"Yow! Kizeleeeer! Hereee!" Shouted a woman while doing her best to jump higher and raising her arm to make herself visible in the endless sea of people.
"Don't shout; I can see you, dimwit!" a man uttered.
He was walking closer to where the shout came from while his hands were placed inside of his pocket. He had small black eyes and an absurb hairstyle; the left side of his head was shaved, and a spiderweb hair design was imprinted on the surface of his scalp.
He was wearing a light armor made of black leather, and a sword was hanging from the side of his left leg. Its scabbard was dark blue in color, and its hilt was black like the color of his hair.
"You're late," the woman, who was jumping a few moments ago, snorted as soon as the man entered her line of sight. Her cheeks were puffing like a child. She was a few inches shorter than the man in terms of height.
The man didn't pay any attention to her nagging; instead, he looked around and asked, "Where are the others?"
"How will I know? You're the leader, Kizeler, aren't you? You must be the one who contacted them first and asked for their whereabouts," the continual complaints of the woman made Kizeler chuckle a little.
Then he moved closer, picked up some strands of her pale yellow hair, and sniffed them like there was no tomorrow.
"Get away from me, pervert!" She yelled and then slapped him in the face.
Her act garnered the attention of several bystanders in the town plaza, but Kizeler ignored them all and just laughed at the situation.
'Her temperament is really something,' he thought.
"Forget about them, let's move; they are just baggage anyways," he said before turning his back to the woman.
"If you say so," she replied and stepped forward with her unique boots. It has three small wheels under each sole, which allowed her to skate as she pleased.
She was wearing a light armor made of leather and a small black skirt. Her hands were covered with fingerless gloves, and her boots covered her legs up to the bottom of her knees.
Her eyes gave off a dark blue radiance, but it turned into a sky blue color once the sunlight shined on them. Her name was Priscilla Jackthander, and she had been Kizeler's partner since the day he became a mercenary.
And now they were out for a task: to investigate several disappearances in a nearby village inside the Kingdom of Herish. This mission was required to be handled by Emerald Class mercenaries at a minimum.
. . . . .
In the human empire, most things had a hierarchy, even the missions and ranks of mercenaries. It had six classes, which symbolized their accomplishments and abilities. The lowest, where it all started, was called the Topaz Class. They were the newcomers, and they couldn't go on a mission alone.
The second lower class was the Amethyst Class; they were entitled to roam anywhere and hunt monsters inside the borders of the kingdom they affiliated with. The next class was the Sapphire Class; a party with a member of the Sapphire Class earned the qualification to do missions in the Mountain Range of Phantasms.
It was followed by the Emerald Class; this class could pick a mission regarding monster and demon subjugation. Then, the Ruby Class mercenaries were powerful enough to march in the Mountain Range of Phantasms on their own, and sometimes they even went to different territories to finish a task.
Then the highest of them all, the Diamond Class mercenaries, were a treasure to every kingdom. Almost all of them were given nobility status and a parcel of land to manage on their own, just for the sake of not leaving their respective kingdoms.
If the Ruby Class mercenaries were to be compared to those in the Diamond Class, it would take at least twenty Ruby Classes to take down a single Diamond Class in a fight.
. . . . .
A small carriage was being pulled by two horses. It could only fit two people inside, and it was currently passing an enormous grassland. Different types of herbs could be found on this place, and small monsters like slimes and one horned rabbit were living here.
"Once we complete this mission, you'll get promoted, right?" Priscilla asked while her eyes were focused on the view outside her window.
"Hmnn, yes, why?" a voice replied, coming from above.
It was Kizeler's; his eyes were closed, and he was lying down on the roof of the moving vehicle.
'I'm going to be left behind by two ranks again,' she thought, but chose not to say the words.
"Nothing," she answered, then bent her head down and looked at the pendant hanging at her neck. It had a small rectangular plate with her name written into it, and a small blue sapphire was embedded in the top of the letters, signifying her class.
Then, after a few minutes, the carriage stopped.
"I can only accompany you guys from here. The rest of your journey will be by foot," the old coachman said.
Kizeler and Priscilla stepped down from the carriage and bid their thanks to the carriage owner before they got separated from each other.
Then, they started to walk in the direction of the village they were heading to when they spotted a man lying under the shade of a giant tree. From the looks of his attire, anyone would think that he was from a noble family.
"Should we check on him? Maybe he's lost or something," Priscilla asked the man walking beside him.
"No, don't concern yourself with those pampered young masters." Kizeler said then he averted his eyes from the man, even though there was this thing that was troubling his mind.
'That guy, his smell...' He thought then he touched the hilt of his sword but let go of it as soon as he looked at Priscilla with worry.
After several minutes of walking, they saw the entrance to the village, but something was amiss. They couldn't see a single person in the vicinity.
'Maybe they are all inside of their houses,' Kizeler thought, but upon entering, they really found nothing; they looked for presences nearby, but there were still no signs of energy.
Priscilla held Kizeler's arm and asked with frightened looks. "Where are the villagers?"
"Let's head inside," Kizeler said, then went deeper in the village. The houses and huts were pretty normal; there were no signs of fighting or destruction in their surroundings, yet they couldn't find any humans.
The two of them became puzzled, and Kizeler closed his eyes and massaged his temple.
'Several people have been missing since last week. But the villagers couldn't find any clue about their whereabouts. They vanished without a trace, and the disappearance started with one child, then continued to rise to the point that the people asked for the mercenaries' help.' He tried his best to recall the details of their mission.
The complete information about the mission was supposed to be given by the village chief who placed the request. However, they didn't expect that even the requestor would vanish along with the other villagers.
"Uhmnn, Kizeler, I think I see something move behind that." Priscilla said while pointing to the back of a small wooden hut.
"Let me check; stay here," he said before he moved with calmness.
Even his steps didn't make a simple noise, and when he was just several meters away, he unsheathed his sword, which produced a soft hiss. It was pearl white in color with three holes above its handle.
But as soon as he moved toward the back of the hut, the only thing that he found was a pair of clothes hanging by a thread.
"There's nothing here." He yelled before he sheathed his sword and turned around to Priscilla, but he was taken aback upon seeing her friend go missing behind him.
"Hey, don't play jokes on me like that," he said, full of uneasiness.
. . . . .
The sky was vivid with a splash of white clouds, and the clamor of the activities of the crowd covered the whole place. Kids were running and playing with each other, while merchants did their best to earn a few coins, and others were busy in their everyday lives.
The mood was so bright when, all of a sudden, the surroundings turned into a monochromatic grayscale, and everything stopped and froze in time.
Not a single noise could be heard until the sound of heels from a dazzling woman resounded in the town plaza. In this gray-colored place where the privilege to move was stolen, she walked with lively colors. Her cocktail dress was colored black with a lace cloth that covered her arms, and her maroon umbrella was resting in her right shoulder.
"This should be enough," Celestine said with a smile. "It's time for you to eat."
Then she threw her umbrella up in the air, and a dark brown creature leaped from it. It had a head and a tail like a horse, but its body and limbs were those of a human. Its eyes were glowing in red, and its razor-sharp teeth munched down the food prepared for it.
"You're still gross, but you're so big now that I wonder how long it takes to finish all this meal. I did a great job raising you. He will be pleased," she said with sparkling eyes.
'Oh, I'll visit the other one that I released last week if it's doing fine.' She added her thoughts with excitement.
"Eat faster; I have a place to go," Celestine ordered the strange creature.
Then it started to tear humans in half and eat their insides. Its snout was now covered in blood, but it didn't mind; instead, it let out a neigh, a high pitched sound that echoed throughout the place.
Then, after an hour of gore eating, the creature went back to where it came from, and Celestine left the place while sitting on her folded umbrella.
Colors started to return to the town plaza, and a hideous crime scene struck horror in the eyes of those who were passing by. Human bones with small pieces of flesh attached, were scattered in the place; the pavement was painted with blood. And no one could explain what truly happened. From the hundreds of people frozen in time, not a single one was left alive.
. . . . .
Celestine flew in the air with a smile all over her face. She was proud of her accomplishment. The monster for which she was responsible was growing healthier and stronger in her care.
And now, she was out to check on the first creature she let go in the Kingdom of Herish, but upon arriving in the small village.
All that she found were broken limbs and greenish blood splattered on the ground. She jumped from her umbrella and approached the dead creature.
"Who the hell did this?" She sneered.
Her eyes were sharp, and her voice was filled with anger. Then, humans started to come out of their small huts and look at the commotion outside their homes.
"That thing almost ate all of us alive; if not for those mercenaries, we'll be gone by now." An old man came and replied back to Celestine's question.
"Then, you should be," she uttered, and the colors in the village disappeared bit by bit, the leaves from the trees stopped midair from falling, and the people turned into a living statue.
Then, all of a sudden, the plants withered, and each person aged in every second that passed. After they reached the peak of adulthood, their flesh started to decompose, even the materials of their homes decayed in a few minutes and dissolved into thin air.
The village with a hundred years of history turned into a barren field in just a matter of time. Everything vanished like it never existed.
. . . . .