GLYPH MAGYSTER

Everything was quiet in that part of the world.

The forest was sleeping.

The trees were sunbathing.

The fauna was living their life like any other day in the freedom of nature: Killing each other quietly and eating with satisfaction until they got themselves eaten while distracted.

The sky was of a beautifully pinkish blue with only little and fluffy clouds that floated on their own in complete harmony and peace while a flock of pterodactyls like birds flew around searching a creature big enough to be worthy the energy needed to put it down or a group of easy little ones numerous enough to satisfy their hunger.

Everything was as it should have been. Peaceful and bloody.

Then... the sky broke.

A fissure appeared in the sky not too far from the flock and alarming it.

They interrupted their search to regroup in a formation dense enough to help them protect each other… or grab first the corpse of one of their dying kin if it got wounded enough to make it an easy snack.

They studied the strange crack in the sky that appeared without a sound but that gave out a feeling of dread the instant it appeared.

Only a few second later from it’s appearance a black light smashed it’s way through the fissure and a dark column of energy connected the heaven and the earth for the briefest of moments before disappearing leaving a wound in the sky before the hole rapidly mended itself.

But the damage was done.

The wings of the ones unlucky enough to have stared in the hole stopped.

In an instant, more than half of the flock went in a free fall toward the ground leaving the survivors that could not see what killed their brethren bewildered and then terrified when it sunk into them they could be the next to fall.

What remained of the flock dispersed in every direction that wasn’t where the fissure appeared. They ravenous hunger forgotten. Their kin now a free lunch on the ground ignored and avoided in fear to make the same end.

The sky became dead silent. The piece of forest under it became even more so in few moments while everything that didn’t straight out dye, fled without a second thought. Only the trees remained. For the moment at least.

In a few days, all the trees that happened to be under the unusual event would loose their leaf to never again sprout. Because they died that moment but it would be seen only much later in time.

Aside for the ones that got disintegrated.

---

The Disciple: First Step in a Bubble.

In an imprecise point inside a forest. In an unnatural clearing whose occupying treed got burned to ash. Stud a youth.

He had black hair mostly but with two strands of white ones giving it an absurd feeling off youthfulness but with a sprinkle of figurative old demeanor that made no sense at the eyes of those that looked at him. Instead, it would have told to whoever looked at him that he was an immature weird guy that dyed his hair to be noticed and the impression would be all but confirmed once one would notice the white “bathrobe like” tunic he wore with some puffy pants of the same color that could be seen under it’s jacket hem. The coup the grace would be the ballerina’s like shoes he wore. A footwear with non-existent soles made entirely out of cloth that gave the impression to be unable to even remain on on their own and risking of being instead lost with every step made.

In all, the appearance of the youth was somehow elegant and even distinguished… but so strange, so weird and out of place that one could think it wasn’t anything else than an hallucination caused by some strange mushroom one had eaten by mistake. Especially because he stood perfectly still with his arms straight down his waist and the eyes closed. He did not breath.

He was immobile. He seemed dead.

He could have been a statue for what one could know.

After what seemed an eternity and maybe it was.

The youth took a breath in… and stood still for a moment…

Then started chocking.

When finally he stopped coughing his lungs out Disciple Duke was a dirty mess. His white clothes now dirty of ash and dust after all the rolling in the dirt while e couldn’t breath properly.

“Fucough!” he rasped after taking in a little bit of air and coughing it out a moment later in an attempt of cursing.

For some time the only sound present under the trees was more cursing and coughing until his lungs seemed to stop their protest and accept, even if reluctantly, the air of that world.

“Fuck me!” cursed again the youth lifting himself from the ground while still holding his wind pipe even while knowing that it wasn’t of any help, he could not stop himself from the action that any mortal would do when unable to breath correctly. Even when he wasn’t a mortal.

“Goddammit… so that’s how real air felt? It sure is stuffy and scratchy… and corrupted… and smelly!” he ranted before being finally able to stand straight and lower his hand from his throat while he adapted to breath that world’s air.

“Never thought I would miss the non-exacly-air back home.” he whispered to himself with mixed feelings.

To one side he was so happy to be out of there after all that time. On the other… the air here was sickening and disgusting.

“Now I get it why Selisx clean everything with such a pulse… even the air… after having breathed both her non-exacly-air for so long and this one I get why she would.”

When finally he could breath without adverse effect, the youth not a boy but not yet a man, slowly opened his eyes that he had pressed closed until then… and of course got momentarily blinded.

“Ssshhhh… a place with a real sun… how many decade were that I didn’t see one? Or were more like centuries?”

He had no idea for how long he had been in that place with Selisx and his Master. Days and nights weren’t a thing and even less were months and years.

There was only time.

Time to train, time to eat, time to learn, time to practice, time to sleep… time to look at the kidnapped sacrifices struggle, suffer and die… not necessarily in this order.

His training had been a struggle too but he enjoyed it. Not so surprisingly.

By now his eyes, like his lungs, got adapted to the light like he had been under it all his life and Disciple Duke could finally look around himself.

“Wow….” he breathed staring at the pinkish blue sky with child amusement.

“Oh my… it has a pinkish hue! That’s so… awesome!”

“… and the sun! OhMyGlyph! It’s a real sun! Like a real natural and working sun! It’s so… incredible!”

Then he lowered his sight to take in what was around him instead of what was above and a new series of amusement and declaration of obviousness came.

There are real trees, there is real soil, there are bush, grass, insect… dead ones... and yada yada.

Of course he knew the trees around him too were dead. Even when their leaves where still on them all green and juicy. He knew it because he felt it.

Everything for tens of meters around him was dead. Simply, some of the “bodies” had yet to realize it.

“… adverse effects of entering a Dimension Bubble directly on a world surface…” he muttered remembering what his Master teaches him before his “adventure”.

It was a real pity he had yet to reach a level where he could survive somehow in a “Space Area” and reach on his own the surface. One day, his hardworking attitude will guide him there but for now… lives had to be Lost.

“Oh right!” he said remembering another thing he was teached and materialized from nothing a white pouch of cloth as big as his fist.

Disciple Duke focused his attention on the ground with something that went over mere sight.

To an untrained eye, the ground he was standing on would only seem like some dirt someone made a big fire on before snuffing it out and blowing the extinguished embers and ash around, nothing out of the ordinary that green lives would recover the patch in no time.

But to him?

To his perception the soil was contaminated by Void Energies and bacteria coming from outside that dimension.

So Disciple Duke opened the little pouch and started to sprinkle a white dust on the scorched patch and the near soil coming even to throw a bit in the air in certain points where nothing could be seen but he felt were occupied by some microscopic horror, feeling them sizzle and die while the energies in the ground dissipated in harmless worldly energies.

When the pouch was empty for more than half his content the youth felt satisfied of his results into cleaning and disinfecting the place.

If let alone, the Void energies released by the transfer could infect the soil lastingly and attracting even more not metabolized energies from outside and create and instability where everything could be created and corrupted. The same with the little Void Bacteria, most often than not they would die long before the place got corrupted enough to favor their existence but sometimes something remain long enough for it to change… and then it would thrive.

‘Definitely not a good thing for this Dimensional Bubble existence.’ he thought while approving the result of his actions.

For this reason Disciple Duke’s Master had warned him to sterilize the area of everything that could come in with him before doing anything and the Disciple was a conscientious and deserving disciple.

---

A Rat trying to survive: Ellie's Story.

The Adventurer’s\Worker’s guild was crowded that morning too but not so much now that the firsts hours of the day had passed.

Ellie peered timidly through the ajar door checking around to see if the ruckus of the first hours had passed enough for her to walk in somehow securely.

Yet, even once she ascertained that was the case she was still ready to jump out if someone tried to reach out and grab her form.

Being a girl in a place of work for rucked men wasn’t the easiest way of things. In this part of the city and specifically this place, where there wasn’t anything else aside the most crude, dirty and despaired bunch without being classified as a slum district and this guild wasn’t even a real Adventure’s or Hunter’s guild but more for the lower-working manpower one. The reason why on the insignia there was the word adventurer was only a pretty bait to catch the dumb and the dreamers of the lowest echelons hoping to become rich by completing “epic quests” and killing dangerous creatures… instead they ended up doing hard and ungrateful labor at a ridiculously low price and barely scrape by day by day, hoping that with the next one they would find their chance to make a better life for themselves. Something that never happened. She had seen it.

Then why was she there? Why had she joined such a place without hopes?

The reason was.. she had no other choice.

Her father died years before on a “not-so-adventurous” job and the one that took him in for it washed his hands of his death without paying a cyril to the family that lost their cared one and only source of income.

Left alone, her mother got forced to scrape by, but in such a place, scrape by mean only delay the inevitable. Forced by everything, her mother started to go out at night and one morning did not come back. She did not know if she left her to make another family with another man or something happened to her. Only years later she realized what her mother was probably doing to bring food at home. Women, sadly, did not have all that many possibilities of income.

Left alone and barely twelve, Ellie ended on the road after the church refused to care for her because of “missing funds” throwing her out from their richly inscribed door attesting they had more poor and needy people to care about.

The next day Ellie subscribed herself to the same guild her father was and took awful works for the most part while watching the more “adventurous” bunch coming by from time to time to grab a more dangerous but somehow better paid work that most shunned in favor of something that was less likely to leave them dead.

Today it wasn’t different.

She came in from the door covered with her old and ragged cloak even when outside the sun shone and it was hot.

With the hood still on her head she moved toward the board with the worker’s jobs for the day while maintain a distance from any man present.

Bad luck wanted her mother had a plump physique with large hips, protruding butt-chicks and big tits that everyone stared at every time she went around.

She off course inherited all of them but differently from her mother she wasn’t as plump after years of difficulties and nights with an empty stomach. This had made her less buxom but because of her lean waist everything was even more accentuated. This brought to her reserved nature and the preference of passing unobserved. A girl only needed a few attempted rapes and only that many guys that promised her the world and then shunned her after a night of sex… especially when they took everything they wanted and she could do nothing but powerlessly let them.

So when a hand shoot out in the direction of her bust she was ready to jump out of the way.

The hand barely touched her cloak but this did not dissuaded the owner from shouting loud enough for everyone to hear.

“Hey TitEllie! You back for another round of this?” the man said grabbing his crotch with the other hand and scrolling it in her direction causing a series of laughs and cheers from the near males.

Ellie instead ignored him and moved on wanting to take a job and getting out from there the fastest possible. Unluckily the guy did not stopped his harassment there.

“What? You ignoring me? You acting cold? You weren’t that cold when I got inside you!” he continued provoking another round of laughs and cheers.

Then noticing he couldn’t take her attention that way and unable to do something more direct there he chose to instead continue to boast to everyone who wanted to listen to him on how he had fucked her “good”.

Ellie instead reached the bulletin board ad started to hastily scan the possible jobs.

Truth be told, there where really a lot of them even after the firsts hours had reduced the number by some.

Unluckily, the jobs already taken down were the ones with the better conditions and pay, leaving only the unwanted ones because too difficult to satisfy or because the proportion between workload and pay was too ridiculous even for the scum.

If she had come earlier she could have grabbed a better one but that would have meant for her to fight her way to the board with nails and teeth before snatching something without even being able to read what it was because of the people swarming and fighting for the best requests.

Coming this late, she was able to read what was on and decide what work she was taking, she would dodge being pressed and squashed from all direction and… dodge the idiots and perverts who would take the chance to grab her butt and squeeze her tits blaming the crowds for it.

“… and the she was so happy she started crying when I splur*** inside…” came a voice from back her which gave life to more hollers and laughs.

Ellie eyes started to wet. The guy boasting about the act was someone she had met only a month before and one that neared her apparently wanting to only be friends with her and while she did not trust him she did not pushed him away because she hoped a little that he was honest about it.

The others before him that fucked her were more the type to sing their love for her only to act the other way later.

He instead had used a different approach.

First he acted friendly saying he wasn’t interested into bedding her and went on for couple weeks to be gentle with her and even grabbed her a decent work from the boar.

Then, one day, he offered to accompany her home attesting it was more dangerous for a girl to be out late in the afternoon alone. She let him.

Ellie lived in the slum so it wasn’t the best of places for a girl to be alone. The plan was to reach the adjacent area to the slum and then drop him with some excuse so he could not learn where she lived.

Too bad he did not care to reach a secluded place before jumping her.

He waited for her to pass the slum’s proper division and at the first chance he run up to her and under the eyes of everyone grabbed and brought her into an alley where he then raped her while her screams and begs got ignored by everyone.

It did not matter how much she screamed, cried and begged for help. No one came.

He had his way with her while she fought and cried until she had no more strength to do so and when he was done he told her that she liked the way he did it and that she shouldn’t come begging him “too often” for having another go.

Ellie came out of her thought with tears flowing from her eyes but no one noticed or if did, they not cared.

She stood there for a moment asking herself if she should grab a job at random and run away or go back in the smelling hole that was now her home and cry herself to sleep hoping to not wake up again.

While she was thinking this she heard the door opening and the laughs stopped leaving the place with only the low chattering of people discussing their work and bartering to get more.

Ellie turned her head slightly, just enough to let her look toward the place her last rapist had been.

He was gone and with him the men he was with.

Taking a shacked breath Ellie turned toward the board. Today wasn’t the day she would let herself die.

As said, the number of requests and jobs weren’t few but they weren’t great, heck, most of them weren’t even good enough but Ellie could not be a difficult costumer. While a part of them was decent enough she could not take them.

She hadn’t the requisites.

Most of the jobs were asking specifically for a male worker.

The ones that didn’t specify what sex the worker had to be requested determinate requirements like a certain level of strength, work experience in the role requested, a certain instruction that most did not had and the ones who did weren’t so out of possibilities to be there and a certain age range.

But even like that she knew that even if she could fulfill some requisite, like an age range, experience or instruction, most will think it thrice before taking a woman for the job and even if they did it wasn’t assured they would pay the accorded price… or pay at all.

It wasn’t even impossible that she could be taken and then abused by the contractor or someone put to work with her.

Being a “working” woman was so awful on so many sides that it was clear in no time to her why most women grabbed the first chance of marriage they got to flee from all this. Who cares if their future husband is a drunkard, it’s terrible or violent in bed and out or go with whores after having impregnated the wife the first time? At least they did not have to put themselves on stands ready to be grabbed and abused by a stranger… by strangers. Better having one certain abuser whom you can adapt to, no?

Ellie shunned away from her mind even those thoughts and focused back to her search. She had been standing there for already too long and the more she waited and the more attention she risked.

For a moment she thought to grab one and be done with it but the numerous bad experience of the past stopped her.

She went back to her search before other memories had the possibilities to kidnap her.

The first thing she saw was a notice that has been on for at least an year now.

“Rat Hunter!: The Municipality request one or a group of people of every sex, social standing, profession, ability….. to help reduce the numbers of the rat’s population that is proliferating in the sewers and the sud-ovest part of the city……. The pay offered is of 4 cyril for every attested kill of 5 rats and 10 cyril for one changed one whose existences are not known….. this request does not have a time limit…. Aside the moment it will be closed…. There could be variations of the price depending by the treasury…. Failing the request will not be sanctioned. Firmed: the Municipality”.

Ellie scoffed to herself at the request.

No one wanted to take this job. Not even the more despaired.

Only the more ignorant would take it.

For starter, the pay wasn’t all that good unless one could catch at least twenty to forty rats a day. A tall order for even a group to not mention a loner.

Rats weren’t that easy to catch for someone without experience, one could not simply go into the sewer and get out with a couple dozens of them like it was nothing. They were shy, they were fast and most of all they were cunning enough to be called smart.

They had a goddamn good hearing and if something came near them they would run and hide much earlier being even seen. So, good look catching even one per day.

If you wanted to take the job you had to be a specialist.

You needed a really good strategy… or the right devices.

The best ones would be traps. But traps did not grow on the trees. They had to be made or bought and good look catching something without putting in a bait. All this accumulated in a considerable expense even before taking the work. Iron traps don’t cost little. If they were made of wood? You could make something that snapped close and catch one with some material scraped around... Cheaper but good look stopping the little critter from chewing his way out in few minutes.

‘Heck! I heard of rats chewing their way out of iron cages. Woods and scrap would not do’ Ellie thought.

Most of the time these job’s request are taken by professional rat catchers.

But for this pricing? They will never do it. All of them were probably on accord and waiting for the pay to go up and by the long time this thing had been on she would think the “municipality” will, before more than later, take it down to change it with something better paid and only then the work will be taken en masse.

But even then, at best they would clean most of the sewer and let the slum still infested as they are.

After all, it’s necessary to leave some of them around so they can proliferate again. A one time job is no good for anyone.

‘Let’s see something else.’ she thought before feeling a soft touch on her shoulder.

Ellie jumped sideways to flee the person that touched her while turning and moving her hand toward the rusted knife tied to her rope belt.

The guy that touched her made a little jump back and lifted his hands in sign of surrender with an expression of surprise on his face for the reaction he got.

“Woow woow. Calm down! Didn’t mean to scare you.” he said.

By what Ellie could see he was kinda pleasing to the eye, so, clean enough to not smell of aged rot and his clothing… no, his equipment was composed of leather armor with pads and an iron protector on his chest while at his belt was a sword of middle length… all of them were dusty and repaired but of a decent quality, even if maybe not maintained in the best of ways. He seemed an adventurer. A real adventurer even, not the run on the mill that came here from time to time.

“… what do you want?…” asked Ellie aggressively. Only because he did not seem your classic scum it did not mean he couldn’t be.

“Nothing much, me and my party over there…” he said pointing his finger to three other people by the “Adventurer’s board”, of which one, Ellie noticed, was a surprisingly woman who were looking their way.

“We found a request that sounded quite interesting but we are short of one for it.” he answered but Ellie looked at him sideways not getting what he wanted from her. Was he bragging his way trying to court her? Because he wasn’t doing a good job.

“You see, we would need another person in the group, nothing special, we are already well organized and balanced, we only need someone to move around what we are not using on the moment and fill the number.” he said ending his oration.

In other words they needed a “rat” to mule around their things and bring back everything they catch during this apparently good job.

“… are you asking me to join your group for this job?” she asked back still on her toe. It all seemed too strange… even if the presence of another woman in the group told her that maybe they weren’t as bad as others.

“Well… yeah, if you are interested.” he replied.

“And why out of all possible people here you asked me?” Ellie questioned not getting why a real adventurer asked an unimpressive cloaked figure that was at least a full head lower than anyone present and at the “worker’s board” to booth.

“… because… no one want to join.” he clarified bluntly “everyone wants daily jobs that get paid at the end or jobs inside or near the city so they can come back at night instead of camping out.” he completed with a grimace of disappointment.

“Oh… but why you are asking me?” she insisted.

“Well, when we asked out loud you were the only one that straight out ignore us and… I thought you were just too concentrated into checking the board and didn’t hear us… then I came near and saw you focused on the rat hunting request and thought you intended to take that… that’s quite the problematic one and I supposed that if you intend do it all alone you must be quite capable so…” he hastily said after she realize he had checked her tits for a moment there and now he wanted to end the discussion as soon as possible but still trying to find a fifth member.

“You wanted to convince me to join you instead?” she completed noticing he now was a bit more redder than before.

“Yeah… something like that… because no one seem to be willing to come, me and my party decided that if by noon we can’t find a fifth member we will take something else… always admitted by then it hasn’t already been taken by someone in another guild.” the guy concluded making clear they were kinda desperate to find someone post-haste.

No one wanted to go with them and they couldn’t take it without that extra person. Especially if they needed to carry extra weight for a long mission that could require more than a few days away from the city. If they brought everything necessary and more they would weigh themselves greatly which would slow and tire them down much faster than normal. This will make any encounter in the wild much harder, difficult and impractical if they tried to fight monsters while packed.

It wasn’t a joke saying that an extra person made the difference between fulfilling the job and being unable to, so it was comprehensible for the guy to call her out given his motives… and the fact he wasn’t staring at her tits from the start to the end was, for her, a good sign.

But for Ellie it was still a difficult choice.

To one side she never did any real “adventurer’s quest” at best she got around the city doing occasional search of a lost pet or just outside the city in search of herbs or easy game like rabbit and wild cats… which ended all mostly badly seen how the lost pets were most certainly taken by someone to make dinner and every noob smuck started scouring the area cleaning it out of useful herbs and rabbits while the wild cats moved out when no more rabbits lived in the area.

Most of the time she did works like cleaning and helping out here and there while avoiding whoever seemed fishy or whose eyes remained too fixated on her body. All of which paid little or nothing… especially when the fishy dude tried at some point to jump on her forcing Ellie to flee and not getting paid even after having lost time there.

“Look, I’m not forcing you or trying to… push you into joining when you don’t even know what the job is about, what’s the pay is or... I can’t even say what your share would be if you join… after all we don’t know how capable you are and you know nothing of us sooo.. why don’t you check the request first?”

“If you think you want to hear us out you can find us over there at the reception for the rest of the morning to see if someone do come up and join… just… the more we wait the more likely it will already been taken. Think about it okay?” he said trying to convince her to at least read the request before even only taking the possibilities into mind before turning back and living.

When the guy left Ellie started to actually think about it, she realized that at the end of all she did not even know what the quest was about because the guy had said an awful little about it.

It could have been a request for fighting a family of Bugbear and bring back their skin for a special order of the armor-smith as much as it could be a “grab this special\rare thing in this shitty place and bring it back” quest where they did not even need to actively fight but only try to sneak in without getting caught and the out the same way after obtaining the targeted thinghy.

Ellie agreed with herself that it was a quite reasonable idea to learn what the quest was about so after having searched for a bit on the worker’s board and having found nothing that inspired her she slipped toward the other board on the opposite side of the guild.

Only problem… she had no idea which one up there it was...

‘I’ll have to either ask them or… trying to guess it on her own.’ she thought.

Ellie turned slightly toward the group noticing they where all distracted with their own things.

The guy that earlier approached her was chatting with the woman of the group who seemed some kind of brawler seen the thickness of her biceps, the muscular shoulders and most of all the lack of visible weapons.

The other two were turned toward the receptionist who was amicably chatting with the two seen how no one seemed to require his attention to get a quest or a job.

One was equipped with a similar leather armor with the first guy while missing the pads and the protector and instead of a sword he had two dagger at his belt and a satchel.

The other had something resembling more a normal outfit with a shirt and pants combination than an armor but it still gave the feeling of being more robust while impeding much less his movements and was equipped with a bow across his chest and a quiver. Practically they were your classic rogue or tracker and your friendly archer or ranger.

Ellie could imagine the muscular woman ruffle them around if they did something wrong and the “maybe thief” did not even gave her the “dirty feeling” many thieves in the slum gave her when she crossed them while going home.

And yet… she did not felt at easy going there and asking what was the name of the quest they intended to take. Instead she turned around trying to find it using the clues the swordsman guy had given her.

“Let’s see… one that seem easy enough... is well paid…it’s somewhere not too far or too close, I think…. and it must be accepted with a party of five…. Procure 50 slime’s cores from the monsters present between floors 12 and 15 in the dungeon..… don’t think this is the one…. Camp of bandit near… could be? No, it doesn’t have any party’s number restriction and bandit? Seem to dangerous isn’t it?… hunt Warhog that terrorize the village in… I heard that village is ten days away with a wagon… don’t think they have one….” she mumbled passing from one request to the other.

“Excuse me?” asked a voice a bit too loud from behind making her jump away in fright for the second time.

“Oh? I’m sorry did not mean to scare you ah ah.” laughed the woman she recognized being the “maybe brawler” of the adventuring party.

“N-no, it’s nothing… much… I… I was just… focused.” Ellie stammered in front of the stranger feeling ashamed for having overreacted twice.

“Aaaaaaw! You seem a scared fawn.” said the woman with a sweet smile.

“A-a f-fawn? Me? N-no I…” she stammered again trying to find something to say to cover the embarrassment.

“Oh!? It’s okay, it just came out like that, don’t think about it… you are the girl Gary was talking earlier, right?” the woman replied justifying her words as something that came out on it’s own.

“G-Gary?” asked Ellie knowing no one with that name.

“Yeah, that guy over there with the sword whose intera persona say: Hey, I’m an Adventurer! Leave it to me!” she answered pointing with a big smile at the swordsman of her group who apparently was called Gary.

“Uh? Oh yeah, that was me.”

“Nice, were you checking the quest’s request before taking in consideration joining us?” she asked cheerily while getting nearer.

“Uh, yeah?” Ellie said back completely flustered by that woman so straight forward, energetic and… so near she was almost touching her chest with her own big biceps.

“Marvelous!” she exclamed changing position and putting her arm around Ellie’s shoulders “Then what you think about it? Doesn’t’ it seem quite inviting?”

“Uh yeah? No! I mean… eeeeeeehmm…” Ellie blabbered completely flustered by all the touch touchy of all the muscles of the woman pressing against her body.

“What is it dear? Don’t you like it?” she asked giving her a fast squeeze.

“Like it? N-No? I mean Yeah, no, I-I mean, I didn’t…”

“Wait… you don’t know what the request we are trying to take is, isn’t it?” the woman exclaimed letting her go before grabbing her by the shoulders with her hands before Ellie could try to run.

“… n-n-no?…” she squeaked back in a barely audible voice.

“Oh dear… GARY! YOU BLOATED IDIOT! YOU DIDN’T TOLD TO THIS SWEETLY GIRL THE NAME OF THE QUEST!” she shouted toward the party member with a loud but not so ill-meaning voice.

Gary from his position jumped a bit when his name was called and he became all red when was told his gaffe while the other two started laughing and the archer gave him a slap on the neck while calling him an idiot.

“Ahahahah” laughed the woman before telling her she was sorry for her party member. He was a good guy but was a bit air-headed and forgetful sometimes, all while guiding her to the rest of the group and letting her hear Gary admit he had actually forgotten what’s the title of the request was and focused only on the easy money part.

“I-It’s okay so…. W-what is the mission y-your party want to take?” Ellie asked feeling again all flustered while the woman squeezed her against her hip.

“Oh Sweety. It’s quite an interesting but weird request.” she said with thoughtful smile on her lips.

“Seems a hunter had seen something strange happen in the forest south from here.” said the archer joining the conversation. The guy had a quite high-pitched voice.

“… probably something caused by some mushroom he ate or some badly fermented liquor I’ll say.” said the “maybe rogue” with an amused voice.

“Like there could really be cracks in the sky aha!” he concluded with a laugh.

“C-craks in the sky?” Ellie asked not believing her ears of having heard right.

‘How can there be cracks in the sky? The sky is… the sky! It isn’t solid that can be cracked like a vase or a wooden pint!’ she thought to herself.

“That’s what the guy there said.” the archer clarified giving a nod toward the guy behind the counter he and his friend were talking with a minute before.

“Seem that this guy, a hunter-” said the roguish guy “arrived this morning really early screaming hysterically about cracks in the sky, black lights descending onto the ground bringing an Archdemon followed by a horde of demons that made rain dead Varusus from the clouds with a snap of his finger and then took control of all the creatures in the forest to send them charging toward the city. Ah!” he explained with a tone that made clear he did not believe a word of it being true.

“A-and has monsters attacked the city?” she asked fearing a horde could invade and bring deaths and destruction on them.

“No, nothing as such happened, from what I know the last time a single monster passed the plain separating us from the forest and came here has been years ago. Forget a horde of them.” said Gary with a calm attitude. It was clear for him too it was all an exaggeration.

“As I said! The idiot must have took something and hallucinated. This quest is all a big prank. You’ll see. Probably the same guy has put it out thinking what he saw was real. Probably even the reward is just some made up one and he doesn’t have anything to pay once fulfilled.” repeated the rogue making it clear they were losing their time with a fake quest that would pay them nothing.

“I don’t think that’s the case. Did you see who commissioned it?” asked the woman.

“That hallucinated?” asked the rogue.

“Some cult?” asked the archer.

“Nope Robert, it wasn’t that guy and… a cult? Manfry, why it’s always a cult for you?” said the woman denying the rogue Robert and shocked by the answer of the archer Manfry who probably was named Manfred…. And not called Fred instead.

“Because they are!” he replied with absolute certainty while Robert was hiding his mouth in an attempt to cover his laughing and Gary facepalmed.

The only person Ellie did not know the name lifted her eyes to the sky, or more aptly to the ceiling and made a disgruntled sound trying probably to not give and answer that would start a discussion.

“… okay, whatever but no. The request has been made by the guards. They are the one requesting and paying this job.” she said.

This time was Manfry to lift his eyes to the ceiling probably refraining to say that the guards could be part of the cult too but it was quite clear on his face and as clearly everyone ignored him.

Then, seeing no one commenting, the woman went on while still giving to Ellie the occasional squeeze against herself.

“The request don’t actually talk about any of that.” she clarified.

“They probably thought, like us, that the guy got carried on and described it much worse than it was. The request is to find the place where the guy saw, something...” at which she made another pause to give time to the other to add or comment on something. As no one did so she explained the rest.

“The official’s statement is that all the monster from that area have moved out while some kind of strange light...” she said provoking a scoff from Robert who questioned “Yeah, lights. And who exactly saw these strange lights? Aside that guy obviously.”

“Actually” took the word Gary gathering everyone attention.

“Yesterday I heard a traveler talking about it. He was walking on the southerly road that connect here and the village bordering the forest and he is quite sure of having seen something resembling a black lightning hit the ground.”

“And what’s so strange for a lightning hitting the ground?” the rogue asked.

“That he swear it was black and there wasn’t a cloud in the sky.” Gary pointed out.

“Humph, fine. Someone is giving around poisoned food near the area. What the guards wants from us?” he asked after scoffing once more.

“I was trying to get at it but your repeated interruptions stopped me.” the woman said clearly irritated if not even slightly pissed while staring daggers at Robert.

“Wooow wooow. Don’t look at me like that Ilda. I’m sorry for interrupting you, I just found it all too ridiculous to be true but if it’s the guards who pay then it must be true and I will now shut up.” he said doing the same retreat Gary did with Ellie like the two created it or imitated the one that did after having seen it enough times.

“You better.” the woman, Ilda grumbled.

“The party accepting this request have to find the place where apparently all that happened, or not happened. See if something really happened or it’s all a big nothing. That’s the kind of quest it is. If there is something… we don’t need to act on it. Just bring back the information and leave others worry about it. Any question?” she asked concluding her discourse.

Or not...

“If there is a cult in the forest than is not our problem and nothing change Manfry!” Ilda pointed out anticipating the archer who seemed ready to say something causing him to lift his hands in the same surrender Gary and Robert did before closing his mouth without saying anything.

“I…. I actually have a question.” Ellie said opening her mouth for the first time in a why.

“What is it dear?” asked Ilda.

“What was the name of the quest?”

A moment later Ilda, Robert, Manfry and the guy behind the counter made a grimace.

“The guy who compiled it must have been some drama queen.” commented the rogue.

“Or a cultist.” said the cult conspiracy theorist Manfrey.

“Probably he just thought off calling it something funny to prank whoever the wannabe hero to be that would take it.” said the receptionist who have “eavesdropped” right behind them from the start.

“A wannabe hero huh?” asked Ilda staring at Gary with a look that made everyone turn and look at the guy the same way.

Gary on his side stared back with confused and lost expression.

“What? Why are you looking at me like that?” he asked not getting the meaning of it.

“““““”Nothing!”””” everyone replied.

“So, how was it called?” asked Ellie again and causing Ilda to blush a little.

“It was called-” said Robert.

“The descent of the Demon King.”