Jordan let out a small, exhausted sigh as he looked at the tall dwarf clean the fragments of dirt, stone, metals and crystals off of the floor of the Singing Coras.
The dwarf's companions were enjoying some stew while also getting some rations like jerky, hardtack, silver needles, water flasks and other things.
-"Why don't you just clean your beard before you come here? I never understood why you would just let your beard get so dirty."
Alexander, dressed in his casual clothes, much like his companions and most other mercenaries within the city, let out a small, loud laugh before he let out a few curses as the laugh caused more things to fall from his beard.
-"You're still too young to understand, boy. A real dwarf always has access to various minerals while on a journey!"
-"We're around the same age you dirty fool, and if you always need access to them then why don't you just keep them in a pouch?"
Before Alexander could respond, Bianca paused from eating her stew and responded.
-"It's because he keeps forgetting where his pouch is during important moments and so he started growing a beard and letting the remains of what he tastes stick to it. If you want to see his beard clean then you'll have to wait until he goes to a brothel."
Jordan let out a nervous chuckle as he looked a bit around the main room of the inn.
-"The missus would castrate me if I take even one step inside that part of the rim, and it would be a disservice for all if a war club like mine's were to disappear!"
This got a few of the other patrons of the inn to laugh, but then a female voice came from the kitchen area, one that caused Jordan to visibly prepare himself for what was about to come.
-"If you were to ask me then it would be more of a broken rapier!"
This caused the patrons to laugh even more than before while the Innkeeper tried to mask his embarrassment by letting out a small cough.
After Alexander had managed to clean the bits of rocks on the inn floor without dirtying it even more as he did so, he went towards the bar, where Jordan was now cooling a large container of water while also warming up yet another container of water that was then sent to the kitchen.
-"Now that we have had our share of fun, I want to ask you something. Considering that the inn's usual patrons are mercenaries like us or war veterans...Do you happen to know anything about Monsters?"
At the mention of 'Monsters', the inn had gotten eerily quiet, with the only sounds that could be heard being those coming from the kitchen or from the outside. There were some patrons that would joke about Monsters being just a new strain of Magical Beast or Gods forbid, Demons, but these patrons were quickly silenced by the intense stares of the veterans or higher ranked mercenaries.
Jordan looked at Alexander and then at his small cohort, letting out a weary sigh and then asking back in a worried tone.
-"What do You know about them?"
Alexander had to stop and think before he started talking once more. Everybody in the Royal Capital knew what Monsters were, and while some were doubtful or foolish enough to think that they can handle them, most had a quiet but deep rooted fear of them.
-"I have asked around, even commissioned the Silver Gentleman but I could barely get anything that all had in common besides one thing:
Monsters do not harm each other.
Besides that, I know only what was made in the official announcement."
The innkeeper let out a light grunt of acknowledgement and then poured out a light alcoholic drink and downing it in one go before he said more.
-"That's about it for me or most other people in the capital too. Just because I hear it from more mouths doesn't make me more knowledgeable, if anything it makes me more confused.
Almost no story is the same, each of the Monsters being different from one another in such ways that it boggles the mind.
I have heard stories of some that can heal wounds by simply looking at them, some that can show you things that you aren't supposed to see, some that show you the scene of your own birth and your lifeless, infant self, one that can slowly turn you into a plant if you were to eat one of its fruits...
I have heard nightmares that were less disturbing that this, and apparently now they are suddenly gone? Either the entire army had a collective hallucination or something worse is about to happen."
It was clear that Jordan had selected the tamer stories, but there was still a clear look of fear in his eyes, and it could be seen in the eyes of all the other patrons as well.
It was a fear of the unknown, and it was further exacerbated by the absence of a response from the Church, from all the Churches.
Jordan grabbed his silver book and gave it a small kiss and then let out a small prayer, trying to calm himself.
-"Are there any accounts of these Monsters getting hurt or killed?"
-"None. You would expect that a force that had several Knight Masters and top ranking members of the army would have been able to at least get them to bleed, but there was nothing.
Whenever one was about to be harmed, all other Monsters near them would rush at their location and...make examples of the soldiers"
Alexander remained silent and then looked back at Vladimir and Bianca, gauging their expressions, but after receiving only confident nods, he sighed and bought his own share of provisions.
-"Is there any material that scares or drives them away? Silver, gold, steel, melos flowers, Minaran sand, anything?"
-"I don't know about the others but silver and steel probably don't have much of an effect on them. Some soldiers had their weapons bloom flowers or change material. They were seen under the light of Melos and the lights of Minara and Neiro but they didn't show any signs of weakness.
Whether it was because the Monsters that were seen during those times were not effected by those lights, or came out only then because they were affected by the other lights, I am not sure.
I suggest buying or renting some horses in order to get to where you need to go quickly, and also to not travel or make a fire during the night."
Alexander gave the innkeeper a grateful nod, and after paying with a few silvers, he left alongside his cohort straight towards the gates leading outside the outer rim and towards one of the stables around the gates.
As they left the inn, one of the patrons of the inn glanced back at them, staring a bit at their backs and their full packs. The patron then went back to enjoying their breakfast in peace, with the rest of the inn also recovering from the somber atmosphere and devolving back into a state of lighthearted joy.
The patron was a young man that most probably had just become an adult and finished his apprenticeship. He was of Southern descent with black hair, wearing a comfortable summer blouse and a pair of slightly loose dark purple pants.
His half-lidded eyes were grayish-blue, with their color being hard to see unless one were to look up-close.
[A few hours later]
-"My ass hurts more than when I had to stay in that carriage for days."
-"Stop complaining, we'll be able to rest only when the suns set, until then we have to ride for as long as possible."
-"Easy for you to say, you have so little ass that you are barely hurt."
-"That doesn't even make any sense, Bianca."
-"Yes it does Vlad."
-"Can you two stop acting like a pair of toddlers? I am already starting to feel tired and we still have a few more days until we get to where those fuckers are."
Alexander spoke with clear irritation in his voice as he continued riding on his Etus, riding in-between Bianca and Vladimir while looking at his map from time to time, making sure that they were going the right way.
[An Etus is a six legged mammal which looks like a mix of a horse and a goat. Its limbs are similarly to that of an insect, with the legs being multi jointed, allowing it to climb steep land and still be balanced.
There is a common myth that the first Etus was born when a Lana fell in love with a bug. Another is that Natir, the god of nature, wanted to know how a six legged mammal would run, and so He created several of them and spread them all over Yvon, with only the ones around the territory of the Aurora Empire being the ones to survive.]
The tall dwarf was currently in a very bad mood due to the Monsters but also because of the slavers that they were tracking. They were known to traffic young human and elvish children and would force dwarves to pretend to be children.
Bianca and Vladimir decided to quiet down as they continued riding, using the roads made by the Royal Family, with the multiple hooves of the Etus hitting the stones, making a very odd 'song' that was off beat but would sometimes make something pleasant to the ear.
The suns were slowly setting, with the only things visible as they traveled being hills, the odd forest or some small villages. It takes a long time to travel between towns and cities within the Empire if you aren't wealthy enough to buy Magical Beasts or, if you are absurdly wealthy and want to show off, to create holes in space.
[Teleportation is something that can be performed by only the most talented of spacial mages, but it also carries the risk of entering the other sides of space. Those being the fourth and fifth spacial dimensions.
The spacial and temporal dimensions of the current 'reality' are divided in different ways.
For Space, they are:Length,Width,Depth,Soul and Idea.
For Time, they are:Past,Present,Future.]
As the suns set and they had made camp, the three mercenaries lit a small candle lamp and talked with one another while eating some of the food that they kept that will spoil later on, choosing to start eating their traveling provisions.
Vladimir was wearing a light suit of leather armor that allowed him to move comfortably, with only his joints being less protected.
Alexander was wearing a mix of leather and metal armor, choosing to protect his fore arms, torso, thighs and feet with iron while the others were protected by leather.
Bianca wore a low quality suit of metal armor, coupled with a barbute helmet. The plating was fastened using various buckles and belts.
Alexander was eating his food while nibbling on a piece of salt rock and now that they had gone out of the capital for the first time since the announcement, he was starting to feel nervous.
-"What do you two think of these Monsters? Will we have to fight them in the future in order to make a living?"
Vladimir gave a half-hearted shrug as he ate a loaf of bread and some berries, choosing to scoop out the white core of the bread and then put the berries inside the crust in order to contain all of the juices of the fruit. The red juice of the berries left small stains on his mouth.
-"I think they are simply something new. I am sure that our ancestors felt the same when Magical Beasts first appeared..."
He wasn't really sure of what he was saying himself, but he didn't bother thinking too much about these Monsters. He even felt that they might be Mythical Creatures, but decided to not talk about it since they are seen as something unknowable.
Bianca was currently shivering a bit even under the thick clothing under her armor. She was eating some low quality commoner bread and some smoked sausage.
Alexander nibbled some more on the salt rock and looked around the forest. He felt as if something was off but he could not find out what exactly was wrong. He then turned to Bianca and asked her to tell a story in order to pass the time.
Bianca took a bite of one of the smoked sausages and then started telling a story from her childhood, her shivering slowly stopping.
-"There was once a small human boy that lived in a small village, he was always known to tell grand lies in order to get the attention of others."
The story was one brought by one of the past heroes and it was now one of the more well known stories among children.
Alexander grabbed some smoked ham and held it in his hand while Vladimir brought out yet another piece of bread. Bianca started shivering once more as she looked at her hands before continuing.
"The boy would lie about a group of marauders that would come to the village, about rainstorms coming from the horizon, and about a pack of hungry Letos' charging at him.
Every time, the other villagers would come worried, expecting danger to have come towards their small village."
Bianca started shivering once more, Vladimir was slowly getting sleepy and Alexander started feeling like something was wrong. The small boy sitting near the tent nudged the tall dwarf and asked him in a quiet voice.
-"Mister, can I have some of your food?"
Alexander waved the boy away and so, the boy went towards Vladimir and asked once more.
"Mister, can I please have some of your food? I'm very hungry."
Vladimir looked at the boy's protruding stomach and waved him away as well, not wanting to give his food to a child that is clearly full.
The boy then finally went to Bianca, who was shivering as if she was within a chilling snowstorm. His steps were quiet but heavy.
"Miss, can I please have a bit of your food? I promise I won't take a lot."
Bianca looked at the boy, her eyes unfocused, but she could still see that the child's hands were near her food, with his stomach visibly moving, twitching and shifting.
His eyes were on his cheeks, and his nose was large and slightly pointy, smelling the food in her hands. His mouth was abnormally large and each time he opened it to speak, his throat was revealed to be part of his lower jaw, opening and closing like a drawbridge.
She shook her head at his request and continued the story while the boy slowly moved back, sitting down near the tents.
-"And each time they came towards the supposed danger, they would find only the boy, who was feeling extremely proud for managing to lie to them and get their attention.
One day, the boy went into the forest late at night in order to scare his parents, wanting to get even more attention.
He brought with him several pieces of food that he stole from his house. Once inside the forest, the boy saw a malnourished child begging for food."
The Sunset Trio slowly brought their food towards their mouths as the story continued. The boy near the tents watched on while his stomach would grumble.
{Trigger warning:Self-harm, cannibalism.}
"The boy did not want to share his food with the child since if he did so, he wouldn't be able to stay long enough in the forest to worry his parents, and so he refused. The starving child asked him three times in total for food, but each time, the boy refused.
And so, the child was unhappy. The child tricked the boy to think that his own body was the food that he stole from his parents, as punishment. The boy did not notice, and so he spent the night eating until he was full."
Bianca brought the smoked sausage to her mouth and bit into it. She could feel the juices flood her mouth, and after spitting out the bones, she started chewing.
Vladimir looked at the pale white piece of bread and started scooping out the core with his hand. The bread was resistant, so he had to put more strength into it along with using his nails.
Alexander's intuition was signaling to him that danger was near but his mind was on the slavers, so he bit into the smoked meat with a bit of anger, his teeth even brushing against the red salt rock within.
"And so the boy was full, and when night ended, the child returned back to the village. The child was full as well and looking a bit different, but the villagers thought that it was simply something he did for attention.
The child became the boy, but the villagers did not notice. They were now happy that the 'boy' no longer lied to them and the 'boy's' parents were happy that he was listening to them.
Whenever the 'boy' went into the forest, he was full once more and slowly returned to 'normal', and each time the villager would search for him, they would find only the child, who was feeling extremely proud for managing to trick them and get their boy."
The story had ended but the Sunset Trio was not yet done. Bianca was still holding onto four more sausages, Vladimir had one more piece of bread and Alexander wanted to eat more of the red salt rock.
The boy from the tent looked on. One of his hands had become pale white while one of his fingers had darkened in color. He looked at the Sunset Trio and gave them a wide, happy smile, with the base of his neck, near the clavicles, rising up to form his smile.
The smile on his face quickly disappeared and he started shivering as well. The Sunset Trio stopped moving, their 'food' now far away from their mouths.
The boy looked back, deeper into the forest, in the direction of the capital. He quickly ripped off his fingers and fingers and hand away. Instead of flesh, there were several serpentine intestine and instead of blood, gastric acid came out.
The wound started to get 'eaten' until skin grew all over it, with only a nub being left instead of a hand. The boy slowly got up and looked into the darkness, and out of the darkness, two figures came out.
The bodies of the figures were completely covered by large cloaks, with two metallic, reflective masks covering their faces. One of them had light brown hair while the other had flowing, pure white hair. The boy's face was perfectly reflected by their metal masks.
He had a small, sheepish smile on his face. The brown haired masked figure was standing one step away from the white haired figure.
A few moments passed by, they were filled with a tense silence, but before the masked figures could do anything, the boy put on an innocent smile and looked at the white haired figure.
-"Mama! I missed you so much!"
The brown haired figure slowly stepped forward and performed a deep bow towards the boy, her hands resting near her waist as she did so. It was the bow of a servant.
-"Young master, the madam is very happy to see you but she is also displeased that you ignored her request."
The boy did not like that Brown Mask was talking for Boss Mask but he did not show it. He knew what the request was, but these humans had come into his territory and they even followed the rules to his game!
Before he could think more about it though, the young boy looked at the two figures, and after making sure that no one was behind him, he asked.
-"Um, where's big sis?"
-"The young miss has been kidnapped by some very uncouth individuals while she was out, playing. The ones you are playing with are also looking for them so the Madam thought to accompany them as we go to get the young miss."
The boy looked angry for a split second but then started feeling pity towards the slavers that 'captured' his big sister. He then looked back at the Sunset Trio and then back at Boss Mask, putting on a pitiful expression.
-"I am sowwy."
Boss Mask slowly walked towards the boy and then patted him on the head, making him feel very happy. Boss mask then gently held his severed hand and tilted her head at it, silently asking him:
'What's this?'
Boss Mask already knew, but wanted to hear it from the boy's mouth.
"...I'm sowwy for trying to hide it Mama. Will you forgive me?"
Boss Mask nodded and then looked at the hand and finger that the boy had torn off. They slowly got up and moved towards them, with the hand 'walking' while the finger 'slithered'.
The hand and finger slowly climbed over the boy's nub and then grew sharp, bone spikes which dug into the boy's nub. The hand and finger slowly melded and then turned into the boy's original hand while he only winced a bit.
The pain was like that of a small bee sting for the boy but he decided to act like it hurt more than it did in order to not get punished, which worked.
After getting yet another pat on the head from Boss Mask, the boy hugged the figure and then walked deep into the forest.
Brown Mask looked at the scene, thinking that her Mistress was a bit too lenient, but decided to not say anything. Instead, she glanced at the Sunset Trio and then started chanting a healing spell while her Mistress was sitting on fallen tree.
[The following morning]
Bianca woke up, sweating profusely and shivering as she looked around before throwing up, vomiting out the contents of her stomach until she was left dry heaving. At the sound of her waking up, Alexander and Vladimir woke up as well, looking much the same.
After they all vomited out everything they ate, they all started looking at their hands, trying to see if there was anything missing. Thankfully for them, their bodies were whole and intact, in fact some of their scars had disappeared as well along with some hidden diseases.
They looked around confused and scared, looking towards the tents, the lamp, the tea set, the trees.
The Sunset Trio paused as they slowly looked towards something unbelievable. Two masked and cloaked figures were near a tea set, complete with expensive tea leaves, honey, finely crafted tea cups and a kettle full of warm water.
The brown haired figure was standing behind the white haired one like an obedient maid while her Mistress was enjoying a fragrant cup of tea, bringing the cup to her mask and then slowly drinking it. The liquid passed through the mask and presumably went into her mouth.
The mercenaries were extremely confused, now thinking that the previous night was simply a shared nightmare brought by some hallucinogenic mushroom, but just as they were thinking that, the distorted voice of Brown Mask caught their attention.
-"Ah, good morning to you three. You are the 'Sunset Trio', correct?"
Alexander was quick to notice the behavior of the masked figures and quickly got up, patted himself and then gave them a deep bow.
-"We apologize for our shabby appearance your ladyship and we thank you for healing us. We indeed are the Sunset Trio, and as the leader of our group, I can promise you that we will do whatever you need in order to pay you back."
Both Bianca and Vladimir quickly noticed their current situation and copied what their leader was doing, even if their postures were stiff and awkward due to having just woken up and the leftover shock from last night.
'Shit shit shit shit. Why did it have to be a noble? Since they are bothering to be disguised like that then their status must not be low, especially since they are using such expensive artifacts to change their appearance and voice.'
Brown Mask 'looked' at the three of them and then poured Boss Mask more tea into her cup while she remained as silent as ever.
-"If you wish to pay us back then you are in luck since we are currently in need of an escort. You are going after a group of slavers that primarily targets children, correct?"
the tall dwarf flinched and then responded quickly while continuing to keep his head down, not wanting to offend a possible high noble by mistake.
-"That is correct, we are on a mission to get rid of them since our client's daughter was kidnapped by them."
Bianca had a shocked expression on her face as she looked at Alexander while Vladimir simply had a grimace, none of them liking that their leader had just revealed information related to their client, which was considered taboo by mercenaries.
Alexander did not like it either but losing a bit of trust from an employer is better than getting killed by a high noble for 'hiding information', some have killed commoners for less.
Brown Mask clapped her hands and then spoke in an exaggerated, happy voice.
-"Oh my! This is great! Then this will be simple, simply escort us to their base of operations and we can consider your debt to be paid."
The Sunset Trio were left confused by the woman's strange behavior, but now that it was decided that they were to escort a noble woman and her maid, Alexander thought it would be appropriate to know what to call them.
-"I apologize if I appear as rude, but may I know what we will be using to refer to you during our journey?"
Just as Brown Mask was about to talk, Boss Mask raised her hand and silenced her. Shortly after, the distorted voice of a woman in her mid 20s could be heard.
-"She is 'Maid', while I am Minara, a low ranked mercenary. We will be accompanying you in order to pick up my daughter from those 'slavers', we will try to not inconvenience you."
-"I beg your pardon?"
Alexander was deeply confused, with Bianca and Vladimir both feeling the same. Maid then quickly interjected and made them even more confused.
-"You are free to beg but please do it at a distance, you stink."