“It was incredible!” One of the knights said to his fellow warriors. “Kazu swung his greatsword and cleaved the ogre in half! A level 20 beast! I’d never seen anything like it!”

As they traded combat stories, Ayami tried to focus on her drawing. She was currently painting the image of a young woman looking out a window. Still, their voices were raucous enough to pierce her concentration.

“It lifted its arms too high; the opening was obvious.” Her father explained nonchalantly. At that, Ayami smiled. Never one to just take a compliment, huh, dad? “When you’re truly a skilled fighter, victory is never accidental. It’s calculated. If a true warrior watches two combatants fight, they should be able to know who will win after the first couple of moves.”

I'm sure the fact that it was level 20 and you're level 25 had nothing to do with it, dad. She smirked.

As they chatted away, Ayami continued her drawing. Four hours into the journey, the figure was starting to come together. The hair trailing her back, the sun pouring through the window, her silhouette.

And then, someone interrupted her.

“Excuse me, may I?” A young boyish voice asked.

“Huh?” She looked up and found that one of the younger men on the caravan had walked to her seat. “Sure.” She didn’t think too much of it.

The man had short brown hair and a charming smile. He wore a brown coat and a white shirt underneath that made him seem like some sort of merchant. Indeed, his confidence also befits one. He had to be around twenty or nineteen-years-old. Ayami turned her eyes back to the drawing.

“I’ve never been out of Jade, it feels incredible.” The boy said and Ayami smirked.

“Yeah, at first.” She replied.

“Does it only go downhill from here?” He asked.

“Not entirely, but you get used to it. It’s all kind of the same really.” Ayami told him.

“Oh, so you travel a lot?” Ayami looked over at him. He looked unassuming enough.

“Yes, or, well, I used to.”

“What happened? If you don’t mind me asking.”

“It’s no problem.” She waved his concerns off. “I settled down.”

“Oh, alright. By the way, I’m Aro. It’s nice to meet such a lovely person.”

“Ayami.” She replied as he extended his hand, and she shook it gently.

Goodness, I hope he’s not hitting on me. She resisted the urge to chuckle. Magia bless him.

“So, what places have you been to?”

“Pearl, Onyx, a few villages here and there.”

“They say those places are polar opposites.”

“They’re right,” Ayami replied. “When I first went to Pearl, I couldn’t really believe the sheer amount of colors I was seeing. Then, when I went to Onyx, it was like the world turned monochrome.”

“Ah, what I’d do to get a glimpse of Pearl. I’ve heard so many wonderful things about it.”

“It’s alright.”

“You’re a hard woman to impress, huh?” He asked. Ayami shook her head light-heartedly.

Then, the caravan began to slow down.

Huh? What’s going on? Ayami looked up. She saw her father getting up and walking out of the vehicle.

As Ayami focused a little harder, she narrowed her eyes and spotted what looked like an old man wearing a red shirt. Only, as she stood up and got a slightly closer look, she saw that it wasn’t a red shirt. It was a white one.

It only looked red because it was covered in blood.

Oh my goodness, what happened? Ayami covered her mouth as she listened to her father as he approached him.

“Sir? Do you need assistance?” Her father’s deep voice reached her ears.

“T-Terrible things…” The bloodied man mumbled.

She was almost where the door was, and a knight held a hand out.

“You should stay inside, just in case this is some sort of trap.” A knight said. “Old bandit strategy, getting someone out like this and luring people into danger.”

“Uh, yes. I’ll stay here.” She replied.

“Is he okay!?” Another citizen on the caravan asked.

“By Magia’s grace, he looks badly hurt!” Another one stated.

“Calm down, calm down. Our leader is investigating.” Another knight told them.

Could this be some sort of a bandit attack, like he said?

Then, the man started talking once again as his eyes, wide and panicked, looked up at Ayami’s father.

“Monstrous beings… The stuff of nightmares…”

“What kind of creature was it? Can you tell me?” Her father asked.

Instead, the man pointed down the road, where the caravan was headed.

“That… That way.”

“Hm… Alright. Come in. We’ll heal you up.”

The old man was taken into the caravan. The older knight told the others to keep their eyes peeled, which, given what one of the younger warriors had said, probably had a few different reasons to merit it. Regardless, they took the man’s shirt off and found that indeed, he had several deep slashes covering his torso. The strange part though, was that his wounds were seared closed, a residual violet glow left where he’d been hurt.

One of the knights knew some minor healing magic and placed his hands over the old man’s wounds, but when he tried to cast his spell, the man almost shrieked.

“It hurts!” He said.

“W-What?” The young knight pulled his hands away. The old man was hyperventilating.

“A curse,” Kazu said.

To confirm it, Kazu told him to bring his status up for all to see and he did.

Level 1

MP: 10/10

STATUS EFFECTS:

[Cursed]

Healing magic will instead worsen the recipient’s condition.

“Yes, as I thought. We can’t do much for him. Not until we can get him to a priest.” He told them.

“So, will we be heading back?” A knight asked Kazu.

“We could continue onward; the nearest village is a shorter distance away."

“Will he hold out until we get there?” Ayami asked and her father glanced over at her.

“Maybe.” He shrugged. “The problem though is that whatever did this to him is ahead, in the village’s direction. We could run into them.”

“Sounds scary.” A citizen took deep breaths.

"If you ask me, that sounds like all the more reason to head there," a knight replied.

“Aye, we should be able to beat them,” Kazu said. “What do you all say? You’re the travelers. It’s up to you.” He asked the other people sitting in the caravan. None of them said anything at first. Each one either looked to someone else or looked down at the ground.

Ayami was the first to speak.

“We’re already halfway.” She shrugged. “If it would take the same time to come back, and you’re sure you can beat them, we may as well just get to where we’re going.”

“Sounds good to me.” The boy she’d been talking to, Aro, said.

“Sure.” The other passengers each agreed.

“Alright.” Her father nodded. “Let’s move.”

Just like that, with the man being placed on a seat at the front where the knights could watch over him, the trip continued. However, there was a thick sense of tension in the air now. On Ayami’s side of things, the cause was simple. She’d never seen a real monster before.

Aro nudged her with his elbow.

“This got kind of interesting, didn’t it?”

“Frightening is more like it.”

“Ah, don’t worry.” He grinned. “Whatever happens, the knights will protect us. And, hey, if they fail to do so, I’ll stand between you and whatever comes. Feel free to use me as a shield.”

Hey, I might actually take you up on that. She thought as she nodded.

As the caravan moved down the road, the man’s condition began to worsen. His pained moans circled through the vehicle and did nothing to ease Ayami’s worries. There was nothing the knights could do though to assist him. Healing magic was useless, and although every caravan carried a basic first aid kit, the wounds had already been closed. What was causing the man so much distress was not a result of anything that could be fixed at this moment.

He perished not too long after that. There was nothing they could do about it.

Sometime later, the sky darkened as grey clouds moved in. Whatever conversations had been happening slowly died down. A few of the travelers were nervously excited, Ayami though was just anxious. How much longer till we get there? She asked herself.

Then, the caravan stopped for a second time. Every traveler inside perked up, wanting to see what had caused this. Ayami watched as her father rose out of his seat and leaned out the door, wanting to see who or what was there.

Ayami did the same and as she poked her head out, she saw what looked like a young man standing in the middle of the road. His head low, she couldn’t see his expression.

“Sir?” Her father called out. “Need any help?”

He walked out of the caravan and moved up to him. With every step, Ayami grew increasingly worried. Something about this didn’t feel right.

Her father drew closer and suddenly, he unsheathed his blade.

Wait, what? Ayami gasped. Why is he…? But then, as she squinted, she saw them. Two black horns on his head.

Quickly, she focused on the thing's stats.

Level ?

MP: ?

From where she was, she couldn’t see the thing’s level either. But, clearly, something had caused her father to take up a combative stance. And then, the man raised his head. Sharp, slit-pupil violet eyes looked back at Kazu as he stared the man, no, the monster down.

But a fair fight wasn’t something that creature was interested in. Kazu was about to say something when the monster charged at him. The other knights quickly unsheathed their own blades and walked out of the vehicle, but they were too late.

Ayami watched in horror as that thing thrust its hand into her father’s torso as if tearing through paper.

Throughout her life, many things had been constant. The sun would rise, the twin moons of the night would come to replace it. Another constant though had been that her father could not lose a battle. He was renowned for his ability to fight and dismantle opponents. Not that she’d ever seen him do it, but that was all she ever heard.

So, now, seeing him on his knees, a hole in his body with a monster looking down at him with a savage grin, it couldn’t have been real. Her body froze up as shouts of men and women rang out. Tears streamed down her face as she watched his body slump over.

But that was only the beginning. As the horses began to panic as well in the presence of whatever had just come, the area around the caravan darkened. It was like the day had sped up several hours and nighttime was just beginning to set in.

Ayami felt like she couldn’t move. She could hear Aro saying something next to her, but his words simply wouldn’t register in her mind. The only thing that managed to tear her attention away from her father’s lifeless body was a sharp screech she heard coming from her right side.

Then, she saw them. The caravan had been surrounded. There were several of those things, just like the one that killed her father, all standing in a circle around the vehicle.

Level: ?

MP: ?

None of their stats showed up. Each one began to cackle and grin sadistically as one of them, the biggest-looking one, raised an arm. Then, silence. And, as the creature lowered their arm and aimed at the caravan, chaos.

The monsters charged. The knights spread out, trying to fight them off but it was all too easy for these beasts to defeat them. Carnage. Pure carnage. Death and mayhem spread until one monster burst into the vehicle. They didn’t just attack the citizens, but the horses as well.

And then, as Ayami watched the other travelers get snatched away, her instincts finally kicked in. Through the hole in the vehicle, she scurried out. Aro was behind her, but as soon as she got out, when he tried to do the same, one of those monsters grabbed him. She didn’t see what happened. All she heard was a sickening crunch and Aro’s voice faded.

Ayami did not look back. Instead, keeping herself low, she tried to run out through the crowd of citizens, knights, and monsters.

But, one of those creatures stopped her. It grabbed her by the knee and Ayami lost her balance and fell.

She looked back and her eyes nearly bulged out of their sockets when she saw what she could only describe as a nightmarish face smiling down at her. Am I going to die here? She thought. And, for a few brief moments, it seemed that was the case, as the monster raised its hand and the image of a similar limb piercing her father’s body came back to her mind.

But instead, it spread her legs and Ayami’s heart froze.

What happened next was something she wouldn’t wish on her worst enemy. There, in the darkness, as men and women died in this field of dirt and wood, the monster inserted itself inside of her, and Ayami’s air was stolen. She felt like she couldn’t breathe as the creature ruined her body.

…

What felt like an eternity had passed, and by now, none of the knights or travelers were still alive. Ayami was fairly certain she was the only one. Her eyes were fixed on the darkened sky as the creature continued, seemingly never getting tired. However, a small glint of luck made itself known.

The other monsters were busy fighting over one of the dead horses. The creature that was on top of her noticed this and decided it wanted this as well. So, with no delicacy, it detracted itself from between her legs and ran up to the other ones, joining their fight.

Ayami couldn’t move for the longest time. She was still in disbelief, still waiting to wake up from what was obviously just a bad dream. But it never happened. Instead, as it sunk in that this was, in fact, very real, she made her final attempt. She turned around and, without even standing up so as to not attract attention, began crawling away.

How long she did that for, she didn’t know. What she did know was that eventually, the sounds died out and the darkness began to fade. With her clothing and her body torn, dirty, and broken, she finally got up and ran.

At first, she ran as far as her legs could take her, however, as some sense slowly returned to her, she ran back along the road.

It was a long and terrible journey back to Jade, but eventually, she made it.

Sadly, her story was not a unique one. As the demons had grown in power, so too did their boldness. With every year that passed after this, more attacks happened. Where Ayami's tale stood out though, was that when she returned to her home city, she was not alone.