The sun slowly sink into the horizon.

A young lady, appearing to be around 25 years old, sat on a bench in a park near a man-made lake somewhere in the city. She watched the sky gradually darken, expecting the arrival of the dark and cold night. Oh, she’s in the city now, so she’ll likely be embraced by a cold night where the darkness is chased away by streetlights.

An old, worn shawl wrapped around her hair, carefully concealing any faint gleam it might emit, making her head and neck as thickly covered as if she were preparing for winter. Yet, her sleeveless skirt and unfitted sandals seemed to contradict this. The peculiar outfit puzzled other pedestrians, but nobody remarked on her eccentricity since her action didn’t affect others.

Children playing in the park left one by one, and couples departed upon seeing dark clouds slowly gathering. It was time for the streetlamps to illuminated, and now she was the sole occupant left in the park. She sat on the bench as still as a machine drained of its fuel. Her fierce and sharp appearance seemed blank and lost somehow.

There she stayed for the entire night, until the darkness ceased, until the dewdrops formed, until the first ray of sunlight touched her face, and she could see people beginning to stroll in the park.

She gradually stood and walked with a tardy pace, with dew on her cloths, seemingly aimlessly.

She saw a kid running hastily with a bag on his back, falling a second later. Then, a teenager picked up the kid, who started to cry. The teenager cleaned his wound and patched it up with a tiny medical kit. After a few minutes of soft speaking, the kid probably smiled because of the snack given by the teenager. He thank loudly, and both of them went their separate ways.

The smile and gratitude on the kid’s face reminded her of those people saved by…She didn’t understand what smiles, gratitude, or help meant, but she knew these were something nice, and nice things had nothing to do with her.

She was born from darkness, programmed to destroy, and act to cause chaos. All of which would take away those smiles, and none would be grateful for that.

Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

Millions of thoughts came and went, but she cared not to grab hold of any. In the midst of her absent-mindedness, a brim and bright smile with a hint of pink appeared, but she dismissed it the moment it started to take shape. Fake would always be fake; it could never compare to the real deal.

Suddenly, an intense wave of mana reaction growled from the front, awakening her from her aimless thoughts. She recognized it at once: it had the same source as hers.

Without a second thought, she immediately rushed toward the location when her body felt the resonance. Her steps were light and graceful, each stride and leap covering three to five meters, and sometimes even six or seven meters. She soon reached the roof of the building near the incident location, and she saw a creature that she instinctively knew came from darkness, much like her.

The creature of darkness was surrounded by black mist, its claws as large as a grown man, a pair of ferocious horns tearing a shop apart. Humans were running for their lives under its attack.

Then, she saw a familiar pair of silhouettes. The teenager and the kid, with the teenager covered in blood collapsed on the floor, the kid with his face covered in tears trying to pull the teenager away from danger. The teenager seemed to have said something to the kid, but with his squinted eyes and the blood from the wound on his head, he voice was too weak to hear. The kid just shook his head, ignoring what the teenager said, stubbornly trying his best to pull the teenager away.

The horns of the giant beast finally freed from the ruins of buildings. Its red eyes stared at the pair of victims who couldn’t escape. The scratching claws, messing the tarred road, seemed preparing to charge or pondering what should it destroy next.

The individuals referred to as cops, wearing navy blue uniforms, soon arrive at the location, pulling out their mana-powered gun and shooting at the giant beast. These guns, equipped with middle-rank thunder flame runes, were extremely harmful to humans but prove harmless to the beast, only scraping a few sparks on its mighty body.

The beast became irritated. Its growl brought a huge blast that pushed everyone standing against backward. Harsh dust particles smeared on their faces, leaving them no choice but to partially cover their faces with arms or hands.

Then, the beast curled and jumped, aiming to stomp on the pair of victims…and the Mages squad still haven’t shown themselves.

She vaguely remembered how people’s smile shone when the Mages saved the day. Suddenly, she felt an urge to know how it would feel if she could be the one who bring smiles to people.

So, she threw away her shawl, marched her steps, and rushed toward the giant beast.