Glyn wakes up and, in a daze, looks around his room. Opening a bag, he finds it empty and rushes out of the room in a panic. Running through the manor, he finds Mila standing in her room with several large chess pieces alongside various other items. He slams the door open and stomps toward her in a rage.

“Mila!”

Mila leaps up. “Yes!”

“What did you do?”

“I was just…. I found these when I was going through your things and they were dirty, so I was cleaning them.” She explains.

Glyn shakes his head. “Fine. Just be more careful, especially with those!” He yells pointing towards the chess pieces.

“What are they? They look like game pieces, but I felt some power flowing through them.”

“I’ll explain.” He holds out his hand and a large king piece emerges from the palm of his hand. “This is part of the game.”

“Huh?”

“When we signed up for this game to become the king, we all signed a magical contract. As part of it, they gave us these sixteen pieces, including my King Piece.”

Mila nods. “So, is this part of your contract?”

“That’s right. As the preverbal king, if we have our pieces taken or destroyed, we’re considered dead and we’re out of the game. The other pieces will allow us to contract allies and enhance their strength so they can fight alongside us in the game.” Glyn explains.

“So, these are important. I understand.”

Glyn nods. “Good. Then you understand why I can’t lose track of these things. I can only call one piece to me at a time. Misplacing the whole set would be considered an instant loss!”

“I apologize!”

“You didn’t know. Of course, I didn’t expect you to look through my things. Why did you?”

Mila turns away. “Well, I wanted to be helpful. I said I would help you figure this out, but I do not know where to start, so I wanted to help if even in a small way.”

Glyn smiles. “Well, I appreciate the effort. But you will be very helpful to me.”

“How?”

“First, we’ll need a map of the island.”

Mila reaches into her pockets and pulls out a map, placing it on the table. “I have one.”

“Why do you have a map?”

“I keep one on me in case I get lost sometimes. Also, sometimes I’ll be called to a place I’m unfamiliar with as a member of the guard.”

“What you don’t know about your own home?”

“I wasn’t allowed to leave Gran and Gramps’s home for a while and I wasn’t allowed into the village. So, I don’t know about a lot of places, especially if people frequent them.”

“Repeat that.”

“I don’t know about places where people go.”

Glyn’s eyes widen. “This is perfect!”

“What?”

“Think about it. A sudden monster's nest appears. If one were to appear in a place where the guards' patrol or people frequent, then it would’ve been spotted quickly.” Glyn points towards Mila. “So that must mean….”

“It’s a place that’s hard to find or a place where people don’t go.”

“Exactly! So, I’ll need you to mark on your map all the places where the islanders avoid.”

Mila nods with a smile on her face. “Right!”

Glyn hands Mila a pencil and she marks out nine spots on the map. “So, are these all the places?”

“Yes. These are areas where most of the islanders don’t go and are told to avoid for various reasons. Some are said to be haunted and some are just considered bad luck.”

“You all are worried about spirits and the like, huh?”

This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

“That’s right. Spirits are dangerous creatures best not messed with.”

“Funny, considering we fought all those ghosts.”

Mila covers her ears and rubs her tail. “Don’t remind me about that.”

Glyn stares at her and notices a third tail coming out of her. “Did you always have three tails?”

“Huh? What do you mean? I’ve always had three tails.”

“Alright.” Glyn smiles. “Mila, are you ready to get out there and get to hunting some monsters!”

Mila nods. “Let’s go! Although I’m not all that excited to be doing this.”

“Don’t worry, it’ll be very simple. Trust me, okay?”

“Alright.”

The two leave the manor and search around the island. Checking the spots on the map, their first stop is an odd section of beach with black sand. While fighting off some crab monsters, Glyn noted them and promised to come back and harvest some of their meat. The second place was the deepest part of the forest, with nothing seeming to grow. Yet more monsters awaited them, but nothing they couldn’t handle as they leave to the next location up the mountain in the middle of the island.

“What’s with all the monsters on this island? I guess that’s why there’s only one village, despite how big this island is.” Glyn says.

Mila nods. “Yeah. The hunters and guards work hard to mitigate the monster population. But there are a lot more of them nowadays. That’s why everyone’s on edge.”

“Well, these monsters are pooling from somewhere, so we should be on the right track.”

“Only seven more places to check out.”

“And there are bound to be monsters on each of them. This place is almost a monster paradise.”

“Come on. There are good things about the island. The forests, minus the monsters, are nice and calming. And the beach can be fun. Oh and….”

“What’s wrong?”

“I’ve never really gone around the island,” Mila says. “Brother has tried taking me around before. But I couldn’t go to a place where people would show up.”

“Because you’re a pariah?”

Mila nods. “Right. Because I’m the way I am.”

“What do you mean by that?”

Mila pauses and stares forward. “Something’s here.”

“What’re you talking about?”

“I can sense something.” She rushes ahead, with Glyn following behind her.

The two run up the mountain as Mila suddenly pauses. Glyn runs behind her, running out of breath as he catches a glimpse of the creature before her. Pushing himself forward, he tackles her to the ground as a blast of flames rockets past them.

“Huh?”

“Don’t go blank on me now!”

“What happened?”

“It probably caught you in its miasma. That’s what makes these annoying things tricky. But because I’m cursed, I don’t feel the effects of it.”

“Of what?”

“A Lesser Demon!”

In front of the pair, a four-eyed completely white being stands before them. It stretches out its four arms as it lets out an unearthly cry that shakes the air itself. Its porcelain skin bleaches the ground beneath its feet as it stomps forward towards the pair, opening its maw as flames gather in its throat.

“We have to move!”

“We won’t be fast enough!” Mila yells.

The Lesser Demon unleashes another burst of flames at the pair, with Mila leaping up. She holds out her hands and blocks the attack. The flames die into embers in her hands as her tails spark with fire.

“What?”

“I can absorb fire magic into myself.”

Glyn nods. “You must have a naturally high fire affinity. But still….”

Mila’s eyes sharpen as she glares ahead at the Lesser Demon. Her posture changes as the flames grow stronger and her eyes glow a brilliant crimson. The Lesser Demon seems to laugh in a distorted voice at her and steps forward as it holds out its hand. Glyn grabs hold of Mila and opens up his book as it glows with a dark light.

“What’re you doing?” She asks in a sharper voice.

“Buying time!” He yells as his eyes go red and a black mist seems to exude from the tome.

As the Lesser Demon marches forward, it suddenly pauses, unmoving as it touches the mist. Glyn pulls on Mila and rushes down the mountainside with her at his side.

The pair run to the base of the mountain, with Glyn catching his breath as Mila glares down at him.

“Why did you run?”

“Because we can’t beat that thing. Lesser Demons, despite the name, are powerful monsters. Don’t underestimate how strong it is.”

Mila’s eyes glow red as Glyn stares at her. “I could destroy that thing. Next time, stay out of my way and I’ll….”

Glyn watches as the glow fades from her eyes and her body language returns to normal. She looks around, confused, for a moment, before staring at Glyn.

“Um….”

“Do you remember what we were doing?”

“Looking around the island before finding some white monster.”

Glyn nods. “Right a Lesser Demon. We should tell the guards so someone can come to deal with it. It’s defiantly kicking up the monsters on the island, so if we leave it alone for too long it’ll only be trouble.”

“Right. But how did we get away from it? I remember you tackling me and then….”

“I used my book to pause it for a moment. But that trick will only work once and only work for about an hour. Less if it’s strong.”

“Okay. Then we better hurry!”

Mila rushes ahead as Glyn stares at her curiously. He shakes his head and runs behind her as he struggles to keep up.

“One mystery at a time.” He thinks to himself.