"May the world punish you." A pale woman silently prayed while cradling a child in her arms, sweat dripping down her forehead as she looked outside the window.
The vivid memories of their manor on fire still lingered in her mind.
'And to think the only thing we did wrong was be born this way...' She hugged her daughter tightly, tears swelling in her eyes.
It was a calm winter night in this village, snow piled up on the roofs and roads.
All the residents were already asleep. No one could hear the approaching sound of hooves clopping against the ground.
NEIGH!
A closed carriage was being pulled by two horses at full speed. It's colorful materials and decorations contrasting against everything in the small village.
"Can we go any faster?" A female voice escaped from the inside. It was directed towards the driver of this vehicle.
"I'm sorry, my lady, we are going as fast as it's possi-" Before the coachman finished a sentence, an arrow pierced his throat.
The sound of his body falling to the ground followed shortly after.
The woman inside the carriage froze, terrified of the situation. But she didn't scream; she wasn't too surprised at the predicament.
Cries of a child could be heard from the blanket in her arms.
"There, there... Don't cry." She cradled it in her arms. "Mommy is here for you... It will be..."
Tears welled up in her eyes, and her voice cracked.
"It will be all alright, Luna." A forced smile appeared on her face, making the girl calm down and smile back, giggling happily.
The baby held out its arms and placed them on its mother's cheeks.
Without anyone to watch over the carriage's movements, the horses couldn't run much further, barely making it to the outskirts of the village before tripping into a mud pit in the swamps.
Multiple footsteps of bandits could be heard surrounding them.
"Let the boss know we captured the target!" The leader of this group ordered. He approached the overturned vehicle.
The mother inside tightly hugged her child, her heartbeat beating quickly.
The doors of the carriage were forced open by the bulky man outside.
There was a visible disgust on his face. "Even though you are of royal descent, you don't have your bodyguards with you. Do you?" He tried to grab the mother while laughing. "We will get a nice chunk of change for you."
The woman pushed his hand away. She closed her eyes and hoped some kind of divine intervention would save them.
"You little wench!" The angry man pulled out a blade out of his pocket, planning to threaten her into compliance.
But then, a scream of absolute terror was heard.
"Boss! Swamplets are coming!"
Sounds of metal hitting the ground echoed.
The bandits dropped everything they could. Just to weigh less.
The fight-or-flight instinct kicked in.
But who could blame them? Those grotesque monsters turned horror into reality with their mere presence.
Their putrid flesh and slow walk would change the bravest soldier into a weeping kid.
"Save yourself!!"
"Run!"
The cries of panic could be heard.
With time their screams grew weaker, the bandit leader clicked his tongue.
"tcht You are lucky." He decided to escape, dropping his blade. The woman could have sworn she caught a tingle of fear in his voice.
Even though the bandits were now gone, she wasn't in a celebratory mood. She froze in fear completely due to the swamplets approaching.
The rotten humanoid creatures slowly approached.
SCREECH!
They began biting into the corpses of the poor horses. Their long, curved teeth making quick work of them, leaving nothing but bones.
'Please just leave, please.' The woman inside the carriage tried her best not to make a sound, scared of attracting the creatures.
After finishing their feast, the monsters began walking away, not picking up their scent.
She waited patiently until the footsteps completely disappeared.
Thinking it was safe to go out now, the woman tried to stand up, peeking out of the overturned vehicle.
CRUNCH!
The woman's blood sprayed everywhere as the creature dug into her shoulder, breaking her bones and tearing a part of her shoulder off, painting the carriage's insides blue.
One of those monsters must have stayed behind without her realizing.
The intense pain spread throughout her entire body, but she couldn't scream not to alert the rest of the pack.
Tears fell down her face again, she bit her lips as hard as possible until the shining blue liquid dripped from the bite marks.
The woman quickly hid back inside the carriage, shutting the door behind her.
The nearby swamplets walked back, banging on the door of the carriage. Their foul breath filled the air, making it smell of rotten flesh and swamp water.
She began weeping like a small child, using her free hand to wipe the tears off.
"There... Mommy is here for you, Luna." She kissed her daughter's forehead.
End approached with no hope left... until she heard something different.
Her heart began beating with anticipation.
Despite the constant banging, calm footsteps echoed through the forest, clearly different and not as barbaric as those beasts.
A man came out of the dark forest, he was in his twenties and was wearing leather armor, a longsword strapped to his back.
"What a horrific sight..." The man remarked while unsheathing the sword.
One of the creatures lunged at him, trying to bite into his neck.
His focused orange eyes shone in the moonlight. The creature in front of him was sliced in two with a single strike of his blade.
Ooze of ointments dripping down the blade.
"I have just enough for each of you." He calmly said while keeping his eyes on the pack.
He knew that swamplets weren't intelligent enough to organize a group attack.
As the creatures jumped at him one by one, he slashed his blade again and again. Making quick work of them.
To make sure the creatures were dead, the man incanted a spell under his nose, setting the dead bodies on fire.
After finishing, he approached the carriage, forcing the doors open. The sight in front of him put a sour expression on his face.
"I'm sorry for not coming sooner, miss." He held out his arms to help her get out.
She gripped one of her arms around her daughter.
She tried to move her other hand, but it was impossible... The wound was too much for her.
She looked at the stranger, then back at the child in her arm, the memories of them together flooded her mind.
The blue liquid was slowly dripping from the wound, her face going even more pale than it already was.
Realizing that it was too late for her, she at least wanted to save her precious child.
"Luna, Mommy has to go meet Papa.... Please behave... while I'm gone." The tears wouldn't stop coming.
She held her child up for the very last time in her life, giving her to the man who has saved them. It was a hard decision, as it was the first time she saw him, but it was for sure a better option for Luna's survival.
Her daughter started crying the moment they separated, trembling from the cold of the outside world.
The man stared at the baby with a blank face.
"Rest well, lady of the forest." He took the child in his arms, then bowed to the woman still in the carriage.
"Just one more thing... if you don't mind." Before the man had a chance to answer, she asked. "What's your name, kind soul?"
"It's Dirk miss, I'm a monster slayer. I promise to take care of your daughter." He held the mother's hand. The child in his arms kept crying.
The woman had no more energy left in her to keep talking.
She closed her eyes and started humming a beautiful melody, putting Luna to sleep.
Each hum weaker than the previous.
The lullaby ending with her final breath.
She looked like she was at peace with her final moments.
Dirk stood there, giving the deceased her one minute of silence.
...
After the minute was up, he whistled, calling for his trusty stallion.
"Luna..." He stared at the child's face. "That's a pretty fitting name for you." He could feel a comforting warmth in his chest as he took care of her.
He put Luna in one of the bags on the side. "I will take care of your mom first." He gently touched the child's cheek. Staining it with ooze of the swamplets by accident.
They found a spot good enough for a burial not far from there.
Before Dirk started to dig, he decided to see if there were any heirlooms on Luna's mom, anything that would remind the child of her mother. The only thing of significance seemed to be a necklace with an insignia on it.
It was surprising to him that even with all of his knowledge, it was his first encounter with such a symbol.
The necklace was put around Luna's neck, and he got to digging, his companion waiting patiently for the burial to be over.
By the time he finished, the sun began to rise, slowly melting the snow around them. The monster slayer put a wooden cross on the tomb and gave one final prayer.
He got back to his trusty stallion and was about to head out, but he saw something interesting.
The stain he left on her cheek by accident was fully gone, piquing his interest.
He went back to the corpses and collected some more ooze with a vial, then smeared it on Luna's cheeks again.
After a moment the goo disappeared again.
Getting absorbed into the child's body.
'The curiosity is killing me, I have to check it.' It took a moment, but he found the last scroll of wisdom Sillia had made for him.
'Let's see if the royal descendants are really as special as they say.' He set the fire on the scroll in his hands, which allowed him to use an ability he didn't have access to.
His target? Luna.
A bright circle manifested under them; it shone for a moment before disappearing.
Dirk fell on one knee as their mental spaces collided. The spell starting to take its effect.
"Seriously? This is a bit much!" More and more information kept flooding his mind. The monster slayer could feel the sadness and guilt of this small girl invading his head.
His heightened senses didn't help much with withstanding all of the things crawling into his head.
'Unbelievable, even though she is just a baby, her mental strength is far superior to mine.' A singular moment of lost focus broke the spell.
The man lost the strength in his body for a moment, panting heavily.
'Couldn't even see the basic summary.' He frowned.
Only information that was able to be deciphered was vague information about names of her ability.
[Corpse devourer lvl 1]
'It seemed my hunch was right.' He stood up and looked at the girl who was still fast asleep.
Her mental strength was so great that even in such a state, Dirk had no chance of penetrating it.
"That's... interesting." He whispered. 'I will have to ask Sillia about it when we get back to the fort.'
The man got up on his horse.
"Go," Dirk ordered his companion. It wasn't a quick pace due to having a child in one of the storage compartments, but it was surely better than walking.
'Without any breaks, we will reach the fort by evening.' The man thought to himself. The number of questions in his head kept increasing.
The only person who would decipher this ability and the summary of this child would be Sillia, the fort's sage.
Dirk's grasp tightened around his stallion's reins. As Luna's tiny hand twitched, her fingers glowed faintly with a blue light. He glanced down, feeling an unfamiliar warmth spread up his arm.
Something within her was stirring... something powerful.
"Soon, I'll know who you really are," he whispered, his voice thick with quiet anticipation.