the night nightmare
the night nightmare
Ten years had passed since little Glasia listened to her mother's stories in the misty village, now she had become a full 18-year-old woman. Like everything, adulthood had come with its own problems.
Glasia was an abnormally beautiful girl, so much so that her beauty seemed completely unnatural, the delicate features of her face and figure seemed to have been sculpted by some artisan, the delicate shine in her straight black hair was almost hypnotic that, together with her amazing amethyst-toned eyes was capable of stealing the breath of anyone who saw her.
From day one it was clear that his abnormally good looks would only bring him trouble. After all, she had heard numerous stories of beautiful girls being kidnapped and sold to feudal lords, so she decided to wear a mask after seeing the reactions of the people who saw it when she arrived in the city. The mask in question was a white mask in the shape of a fox.
Unlike her mother and grandmother, she left the village and decided to follow in her father's footsteps before her, which is why she became an adventurer. Glasia was a skilled adventurer and despite the fact that she occupied the lower ranks of the hierarchy along with her party she was still a very competent mage.
Their group was called "Silver Shield", sadly not a particularly outstanding group despite their many accomplished feats. It was simply inevitable that they weren't as well known as a group of D-rank adventurers.
Their ranking wasn't very high, just above E rank and F rank. They were basically nothing memorable, but they weren't beginners either.
She and her group resided in one of the main cities of the human kingdom, a picturesque city called Amurg. Actually, Amurg was not a particularly large place, but all cities with a church, a guard post, and an adventurer's guild were considered as cities. Otherwise, one could see colonial-style wooden houses and one or two stone estates belonging to noble families.
In the center of the city, the church was easily visible as it was the largest building by far and right in front of it was the adventurers' guild that also functioned as a tavern. That was where Glasia was sitting at a table with her two classmates. group, Osmar and Selina.
—Uhm… I wonder what mission we should take —Glacia mentioned thoughtfully as she held a jug full of water and rested her cheek on the table in boredom —There aren't that many D-rank missions on the board and the ones that are are quite far away…
"Isn't this a good opportunity for you to return to your village momentarily?" —Suggested Osmar as he dropped his mug of beer heavily on the table —You've been with us for two years now and in all that time you haven't returned home once, right? Unlike Selina and me, I understand that you still have a family.
Osmar was a man with an impressive physique and 188 centimeters tall endorsing his surly demeanor. He wore heavy armor characteristic of someone used to taking a lot of damage in battle, his hair was short with a golden hue and his eyes were blue.
On the other hand, Selina was also wearing a mask that only covered her mouth and a light clothing focused on mobility, a few chains decorated her body that were slightly visible through the light chain mail that protected her chest. For the rest, her hair was dark brown and her eyes were green.
Glasia, on her side, wore her characteristic fox mask and a rather baggy gray tunic, which was designed more to hide her body than to protect her, so she looked somewhat funny wearing clothes that were too big for her.
—Yes, but it would take me a week to get there, besides it's not like my mother was very happy with my decision to become an adventurer and leave the village, you know?
"So you just want to avoid arguing with her, huh.
"That's right," Glasia replied before beginning to playfully run her finger around the edge of her glass.
"If you still have family you should go visit them instead of being a capricious child," Selina said disgustedly not hiding her annoyance one bit.
"Come on, don't be like that Selina. Each person has their own circumstances," Osmar mentioned to smooth the conversation. After all, that little argument was somehow his fault.
"As you say." Selina seemed to lose interest and began to see the place.
"So, should we review the requests on the board again?" Osmar asked her companions.
"That seems like a good suggestion, it's not like we have anything better to do." After saying those words, Glasia got up from her seat and went to the board, while her companions did the same.
After a few steps the three figures lined up in front of the request board and began looking for something not too far from the city.
"Look, it seems that there is a Behemoth outside that must be hunted to keep the property of one of the city's nobles safe." Osmar found an advertisement that caught his attention.
—Come on, that's an A-rank mission for three groups, we would die if we participated.
"We could join two rank A groups and thus increase our rank and chances of success.
"I don't think so, those guys would never accept it." Also, you can't break Guild regulations. We can only accept missions one rank above our classification at our own risk — Selina gave an outright negative to Osmar's suggestion —Uhm… —then it seemed that something caught her attention —A group of bandits has been seen in the vicinity of the Valley of the moon… isn't it where your family lives? Besides, it seems that there is another request to subdue a Wendigo in that same area... Isn't it a good opportunity to do a mission and see if your family is okay?
—It is decided, we will take the mission from the bandits —Osmar practically decided it unilaterally.
"Won't they ask my opinion?" Glasia mentioned somewhat annoyed.
—No, I want to know the place where you grew up —answered Osmar —Besides. There are rumors that there are some ruins out there and we could find something interesting in that place.
—Don't bother, Osmar, there's nothing in those ruins.
"I forgot you grew up there. Anyway, anyway, I want to know that place.
"Oh, as you like. However, I forbid them to go to my house.
"Come on, don't be so petty, Glasia.
"Shut up Osman!"
In any case, the target had been selected and in Glasia's heart there was discomfort rather than concern. After all, she hadn't been back to her house for two years and it wasn't like the place was that far away.
In the world of adventurers, a week's travel was even reasonable, the problem is that since Glasia had fought with her mother, she didn't know how to look at her face, especially when her mother gave her several gold coins before she left. so that I could live.
It was only after arriving in the city that Glasia discovered that the 40 gold coins her mother had given her were actually very valuable as she realized that a group of D rank adventurers could only gather that amount after two years of hard work. job.
She felt some shame as she realized that without the money her mother had given her, she probably wouldn't have been able to get by on her own.
They joined one of the trading carts for a ride. This was not an uncommon practice, as merchants were always happy to have protection practically free, and giving adventurers some space in their wagons and some food was a small price for the security the latter provided.
The cart looked like a rather large wooden wagon that with the power of four horses pulled the large amount of goods that used to be transported by merchants who were regularly accompanied by several groups of adventurers who went in a similar direction to fulfill their assigned missions.
It was basically an unwritten agreement between both parties to fulfill their respective purposes. Of course this arrangement had loopholes and there had been various incidents, for example, bandits pretending to be adventurers and the like. However, it was still worth the risk and so that system continued to hold.
So Glasia and her group got on the car in which they would spend a week before reaching their destination.
"Now that I think about it, what should we do if we run into the Wendigo?" asked a thoughtful Glasia.
—I don't know, those creatures carry a powerful curse and if they hurt you they can turn you into one of them too… I guess if we don't have a choice we'll face it, but our abilities aren't adequate for something like that. For that reason we will prevent that from happening as much as possible.
"That sounds like a good plan to follow," Selina agreed.
-It's fine I understand it. Avoiding the Wendigo and hunting down the bandits, I got it.
Glasia prepared her restless heart and then like some spell, the inactivity during the trip made her sleepy and she took one of the many naps she would take during the trip.
For the rest, the trip was uneventful until they reached the vicinity of the valley of the moon. Unfortunately, the merchant was not going to that place, so it was in a place relatively close to the misty town where they said goodbye to the trading car and prepared for an eight-hour walk to their destination.
So the day went by while they talked about all sorts of unimportant topics and that was the case until the night began to lower its sweet mantle over the earth and finally something that they had not noticed because of the daylight was finally visible.
From the villa where Glasia's mother lived, a large number of flames were visible, which could only mean bad news.
—G-Glasia… —Osmar said doubtfully, seeing that characteristic light in the distance —Correct me if I'm wrong, but… Is this time for a festival in the misty village?
-No, why are you asking? —Glasia asked something surprised.
—Look —Osmar pointed in the direction of the light —That's fire…
-That?! It just can't be! Mother! Glasia yelled that before desperately running towards the spot.
His heart was beating more and more completely filled with bad thoughts. All Glasia could do while she ran was pray to the gods that her mother was alright.