A Village Suspended in Time

IN THE END… Well, at least I was used to having my hopes dashed.

Set promised to be a bridge between the villagers and me, but the

village elder outright rejected me. Not long after our awkward reunion, I

found myself surrounded by the inhabitants of the whole village. Murder

burned in their eyes. They looked at me the way other people looked at

monsters. Set positioned himself between me and the mob, pleading for us

to make peace.

"Everyone, please listen! Fate is here to fight the monsters for us!

He's not here for anything else!"

The villagers hesitated at Set's words, but they kept their hoes and

axes gripped tight, and their eyes remained threatening. Deep in the crowd,

I heard muttering that I was back for my revenge, now that the village was

at its lowest. Others suspected that I was only here to steal the reward

money.

"For starters," someone cried from the back of the crowd, "isn't this

useless deadbeat's skill just hunger? How is hunger going to slay monsters?

He's nothing but a bald-faced liar!"

On and on the villagers went, hurling insult after insult. Our meeting

had started because a poor village was terrified of monsters, but quickly

ended because their hearts were sullied by another feeling entirely. It

seemed their attitudes had only worsened since I fled.

The villagers had somehow convinced themselves that Set could hire

a seasoned adventurer with their measly ten silver. Instead of returning with

their savior, however, Set had fetched them the very piece of trash they'd

kicked out five short years ago.

In truth, no adventurer-for-hire would travel to a mountain village

this remote for less than ten gold, a princely sum equal to one thousand

silver coins, but these villagers were too hysterical to listen to reason. They

were furious, and not just at me, but at Set for his late return.

"You took all that time, and this is all you have to show for it?! All

we asked was that you hire an adventurer. Can't you even do that right?!"

"Do you really have what it takes to be the next village elder, Set?"

"We don't even know when the monsters will return! You march right

on back to Tetra this instant, and bring us a real adventurer! Do you have

any idea what terror we have to live with?! It's like you don't have a single

thought in your empty head!"

They lowered their weapons, but to the last man, every villager in the

mob groaned, whined, and complained. The village elder waved them

silent, then gave a long apology to all of them. He wasn't on his own son's

side either.

"I'm so terribly, terribly sorry, my people. I was careless. Foolish.

Perhaps it was still too early to send my son out on a task of such great

importance. Pathetic, really. I'm disappointed myself. But fear not.

Tomorrow morning, I will head straight to Tetra myself, and I will seek out

their most powerful adventurer."

Someone piped up from the back of the grumbling crowd. "But what

if the monsters strike again while you're gone, Elder? We heard their

horrible shrieking from the forest yesterday. We may be attacked before

your return!"

"Hm… I see, I see. Yes, you raise a valid point. The very worst could

occur… Well, at least Set did retrieve a man fit to serve as bait," the village

elder said, and he pointed at me. "Perhaps he's not as useless as we thought!

Yes, we'll buy ourselves time by throwing him to the monsters."

Wait a second, I thought. You want to use me as bait? For monsters?

All I had wanted to do was kill some monsters and visit my parents'

graves. I could had never anticipated this fiasco. I was beyond disbelief—I

was exasperated.

Greed, however, roared with laughter. "You hear that, Fate? To these

guys, you're just monster bait." The black sword burst into another round

of raucous laughter, which he followed with a chant: "Fate, monster bait!

Fate, monster bait! Fate, monster bait!"

"Shut up!" I snarled as I grasped the black sword's hilt. I didn't care

how I looked. I needed to intimidate the villagers. Send them a message.

Shut them all up—even for a second.

"Wait," said Set, bowing. "Please, just bear this for a little longer,

Fate. I beg of you."

I was beyond sick of this whole show—the insults and pleading and

crowd-pleasing and mocking laughter, all of it rang in my head, leaving me

with a splitting headache. These people wouldn't even let me hunt monsters

in peace. Why had I ever thought they could change?

"So, we're agreed, yes?" asked the village elder. "Set, you're on

guard duty. Make sure that deadweight doesn't try to escape. If monsters

attack while I'm away, he's our sacrifice. And don't you dare let him flee,

you hear me? I won't take responsibility for whatever happens next if you

do."

The village elder nodded, satisfied with his own cleverness, and

trudged back to his house. The villagers looked similarly pleased with the

plan and trickled into their homes one by one. To them, I was no different

than the Fate I'd been the day I left. I was still the starving loser they kicked

around to keep in his place, a dirty stray. I meant so little to them that they

were all too happy to band together and make me their victim.

In this place, I was utterly, entirely alone. I had no relatives who

would curse the villagers when I died. By coming back here, I'd been little

more than a moth drawn to the flame. I had invited my own demise.

The village returned to the cold silence of the moonless night. Only

Set and I still stood, alone, in total darkness.

"This isn't what we discussed, Set. It's a bit of a twist to go so

quickly from monster exterminator to monster food, isn't it?" I couldn't

keep the bitterness from my voice.

"I'm sorry, Fate. I'm so, so sorry." Set buried his face in his hands. A

gust of wind whipped strands of his thinning hair.

I considered visiting my parents' graves and leaving the village to

fend for itself. Regardless of how I felt, however, my Gluttony was

beginning to hunger. I didn't think it would forgive me for simply visiting

the graves and leaving. I felt that familiar, creeping itch in my right eye. A

tired sigh escaped my lips. No, I needed to hunt, and soon.

"For the time being, please stay with me," said Set. "After all, I'm

supposed to make sure you can't run away. And your old house, well…"

We both knew what had happened to my childhood home; the

villagers burned it to the ground when they drove me out. Perhaps the frame

remained, but in the unlikely event that it did, that charred husk could no

longer offer shelter.

"Fine," I said. "Do you live by yourself?"

"I have a daughter. My wife, she…she was eaten by the monsters in

the forest."

Ah. Perhaps that explained Set's terror in Tetra. He would bear any

torment to protect his daughter. In that small way, he reminded me of my

father.

"Follow me," Set said. "My house is just a little ways from here."

"Fine."

Set led me to a small, ordinary house. It was half the size of his

father's home, but big enough for a family to share. Set pulled the door

open.

A girl of about five years old leapt into his arms with a happy shout.

"Papa! You're home! I was on my best behavior while you were away!"

"Oh…that's wonderful. What a good girl you've been."

The cute little girl's face creased as she noticed something off about

her father. She pointed at his head. "You're losing more hair, Papa! Was

your trip okay?"

"Oh, this? It'll grow back soon enough. I'm…I'm sure of it."

"Mm, okay!" Having sated her interest in that subject, the girl turned

the force of her curiosity on me. "Papa, who's this?"

"Uh…" Set stammered.

According to the girl's grandfather, I was monster chow. But how

would Set explain that to his daughter? I watched him carefully. At last, I

learned my caution was misplaced.

"This is Fate! He's really strong, and he's here to fight the monsters

for us!"

"Really?!" The girl stared up at me in awe. A moment later, she burst

into tears.

Perhaps the conversation had reminded her of her late mother's

gruesome death. Set took the time to calm her, and then we sat down for

dinner. I watched the two of them chatter back and forth while we ate. Set's

daughter told him that she had eaten at the village elder's house while he

was away. She seemed terrified of her grandparents, confessing that it was

scary sharing their table.

"I'm so sorry," said Set. He sounded sincere. "From now on, we'll

always eat together."

The little girl cheered. "I love you, Papa!"

I glanced sideways at Set. "You've changed."

I'd finally managed to put my thoughts into words. As a boy, Set had

just been one more village lowlife willing to pelt me with rocks. Yet,

despite the people surrounding him, he had grown into a genuine, caring

father.

My words sent an apologetic expression across Set's features. "I was

a child, Fate. My father…I mean, the elder, I just… I always believed

everything he said. I thought everything he said was the absolute truth.

But…I think when I had my daughter, she helped me realize I could think

for myself."

Set was starting on a path toward goodness, but it wouldn't mean

anything if the village held him back. Perhaps this village needed rebirth—

to be remade from nothing. A fresh start.

Dinner was vegetable soup with the bitter foam skimmed off the top,

boiled into a thin grain porridge. It was nothing special, and I couldn't have

said it was delicious, even if I wanted to be polite. However, it was also a

dish my father had often cooked. The simple taste brought back a flood of

memories.

"You still eat this, huh?" I asked.

"It's been like this since you left. We're as poor now as we were then.

The village has always been in a bad way, you know? Both the food and…

the people."

The villagers' souls had crumbled under the weight of their

impoverishment. It made me glad to have left. While I sipped at my bowl of

vegetable mush, Set told me everything he knew about the monsters

tormenting the village.

It was strange to realize that I was only now hearing the full details of

my task. I should have asked long before we left Tetra. I should have asked

about the conditions in the village, too. But somewhere in my heart, I

suspected that I had needed to see everything for myself rather than merely

hearing it from Set. Would I even have believed him?

Past grudges, old memories, my father… Perhaps I'd been looking

for an excuse to come back. Now that I could finally relax and think, my

true feelings had the space to make themselves known. As an adventurer,

this kind of nostalgia was pitiful. Pathetic. I was certain Greed, at my side,

was already laughing at me.

Set described the monsters as winged creatures who navigated the

skies with ease. Flight alone made them dangerous. I hadn't fought

anything winged before. They were about the size of goblins, but they had

wicked talons, and horns that sprouted from their heads.

"How many of these creatures are there?" I asked.

"I don't know," Set said. "But, from what I've heard, there's

definitely more than one."

I put my hand on the hilt of the black sword. "What do you think,

Greed?"

"Sounds to me like gargoyles. They're a crafty sort. In the beginning,

they attack in fits and starts, scoping out their prey. They pick off the weak,

observe, and wait. Then, when the time comes, they strike in an enormous

swarm."

"Pretty nasty," I muttered. "How do we know when they've decided

it's time? When do they usually swarm?"

"They like the night. Gargoyles love the shroud of a pitch-black

evening, when clouds smother the moon."

"Wait a second…"

It was overcast tonight. We hadn't once seen the moon on the walk to

the village. And one villager said they'd heard something earlier the

previous day. Monsters—more than one—shrieking from the nearby forest.

Are you kidding me?

To anyone in my proximity, my Telepathic conversations with Greed

made me look as if I was talking to myself. Set and his daughter frowned at

me in awkward confusion, as though they weren't sure whether they should

answer my mumbling. Please don't look at me like that, I thought. It's

distracting. This is important.

My worst fears were realized before my hunch had a chance to

congeal. From outside Set's house, human voices began to scream, both in

rage and pure panic. We were in trouble. Greed, however, seemed to think it

was hilarious.

"Well, how about it, Fate?" he said. "Ready to assuage those nasty

monsters as a sweet little human sacrifice? Fate, monster bait! Fate,

monster bait! Fate, monster bait!"

I brushed aside Greed's mockery. "Don't be stupid. We're going

outside."