Oh no...
Feyra turned around and saw a wolf-like creature standing on its legs in the back towering over her.
This is a horned wolf... They have the specialty of being able to stand on their legs in the back to tower over anything before them and making them scared.
I'll be honest... I'm a little scared too...
She looked up for a while before she started to run back towards the village looking back over and over again to make sure the horned wolf wasn't following her.
She arrived in the village completely out of breath and saw Mary as the first person who came over to her.
"What did you see?", she asked looking concerned. All the farmers had gathered around her too and were looking at her.
"It's a horned wolf. I can defeat it. I just need a sword for that and I'll do so tomorrow. Now it's getting a little late which would only be to the horned wolf's advantage.", Feyra explained.
The farmers looked at each other before nodding in unison.
"Thank you already for finding out what it is.", the farmer at the front said.
The eccentric farmer who was further in the back started with his performance saying it's a monster.
He isn't wrong... A horned wolf is a monster.
"Oh Lord wielding fire protect us and our saviour!", he said before the other farmers dragged him away.
"Who is that Lord wielding fire?", Feyra asked finally catching her breath again. Mary looked after them before she turned her attention to Feyra again.
"He is speaking of Origin. More I don't know either though.", she answered before she signaled for Feyra to come with her.
"You can stay in the orphanage for the night."
Feyra went with Mary to a small room in the orphanage. It had cleaning utensils in it and various other things like buckets for washing.
"It's sadly the only room I have free.", Mary said looking at the shabby looking room. It may have looked shabby but it had some more important things inside.
"It's fine. I can make due with it. It has a spare bed at least.", Feyra said and went over to the bed. It wasn't particularly soft but also not too hard. The blanket wasn't too warm and the room in general was kept rather cool but that wouldn't matter to Feyra who could live in various places most humans couldn't live in.
Mary nodded before she went off to the children who were calling for her. Feyra looked around the room and put down her bags onto the bed. She took out the notebook and looked over the details she had already.
I'm on my way to the Capital. It's been quite a bit since I left the kingdom now. Let's see where this journey will bring me.
A while later the children were running around and asking for food. Mary told them that they had already eaten and that they had no sweets.
Only a few minutes later did the orphanage become completely silent. A knock came on the door and Feyra went to open it.
"The children are sleeping and I'm going soon to bed too. If you need anything you can look around or come to my room in the basement.", Mary said having a lamp in her hand. In the other she held another unlit lamp which she held to Feyra.
"Thank you. Have a good night.", she said before closing the door again and putting the lamp next to her bed.
She also should rest if she planned to take on that monster later.
The next morning Feyra woke up with the first rays of sunlight that came through the small window at the top of the wall. This room may have seemed more like a prison cell knowing where the window was.
However, it could be used for various things such as storing items or for a quick stay.
Feyra went out into the hallway rubbing her eyes. For the night she had taken off her leather armour and was only in her oversized linen clothes.
"Already awake? That's quite early.", Mary came holding a tray with bread and butter.
"The sunlight woke me up. No need to worry. How long I sleep doesn't matter if I slept on other days.", she said and looked at Mary who was smiling and looking her up and down.
"Aren't those a bit too big for you? Your decolleté can be almost seen completely.", Mary said hinting at her clothes.
Feyra looked down and started to search for the strings that had been attached at the top to close it.
"My bad. Usually I can adjust it. I got them from someone in the Kingdom who helped me. He was indeed taller than me so these linen clothes are a little big.", she answered finally able to close the top a bit more.
"I'll give you another set that fits better. We have a lot of them in varying sizes. Children are growing after all.", she said and walked towards a big hall.
Feyra followed her and was surprised seeing that the big hall was a dining hall with a lot of light shining in. The tables were placed in a circle and in the middle was another long table. In the corners were areas to play for the children while another had a bookshelf and a fireplace.
As Feyra looked up she even saw an organ being there.
"It's so bright.", Feyra remarked stunned. Mary came over and held a set of clothes to her.
"This was an old abandoned church. The people didn't want to build it up to be a church anymore so we now use it as an orphanage.", Mary explained showing at the intricate design patterns of the remaining original windows. They depicted the Lord and various Angels.
The craftsmanship is very good. The pictures are also befitting to the Lord... As far as he is still alive... I'm glad this could be used as something else than a church too. These buildings are as always a marvel of architecture and craftsmanship.
Feyra looked further at the designs and windows. Mary seemed a little unsure why Feyra was looking that long but she also didn't want to disturb her thoughts.
A while later she couldn't keep her mouth shut anymore and had to ask. "Are you believing in the Lord?"
Feyra looked at her and smiled. "No. I never believed in the Lord and I'll never believe in him. But if some sayings are right... Then who knows if he still exists."
After that she left the hall and went back to her room.
Feyra skipped the breakfast and immediately went to the forge to get a sword for training first. She had asked if they had straw puppets or a wooden one. Greyl, while looking often pensive, was kind and gave her an older sword he had made when he was still learning.
"For a bit of training it can be used. As for some puppets just go around the house and you'll find some.", he said before taking up his hammer again.
"May I ask why you always look like this?"
"My expression? Because everyone thinks I'm not in a good mood? That's all wrong. I just look like this because I'm concentrated on my work.", Greyl answered and smiled.
"Never judge a book by its cover. You're truly kind. I'll be around the house for a while then.", Feyra answered and went the path as described.
Behind the house was a large place for training with quite a few puppets made of various materials. Knowing the sword wasn't the best Feyra chose the straw puppet.
She took on her usual stance and started revisiting the training from her memories.
In the past she had truly done a few things that got her in trouble and one of this was joining the knights.
While the Father was unable to drag her back to the shrine he allowed her to stay but didn't welcome it. She later became the princess' personal guard given how well they knew each other and how much the Father hated seeing her with the knights.
In that time she had also trained a lot with the sword and was able to defend Princess Loreen as well as the common people.
However, in the end all this training didn't help her protect Loreen from having an early death.
She should've lived long and died a natural death... But in turn she now is not even remembered properly. I still don't know why all these things happened. Was it really my fault as the Father had said?
A voice drifted back in her mind from shortly before she passed out.
"Why!? Just why!?", she was crying. In front of her Loreen's body.
"Look at what you've done. This is all your fault. Her death and the whole situation.", the Father said just looking down at her with his hands behind his back.
"Liar! It's not my fault! I'll... I'll..."
"What will you do? Revenge? Hah. That won't happen. You'll be punished for your wrongdoings.", he said looking down at the figure on the ground whose wings were white with a pattern like splattered ink.
"Don't you know what I am!? Do you really want me..."
"What are you? A God? Hah. You're no longer a god. You're now a Fallen Angel. You've lost your mind and killed her.", he said trying to signal for the others to hold her down.
Feyra didn't budge and couldn't be held down.
"Liar! Liar! She was already lying here when I arrived! What did you do!?"
The memories were a bit hazy and some parts were missing but Feyra's mind had summarzied what had happened.
Feyra hit the puppet hard in that moment with all these emotions surging back to her.
Why? What happened? All of this... The past... I need to find out everything.
She looked at the sword in her hand and noticed she had shattered it with this last attack. Even the puppet was only hanging on one straw and bending to the side.
"I'm sorry...", she said scratching her head and making her way back to Greyl.
"Did you train well?", he asked looking up from his work and stopping.
"Well... I may have trained a bit too much... The sword is broken and the straw puppet is pretty much... Cut in half...", she explained in some broken sentences being unsure how to say that she couldn't control her strength thinking back.
"It's fine. They're there for training. I've made you a sword for this evening. Use it against the monster. It's not good so I suppose it'll break. Please try your best.", Greyl said handing her a new sword.
"Thank you. I'll defeat the monster at any cost."
The sun was setting and Feyra was starting to move up the hill towards the fields. On top of it she stopped for a while to look at the sunset but ultimately she didn't have the time to stay there until it got dark.
I should hide in the tree again for now. The monster is nowhere to be seen.
Feyra climbed the tree and waited for a shadow to appear.
By now it had gotten dark but the shadow hadn't come yet. She jumped down from the tree and went around the fields trying to lure it out.
Now it's not here!? Seriously!?
Feyra shook her head before she sighed and walked one more round across the fields seeing if she had perhaps missed out something, but it was for naught.
Perhaps I should go on the hill and see if it comes then. Or it feels that I want to defeat it... That would be bad.
She had no other choice than to move and walk up the hill again. As she arrived on top of it she looked up and saw the full moon. It was just an ordinary full moon not like some stories told.
A shame... Seems I can't...
Her thoughts stopped and Feyra turned around before she blocked an attack and was thrown backwards.
It was behind me again!? At least you've still shown up. Now let me fight and defeat you once and for all! The fights begins!