“Hmmm.” I tap my foot as I stare onto the screen. On the screen was a website about the local area. On the site, it gave me maps, history, locals, landmarks and all sorts of things about visiting or living in the area. Except some info I was looking for. I rubbed my temples. I thought I would have found something, but this is just odd.

Today the clinic was closed, so I decided to do some much needed research into the area, specifically the beast that lived on the mountain. When I first moved here, I was told to stay away from the mountains because a dangerous beast lives there. But because of reasons, I had to go on the mountain and ended up meeting the beast personally. But instead of a fierce feral thing that could kill me, the truth was that the beast was a socially awkward man named Asterius. He was a bull man that lived on the mountains and only came down into town for supplies. 

A couple days ago, he came to me for a check-up. From what the tests showed me, he is a regular healthy bull-man thing. But what he said before he left struck a chord with me. He mentioned being human once. When he told me that, I felt an urge inside me. Something was telling me to look deeper into what Asterius said, so I started to do that.

When I had the free time to spare, I was on the web trying to find anything really. My search did not bear fruit however. None of my leads went anywhere and I was stuck at square one. Out of either brilliance or stupidity, I decided to actually try and look up the superstition itself and see where that went.

Then I ran into something. On the site for the town, I have found no mention of the beast in question. Nothing. From what I know, the superstition is very important to the people here, so why could I not find anything about it online? I raked my head, “why is it not on there site?” 

I think back to when I first heard that superstition of the beast. It was when I first took over the clinic here. One of the patients I was seeing told me about the superstition. Wait, that's not right. It wasn't just him. Almost everyone I saw at the beginning told me that superstition when I examined them. I can’t recall how a lot of those conversations went, but I am sure they emphasised that I wasn't to go into those mountains. If it was so important that multiple people have to tell me, they must do that to everyone who moves here as well.

But that wouldn’t explain why I can't find mention of it online. If it was that important enough they told me when I got here, shouldn’t they also put it somewhere online as well. They don’t want people up there, so why not put something online as well?

My head was a jumbled mess. “Gah, this is so confusing. Why can’t I figure this out. It's like being in a mystery novel or something.” 

As I said it, an idea formed. “Yeah, if this is a mystery novel, he might be willing to help.” On my laptop, I opened the video call app and entered the name of a college buddy, Walter Gonesa. When I pressed enter, his icon started to take up the screen and made a ringing sound.

Walter was a temporary roommate for a time and we kind of bonded during that stay. He was interested in history but no exact goal in what he would do with the degree. He is also a huge mystery buff and like going to those parties where you solve a make believe crime and such.

The ringing stopped and something else filled the screen. A man with a five-o-clock shadow and messy hair filled the screen. His shirt was slightly wrinkled, or at least the parts I saw. He let out a big yawn. “Al? How's it been?”

“Sorry did I just wake you up?”

“Wake me up?” Walter looked at the part of his screen, “well shit.”

That remark told me everything, “Wal, what did I tell you about staying up all night?”

“Sorry, the book i ordered came yesterday. I thought I would do some light reading before I went to bed but I guess I went overboard.” he laughed like he was trying to play it off. “So anyway what is with the call?”

“Walter I need your opinion on something. It involves your two favorite things: history and mystery.”

He smiled, clearly interested in what I had to say, “go on.”

“It involves a local superstition surrounding a mountain and a beast that lives up on it.”

“Okay.”

“When I first moved here, almost everyone here told me about it unprompted. Driving it home that I shouldn't go up there or I would get attacked by the beast. But when I try to look more into the myth itself, I can’t find anything about it online. Isn’t that weird?”

Walter gave me a blank stare, “is that really all there is to it?”

“What do you mean?”

He sighed, “I don’t take you as the superstitious type Alphonse. Why would someone like you, who studied medicine, take an interest in a legend or myth enough to call me?” he looked at the camera, but I can still feel an icy gaze pierce me, “You're not telling me something Alphonse.”

Crap, I completely forgot he was like this. “Listen Wal-”

“Look I am too tired to ask why you want this info. You just want me to answer your question right?”

“Wait you aren’t going to grill me?”

“Alphonse I am tired and want to sleep. I don’t know much about the place you are working at now. Until I can look at it at my end, I can’t say for certain what the true answer is. I can give a hypothesis on what I think, but I have no evidence to prove it.”

“Wait, you already have an answer already?”

Walter scowls, “a hypothesis Alphonse not an answer. Besides, I’ve seen something similar a few times already.” Walter straightens himself up, “if I had to guess, the superstition first started due to a wild animal attack.”

“You think so?”

“That is my limited guess here. Most myths and superstitions have some history behind them, depending on how far back we are going, I would have to guess that the beast is some wild animal that attacked people at some point.”

Not likely. Asterius was clueless when I didn't show fear to him so...wait. I really shouldn’t make this kind of judgment yet. “So what do you think the beast could be?”

“Honestly, as long it was unrecognizable to the people who saw it, it could be anything from a bear to an invasive species. The main point here is that when it started to attack people, no one knew what it was and the survivors told other people about it. If this happens enough times, people would wisely choose to avoid where the attacks happened and say a dangerous beast is out and about.”

“I see, so what does that have to do with me not finding info online or why I kept getting reminded of it when I first got here?”

He stretched his arms over his head, “be patient I am getting there. Once they left the beast alone, they had to make sure that people both obey and understand the situation. They probably made stories about the beast and told it to children and they can tell their children and so on. When more people started to come in, they probably gave the same speech their parents gave and told people about the beast. So basically, the reason why people beat you over the head with it was because they were told to do that to everyone who moved in.”

“I see. I kind of get it. The people before them did it so they did it because they see it as something normal.”

Walter nodded his head.

“But that still doesn't explain why I couldn't find anything online before.”

“There are a number of reasons for that. One could be that they just never bothered to put it online in the first place. This could be because they either thought that someone put the info online already or that they are deliberately hiding the info from outsiders.”

“Wait why would they hide it but still tell me?”

“Because it is important for locals to know it. You’re a local now, so you were put in the know. It's possible they think letting info out about this mythical beast would cause people to actively search it out so they keep quiet. But still, this is just a hypothesis so unless I look into it myself i can’t say i am completely right or not.” Walter brought a hand up and covered his mouth as he yawned, “still there is another possible reason the myth started up too if you are interested in that too?”

“You might as well tell me since you brought it up.”

“That the myth or superstition was basically a ‘keep out’ sign for the mountains. Some of the places I researched did something similar as well. Making a guardian of a place that would attack intruders that trespassed what the locals considered sacred or hallowed. They also did the same thing with the info as well, making sure that no one considered an outsider trespassed on the lands.”

“I see. Thanks for the help Wal. you were exactly what I needed.”

“That's good. Now I need to go to sleep. If you want me to look into it more, just send some info on where you live now and I'll be sure to dig on my end. Night, or morning or some sh-” the call cuts off.

I organized my thoughts. If what Wal told me is true, the info about Asterius, or rather the beast, is being actively hidden from people who don’t live here long term. Still that doesn't help with that inconsistency about why the superstition started in the first place. Or even the big question: is Asterius even the same beast in the superstition in the first place.

Let's say he is for now. That means at the very least, Asterius has to be old. But that wouldn’t make sense. Wal spoke like it had to happen a long time ago. But healthwise, he showed to be around my age. Unless he is immortal or some shit. But if he was immortal, why would he come to me? Doesn’t immortality take care of you or something? “College never really prepared me for this shit.”

Another thought popped into my head, “Why didn’t he attack me when we met? From what Wal said, Asterius had to either be a savage beast that would attack people one sight or be a guardian for the mountains itself. Sure he tried to intimidate me, but he never actually tried to harm me.”

I shook my head. “It's no good. It might be easier to ask him directly but,” I trail off, “no no, I’m stopping here. I’m not going to ask him and I am not going to look deeper into it. I’m just going to let those dogs lie where they are and leave them be.”

While part of me is sad about it, i know it is the right thing to do here.