once again "Why are the Voarmus scary mommy, I've never seen one" she looked up with bright, inquisitive little eyes as the mother sighed a little to herself and walked over to sit on the side of her daughters bed "Have they not told you the story about the big bad Voarmus?" she smiled as she stroked her daughters head, who simply shook her head in reply.
"The Voarmus are large, strong animals dear, they have big bodies and big sharp claws!" The mother chuckled and made a loud sharp barking noise before continuing. "The Big Bad Voarmus is an evil, wicked thing just like the rest of them. They'll come into our little town and gobble you right up!" the daughter pulled the covers of her bed over her and the mother held her tight. "That is why precious, we have our guards dear deer. To protect us all from the big bad Voarmus who wants to gobble us all up" The mother's words frightened her daughter a little but it did not take long to put her mind at rest. Staying with her until the daughter fell asleep, the mother kissed her forehead and started to walk out. She knew the very real reason why the guards are their nowadays and it is no mere fairy tale.
Earlier that month there was an attack. No one saw it coming as quickly as they did. The Voarmus usually hunt in packs, it's not rare to see packs of around twenty plus attack the small town, but their very often discovered and fended off before anything serious happens, nothing more than the odd wounded guard and very rarely death. This time however was the exception. This one acted alone and was more cunning than anyone anticipated and with a blood lust far more violent than anyone in the small town had ever seen before, whether they died or not didn't matter, so long as many Ceripy lost their lives as possible. The lone Voarmus for months watched the Ceripys movements in and out the city, watching, closely, carefully, patiently. Once the time was right, under hood and cloak of night, they slipped into the little town. Unknown to all, a murderer had slipped past all defences and no one was safe.
That nigh apocalyptic day month ago will not be forgotten for a long time to come.
Usually it is the chirping of birds as the sunlight floods into the town that wakes the Ceripy, that day however it was a howl, a loud, deep, blood curdling howl echoed out throughout the quiet town and many awoke with rivulets of sweat running down their backs. The Voarmus came out of hiding and seeking to cause as much carnage as possible he ingested some berries from the forest that they knew would get them high and violent, uncaring of pain, reason or remorse. Relying on the defences they had built, there had been no real presence of guards in the town, what Ceripy could fight gathered in the town centre to try and find where the howl came from and kill the intruder, however it was already too late. The Voarmus charged around a corner, in a violent, crazed frenzy, their claws outstretched they tore into the small group that had covered. Blood rained down as the claws of the Voarmus tore through the bodies of the soft weak Ceripy. The Voarmus tore into its victims and let out another howl and in their rampage they tore into home after home, slaughtered their inhabitants and just kept going. The Voarmus kept accumulating wounds but they could not care amidst their feverish high. The Ceripy were devastated and knew it was futile to struggle and instead chose to hide, some escaped, and others did not. A good portion of the population by a single Voarmus that had managed to slip into the town unaware to its people.
The Voarmus's massacre was not ended by a hero who rose to fight, the Ceripy had no hero. The bloodshed only ended when the murderer had no strength left to keep up their rampage and collapsed. The people who were left made sure the murderer was dead and decided that this day would be remembered, to serve as a reminder to never be complacent within the walls of their town believing they were safe. Later that day in the afternoon some of the older people that were left decided to put down their books and educational material and instead pick up the bow and arrow. A group who were simply known as guards vowed to protect the town so that nothing like this should ever happen again.
The children that lived, who were too young to understand fully what happened that day came to know that Voarmus as 'The Big Bad Voarmus'. Their mothers and fathers used this as a strong reminder that children were never to leave the town because of the threats that lurked outside. The adults tried their best to move on with their lives and pick up what was left, there was nothing much more to be done after all. There were fewer attacks on the town for a while after. The guards did a good job dissuading other would be attackers and even people who had to travel outside the town were trained how to at least fight.
If the Ceripy were to survive they could not rest on their laurels and resist the Voarmus, they had to act, to prepare, to calculate and strategies. The Voarmus were strong, but the will of the Ceripy was resolute, they will no longer be pray to the Voarmus, this was a will engrained in the heart and soul of every Ceripy after that day and every day become all the easier to be thankful for.
The leaders of the Ceripy evidently had some worrying concerns to think about as their civilisation moved forward.