Endless darkness blanketed the world, the deep of night consuming everything with creeping shadows. Up above in the sky the moon shone brightly as a pale reflection of the brilliant sun. All around this cyclopic beacon a billion stars burned as tiny pinpricks of light. This multicolored kaleidoscope of the heavens a beauty that can only be revealed alongside the fear of the dark. This display while stunning was sometimes obscured by the passing of distant clouds.

Far out in the forest near my home village I lay resting on my back. While spending the night in my castle domain is pleasant, sometimes it was too much to miss the natural beauty of the heavens. SO here I lay among the trees shrub, gazing with awestruck wonder at the starts above.

My peaceful respite was not to last however as soon a most urgent prayer accosted my mind. Someone far to the south and west there were many prayers of desperation being said. A village deep in the once leafy forest of Teforh Forest were being attacked by monsters.

Quickly I jumped to my feet and brushed the dirt and twigs from my clothing. It seemed it was time to save the day, or in this case night. The life of a goddess meant even if I actually needed to rest I wouldn't be afforded it by these humans. Did the constant need for babysitting annoy me? Yes. But such was the way of the world and such was my part in it.

The magical teleportation circle appeared above my head and quickly scanned down my body, its gentle glow bathing the forest around me in peculiar light. Once my trip was complete the relative silence of the forest was replaced with the assailing sounds of panic and chaos. The location: the village Bellaruse.

I decided to appear at the western edge of the village as that's where the action seemed to be taking place. Besides all the humans there were also strange not quite human but probably human souls in the edge of the forest. Elsewhere the people were hiding in their homes and generally panicking, the usual human fare.

When I finished appearing on location I immediately took stock of the situation. All along the edge of the village buildings facing the forest there was a line of able bodied men and boys. Their faces were full of fear and determination, their hands armed with torches and whatever weapon they could get their hands on. They were all defending their homes from this threat even if it meant their lives, bravery that could not be understated.

What was the attacking force then? Looking to the forest I saw something I couldn't believe at first, but after a moment thought I should've expected considering this world. There among the trees and creeping out from them were bizarre wolf-like creatures. Taller than any man and hunched over, walking on their back legs with huge claws catching the light on their scraggly arms. Their heads were bestial with huge mouths filled with razor sharp teeth. Werewolves!

Like what the actual fuck? Werewolves are actually real here? I mean back in my world they were never really proven to be real or not but still, what's next? Vampires? Regardless these beasties were out to cause harm to these villagers in some kind of parody reenactment of every dark fantasy movie's opening act. Guess it was time for me to pony up. They did have a human-ish soul however which meant hopefully they could be reasoned with.

My appearance didn't go unnoticed by either side and my teleportation is what caused the advance of the werewolves to stop. The villagers on the other hand turned to me and cheered when I appeared. They likely knew who I was because they've seen me before. Even though they were this far out in the middle of nowhere they were south of Doovlin, in the same forest in fact, so they'd have seen and heard about me plenty.

I glared around the scene with my hair glowing brightly behind me.

"Alright what's going on here?"

One of the men from the village dashed over to me and threw himself at my feet. He was middle aged and was overcome with emotion as tears streamed down his face.

"Oh goddess! You came! You actually came!"

Most of the rest of the villagers in the immediate area followed suit. They bowed down to me and cried out in thanks. "The goddess has come! Our salvation is at hand!" Those sorts of things. I just stood there with my arms crossed and eyes closed. While not really into this whole groveling shtick it was part of the territory.

After around twenty seconds of this I opened my eyes and walked through the small group of villagers. The red light of the torches intermixed with the golden light from my hair as the people made way for me. Soon I was out of their circle and standing in the open ground between them and the dark of the forest. I was about fifty feet away from either side now, truly in no mans land.

These werewolves stood there in hesitation, not sure how to react to what they were witnessing. Perhaps it was their animal instincts that told them this little girl was a danger but they kept their distance all the same.

I dropped my left arm to my put my hand on my hip and right to to hand by my side.

"Well? Just because you're pretty cool looking doesn't mean you can terrorize these people! What do you have to explain for yourself?"

The werewolves in front was really big and had thick black fur. There were a couple scars on his face. It appeared to be a male and there was a very unhappy look in their yellow eyes. His voice was rough sounding as he spoke.

"Just who do you think you are? A mage child? You protect this village?"

He almost sounded like he was mocking me. Like he was angry not with my appearance but that I was such a tiny opponent.

I smirked and put my other hand on my hip. Then I crouched down and spoke in baby talk.

"Aww! Is the widdle doggy scareded? You can run home to momma its not too late."

This had the immediate and somewhat surprising reaction of instigating him to attack. I mean sure I thought he'd get mad but he was really out for blood.

With a sudden lunge the hulking beast leapt right at me. Despite his huge body he closed the distance faster than I expected. Of course with goddess perception its not like he could catch me or anything and I stood my ground.

He came to a halt in front of me and hi right arm lifted back for a strike. The huge claws were like daggers and swished through the air audibly. His eyes were gleaming with rage as he struck his prey.

There were gasps of horror from the villagers as they saw the vicious attack. The other werewolves however just stood and watched silently. Unafraid I stood up tall with my hands still on my hips.

The attack finished with the clawed paw swiping clean through where the little girl was standing. Imagine the surprise of everyone present when instead of being bisected the intended victim was instead standing in the same pose unharmed. I had used super speed to dodge and move just slightly to the left.

My attacker looked down at me with confusion evident on his lupine features. Surely he was just imagining things. Or perhaps the devilish tricks of a mage were at play? Either way he attacked again. Another brutal swing of his deadly claws came right for the head of his target.

Once again however I simply stepped to the right so quickly it appeared as if I had teleported in the blink of an eye. The smug grin on my face was proof of how clever I thought this all was. It was just so much fun to see the look of infuriating anger on this guy's face.

The futility of these wild swings was apparently lost on my attacker. Again and again he swiped at me with his claws. It was like an old cartoon where again and again I simply appeared standing unfazed just a little bit to the side of where I had previously been. After at least ten swings he stopped and howled in rage.

If you encounter this story on Amazon, note that it's taken without permission from the author. Report it.

Finally I removed my hands from hips and smiled up at him.

"My turn."

Clutching my left hand into a fist I swung a hook right at his stomach. I was sure to be slow enough that he could just barely dodge backwards which he did out of pure instinct. After he had jumped back however I leapt forward with a right hook and hit him square in the belly. It was with enough force to send him tumbling onto his back but not enough to do serious damage.

He stood up and gasped, the wind knocked out of him for a moment. Then his eyes lit up with rage and he howled into the night, leaping at me with renewed vigor. His claws came for me again with both arms swinging one after the other.

In response I leapt into the air over his head, my two books appearing attached to my flowing blue ribbons. As I went over his head I shot out a few small balls of fire about the size of tennis balls which peppered his back and singed his fur.

Growling his pain he stumbled forward, using his failed swipes to push himself up again quickly. Then he whirled around and leapt at me in the air trying to bite me. His teeth snapped together on air however as his target had already moved.

Unable to keep it in I let a giggle escape me. My two books turned downwards and burst out jets of fire, now acting like a sort of jetpack. With great speed I flew around him in a large circle, the ground bursting into a wall of flame that completely surrounded him. Then I flew up above and laughed in delight, my crystal voice echoing into the night.

Now surrounded by fire the hulking werewolf was initially overcome by instinctual fear. That was certainly the case with the others looking on. My opponent however was made of sterner stuff and crouched down, preparing to leap through the flames at me.

I didn't give him the chance. Adjusting my books I swooped down and clutched him on the chest and neck with both hands, lifting him up out of the fire and into the night sky. Up and up I took him, spiraling with a streak of orange flames leaving an afterglow behind us. Soon we were hundreds of feet in the sky, the dizzying height complimented by the freezing air.

It all happened too quickly for him to say anything and he never got the chance. I dropped him.

He let out a howling wail of anger and despair as he plummeted from the sky back to the ground. Below everyone on both sides could only look on in horror as the hulking beast fell like a rock from the sky to his doom. The little girl aloft before the moon and flanked by blazing jets of fire.

Of course this wasn't how his story ends. That's just not fair. So faster than anyone could see I shot down to the ground and appeared standing below where the wolfman would land. Then as he got just above the ground I leapt up and grabbed onto him again, using my books to propel me into a stunning forward facing suplex.

We spun around several times over in the air which transitioned the deadly downwards inertia into non-threatening but still incredibly painful impact. Thus with sure death avoided I slammed my opponent into the dirt on his back and landed in front of him.

The air had been completely knocked out of him and he lay there gasping for breath and clearly in pain as well. I just huffed and un-summoned my books, turning to the other werewolves as the villagers behind me cheered in celebration.

Seeing their apparent leader so thoroughly and easily defeated by a little human clearly triggered the flight or fight of the other werewolves. They close flight and the rest of them turned on their heels to flee into the forest, their leader left for dead on the ground at my feet. Such was the way of the wilderness. They wouldn't be so lucky as to escape however.

With a rumble in the ground I swelled up to my full goddess size, my hair and eyes glowing brilliantly like the summer sun. The entire surrounding area was lit up as if by daylight as I loomed over both the village and the forest.

"I'm not done with you!" I spoke in a booming voice.

After briefly closing my eyes I used my mana to summon forth mass amounts of grasping vines from the ground below. I then opened my eyes and directed the plants in my mindscape.

Every single fleeing werewolf suddenly found vines leaping up from the earth around them and ensnaring them at every turn. Soon their legs and torsos were completely entangled, with every part of their body soon following suit.

Howls of terror filled the former night as almost a dozen victims were claimed by my vines. They struggled in vain against their bonds as they were dragged along the ground back through the forest and towards the towering goddess. Now they had found a monster greater than anything they could ever hope to be.

I grumbled in a low tone as I saw them panicking. Sure this was fun at first but now it was just sad and dangerous, like a wild animal that strangled itself on a discarded net.

"Stop struggling! You're only gunna hurt yourselves! Don't make me make the vines tighter."

My voice reached some of them through their primordial panic and they went limp, though a few of them still were thrashing around. For those ones I simply increased the number of vines so they were completely bound and unable to hurt themselves with their twisting.

As my targets were dragged back to me I let out a deep sigh and changed back to my human size, shrinking down near the leader wolf again. While I changed back the lighting dissipated as well, my eyes ceasing their glow and my hair returning to its dull light. The darkness of the night once again enveloped us with only the moon and torches to brighten it.

Two of the villagers, both men, came running over to me as I returned to human size. They were nervous about the huge werewolf at my feet who was recovering but otherwise were emboldened by my display of power.

"You did it!" the taller man said. "You're amazing goddess!"

I just sighed as the last of the werewolves were dragged back into the clearing by my vines. Their muzzles were soon bound to keep them talking or biting as I started collecting them close by their leader by dragging vines.

"You gunna kill em?" the other man asked.

"No" I replied curtl.y

This made them both balk in shock.

"What?" the first man asked. "Why the hell not?"

The second man nodded. "Yeah! They're monsters!"

Their reaction was understandable but annoying. I looked at the monsters and spoke dismissively over my shoulder at the villagers. My voice was audibly annoyed.

"Just let me handle this. You wanted me here, now I'm here. I'm handling this situation."

I then glanced over at the two man and got a better look at them. The first was a man in his early forties who was quite tall. His hair was short and light brown with green eyes. He looked strong and there was a capable glint in his eyes. The second man was shorter, in his thirties, and his hair was to the nape of his back. His hair was blonde and his eyes teal. Both had fair skin.

"You're names?" I asked.

The taller of the two grunted, clearly not a fan of my attitude with him. He didn't' seem all that intimidated by me.

"My name's Mosi Antrinoque. I'm one of the hunters in this village. Goddess Jenna with respect we expect you to do what needs to be done."

The other man now spoke, his voice a bit shakey. By the way he avoided looking directly at me it was clear he was at least somewhat scared of his goddess.

"I-I'm Jeppe Holdfast" he stammered. "I w-was the night watchman who raised the alarm."

The big wolf man at my feet had recovered and was starting to push himself up off the ground. To stop him I just walked around to the left side of him and planted my left foot on his chest, easily pinning him down again.

"And what's your name? You've been a very bad dog."

He glared up at me viciously. This was clearly a very humiliating experience for him and the rage was still there in his eyes. Directed at me of course. I could hear this rage in the undertones of his voice.

"My name is Markku Kepple..."

I smiled down at him and then leaned over to ruffle the hair on his chest.

"So you can speak! Good boy!"

My mocking gesture was clearly not lost on anyone present. Honestly if his guy hadn't been so intent on muderizing me I might be less inclined to bully him. I mean I was pulling my punches and he's an adult! What kind of asshole goes full bore on a little child?

The vines had finished dragging all the werewolves in a semicircle around me and their leader and I then released them from their tethers. The were still bound up but no longer tied down which meant they could free themselves. Then I lifted my foot off the chest of this Markku and turned to address the others.

"I'm leaving you to untie yourselves at your leisure" I said in a commanding voice. "However I'll tie you back up again if you try to run." I smiled with my hands on my hips. "There's no escaping now."

I then turned to the two men and the wolf on the ground.

"We're all going to sit down and have a little chat understand?"

As both sides raised their arguments against it I simply raised my left hand to silence them. Even the werewolf held his tongue at this gesture.

"I'll hear none of it!" I stated firmly. "I'm the goddess here. I make the rules. Have I made myself clear?"

Both the werewolf and villagers grumbled and looked at each other with hatred in their eyes. Other villagers were looking on with concern and relief in equal measure. It was clear the danger had passed but now their goddess was acting in a manner they hadn't expected. Surely they wondered what her plans would be now.

Markku was finally allowed to sit up and he soon stood up, walking over to inspect his fellows. I allowed this but gave him a look of "don't go far" as he passed by. He glared back at me but this alone was acknowledgment.

The other werewolves were all finishing up freeing themselves from the bonds and were clearly looking to their leader for guidance. The looks they sent my way were filled with fear and hesitation.

These were clearly people not monsters. The tales of the werewolf was in itself a tragic one was it not? At least from what I remember its a cautionary tale against allowing ones feral instincts to take over your human behavior. Those that fall to the curse fighting with themselves as they harm even those close to them. I'll deal with these beastly boys as I would any other people. Its only fair.