That night, long after the city had settled into a quiet slumber, Flamme sat at the small wooden desk in her room.
A single oil lamp cast a warm, flickering glow across the open pages of a thick, leather-bound grimoire.
On the floor beside her desk, a tall, precarious stack of similar books stood as a testament to her new, ambitious curriculum.
She was the picture of a diligent, hardworking student, her young mind completely absorbed in the arcane symbols before her.
When a wave of drowsiness finally washed over her, making her eyelids feel heavy as lead, she carefully closed the book and padded over to her bed.
She crawled under the covers, but sleep did not come right away.
Moonlight, pale and silver, streamed through her window, painting a soft square of light on her bedspread.
She stared out at the night sky, a vast, black curtain dotted with the pinpricks of countless distant stars. The world felt so big, so quiet.
She raised her arm, and the moonlight caught on a simple, elegant bracelet of platinum and gold that now circled her wrist. It shimmered with a gentle, otherworldly light, a stark contrast to the simple, rustic charm of her room.
"We will see each other again, won't we?" she whispered to the quiet, empty room, her voice a soft, hopeful breath.
It was another gift from Stell, given to her just before she had left the city.
In the few months they had known each other, Flamme had grown incredibly fond of the strange, quiet girl and her cheerful, boisterous apprentice.
When the news had spread that demons were attacking the city, a cold, primal fear had gripped her. Her parents had told her stories of the demons, of their cruelty and their hunger.
But then, Stell and Takson had saved them. They had stood against the tide of darkness and had prevented a massacre.
It was only then that she truly understood the quiet, unshakeable faith in Takson's voice when he had said, "Trust my teacher."
Stell-neechan is even stronger than I ever could have imagined.
The people in the city were already talking. Whispers of an "angel" who had descended from the heavens to smite the wicked were spreading like wildfire.
A new legend was being born. Takson, when asked, had neither confirmed nor denied the stories, preferring to keep the truth of his teacher's identity a closely guarded secret.
Stell, for her part, simply hadn't cared enough to correct them.
But Flamme knew. She knew, with a certainty that resonated deep in her soul, that the "angel" had to be Stell-neechan.
Though she hadn't seen the transformation with her own eyes, she could picture it perfectly. She must have looked so cool,she thought, a small, awestruck smile gracing her lips.
Stell now occupied a special, almost mythical place in Flamme's young heart. And she remembered the promise they had made, the one that gave her hope for the future.
"Don't worry, Stell-neechan," she murmured, her eyelids finally fluttering shut. "I'll definitely... zzz..."
And with that, the little girl drifted off into a peaceful sleep, the platinum-gold bracelet on her wrist gleaming like a tiny, captured star in the moonlight.
….
Rustle—
Thump, thump, thump!
In the heart of a dense, pathless forest, where the trees grew so thick they blotted out the sun, a young girl ran for her life.
She couldn't have been more than twelve years old, and her face, smudged with dirt and tears, was a mask of pure, unadulterated terror.
"Hah... hah..."
She was just a child. Her lungs burned, and her legs felt like they were made of stone. Soon, her desperate sprint slowed to a stumbling trot, and then to a crawl.
"Aah!"
Her foot caught on a gnarled root, and she fell, her small body hitting the hard, unforgiving forest floor.
"Ugh... I can't... stop..." she gasped, her voice a ragged whisper. She tried to push herself up, to force her aching limbs to obey.
But a sharp, searing pain shot up from her ankle, and she collapsed back to the ground with a pained hiss.
She looked down and saw that her ankle was twisted at a sickening, unnatural angle. It was broken.
A wave of exhaustion and pain, more powerful than any she had ever known, washed over her. It was too much for a child to bear.
"Mama..." she whimpered, hot tears tracing clean paths through the grime on her cheeks. She wished, with all her heart, that she had listened, that she had stayed safely in the village.
Thump...
A few seconds later, the ground beneath her began to tremble.
Thump... Thump...!
The sound grew closer, the vibrations more intense with each heavy footfall. A massive, cloven hoof, as large as her entire body, slammed into the ground right in front of her.
She looked up, her eyes wide with terror, and saw a giant, bull-headed monster looming over her. Its hot, foul breath washed over her face, and she could see the hunger in its red, glowing eyes.
A wave of pure, hopeless despair flooded her heart. She squeezed her eyes shut, her small body trembling, and prayed for a quick, painless end.
One second passed.
Two seconds.
…
..
.
Huh?
There was no pain. Did the monster kill me instantly? That's a relief.
ROAR!
Wait, I can still hear it. I'm not dead?
She cautiously opened her eyes. A towering, powerfully built figure stood over her. She glanced past him.
The terrifying monster that had been about to eat her was now in two neat halves, lying motionless on the ground. It had been sliced clean down the middle.
The sharp, coppery smell of blood filled the air.
….
Takson flicked the gore from his axe and planted the handle in the dirt beside him. He tapped a small device in his ear.
"Teacher, target eliminated," he reported. "Commission complete."
He was nineteen now, his body having filled out into a wall of solid muscle. To any stranger, he was the very picture of a powerful warrior. As long as they ignored the cleric's robes and the holy book hanging from his belt.
"Right... yeah... understood."
He ended the call with his teacher and turned to the young girl still lying on the ground.
….
In a Village, Miles Away:-
Stell sat in the village chief's home, patiently listening to the old man's story. They had stopped in the village for Takson to rest, and in exchange for lodging, had accepted a commission from the chief.
As the old man was explaining the details, a notification appeared in Stell's internal display.
[Incoming transmission. Accept?]
Accept.
The small, in-ear communicator she had given Takson was one of many devices she had fabricated for him over the years.
Just as the chief was getting to the most exciting part of his tale, Stell interrupted.
"Announcement: Target has been neutralized. The commission is complete."
"Uh... what?" The old man blinked, momentarily confused. "Complete? But your apprentice just left."
Seeing the disbelief on his face, Stell offered no explanation. She excused herself and, finding a secluded spot, opened a portal to Takson's location.
Her original plan had been for him to simply bring back the monster's materials, but her sensors had picked up an anomaly.
A second, unexpected life sign near his position.
….
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