Imperial Year ****,

*** day of The Month Of *****.

Within a large green forest, two creatures were stirring. One, a large black wolf and the other, a small brown pup. Anyone watching from afar would be able to tell that the two greatly favored the other's company as the larger wolf never pushed the smaller pup away even though it continually tried to play with it. In fact, the larger one seemed to delight in their playtime. As they moved through the forest in search of prey, the larger wolf looked upon the pup with sadness in its eyes. And even though it knew that it was not a possibility, it still quietly wished that their quiet days of peace would last just a while longer.

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Imperial Year 4004,

2nd day of The Month Of The Holy God's Ascension.

The blinding rays of the morning sun roused Fionn from her slumber. Now partially awake, she now noticed that drool from her mouth had stained the pillow she had been using the night before, as well as the shirt she wore. She looked down onto the mat where Nyameye should have been sleeping only to find him missing. It seemed he had already woken up.

Rising from her bed, Fionn noticed that on the table, there was a piping hot meal of rice porridge, egg sandwiches and bacon. Next to the food was a note that Fionn surmised to be written by Nyameye.

'I made this for you while you were asleep, so enjoy. Also there's a bathhouse at the back of the inn, PLEASE use it when you're done.'

Every letter in the word 'please' had been capitalized, almost as to further stress Nyameye's point. Fionn wasn't particularly happy about the note as she felt that it insinuated that she smelled awful. She couldn't disagree with it though as it had been a few days since her last bath and this made her even more upset.

All that irritation disappeared the moment she took the first bite of the food. As she continued to eat, a strange warmth washed over her. Once she was done eating, Fionn flexed her muscles in a variety of different poses and discovered that the pain and fatigue she once felt in her aching muscles was gone and had been replaced with newfound strength and vigor, which was odd as mere minutes ago when she had just woken up, the pain had still been there.

"This doesn't make any sense..."

"No Fionn, it makes perfect sense."

Fionn had been alone in the room from even before she woke up but now a second voice had responded to her. This should have put her on edge but instead she slowly turned around to face whoever the voice came from. Standing in front of her was an old man wearing the exact same armor Fionn wore. He clutched his helm to the side, allowing for a clear view of his long, grey beard, his sharp blue eyes and his scar-covered face.

"Fionn, your training has made this possible."

"Really teacher?!"

"But of course, be proud Fionn."

A look of joy and surprise flashed across her face. It was easy to tell just how much those words meant to her and even more so how much it meant for them to come from the man before her. So much so that she didn’t even consider the possibility that the food she had just eaten could be responsible for what was happening to her.

Fionn closed her eyes and placed her fingers under chin. She nodded her head continuously as if this entire scenario was perfectly normal but it was not. The man had responded to Fionn without her even expanding on what was strange in the first place. Even more bizarre than that was how the man arrived in the room at all. The door was closed and the window was shut and yet here he was.

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While Fionn and Nyameye were preparing for the day that awaited them, Skinner was making plans of his own. At the present time, Skinner was sitting in the hall of his mansion with glasses over his eyes and a book in hand. The book in question was 'The Grand Adventures Of The Great Captain Marduk'. It was an incredibly popular book that detailed the desperate quest of a brave sea captain to slay the Livyatan, a sea monster responsible for the death of his lover, Tiamat. Skinner had been reading the book from the moment he arrived home last night and he had just now finished reading it. Setting the book down on the table in front of him, Skinner removed his glasses and rubbed his eyes as tiny drops of water forced their way through. It is important to note that despite its popularity, the book in question was seen as little more than a child's fairytale.

"How was it?"

The question came from Noir, who had been standing behind Skinner the entire time he had been reading.

"Tragic...but beautiful. I really loved the ending especially the part where- "

After Noir's simple question of what Skinner thought of the book, Skinner launched into a long and extremely detailed tangent going over everything he loved about the story. Truthfully, they had much more important things to be doing but Noir didn't interrupt him even once as they greatly enjoyed it whenever Skinner gushed over something he loved.

"...The parallels between the two, man and monster....the tragedy of the ending...It's just so wonderful."

Eventually, Skinner finished saying everything he had to say about the book, allowing Noir to ask a question that had been on their mind.

"So what should we do about Nyameye and Fionn?"

"Who?"

Exasperated from how easily he had forgotten them despite how much he had claimed interest in them, Noir continued on.

"...The pair from last night."

"Ohhhh, them....Hmm...for now, I think we should test them a little bit. Send Boreas and Psamathe after them."

"Understood. Should I tell Boreas and Psamathe to avoid killing them?"

"Yes..."

Skinner stopped and gave himself a few seconds to ponder over the issue. And now with a malicious smile spread over his face, he made his decision.

"No, let them fight with everything they have. It wouldn't be a test if we went easy on them."

With that command from their master, Noir disappeared into the shadows and set out to carry out his will.

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Fionn walked out of the inn dressed from head to toe in her armor and saw Nyameye sitting out on the bench she used to sleep on, watching the daily occurrences of the town. He watched as the people went about their busy lives. Some people set up their stalls to sell their products and others set off for the ports below. He watched as the children played, splashing one another with the water from the fountain.

As Fionn moved closer to him, his eyes fell upon her and he stood up to greet her.

"Good morning Fionn, you smell great today."

A teasing smile spread across Nyameye's face as he said this. Although he could not see her face under the helm, he could tell that the current expression on her face was not too happy with his comment.

"Good morning Nyameye, I'm going to ignore that last part."

"Hehehe."

"...So, what's the agenda for this morning?"

"It’s pretty simple, we're going to ask around town for anybody that saw where the wolf went last night. There is a possibility it could have run out of town but we still have to make sure."

With their objective for the day clear, Fionn proudly puffed out her chest. Nyameye could just feel the prideful energy radiating from her.

"In that case, leave it to me, I'll lead the way through town."

Fionn was far more knowledgeable about the layout of the town than Nyameye so he had no issue with her taking the lead. If anything, he might have seemed too eager for it as he clapped his hands and bowed.

"Oh with the mighty Lady Fionn in charge I don't see how we could be led astray...Hehe."

Unlike before, Fionn did not take offense to his teasing and it even caused her to chuckle. She also raised her hand above her head as she took part in the joke.

"Of course, with the great, mighty and powerful Lady Fionn on the case, the only thing that waits us is victory. Now follow me, squire!"

"As you command my lady."

Nyameye followed closely behind Fionn as she confidently took the lead through the twisting paths of the town.

"...Fionn...."

It had been about ten minutes since they set out to find the wolf. They took the path they believed to have seen it take during its escape the previous night. At the beginning, it had seemed easy enough but the higher up the hill they went, the more twisted and winding the paths became.

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"...Fionn, this is a dead end."

Eventually the path Fionn had been leading them to brought them to their destination, a wall at the end of an alleyway. Fionn had been staying in the town for quite a while and her playtime with the children had made her very knowledgeable about the town's layout, or so she thought. In actuality though, she had been so focused on playing that she barely remembered anything past the town square. In fact, the only reason she had avoided getting lost the entire time, was because the children lived close to the town square and they would always return there after playing to cool down in the fountain.

Dejected, Fionn slumped onto the ground and hung her head in shame. She couldn't believe how smug she had been.

"...I'm sorry."

Her tone wasn't as energetic as it usually was, it felt rather gloomy and dispirited, quite unlike how she normally was. Although she gave off a haughty, confident and prideful attitude, she was rather negative at heart. The slightest mistake, no matter how small would lead to her insulting and degrading herself. The cool and confident knight persona she tried to show off to other people helped to combat this.

While Fionn sat slumped on the ground, she wondered how Nyameye thought of her. After all, to Fionn he had borne witness to rather embarrassing parts of her. She almost didn't want to listen to what he would say next.

"Hmm, we've been going about this all wrong."

Those words felt like a dagger to Fionn's heart. They weren't particularly insulting or offensive but to someone with such a negative outlook on herself like Fionn, they cut deeper than any blade.

"Yeah, this is all wrong! It's not a knight's job to lead the squire through town, it's the squire's job."

If the words Nyameye spoke before were a dagger to Fionn's heart, then the words he just spoke were a soothing balm for her aching soul. Hearing those words helped to bring her out of the negative space she was in.

"Yeah...yeah, you're right...it is your job."

Fionn's tone sounded much more joyful than before and Nyameye could tell that she was smiling underneath that helm of hers.

"Thank you, Nyameye."

"No problem."

Nyameye reached out his hand and helped Fionn up on her feet.

"Now if you'll permit me my lady, I'll lead the way."

"Permission granted."

Continuing on their walk through town, the pair would constantly run into dead ends. With Fionn even teasing Nyameye about it. He wasn't thrilled about it but he ignored it all the same. Eventually, they would end up in a bustling marketplace. In the market, there were many temporary, wooden stalls as well as permanent, stone stores all lined up next to the grey, brick road.

Walking through the marketplace, the pair stumbled upon a store selling a variety of vegetables. All the vegetables there were all large and brightly colored, a sign of the great care they received while still in the ground, but what caught Nyameye's eye were a bundle of beautiful carrots. To Fionn they seemed like regular, boring carrots but to Nyameye they seemed to glow as they basked in the rays of the sun. He realized then and there that he must buy them, as such, he spoke the woman in charge of the stall.

"Excuse me, how much for one bunch."

"It’s fifteen pesewas."

"Fifteen?!"

"Sorry but times are tough, these carrots aren't grown here and importing them has gotten really expensive."

The woman shrugged as she explained it to him.

"I see...It pains me to know that such a beautiful, elegant young lady such as yourself should have to go through this."

"Oh my, you're quite the flatterer you know but I'm not so sure about the 'young' part."

"You’re selling yourself short, you don't look a day over twenty."

Without being too derogatory, it would be clear to anyone, Nyameye included, that the woman before him was much older than twenty years old.

"Hehee, Oh, you. I'm sure you say that too all the pretty women."

"Nope, just ones as beautiful as you."

Despite how obvious and cliche Nyameye's flattery was, it seemed to work on her. It worked so well that he was able to negotiate and reduce the price of the carrots to seven pesewas, leading him to buy two bunches of the carrots. The entire time Nyameye was negotiating with the woman, he could feel Fionn's gaze on him.

'I know why you're looking at me like that but there's no way I'm paying fifteen pesewas for one bunch of carrots.'

Before they left the stall, he asked her about the wolf last night. She didn't have much to say as she had been home that night and only heard about the incident from her friends.

While walking through the marketplace the pair continued to ask about the wolf, but they didn't learn much, even from the people that saw it running from the town square, as it was simply too fast for their eyes to keep up with.

After a long while of no new information, the pair found a quiet and secluded alleyway to sit in. While sitting, Nyameye took out a few of the carrots and begun to munch on them. As he continued, he noticed Fionn staring at him intensely. Believing her to be hungry, Nyameye offered her some of the carrots.

"...Do you want some?"

"I'm good."

"You sure, they're really good."

"He's right Fionn, they're great."

The last statement came from the same old man Fionn had been speaking to earlier that day. He was standing next to Nyameye as he spoke but strangely enough, Nyameye did not seem to notice him.

"...Thank you but like I said before, I'm good."

"Suit yourself."

With the blissful breeze blowing against them, the pair continued to sit in silence, or at least it would have been silent if it were not for Nyameye. Nyameye was usually a very well-mannered eater but for some reason, the sounds of his chewing had gotten progressively louder ever since Fionn refused the carrots. Fully aware of what he was trying to do, Fionn tried to ignore it but eventually she gave in.

"Alright, fine! Hand it over."

A smug smile spread across his face as he gave Fionn one carrot, almost as if he had been expecting this. She took off her helm for the first time that day and very slowly took a tiny bite of the tip of the carrot. Immediately after, her face scrunched up like she had just eaten something incredibly unpleasant.

"You really don't like carrots do you?"

"It’s not carrots specifically, I just don’t like vegetables."

"That’s rather unbecoming of a knight, don't you think?"

"That’s not going to work on me."

"Well, it was worth a shot."

Nyameye shrugged and reached out his hand to retrieve the carrot but Fionn continued to stare at it and held onto it tightly. Beads of sweat formed and fell across her face as she slowly but steadily ate the whole thing.

"So much for it not working on you."

Fionn groaned because of how easily she had been instigated into eating the carrot but also because of how much she hated its taste. Soon however, she started giggling to herself which confused Nyameye.

"Hey Nyameye...I know we're looking for a beast that could potentially hurt a lot of people ...but today's been fun...so thanks for that."

A smile filled with gratitude bloomed across her face. It was an expression of joy but something lingered beneath it. Nyameye felt it from the moment they lost their way after setting out earlier that day. He felt and understood it well for that's how he felt anytime he was alone. After hearing her thank him, he wanted to thank her too but he didn't.

"....N...No problem."

By now, it was rather late in the day and dark clouds had begun to blot out the sun. It was clear to them that it would rain soon. Which was rather disappointing as they hadn't found any substantial information. They stood up from where they had been sitting for they would soon have to avoid the rain.

"Guess we'll have to go back to the inn now. Can't believe we didn't find anything on that wolf."

"Yeah, with how cool it looked you would think somebody would have noticed where it went."

"Cool?"

"That black fur and those purple eyes, all together with those chains. It matches my aesthetic perfectly."

Just then, Nyameye remembered something peculiar about the wolf thanks to Fionn's comment. He slapped his forehead for not realizing it earlier.

"What is it?"

"Monsters getting into and attacking random towns isn't unheard of, but those chains around it means someone owns it."

"..Which would mean someone transported it here."

"...And I can only think of one ship big enough to carry it and also perfectly coincides with the wolf appearing in town....Fionn, here I'll be right back."

Nyameye entrusted to Fionn a bag of his money.

"What am I supposed to do with this?"

"I'm going to check in with some friends of mine. I need you to buy some fish for dinner."

"But why can't I go with you?"

"I know the townsfolk are okay with you but I'm not sure my friends would be happy to see someone as...extraordinary as you, especially after what they've been through."

"I hate that I can't exactly refute that....Fine I'll go buy the fish."

Nyameye turned to leave but stopped after just a few feet as he turned back to Fionn.

"Be careful with the shopkeepers and try your best to haggle."

Fionn rolled her eyes and shooed him away. Now, Fionn and the seemingly invisible old man were the only ones in the alleyway.

"Oh dear, I'm not sure you can handle this my dear Fionn."

"Teach, there's nothing to worry about, I've got this."

Fionn pointed her thumb to her chest with a confident smile across her face. Unfortunately, her teacher's worry would soon prove to be true as she found herself surrounded by people trying to convince her to buy from them instead of their competitors. Somehow they could tell how inexperienced she was with the market environment and they saw fit to try to exploit that inexperience. The constant shouting drove her insane and she tried her best to drown them out but that proved to be difficult.

"Oh my, can't you see the poor girl is suffering?"

With those words and those words alone, all the shopkeepers shut up and made way for the owner of the voice the words came from. A short old lady wrapped in a purple cloak walked closer to Fionn. She walked slowly as she supported herself with a thick, wooden cane.

"First time in a market?"

"I'm embarrassed to admit it but yes."

Fionn bashfully laughed and the old lady shook her head.

"It’s such a shame that it will also be your last."

"Huh?"

Chapter 5: Let The Battles Begin

Out of nowhere and with speed that should not have been possible for someone her age, the old lady slammed the tip of her cane into Fionn and sent her crashing into a nearby stall.

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Once he reached the port, Nyameye surveyed his surroundings. He saw nothing out of the ordinary except for one rather stout looking man with long flowy, black hair squatting a few feet away from him. The man wore a pair of brown shorts and a sleeveless leather jacket with no shirt underneath and just like Nyameye, he was also surveying the area around him. The man looked disinterested in everything going around him, prompting Nyameye to wonder why he was even there in the first place.

Eventually Nyameye's gaze met his and the man smiled. He stood up and pointed his right, index finger at Nyameye before uttering one word.

"Bang."

Following that, Nyameye heard a loud pop and his left hand burst, showering the ground with blood and meat.

Fionn and Nyameye would not know or understand it until a while later, but this was just a mere prelude of the fierce battles that awaited them.