Lunella and Amara leave the inn and make their way along the main road to the guildhall. Opening the doors, they are greeted with a tavern teeming with life. They sit down at a table near the front.

“So this is the guildhall… I wasn’t expecting a full restaurant.” Lunella says while staring at all of the movement around her.

“Well, they mostly only have hunter’s stew for food. Everyone knows that they’re known for their booze. Actually, adventurers make the best booze. They do have all of the ingredients imaginable after all.”

A woman in a casual waitress outfit approaches their table. She gives a smile to the pair and speaks. “What can I get you two?”

Before Lunella has time to think, Amara responds, “We’ll have some stew, and what’s today’s special?”

“We have a Derian berry ale today, it’s on the sour side, but it is good.”

Amara thinks for a second and then agrees, “We’ll have some of that.”

Lunella chimes in with a smile on her face. “Do you have bread? Sorry, I really like bread.”

Amara giggles but tries to keep a straight face. The waitress gives a warm smile before giving Lunella a nod and walking away.

The meal comes, and the two eat it a little cautiously at first. The food isn’t necessarily better than the home-cooked meals they’ve been eating, but there is a certain charm that makes it different. They eat it spoonful after spoonful until the waitress takes away two empty bowls.

The two take their tankards of ale, and Amara lifts hers to the air with a smile. Lunella catches on and raises hers as well. The biggest grin appears on Amara’s face as she speaks. “To friendships, future and—”

“Bread!” Lunella interjects with a light tone.

Amara resigns to the strange toast and responds, “And Bread.”

The two clank their tankards and take a swig. They laugh and talk back and forth for almost an hour about the adventurers in the tavern, speculating which ones might be the strongest and which the weakest.

Finally, Amara speaks to Lunella. “I’m going to go check out the request board quick.”

“Sure thing, I’ll wait here for you.”

Amara stands up and walks off to the quest board.

Lunella sits at the table alone and takes a sip from the tankard. She watches the other adventurers go about their business. The adventurers are quite an entertaining bunch to sit back and watch. While she stares off at all the commotion, a burly adventurer wobbles up to the table tankard in hand.

Words vomit out from the adventurer “H-hey, yur that w-one gir—hic… Tha wun with the Tusks—hic”

Lunella takes a second to figure out what the man just said, finally deciphering the drunk’s strange language. She recognizes him as the man she met on her first morning in town. She speaks to the drunken man. “Oh, you’re that one guy from that one place. How have you been?”

“M-mighty goo—hic… thanks ta you” The drunken man moves his head so close to Lunella that she can smell the booze. He cups his hand around his mouth and speaks in a strange whisper. “T-they’re giving two—hic gold coins to any-ne who has inf-mation on a girl with tusks—hic. H-here, let me buy ya a drin—hic”

Lunella’s eyes go wide as it dawns on her what’s happening in town. “No thanks, I really have to be going.” Lunella places the tankard on the table and then stands up. She looks around for Amara, but her friend is nowhere to be seen. The waitress walks by, and Lunella calls out.

The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

“Have you seen the girl that I was with?”

“Can’t say that I have. She must’ve gone to the bathroom or something.”

“What’s the bill?”

“Five silver, two bronze.”

Lunella hands the waitress the money and springs off towards the request board. When she gets there, she sees it. An illustrated request. It depicts a silver-haired girl in a cloak with two-horned rabbit tusks. Her arms fall to her side as she reads the caption out loud.

“Wanted: information on a girl with horned rabbit tusks spotted in town on September 13th. Warning: she is a demon, do not approach.”

Her first instinct is to run, but where to? Amara had to have seen it! She thinks to herself as she reaches for her hip, but her weapon isn’t there. The sword is still sitting at the inn. Careful not to provoke any attention, she calmly makes her way for the door. Before she gets even halfway there, a group of adventurers stand up and block her path. Looking around, she notices the lady at the guild counter making some sort of hand gesture.

“Where do you think you’re going?” A massive overweight man with leather armor bursting at the scenes yells at her.

“I’m just going home.” Lunella replies

“Well, I think you oughta stay, have another drink.”

“No, I really should be going,” Lunella says as she grips the cloth of her dress tightly.

The overweight man places his hand on his sword then responds to her, “I insist.”

Lunella decides to listen to the man and finds a seat; she does as he says and gestures for a drink. The waitress brings it to her promptly. As she buries her face in the drink, she looks all around her observing everyone’s reactions. She notices several people who seem to be staring at her intently. She’s trapped in enemy territory, and she can only imagine what might await her.

What am I going to do? Am I going to fight my way out? I know I’m strong, but can I take out everyone, and what if someone uses an angelite weapon? She stares at the surface of the alcohol, reflecting her face. I can’t die here. I promised myself I wouldn’t give up, but if I attack first, that makes me the monster. Okay, let’s play this out. Perhaps it will turn out okay, like when Domak found out.

After an uncomfortable amount of time in the middle of the hornet’s nest, the door swings open with a creak, a grizzled old man walks in, dressed in the armor of a guard. Lunella feels her wounded hand ache as the man walks in. It’s the very same man that she first encountered at the gate. He looks around and then walks up to the table. The guild becomes eerily silent as all of the adventurers’ eyes are fixed on the guard chief. Lunella’s other hand begins to twitch in preparation to unleash all of her fire magic.

“I’ve been looking for you.” The guard says with a dirty grin as he plops down onto a chair in front of Lunella. “You were hard to find, but you can’t escape me. How does it feel to lose? Demon!”

“How do you think? Asshole.” Lunella barks back with scrunched eyebrows.

“Woah, vulgar. You should be nicer; I have this whole tavern surrounded by guards. Not to mention all of these adventurers.” Rengal says with his self-satisfied smile still intact. He reaches out and, with one gesture, flips the hood off of Lunella’s head, revealing her horns for the tavern to see.

Every sober adventurer immediately stands up draws their weapon, a look of terror occupying most of their faces. Giving in to the pressure, Lunella stands up carefully and puts her hands in the air.

“How did you find me?” Lunella speaks, biting her lip.

“How do you think? You played that poor innkeeper girl for a fool!” Rengal snarls at her.”She turned you in. Told me through tears about how you manipulated her into thinking you were her friend—“

“I-I didn’t, I really was—”

“You just stole from her! Clothes, food, shelter.”

“S-she gave me those things.”

“Under false pretenses, I bet even your name is fake.”

“B-but—”

“Good Stars, you make me sick. You really smashed that girl’s heart; you know that?”

She just smashed mine. Lunella tries to force out words, but they get stuck in her throat. Her gaze drops to the floor, and her hands fall limp at her side.

“Here’s how this is going to play out.” Rengal pulls out a set of heavy iron handcuffs. “You’re going to put these shackles on, and then we’re going to go on a short walk to the jail.”

Lunella doesn’t respond, but she does comply, slowly taking the cuffs from the guard and placing them on her wrists. Rengal locks them with a key and then chains them together. He then makes a downward gesture with his hand, and the adventurers sheath their swords.

Rengal whispers into Lunella’s ears with a satisfied tone. “You’re lucky we have orders from up high not to kill you. She might, though.”

The guard chief laughs triumphantly as a group of guards rush in, then they all escort Lunella out of the tavern. As they leave, beyond the crowd of gathered onlookers, Lunella catches just a glimpse of the girl who was her friend—Amara notices Lunella’s glare and looks away with a frown.

As Lunella walks that fateful journey to jail, her face feels hardened, unable to make any expression. The cold iron of the handcuffs squeezes her skin as her mind wanders to dark places. It feels to her as if the underworld was opening its maws and forcing her down the river Styx to her final destination. The world that seemed so concrete just hours before is now nothing but quicksand…