It was the dead of night in the village of Bruns, a small settlement of the Aspean Kingdom. Several dozen small wooden houses lay scattered about, with some semblance of a dirt road connecting the entrance of each one. A wall surrounded the village, made up of logs laid horizontally on top of each other and packed together with mud and dirt, forming walls a dozen feet high, enough to deter wild animals and the occasional aggressive monster. There was a single entrance into the village, manned by two guards. A torch holder was stuck into the outside of the wall, with a measly torch sputtering, barely lighting up the area beyond the entrance. The two guards, Maynard and Allira sat by the entrance of the village, manning the gate which faced the Bleak Forest, an unknown land in which monsters ran rampant. The entrance to the village was 300 (91m) feet from the tree line, and a standing torch lay stuck into the ground 50 feet away from the entrance, being their only measure to spot incoming danger.

“Why the fuck did the elder decide to close the plains entrance? Wouldn’t that be a lot simpler to guard than the forest one?” Maynard grumpily complained to his companion. “It’s hard enough keeping up at night, and they want me to find what exactly?”

“Monsters. And if you don’t recall, Mr. Senth went out hunting this noon, and has yet to show up.” Allira replied icily, her tone of voice hinting at Maynard to shut up. Too bad he was too much of a blockhead to catch on.

“But most monsters don’t even like fire anyway, and it would be many times easier to spot movement facing an open field instead,” Maynard griped. “Plus, I’m sure Mr. Senth is fine, this isn’t the first time he’s taken an extended hunting trip…wait.”

Maynard suddenly shot upright, hand already on the hilt of his sword. Allira stood up immediately after with her bow, hand grabbing an arrow from her waist quiver.

“Saw something?” She questioned, arching an eyebrow in the dim light.

“Heard it with my skill.” Maynard replied as his iron shortsword unsheathed, firmly held in his right arm. “Something is coming.”

Allira drew a breath and nocked an arrow. Maynard possessed a skill called [Sensitive Hearing], an ability which had saved their skin several times before on guard duty, allowing Maynard to detect sounds with higher clarity even from a distance away. 100 (30.5m) or so feet was right at the limit of his ability, and since they should be the only ones awake, there was essentially nothing keeping Maynard from using his detection abilities.

Maynard’s iron plated armor gleamed in the flickering light of the torch, while Allira slunk off the side, taking cover behind the wall. With enough luck, aggressive monsters would notice Maynard first, giving Allira the chance to cover for him or sound the alarm if something went wrong. Luckily, the shallow areas of the Bleak Forest contained the weaker goblins and wild animals, which could be dealt with if they didn’t come en masse. Maynard and Allira were the designated guards of the village, after all. They were both young and strong, and had lots of experience in the wild. With the exception of the resident mage, Calphas, they could be considered the strongest members of the village. Maynard’s grip tightened as his eyes strained to see in the dim light. Suddenly, he saw something.

As Maynard watched the approaching enemy, his breath began to quicken, and his mouth grew dry. A massive shape slunk out, emerging from the darkness. Maynard wasn’t quite sure as to its actual size yet, but its steps seemed heavy. Maynard suddenly saw a flash of fur as a massive wolf crept out of the shadows, approaching the standing torch at the 50-foot(15.2m) mark curiously. Allira and Maynard made eye contact, and Maynard nodded to Allira, turning to look at the wolf immediately after. Based on the size of the wolf, Maynard believed it to be a monster he hadn’t seen before-he had dealt with normal wolves, but this wolf was simply too huge to be normal, it had to be the size of a fully grown black bear, perhaps even larger. Another smaller wolf with a beautiful blazing red pelt stepped out from behind the massive wolf. The smaller wolf was about the size of a fox in fact, and could almost be mistaken for one with its longer snout. Maynard was stunned by its beautiful pelt and its strange actions, as the wolf climbed onto the back of the massive wolf before climbing onto its head, dangling itself over the standing torch. He heard Allira’s bowstring stretching behind him, and his expression turned grim as he prepared himself to fight the massive hound.

An arrow shot out from behind Maynard, aimed to hit the massive wolf in the head. The wolf reacted immediately, shaking its head to the side aggressively, causing the arrow to strike deep into its side. Howling in anger and pain, the wolf knocked over the standing torch, causing lit coals to scatter in the dry grass around it, causing a large blaze to erupt around it. The small red wolf fell into the fire in the confusion, then the flames seemed to soak right into it, like a dry rag being tossed onto a puddle of vomit on the inn’s floor. The small wolf began to grow in size, and its beautiful red pelt seemed to grow even brighter in color. The fire slowly appeared to be absorbed into the now much larger red wolf, who appeared to have veins made of magma coursing through its body. The lack of light prevented Maynard from spotting the giant wolf, but he could hear its heavy footsteps approaching, and the barely suppressed growls and snarls. The red wolf still lurked in the back, its glowing fiery eyes piercing into Maynard as the other hound approached. Sweat dripped down the back of Maynard’s back.

“Allira! Now!” Following Maynard’s shout, several arrows flew through the air. Hearing the pained yelps of the wolf, Maynard and Allira turned and rushed into the village, Maynard slamming the wooden gate shut and locking it in place. He turned back to prepare for a fight as Allira rushed to the village’s church. There was a large bell in the church which could be rung to awaken everyone in the event of a disaster happening, which was exactly what was happening right now. Maynard’s back began to flow with cold sweat as his mind raced. That massive wolf bore a remarkable resemblance to the monster Dire Wolf. Maynard had never encountered one before and for good reason; the strongest monster he could put up a fight against would be a Goblin Berserker, so encountering a Dire Wolf would most likely mean his death. The Bleak Forest was known to be the home of strong monsters, but the zones around the village had been checked multiple times before they had settled. The most dangerous monster to be sighted on the many years since was a Goblin War Chief, which had been taken down by their elders before. The supposed (D-) ranked Dire Wolf was a higher threat than a Goblin War Chief according to some monster classification books Calphas had told him about in the past.

A heavy impact on the gate snapped Maynard out of his thoughts as he looked at the gate. Although not very sturdy in any way, the gate managed to partially withstand the heavy impact of the Dire Wolf’s slam, albeit with a large crack running horizontally through it. The crack was big enough to see through unfortunately, and Maynard’s eyes met with the Dire Wolf’s eyes through the hole, prompting Maynard to do what any other sane man would. Activating a skill, he sprinted right up to the gate faster than any other ordinary person could’ve, and stabbed his sword straight into the Dire Wolf’s eyes. As blood spurted through the hole, Maynard grinned, baring his teeth at the beast.

“I’LL KILL YOU! LET ME KILL YOU!” Maynard chuckled as he heard the ringing of the bell. With that, the villagers would be ready to fight, he had some support, even if it was a mob of pitchfork-wielding farmers. “Allira should be coming back soon…” Maynard looked through the hole and saw the Dire Wolf pawing at its eye while whimpering. He had gotten lucky with that eye stab, and he probably wouldn’t get the opportunity again.

Wait… Maynard immediately sobered up as he saw the torchlight from the outside of the wall fading away, shrouding the outside in darkness. He couldn’t see the damned Dire Wolf anymore…had the torch gone out? As Maynard backed away from the gate in consideration, Allira and Calphas arrived as well. Maynard nodded to them and briefed them on the situation (type of monster), and Calphas immediately set to work. Using Earth Magic, she called the surrounding dirt and stones to pile up behind the gate. Maynard and Allira watched the gate shake from the impact of the Dire Wolf, yet it still held firm by the time Calphas was done reinforcing it.

“Good job!” Maynard patted Calphas on the back as the younger mage crouched on the ground. “That damned wolf will get all nice and tired, then we can slaughter it along with that red one.” Maynard’s eyes glinted with bloodlust as he said that, imagining the pelts of those two beasts hung up on his home’s wall. As some of the combat ready villagers approached, armed with pitchforks and hoes, the thumping only continued to get louder and faster.

“Damned wolf?! Is there more than one Dire Wolf?!” Maynard cried in shock as the gate began to rattle, dirt, stones and splinters of wood flying off of it with the force of the impacts.

“I’ll check then.” Calphas replied. Grabbing a torch from one of the villagers, she went over to the wall near the gate before crouching. The ground around her seemed to shift, then suddenly a pillar of stone began to rise out of the ground, with her on top. As soon as Calphas reached the height of the wall, the pillar stopped. She peered out over the wall, then threw the torch down to illuminate the area, before panickily shouting. “Th-There’s too ma-”

A bright burst of light flashed and a massive fireball struck Calphas off of her pillar, exploding against her body as she was tossed off, body lighting up in flame and collapsing on the ground. Before Maynard and Allira could even react, another explosion crushed open the gate, sending wood and dirt flying. As villagers screamed, Maynard and Allira were blown to the ground from the impact, looking up to see dozens of wolves rushing through the gaping hole where the gate had previously been. As Maynard staggered to his feet, the last thing he saw was a wolf with a beautiful red pelt appearing to course with magma turning towards him, opening its mouth. The wolf’s throat glowed with brighter intensity, and in a split second, a fireball the size of a cannonball erupted from its mouth, flying straight towards Maynard, striking him and lighting up the world as he lost consciousness.