“Mama!”

Aerie woke up with a start. Sweat and tears rolled down her cheeks as memories of what had happened and thoughts of what could have happened in the village after they left came flooding in. Ever since they left the border of the Mist forest, she had been constantly haunted by nightmares about her mother and their village being overrun by monsters, and that had greatly weakened her body.

“Are you okay, Aerie?” Lulu worriedly asked as she enters their tent.

“I-I’m okay.” Aerie timidly answered.

“Here. Drink some water.” Lulu offered as she handed Aerie her waterskin.

“Thank you.” Aerie said politely and then laid back down on her mat after drinking.

Neither of them said a word as they stayed in their spot, Lulu sat at the entrance of their tent while keeping watch and Aerie stayed on her mat resting.

“I know that you are worried about them but don’t think about it too much. You know that our clan has been training for this moment since the day we were born, right?” Lulu said in an attempt to console the little girl.

“But you said that there were hundreds of monsters!” Aerie rebutted as she sat up from her mat.

Lulu smiled as she sat beside the little girl. Aerie is only five years old so it wasn’t a surprise that she doesn’t know much about her mother’s past or anything important concerning their village. There is a lot of history that she should learn and be proud of and Lulu is going to make sure that she would learn all of it.

“Your Mother, my master, is the strongest person that I know of. She’s probably the strongest person in the whole Ethereal plane. Together with the rest of our sisters, they shouldn’t have any problems taking care of those monsters.” Lulu assured her.

“But she sent me away.”

“She can’t help but worry about your safety so she asked me to bring you to your Aunt.” Lulu explained.

Aerie didn’t say anything in response and quietly sat on her mat, thinking.

“Mama’s really the strongest?” Aerie asked after a short while.

Lulu smiled at the little girl’s sudden question and continued to tell her more about her mother’s past.

“Before your mama became the Village Chief, she and your aunt were a very well-known pair of adventurers. Throughout the four corners of the Ethereal plane, there were only few people who came close to where they stand.” Lulu said with pride.

“Did she fight with monsters too?” Aerie curiously asked.

“Wild Beast, Bandits and even monsters that went rampant.” Lulu counted them off.

“I want to become an adventurer too! I’m going to quickly get strong and go back to help mama.” Aerie confidently said while puffing her chest out.

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“I’m sure you will, but for tonight, I need you to get some rest so that you will have strength for the journey tomorrow morning.”

…

Two more days passed and soon they were near the closest village to the Mist Forest. In a large clearing surrounded by vast wheat fields, the Village of Berde peacefully stands. This village has been a longtime ally of their clan and Lulu was certain that they could seek help from the village chief there to aid them in their journey.

Unfortunately, that was not the case.

“What happened here?!” Lulu gasped as she took in their surroundings.

What was supposed to be the lively farm village of Berde was now nothing more than ashes and rubble. Houses were collapsed and burnt, animals slaughtered or half eaten, and the vast fields surrounding the village were laid in waste. Nothing that used to live in Berde could be seen and all that came to mind between the two that could have caused it were… Monsters.

Lulu armed herself and then pulled Aerie behind her. Carefully and slowly, she guided Aerie towards the village while making sure to keep alert of any possible threats around them. They hid behind the shadows of the broken walls that were still standing and made sure to quickly move through the open areas between the houses.

Just as they were about to reach the house of the village chief near the center of the village, Aerie noticed something move from her peripheral.

“Lulu, look!” Aerie shouted while pointing at a huge shadow at the distance.

“Goddess protect us!” Lulu gasped as the shadow slowly took shape and a menacing monster moved towards them. Half horse and half man, the head and two feet were that of a horse, and the torso and arms were that of a man. It was a monster that Lulu had never seen before and she was sure that her master had taught her every wild beast and monster there was in the Ethereal Plane.

Fear gripped their hearts when the monster’s red eyes landed on them and a cold shiver ran down their spine.

“Lulu, it’s looking at us!” Aerie screamed in panic.

It neighed loudly, and without warning, quickly charged towards them. Lulu wasn’t confident enough to fight the eight-foot monster before her and win, much less protect Aerie while doing it. She promised Lysandra before they left that she was going to take care of her daughter and she isn’t going to break that promise.

“Aerie! Go behind that wall! Now!” Lulu ordered the little girl.

Aerie was hesitant at first but when she saw the look in Lulu’s eyes, she followed her instructions without a word. As soon as Lulu saw that Aerie was safely hidden behind a collapsed wall of the house beside them, she readied herself and faced the oncoming enemy.

“For the Goddess!” Lulu cried out before fearlessly charging ahead.

The monster swung the tree trunk it was using as a club towards Lulu but the later was able to agilely dodge the attack. She circled the enemy and used that momentum, to stab the monster in its chest, causing the monster to roar out in pain. It was an accurate stab to the heart that would have caused any wild beast instant death but the monster in front of her was only enraged.

In a fit of fury, the monster continuously swung its makeshift club in hopes of catching the agile Lulu. It only hit air though as she was able to gracefully dodge each one of them. Each swing the monster did was enough to kill her with one blow but Lulu made sure that it didn’t come to that.

It was a stalemate between the two as Lulu wasn’t able to do a big enough damage to the monster and the monster was not able to hit her at all. Things looked like it was going to be a battle of endurance or at least until Lulu finds an opening for her and Aerie to run away but just as she was able to step back and prepare herself for another charge, the monster’s attention focused elsewhere.

“Aerie! Run!” Lulu shouted.

The monster had seen where Aerie was hiding and decided to change targets. It completely disregarded any attempts that Lulu did to get its attention and instead single mindedly charged towards to where Aerie was.

“No, you don’t!” Lulu shouted as she jumped into the air and aimed her spear at the monster’s head.

As if waiting for that opportunity, the monster leaned back causing Lulu to miss and used that instance to swat Lulu with its club.

“Lulu!” Aerie screamed as she saw Lulu’s body fly in the air like a rag doll and landed against the hard earth with a loud thud. Her shield was shattered, her spear was broken in two, and now she lay motionless on the ground.

Aerie couldn’t do anything but watch as the monster slowly walked towards her. With the bloody tree trunk raised in the air, Aerie knew that she was going to be next.