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Chapter One

The Not According to Plan Village

Our first story begins on September third, 1833, in the only forge known to Hunleyberry village. Here, we find Tet, the village blacksmith. He’s hard at work smithing a new sword for himself. Had Tet known of future events, he wouldn't have smithed anything but armor. He had spent five hours on it that day and was hard at work weeks before. It was a heavy sword, yes. It was also a fairly large one. But he had trouble finding a way to wield it comfortably. His wife, Magus - who everyone in the village called Mel - came out. 

"Honey!" She yelled, "Your supper is getting cold!"

The smith yelled back, slightly annoyed, "Okay hon, I'll be in just a moment!"

He continued to work. He was sweaty from working all day. The sun beat down on his bareback. He seemed to be irritated from the sun mainly but something else seemed to be on his mind. Suddenly, it got rather cold. The temperature seemed to keep dropping and dropping. The second Tet noticed it, he got much more irritated than he was before.

"Damn!" Tet yelled. "I just wanted to finish the f*cking sword today!"

Within seconds of Tet saying that it began to snow. Tet ran inside, freezing. Magus asked him what the problem was.

"Damn weather," suddenly, Tet dropped to the ground. "ANGH!"

He began to clench his chest. Magus stood there, with a glint of triumph in her eye. 

"What's wrong, 'hon'?" She teased him. 

Tet realized that she had done something that he was unaware of. 

"You… bitch…" Tet spluttered, "What… did… YOU… DO?!"

Magus smirked, "What, didn't I tell you I was a witch, that owns a gun?"

Tet tried to stand and his legs grew weaker. He removed his hand from his chest. He looked down at the floor. There was a massive puddle of blood there. All of a sudden, it disappeared.

Magus stood there and laughed uncontrollably. "Sorry, I thought it would be funny."

Tet stood up effortlessly and then stared at his wife, with her flowing, beautiful blonde hair, and her strange mustache. 

"I almost died!" Tet yelled, "What would've happened then?! Who would've given you shelter and food?!"

Magus stood there for a moment, she seemed to be contemplating something. She began to speak but then hesitated. She stared past Tet, out the window. Her eyes seemed to be fixed on something. Tet turned around and stood there, frozen in horror.

"Wh- what is that?!" Tet yelled, "I've seen some scary shit but, this, this is just, no!"

It was a twenty-foot tall and thirty-five-foot wide lava-covered dog of some sort. Almost like a hellhound.

"It's happening," Magus said.

The snow started again outside but this time, Magus was scared to death. Strangely, the village immigrant, Garret, and the village newspaper editor, known as Turtle, arrived very quickly. Nobody knew where Garret came from, not even himself. And not a single person knew of Turtle's true name.

Anri Emrock the village chief showed up with the village militia. Anri was tall and burly. Suddenly, Anri's world went dark. She didn't see what had happened, everything just disappeared.

Anri awoke with a start, coughing. "What *cough* happened?"

Tet sat down, tired, "You beat it," he said.

"Beat what," she asked, struggling to breathe.

"The hellhound!"

"The wh- the hellhound! Where is it?!"

"Calm down, you need to rest."

Magus walked in, alongside her were Turtle and Garret. Had Anri not been there to save them, the house would've been destroyed. Anri suddenly stood up. 

"Where are my men?" She asked.

"Relax, all your men survived," Tet said. "Some have minor wounds but that's all."

"Yes, ma'am we saw to it that everyone was alright," Magus said, triumphantly. "Turtle and Garret helped me get the wounded to the hospice."

Turtle had a deep, gruff voice when he spoke, "Garret and Magus did most of it," he said, showing off his leg, "After all, with my injury, there ain't much for me to do aside from following and help the most minorly injured."

Garret sat there, silent. Almost as though he was mute. He just stared at the wall for a long time. Eventually, Garret stood up and walked out of the room like a bitch.

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Anri left the next morning and set out for the kingdom. She only had to walk a few thousand feet before she was outside of the village. Because Magus and Tet lived right at the edge of the village, they had to deal with a lot of attacks coming from the kingdom. The sheer fact that they became sovereign made the kingdom hate her and the rest of the village. It was a good thing that she broke the village off of the kingdom, however, because they lived in fear of the king. 

Anri was determined to reach the king. She knew that Garret was a spy from the kingdom. In fact, she was the only one that knew he was a spy. 

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It was the most adrenaline-rushed fight of the village leader's life. Right in the middle of an attack, everything went black again. If she had known it was just her subconscious, she wouldn't have been anywhere near as scared as she was. When she finally was able to see and think again, she sat up, only to find that she was not damaged at all, just had a few skin-scratches on her arms. Her opponent, however, was mutilated and torn apart. She realized she had a large, heavy sword in her hands and was somehow able to block attacks very easily. 

Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

She ran into several other attackers on the way and none of the battles ended up being as heated as the one in which she believed she blacked out. She finally reached the castle and was not able to find any way to get in. Luckily, she had a piece of chalk in her pocket - why? Well because she knows alchemy, of course! - she walked up to the wall and drew a very intricate circle with a square in the middle and a diamond in the middle of that. The minute her hands touched the circle, there was suddenly a huge hole in the middle of the wall. She had startled the guards and they turned to face her. 

The one guard was very large and held a massive sword and the other was tall but very skinny but held a spear and a heavy, brass shield. Both guards fought fiercely with no hesitation. This time, Anri did not transfer the fight to her subconscious, she fought herself. This, for Anri, was both a mental and physical battle. When Anri attacked, her mental battle deepened. The guards attacked at the same time, every time. Although, there wasn't a pattern.

"Shit," Anri said, her voice low. "I think they might've gotten me this time."

Both guards lumbered toward her speedily, grunting and gasping. Anri had just enough time to roll out of the way. She managed to cut one of the guards in half and cut the other one's hand off. The guard that was still alive dropped to the ground in agony. The one that was dead, however, was in two pieces, cut diagonally through the chest and stomach. The living guard began to cry. There was blood everywhere. Almost as much blood as the hellhound had bled. Anri had sudden flashbacks of the war. She realized that then, too, had she become subconscious throughout the battles. The minute Anri noticed the guard crying she shut him up.

"Be quiet," Anri said. "Crybaby."

She then cut his head off so he didn't alert other guards. 

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Anri had been wandering around the castle for hours. She wasn't able to find anybody or anything. It seemed almost as if the guards had been guarding nothing. Anri began to tire. This was no normal tiredness, however, she became rather, fatigued, and nearly fainted. Her legs became weak, her eyelids heavy, her hearing slowly disappearing, her arms starting to feel like water. Her mind, completely blank, was unable to think. She was in extreme agony and she could not figure out why. Suddenly, Anri's world went black and she became very cold. All Anri could feel was the breathing in her chest and the heavy heartbeats. 

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Anri woke up in a large, comfy bed, fit for a king and his queen. She was unable to move aside from her head and jaw. She turned her head to the right, nothing but a large mirror and a nightstand. She turned her head to the left, a shadowy figure stood there, it seemed to be short and wide.

"Hello," the voice was soft and quiet, that of a young woman's, "I found you in the hall while I was cleaning. You seemed to be dead, I didn't realize you were still alive."

Anri seemed startled. She was unable to talk, however, as it had seemed as though she lost her voice completely. She tried to scream but nothing happened. 

"Oh no," the voice said, "don't struggle, we don't want you to be hurt."

She was completely unable to move. her body seemed to be pinned down by some unseen force. The figure stood up. It was tall and wide, with no distinct gender-specific body features. It stepped out of the dark. It was a female. She had long, flowing locks of blonde hair, her eyes were a perfect blue, she was stunning. This was an odd thought to come from Anri, as she had never felt any kind of attraction toward women, not even as friends. This attraction was different than just friends, however, but we won't delve into that. 

Anri suddenly could move again. She stood up slowly and asked where the king was.

"The king went out on official business years ago but has not yet returned."

"Where did the king go on this 'official business'?"

"Nobody but him and the queen knows."

"Where did the spy come from that's living in my village?"

"There hasn't been any spies sent out in years, ma'am."

"What is your name?"

"My name? I- I haven't been told my name. Just that I am to tend to the castle and keep it clean at all times."

"How can I get out of here," Anri asked, getting irritated.

"You could always find the way back through the halls to the massive-ass hole you blew in the damn wall, or, you could stay and be a guard."

The woman was fairly impressed with Anri's work against the guards at the front gate. Anri stood there and thought about it for a second. She shook her head quickly then ran. She could tell this woman was lonely and was trying to hold Anri captive. Anri ran for a few minutes and was able to find the hole, however, the crazy maid was there before her and was preparing an attack with alchemy. Anri noticed that there was no transmutation circle anywhere. She figured that she would be able to dodge whatever this crazy woman could throw at her. Anri stood ready, waiting. The maid began to draw on her hand. Anri noticed she could escape while the maid wasn't looking. 

Anri charged the woman, She won't get the better of me. She can't. Anri thought to herself as she let out a loud wail at the woman as she rammed her. The maid flew back, in a large path like she had been hit by a steam engine train. 

"Heh heh," the woman began to chuckle, "You… think… YOU… CAN STOP ME?!"

The woman turned from a beautiful mistress to a massive monster. It was twenty to thirty feet tall with claws five feet long. The teeth of the beast nearly touched the ground, meaning, if Anri did so much as sneeze, she would be dead. The monster let out a horrible, horrible roar. The beast clawed at Anri's arm and then swatted her to the ground. Anri stood up and looked down at her arm, it had a large gash in the side of it, she was bleeding in five different places on her arm. Had Anri not stopped to look at her arm, the monster would have never been able to get another swipe at her. Luckily, Anri looked up in time and was able to dodge the attack. The beast took one last swipe at her and BAM! Within an instant, Anri was knocked out.

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Anri woke up with no injuries whatsoever. She turned her head and gasped.

"Y- You! Stay away!"

"What's wrong?" The woman answered.

Anri sat up fast, stood up, and ran. She ran and ran for what seemed like forever. Suddenly, Anri burst through the door with amazing speed. She looked around, realizing that where she had ended up was on the opposite side of the castle. She heard footsteps - they sounded like high heels, but how? - coming down the hall after her. They were fast and loud. Speedy and sound, almost like an elephant running from a mouse. Suddenly, Anri was gripped around the neck and held against the wall.

"Nobody destroys half of my castle and gets away with it," said the maid, ominously. 

Anri choked and gasped, "What do you want from me?"

"I want your life!"

"No! I will never let you take my life!"

"So be it."

The maid suddenly had an evil look in her eyes. All that was racing through her mind was, "Kill this bitch. Kill this bitch." Anri prepared herself for the attack. The maid lunged and Anri rolled. This frightened the maid because she realized that she wasn't fast enough to hit Anri. Anri wondered how and why a beautiful young woman like the maid could have such intent to kill. 

"Die. Die. DIE." The maid yelled.

Anri burst into the air and slashed at the maid. The village militia marched over the hill behind Anri. Suddenly, the maid dropped to her knees. The militia slowly approached, guns aimed directly at the maid. She began to sob.

"My name's Crystal." She said.

Anri knew that name from somewhere but she didn't know where exactly. The general of the militia stepped forward with a note in his hand. It read this: 

Dear Ms. Anri,

The village is quite worried about you. You have been gone for multiple weeks. We have sent the militia to come and find you. Please come back as soon as possible. The village is becoming quite bad without your guidance. You should come back with the militia.

Sincerely, Mel

P.S. Tet recently lost his hand so I had to make him a prosthetic hand and somehow he can move it like his normal one. Do you have any idea why this has happened? 

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Anri arrived and everyone cheered. Not one person was hurt or killed. Everyone was alright. Happily ever after. 

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