3 Monstrous Adventure

Crackle-

Eyes fluttering.

Darkness, and a fire?

Was it night already?

So many stars.

No clouds.

A sky so vast.

'I'm not dead?' The slow- heavy pain was proof enough.

Flint groaned and tried to move his head but- couldn't. His whole body was covered in bandages- thick bandages- and he wasn't alone. "Why?" He spoke.

Weak. Just a little movement felt like needles puncturing him- 

"Ah, the Roach is awake. I was wondering why he sleeps so much." Faint. Almost as though a whisper.

Slightly annoyed. "Just so we're clear- you didn't cause any of that, right?"

Flint had already concluded that she didn't do any of that. One, the whole thing had happened three days prior. Two, the woman clearly didn't seem to be a mage; besides, Flack demons rarely used offensive magic and were the most neutral demons. And three- if she really was the one who caused all that-

Why would Flint still be alive?

"Destroying villages on my spare time- is not one of my hobbies, no." A stick in hand, the demon poked the small pot on top of the red charcoal. And she had more.

Crackle-

Sizzle-

Snakes on a stick-

"Who- who are you?"

"Anne- a traveling Mercenary." She gave the young man a stare- perhaps to get him to talk as well. 

Howl.

Distant howling.

Monsters.

"Flint- Apprentice Rune Knight; I was supposed to be placed next year." 

"Shame."

Facing the sky- the stars; he couldn't move his head much. But he could see the woman through his peripherals. "Why did you save me, when I clearly tried to attack you?"

He wasn't concerned about monsters- at least not now.

She didn't pay attention to him; rather, continued on roasting the snakes. "A whim; I once had an apprentice in that village. Don't let it bother you. Once you recover, you'll be paying me back with your body."

Slight grimace- "You want me to work for you?"

Because it didn't seem likely for the woman to lust after him…

Now granted- he was a young man- had delicate skin and luscious hair- and just came up age…But still!

"Till we reach Brooke- yes. Once there, you're free."

Another mild groan. "What about my village? What happened?"

Flint didn't want to think about it. Every time he tried to remember, the rotting corpses of his family… came to mind. He just… Couldn't forget-

And perhaps it was best he didn't. After all. He was going to find out who did all that-

And-

And do what?

Someone who'd destroyed his village was surely going to be really strong. So, what could he- an apprentice knight- do about it?

Yet- he did want to do something. He wanted to-

"They're still there. I wonder if they've started rotting yet."

Flint let out a sigh. "You're really insensitive, anyone ever told you that?"

He really didn't want to think about it. Yet-yet his eyes started tearing up again. But Flint just rubbed all the tears out.  His parents were dead. And as much as he hated to accept it- he had to.

No matter where he ran. No matter how he decided to not think about it, they were dead. And that was that. 

"Indeed, they have." She picked up two skewers, biting into one and pointing the other one at the young man, at Flint. 

It hurt. Just to move, it hurt. And it wasn't just the pain.

His whole body was stiff. Perhaps it was a miracle that he'd survived at all.

Yet-

Yet- he sat down. "ARGH." He groaned but he sat down. He couldn't just be careless or disrespectful to his lifesaver. He didn't want to be weak either. 

Though he doubted this woman's intentions. 

And the snake on a stick didn't really seem all that appealing… "Don't we have any other food?" He eyed the small pot on the charcoal… but received no reply. The woman just held the stick toward him.

He held the skewer- steaming hot. Some bright yellow spice was layered on the meat. Not very appealing, no.

But he hadn't eaten in two- or maybe three days at this point and-

"If you want something else, be sure to hunt yourself," she said.

Sigh. 'How?' He was barely holding up as he was. And hunt in that condition? Huh!

He bit into it: Tough. And the moment he started chewing- an urge to empty his stomach arose. Burning sensation at the back of his throat- followed by that intense foul smell!

He quickly just spat out the contents – and calmed himself so that he didn't actually throw up. There was nothing to throw up though. But yeah-

"What did you even put on this?" If he wasn't crying before, he was definitely crying now. 

"Hersha Extract. Good for heart-"

"And also, toxic to humans-" Flint managed…

The demon let out a mild snort- but gnawed on the steaming meat anyway. Enjoying herself, no doubt. 

So yeah. He was going to have go without food for tonight. But this was good. A good distraction. His family was dead. His friends were dead. And his whole village, destroyed.So, anything that distracted him, was good.

Yet-

At the very end-

As he just stared at the sky-

Thinking about what he'd lost-

Thinking about-

Sigh….

"We leave early-" she said- almost shoving down the whole pot on his head.

"HOLY-!" Flint whacked his head out of the way, panting and bleeding even.

Out of breath, he was about to curse but the woman just walked away and also threw a spoon and hard bread at his face. 

"Aw…"

Frustrated, kind of defeated, and definitely in pain but- 'Fuck…'

As for the steaming pot?

Hot soup. Snake intestines… didn't seem very appealing but- 'At least no yellow stuff…'

*** 

The next day, the two reached a neighboring village and bought a carriage.

Wooden homes, muddy roads, pretty backwater place. 

Flint received a hearty breakfast with stale bread and some porridge; he could move his body a lot better… kind of another miracle. 'The hell was in that soup last night?' Cause he could have sworn he felt better after drinking that stuff. 

Anne took him to a leather shop and bought him leather armor:  Cheap leather armor… smelled terrible. 

Anne also bought plenty of bags- black bags.

While Flint frantically asked around whether anyone had seen what had happened to the village or who did what. Some villagers did admit that they saw. But they couldn't provide much info. All they saw was that the sky got bright, the village got bright- and then there was an explosion. That was it. They weren't aware of any survivors.

'Yet, no one came to rescue us-'

Not the neighboring city, not the country-

No one. 

"Let's go-" the demon said-

"Yeah-" Flint got on board-

A single horse driven cart, without a wagon.

Slow steps-

And then a gradual increase of pacing.

What started as a smooth ride, slowly got rougher- as they went past the village. 

And entered the empty plains-

Flint's head was down- 

Deep in thought-

"Don't worry-" Anne said. "Just ask about things when you head over to the Magus guild."

They gradually lost sight of the village.  Flint had asked Anne the same question he'd asked the villagers. Had she seen anything? Did she know something?

The answer was a no. 

"I don't have money to apply for a membership and even if I had, why would they admit me? I'm just an apprentice knight. I don't know any magic- No talent for it."

"No spells? What's your affinity?"

"Lightning/water. I can create some sparks to maybe ignite some leaves or drown a fire."

It wasn't that he didn't know magic but it was more of a case of he 'didn't need' magic and wasn't necessarily interested. He was far more capable with the sword anyway.

"I see-" Anne jumped backwards- dropping just in front of Flint- hair swaying with the wind- she stared at him, almost as though staring at his soul… for a good minute. "Point your hand on that tree in the distance."

The horse was on its own.

Mostly just open fields-

With maybe one or two trees. 

Some fluffy white monsters- and animals. 

She sat down next him, helping him-"Imagine- a stroke of thunder falling from the sky- and whisper- Thurga- Boleo…aqua-" 

Flint nodded, spread his hand forward- dubious- "Thurga Boleo-aqua."

Nothing happened.

Of course, nothing did. He'd never used magic and-

zz..

zzzz…..

buzzing?

"Ow… ARGHH!!" His arm almost fell off- sharp pain- something drained his life- almost all of it-

Breathless-

Rumble!

No clouds- 

Crack!

Yet a thunderstrike!

The tree caught fire. And then rain poured for a good thirty seconds, drowning the said flame, finally disappearing without a trace.

"What the hell?" Slightly dazed. "How?" His pain disappeared from whence it came- his fatigue though, stuck around. 

Anne shrugged and jumped back to her seat. "See, everyone has talent if they knew the right stuff."

"No, seriously, how did you do that!" He'd never heard of magic like this.

Besides, Flack demons weren't supposed to know offensive magic!

"HAH!" She forced the horse to just move faster.

Flint held onto his dear life as he didn't want to go overboard. 

//***//

In a tree-

Lived- a 

Monster.

A fluffy white- 

Ball of fluff.

To ordinary eyes, it was just a white Furball- a type of small omnivorous monster that roamed the fields.

But to expert eyes, there was more. A lot more.

That was of course a different story-

And,

Right now,

The ball of fluff-

Just closed its eyes- for the day.  It had hunted all night, last night- so a little rest was in order… In the tree trunk, it was safe from everything- and with a full stomach, life truly was- 

A bliss. 

Sizzle-

Ears perked-

Something was wrong-

The ball of fluff looked out. Two large eyes. A small nose.  No apparent mouth.

Rumble!!!!

CRACKKK!!!

"GARHHH!!!" The fluffball shivered along with the thunder-

Steaming-

Smoking-

"Fuh-" Letting out a smoke ball like an expert smoker-

Head spinning, the little monster managed to look out. Slightly wet- slightly smokey-Ears ringing. 

Home-

Ruined.

Nothing in sight.

Who? Just who did this? How could they! To it, to its home!

And then it saw the carriage-

Eyes squinting- glaring even. "Spee!"

It jumped out of the tree trunk-

The little monster-

Was about to have an adventure!