I woke up early the next day. Yes, some idiot part of my brain decided it was a good idea to get up before sunrise and not let me go back to sleep again. What kind of cruel monster do you have to be to do to that?

I forced myself to make my way towards the guild once again. Of course, I took my time. Who would be up anyways? Right, no one, because nobody in their right mind would get up at this time voluntarily.

More asleep than awake, I walked through the empty streets of Lough Salainn. The light slowly growing brighter as sunrise drew closer. Right as the first beams of sunlight pierced the little patches of mist in the air, the black wood of the hunter’s guild came into view.

Suddenly a metal clashing sound broke the silence that had been roaming over the town. Immediately followed by another clash and an angry scream. I followed the noise around the guild building into a surprisingly big backyard. Not that it was much more than a field of dust and sand. Though, it seemed to be the perfect battlefield for two maniacs, who were fighting this early in the morning.

A guy with way too much muscle and a dainty little girl with blood-red hair swung their swords at each other. This had to be the most unfair fight imaginable. How could a little girl beat a grown ass man in a sword fight?

My eyes nearly fell out of my skull, when I realised that said girl swung around her bastard sword like it was weightless. Suddenly, it was the man I pitied. He had a pretty hard time just defending against the heavy blows of the young woman.

I couldn't help but stare at the amazing display right in front of me. How could these two move that fast? Would I ever be able to do that? Like a whirlwind of fire and steel, she pushed him back, step by step. Soon enough he was pressed against the wall of the guild's building. He had nowhere to go. It was over.

The girl slowly closed in on her prey. Her cat-like ears twitching around excitedly. A menacing smirk and swishing tail gave her the aura of a bully, who just took a kid's sweets.

That changed something in her opponent. From one moment to another, he was the one to deliver heavy blows in quick succession. The girl forced to back up step by step. He was fast, but for some reason the girl was still smiling. It took only seconds for her back to hit the fence on the other side off the field. She couldn’t retreat any further and the guys blows became faster, stronger.

Shocked by the sudden turn of the match, I was kind of worried for the girl. Couldn’t I help her in any way? I know I could cheer her on! Who wouldn’t get motivated when being cheered on? Maybe we’ll even become friends.

So, I did what every, not quite sane person like me would have done. I took all I had and put it into my voice.

»YOU CAN DO IIIIIT!!« Wow, I didn’t know I could scream that loud.

The girl flinched. A moment of opportunity the bulky man immediately took advantage of. In a split second the girl's giant sword flew out of her hand and over the fence. For a moment, she just stood there, not being able to comprehend her sudden defeat.

Was that my fault? Oh no, no, no.

Suddenly, she was directly in front of me.

»What's your problem?« Her voice was quivering with rage.

»H-How… So fast…« Mine with fear and embarrassment. »I-I… I-I-I d-didn't mean to…«

»Huh?« Disbelief flashed in her icy blue eyes. »You didn't mean to?«

I shook my head.

»Yeah! I'm definitely gonna believe you...« Anger was dripping from every word.

»Oh? Taking it out on younger kids now, Ciara?« The other guy came over, a conceited grin plastered on his face.

»I wouldn't have lost if it wasn't for her.«

»Getting delusional as well?« His grin only grew broader. Please stop pouring more oil into that fire.

Ciara hissed and jumped at him. He barely had time to react before his face was covered in bloody scratches.

»What’s wrong with you, you savage kitty cat.«

The moment these words left his mouth, I instinctively knew, he did something gravely wrong. Even the socially impaired me could tell, that those following seconds of silence were just the calm before the storm.

Before anyone reacted, the man ran, a figurative tail between his legs.

»You better stay away from me.«

I backed away when I saw her eyes again. I’d thought she was furious before, but this look. I could only freeze when facing her look now. Pure, ferocious hatred was burning there. I blinked and she was gone, chasing after the guy.

I fell on my knees, staring dejectedly at the dust cloud, the girl, Ciara, had left.

That wasn’t how it was supposed to go. I wanted to help her win, not make her lose. Why did I try to cheer her on? I never did something like that anyway, so why now? If I had just shut my mouth, she wouldn’t hate me now, at least. Nobody ever hated me for being silent. Sure, nobody really liked me either, but wasn’t not being liked still better than being hated?

Now, now, stop crying about that, Maeve. I slapped my cheeks and stood back up. I was here to sell my hunting spoils from yesterday, not to look for friends, or whining about failing my first try at making one. There are other fish in the sea, or something like that…

I entered the guild, the sun now fully up in the sky behind me and immediately backed out of it. How were there so many people? Did the whole city decide to just randomly show up at the guild first thing in the morning? I couldn’t just walk through that crowd, could I? No, no, there were way too many. Last time there were quite a few people in there, drinking and eating, but this was different. Was there even a bit of air left in there? There had to, they were still being loud after all. I was already hearing all their voices mixing, creating an overwhelming sea of dissonant gibberish.

At the same time, I really wanted to find an inn with a bath, but I needed money for that. Through the crowd then? But… but there were so many people there…

I looked down myself, leaning at the door of the hunter’s guild was a small red-haired girl, barefoot, full of dust, grime and dried blood. A really pathetic picture, wasn’t it? Especially now, because it should be so easy to just walk in there, sell my goods and ask for a decent inn.

So why did my legs feel like they were made of jelly? Why was I shaking? Why was I at the verge of tears? It was just a few small steps and a little bit of noise. Everybody should be able to just walk in there…

I threw another glance into the hall. I saw a bit of red hair with cat ears coming in my direction and I ran. A whole shitload of people and the angry girl, who basically promised to kill me next time she saw me? No, no, a thousand times no!

»Wait!! « A voice called behind me.

Not that I listened to it. It was just another noise that pushed my feet forward. Away!

I was already half outside the city gates, when I finally stopped running. The forest seemed to call me. Actually, it was calling me, with a loud rumbling noise. An awfully close one.

That was my stomach, wasn’t it? I sighed. How did I even get the idea of the forest calling out to me? I wasn’t that stupid normally.

I popped a little magic stone in my mouth. Enjoying the feeling of the stone dissolving in my mouth like cotton candy. I just wished, it would taste like it as well, not just bland sweet. I headed out to find a few goblins or volt hares to hunt. A fresh soul was much more filling than that little magic pebble.

Also hunting and fighting would distract me from the fact that I just ran from a building full of people and a little girl. It sounded even worse, when I put it that way, didn’t it? Ah yes, just ignore my social problems, like always… I was really good at that.

So that was what I did, hunting disgusting, green pests and those stupid bunnies with surprisingly sharp teeth and a shocking personality. Eating my fill on their souls until I felt bloated. Which should’ve been impossible. Souls were incorporeal and without any mass, so, how the hell did they fill my stomach?

I sat down leaning onto the mossy bark of a tree. I was fully expecting my belly to stick out half a metre with how I felt, but nothing. It was as flat and smooth as ever. Though I did feel all tingly and stuff while I watched the skin move up and down with every breath.

After a while of just enjoying the sounds of the forest around me, the tension slowly left my body and mind. Then I started giggling. I couldn’t help it. A room full of people made me anxious and run away, while a forest full of dangerous monsters, ready to kill me on sight, calmed me down like nothing else did. What else was there than to laugh about the obvious irony?

Taking my mind off these things I focused on something else. My fencing training to be exact. I had slacked a bit since I’d reached the city and I didn’t want that to be my death someday. My in-head teacher had me go through my usual training cycle a bit longer than usual. Did they punish me for skipping my training?

Afterwards I was tired, but nowhere near exhausted as after the first few sessions. I guess that meant I was building up some stamina. All that running from monsters and people had to be good for something at least.

Speaking or rather thinking of monsters, didn’t the forest seem to get darker? There wasn’t any evil spirit or demon of the dark approaching, was there? No, probably not Maeve… You’ve been out here for quite a while. It had to be the night approaching slowly. I’d better make my back to Lough Salainn. Shouldn’t be hard… it was just somewhere over… over… errrr… I looked around, trying to remember where I came from.

“Oh no…” I got myself lost.

NoisySilence

Sooo... It's been a while. Sorry about that...

Writing was hard... still kind of is, but it's gettin easier again. I still don't know why my brain just decided to go blank everytime I pulled up Word and tried to continue.

Don't know if I'll be able to get back to something at least similar to regular update schedule... but I'll try to keep updating again.

Again, I'm sorry for taking so long, but I haven't abandoned this story and I'll give my best to keep that weird stuff in my head working.