Shaping the world: scholars and ferals

A man has once made a contract with a dead animal, and since then, the world has changed.

***

"Mila, don't you think we are ruining the world too much today?", a blue haired girl whispered to her friend. She stopped reading a large book in front of her for a moment, glancing towards a girl sitting next to her.

"You sound like a Feral, Riva", Mila was harsh. "Humans are the ones gifted with reason, so it is our right to do so. Are these ferals reasonable too? I don't think so."

Mila started reminding her of a scholar so much. It was unusual for a girl fifteen years old, even more when she, the one who grew up with her, wasn't nearly as reasonable as her.

Yet, Riva had always felt Mila was overlooking ferals too much. She was biased towards the world she grew in.

"But they had always claimed that humans have reason to be able to control essences, not to shape things. I think it makes sense", she insisted. Her friend was always annoyed while talking about feral philosophy, but she was too interested in it.

"You want to say that it makes sense what they say, that our only purpose in this world is to protect these dumb animals from the predators? Actually, you know, there was carnivore human kingdom to the south once. We can be predators too."

Riva shivered. Ferals's myths said that, even before The Great Curse, before humans even existed, Gods cursed the cirtters too. They made half of them able to survive by only eating their own kind. During the ages, these predators developed so much into bloodthirsty, insane beasts that they threatened to wipe off all life away. Gods then created humans, not blessed with strenght but with wisdom, to defend the world from rampaging beasts.

"You are too harsh on it, Mila. You might be overlooking something, you know?" Riva smiled to her friend. Mila was such a potent spokesman. She could never manage to find solid arguments so fast.

"Girls, get packed. We are going out today", their teacher, miss Paena entered the small library. She was an old lady, but among the best historians in the world.

"Also, I wan't you to meet someone. This is Cill", she let in a boy, who was about their age.

A boy! 

"My name is Mila", her friend introduced herself with a smile. "Riva", she added shyly. Ain't boys supposed to be studying apart from girls? The rare ones who decide to be scholars, at least. Today most of them dream to mine or chop woods.

The group soon left a librairy. Cill kept himself away from them, not speaking at all. Mila was silent too, thinking something to herself.

"Are we going towards the trenches, teacher?" Mila asked. Their teacher chuckled. "Clever. Did you overhear something, dear?"

"No", Mila shortly said, but as soon as she noticed that miss Paena was still curious, she added, "considering the road we took so far, and the possible destinations, trenches are the ones who are the closest."

"Exactly. We can dig as many stone as we want, cut the forests, but they will grow. But you can never gather more time", miss Paena said.

Cill was red in his face, as if he wanted to say something, but was too afraid.

"So, what are we going to see?" Riva was curious. "We had observed forest plenty of times. Did some beast get captured? But, we've seen most of them too."

The city buildings were built of wood, but the roads were paved in stone. Streets were wide, each of the buildings having a small yard, just the way it was in every larger town. They reached  the ourtskirts finally. Deep trench surrounding the town was few hundred meters away. There were several guarded bridges that led over to the outside.

They could already see the colon of people reaching out from the woods. There were also too few; which was bad, since they were soldiers. One Shining man was being carried by the regulars.

But at the end of colon, there were two chained men. Ferals.

"You can see already. It seems soldiers had captured some Ferals today. Strong ones, too. Have you heard of Ironspine Feral?" miss Paena asked. They stopped in place, observing the group as they were nearing the trenches.

"Ironspine?" Cill gasped. They have all heard of him. His group of ferals was especially active in this area, destroying their quarries. Many workers were killed by him, but those who survived spoke about such a terrible feral.

"I still wish it was a giant beast instead of these ferals", Mila said to herself.

When the colon reached a wooden bridge, ferals started screaming. They were terrified by it, grabbing ground with both nails and teeth, just to not reach the bridge. But, soldiers were merciless and pulled them on. It was a miracle their necks were still in one piece, since the chains were connected to the collars and bracers.

When they crossed the bridge, ferals were lifeless, so soldiers had to pull them over the dirt, as if they were dead.

They are so afraid of shaped things...

The carriage with feral items reached them first. There were many wolf and bear furs, and over them all; an Ironspine Wolf fur, with the bones in its limbs still preserved. It's right paw was completely crashed, as well as one man's arm.

But there was also one wooden spear. A feral is using a shaped item?

Miss Paena was just as shocked. "This... this might change the world. Children, head back to the librairy without me. Fast! I need to stay here a little bit more."

Children listened to their teacher. They just saw something incredible. Speechles, they followed the same road back.