Sous walked the trail toward the tavern she was supposed to go to. She walked with a letter in her hand, her first mission. School had ended a week ago and her birthday would be coming soon. In the meantime, Shadow thought it would be good for her to go on her first mission on her own.
It was a simple mission. She had to go into the neighboring town next to Red Woods so as to buy some potions. Then she would travel to another town to deliver the potions to her client.
She managed to get to the tavern before dark and saw the man who was supposed to take her via carriage to the town.
The man slept in the front, both him and his horse were sleeping. Shadow said taking any other transportation mode would have been costly, something he didn't want to fork over at the moment. Shadow was still salty about Sous not getting the best marks on her herbology exam.
She rolled her eyes just thinking of it. Maybe she would do better next school year in Herbology 3. She hoped she got a different teacher. She wasn't sure she could handle another semester with Instructor Connors.
"Sir!" Sous called out to the man.
The man awoke with a start, nearly falling over in his seat. The horse also began to stir.
"Um, do you mind taking me to..." she looked down at the paper Shadow had given to her. "Antonia?" She asked.
The carriage driver wiped his eyes and sat up. "Ugh, he groaned. I hate going there. How much you paying?"
"I have twenty don."
He mopped and groaned, and coughed followed by a spit that landed near Sous' shoe. "Git in."
The carriage took a path where the trees dipped and a fog settled across the plains. It added an extra layer of spookiness.
"Why don't you like coming to this area?" Sous asked.
A howl was heard in the distance, more soon followed. Sous looked out the carriage window to try and see if she could see anything, but it was only black.
She leaned back in her seat, still holding the letter and disappointed the driver had ignored her question.
The howl came again.
"Its a little late for a hunt," Sous said.
"Hmm." Was the only response the driver gave.
Wolves don't hurt during night fall because their main prey was deer in this region. Deers weren't nocturnal.
BAM!
Sous found herself being knocked to the other side of the carriage. The driver smacked his lips and whiped his ropes at the horse. The horse let out a cry and started to run.
The ride became bumpy with Sous going from one corner to the next. When she found her balance, she looked out the window and saw a large werewolf running on all fours chasing after the carriage. The wolf had red eyes and red seals over some parts of its body like tattoos.
Sous quickly closed the curtain to the window. That thing was huge and scary. It made her shudder thinking about just how similar that thing looked to krampus.
Outside, the wolf raised it's claw and slammed it onto the carriage.
The carriage turned over and fell down a hill.
CRASH!
Sous quickly got out and felt the blood spill from her head. Her vision was blurry and she looked over to see if the horse and man was okay. The horse was fine but stuck to a tree, its reigns.
She ran over and used her claw to cut the reigns, the horse ran away into the fog and the night.
Moans came from the sight of the crash. She ran back to find the man with a broke leg at the knee. The bone stuck out.
Sous patted herself down and took out her wand. She started the process of healing the driver.
Grunts and growls came from a distance. She looked around her shoulder into the darkness and saw nothing. She licked her lips out of nervousness and went back to tending the driver.
SLASH!
Sous jumped away in time and landed on all fours, sliding back with the fog opening up for her. The large wolf stood before her, drool spilling from its mouth. She watched as it stood to its feet.
The wolf walked to the carriage and where the driver was. The driver began to scream especially as the wolf stepped on his stomach.
Sous charged at the wolf but with one motion, Sous flung to a tree, breaking it. She landed with a crash on the ground. She struggled to get up.
When she managed to get to her feet, she slowly made her way back to the driver. The wolf was holding him up by one foot and it opened its larged mouth wide.
The wolf quicky closed it then slammed the driver back onto the ground.
CRACK!
He landed on his arm and it broke upon impact to the ground.
Sous jumped toward the wolf but the wolf reached out and took Sous within its claw. The entire claw covered Sous' whole face. Sous tried to get the wolf to let go but the wolf squeezed hard around Sous' face. It was starting to cause pain and just like that, Sous was thrown once again.
She managed to get to her knees and her wand was still together. She aimed it at the wolf and called out the fire spell. She was amazed to see the wolf easily flick the spell to the side, having it collide to a tree.
The wolf held out its claw toward Sous and Sous felt herself being pulled like a magnet to the wolf.
The wolf stuck its claw into Sous with such force, it went through her body.
She spit out blood and twitched. The wolf used its foot and kicked Sous off of its arm. Sous fell to the ground, eyes wide open, bleeding heavily.
Sous laid there. She watched the wolf sit down and took the driver's foot into its mouth. The wolf began to eat the driver, all the while the driver screamed, yelled until his throat was hoarse.
She had to witness him get eaten alive in front of her. She turned her head to not look at it. There was enough strength in her body to do that. But then, another claw was on her head and it forced her to watch the driver be eaten alive.
"Tsk," came out of Sous' mouth, still bleeding where she was with a gaping wound in her stomach. Her vision blurred and then it was black.
A rain drop driped into a puddle, creating ripples.
Sous opened her eyes to see her father sitting in front of her, cross legged.
"You never did reach that medium," he laughed. He rubbed his hand in her wild hair. "You're growing so fast."
All kinds of emotions ran through her mind and her body. With it all, the only thing she could say was, "Daddy."
Puimo cuffed his daughter's cheeks, smiling as her tears covered his large hands. He smiled gently at her, his body glowing a crisp of blue light and blue particles lifting from his body.
He leaned forward and kissed Sous on the forehead.
Sous awoke laying down in the night. Blue particles lifted from her body. She tilted her head up, weak and stiff. The hole in her stomach was slowly patching itself up. The blue particles acting as a source of materials and minerals needed to bring her stomach together again.
Her head fell back onto the ground. She was just so exhausted. She closed her eyes once more and didn't wake until the morning.
She rubbed her eyes and got to her feet carefully. Still sore from the previous night, she looked down at her stomach and saw there was a large hole in her shirt but the hole in her stomach was gone.
"Was that a dream?" She whispered. She felt the area of her stomach, feeling that it was in fact put together again. She looked around and soon saw the carriage, mangled and broken.
She ran to it, seeing the amount of blood told her it wasn't a dream but a nightmare. She picked up her wand, thinking her lack of spellcasting ability was another reason she wasn't accepted onto the dueling club for the second year in the row.
Mud and dirt filled her hands as she climbed her way up the hill toward the trail. The trees barely allowed any light to come through and the fog was still there, just not as thin.
On her own, she walked the trail until she got to a fork in the road. Unsure of where to go, she continued straight but then she found herself back in the fork but this time there were three street signs.
"What the-?"
She stepped to the street signs. They read Antonia, Antonio, Antonian. She took the path of Antonia and found herself back in the fork in the road. This time the sign, Antonia, was pointing in a different direction.
"What is-?" Sous continued in the direction and again, she was back in the fork with the sign facing a different direction. It wasn't until she attempted four more times did she finally see a town up ahead.
Sous stepped forward, in awe at how the town glowed red. She looked down at the mission paper once more and proceeded toward the town of Antonia.