Avice’s first mission was to defeat a trio of monsters that had been ravaging the forest. She was told that monsters were usually a beneficial element to the forests around the world. They acted as a sort of ‘balancing’ force. Once the natural fauna proliferated to a certain degree, monsters would come sauntering in, hungering for their next meals. And once the wildlife had been ‘tamed’, the Spirits would either take care of the beasts themselves, or make it obvious to any of the Races that there was a monster infestation and have them exterminate the pests. That was, indeed, usually the case.

However, this particular group of monsters was simply too powerful for them to handle. They, according to the Spirit, were indulging themselves too much, and they needed to be taken care of as soon as possible. And, apparently, from what the Spirit in charge had told her, the other weaker Spirits were too terrified to even go near the things. Because of that, she had no clear gauge on what she was to expect, but that was how she always lived her life - never knowing what might come around the corner and just accepting whatever does.

She walked alongside a gently-flowing creek, keeping her eye out for any clues that would lead her straight to the monsters. She had initially asked the Spirits if they had any idea where they might be, but because of how scared the Spirits were, they had no idea either. “Aren’t you guys, like, in tune with nature and all that?” she had asked them. Seemingly taking offense to her question, they tossed her out of the Forest Clearing and out to start her mission. 

She silently continued onwards, watching small fish and other aquatic creatures swimming along in the water. The sounds of the water flowing by felt oddly familiar to her. She stopped. Avice closed her eyes and slowly breathed in and out. The scents of the forest filled her nose - the fresh, soft dirt beneath her feet, the budding flowers sprouting around the roots of the towering trees, and the small pieces of wood that had been chipped away from the bark… The sounds of the animals whisking by, clambering around the branches above, shifting around the shadows they cast… 

Being in the middle of the forest like this reminded her of home. 

It reminded her of her ‘training’.

Of her father. 

Her memories surfaced to the top of her head. 

Her father, fed up with how much Avice was infuriating him from her lack of progress during her daily training, drove her out to the nearby mountains. He had blindfolded her and led her towards the deepest part of the forest. He told her that she needed to survive in the woods for three days, and if she couldn’t make it… “You’re as good as dead.” The words still stuck with her. And Avice couldn’t have been older than ten years old at the time. Because of her father’s “disciplining”, she was forced to do what she needed. 

She remembered forcing herself to eat whatever she could find. She used random sticks she found and beat any animal she could find to death and cooked them. She remembered having to find a cave to use for shelter, and when she couldn’t find one before nightfall, she was forced to sleep without cover. She remembered how much she stunk from not being able to bathe or wash herself off. She was worried that the only source of water she had, a small creek in the middle of the forest, would be dirtied if she used it for cleaning herself. Suffice to say, she had gotten out of the forest. 

For the following weeks she had been called names like “Monkey-girl”, and “Queen of the Rats” by her classmates. 

She didn’t leave her room for quite a while. 

Avice frowned as she sat down on the bed of the creek. “Dammit,” she whispered. Just remembering it filled her with anger. She gripped the sword and looked down at it. For years she had used and been beaten by fragile, splintering, wooden ones. And now, here she was, a real weapon in her hands. “Did they know…?” Avice asked. Ever since she could remember, she had long questioned why she was being trained in the first place. Modern society on Earth was, for the most part, peaceful. There wasn’t a need to use older weapons such as swords and bows in that day and age. But here she was, stuck in a place where those seemed to be the weapons of the era. 

She gazed at the sword and thought about her mission.

“If friggin’ Spirits are scared of these things, then how the hell am I gonna beat them?” she asked. She tightened her grip on the hilt. “They’re using me,” she said. Her thoughts drifted, and her heart began to race. “Using me just like everyone else. For once can I do something by myself,  for myself? I swear,” she grumbled. The hilt she was grabbing on to grew hotter, and her hands were covered in sweat. “No place is safe. I can’t belong here. I can’t belong there. I can’t belong anywhere. Am I gonna have to do this for the rest of my damn life?!” she yelled as she stood up.  

The blade glowed bright purple. Her heart pounded violently, and a dark feeling swirled around her gut. Her muscles tensed, and her breathing grew ragged. 

“What the hell is happening to me?” she demanded to no one in particular. Then she finally noticed it. “OUCH!” The leather hilt was burning bright red, and the strange markings on the blade shone brilliantly. Smoke rose from her hands and she immediately let go of the sword. 

Avice dropped to the ground and dug her hands into the creek. The burning sensation quickly disappeared as the coolness of the creak washed over them. Her breath calmed. She embraced the chilling water flowing through her hands and heaved a sigh of relief. After a couple of minutes, she took her hands out and inspected them. 

“What was that…?” She looked back down at the water below and her heart nearly stopped. 

Avice shoved her face closer to the water. Her eyes darted all over the place, trying to make sense of what she’d just seen. And when she found it, her eyes widened. Her reflection in the water was supposed to be that of her normal appearance - brown hair, brown eyes, and tanned skin - but instead of that, she found that parts of her brown hair were stripped of their color, resulting in a brilliantly bright white. She ripped her gaze from the creek and tried to find the spots that had been turned white.

When she’d found them, she hung them in front of her eyes and gasped. “H-Huh?!” She had no idea what had happened. Her hair had been brown for as long as she remembered, and she knew that she didn’t have natural white hair to dye brown. “Am I that stressed out?! I mean, I am, but does that really mean my hair turns this white?!”

That wasn’t the only thing that had caught her attention either. She looked back down at the creek and waited for it to become steady again. When she confirmed her suspicions, she nearly fainted. Instead of her brown eyes, they were now a brilliant shade of violet.

“No way… oh, no…” she gasped as she lifted a finger to her eye. She patted herself down and spun around, frantically scanning the area. “What happened to my contacts? What happened?” her voice was weak and quiet. Now the hair change didn’t bother her in the slightest. In fact, she’d much rather that be what drew people’s attention. She would take anything - anything - over her violet eyes. Anything would do if it meant she could hide her shame. 

Her heart pounded in her throat. Was she going to be forced to shut her eyes whenever she talked with anyone? Especially when she speaks with Dall? She cursed to herself. “When did I lose them? Could it have be-”

Then, all of her hairs stood on end as a powerful roar echoed around her. She dropped down closer to the creak and grabbed on to Dall’s sword. The hell was that? A monster?

“Hey, hurry up and keep it on the ground! You want all of us to get killed?!”

“You keep talking like that to me, then damn right I do.”

“Shut your trap and focus, please!”

Three voices followed after the roar. Avice noticed that the noises were coming from the other side of the creek, so she crossed it quickly and made her way up the bank. It sounded like there was a lot of fighting, so Avice moved with caution. After she got onto the ground, she carefully made her way through the forest.

The sounds were getting closer.

The figures of three people were now just a few feet away from her. She could make out that two of them were male and the other was a woman, and that they wore gray clothes. They had leather armor strapped to their bodies, and each of them was holding a sword. 

Once she got closer to them, one of the men was blown away and was smacked into a tree. “D-Daryl! Oh gods, Liss, we gotta take it down. It’s too feral. I’m sure they’ll understand.”

“That doesn't matter right now! Is he alive, Misha?!” Liss demanded.

“He better be. Otherwise I’ll kill ‘em myself. Look out!” As he yelled that warning, the two of them jumped away from each other. Where they once stood flew a rock twice their weight and size. The rock curved and blasted through a couple of trees. Avice held her breath. 

She was close enough now that she could see what they were fighting, and when she did, she nearly vomitted. 

Standing with two huge chunks of rocks in its paws was an enormous, red rabbit. It’s rabid fangs drooled with yellow saliva. The ground beneath its dripping spit began to smoke. Its incredibly large nose was pitch black. Its legs and arms were swelling with muscles, with bright green veins popping out of its red fur.

However, the thing that surprised her the most was its eyes. One of them appeared to be normal - black and small - but the other drooped down towards its foaming, uneven mouth. And in the middle of its forehead was another, larger red eye. It was circling around the edges of its eyes, never stopping.

It tilted its head back and roared once more. This is the thing that I heard?! She could barely hear herself think as its ferocious belting nearly knocked her off her feet. 

The two she had seen before, Liss and Misha, were now on opposite sides of the monster. Both of them had their hands pressed against their ears, and they struggled to keep their eyes open. “Move to plan B!” Liss called out as soon as it stopped roaring. “If this goes south, then good luck,” she said. 

Avice snapped back to reality. She knew it now. She was sure of it. That was the monster she needed to fight. One of them, at least.

But before she could jump in, she wanted to know what happened to their other companion, Daryl. The way he hit the tree seemed fatal.

As the two continued fighting the rabbit, Avice kept low to the ground, making sure she couldn’t be seen. Yes, they were fighting the rabbit, and as the saying goes, “the enemy of my enemy is a friend”. But Avice never counted on that logic. Because to her, everyone was an enemy. And there was no telling what those two would do if they caught her. 

However, she still felt compassion for the few people that didn’t wrong her. And even if he was a complete stranger, she still wanted to make sure if Daryl was alive. It would weigh on her conscience otherwise. 

She crawled closer to him. He was lying down face-first in the dirt. The first thing she did was check his back, and from the looks of things, it seemed he was fine. There were various scratches here and there, and a couple of splinters embedded themselves into his back, but he wasn’t on the verge of death.

Confirming Daryl’s safety, Avice brought her attention back to the fight. The ground trembled and shook, and Avice grabbed on to a nearby tree. The monster was stamping its over-sized feet frantically, causing the tremors. She wasn’t the only one affected, as Liss had tripped and began to fall forward.

“Watch your left!” Misha yelled.

The monster raised one of its bulky arms, ready to crush Liss with its boulder. Avice needed to make the decision now. Would she keep her ideals to stay out of the way of other people to do the job herself, or jump in and help her before this random stranger dies a gruesome death. In this situation, it was more than clear.

Avice jumped out of cover, swiftly made her way to its legs, and put all of her strength into cutting it with Dall’s sword. As she did so, blood spurted from the cut she made in its leg. It roared in agony and glared at her with its grotesque gaze.

Avice’s heart nearly leapt out of its chest, but she forced herself to keep steady, and she quickly backed away from the beast.

“T-Thank you, stranger!” Liss said as she scrambled to get up.

“You’re not an enemy, are you?” Misha demanded right away, completely ignoring the monster in front of them.

“I’m the one who should be asking that,” Avice said in response. “But I can't worry about that right now. I just want to kill this thing.”

“Okay, then. Ally it is,” Misha said loudly.

The monster turned around, taking note on the three people circling around it. The ground shook at every step it took. “So do you have a plan?” Avice asked. She knew already that they did, but she didn’t want to make herself seem suspicious. She couldn’t let them know that she had been just sitting back and watching for some time. 

“Yeah! So this thing’s a Rabull, right?” Misha said. “Even though it's way, way bigger than normal, we do the usual. We take its arms off. Then its an easy kill, but-” he was interrupted at a boulder flying towards him. The Rabull proceeded to unhinge its mouth and stuck its gigantic arm straight into it. Avice stared wide-eyed as it pulled out another boulder ready to be chucked at them. “Y’see?! We get rid of the arms, it can’t do any of that!” 

“G-Got it,” Avice said. She put both of her hands on Dall’s sword and she nodded. 

“You go for the legs, stranger. Liss and I’ll take care of the arms,” Misha said confidently.

“Move, move! It’s gonna charge soon!” Liss yelled.

Avice sprinted towards the beast. Liss and Misha ran up towards its sides as well, their swords raised to cut at its thick arms. Avice deftly got out of the way of incoming boulder, and kept her eyes on the monster’s legs. This was her job. Go for the legs. Go for the legs. That was all that was in her muddy head. And because she was too focused on it, she failed to notice that the monster was hunching over, ready to bite her head clean off. 

In order to save her, Liss prematurely attacked it and dug her sword deep into its shoulder. The beast reared its head back and bellowed in agony, leading to Avice managing to get a clear cut at its leg. But as it wailed in pain, it took that chance and swung its injured arm straight towards Liss, and she flew backwards. 

Because Avice had cut in the same place she did before, it would’ve been safe to say that the monster wouldn’t be able to use it any time soon. “Liss, you good?!” Misha yelled as he struck the monster with his sword.

“I-I’m fine,” Liss said as she coughed up some blood. 

The monster limped backwards to try to get some distance, but Misha kept the pressure going, and danced around it. He kicked up the dirt and grass, dodged between trees, and slashed at it whenever he got the opportunity. Avice ran backwards towards Liss and knelt down. “How badly are you bleeding?” Avice asked.

“Nothing too bad…” Liss said. “Nothing someone like me should cry about.”

“I can patch you up if you wan-”

“Don’t bother with me and get over there. Misha can’t fight that thing alone,” Liss complained. “Dammit…” Avice bit her lip as she stood. She turned to start running back to join the fight when Liss suddenly yelled, “Wait come back!” Avice turned with a confused look on her face, which immediately turned to panic when she saw that Liss was trying to get up.

“Hey sit down and relax! What’re you doin-”

“Shut up for a second,” Liss snapped. Avice glared at her. The hell? But Avice noticed that Liss’s attention wasn’t on her, but on the sword she carried. “A Magic Sword…” Liss whispered. She looked up and stared into Avice’s eyes. And when she did, she gasped. “Y-You… who the hell are you?”

“Get over here and help me!” Misha yelled at them. No matter how quick he was and no matter how many times he could dodge, he could only do so much with the stamina he had left. “Stop gawking and help!” 

“I’m on my way!” Avice said, tearing her eyes away from Liss. She looked down at Dall’s sword and muttered, “Magic?” It seemed like a normal sword, and indeed, there were strange etchings into its blade, but she figured that was par for the course. She thought little of it until now. “Magic engravings?” She recalled the beautiful violet glow of the sword from earlier, and her eyes widened. It didn’t matter how or why, but for some reason, she felt like she could use the magic in this sword. Taking this to heart, she dashed over to the fighting to support Misha.

The monster’s leg had suddenly repaired itself, and its injured arm was healing unnaturally quickly as well. At this point, all of their effort would’ve amounted to nothing. Misha was noticeably tired, and his movements were slower than before. One wrong move, and he’s out - either unconscious or dead. Avice decided that she needed to do something now.

“C’mon. C’mon magic, let me see you do something!” she yelled. She ran straight towards the monster once more, the sword raised high into the air. It turned its unsightly head towards her and it growled. Most likely identifying her as the most dangerous individual among the three, it sought out to eradicate her and kill her off quickly. So it charged towards her, its rabbit ears swinging from side to side. She could feel its thumping feet in her bones, but she kept her ground.

She ran towards it and cried, “Die!” She swung the sword downward as she got as close as she could get, but instead of the monster dying just like that, she was thrown backwards as its arm smacked her in the stomach.

The monster hopped over to her collapsed figure and unhinged its jaw once more. Avice tiredly looked up and saw a deep, black nothingness before her. The stench of blood, mucus, and dung filled her nose, and the saliva that dripped from its fangs was like poison to her skin. 

I’m going to die, she thought. In another world… without my friends… I’m gonna… 

Avice’s heart sank. But not from the fear of the monster about to devour her. It was from anger. The anger that had constantly been built up inside of her. The people that used her. The people that slandered her. And even herself. Such anger was only quelled because she knew she was going to be fine. Because she knew she would eventually get back at them. But she couldn’t do that if she was going to die here. 

And so, that anger, that hatred that Avice had become well-acquainted with, was bubbling to the surface once more. Her hand was getting hot, and her gaze was getting blurry, but her instincts were telling her that if she didn’t do something now, that was it. 

“I’m not dying today!” Avice screamed with all of her energy. Dall’s sword burned a brilliant and violent violet. In that short moment, it felt like her body was given an energy boost. So she gripped the sword as tightly as she could and shouted, “I won’t let you!” 

She lifted the sword and stabbed it straight through the monster’s mouth. Then, it was as if a switch was flipped on, because as she twisted the sword into the back of its mouth, she whispered, “Flame of the gods of old, incinerate the enemy before me." 

The monster began to smoke, and then it spontaneously caught on fire. It wailed in agony and pain and stomped and stomped away from her. The sword was still stuck in its mouth as it flailed about. What felt like an eternity of unholy and hellish screaming passed as the monster’s reddened body disappeared into ashes, carried off by a soft breeze. 

Avice gasped for air as she lied down on the ground.

“I-I did it…” she muttered. 

It was her first victory. A victory that she had been craving for for years. With that wonderful feeling in her chest, she smiled.