Through a small window in the side wall of our carriage, I watched as the plains gave way to a broken, mountainous landscape. The edges of the road were dotted with shattered carts and wooden boxes, partially buried beneath the snow. The blanket of snow softened the scene, sparing it from being utterly gruesome, though it remained deeply unsettling.

  There had been no proper burial for the fleeing peasants caught by the monster horde.

  I yawned and stretched my arms, the cold air coming from the window helping to keep me awake.

  “You should take a nap, Miss Gift. You stayed up inventorying the supplies until late,” said Blueberry, her sympathy slightly misplaced due to the social lie I told her.

  “Thanks, Blue. I think I’ll follow your suggestion.” I replied rubbing my eyes.

  My little escapade with Uther ended up taking more time than I had anticipated. I suppose we both had some pent-up stress that last night’s ‘inventorying’ helped to relieve.

  I closed the window and wrapped myself in a blanket. Nestling among the boxes in a position that was tolerably uncomfortable, I lowered my head and closed my eyes, attuned to the rocky movements of the carriage, the creaking sounds, and the faint, indeterminate smell of the supply boxes. I felt myself drifting away…

  And then everything exploded.

  Something massive slammed into the side of our cart, splintering the wood and hurling the boxes and barrels on that side toward us.

  There wasn’t a single conscious thought in my mind as I instinctively grabbed Blue and pulled her into my box nest, which barely kept her from being crushed.

  What followed was utter chaos. A deafening cracking sound, the sensation of falling, and complete darkness enveloped me. Everything shifted violently around me, and I had no idea what was happening or what to do.

  I felt a sharp, painful impact on my back against the wall, followed by a loud stomping sound, and suddenly, light flooded my eyes.

  My head spun as I tried to regain my bearings.

  I looked around, dazed and confused. The cart had toppled to its side, and the force of the impact had torn the ceiling open. Boxes and barrels were piled over us, and it was only the box nest—and an extraordinary stroke of luck—that spared us from being crushed to death.

  Outside, there were shouts and screams, but that was a problem for later.

  I tried to move, and unsurprisingly, everything hurt. My left arm, however, was far worse. I placed my hand over my forearm and felt a warm wetness.

  This is not good, I thought euphemistically, as I stared at the palm of my right hand, now covered in blood.

  I tested if I could move my left arm. I could move it, it hurt like hell, but at least I could still use it.

  “Blue … Are you ok?” I asked in a weak, trembling voice.

  No reply.

  She was close, so I looked at her. Her head was covered in blood.

  “No, no, no, no…” My voice was tinged with panic and disbelief.

  Ignoring my pain, I crawled out from under the boxes. As soon as I was free, I turned to check her vitals.

  Thank the Gods, she had a pulse and was still breathing. She was just unconscious. The blood came from a cut on her forehead, but I couldn’t assess whether it was serious or not.

  Suddenly, there was an explosion nearby. The precariously piled boxes above us began to sway.

  Without a moment’s hesitation, I grabbed the collar of her dress with both hands and started pulling. The pain flared in my arm, but I ignored it entirely. Grunting from exertion and agony, I managed to dislodge her.

  I could hear the sounds of battle against an unknown foe, but at that moment, my entire world narrowed to the task of dragging Blue away from the collapsing pile of boxes. I had been the one who invited her on this trip, she was my responsibility, and I couldn’t bear the thought of something happening to her.

  You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

  Centimeter by agonizing centimeter, I managed to drag Blue to a safe distance as the pile finally crumbled. I rolled her behind a boulder at the edge of the road to provide some protection.

  I stood up with a grunt of pain and scanned the scene to understand what was happening.

  I felt a cold wave inside me and took a step back, my legs almost faltering as I did so. There was this primal urge to drop everything and run, but I could not do even that.

  The group was fighting three grotesque winged creatures made of solid stone, that as if mocking the laws of the world, danced effortlessly in the winds, circling and attacking with unnatural speed. One of them was particularly large, like a draconic statue given life, and he held one of the knights by the throat, hovering five meters above the ground.

  Of all the creatures born from the Abyss, it had to be gargoyles.

  It wasn’t just that these terrifying horrors were far more powerful than your average monsters, with their solid stone bodies, razor-sharp claws that could effortlessly cut through steel, and the ability to fly with a dexterity that seemed impossible for creatures of their size.

  It was a personal terror.

  A flock of gargoyles decimated the medical team I was serving with during the siege. They descended from the ramparts and began slaughtering us with wanton abandon, so close that the blood and bits of flesh from my comrades splattered on me. My survival had been pure luck, there was nothing I could have done if one of the monsters had looked at me instead of another nurse.

  It was as if my legs had been frozen, and my feet nailed to the ground. I could feel myself being dragged into one of the many nightmares that I had about those terrible moments. I wanted to drop to my knees and cry, retreat inside myself, anything to escape from that.

  Instead, I grabbed my wounded left arm and squeezed as hard as I could.

  I grunted in pain, the agony flaring like a burning white light, filling the entirety of my mind, drowning any other thought. The torment grounded me in the present.

  The gigantic gargoyle was using the knight as a shield. Dahlia and our combat mage were ready to cast, but anything they tried would turn the knight into minced meat before the monster received a single scratch.

  Before my mind started acting up again, I put the fake circlet of monster control on my head and ran in the direction of the fight.

  “Stop! Stop. Everybody stop!” I screamed and then turned to the hovering gargoyle. “Please, put him down, gently. Please.” My voice did that strange thing, and the gargoyles froze and looked at me. If their stone faces could express emotions, I believe they would have looked confused.

  “Do as she says,” Uther confirmed my order to the rest of our group. They stood down but remained on guard.

  The enormous gargoyle descended with unexpected grace, opening his hand and letting the knight fall. The man scrambled away as fast as he could.

  “Thank you.”

  The monster stared at me, scanning me from head to toe, evaluating me.

  “You speak with the voice of the Gods,” the gargoyle declared in a deep, gravelly voice.

  “Apparently, I do, yes,” I replied, doing my best to sound friendly and polite in front of the three-meter-tall stone murder machine. “I hope we didn’t offend you in any way to provoke this attack.”

  “Not at all, Messenger of the Gods. We live in these mountains. There are plenty of tasty rocks, but not much to do, and I grew tired of hunting. When I saw your group, I decided to attack for sport. I never considered that someone as important as you would be traveling with these humans. I apologize for that.”

  “I understand, it was an honest mistake,” I said, though as far as randomly assaulting people goes, at least. “But... you see, attacking humans is usually not a great idea. They can send adventurers to assassinate you, and while I know you can take them in a fair fight,” I emphatically reassured him, “they will use every underhanded tactic in the book to try and kill you. Honestly, it doesn’t seem worth the trouble to me.”

  “Yeah... I think you may be right,” he muttered, glancing at a pile of scattered stones, probably one of his comrades exploded by one of our mages. “I will try to avoid killing humans... if possible.”

  Well, that was as much as I could hope for.

  “We will leave then,” he said, bowing his head slightly. “I’m sorry we hurt you.”

  As he and his companions turned to leave, something gnawed at the back of my mind.

  “Just one thing…” I called out to him and asked. “You said you hunt as a pastime, right?”

  “Yes, miss. I like to hunt boars that live beyond these mountains. There’s not much else to do around here.” He turned back to me, his massive wings sending a chilly gust as he moved them.

  I looked at his body, entirely made of stone.

  “Do you eat meat?”

  “No, of course not,” he replied, sounding disgusted. “I hunt only to witness the terror of my prey as I chase them.”

  A very monster-like reason…

  “What do you do with the carcasses?”

  “Nothing. I just leave them there,” he said, shrugging.

  An idea sparked, a good one this time. I thought carefully about how to phrase it, how to present my proposition:

  “If that’s the case, can I ask you a favor? There’s a village along this road, to the left. It’s about a day’s travel by carriage, but for you, flying, it would only take minutes. Could you leave the carcasses of the animals you hunt in that village?”

  “Why?”

  “They’re starving, and it’s troubling me greatly. I’d be incredibly grateful if you could do that for me. But there’s also something in it for you,” I said with a mischievous smile. “You mentioned that there’s not much to do around here and that you’re bored, right? This could be a pet project to pass the time. Imagine how confused the villagers will be, seeing a monster as powerful as you saving them without reason or warning. Fear, surprise, gratitude—all mixed together. I think it would be hilarious.”

  The monster stared at me for long, long moments… and then he started to laugh. The sound he emitted was akin to an earthquake for my companions.

  “That sounds interesting, I think it will be fun. But also, consider this my apology for the discourtesy of attacking your procession and hurting you, Messenger of the Gods.”

  They turned back and flew away.

  I watched them go, a friendly smile plastered on my face.

  But as soon as I deemed them far enough away, I crumbled.