Story Telling - Unexpectedly Talking Animals

"You mean the entire town is burning?" shouted Devon, in a bit of a panic. "No, just the tower that was covered in vines," exclaimed Madi, still catching her breath. "But it wasn't a normal fire... more of a white, glowing fire. It didn't look natural. What should we do, Devon?" "We have to get closer," he responded, "and figure out what is happening in this town. Buster, was anything else said from the animals that would help make sense about any of this?" Buster thought for a minute and then said, "Remember what I said about the way Prudish spoke to me before, like it was coming straight from the heart? I said that I believed Prudish could not be deceitful at all. Well, speaking to those animals here, including Prudish, was different. It left me feeling uneasy. My interactions with animals has never been like this before. They didn't tell me anything about the tower, despite speaking for a lot of time about the rest of the town and Darkpass in general." "Maybe," voiced Veronica, "being inside the forcefield is causing them to act differently?" "Whatever it is," said Devon, "the tower is clearly playing a part in all of this and we need to get closer to see what we can find out. We have to be cautious about the animals now, since something is clearly manipulating them in some way. I imagine we will need their help before we are done, but we need to have a plan in place before giving them any further information regarding what we plan to do." The group trudged on, getting closer to the town, and the source of the fire. Finally they got to the edge of the trees and were able to see the town. Not only did the tower look out of place because of the style of architecture, or because it was aglow with a bright white flame, but also because it was sitting in the middle of the street, as if it had been built or dropped there long after the town was constructed. Devon signalled the group to follow him into the town, getting closer to the burning tower. It was definitely not a natural flame, as it didn't grow in size nor in intensity... it just remained as it was. Even the slight breeze in the air seemed to have no effect on the fire and the vines running up the side of the building were not actually burning to a crisp. The group started out sneaking through the town, afraid that someone might notice them and they may not be friendly, but after several blocks, it was very apparent that no people were active in this town. Stores had open signs in the windows, but no people working behind the counters. Markets had "fresh fruit" laid out on tables, but the fruit looked to be long passed the expiration dates. The group felt less afraid, in a way, because their were no people who could attack them or give away their position, but in another much more powerful way, they felt incredible uneasy. This town looked like it had stopped in an instant and all the people were gone. As they got closer to the tower, they realized that the fire was no warmer than anything else, and it was more of a shimmering light than a fire, though it did emit some sort of smoke/mist that seemed to cover the entire region. Devon walked closer to the tower and even waved a hand through the flame. He looked at his hand, then shrugged as he felt and saw nothing different. He started to walk around the tower, to get a view of the other side when he stopped and held up a hand to the group. "Stop and stay quiet!" he whispered, barely audible. "I hear some people talking... the voices sound quite young, but they are speaking perfect English." "What are they saying?" asked Samuel, in an equally soft whisper. Devon just gestured for the group to come stand next to them, so they could all hear the conversation. A voice of a young male was talking in an upset tone. "You are sure it was a Whisperer!? I thought the last of the Whisperers had been eliminated! This plan only works if the animals do what we say. If there is a Whisperer nearby, how are we supposed to maintain our control and spread our power? Marcus, you said you eliminated all of the Whisperers nearly two decades ago! How is this possible?!?" Another young voice spoke up with an apologetic tone. "I am sorry sir. I thought I had eliminated them all. This young man didn't seem to be much older than a teenager. At best, he was a tiny baby when we did our last rounds. Someone must have sent him away before we... fixed the problem." The leader responded, extremely upset, "We have been planning this for several decades now... you had one job to do! You had better get out there and eliminate this boy and the rest of the group he is with, before they figure out everything and blow the lid on this whole operation... NOW!!!" By this point, the group had leaned far enough around that they could see the faces of the two young men, just in time to see Marcus turn on heel and head for the door. He had a large sword sheathe hanging from his belt. The group quickly, but quietly hurried to get away from that tower, to a place where they could hide out and make sense of what they had just heard. Once they found a small cave that appeared to have been untouched for years, just outside the town, they huddled up and began to talk. "They said they've been at this for decades..." said Madi, rather confused, "why did they look like they were only about 18?" "What is a Whisperer?" asked Samuel. They all turned to Buster. "Buster," said Devon, in a very serious tone, "how much do you remember from your childhood?" Buster looked shocked and confused by everything he had heard through the window and at the looks he was getting now from the group. "I don't remember much before I was about two years old, and at that point all I remember is growing up in the same house that my parents live in now... But I have been having this nightmare since I was a child, that I was just a tiny baby, laying in a basket on the back of a horse. I was facing towards the back of the horse and I could see a large fire burning behind us and I could hear screams. It never made any sense to me before, but... do you think I could be the child of the Whisperers?" "That's about the only thing that makes sense right now," said Devon. "If that's the case, you are the key to us figuring all of this out."