A Meeting Of Faith

One night, in a dark foreboding forest, a lone human sprinted through the undergrowth. He was being chased by a dark creature. 'I should not be here!' the human thought, his feet growing weaker the longer he ran. 'I need to find a place to hide!' he thought, now on the verge of collapsing. At that moment, whether it was fate or a stroke of good luck, the man saw a clearing in the distance.

Now, many would say that going into a clearing while being chased by a deadly creature is a bad idea, and they would be right in that regard, but the creature chasing the man is not a normal one at all. It is a being made entirely of darkness, hence the name, and creatures of darkness are weak upon the light, so any kind of light, whether it be the light of the sun or the moon or even the light that comes from torchlights, can hurt these creatures or even outright kill them.

"Thank the Divines!" the man shouted, running straight towards the clearing, hoping that the light of the moon would be enough to stop the creature.

When he finally arrived at the center, the man dropped down, exhausted. "Man!, that was a close one!" He said, "I should be safe here!" he added, wheezing from exhaustion.

The man may have thought that he was safe from the creature, but he forgot to calculate one thing, the night does not favor anyone. In a moment, the light of the moon was ever shining brightly towards the clearing, illuminating the beauty of it, and the next, it was gone, its brilliant light now covered by dark clouds hanging overhead.

"Damn!" the man suddenly stood up, now afraid. "Shit, shit, shit, I shouldn't have celebrated too early!" he said to himself, carefully looking around trying to spot his hunter. 'Where is it? Where the hell is it?' he frightfully thought, his heart hammering in his chest, his knees getting weak from fear.

"Sho--show yourself!" he shouted, trying to act braver, 'I can't run now! I'm damn exhausted and I got nowhere to run to!' he thought, trying to think of a better way to escape the monster.

And then to his misfortune, he started hearing the crunching of grass and deep, haunting breathing of a creature getting near towards where he stands. 'Fuck it I'm dead!' he fearfully thought, and his knees gave out and he fell to his bottom. That was when he saw it, even in the darkness the creature was clear to see.

'Wha--a--a--a howler!' he thought, his body petrified in fear.

A howler, one of the most dangerous, if not the most dangerous creatures anyone could ever face. It is a creature of darkness that resembles a wolf, and like a wolf, this creature could hunt you down in a matter of hours, they are known to attack in packs but from time to time one howler may be spotted alone, it was in the man's luck that his hunter seems to be alone and without a pack.

Growling at him, the howler slowly went closer to the petrified man, the man himself tried to move but his fear prevented him so. 'Shit this is it, this is how I die!' the man thought, fearfully accepting his gruesome faith. He waited for the howler to attack, "Please, just end it quickly!" he said, tearfully closing his eyes accepting his faith, and waited for death to claim him.

Suddenly, out of nowhere, there was a whooshing sound and then he heard the howler yelp in pain. "What the!" he exclaimed, and opened his eyes in surprise. And then he saw something, unbelievable, standing near a tree illuminating the darkness, just to his left, looking at the howler in anger, was a spirit guardian.

"Wha-is that--is that what I think it is?" he asked to himself, looking at the spirit guardian in bewilderment and a little bit of hope.

The guardian then looked at him and asked him in a male voice, "Are you, alright sir?"

Hearing the question and determining the creature as male, the man replied, "Yes, I'm--I'm fine."

Nodding his head, the guardian then returned his focus towards the Howler, who was now looking at him, anger evident on its one remaining eye.

The man also saw this, and was quite taken aback, 'He managed to sneak at the side and hit the howler in the eye!' he thought, now quite amazed by the spirit guardian.

The spirit guardian in question summoned a sword made of light, "Let us see what you got, monster!" he shouted, and took a running start towards the howler, who had also charged towards the guardian. What came next was something the man has only ever read in books and heard in stories.

The two fought each other head-on, the howler tried to slash the guardian but he managed to evade the attack and swing his sword toward the howler, wounding the beast. The howler then backed off and started running in circles, trying to puzzle the guardian. But the guardian was far from puzzled, with a glow the guardian's sword transformed into three floating butterflies, curious, the man thought, 'What are those for?' This question was answered when the butterflies, after forming into a triangle formation, suddenly let out a stream of beams towards the howler, who howled in pain.

Amazed by what he just saw, the man couldn't help but shout in glee. "Wow, that was awesome!"

Hearing the shout, the guardian looked towards the human and let out a smile, he then looked back again towards the howler and said, "Let's finish this!" and charged, summoning a huge spear made of light, with a jump the guardian threw the spear straight towards the howler, the creature never stood a chance, it was skewered from head to it's back, killing it quickly.

The man saw this happen and was quite shocked to see the creature getting skewered to death, 'That's something I won't wish to happen to me!' he thought.

Seeing the creature dead and slowly disintegrating to nothing, the spirit guardian let out a deep breath and looked back towards the human, who was now standing. Walking towards him the guardian then asked. "Are you alright sir?" he said.

"Haha, I'm pretty sure you've already asked me that question." the man replied, smiling at his savior.

Blushing the spirit guardian scratched his head and said, "Sorry! I kinda forgot after all the adrenaline fighting that howler." he replied.

The man then offered his hand and said, "Name's Milan, and let me tell you first how thankful I am to you for saving my life!"

Taking the offered hand and shaking it the guardian replied, "And my name is Ao, and I'm glad that you're safe Milan." he then let go of the hand and added, "How did you manage to get chased by the howler anyway? They don't usually chase other people unless they come across their territories." he asked, looking at Milan for answers.

Blushing, Milan laughed quietly and said, "Well I may have lost myself inside the forest and stumbled upon the howler's territory." he replied.

Grinning Ao then said, "Knew it, it's a good thing you only managed to anger a juvenile or else. You might have not survived the encounter!" he revealed, quite enjoying Milan's flabbergasted face.

"A JUVENILE! YOU MEAN THE HOWLER THAT CHASED ME IS ONLY A KID!" Milan shouted, shocked from hearing those words from Ao.

Nodding his head, Ao replied, "Yup, it was quite young, if you've faced an adult instead, you may have not even managed to reach this place, adults tend to hunt far better than pups after all." he said.

Gulping, Milan then started thanking every Divine in the heavens for not sicking him with an adult howler and without having it devour him whole. 'Oh thank the Divines I didn't chance upon an adult howler!!' he thought.

Then he noticed Ao looking back towards the fallen howler, he then heard him mutter, "Sit tibi te ipsum invenies in pace ad lucem," he quietly murmured as if praying.

Milan was intrigued by this and asked Ao, "What was that?"

Ao looked at him and questioned, "What do you mean?"

"The one that you just said, the prayer thingy?" Milan replied.

Smiling Ao nodded his head and said, "Well, it's a prayer that my people always pray after killing a creature. Call it asking for forgiveness for killing it and wishing it good luck on its journey towards the light."

Blinking, Milan then voiced his reaction by looking towards the fallen creature and said, "So, you prayed that the howler would forgive you from killing it and wished it good luck on its journey in the afterlife?" he asked.

Nodding his head Ao confirmed Milan's inquiry. "Yes, I did."

Ao then took something from one of the pockets of his leather Armor and put it on his neck and when he did his light suddenly vanished.

"Woah, what happened?" Milan asked, shocked from seeing the spirit guardian's natural glow vanish.

Smiling at him Ao explained, "It's an item we use to hide our light." he said, pointing at the pendant that is now on his neck, "It's to make sure that we don't accidentally attract attention from our enemy and so that other people wouldn't need to keep covering their eyes when they look at us." he added, smirking towards Milan.

"I see," Milan replied, he then looked back at Ao and nodded his head. He then asked, "Hey Ao? Could we perhaps leave this place? It's giving me the creeps and I don't want to chance meeting a creature far worse than the howler. Know any place we could go to?" he said, looking fearfully at the forest around them.

Agreeing, Ao then told him, "I saw a town nearby during my travel towards here, maybe we could go there and spend the night?" he said.

"Really?" Milan asked.

"Yup, I did," Ao answered

"Well that's great, we should go there now!" Milan exclaimed happily and asked Ao to lead the way. Nodding his head Ao agreed and the two quickly took off towards the town Ao said he saw.

The town of Anima is a quaint little town located at the south of the Capital of Ardine, with its wooden houses and happy populace this town is known for its charm of being a peaceful yet eventful place add the fact that half of the populace is a mix of different kinds of creatures, then you have a colorful and endearing town like this.

That night, the town's guards were roaming around the perimeter of the town, looking out for inconspicuous characters that may wish to harm the people. It was already past midnight when one of the guards suddenly noticed two people approaching. " Hey, Jared, two people are approaching us," the guard who saw the approaching people said.

Jared, the other guard, also saw the approaching strangers and called them to a halt, "Halt!" he shouted.

The two strangers then halted and one of them replied, "We come in peace!" he shouted.

The guards looked at each other and after a few moments decided to let the two come near them, nodding both their heads together Jared called back towards the two strangers and said, "You may approach! But be aware that I and my friend are armed and ready to fight!" he warned the approaching strangers.

Moments later the guards finally saw the strangers and they were quite caught off guard. "Is that a spirit guardian?" Jared asked his colleague, "It seems it is!" the other guard replied.

When Ao and Milan finally stopped in front of the guards they were curious to see that both of them seemed to be focusing their attention solely at Ao, "Umm.. good evening sir!" Ao said, trying to break the guards' uncomfortable gaze, thankfully his greetings seemed to work and the guards greeted them back.

"Good evening to you two as well, how may we help?" the guard on the left announced.

Smiling, Milan then said, "Please sir, we only came into this town to spend the night."

Nodding his head, Ao confirmed his friend's words. "My friend is right sir, we came here to find shelter and food and nothing else."

The guards looked at them for a moment, scrutinizing the two, afterwards, one of the guards nodded and said, "Very, well you two may enter the town. But be aware one wrong move and it's jail to the two of you."

"Understood sir!" Ao replied, nodding his head in agreement.

"I understand as well sir." Milan also replied.

The guards then let the two inside, "Welcome to the town of Anima." one of them said. Ao and Milan then proceeded inside the town. The first thing they saw was the wooden buildings lining the streets, one of these buildings is a smithy whose smith was still busy working, they also saw a few stores down on the left, and an inn on the center. "Wow, this place is nice," Milan announced, liking the general atmosphere of the place. "Yup, it is." Ao agreed. He then pointed at the inn and said to his friend, "Come on, let's go check in inside and get some food and rest."

"Agreed," Milan said, and the two continued towards the inn.

"Huh, the lady of the night, that's quite a name for an inn," Ao said, reading the inn's name.

"Really? Uh, don't they know what that means?" Milan inquired, looking at his friend.

Ao just shook his head and said, "Don't know."

Arriving inside, the two saw that a lot of patrons were currently eating and drinking. Some were so drunk that they've already fallen asleep at their table. The innkeeper, a balding middle-aged man saw the two come in and welcomed them. "Welcome good sirs! To the Lady of the Night! How may I serve you?" he asked, looking at the two.

"We would like to rent a room," Milan said.

Nodding his head the innkeeper replied, "Certainly, and would you like to have a meal as well?" the innkeeper asked.

When hearing that statement, Ao's stomach suddenly made a sound, blushing Ao looked at the innkeeper and said, "Yeah, a meal as well."

Smiling at him the innkeeper then asked them to follow him, "Please, follow me to your room."

The two followed the innkeeper towards their room, "Mind the steps!" the innkeeper warned, when they climbed the stairs towards the second floor, "Your room is right at the left in here." the innkeeper announced, pointing to the left towards a door. "Here's your key," the innkeeper said, handing the key towards Milan, "I can deliver your meals for you or you can get them downstairs, up to you."

"We'll have them delivered here sir, thank you," Ao replied.

Nodding his head the innkeeper then left the two.

Ao proceeded to open the room and saw two beds with a table between them. "This is a nice room, and the bed looks fluffy!" Milan said.

"Yeah, they do," Ao replied, and the two settled down inside their room, Ao taking the bed on the left while Milan took the one on the right.

Looking around the room Milan saw that the place was barely decorated, "Only a wallpaper and some flower pots as well as a single table in between but it still manages to look nice." he said.

Smiling, Ao looked at his friend and replied, "Well, some said there is beauty in simplicity, so I guess that applies in this one."

Laughing Milan nodded his head and said, "Yeah, I agree."

And the two went into a peaceful silence. After a while, the two heard a knock on the door. Standing up, Milan opened the door and saw the innkeeper holding a tray full of food. "Here are your meals gentlemen." the innkeeper announced.

Gathering the tray Milan replied, "Thank you, sir!"

"You're welcome lad!" the innkeeper said, and went back downstairs, to serve his other customers.

"Foods here!" Milan announced, he then closed the door and settled the tray down on the table.

"Finally, I'm starving!" Ao excitedly shouted.

The two then proceeded to dine in peace. Ao was having a blast with the food, 'The food is so delicious!' he thought and continued to stuff his mouth with the delightful meal.

Milan on the other hand ate his food slower than his friend, "Guess you like it?" he asked.

Ao looked at his friend after he heard him ask him about the food, swallowing he then replied. "I can't help it, I'm hungry and the food is delicious!" he exclaimed in joy.

And the two continued to enjoy their meal.

After a while the duo found themselves stuffed with delicious food. Feeling tired Ao suddenly let out a yawn, followed by a stretch. "Yawn...Ahh...I could sleep right now!" he said.

Milan saw this and had to hide his face. 'THAT WAS SO CUTE!' he thought.

Ao saw his friend hiding his face and asked, "Hey, what's the problem? Why are you hiding your head?"

Blushing, and Milan answered "Nothing!" he shouted.

Shaking his head from his friend's weird actions Ao then said, "Alright, I guess we should end this conversation now and go to bed!"

Agreeing, Milan then settled down on his bed. "Good night bud!" he said, wishing Ao a goodnight.

Smiling, Ao replied, "Thanks, goodnight to you as well, bud." he said.

That night the two fell asleep with smiles on their faces.