Duskbound

Sildra had known she'd miss Gorm when he left, but she hadn't known how much. He'd been something of a friend to her, even if he was only there because of her mother's money. He'd gone beyond the stipulations of his contract to help her complete her system quest, and even stuck around past its expiration while she found her feet with her new class.

The hired monster hunter was probably more skilled than Gorm, but he was much less personable. He made plans, didn't bother to tell her what her role in them was supposed to be, and then got annoyed when she didn't do her part. His attempts to explain what he'd wanted her to do and why after the fact had fairly dripped with condescension.

Sadly, he was the only one going out of his way to look for monsters to fight, and while her progress was incredible, she was only level 9. [Lunar Flare] was an excellent skill and she'd killed monsters that are a higher level a few times, but there was a difference between frying a level 12 and fighting off a level 20. For the time being, she needed Jensen's help, and that meant putting up with his less-than-amazing personality.

Hopefully, getting a new skill at level 10 would start to change that. That would have to wait for tomorrow night, however. The sun would be up in an hour or so, and [Lunar Flare] worked best under a full moon. Having her only skill be dependent on both the time of day and phase of the moon was a bit of a pain, but she was hoping that she could rank it up a few times and loosen those restrictions. For the next few days, at least, she was as powerful as she could be under the circumstances.

"I'm going back to Deshir," she told Jensen. "See you at the same place tomorrow night?"

"Assuming I can drag myself out of bed. I'm exhausted from you keeping me up all night," he said with a snort.

That was another thing she didn't like about him. His jokes weren't funny, but he thought they were. At first, she'd interpreted it as him making a pass at her, but she'd quickly realized that no, that was just how he was – a little awkward, weirdly full of himself, and rich enough to get away with it. She wondered if he had even a single real friend back home, or if he was surrounded by nothing but sycophants hoping to get a turn rifling through his coin purse.

"I'm sure you'll manage," she said dryly. "Goodbye, Jensen."

Something in her tone must have gotten through his thick skull, because his face twisted into a stricken grimace. "Sorry," he muttered, so quietly that she wasn't even sure he was talking to her. "Didn't think about how that sounded until after I'd already said it."

"Be careful on your way back. Don't want you getting killed by a monster because you're too exhausted to defend yourself," was all she said as she walked away.

* * *

Why is the gate open?

None of the frontier towns kept their gates open at night. That was like inviting the monsters in, and they needed no invitation. The problem was keeping them out, even with the gates closed. Some of them could fly, or climb, or were just stealthy enough to get in some other way. If the gate needed to be open for some reason, there were always members of the watch there to supervise it.

She scanned the walls, but there was no one. That didn't prove anything, of course. Her night vision was decent, but not exceptional. It was possible she just wasn't seeing anyone in the dark, but she doubted it. She'd always seen them every other time she came back to town. There were even a few who'd make small talk with her while she stood at the base of the wall waiting for the sun to rise and the gates to open.

Was there some kind of invasion? There's no damage though… Maybe they just opened them early for the day.

Something about that idea didn't sit right with her, and Sildra found herself hurrying across the open fields to investigate. She cast furtive glances about as she approached while trying to conquer her paranoia that a monster was going to jump out from a patch of bean plants and assault her, not because she didn't fully believe it was possible, but because if one tried, she'd turn it to ash before it got close.

A hundred feet away from the open gate, she finally saw movement. A man walked into the entrance and peered out. He was tall—taller than her, anyway—and had a distinctive silhouette thanks to the pegleg strapped on where his left foot was supposed to be and a cane he leaned on to help keep his balance. He'd been a logger who'd lost the limb in a monster attack six years ago who'd retired from leaving the village and had taken up carpentry instead.

What's he doing here?

"There you are!" he said. "Get inside. Hurry!"

The sound of his voice confirmed what she'd already known; the man was Vickers, someone who had no business filling in for anyone on the watch. If he was manning the mysteriously open gate, something bad had happened while she was away.

"What's going on?" she asked once she'd reached him. "Where's the watch at?"

"Follow me," he said shortly. "The call's gone out."

"What call?"

Ignoring her baffled expression, Vickers stomped away. "Move it, missy. I've been stuck out here for hours, waiting for you to get back."

Sildra stopped walking. "No, I'm not going anywhere with you until you tell me what happened. Why is this gate open? Where did the watch go? Why are you here instead of them?"

Vickers spun back around, his gnarled face twisted up in an angry scowl. "Knew you'd be trouble," he said. "Ain't my job to explain nothing to you, just to fetch you. Don't think I won't tan your hide just because you grew up some."

"Try it, old man," she snapped. "See how well it goes for you."

Before either of them could do anything, something small, dark, and furry leaped out of the shadow of the wall. It angled itself to race past Vickers and leaped at Sildra's face, passing through the moonlight just long enough for her to identify it as the biggest flash maw hare she'd ever seen. Without even thinking, she hit it with a blast of [Lunar Flare], throwing it off course and sending it smacking hard into a house fifteen feet behind her.

"What in the—" she started to say, only to cut herself off as Vickers raised his cane in one hand and lunged forward.

For a moment, she thought he was going after the hare. He was far too late to do anything, but there was no other reasonable explanation. It wasn't until the cane came down on her shoulder that she realized the truth. He attacked me! The only reason he'd hit her shoulder instead of her head was that she'd jerked back a step from him.

Vickers overbalanced, not a difficult feat with all his forward momentum on his peg leg and his cane being wielded like a club, and fell flat on his face. Without hesitation, he scrabbled across the ground to clutch at her ankle.

"What the hell are you doing?" she yelled as she shook him off.

The flash maw hare wasn't dead. Smoke rolled off its scorched fur, wafting away to reveal patches of reddened skin beneath, but that wasn't enough to stop it. It took two hopping steps before launching itself through the air at her again, only this time she was too busy fending off Vickers to dodge out of the way in time.

The hare hit her with its full weight, knocking her over and leaving her open to its needle-like teeth. Blood poured from her stomach where the bone spur sticking out of its hind leg gouged her, and its mouth clamped down on her already injured shoulder, drawing a scream out of her.

[Lunar Flare] bloomed around her, searing the monster and blistering her skin from the wash of heat. It was that or let herself be eaten, and she'd recover from burns. A second [Lunar Flare] followed that one, and with three solid shots laid down on the flash maw hare, it finally succumbed.

[You have slain a flash maw hare (level 14).]

[You have been awarded 1 decarma.]

[You have advanced to level 10. +1 Mental, +1 free point.]

[You have unlocked a new class skill slot.]

She would have been more excited about that if she wasn't still grappling with Vickers. Now that he had her on the ground, his pegleg wasn't hobbling him quite so much. He quickly climbed on top of her, one hand holding both of hers over her head and his other with a raised cane in it. "Should have heeded the call, stupid girl," he snarled.

Sildra has no idea what was wrong with the old man, but she wasn't about to let herself get beaten to death. Whatever the fallout was, she'd deal with it later. "Should have waited another half an hour to jump me," she said back.

[Lunar Flare] bloomed around Vickers, igniting his clothes in pale, moon-colored flames. The heat came and went in an instant, but that was long enough. Vickers hurled himself away from Sildra, screeching the whole while, and rolled back and forth across the ground as the skill burned him alive. She scrambled to her feet and scooped up his cane, though she wasn't sure whether it was to protect herself with it or just to deny him the weapon.

[You have slain a corrupted seed bearer (level 18).]

What the hell is a corrupted seed bearer?!