The trees tremble before the gallop of the gigantic Balrog. Balancing on his back, the princess breaks the low hanging branches on her way using Valor. Her first time outside castle walls. With the wind on her face, under the shade of the grove, she can now enjoy her new-found freedom. She takes a deep breath of nature’s clean air, something she adores. Her ears pick up the music of the forest fauna; she’s always heard it from the balcony of the castle, but being so close to it is truly magical.

  I can’t stop thinking about the prophecy. Prophets are so weird, the princess thinks. If my interpretation is correct, the “governess” must refer to Rei’Na, the queen of the abyss, even though Damian says that she has been dormant for almost a millennium. Rossett is deep in thought, but she doesn’t need to guide Balrog; her mount knows where they are heading. They decided to visit a village a few days away from the castle. It’s the most convenient option for getting some rest and more rations.

  “Thanks for coming with me, Balrog. You… are a lot faster that I expected. I guess having six legs must help. Thanks to you, we’ll get there sooner than I thought.”

  Balrog neighs happily, a bit of smoke coming out of his snouts. The princess was the first one to try to calm him down instead of attacking him, and she won’t stop petting his mane; he can’t complain. The giant horse isn’t just fast, but he’s also impressively good at finding the right path, even in as convoluted a forest as most of Aeternum is. His three heads work together to find the easiest path to go through and Rossett takes care of any low hanging branches with great dexterity.

  “You know… it’s kinda weird. It’s only been two days, but… I already miss them,” the princess says, lying down on Balrog’s back while they camp at night. “It’s a weird sensation, but it doesn’t make me feel any less excited. Tomorrow we should be arriving to the village. Maybe I can get you some hay.” She bites down on an apple and then offers the rest to one of Balrog’s heads, which eats it whole without missing a beat. The sparking from the campfire echoes through the silent night. Alongside the slight whisper of the wind, it creates a calming harmony. A drop of moonlight slides through the grove and softly bathes the princess and her steed in light. The slow and methodical beating of the horse’s hearts vibrate at a relaxing frequency beneath Rose’s head. Her eyes are closed in a mix of peace and tranquility. Her lips settle on a slight smile, yet her hand grips her spear firmly.

  In the middle of the silent night, lightning breaks the sky in half and covers the whole forest in blazing light. Raindrops push down through the trees and put out the campfire. Rossett startles awake. Her heart is beating out of her chest, her breathing becomes labored and she reflexively shuts her eyes. Her teeth creak from how hard she is squeezing them together. The taste of blood spreads over her tongue and a piece of her inner lip gets painfully torn off.

  “No… no, NO!” She covers her ears with her hands while tears course down her cheeks, mixing with the rain. Balrog rests his central head on her lap. The princess pets him while trying to control her breathing.

  “Let’s move. Maybe we can get to the village before the sky falls down,” Rossett says while getting up on trembling legs, biting down on her lip.

  Beneath the rain, Balrog gallops at full speed. He feels, with pain and worry, how his master grips his mane tight with every thunder. It bothers him that he can’t do anything for her. His best option is getting to a safe place as fast as possible. His hooves kick up water and mud as he runs through the forest, leaving footprints behind him.

  “I still don’t get it. Am I a damn baby? I’m twenty-one already! Why can’t I get over this?” Thoughts pile up inside the princess’s head. Although she doesn’t like thinking negatively, doing so right now distracts her from the booming thunders.

  A few hours pass before the rain lets up. The few drops left are caught by the tops of the leafy trees that make up the grove. The wrath of the skies has calmed down.

  Rossett squints to try and see through a very heavy fog. Too heavy for it to be clouds but too breathable to be smoke. Balrog stops and the princess stands up on his back. With a sense of urgency, she unsheathes her spear.

  “Do you smell that? There’s something weird…” The princess’s keen sense of smell catches a strange odor coming from the depths of the forest. “Balrog, proceed slowly. I think we’re close.”

  The steed walks stealthily, looking with his heads for the origin of that putrid smell. Amidst the grove, the village appears. The houses, made of hay and wood, are now in deplorable conditions. Sharp claw marks decorate the walls in a gruesome display, and dry blood has long been scattered on the floor. The village exudes a nauseating stench from its insides that promises an unpleasant visit, and around it, a dark fog, like a tenebrous veil, covers it whole.

  The princess jumps off Balrog and walks slowly, careful not to make a single sound. She gestures for her horse to keep quiet. Stay here for a bit. I’ll go investigate. Her loyal steed understands her without any need for words and backtracks a little, enough to leave some room between them. Rossett creeps between the destroyed buildings, trying to hold her breath to no avail. Little by little, she gets closer to the center of the village. Her ears catch a scratch against roof tiles. Hastily, she turns around and stabs the creature in the heart just after it jumped from the roof to attack her.

  Bloodshot red pupils, long fangs and sharp claws still dirty with old blood. Its body, categorized as humanoid, is made of putrid smelling meat, the color of pure darkness. Its heart is a small sphere, the size of an eye, that emits a dark purple pulse and shatters on impact. The beast lets out a shriek as its body slowly turns into a fine dark powder. In a swift move, Rossett flings the speared remains of beast to the wall.

  So… this is what the abyss beasts look like. Rossett seems worried, but the main feeling inside her is disgust. Damian has told her stories about the abyss. She’s never seen it herself until now. Savage beasts that only seek to devour organic matter. It turns out that Damian is great at descriptions; these things are… exactly as I imagined them. A shrieking sound comes from on top of one of the roofs as another five beasts make their entrance. Their claws scratch the tiles as their limbs contort unnaturally. The princess’s heartbeat contrasts with the creak of the beasts’ bones with their every movement.

  A single, strong blow against their core, where the human heart would reside, is all that’s needed. Damian’s lessons are not easy to forget, especially since he repeated them every day. The princess takes a deep breath. The beasts are quick to charge at her, but are repelled by Valor.

  A structured march; that’s the best way to describe Rossett’s fighting style. She’s learned by practicing her attacks hundreds of times against Lana’s manikins. Her attacks, always lethal. Fast and confident steps. Short and measured movements. A strong defense with devastating counterattacks. These things must be eliminated now is the only difference she finds between these beasts and the wooden manikins. With every thrust, Rossett makes sure that, if she can’t manage to break their core, the beasts end up missing a limb or two. Yet, the creatures regenerate rapidly when they’re not finished off. With fast transitions between thrusts and circular cuts, she successfully keeps the monsters at bay, although she ends up with tiny cuts on her arms and legs. The times she fell down as a kid, playing in the yard… Those hurt more than those pathetic little scratches. Two mere drops of blood fall to the ground.

  This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.

  A whistle escapes her lips and carries over the whole forest, as she gets rid of three beasts with a precise cutting blow. With a swirl, she manages to block an attack from the fourth and counterattacks with a thrust to its core. Behind her, the last beast jumps in the air, aiming its sharp claws at the princess. A strange heat surrounds the beast, and its muscles start to melt at a rapid pace as the fire ball Balrog just shot surrounds it entirely. The princess ducks to dodge the fire ball at the last second. She cleans the beasts’ black blood off her armor with a rag and smiles at her amazing steed.

  “I knew you had my back.” Rossett is able to calm down a little, despite feeling more than ready to puke. Balrog neighs happily. “Go take a walk around the village. I’ll go check the houses; maybe there’s survivors.”

  She feels downright sick. The smell and blood all over the place definitely aren’t helping her cope. Her first adventure outside the safety of her castle, and she’s already coming across these sort of scenarios. Maybe… I should’ve stayed, the words cross her mind, but she’s soon shaking her head to dispel that rebellious thought; she can’t let a little blood and death keep her from pursuing her destiny.

  Rossett checks the houses, and each one discourages her further. Broken, blood-stained furniture, half-eaten bones, a rotten trail of death. The princess’s heart beats faster at the massacre the abyss caused. She promises herself to end this as soon as possible. She checks each house until she reaches the last.

  Coming in, the princess draws her eyes away as disgust overtakes her. The few pieces of furniture are completely destroyed, the floor is lifting slightly. Blood stains the floor, the ceiling, the walls. Its trail guides her to one of the rooms. The room is just as damaged as the rest of the house, but something piques her interest. The trail ends at a metal box about two meters tall. Claw marks signal that something tried to get in. Using Valor for leverage, she’s able to break the lid and look inside.

  There lies the lifeless body of a girl, clad in a green dress and hugging a torn book close to her chest. The girl has a wound on her left side, the shape of three claws. Her body shows slight signs of decay, although the sealed box kept her in good condition.

  Rossett hesitates, but ultimately decides to carry the body outside. She puts the book in her bag. With a half-torn shovel she found in one of the houses, she digs a hole.

  “I’m sorry, I couldn’t find anything to build a coffin, and I really don’t have time to spare. Let Providence lead you to rest. I… should’ve got here sooner.” Her nails dig into the meat of her palm, angry and frustrated. Her lower lip begins to bleed.

  The princess finishes the grave and sits down next to it. She takes a knife out of her bag, grabs a few pieces of wood and carves a small cross. It is then stuck in the ground where she dug her grave. Next to it she lays down a small flower she found nearby. When she’s about to leave, she hears a noise coming from the water well.

  Rossett slowly approaches the well, having readied Valor to hit whatever might come out. The princess expects that someone has hidden there to survive, but deep down she knows it’s impossible. When she looms over the well, she catches sight of something surprising.

  A black cocoon, the size of a human head, stuck up one of the walls with a sort of spiderweb. The cocoon pulses slowly and emanates a heavy black fog.

  So this is what it looks like. I’ve never pictured it before, but it’s true. This is an abyss fruit. Rossett thinks so as she harshly tears the cocoon from the wall. She tugs at it several times while she thinks: Damian told me very clearly to break these things if I were to come across them, but he never gave me a good reason why. I’m not gonna lie, though, it does look evil. I don’t see any reason not to follow his advice.

  The cocoon flies off in the air. The princess snaps her fingers at Balrog and points at the fruit. The horse takes a deep breath. The air is compressed in his internal organs and transforms into a highly inflammable gas. The gas travels through his throat and just before it comes out, Balrog’s teeth snap, which creates a spark that lights the gas up into flames. The cocoon lets out a shrieking cry as it turns to dust and the princess finishes it off with a stab from Valor. The fog covering the place drifts away and the air regains that distinctive smell of rain.

  Rossett looks up at the sky, which is mostly hidden by the treetops. To be honest… I thought this would be fun, but it’s depressing, actually. She decides to read the book the girl was holding earlier; it might have some useful information.

  The book is a private diary. The girl recounts her experiences in the village, but the last few pages are what truly piques the princess’s interest.

  Today, Mother told me that in two weeks time, the Priestess of Miracles is going to make a stop at the Citadel. Perhaps if we go visit her, we could cure Dad; people say she can do anything. Mother says the Citadel is a three-day ride Southeast. I could escape to get there in time, but I would like it if they let me go. Next week, I am going to set off. I should wear my green dress. It looks nice on me; I might impress the priestess.

  Rossett closes the book and leaves it next to the nameless grave. She stays there for a while, praying that the girl may rest. With a whistle, she calls Balrog over and gets on his back.

  I have no time to waste; that priestess should be arriving in a few days. If I can get her help, she would be a valuable ally. Besides, the title of Priestess of Miracles sounds familiar… She can’t help considering all her options, confident that destiny will guide her and that this is a clue she can’t let slip away. Balrog gallops at full speed amidst the grove, towards the Citadel.

  A carriage was on its way to the Citadel. Two white horses with blonde manes pulled the carriage, which was made of wood carefully carved by the most talented of artisans. Red and white fabrics adorning it granted it a sense of grandeur. On one of its sides, a triangle was carved, with an eye at the center, a halo on the tip, and two wings. Sitting inside it were two people dressed similarly, in white garments with red and golden embellishments; both had the triangle symbol sewn on their right sleeve. One of them was a middle-aged man. His lack of hair was hidden by a big hat, which had the same symbol on its front. His clothes were remarkably tight due to his considerable size and poor physique, and in his hand he held a piece of juicy meat, which he was eating happily.

  The girl sitting in front of him must have been nineteen years old. Silky golden hair that reached down to her knees escaped from beneath her soft white hat, which slightly folded over itself. Her gaze made her seem worried, lost in thought, not paying any mind to whatever happened around her. Her fingers interlocked nervously and her right foot moved quickly in place.

  “Airaiel, are you nervous again?” said the man. “Did you memorize what I asked you to?”

  “…Fifty golden coins per miracle…” the girl clarified, subdued. “I still can’t understand it. Why can’t we simply help the habitants of that land?” Her voice was delicate and fearful, yet firm enough to make the man take her seriously.

  “I may remind you that the Supreme will ask us for a commission for when we get back. If we don’t pay him, we’ll be in trouble. Besides, with all the help he’s given you, you might as well be on his black list. The least we can do is keep him calm,” the man answered relaxed and took another bite out of his piece of meat. “Sometimes you make me forget that you’re your mother’s daughter; she never would’ve given anything away, that stingy old hag.”

  “Don’t badmouth Mom,” Airaiel raised her voice slightly, yet when she noticed, she covered her mouth. “I apologize… It was not my intention,” she murmured.

  “No, it’s alright, I shouldn’t insult her, at least not in front of you.” The man caressed her head and she smiled a little. “I don’t want to follow the Supreme’s rules, either, but we don’t have a lot of options. Hold on a little longer, my child; it’s just a few days before this journey is over. Maybe you’ll find some way to get out of this church when we get back.”

  They both laughed a bit as they continued their journey. Next to Airaiel, the crystal inside the oil lamp glowed demurely whenever she laughed, as if it echoed her soul.

  “I hope they give us a warm welcome at the Citadel,” said Airaiel.