Corlin

As the night began to take place, the air was getting colder and colder.

While walking back home, I could faintly hear some people saying that today's bonfire had to be huge and how they would cover themselves under thick blankets. 

Because of the harsh conditions at night, all of the villagers would stay at home, each of them would exchange some of their food or items for wood, and when the cold got too great, each family would lit fire to warm themselves.

But I knew there were some exceptions.

As I was entering my home, I saw uncle Gair, accompanied by Verona, Juhir and Namu, walking around the village.

They were the ones who didn't sleep during the night, they weren't on the bed when the cold was unbearable and would only walk back home when the sun showed itself once again.

They were the fighters.

Fighters would keep the village safe during the night, but safe from what?

I had no answer for this.

They slept until late and usually started their routine only after noon, but all knew the reason behind that.

I have always wondered what could possibly take the strongest people in the village to work during the whole night, but no one had ever given me an answer about this and I’ve never been allowed outside at night. All windows from the village were covered by a wooden board, so everything that could pass through were some eventual cries and screams.

I would usually sleep early, for my sister would make sure of that.

But today was different. A few hours into the night and I could see how Aisla was struggling to keep her eyes opened, until she finally couldn't resist any longer and fell asleep on her straw bed, right beside my own bed.

No way I was gonna let this opportunity slide!

I slowly walked over to our kitchen and soon found a knife.

'Ha! They think I don't know where they put the sharp things' I giggled to myself, heading towards the entrance door.

Step by step, I started to walk even more cautiously than I had before, but the sound of the wooden floor accompanied me all the way through. I tried my best to slowly distribute my weight on the stepping foot, but this old floor just wasn't helping.

crrr

Once I finally reached the door, I brought the knife close to the door lock and with its tip inside the lock, I began to spin it around.

It can't be that hard to open such an old door like this one...

And I wasn't wrong. Soon enough I heard the same click sound that the door makes when mother locks it at night.

As soon as I left home, I could see no one else. Only the wooden houses.

'Things really are different at night..' I whispered in a low voice.

But I wasted no more time and began to walk again, paying careful attention to my surroundings.

I knew where the fighters used to work during the night, so I hid myself behind a house that wasn't far from there and started to spy.

They were all at the entrance path, the only place where you could see light at a time like this.

The first few minutes were... quite boring.

Nothing really happened besides some small talk amongst the fighters, something which I couldn't hear.

The fighters were stationed in front of the village, just standing there talking.

And that's all that happened in a long time, I was already yawing and ready to give up from this but then something moved in the forest.

"W-wh-what is thaaat thing?" I had to say in a loud voice. Almost instantly I remembered my position.

'Ufff... they didn't notice it'

Two bizarre creatures were leaving the cover of the forest and heading towards the village. They looked like the wolves that I had once seen, but instead of walking on their paws, they were... standing on two feet?

They had open wounds on their faces and their bodies too had wounds with rotten flesh and exposed bones.

Before I could thoroughly inspect the creatures' body, they started to run towards the fighters.

Looking back at the fighters, I could see an instant change of atmosphere.

The men and the woman were tightly holding their blades, such that even I spying from a distance could tell they were nervous.

The only one who leaped forward and welcomed those monsters was Gair.

'Uncle Gair is so cool' I thought to myself.

After Gair hit the first monster with a strong slash, the others seemed to gain some confidence and started to move as well.

Even after being hit by someone as strong as Gair, the creature didn’t die. It got up and rushed at him, showing its teeth. It was welcomed by Namu with a spear on its chest that went all the way through his back.

It kept moving, slashing irrationally, barely slowing. 

Namu spined and threw the monster on the floor. Despite the heavy hit, it got up again, screaming.

Gair tried a hit on its head, but the creature slapped at the sword and then again at Gair’s head. He dodge it, and the next, but the third one got blood from him. He kept fighting and slashing back, and often would cut it, with Namu using every opportunity he got to pierce it with his spear again.

But even after all the damage that they were inflicting, the creature never stopped attacking

Finally, Gair scored a clean cut through its neck, that sent its head flying to the floor

Meanwhile, aunt Verona and her husband were fighting the second monster. While uncle Juhir was holding the creature with his hammer, aunt Verona was pulling back her bow's string, just to land a strong arrow right on the monster's eye.

Her arrow was apparently not enough, for in the next moment that I glanced their way, a big claw was on top of uncle Juhir's shoulder.

The bloody scene that I watched was followed by a miserable scream of pain.

I hadn't realized by that time that such a horrible sound could come out of my sweet uncle's voice. 

I could see he was barely holding up at this point, but as soon as another claw started to come his way, a second arrow came, this time hitting the monster's head, just below its ears.

And then came a third, and a fourth. Only when the fifth arrow hit the creature's body, I was certain it had died.

When everything had ended, the sky was still dark, but I could tell that it wouldn't take long for the first traces of light.

Even though the fighters were victorious, all of them had tired expressions on their faces and new wounds to keep the old ones company.

The fighters then started to drag the bodies to a place that I couldn't really see, it seemed to be somewhere in the village, but another house was blocking my view.

The next moment that the four people appeared in my vision again, they were already going back, walking down the entrance path and heading towards their homes.

Each of them carried heavy expressions. This time they weren't talking anymore, they just walked back home, as another day had ended.