April 9th, 1798 21:38

The sun has set in the streets of Magnus, the lake fishermen are coming back from the inn to their homes feeling tipsy from the drinks and discussing that lately, their catch is becoming slimmer and slimmer, the wooden bridge creaks as the fishermen are walking drunk all over the place, they are talking loudly and counting how many coins they have left in their pouches after the drinking all evening, it's getting darker and darker and many of the women have already shut the windows and locked the doors, the fishermen are walking house by house to drop each one to their place, the same thing repeats all the time, the man they drop off is getting yelled at by his wife and the rest are laughing at him, there are only three men left in the crowd and they are crossing the central road of the village, a brick road connecting the northern part of the village to the harbor, the lights on the lanterns flicker in the subtle wind and some of them have gone completely out.

As they are walking to the other side of the road they hear a man coming from the north, it's the guard, he is running towards the fishermen and screaming, just behind is a number of horrifying creatures, they call them Shades, person-sized with black fur and sharp teeth and claws, big yellow eyes that carve fear inside those who look at them, the fishermen despite being drunk catch on quite quickly and they also start running, just above them everyone is shuting the windows and locking their doors, they start banging on the doors for someone to let them in but there is no response, the bell from the church at the harbor is ringing rapidly signaling the imminent danger, the guard and the fishermen are running from the horde of the creatures but they are not fast enough to outrun them, all three of the fishermen have fallen to the hands of these monsters, the guard can hear the screams behind him but he just can't turn his head, he hears the rumbling of the footsteps closer and closer, he can almost feel them catching up to him, his trying to run to the church, that would be his only hope, behind him he hears the screams of other unlucky villagers, men, women and children screaming for help as the creatures are feasting on them, the guard has almost reached the church, the footsteps seem to have stopped for a second as he is almost ready to reach for the churche's gate, he takes one look behind him just to see the monstrous yellow eyes right next to his face, the last thing he saw before his throat is sliced and his blood covers the stairway to the church.

April 10th, 1798 6:22

The village mayor, Lazar, he is a chubby man with sings of baldness and a big red mustache, he is wearing fine clothes and a brown top hat, he is talking to the priest of the town, an old man with the usual priest attire.

"What do we have, father?"

Said Lazar, the mayor of Magnus, he was holding a piece of paper handed to him by one of his men right as he went to the mayor's office this morning.

"Four women, three children, and six men, two of them were the guards from the north gate, one of them was beheaded right at the watch, the other, well you can see what happened to the other one, may the Lord take care of them now."

The priest responded with last night casualties, some people have already opened their windows to look outside and some even more courageous have already gone to their work, the fishermen all have a gloom look on their faces as some of their colleagues have lost their lives last night, the mayor takes a deep breath and says,

"That makes over a hundred deaths in one month, this isn't something we can deal with, father, the Lord doesn't seem to care what happens to us, has anyone else shown up?"

The mayor asked the priest with his hand on the back of his head.

"No, since the corpse of the last hunter showed up in terrible state there hasn't been anyone willing to help us, even the mightiest hunters don't want to risk coming to Magnus, not even for the reward you promised."

There have been many monster hunters willing to help the village since this mess started one year ago, the Shades have been attacking the village from the forest to the north, a number of men came by Magnus from all over the country to deal with the source of the monsters, each one with his own accomplishments and weaponry, none of them has ever returned to claim the reward as none of them survived and came back, the situation is clear to the villagers as the only thing they can do is lock their homes, stay as quiet as possible and pray that none of these creatures hears them and bursts through their doors, the only place that hasn't been marked with scratches and claw marks is the church.

As the mayor exhales deeply out of desperation, someone touches him on the shoulder from behind, it's a young woman with blonde hair and a nice outfit, she is wearing leather pants and a corset with frills, her blonde curly hair wave slightly by the wind and the mayor turns his head to greet her,

"Natasha? What are you doing here? This is no place for a young girl like you."

Natasha was the mayor's niece, he has adopted her since her parents were one of the first people to die at the hands of the monsters, she was quite a rebellious child since she was old enough to walk, now she is in her early 20s and she was more beautiful than any woman in the whole village.

"Uncle, let me go to the forest!"

She said with determination in her eyes.

"No! I don't want to hear any of this again, Natasha, not even some of the most powerful demon hunters could best the horrors in the forest, you will not go there and you will not speak of this again! Don't make me tie you down."

Natasha has asked her uncle many times to go to the forest to fight the Shades and every time Lazar has declined, he doesn't want to lose his niece as she is the only family he has left since the whole issue began, Natasha has been practicing hand to hand combat for years long before the Shades started to attack the village and even did some research in mystical arts when the attacks began, it wasn't common for people to wield magic but even some self-proclaimed spellcasters have come to Magnus to claim the hefty reward that Lazar has put up.

The priest excused himself and went back to the church. Natasha, after losing the argument with her uncle returned home to practice even more, Lazar was turning a blind eye to the fact that his niece was training in combat and not looking for a man as he instructed her, she claimed that all men are a bunch of cowards and drunks, she hasn't took interest in any of the suitors that Lazar brought, some of them were rich merchants from other places and he wanted her to escape the village, if he could he would transport everyone outside the village to save them but that was not possible, people couldn't just abandon their homes and run away, in a time where diseases kill people in the millions and starvation is also a huge issue he can't ask them to leave their homes, Magnus was far away from any major city and held all of the fishing rights to Magnus Lake, the village was formed around the lake in order to take advantage of the fishing, the lake was rich with fish up to the point of not having enough hooks for all the fish, everyone started to make a small fortune, that was the case one year ago, when the Shade attacks began, at the same time the lake also seemed to have abandoned them, the fishing village known as Magnus has turned to the cursed village of Magnus, everyone in their right minds would stay clear of a place like that.

April 10th, 1798 11:28

Lazar is sitting at his desk in the mayor's office, the finances of the village have taken the low road as he isn't able to compensate to the families of the victims, he takes a look out the window only to see Natasha swinging a rapier and shooting with a flintlock pistol at a straw target she had made, despite Lazar having a small fortune, his niece's actions have reduced the amount of money he had, she has bought many pistols, rifles swords and ammo with her allowance, Lazar has stopped funding his nieces plans in order to drive her away from that way of thinking but that didn't have any effect, Natasha just started making her own blades and ammo from metals she found and even started trading with others in order to acquire more and more gear, she made crossbows and arrows and practiced with them, some villagers even referred to her as the strongest fighter in the village, the guards were mesmerized every time she went to their training ground and beat them in combat, her talent with the blade and fire was basically unmatched in Magnus.

Lazar had given up trying to change his niece's mind but he wouldn't ever let her go to the forest, he placed both hands at his forehead and prayed for a solution, that's when he heard a knock on his door, it was one of his men asking for permission to enter,

"Mr. Barnes? There is someone who wants to see you."

The man is pushed inside the office and two people walk in, one is a young skinny man with a pale complexion and dark hair wearing a light armor and a brown fabric coat, the other man is tall, around in his early 30s with long blonde hair and a light beard, he is wearing red leather armor and a bordo trenchcoat with multiple pouches on the inside, he had a sword in a sheath on his belt and multiple knives in a strap on his chest.

"Are you Lazar Barnes?"

Said the tall man who just pushed the mayor's assistant aside.

"Yes, and who are you two rude gentlemen?"

Lazar replied. At this point, the young one of the pair revealed their identities.

"Nice to meet you, I am Rory Grant and this mean-looking guy is Victor Hill, we have come to rid you of the monsters."

Lazar looked impressed by their confidence, especially this guy named Victor. Despite looking suspicious he decided to take them up to the offer.

"So you are monster hunters, huh? Not many people want to come to Magnus, if you are willing to help, then you only have to go to the forest up north and for every one of the Shades you kill, I will reward you with 20 gold coins."

Gold coins held a good value, to put it into perspective, a hundred copper coins made a silver coin and a hundred of those, one gold coin, a loaf of bread would cost around 5 copper coins, the reward was very generous but the task was difficult to match, so long there hasn't been anyone to bring back the corpse of one of these Shades to receive the reward.

"Very well, we are off to the forest then, come on Rory."

Said the tall man.

"Right behind you, Victor, as always."

As they opened the door to leave, Natasha was standing in their way.

"What would you say in a sparring match, gentlemen?"

Lazar saw Natasha challenging the two monster hunters in a match and had to respond.

"What are you doing here, Natasha? Please, ignore my niece's rumbles, may the Lord bless you on your hunt."

Natasha replied.

"Uncle! You gave these two the task to go to the forest, if I beat them you have to acknowledge me and let me go."

"Enough of this, Natasha! Go to your room!"

Natasha would have nothing of it, she ignored Lazar and addressed the monster hunters again.

"So? What do you say?"

Rory replied to Natasha explaining,

"I am not doing any fighting ms...."

"Price, Natasha Price."

"I am not doing any fighting ms. Price, if Victor doesn't have a problem, then..."

Victor then said,

"What a pain. When did I become a nanny, Rory?"

Natasha felt angry at this moment and took a swing at Victor with her sword, right as she tried to slash him, Victor blocked her hand, grabbed it and took the sword from her hand, he placed the blade at her throat and that ended the little fight, the fact that he didn't even change his facial expression gave away how skillful this man, Victor really is, he countered Natasha's strike like it was nothing without even trying.

"Out of my way, child, I have monsters to kill."

Said Victor, he dropped the sword at the ground, Natasha fell to her knees, humiliated by the difference in strength and skill, Lazar was so impressed by the whole scene that he ignored the fact that someone just held a blade at his niece's throat, he felt a bit relieved that Natasha was taught a lesson because if she had managed to beat Victor then there would be no denying her wishes to go, Victor and Rory left the room and walked towards the exit of the mayor's house.

Rory then said to Victor,

"She is really cute, isn't she, Victor?"

Victor was a man of few words.

"Yes, she is pretty I guess."

"Just pretty? Did you take a good look at her? She is stunning, I would love to walk around a woman like that instead of a big, muscular, mean, battle-hardened dude like you."

"You are stuck with me, Rory, I need your skills and you need mine."

Rory blushed and replied.

"Yeah, but I would like to have a female this good looking at my side."

Victor and Rory have left the building, Natasha was so shocked by her defeat that she couldn't move a muscle, she stood there thinking how he was able to react so fast, his moves were swift and accurate, there is no way he could have disarmed her so easily, Natasha was really known in Magnus for her swordsmanship and Victor just crumbled her entire ego.

Only one thing is for sure, Victor and Rory have skills, the question is if they can pull an end to Magnus' suffering. At first, Lazar just thought that these two were just going to die like the rest, after seeing his niece losing so easily though, he has a slight hope in Victor's strength.