The long carriage ride was either made delightfully shorter or achingly longer depending on who was asked, as Vow had managed to entrap Consanguine in an endless interrogation regarding her job as an adventurer. Vow''s soft voice came out in her usual, slow stunted flow, each word requiring much deliberation and thought to say correctly. "So, people. pay you to. hurt?" Or as correctly as she could manage.


    The merchant had no idea how Consanguine still held that amicably welcoming smile. He wasn''t even the one talking with Vow, and he was getting exhausted from her incessant and tragically basic questions.


    Consanguine responded. "It''s not about hurting someone but about protecting others. Monsters and mokoi are very dangerous, so people need us adventurers to go out and stop them before they hurt anyone."


    Even from behind the mask it was obvious to see that Vow was very confused by this, her head tilting slightly as she processed the answer. "But. if you job is to hurt, before they hurt. Then that mean you job is to hurt... people who haven''t done. Emyfang.. um amyfing? anything bad yet."


    "Well, the only reason that there is a request to stop those creatures is because they have already been spotted doing bad things."


    Vow was mulling over what apparently to her seemed like a very complex answer. "Why would thing hurt. different thing?"


    Consanguine shrugged dismissively, "They probably just want food or to expand their territory."


    "No sharing?"


    Consanguine chuckled softly. "Well, food for them would be little girls like you, so that probably would not be for the best." she accented her statement with a little finger poke to the child''s nose, or at least where Consanguine assumed the nose to be under that mask.


    Vow''s eyes widened with concern. It was hard to tell through the mask''s eyelets, but Consanguine briefly thought she had made out an eye colour that was not brown. It was a concerning thought easily dismissed under the cuteness of Vow pondering over Consanguine''s words. "No. I... agreement. It not be for the best"


    Consanguine waited patiently, allowing Vow the space to digest this new information. It was adorably obvious when she was lining up for another question. "So, things bad because... they hurt other things, because it good for them. And you good, because you hurt other things, because it good for you?"


    Consanguine let out a soft laugh, reaching over to gently pat Vow''s jet-black hair. "It''s not the same. They''re not human. Of course, you shouldn''t kill other living things without a care in the world, but we have to do what is best for our species before allowing others to do what''s best for them. There''s a hierarchy to these things. Some life is just more important than others."


    Vow was wholly unconvinced by this argument and released a disapproving grumble to show it. Consanguine tried to hide how cute she found the child''s annoyance, but failed miserably which only made the child even more annoyed.


    Before their conversation could continue anymore, Consanguine''s fancily dressed companion urgently shouted, "I can sense a really potent sou-"


    His words were abruptly stopped short when a solid cloud of swarming Arcana blew through the cloth cover of the wagon and eviscerated any crate or good it contacted into a fine mist. The cloud barreled further and, upon contacting her companion, completely dismantled his body into a red powder, which mixed along with the swirling cloud of nightmarish death. The magical haze went uninterrupted in its trajectory and surged past them, whipping through the air and bursting out the side of the carriage.


    As the cloud of Arcana escaped, it ate through one of the wagon''s wheels, tearing it off its axle and dropping the entire carriage to skid across the dirt road and lurch to a jarring halt. The horses screamed in panic, struggling under the sudden weight that pressed them down, their hooves skidding on the dirt road as the wagon''s motion ceased entirely.


    Consanguine''s mind raced with a million cries of horror and fear, but there was no time to mourn her companion''s brutal demise. With steely focus, she shouted at the top of her lungs, "Magical beast southeast!" Without hesitation, the other adventurers leapt from their carriages and readied for the incoming threat.


    Consanguine looked through the tear in the side of the cart, her gaze following the direction from which the attack had come. She first noticed that they had been caught by a wide open field, so there would be no cover save for their carriages. Despite the open surroundings, she saw no sign of the enemy, nothing but the endless stretch of grass and sky. But then—she paused, narrowing her eyes.


    A small blur on the horizon caught her attention, faint but unmistakably moving. She squinted, focusing with all her might, trying to make sense of the distant shape. The creature was far too distant for any details to be clear, but one thing was certain: it was coming. Fast.


    The blur accelerated, charging toward the caravan with an alarming, nightmarish speed.


    The other adventurers had also spotted the approaching enemy. A few of the wizards saw something in the air no one else could, and the more reactive of them swiftly raised their hands and conjured shimmering barriers. The air grew thick with magical energy as their arcane shields materialized, their glowing surfaces tense with anticipation. The barriers were completed just in time as a following volley of arcane clouds struck.


    Three separate clouds of seething, corrosive magic whipped through the air like a storm of venom and slammed into the hastily erected barrier. The clouds easily dissipated with an anticlimactic whiff, leaving only the faint smell of burnt ozone in their wake. The entire exchange was eerily silent and demonstrated none of the terrible force that Consanguine knew those clouds were capable of.


    As the monstrous foe, still little more than a blur, closed the distance, the archers loosed their arrows. The creature, relentless and unshaken, retaliated with terrifying speed—hurtling its own missile through the air with a whistling shriek. It soared much faster than the arrows, being fired after but arriving at its target first.


    Despite the wizards reinforcing their barriers, the spear punctured through the magic effortlessly like the shields were mere paper. The weapon plunged straight through one of the wizard''s chests and gently landed on the ground behind him. The man crumpled to the ground dead, but the spear remained upright, balancing on its tip without piercing an inch into the soft dirt.Enjoying the story? Show your support by reading it on the official site.


    This was no ordinary weapon. The spear pulsed with unnatural life, its surface rippling like something breathing. Beneath the outer layer of viscous flesh, shifting limbs twisted and squirmed in a grotesque dance.


    The movement inside the spear grew more frantic, jerking violently as its limbs fought to break free of their fleshy prison. In moments, the spear transformed, growing a twisted imitation of legs and a single arm. The creature—part spear, part something so much worse—lurched toward a nearby adventurer, its movements erratic and unpredictable.


    Four more of the organic spears followed suit and pierced the crumbling barrier. They, too, upon landing, balancing impossibly by their tips, started to morph into grotesque fleshy amalgams.


    Chaos immediately erupted throughout the caravan.


    Adventurers scrambled to react, but the damage had already been done. Consanguine sprang from her cart, her sword drawn in one smooth motion as she charged toward the nearest spear-creature.


    The grotesque weapon swung around to face her, and she was confronted with what looked like a crying goat''s face, trying to push through the veil of the spear''s flesh. The horrifying monstrosity leapt at the woman, but it was too slow. With a swift, clean strike, Consanguine sliced through the spear''s fleshy body, cleaving it in two. The creature writhed violently on the ground, its form contorting and attempting to reshape itself into two smaller, twitching versions of its original self.


    Consanguine''s mind raced as she observed the creature''s unrelenting transformation. Was it even possible to kill something like this? The thought flickered, but there was no time to dwell on it. As the creature began to stir once more, preparing for another attack, she reacted instinctively. With ruthless aggression, she hacked into it again, cutting the writhing mass into smaller and smaller pieces until, hopefully, it was simply too small to cause damage.


    A sudden pressure from behind pulled at Consanguine''s attention. Spinning around, she saw the charging monster bearing down toward their magical defences. It would have looked like a normal buck if it hadn''t been for its behemoth size and ludicrously long teal fur that blanketed it like a long coat.


    The creature did not slow. It barreled right through the magical barrier, the incredible magical defences shattering without a sound. The monster continued charging forth and plowed over one of the carriages. The wooden structure splintered and exploded under the monstrous force, torn to smithereens in a single, unstoppable charge.


    The creature finally stopped its charge and turned to face its stunned audience. That corrosive cloud from earlier oozed out of the monster''s antlers, piling at its feet and oozing across the battlefield.


    Without any hesitation, Consanguine charged towards the gargantuan opponent with her blade raised. She leapt over the pooling cloud with a vengeful cry, blade swinging down toward the monster''s exposed neck. Time felt to slow down, and she could see the cloud consciously rise to meet her.


    She knew what the cloud could do. She had seen it melt stone and flesh alike. This attack would kill her; she was certain of it. But there was no turning back now. All she could do was focus on her strike and pray that she could land it before the deadly mist reached her.


    To Consanguine''s shock, the cloud never touched her. As it neared, she saw something strange—the fabric of reality itself seemed to warp and twist around the cloud, bending and distorting, until it simply fell out of existence. But she had no time to process this unnatural event.


    With a fierce grunt, she swung her blade downward, intent on striking. But just as the steel neared its target, her arm stopped—held in place by an unseen force. Her muscles strained, her body fighting against the invisible restraint. The sword hovered inches from the monster''s neck, frozen in a moment of impossible stillness.


    Consanguine was no master of the mystic arts, not like her elegantly dressed comrade, but he had taught her one thing—the ability to sense her own soul string. Now, as she struggled against the invisible force, she could feel it being tugged, like a thread being yanked from within her very core.


    Something—someone—had seized hold of her essence, gripping tightly onto her identity. The connection was cold and invasive. Her actions, once her own, were now shared with this other presence, this soul-bound hijacker. Every movement she made, every thought she had, was no longer hers alone. The entity forced her to freeze in place, her body paralyzed by its will. More terrifyingly so, she found that she wanted to be frozen, that she didn''t want to kill this beautiful creature, even though she knew that moments earlier she certainly did.


    Now that she was forced into stillness, Consanguine could finally take in the chaos around her. Where the cloud had wobbled out of existence, there was a wound in the world, the assuredness of reality itself destroyed. The injury in the universe''s fabric was slowly reversing its unnatural distortion, but it was a process that took time, and the cloud that had once been there was nowhere to be found.


    Her heart raced as she watched the rip in the world close. It wasn''t just the environment that had been affected, though. The creature had also been frozen in place, its monstrous bulk now locked in time. Perhaps the same entity which gripped her soul strings had taken hold of it as well.


    Consanguine''s attention was suddenly drawn to a soft, stilted voice—Vow''s voice. "Please stop!" The child appeared between her and the creature, her small arms raised in a halting gesture. Vow''s gaze locked onto Consanguine''s, and even through the unreadable mask, her urgency was clear, "No fight! We can share goodness."


    She then turned to the creature and spoke in a language that Consanguine couldn''t recognize, a strange fact since there was only one commonly used language in Trammel. Vow was much more fluent in this other language, and the creature, although not perfectly, did seem to comprehend a few of the words spoken to it.


    The hold on the creature''s soul strings must have lessened as its muscles obviously relaxed and its breathing more regular. The monster angrily chuffed at Vow, and she responded kindly in that impossible-to-place foreign tongue.


    After a bit of back and forth in what appeared concerningly like negotiations, the creature gave a nod. With such, Vow left Consanguine''s sight and returned with a large crate of food and bandages. The grip on the creature''s soul strings fully relented, and it cautiously willed one of the spears to take the crate.


    Then a bell chimed; the creature suddenly startled and took into a frantic sprint along with its spears away from the caravan.


    Next to Consanguine there was what seemed to be a small pink rhombus that grew out of thin air, or it was a rhombus, but its body would reject any stable state. It would shift and transform, shrink and grow, continuously morphing into other shapes. The pink shape finally locked into a form resembling that of a featureless human with only one limb. The arm was outstretched towards Vow holding a glowing parchment: It read.


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    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td style="width: 100%; text-align: center">You have been invited to</td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td style="width: 100%; text-align: center">The Tournament</td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td style="width: 100%; text-align: center">You are The Child</td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>