Shadows gradually creep their way towards the man’s back as he approaches the young woman. The sun was already beginning to vanish by the time he made his decision to move forward. Though thankfully, the last customer had already begun to depart as he steps out from the darkened alleyway.

A sigh escapes her as she leans her weight upon the table, her legs needed whatever rest they could get. And her once perky smile dims as she lowers her head. Letting the brunette curls slip and hide her face from the dwindling light.

Although as soon as her hands begin to quake, the sound of footsteps brings her head back up. Her brown eyes meet with the hooded figure before her. A smile immediately cracks across her face as she turns to reach for a new bowl.

She had to of been not much older than him, somewhere in her young adult years. And yet, she wore almost rags around herself. A torn and far too dirtied gown with what seemed like linen shoes. But what grabs his attention was the black collar around her neck.

The knight wore something akin to it.

His gaze remains unwavering until she presented the bowl of stew in front of him. Satiating his hunger was more important for the moment.

“Here you go!” her voice was soft against his ears as he took the bowl. Slowly as to not break it.

The warmth floods through his fingers, yet he disregards the feeling as he slumps upon a set of small steps. They lead to the establishment the woman had set up from. Her normal place of residence.

The woman stares with a raised brow for a moment before shrugging her shoulders. Her eyes shifting to the fading light. A sigh escapes her before she walks past the man to enter the building.

And in a few moments, she returns with a small candle-lit lantern. And before uttering even a single word, the woman takes a seat next to him.

Clanks of metal perk his ear, yet he chooses not to react to her arrival. His focus was drowned in the sensations from the meal in front of him.

Its scent greets his nose with an almost overwhelming fragrance. One that could only be of a fire-cooked meal. And the taste, there was nothing that he could compare to this single bowl of stew.

He refrains from just drinking it as to somewhat savor what he was eating, even if he still ravages it with little restraint over himself. And with every quick scrape, the spoon in his hand struggles against the pressure of his strength and the speed at which it collides with the bowl.

The woman stares at him with more and more questions running through her mind. Each clack making her more concerned for the bowl than his stomach.

“Is it really that good…?” she asks while giving him a worried half-smile. Then she turns slightly to the cauldron still sitting in front of them. “I just made cabbage stew… right?”

She snickers to herself before turning back to the hunched man. Though the silence left her with questions swirling within her head. Leading her to stare at the man.

That is until he reaches the bowl out towards her. Her mind takes a moment before realizing his gesture, although with a hesitant hand, she takes it.

“More…” a deep guttural whisper emanates from under the shadow of the man’s hood.

The woman stares for a moment before giving a half smile. And with quick movements, she returns to the cauldron before digging out the remnants of whatever was left.

The man watches her movements as he waits, however, his eyes drift away rather quickly. Deciding to turn to the remaining reds and purples of a dissipating sky. The sun had already passed underneath the horizon, yet it still managed to brighten what little it could.

Though in an instant his gaze is brought back to the woman, in anticipation of her return. And although she was glad he so readily accepted the second, half-filled bowl, a strange ache beckoned her to remain wary of him.

“Do I frighten you…?” another whisper escapes his hood, forcing the woman’s gaze.

“N-no, no, it’s– nothing like that…” she turns away while scratching the inner part of her forearm.

She hesitates a moment before turning to the man, though he’d already begun to finish what was left of his bowl. A slight smile pops on her face before a frown overtakes.

“You’re not like the locals here… something about you feels– off. Like you came from a distant land, maybe?” She half questions though halts as he lifts his hand.

He points to the black metal clinging around her neck. It had the same symbol as the one the knight’s had worn. The rising questions bothered him more than he was willing to accept.

Her face dulled for a moment as she realizes what he wants to ask. And a hand instinctively rises to touch the cold metal. A breath held in her lungs as she stared back at the man.

“What does that mean?”

The question makes her body flinch as it lands. How was she to answer?

Her eyes freeze on him. Though they searched for an answer within the shadow of his hood. The darkened maw draws her in as her body tries to pull away.

Then a quiver hits her lips, spreading through to her lungs, to her bones, to her heart. Fear rushes through her as the quick realization that this man already knew something she didn’t want to say.

However, through her restraint, she speaks, “it’s… a slave collar…”

She doesn’t move, almost zombified by the gaze she could feel behind his veil. And yet, her words leaked out. Something was pulling it out from within her, yet maybe it was just the fear she couldn’t hide from.

“It means… I have to leave here… I’m being taken to Black Storm Castle in the morning… I’m being taken to–” tears erupt from her as her mind begins to repeat the message she’d been given.

Her life here would be overcome morning. And she’d never see these streets again.

Who would take her position here? She wondered. Who would take her role? Who would help the poor here? Would they still serve food to them? Or would they forget them? Would they forget her? Were all her good deeds just good-for-nothing actions?

Would anyone even care to help her after it all?

Her knees give way as she crumples her face into her hands. Though it isn’t enough to stop the tears from leaking through.

“Oh, God… I’m gonna die…”

“Why don’t you run?” the words crackle in her head.

“...run…?” her voice was small, almost not even that of a whisper. Then as her hands fall, she snaps at him, “and where to!?”

She bites down on the sudden anger. Taking a breath before gesturing to the building the man sat in front of.

“The brothel here takes in slaves as workers… so even if I wanted to run, I can’t. They have a hex on me that keeps me from disobeying the masters here… so until that, and this– collar, are broken… I’m stuck.”

She sits back before curling her knees up to her chest.

“And it wouldn’t matter anyway… This entire area is owned by Lord Yokubo… He owns the entirety of the Southern region with an iron fist… I’ll–I’ll be heading to his castle come morning…”

A small chuckle leaves her, though not one of joy.

“Ha… I guess my job has been preparing me for my death all along anyway… I’m just a prostitute after all. How could there be salvation for me? I’m no princess nor am I a daughter of some nobleman… For people like us… there are no heroes. No knights in shining armor, no gallant prince to save the likes of us…”

The sun had sunken deep below, leaving the moths to seek out what little light came from the lantern hanging over their heads. Though the ones that get too close only get burned by the flame within.

Silence stretches on between the two. The woman sat almost broken staring at the cauldron wondering if after all the help she’d done, or thought she’d done, why wasn’t it enough?

The man just watches her, no words flowing within the blackness of his hood. That is before his eyes wander to the darkened alley just a little ways away.

“Have you tried saving yourself?” his words lack sympathy forcing a tinge of anger to spike over the woman’s face.

But before she could even gather her thoughts to respond, the man rose from his seat, a silent indication of his departure. With an indifferent tone, he uttered the words that would linger in her mind long after he vanished into the darkness.

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"Find someone who will actually care."

Stunned into silence, she watched as he disappeared beyond the reach of the lantern's glow, leaving behind a void that seemed to echo with his parting words.

His statement seared into her soul, leaving behind a raw ache that defied words. All she could manage was a painful smile, a fragile facade masking the turmoil within.

As the nocturnal symphony of crickets filled the air, and the night's chill wrapped around her like a shroud, she found a strange solace in his words.

"Thank you…" Her voice, barely audible, was a whispered acknowledgment of the bitter truth he had laid bare.

With a heavy heart, she bowed her head, her thoughts weighed down by the weight of his admonition. A solitary tear traced a path down her cheek, a silent tribute to the emotions churning within her.

In that moment of solitude, as the moon cast its ethereal glow upon her, she found herself grappling with a question that had haunted her for far too long.

"He's right…" she murmured softly to herself, a reluctant admission of the painful truth.

And as she sat there, enveloped by the stillness of the night, she found herself grappling with the answer to a question that had eluded her for so long.

‘Who would save me…?’

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From amongst the darkness…

A dreaded silence hungered for their desperate cries…

Drowned out by the void, the rising billows struggle to reach out towards the night sky only to be masked by the abyssal black.

From within, an overwhelming stench of fumes invades the air and sparks loom over the empty nothingness. An obscure light that seeps through the darkness looms just above, yet somehow out of reach.

Raging out of control, a huge burst of heat devours the lingering cold. Scaring the shadows away in its fiery blitz.

Breaking through the silence, crackles emerge… igniting along with the groans of the anguished…

Echoing across the darkened skies, the beams burn asunder. Illuminating the crevasses beyond the flaming walls… onto the poor souls trapped within.

Bound by fear and pain, the scorching flame consumes them.

It was a mosaic of dancing embers reflecting in her once bright and colorful eyes. Though they could only contrast the fury around them. As fear leaked out through tears which poured freely upon the little girl’s trembling feet.

She couldn’t move and her breath was just a hair from choking up. Only staring onward, she couldn’t stop the flames from rising around her. Devouring everything she had ever held dear.

And yet, through it all, footsteps pound against whatever silence was left from the fire. The girl couldn’t help but watch as seemingly hundreds of silhouettes began to overtake her once peaceful home. Fear ate at her as all she could see were the shadowy figures amongst the flames.

Her eyes couldn’t tell if they were friend or foe. Family or…

Despair dug under her skin as she watches the approaching figures. The light of her home dancing across their armor. And the hint of grins hiding just under their helmets as they pull her people, her neighbors, her friends, from their homes.

In a bolt, she tries to run, yet fire erupts before her feet. It stunned her only for a moment, however, before she could turn to escape she quickly realized her existence had been blocked by flame and by the attackers.

Screams ripple through the air. There was nothing she could do, only watch.

Anyone who tried to resist was dragged into the street before being promptly executed on the spot. A display to make the others fall in line. And yet more and more try to fight back. An attempt to avenge their fallen.

Yet, the little girl could only watch they were dispatched in droves. The attackers' weapons rendering flesh from bone quicker than she could blink. Their metal singing as each side took their role.

One creating a song of metallic whistles while the other sings a choir of screams.

The blood slowly encroaches upon the girl’s feet, greeting her with a putrid odor. Though before it touches her, she tries to retreat only to be met with another puddle.

And as she turns to the foul pool under her foot, her gaze falls upon the cold face of one of her people. A frozen expression of terror still lurks within their paled eyes. However, the gash just below the chin is what pulled her attention.

A gag reaches her throat as she instinctively recoils away. She turns to run, and yet, it’s only more of the same.

Several hundred, thousands, she couldn’t tell… the streets around her were filled with the dead. A massacre unlike any other. And yet, when she blinks…

The fire had taken form. Flooding in and swiftly feasting upon everything she knew. And yet, something within pulled her attention.

A figure swaying with the swirls of reds and golds. Their presence was unlike anything she’d felt before. Something instinctively vile, unyielding, wicked.

The only thing she could do was try and avert her eyes. For whatever stood within those flames wasn’t meant for her to see. However, the being didn’t move. Only stayed in place, seemingly watching from afar.

Though the girl couldn’t feel its gaze, as if whatever stood there wasn’t even there at all. As if it only cared for the carnage rather than the victims. The charred and burning corpses of her home, her loved ones, held its attention. Not that it seemed to be seeing any of it. Just relishing in the feeling.

Drinking in the horrors and destruction of this little girl’s home.

The girl’s eyes couldn’t leave the figure lingering within the flame. Her heart trying to claw its way out from her chest. She was waiting for it to turn to her.

And yet, it didn’t. Just wavers before shifting away, fading into the fire from whence it came.

Though its departure left only an eerie absence.

Her eyes couldn’t peel away from the spot it’d dissipated from. Even though she could feel it was gone, however, she could only wait for something to happen. Watching the flames as they dance across the now barren street.

But something was now off, something felt out of place. Something felt like it was missing. Something had been taken from her.

Her gaze falls to the scene around her. The guards, the soldiers, the warriors, her people… everyone was gone. Just a decrepit burning scenery that felt more and more fake with every flick of her gaze.

She took a breath.

The flames begin to dwindle, leaving behind a greyed world where her home used to sit.

This had never happened before. Usually, it always played out the same. A swelling relief rose within her, although it was brief, only being taken by a new sense of fear. Something was wrong.

The sky had shifted, brightening into a cloudy grey. Ash begins to fall as quickly as the fire fades. It was swiftly hoisted up by a shift in the wind. It fell like snow, coating the deserted road and emptied houses.

Within the middle of it all stood the lone little girl. It was all so empty, and yet it still managed to calm her.

Then from the silence, a single word is uttered.

“Alice.”

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A gasp for breath escapes her as she jolts out from her slumber. She clenches her fists to stop the shaking. Sweat clung to her skin even when the air around her felt otherwise cold.

The eerie pitch still reverberates within her ears as she takes another breath, trying to still her beating heart. Her eyes locked out of focus on the hide sheet covering her lap. Her mind was still lingering on what had played out just moments before.

What was that dream?

A question arises within her, however, there were no answers to be given. Only more questions.

'Was it a premonition? What was that thing? I…' She turns towards her hand. '…How am I to even question such a thing? A dream is merely a dream, right?'

Her gaze drifts to the setting moon.

'Not the time to question it anyway…'

With a sigh, she pushes herself from her cot, turning towards her gear sitting in silence against the adjacent wall. Though before she can stand she pulls the dagger from underneath the cot’s sunken pillow. Then with a quick hand, she returns it to its place alongside her bag.

And with a huff, she dons her equipment. Before pulling free the parchment listing her report and running her eyes over it once more to make sure everything was in order.

“Yokubo won’t be pleased…” her breath was an almost irritated sigh.

'The rate at which people are able to be taken to Black Shield has dropped… significantly. And at this rate, I don’t know if he’ll get his fill in the coming months.'

A vile grip held her stomach as she recalled the warlord’s order. However, with a slow shake of her head, the thought dissipates.

“At least I’ll have the trip back to clear my head…”

Another breath leaves her as she turns to the fading silver of the moon. The light shines within her amber eyes.

“I hope you’re safe, Annabelle… Just wait a little longer…”

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A full moon hung within a darkened sky, looming over Northrade. Everything sat still against the almost calming veil of night.

And yet, something stirred just beyond the outskirts. A foul aura crawls along the shadows of the forest, where the moon’s faint light couldn’t touch. Its malice oozing from the cliffside overlooking the entirety of the unknowing town.

The wind cracks as it shifts directions, startling the ears of the small rodents roaming the woods. Forcing them to flee in fear of what lay just out of sight . . .

However, a single breath takes form just as the atmosphere becomes tense . . .

Dead silence . . . .

Laughter arises through the forest, leaking out as a smile splits across the figure’s face. His heart beginning to beat along with the blood dripping from his fingertips. Trickling onto the almost charred black ground below him.

The snapping of flesh gradually grows to overtake the man’s laughter. And with every break, his laughter shifts, distorting more and more . . .

A monster now lurked within these woods. . .

Starring over the cliffside, gazing upon the town’s people below… Watching them like livestock.

His neck clicks, twisting like an owl as blood drips from the newly formed wound. Pain splinters within him, and yet, he only laughs harder. His inner demons crawling around within his mind. Digging in. Taking hold.

With every pound of his blackened heart, every pulse of tainted blood, his darkest desires begin to flow out from his wounds. He licks his lips as the smell of his own blood begins to leak down the cliffside.

Another maniacal laughter breaks out as his heartbeat overwhelms his hearing. It rings louder than anything he’s ever heard within his ears!

The pain enraptures him as it fully consumes him. He never felt more alive than now. Being torn from all of his old emotions completely…

A craving gnawed at him, the last shred of feeling to remind him he was alive… And yet, within all the agony he so desperately sought after, he clings onto the necklace around his throat.

For a moment, he pauses… Opening the pendant showing a picture of his best friends and a dog… sorrow stabs his heart at the memory of his family. The feeling twists, trying to tear at his heart. However, he couldn’t cry…

A smile lingers on as he clutches the necklace tighter than before. His gaze shifts to the town below him. His glowing, golden eyes radiate a craving for blood, for pain, for violence.

He had been starving for far too long…

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