In a cramped storeroom, a small entity sacked against a wall.

It was gasping for air, small clouds forming around its mouth.

The eyes clasped shut it reached for its pounding heart.

Even though the room was cold the entity was covered in sweat and its wet clothes hung draping against her.

From a long thin metallic object fell some drops of crimson. The hand that had grasped the object, relaxed and it slipped down towards the stone ground.

A laud clashing noise echoed through the cramped room. It jumped up a few centimeters before hitting the ground again. Crimson was splattered all around the impact. Following the metallic object, the entity slumped down like a puppet which had its strings cut through. Still gasping for air it opened its eyes.

And they fell on that ‘thing’.

The entities eyes went wide and an unpleasant pressure was building up behind her throat. Unable to fight against it the pressure was released. A disgusting stench mixed in with the smell of old wood and rusty metal. It fought for breath between the endless stream of revolting fluids. Tears flew down its cheeks and pained sobs escaped the mouth.

After all, was emptied from the stomach, wet eyes focused that ‘thing’ again.

A small whimper escaped the entity.

  “This was the right thing to do!” It gagged. “Even though I tried to surprise that monster. I was almost killed.”, it cried with a silent voice.

  “It was a monster!”, justified the entity. Though it’s was still nothing more than a broken whisper.

  “I had to kill it! She told me to! She showed me why!” More and more tears flew down the cheeks of it.

  “There was no other way. To protect this world. I had to do it. I had to kill that monster!” It cries became loader and desperate. As if it tried to persuade someone. But there was nobody else there. Nobody alive.

It was not long ago that the entity had found out about those monsters. It was on the birthday of a girl. A girl that stopped existing. A girl that had turned into her. At one moment there was this innocent child. And then she was there. Filled with strange knowledge. Knowledge that would turn any lesser person into a madman. The knowledge that this world was all wrong. That nothing was how it was supposed to be. That creatures that should exist did not exist. And in their place was an impossible being. A being that was for some strange reason called human. And everything about it was wrong.

She was granted the truth. So it was up to her to correct this abominable world. She had the duty to bring it back towards the truth. The duty to destroy everything that stood in that way. The duty to eradicate all of those vile monsters.

There was no complaining she could do. She was chosen after all. By the most powerful being in the world.

Her sweat covered clothing and tear-filled face let her freeze and she snapped back towards reality. Trembling, she slowly stood up. This act made her head go blank for a second and her breathing turned heavy again. Under heavy gasps, she leaned her head against the wall until the nausea vanished.

Her eyes crawled in their pockets towards ‘that’. And for a few moments, she just stood there. Unmoving. But then, slowly, very slowly, she crouched down and took the knife back into her hand. And with the same speed, she approached the ‘thing’.

She gulped another oncoming gagging down as she looked at its face. That monstrous, horrendous expression. Even in death, it glared at her with pure, demonic hatred. It was the same expression she was always greeted by from that ‘thing’. Even before she was granted the truth. As if that ‘thing’ knew all along what she really was. What her duty was.

Another gag. She tore her eyes off it and another stream escaped her mouth.

She was ashamed.

The girl staggered towards the wooden door. Her breathing still as ragged as before and an expression that would anyone put her into a hospital without delay. When she reached the door she didn’t reach out to open it.

She was still assaulted from a whirlwind of emotions. The horror of confronting that monster. The nauseating feeling of her knife entering and tearing its body. The shame she felt for reacting to her deed as she did. The shame she felt sorry for it even it was her duty to slay those monsters.

The painful fear of her future.

The torturing pain of the knowledge that after she had done this, she could never see her parents again. Ever.

The world would not recognize her good deed. They could not even fathom it. For them, it would not be the act of slaying a monster. For them, it would be murder. She had no delusions about earning any reward. She knew that she would only meet hard punishments. And they would never let her do her sacred act again.

So she had to vanish. She had to forget her old life.

She had already become someone different. The innocent girl was gone.

She dried her face with her sleeve and a determent expression formed on it. There was no reason to cry for a killed monster. There was no reason to cry for the family of a different person. She only had to be strong. For the sake of this world. To correct the vile errors of it.

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Because she was a great...

  “Kekekekeke.” A chilling laugh rose up behind her. She snapped her head back. Her eyes displaying true terror.

There stood the broken body of that thing. A hateful grin plastered the grimace of it. “You really thought you could kill me?” A dark growling voice filled the room. The girl froze up, unable to think. ‘That’ eyes opened further as they should have and his hand reached towards her. “You really think you can kill ME?”, it shouted while spitting blood and saliva everywhere. On its outstretched hand, a small flame appeared. This brought the girls mind back again. She had seen it use that before. And it was devastating. That was one of the reasons why she decided to kill that ‘thing’ with a surprise attack. But even after the tip of her knife had torn all through its body and emerged on the chest on the other side, it still fought back. It still overpowered her and put its hands around her throat. She flung the sharp object in her hand again and again into that monster and finally, it fell wordlessly to the ground. In other words, she was lucky to be able to kill him before it could use magic.

But now that ‘thing’ stood there, creating a flame that grew bigger and bigger with each second.

  “I will die from my own hands. And I will take you with me! Gahahahahaha!”, that ‘thing’ laughed, a crazy expression taking over its face.

The girls' mind raced. How could she stop it? She had seen what that magic can do. And with it losing all its reason there was no telling how terrifying the damage could be. It could destroy the whole block. Even the whole district.

Throwing her fear into the back of her mind she raced forward. Her blade was raised before she had noticed it and she jumped right into the flames, which were as big as herself now. Agonizing pain invaded from every cell in her body but she didn’t stop. A muffled voice entered her ears but she couldn’t care less what it was saying. Blinded from the flames she threw her arm forward hoping to hit where she was aiming at. She felt through her hand the knife hitting something hard. But it went through and she could feel that her blade dug through something soft. Without delay, the flames evaporated. And in front of her was the ‘thing’, a mocking expression painted onto its face. Above its eyes was her knife. It was embedded into the skull up towards the hilt, letting crimson liquid pour out.

And the ‘thing’ crumbled against the ground.

The girl didn’t care for her injuries or her wheezing breath. She crouched down to grip the knife that escaped her and was still inside the head. With a shout she tore it out of it, just to fling it back again. And again.

Again and again, she followed the same movements each accompanied with an angry scream. That monster had lived through all her previous attacks. This time she had to make sure it was dead for good.

After a few minutes, she collapsed onto the ground herself. Ragged breathing was now the only sound in the room. She didn’t want to admit it, but she had her doubts before. She had to persuade herself that what she had done was the right thing. But not anymore. She had seen the true horrors of it. That hateful expression it showed before? That was nothing to his expressions a few moments ago. Those were the expressions of a true monster. And who would create a magic that could do so much harm if not for the vilest and evil creatures?

She swallowed and brought her breath to calm down. The heat of the flames had vanished and the cold air and ground crept into her body again. With careful movements, she sat up and looked at the ‘thing’. And once again she was hit by the sudden urge to release her stomach. But this time not out of guilt for killing someone. It was because she realized that she jumped right into the flames. The pain she felt. She could have died. And then after her gagging fit was over she realized something else.

She didn’t feel any pain. Except for her throat. She was confused. She gave herself a quick pat-down and carefully looked at her exposed skin. There were no burns. But her clothes had them all over. She reached towards her hair. She expected it to be gone, eaten by the flames. But they were still there. And they felt normal.

Dumbfounded she stared at the ‘thing’. It did not hold back so there was no way she should be unscratched. So there could only be one answer. She was being protected. And thinking a bit more she realized she had been given a gift she had not noticed before. Healing magic. Even though she could not explain how it worked she knew who to use it. And she activated the magic unconsciously. Just like her arm moved on its own to find her target.

  “Hehehe… HehahahahHAHAHA” The girl burst into laughter. For the girl, it was one of relief. She had not only exterminated the thread to the real world, but she also discovered that she was not alone. Even if she was away from her parents and friends, there was always someone looking out for her. This washed all her despair away and filled her with hope and determination.

But if someone had looked at the girl they only would have seen a broken person. Crazy eyes stared into the air while tears rushed out of them. Her mouth twisted into a smile that could give even the most hardened men shivers down their spine.

  “I will do my duty.”, she exclaimed with the same expression. “Because I am the great Hero of the Goddess!”