Imperial Year 4004,

1st day of The Month Of The Holy God's Ascension.

Overlooking the entirety of Osukese was a large mansion built close to the top of the hill that the town was built into. The mansion's exterior was lined with gold that glittered in the light of the moon and water continously flowed from the two fountains in the courtyard. These fountains were also made out of gold. Even the trees had golden leaves as the mansion's owner had commanded his workers to pain them golden. If there was one word that could sum up how the mansion looked, it would be excessive, with its gaudy appearance serving as a testament to the greed and power of its owner.

Sitting outside of the mansion, was a rather large and muscular man. The man was bald and had a rough look about him. A simple glance was all it took for anyone to realize thst he was not to be trifled with. Although the man was dressed like some fancy and rich nobleman, it was obvious to anyone that those clothes just did not suit him at all.

Reaching out to the table next to him, the man picked up a cigar and a matchbox. He lit the cigar and placed it into his mouth. Sitting underneath the beautiful night sky with a cigar in his mouth, his legs crossed and elegant clothes over his body, the man almost looked like a proper noble. That was until he broke into a coughing fit. See the man had never actually smoked before. He only did it because he find out that it was a common pastime for other nobles and desiring to emulate them, the man had ordered his workers to acquire as many cigars as possible. Now that he had smoked one for the first time, he begun to question how anyone could enjoy smoking at all.

"Ugh, that was awful...I can't believe I bought so many of those stupid cigars..."

After he was done coughing, the man put out the cigar and placed it back on the table.

"Noir, how's our little experiment going?"

Emerging from the man's own shadow was someone dressed in a pitch black cloak. A black mask covered their face entirely and their voice could not be categorized as being of any gender. It was quite frankly, impossible for anyone to discern their identity.

"Lord Skinner, as per your orders the beast has started rampaging as expected...but there have been complications regarding-"

"That’s enough, I'd prefer to see these complications with my own two eyes!"

Skinner stood up from his seat, a gleeful smile stretching from cheek to cheek.

"Noir, get rid of the cigars we bought and forget about the whole coughing thing, okay?"

"Very well, sir. I promise to forget about your rather pitiful and pathetic display."

Skinner audibly groaned at their reply but surprisingly, he did not fight them for insulting him like that. His reputation painted him as a violent cretin that would not hesitate to hurt someone over the smallest offense and to be fair, that wasn't far from the truth but for some reason, when it came to Noir, he didn't mind.

Leaping over the walls surrounding his mansion, Skinner took off for the town proper to find the rampaging beast that he ordered be brought into town.

**************************************************

Meanwhile, at the town square, Nyameye and Fionn were staring down the beast while the townsfolk that had gathered there prior were making their escape. They pondered over how best to approach the situation they had found themselves in when the beast attacked. A tendril growing out of the beast's back shot forth with incredible speed towards the running backs of a mother and her two children. Upon seeing it attack, Nyameye took off in order to save them. Worn out from the earlier battle, he realized that he wouldn't make it in time but he still pushed himself to save them.

Mere moments before the tendril could skewer them, it suddenly slowed down. Thanks to that, Nyameye was able to kick it out of the way, allowing the woman and her children to successfully escape.

'I shouldn't have been able to save them. You could have easily killed them...so why did you stop?'

Nyameye turned around to face the wolf. A quick glance was all it took to see that it was fatigued but by looking closer, Nyameye saw something strange. As the wolf looked at the backs of the escaping family, it smiled. It wasn’t the sort of opressive and cunning smile one would expect from a beast such as the wolf. No, it was kind and filled with warmth. Just by looking at the smile, memories that Nyameye had tried so hard to push away resurfaced within his mind. It was at that moment that Nyameye decided to help the beast with all the power he had for he no longer saw a mindless beast seeking to satisfy its hunger. No, he saw a kind soul doing its best to fight against the fate it had been dealt.

Just as Nyameye decided to save the beast, Fionn made a decision of her own. She unsheathed the ivory sword and begun to walk closer to the beast as it writhed and shifted across the ground. Fionn readied her blade with the full intent of slaying the wolf for while Nyameye saw a kind soul fighting through its troubled fate, Fionn saw a distressed soul seeking relief from its pain.

"Huh? Fionn what are you doing?!"

Fionn replied in the most emotionless tone Nyameye had ever heard.

"What does it look like? I'm going to kill it."

Her reply surprised Nyameye but just for a moment, for he remembered the reason they had been fighting in the first place, to protect people from the beast, but now, he had a new reason for fighting, to protect the beast from itself.

"...Fionn, I know what I'm about to say is a little crazy but I don't think we should continue fighting. I don't fully understand but I can tell that it doesn't want to figh--"

"I know."

"You know?!"

"I can tell it doesn't want to fight us but something is driving it to do so."

Nyameye nodded his head in agreement with Fionn for he was glad that they seemed to be on the same wavelength.

"Exactly, which is why we have to help it."

"No, we have to kill it. It's clearly suffering, so we have to put it out of Its misery while we have a chance."

"...And here I was thinking we were on the same wavelength."

"So you're going to oppose me, even though you're in much worse shape than me?"

With a teasing smile spread across his face, Nyameye replied with one word.

"Yep."

After that reply, the atmosphere surrounding the two grew cold and unfriendly. It seemed a battle between them was unavoidable. They both turned towards the wolf and readied themselves for what they would do to it. Before they could even make one step towards the beast, they each felt a large hand fall upon the shoulders.

Nyameye and Fionn were shocked to discover a bald man easily twice their size behind them. Though the man wore elegant clothing, he did not exude an ounce of nobility.

"So these are the complications Noir was talking about? They're a bit scrawny but they'll have to do."

Immediately after saying this, the man grabbed Nyameye and Fionn and slammed them into the ground. With his hands still on them, he spoke.

"Tectonic Entrapment."

After speaking those two words, the ground itself shifted and swallowed Nyameye and Fionn all the way from their feet to their necks. Although they tried as hard as they could to escape, they found that they were unable to do so.

If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

"Relax, I'm not gonna hurt you just yet."

Shifting his attention to the wolf, Skinner smiled. He slowly walked towards it with his arms stretched at his sides.

"Now, show me what you got!"

By this point, the wolf had stopped writhing on the ground and was now staring directly at Skinner. At first its face was blank, there was not a single hint of emotion across its face. Then its face shifted into an expression of fear and surprise and finally pure, unbridled hatred. Nyameye could tell that this wasn't because of whatever mysterious force that had made the wolf attack him before. No, it truly did hate the large man before it. It growled and as it did so large drops of drool fell onto the ground.

More tendrils grew out from its back and launched towards Skinner. Skinner continued to smile and stamped his foot on the ground. Right after he did that, a protective wall rose out of the ground and shielded him. The tendrils continued to claw through the wall until they finally destroyed it and in doing so revealed that Skinner was no longer there.

This put the wolf on edge and it scanned its surroundings for Skinner but found no signs of him until a sound from behind pricked its ears. Facing towards the sound, the wolf saw the ground behind it ripple like the waves of the sea in a great storm. Upon witnessing this strange sight, every instinct within the wolf warned it to be wary. As soon as it hopped a few feet away from it, Skinner emerged from the rippling ground with an even uglier smile spread across his face.

Stretching his arms forwards, Skinner spoke again.

"Earth Bullet!"

At once, many tiny pebbles formed and floated around his arms, growing larger and more jagged until they were are as large as Skinner's rather massive fingers. Once the bullets reached that size, they shot forth at the beast.

The wolf nimbly dodged most of the incoming fire and swatted away the bullets it couldn't dodge with the appendages growing out of its back. With his first attack proving to be ineffective, Skinner launched another one.

"Earthern Fury!"

Skinner slammed his hands into the ground and as he did so, the ground itself rippled and morphed to attack the beast. Large, rocky fists rose out of the ground to crush the wolf. It managed to avoid the first few but it soon found itself surrounded as the fists relentlessly pummeled it.

Tired from fighting both external and internal forces, the beast lay on the ground panting with its legs bent in angles that they should not have been in. As Skinner walked closer to it, the arrogant smile that was once plastered across his face was nowhere to be seen.

"Is this really the best you can do? How very disappointing, I expected more."

As Skinner prepared to deliver the final blow, the beast's legs corrected themselves and returned to their usual position as it stood up. Seeing this, a smile returned to Skinner's face.

"Good, that's what I wanna see."

Skinner's expectations for the wolf skyrocketed with the newfound knowledge of its regeneration. He begun to look forward to the prolonged and incredible battle that awaited them. That was until the wolf howled and he found himself unable to move. Its foe completely immobilized, the wolf took the opportunity to saunter over to Skinner and opened its mouth wide. The beast looked like it was about to attack but then out of nowhere, it hesitated.

Skinner, while immobilized, could still think. As he looked into the wolf's two yellow eyes, he realized that it had received some form of clarity through their brief fight and as a result, instead of continuing their fight, it chose to run away.

By the time Skinner was able to move again, the wolf was already long gone.

"I doubt I'll be able to find it tonight, maybe I should let Noir track it dow-"

Skinner planned to have Noir track the beast down but after turning to Nyameye and Fionn, he begun to think of a better plan for the beast. He walked over and freed Nyameye and Fionn from their bindings and after doing so, they were naturally on edge.

"Whoa, whoa take it easy! I just wanted to keep you two out of the fight. As the mayor of this town, it's my responsibility to do so."

Nyameye was apprehensive towards the man's claims so he questioned Fionn.

"...Fionn, you've been here longer than me, is this guy really the mayor?"

"I've heard some of the townsfolk call the mayor an ugly baldy so he probably is the mayor."

"Huh, is that so? Who would've thought a guy like him could become a mayor. The world truly is a strange place."

Though they didn't show it, Nyameye and Fionn were still a bit upset at Skinner and as such their comments were a bit mean-spirited. Their remarks dug into Skinner's sensitive skin but he ignored his anger for the plans he had for the two of them would more than make up for it.

"Well, I should probably be on my way. The beast might try to harm someone else. You two have a good night and I look forward to our next meeting."

With those parting words, Skinner also disappeared into the night.

"What a weirdo."

"He really is...but more than that, he's definitely involved with the wolf in some way. I mean just look at how its demeanor changed when he showed up."

"Yeah, we should keep an eye on him and the wolf."

"We?"

Nyameye was caught off guard by Fionn's suggestion of working together due to their little spat mere minutes ago.

"What you don't want to work together?"

"I do want to work together, I was just surprised you would still want to considering how adamant you were about killing the wolf."

"...I was but after being trapped by that baldy, I realized I would just be adding to its pain since it doesn't look like there's a limit to its regeneration."

"Ah."

"And besides, I am still indebted to you after all."

"Indebted?...Don't tell me you're talking about the fish skewers from earlier?"

"What else would I be talking about?"

After hearing that, Nyameye could not help but laugh. He tried to hide his laughing face with his palm but after realizing that he didn't have any arms anymore, Nyameye started laughing even harder.

"Hey, stop laughing! I'm being serous here!"

Nyameye stopped laughing and closed his eyes. A quivering smile formed on his face as he tried to stop himself from laughing. Fionn could not find the humor in the situation and as such continued to stare at him until he finally calmed down.

"...Okay, okay, I'm good now."

"Finally. As much as I would like to track the wolf down, the two of us are in no shape to be doing so right now, especially you. Are your arms going to be fine?"

"As long as I get some food they should regrow by the morning."

"Understood, well then, I'll see you in the morning."

Fionn turned to leave for the bench she had been sleeping on for the past few days. She was about to lie down when Nyameye called out to her.

"What are you doing?"

"What does it look like, I'm about to sleep."

"You sleep outside?"

"Yep, it's part of my training."

Unlike before with the children, Fionn's lie was confidently told. Unfortunately, that didn't stop Nyameye from being suspicious.

"Hmm...You’re broke, aren't you?"

Those words shot right through Fionn and dealt lasting damage to her. Thanks to their interactions, it was now clear to her that the cool knight persona she had been building up was just not going to work on him.

"Well, if you don't have anywhere to stay, you could come with me back to my room."

"Really?!"

"Yeah, I need someone to open the door for me after all."

"Ah."

**************************************************

Back at the inn, Ms. Belle had been waiting for them.

"Oh my, are you two okay? I saw the whole thing."

"We're fine, just a bit tired is all."

"I see. Well if you need anything, don't hesitate to ask."

Walking up the stairs, the pair soon found themselves in Nyameye's room.

"...There’s only one bed?"

Upon finding out that the room had only one bed, Fionn was concerned but not for the obvious reason. Due to her current financial statsus, she had been forced to spend nights on a cold hard bench so she was ecstatic when Nyameye offered a place to stay the night. That joy turned to concern as she realized that they would have to share the bed. She didn't want to seem ungrateful so she tried her best to hide her disappointment.

"There’s a mat in my bag so you can have the bed tonight."

Nyameye's words brought back the feeling of joy Fionn had just lost and caused her eyes to sparkle, though Nyameye could not see it as Fionn still had her helm on.

"Fionn, can you help me with something?"

"Sure, what is it?"

"Reach into my bag and take out a bright red sack."

Fionn complied with his request and began rummaging through the bag. The first item she brought out was not the sack but a jar filled with ash. The moment she brought it out, Nyameye's face turned sour so she carefully set it aside. The second item was a thick, green book titled 'Nutrients And Nutrition' by Dr. Adenine. Fionn had no idea what nutrients were and the book's rather bland cover didn't interest her so she also set it aside. The third item was the red sack. She opened it and was shocked to discover that it was filled with bones and teeth. Thankfully, their size made it clear that they were not human.

"...As weird as this looks, they're essential as the calcium within them makes it much easier to regrow bones."

"Uh huh."

Even though she was fully aware the bones were not of human origin, Fionn was still a bit anxious. Nevertheless, she still helped to feed Nyameye the bones and teeth. It was still very uncomfortable as she had to watch him loudly gnash and crush through the bones.

After dealing with the ordeal of feeding someone bones, Fionn with direction from Nyameye brought out his mat and layed it on the floor. With Nyameye's preparations complete, Fionn also got ready for sleep. She took off all her armor, exposing the long, flowy, white shirt and brown trousers she wore underneath.

With everything set for their sleep, Nyameye put out the candle resting on the table next to his mat.

"Good night, Fionn."

"G'night! Hehe."

Thus the curtain closes on the first chapter of Fionn's and Nyameye's story, not fully aware of the hardship that awaits them yet bracing for it all the same.

Chapter 4: Rocky Start