Albruna POV: The Girl who Drew Magic.
Our first job was a wolf hunt. A pack had been terrorizing a village, killing livestock, and we were hired to deal with it. It should have been simple. Wolves were not monsters; they were animals, dangerous but predictable.
It was not simple.
We tracked the pack to their den. We prepared our attack. We thought we were ready.
The wolves attacked from behind.
I panicked. I had trained in controlled environments, where spells could be practiced and perfected. I had never faced a life-or-death situation before. My first fireball missed. My second one fizzled.
Adelgund saved me. She threw herself between me and the alpha wolf, her sword catching it mid-leap. She took a scratch across her arm, a shallow wound, but a wound nonetheless.
Averhilda's spear found its mark before the second wolf could strike.
By the time it was over, I was shaking. My hands wouldn't stop trembling. I had come so close to death, not in training, not in a lesson, but in reality.
Adelgund grabbed my shoulder. "Hey. You okay?"
"I almost got you killed."
"You almost got yourself killed. I'm fine." She showed me her arm. "Just a scratch."
I didn't believe her. But I nodded anyway.
Averhilda approached, wiping her spear clean. "You hesitated," she said, looking at me.
"I know."
"Why?"
"I was afraid."
She nodded slowly. "Good."
I blinked. "Good?"
"Fear keeps you alive. The ones who aren't afraid are the ones who die first." She sheathed her spear. "You need to learn to use it. Not suppress it. Use it. Let it sharpen you, not freeze you."
I had no idea what she meant. But I nodded as if I did.
That night, I lay awake in my bedroll, staring at the stars.
I had so much to learn.
We all did.
But we were together.
And that was enough.
For now.
The first few months were small.
That was the word for them. Small. Modest. Unremarkable. We escorted merchants through bandit territory and fought off the occasional wolf. We cleared cellars of rats and fields of crows. We helped farmers repair fences and villagers find lost children.
None of it was glorious. None of it was legendary.
But it was ours.
Then another job after our registration.
The livestock quest seemed simple.
A village on the edge of the forest had lost three cows in as many weeks. The villagers suspected wolves. They wanted us to find the pack and deal with it.
"Easy," Adelgund said.
"Too easy," Averhilda replied, but she took the job anyway.
We tracked the creature to a cave in the hills. The tracks were not wolf tracks. They were too large. Too deep. Too wrong.
"What are we dealing with?" Adelgund asked.
"I don't know," I admitted.
We entered the cave cautiously, our torches casting flickering shadows across the damp stone walls. The air was thick with the smell of blood and something unfamiliar, and the deeper we ventured, the more uneasy I became.
Then we saw it.
The creature was enormous, nearly the size of a bear, with scales covering its body instead of fur. Its mouth was filled with rows of sharp teeth, and its eyes gleamed in the torchlight with an intelligence that made my skin crawl.
Before I could warn the others, it charged.
I raised my hand and cast Water magic. A jet of water struck its shoulder, but the impact barely slowed it. The creature roared and continued forward.
Adelgund rushed to meet it, her sword flashing through the darkness. Her blade struck its hide, but the wound was shallow. The monster retaliated with a swipe of its claws, catching her arm before she could retreat.
Blood splashed across the stone.
"Adelgund!"
Averhilda lunged forward, driving her spear toward its eye. The creature twisted its head, and the weapon glanced harmlessly off its skull.
Then it turned toward her.
"Fall back!" I shouted. "We need to…"
I didn't finish.
The monster slammed into Averhilda, throwing her against the cave wall. Her head struck the stone, and she collapsed without a sound.
My stomach dropped.
Adelgund struggled to keep fighting despite her injured arm, but the creature struck her aside as though she weighed nothing. Then it turned toward me.
I cast every spell I could think of. Water struck its face, chest, and legs, but nothing seemed to hurt it enough to stop its advance.
I backed away until my shoulders struck the cave wall.
There was nowhere left to go.
The creature loomed over me, its breath hot and foul. Its teeth were inches from my face, and for the first time in my life, I couldn't convince myself that everything would be all right.
I'm going to die here.
Adelgund's voice broke through my thoughts.
"Albruna! Move!"
She struck the monster's eye with a rock, drawing its attention away from me. The creature howled and turned toward her, giving me just enough time to move.
I scrambled away from the wall and rushed toward my companions. Adelgund was bleeding heavily, and Averhilda remained unconscious, but we couldn't stay in the cave.
"We have to get out!" I shouted.
Together, Adelgund and I managed to drag Averhilda toward the entrance. Every step felt like a struggle, and the monster's roars followed us through the darkness.
When we finally stumbled outside, I nearly collapsed with relief.
The forest stretched before us, the fading sunlight filtering through the canopy. For one brief moment, I thought we might have escaped.
Then the monster emerged from the cave.
My relief vanished.
It lowered its head and fixed its gaze on us, seemingly unconcerned that we had fled its territory. Its claws dug into the earth as it began approaching.
Adelgund could barely stand. Averhilda was still unconscious, and I had already used most of my Zaurf.
I tried casting another spell, but the water struck the creature's scales without making a difference.
We couldn't fight it.
We couldn't outrun it.
And I couldn't abandon my companions.
The monster lunged.
I threw myself aside, narrowly avoiding its claws as they shattered the ground where I had been standing. Pain shot through my arms as I scrambled backward, desperately searching for a way to escape.
There was none.
The creature turned toward me again.
My fingers trembled as I tried to summon more magic, but nothing came. My Zaurf was depleted, and my body had reached its limit.
I had spent years training to become strong enough to protect others. I had believed that if I worked hard enough, I could eventually become someone who would never have to watch helplessly as the people around me suffered.
Yet here I was, unable to save Adelgund or Averhilda.
Unable even to save myself.
The monster raised its claw.
I closed my eyes.
Then I heard a voice.
"Something stronger than wolves passed through here."
The words came from somewhere beyond the clearing.
Another voice answered, calm and matter-of-fact.
"Then we follow it."
Footsteps approached through the trees.
Before I could turn toward the sound, someone shouted, "Go!"
I opened my eyes just as a small figure shot across the clearing.
A porcelain doll.
It moved with impossible speed, racing toward me as the monster brought its claw down. I barely had time to understand what was happening before the doll leaped between us.
The impact never came.
Instead, a sharp metallic clang rang through the clearing.
Dark ink had wrapped around the doll's tiny body, forming armor just as the monster's claws struck. The creature's attack scraped harmlessly against the hardened surface.
The doll didn't move.
I stared at it, unable to comprehend what I had just witnessed.
The monster had been about to kill me, and this tiny creature had stopped it.
For a moment, everything seemed to fall silent.
Then I noticed the girl standing at the edge of the clearing.
She wore strange robes, and a drawing pen rested in her hand. Beside her stood another young woman, watching the monster with an alertness that suggested she had no intention of letting it escape.
The girl looked at the doll, then at the dark armor covering its body.
She seemed just as surprised as I was.
A moment earlier, the same ink had been flowing around her shoulders and arms, forming armor over her body. Now it had rushed away from her to protect the doll, moving as though it had made the decision on its own.
I didn't understand what kind of magic I was witnessing.
But I knew it had saved my life.
The girl stepped forward, raising her pen.
The monster roared and turned toward her.
She didn't flinch.
Instead, she drew a quick shape in the air.
A blade appeared.
I stared as ink solidified into something resembling steel, flying toward the creature with startling speed. The monster twisted aside, but the girl was already drawing again. A shield formed before her, followed by a sweeping current of air and a burst of fire.
Her magic was unlike anything I had ever seen.
I had studied spellcasting for years. I knew the importance of incantations, and carefully controlling the flow of Zaurf.
But this girl simply drew, and her drawings became real.
The other woman moved in, distracting the monster with precise strikes. The doll fought beside its creator, blocking attacks and creating openings whenever the creature tried to retaliate.
They moved together as though they understood each other without needing a single word.
Watching them, I realized how completely outmatched we had been.
The creature that had nearly killed all three of us was struggling to keep up with two people and a doll.
Adelgund managed to raise her sword again.
I turned toward her, and we exchanged a brief glance. Neither of us said anything, but I knew we were thinking the same thing.
We had been saved.
The monster staggered as another attack struck its side. The spear-wielder, who had begun to stir, struggled to sit up, while I forced myself to gather what little strength I had left.
I couldn't let them fight alone.
Even if I had almost nothing left, I could still try to help.
I raised my hand and cast one final Water spell.
The jet struck the monster as it turned toward the girl, distracting it for just long enough.
The doll rushed forward.
Its tiny body collided with the creature's legs, and the girl followed with another swift drawing. A dark blade formed in the air and struck the monster before it could recover.
The creature roared, staggered, and finally collapsed.
For several seconds, nobody moved.
Then the girl lowered her pen.
The clearing fell quiet except for our ragged breathing and the rustling of leaves overhead.
I sank to my knees, my body trembling with exhaustion. Adelgund dropped beside me, clutching her injured arm, while Averhilda remained on the ground, slowly regaining consciousness.
We were alive.
I couldn't quite believe it.
The girl approached us, her expression calm despite the battle we had just witnessed. The doll returned to her side, its button eyes catching the afternoon light.
I found myself staring at it.
It was so small. So harmless-looking.
And yet it had stood between me and death without hesitation.
I wanted to thank it. I wanted to know where it had come from and how it had managed to stop a monster that our combined efforts couldn't defeat.
Most of all, I wanted to hold it.
The girl glanced at me.
For a moment, I wondered whether she could tell what I was thinking.
Then I found myself asking the first question that came to mind.
"Can I be its friend?"
She blinked.
I looked at the doll, then back at her.
"I mean... it just saved my life."
The girl glanced down at her little companion. The doll tilted its head, its button eyes fixed on me.
After a brief silence, she gave me the faintest smile.
"I'll ask it," she said.
The doll raised one tiny arm.
I decided to take that as a yes.
And for the first time since we had entered the cave, I felt something other than fear.
