I raced towards the shout, looking around for Agnes.
She was standing by a campfire, fighting against two Ghouls, while a young man, probably in his late teens, was lying on the ground behind her, shakily holding a scimitar.
Agnes swung her flail at one of them, hitting her square in the jaw with a solid crack.
The Ghoul's head jerked to the side, drool shooting out of her mouth. She staggered back as Agnes fired a beam of energy at her, a blackened hole appearing in the Ghoul's stomach. Smoke began pouring out of the Ghoul as she crumpled to the ground, dead.
Agnes sighed for a second, before she was hit from behind by the other Ghoul.
I unsheathed my sword as I raced towards her.
Agnes was pinned to the ground under the Ghoul, who's drool was dripping down onto Agnes's face as she leaned forward, looking like she was about to kiss Agnes.
I slammed my shield into her side, and the Ghoul staggered backwards, kicking up sand over the campfire as she fell backwards.
The flames flickered out, leaving the campsite in moonlight. I slammed my sword into the Ghoul's chest, black blood spurting out like a fountain, coating my chain shirt.
Now that the Ghouls were dealt with, I looked around, the faint moonlight offered some illumination, but it was hard to see in the dark.
I looked up, and saw a shadow flicker across the moon, then two more. Were those clouds? They looked too fast to be clouds?
Agnes slowly stood up. "I could've handled that myself... you need rest."
I shook my head. "I-"
Then something hit me.
I felt sharp talons slash across my back, the talons digging into the chain shirt, breaking off a solid chunk.
I whipped around, squinting in the faint moonlight, but I couldn't make anything out...
The talons slashed across my side this time, grazing past my skin, leaving a wound that felt hot to the touch, but didn't hurt...
The beating of wings was now heavily apparent as more and more talons kept raking across my body, leaving more and more of those hot, throbbing wounds.
I could hear the young merchant make a little yelp of horror before trying to take off running, but I heard several voices cackle with excitement and I soon heard him scream out again and hit the ground.
"Wh-What's going on?!" Agnes said, "I can't see anything!"
"Hehehehe..." a voice giggled right by my right ear, "let's have some fun together, shall we?"
I swung my sword to the right, but I hit nothing but air.
"Missed me." The voice was now in my left ear. "Cmon, let's skip all this battling nonsense and get right to the good part, don't you agree?"
I swung to my left, hitting nothing.
Then I saw a face suddenly appear in my vision. In the darkness, I couldn't make out much of it, but it appeared feminine, and it tilted its head at me.
I swung at it, and it backed up. Well, it flew backwards. I now noticed the large wings it had for arms as it kicked backwards to dodged my strike.
"Naughty naughty." The voice said, before diving straight for me, knocking me to the ground.
I felt the weight of this creature on top of me, and looked up to see the outline of a humanoid shape with large, angular ears on the top of her head.
"Let's have some fun, shall we? I'm going to enjoy this... and you should too..."
I swung the sword at her, but from my prone position, it was difficult to hit her.
"Heh... feisty, aren't you? That's okay... I like that..."
She leaned downwards, and I tried to turn my head.
Her wings wrapped around the sides of my head, forcing me to look at her as she planted her lips onto mine.
This is the second time I've been kissed by a monster, unwillingly, by the way.
I tried to clamp my lips together, resisting her, but her probing tongue forced its way through... and again my mouth was the toy of some horrific monster.
"Mmmmmmm..." the monster hummed to herself happily.
"Anon!" Agnes stumbled about, looking for me nearby, before snapping her fingers, and a bright light appeared above her, illuminating everything around her.
I met eyes with the creature holding me hostage. Her skin was incredibly pale, like she hadn't seen the sun in a long time, and her hair was a faded purple color, hanging down and covering her eyes. Two giant bat ears stuck out on her head, and two large bat wings had replaced her arms. Her feet were talons that were currently clenching onto my legs, keeping me pinned underneath her.
Agnes screamed again. "G-get off of him!" And fired a bright blue beam of energy straight at the monster.
The monster looked up and underneath all that hair, a got a glimpse of her eyes widening in terror as the blast hit her, sending her sprawling backwards onto the ground.
I looked behind me to see the young merchant was being hassled by two more of these things, but the second Agnes casted that light spell, the two of them stopped, looking up in alarm.
The young man reached down and swung his scimitar, slashing at the wings of one of them. They let out a shriek and tried to fly off, but one of their wings had been cut by the sword, and one of them fell down onto the ground. The young merchant slashed downwards, a thick stream of blood flowing from the blade after that first cut.
It sliced through the monster's shoulder, and down through her torso in a diagonal, and the monster fell limp, a large pool of blood forming from underneath her.
The other one was still flying up in the air, watching the whole exchange as Agnes fired a beam of light at it, hitting it in the head. It staggered a bit, and Agnes fired a second time, this one hitting its wings. It fell to the ground, and the merchant slashed at that one two, kicking it while it was down.
I turned to the one that was on me, and I raised my sword.
I paused for a second.
The monster was shaking. Physically shaking. She looked up at me, and pushed back some of her hair, and for a second I saw eyes welling up with scared tears, as her lip quivered.
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry..." she whimpered, lowering her head towards me, "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry..."
She kept apologizing to me, and part of me felt bad. However, a larger part of me was a little upset at that forced kissing. Still though, I can't kill someone while they're sitting there like this...
"Tell me why you came here, now!" I said, holding my sword up to her neck.
The merchant and Agnes approached me. "There isn't a point in talking to monsters..." the merchant began.
Agnes clutched her holy symbol, and it started to glow. She looked on with murder in her eyes. "And she attacked you! Look at your armor! Not to mention how violated you must feel right now!"
"I'll handle it." I said, "but first, I want to know why they attacked us."
The monster sniffled, wiping her nose with one of her wings. She was wearing brown, torn rags around her chest and waist, and while in the dark her form was tall and somewhat intimidating, she seemed to have shrunken down, looking up at me fearfully.
"Y-you're not going to kill me?" She asked, her voice wavering a little bit.
Agnes and the merchant looked at me as I sighed and sheathed my sword. Agnes opened her mouth to object but I stopped her.
"Look at her." I said, "I can't kill her like this..."
Agnes looked back at the monster and I saw pity in her eyes. She sighed, and nodded.
"Please. I'll do it." The merchant stepped forward and brandished his scimitar.
Agnes and I stopped him.
"What's wrong with you two? Can't you kill a simple monster?"
"Look at her." I said, and he turned back to her, watching her shaking form as she looked up at him. "I can't kill someone who's scared that badly. If you want to, by all means."
Me and Agnes waited, and the merchant stared at us.
"You guys are soft."
He swung his scimitar downwards, and it clanged against a wall of blue energy.
The monster looked around, surprised, as she was surrounded in a blue forcefield.
I swung the pommel of my sword at the merchant, knocking him out.
"Anon!" Agnes said, her eyes widening.
"I know." I picked up the unconscious body of the merchant, "take him to his carriage, please. At best he remembers it all as a bad dream. At worst... well, I suppose we'll figure it out as we go."
"I'm not leaving you with this monster."
"I should be fine. Besides, in this state, is she gonna hurt anyone?"
She looked over at the monster, and back at me. "...okay." She took the merchant and headed back towards the carriages, taking her light with her.
I was lost in darkness again, and then I heard the monster speak.
"Hehehehe... now that SHE'S gone, let's have some real fun!"
I turned around as she lunged at me, staggering me back as her talons started clawing at my armor.
"Cmon, get outta that stuffy old armor already! I'm raring to go! Take your clothes off now or I'll rip them off myself!"
Woah woah woah woah woah.
Knowing she had the advantage in the dark, I pushed her back and started scrambling for a torch. I grabbed one from my pack and lit it, bringing it up to her face right as she lunged at me again.
As soon as the torch flared up, she jumped backwards, shrinking back down into a submissive position, shaking badly.
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry," she began bowing her head again, "please don't kill me, I'm so, so, so, so, so-"
"Then why did you attack me again? And also, what was that you yelled at me?"
"I-I-I just wanted to make you feel good..." she began shifting about. Her shaking had subsided a little bit, but now she was awkwardly fidgeting with her wings. It was kind of adorable, but I wasn't gonna admit that to her. Wait a minute. Is she implying that she was gonna... "I'm sorry if that made you uncomfortable... please punish me however you see fit!" She said, and then she leapt at me.
I brandished my sword to slash at her, but she wrapped her wings around my leg, holding her body close to mine, looking up at me. Through the strands of her hair I could see her eyes. They were a dark mustard yellow, and she lacked any pupils.
"Get off of me." I shook my leg, but she just held on tighter. This was ridiculous. She wasn't tall by any means, but she wasn't a goblin. This was a fully grown woman clinging to my leg like a toddler.
She looked up at me as I tried kicking her off. Didn't work. I unsheathed my sword and held it threateningly at her.
Her eyes widened, but she didn't budge.
I sighed, sheathing the sword.
She smiled a little at me. It was a sweet, nervous looking smile, and I noticed two small fangs peeking out from her mouth. God damn it. Why is she adorable?
"Anon, I'm back-" Agnes arrived, and noticed the scene. She gasped, "Let go of him!" She yelled, and fired a blast of energy at the monster.
The monster looked up at her nervously, and I created a barrier around us, shielding her from the blast.
"Agnes, it's fine. She isn't attacking me."
"But..."
I shook my leg again, and she let go, but this time she flew behind me, into my shadow.
I looked back at her, "do you have a home? We should take you there before everyone wakes up, and then you'll definitely be killed."
She shook her head. "I don't want to go home. I want to stay here with you."
"Absolutely not." Agnes stepped forward and tried to grab the monster by the ears. The monster dodged, and clung to my side again.
I looked at the two of them, considering the options. The monster is aggressive, but if the theory I'm crafting is right, she loses all aggression in light. "We're heading to the capital. It'll be even more dangerous there than here."
"You can't be serious." Agnes said, her face souring a bit.
"We can't just leave her here! We killed her colony, it's the least we could do to protect her until we get to the capital."
The monster smiled at me again, "I'd love to go to the capital. Anywhere with you~"
Agnes walked towards us and began pulling the monster off of me. "Fine. You can come with us, but you're gonna be under my watch the whole time."
"What?" The monster's eyes widened, "but I wanted to stay with... Anon...?" She looked towards me, looking for confirmation. I nodded.
"That's my name." I said, smiling a little bit. Hopefully we could handle one monster. However, we'd have to hide her from everyone else... which could be an issue.
"What's yours?" I asked her.
"Felandria." She said, smiling.
You know, when I started adventuring a few days ago, I didn't expect to gain a monster as a party member... however, I guess things don't always go the way you'd expect. Maybe monsters aren't all what humans say they are. This may be the perfect chance to understand them.
