The sun shone high and bright above her head as Lena looked down on the village below. She was standing on a small grass hill overlooking the valley in which Maryda resided.

Maryda was a small village, with a few fields all around, only counting a dozen houses surrounded by a wooden wall. The wooden construct was barely deserving to be called a wall. Any, half-dedicated man could get past it without much effort. Nonetheless, for the small goblins and wolves roaming the forest around the village, it was an effective defense. Right. Wolves, concentrate Lena.

She turned her back to the view as Devos appeared beside her.

“Are you done staring at that shithole?” he asked with faked annoyance.

“It’s not a shithole!” she replied angrily.

“It smells, it’s ugly and most people are idiots, for me, that’s the definition of a shithole.” He grinned and continued towards the forest behind where Arim, Leila, and her sister Nari were already waiting. She silently followed.

Maryda had only a handful of people with combat experience, and these were mostly old men who drank more than protecting the village. In consequence, the five of them were the only people fighting and hunting outside the relatively safe village. They weren’t “adventurers” as Arim liked to call them, not really, but in case of any threat lurking around Maryda, it was up to them to get rid of it.

Nari was the youngest of their group, and the small dagger in her hands looked way too big for her small figure. As the group's “assassin” she hid in the back during most of the fights, but Lena knew not to underestimate the little girl. Her fierce-looking eyes warned everyone of her will to fight. Combined with her short red hair she looked more dangerous than her sister.

Leila was an older version of Nari, long red hair and a tall athletic body made a beautiful young woman of her. Her warm brown eyes were in pair with her friendly character, making a sharp contrast to her younger sister.

Being the only person in their group, and the entire village who had naturally high mana provided her with the title of “Archmage of Maryda”. She couldn't cast meteors or summon giant spirits but small barriers and a few flashes here and there were better than nothing. It also made her a magic-addicted know-all that loved bragging about all the shiny lights she could make. But that may be Lena’s personal opinion.

Devos was their tracker and a good one at that. He was also quite charming with his short black hair and overly good-looking smile, and his bow skills weren’t bad either.

“Come on, we have to find these wolves before sundown, I don’t wanna walk through the forest when it’s dark.” Arim said.

“Is our great Leader afraid of the Dark?” She asked amused mused.

“Don’t worry, I will protect you.” She said with a serious tone, putting a hand on his shoulder. He shrugged it off. “How can a powerful warrior like me be afraid of the Dark.” Arim muttered unconvincingly.

Arim was tall, taller than most in Maryda a least. His shining blue eyes were in strong contrast to his general dark brown skin and hair, making him quite attractive. His protective but shy character made the rest. To be honest she was head over heels for him.

Lena and he were both equipped with a simple short sword and a lot of learning by doing in how to wield them. They weren’t the strongest fighters but it wasn’t the first time they were out in the wild hunting wolves or bears that got too close to the village.

Some people would ask why a bunch of kids without proper martial training or equipment entered a forest to track down a pack of bloodthirsty wolves? Well, they are multiple reasons for that.

First of all, for the adventure, the thrill of combat, for the money gained from slain beasts, but also for the people of Maryda who couldn’t or were too afraid of doing it themselves. Most people in Maryda were farmers and had neither the time nor the will to put themselves into unnecessary danger.

The second reason was less pleasant but not less real.

In a small village like Maryda, far away from any major city or empire, orphans like Lena and her friends had no future. They had no valuable talents that could be of use in a bigger city or the money to get there.

Maryda was poor, apart from becoming a farmer and dying from diseases and starvation, or slowly withering away from old age without anything to look back on, it had nothing to offer.

Here in this forgotten piece of land, quick death in an attempt to protect their hometown was better than a slow death after a meaningless life.

Lena knew that it was foolish but for more than two years she and Arim, followed by the others hunted and protected their hometown from everything that came too close. Until now they had always survived: they had been wounded a few times, yes, but never too seriously. They had survived. Together they had successfully found a new purpose.

When she looked up at Arim she couldn’t do anything but smile at him. His determined eyes and joyful smile were everything she needed in her life. And if sh…

“What are you two love birds waiting for? Let’s go hunt some wolves.” Leila said.

Stepping away from each other Lena concentrated on the task ahead of them.

Under the brilliant afternoon sun, Lena and her friends marched deeper into the forest.

They had walked for several hours without encountering anything. Normally it wouldn’t bother them, the area around Maryda had practically no monsters. Wild beats like bears or aggressive V´Boarse were rare too. But the old Edgard had told them that he had seen a pack of wolves, and now it was their mission to exterminate them before they could endanger the villagers.

So there should at least be wolves. But they didn’t encounter anything. Granted, the forest was big and they weren’t expert wolf hunters but they should at least see some other living animals. The fact that they hadn´t encountered any animal larger than a bird was strange.

“Are you sure we’re on the right track?” Nari asked with a bored expression.

“You know that wolves are those big furry dogs?"

“Yes, they can’t be far away now.” Devos replied irritated.

“We have already found their tracks, the only reason why we haven’t encountered them yet is because of your small baby legs.” he said angrily.

“Now shut up.”

They continued through the forest for some time, entering deeper and deeper, until Devos tensed up. He pointed in front of them.

“Up ahead.” he simply said and knocked an arrow on the string of his bow. The rest of us prepared our weapons and got into our fighting formation.

Arim and her at the front, both wielding our simple swords, Devos and Leila on the sides, bows, and magic ready. Nari was the last, guarding our back and warning us of any surprises from behind. Together they were building an effective formation against any attack, with enough space between them to fight comfortably but close enough to help each other if necessary.

Together they moved silently towards a small cave entrance in front of them. None of them spoke a word, watching the entrance for potential wolves jumping out. It wasn’t their first wolf hunt after all. But nothing came.

They waited a few moments, but after a few minutes without movement, they decided to enter the supposed lair. Walking deeper and deeper into the cave. As the light from outside faded, Leila used one of her spells, guiding light. A small light appeared and shone in the palm of her hand, illuminating the roughly shaped stone walls of the cave. Devos and Arim hastily made themselves two small torches.

After a while, the narrow cave corridor widened into a large circular room. Leila’s magical light illuminated a large cavern of around 30 meters with two small cracks in the back leading further into the earth.

But what caught Lena´s eyes wasn’t the room itself but the corpses littering the floor, bloodied grey fur covering large dog-like beasts. Some of them showed deep cuts, others completely crushed with shining white bones sticking out of whatever remained of their bodies. Lena had already seen dead wolves, she had already killed wolves herself, but never was it such a display of gore and violence.

“What happened to them?” Nari asked, her voice slightly shaking.

“They were killed.” Devos replied, suppressing his own concern.

“But what killed them? There were over a dozen of them and wolves are not easily killed, if they attacked us all together, it would have been hard, even for us.” Leila’s voice sounded unsure.

“Maybe we should find that out?” she said. Unsure if they really should.

“Lena’s right, we have to find out what killed them and kill it.” Arim said with a determined voice, his face showing no fear and ready for everything that might attack them.

“We have to make sure that whatever killed these wolves doesn’t become a threat to the village.”

They took a moment to gather themselves before they stepped deeper into the cave and through one of the larger cracks in the cavern wall.

They continued through dark stone tunnels, following a trail of dried blood. She wasn’t sure if it was the best idea to continue through the cave and search for an enemy that had completely massacred a pack of wolves. Whatever killed these wolves must be strong, maybe even stronger than a bear?

But she continued nonetheless, ignoring the fear in the back of her mind. The Adrenaline, the thrill of the fight, and the exploration of unknown places pushed her deeper into the tunnels. After all, this was the reason they were all here, to flee life in the village. Even if the enemy was too much for them to kill, they were confident enough to flee.

She gripped her sword harder with both hands and continued through the cave.

It wasn’t long when they came to another cavern. This one even larger than the first, Leila's light magic not managing to illuminate it entirely. This time the floor was littered with bones and a single wolf corpse. Between the bones, she could see rusty swords, broken arrows, dented shields, and a multitude of other old equipment. Some of the grey bones were already covered in green moss.

Devos and Arim’s torches send fiery reflections onto the scenery. They all knew what this was. A Lair.

Before she could adapt to the view, she heard a crunching noise in front of them. She signed to Arim beside her, and he nodded. They both advanced towards the noise, swords at the ready. Devos and the others stayed near the entrance, ready to support or retreat.

They walked towards the center of the room, trying to avoid the bone piles on the floor.

The crunching noise stopped as the flickering light of Arim´s torch illuminated the area before them, revealing a creature made of nightmares.

It had eight thin limbs, each of them ending in a skeletal hand, its body covered by green skin that stretched unnaturally over the body below. On top of it was the skull of a beast with large horns currently eating a pile of bones. As the light of Arim’s torch illuminated it, the creature raised its head and two pitch-black holes turned towards them.

A voice in her head screamed at her to run away, to turn around and run as fast as she could, but she couldn’t. She stared in fear as the creature in front of her stood up, bending its long body like rubber in order to stand on four of his eight limbs. Now over three meters tall, the creature stared down at them. Her hands trembled as she stared back.

It didn’t attack, it just stared at them. The only sound she could hear was her racing heart and the fear-filled breath of her companion. Beside her, Arim took a small step back trying to get a distance between him and the monster. His foot landed on a bone.

The loud crack of the broken bone filled the silent cave and the creature moved.

It leaped forward slamming two of his thin limbs into Arim’s side, crushing bones and organs alike and throwing him away in the dark, his torch dropped where he had stood a moment ago.

Now rapidly turning towards her, the creature lowered itself back on his eight limbs, looking like a five-meter-long skeletal spider. She managed to dodge the first attack through pure instinct, blocking the second with her sword.

Lena heard her bones break as she was flung backward but kept holding onto her sword. Fuck. She grited her teeth, trying to ignore the pain and the fear. She tried to predict the next attack when a scream disrupted her thoughts. Devos!

She leaped towards the right, dodging another limb, and ran past the massive creature.

An explosion lit up the cave and showed her companions at the entrance and two more Bone creatures attacking them, one blocking the exit.

Nari was kneeling beside an unmoving Devos. Her face was covered in blood.

One of the monsters towering above them, Leila was desperately trying to protect her two defenseless friends with a feeble mana barrier, and disrupting the creature's attacks with small fire spells.

Lena could see that one of them was holding a large sword in one of his skeletal hands. It stood on four of his limbs and slammed the giant weapon repeatedly into Leila's protective barrier. The barrier flickered with each attack.

I have to do something.

Lena ran, faster and faster, aware of the creature behind her, unrelentingly chasing its prey. Reaching the monster at the exit still focused on her friends she turned right. The creature that chased her didn’t have enough time to react. It impacted the second creature with an ear-shattering sound of breaking and bending bones.

She didn’t wait to watch if the creatures got back on their feet. She was about to attack the last creature that had blocked the entrance as the barrier shattered.

“LEILA!” her scream filled the air as the creature struck again.

Her friend couldn't react in time as the creature struck down at her with its giant sword.

Lena watched as her friend fell apart with a wet noise followed by a cry. Nari stood before the creature with only a small dagger in her hands. Her face was covered in tears and blood, defying the monster that had just killed her sister.

The creature slowly lifted his now bloodied sword and aimed it at the small girl with the even smaller dagger.

Lena gripped her sword tighter ignoring the pain and swung it into the monster's side. Her sword hit, but the impact sent her flying backward.

Her attack did absolutely nothing to the creature, her sword had only bounced back without leaving a scratch on its green skin. But it didn’t matter as the creature turned to face her, leaving the small girl alone.

Lena knew that she couldn't beat it, and if it had been her objective to kill it she would probably be desperate and continue to assault the creature with useless sword strikes. But it wasn’t. All she wanted was to distract it, as the creature towered in front of her it didn’t block the entrance anymore.

“Take Nari and get out of here!” her voice was rough but clear.

From the shadows came Arim, his left arm hung crushed and useless by his side as he ran with heavy breathing towards Nari. Ignoring the two still disabled creatures thrashing on the floor. He picked up the crying girl and ran past his dead friends towards the exit.

When he reached it he turned around.

“I won’t leave you behind.” his voice shaking.

“I can still run away, but you're too wounded and too slow. Take Nari and get out, I distract it and follow in a minute.” She said with a reassuring smile.

The creature leaped forward with a wide swing of his sword. She didn't dodge in time.

Arim watched as his friend was hit by the large weapon. The sword left a deep cut on Lena’s stomach. She went to her knees. He was about charge the creature when he heard her voice.

“Don’t look back Arim, take Nari and leave, I’m right behind you.” Her voice was soft and her smile showed no regret.

They both knew that she was lying. He turned around, took Nari by the hand, and run towards the exit. The sound of a sword hitting flesh almost made him turn around. He didn’t stop running as tears streamed down his face.

Lena had been with him his entire life, always defending him, always by his side. Images of a laughing girl with green eyes and dark hair appeared in his mind, her smile had always been the most important thing in his life. Now he would never see it again.

They passed the small room with the dead wolves. The sound of their running footsteps and Nari’s sobs were the only noise. No pursuers.

He had been unconscious for just a few seconds after being hit by the first creature and a sharp bone had sliced up one of his legs. But after waking up he had stumbled toward the others. He had seen Devos deformed skull and Leila's vertically cleaved body. He had been too late to save them. And Lena…

He had been unable to save her, while he was useless she had fought back. Without her, Nari would be dead as well. He pressed the girl's hand even tighter.

When they exited the cave and the night greeted them, Arim fell to his knees and started crying. The small child beside him had already lost all her tears, stripped of the last bit of family she had. Now only standing there looking down at him with bloodshot eyes.

After a few moments, maybe hours, he got up, Nari still holding his hand.

“…” She said nothing.

Her face expressed nothing. Her eyes had lost every emotion. He got up. The pain from his arm and his broken ribs only a numb feeling in the back of his head.

They had to continue, he had to make sure Nari survived no matter what. Together they slowly walked in the direction of Maryda. Without a word and without letting go of each other's hand.

She looked at Arim pulling Nari with him, through the exit. As his footsteps faded in the dark, Lena looked up to the creature towering above her kneeling form. The dark abyssal eyes of the undead looked down on her, emotionless.

The creature trusted his sword at her. But Lena didn’t even try to dodge this time.

The sword impacted her right under her heart and pierced her entirely. As the sword was pulled back her vision blurred and she fell on her back.

Lena could hear her heart pumping, slower and slower while watching the dark cave ceiling above her. She was dying. Here, in an unknown cave filled with corpses and bones, she was about to die.

Panic spread through her body. She tried to move, to flee but her body didn’t budge, only pain responding. Tears were running down her face as she realized that this was it. She would not make it out of this alive. At least Arim and Nari are saved.

She smiled at that thought as she was overwhelmed by darkness.

The world around her was made of swirling darkness, darker and denser than the abyss itself. She fell through it, the dark void flowing around her like water. Thoughts twirled uncontrollably through her mind. Blurry images and colors thrown together into unrecognizable mush.

Suddenly, nothing more, she wasn’t falling anymore, just floating in pure darkness.

Lena couldn't think anymore. She only knew two things, she was Dead and it was cold.