"Burp!" Trying to stifle a giggle, Erin rolled on her bed, resting after a long and full dinner. The rain had caught the giantess on the way back to the villa, forcing her to have to leave her raincoat and outer clothes hanging from the rack of the stable, and without a lock of her own (just a wooden crosspiece to block the door), she didnt feel too comfortable being half naked... just enough to not have to apologize for the belch.
The stable wasnt too big, but Erin was proud of how she had managed to adapt the situation. Her mattress? Built with 4 old mattresses filled with unprocessed wool horizontally attached to the final wall, with a canvas hanging from the front roof to create a false feeling of room and privacy.
Her dinner table? made with two others smaller tables in the middle of the barn.
Her shower? One of the sides for the horses closed with bricks, making an improvised room with a cauldron on the roof with a crystal aqua generator to act as a shower.
Nothing too spectacular, but Erin was proud of her little first house.
The hours passed while Erin waited for the sunrise, the only possible moment to go to extract the Mother Night... unfortunately the sky had other plans with the rain going more and more.
"Luck is not on my side this week..." Erin said to herself, sighing as a chill ran through her from head to toe. Every day the winds came more and more icy, so the giantess was forced to ask Takun if a Branese crystal would go too far from the budget... the problem was how to ask for it; the last thing that the giantess wanted was to put Lady Frago more against her... but at the same time a Branese crystal was the minimum required: She was living in a barn, for the love of the gods!
And as if her thoughts attracting the undesirables, 3 knocks on the main door of the stable took the giantess from her thoughts. Sighing and wrapping herself in her makeshift quilt, Erin sat on the mattress, moving the canvas curtain aside. "Ahead…"
The door for humans next to the main door flew open, Takun entering and closing behind him as fast as he could. "What a blow it is forming... Could not mother nature give us a break from time to time?"
"I just hope..." Erin said between whispers, rubbing her arms trying to warm up. "That the sky has been cleared for the dawn..."
"Ya... talking about that..." Takun rubbed the back of his neck, looking away from the giantess. "Lady Frago says she will not allow her children to go out without a doctor looking at them-"
"WHAT ?!" Erin yelled furiously, scaring Takun who opened the door again to check that no neighbor had been scared.
Slowly, the mayor closed it again, without turning to Erin. "Come on Erin... dont you-"
"I CANT DO IT ALL BY MYSELF! HOW... how do you expect me to dig the MotherNight crystal and scare off wild animals at the same time?! And Mother Night is very heavy, I cant move it by myself!" Erin's complaints were completely understandable, plus Takun had no way to reciprocate.
"And if I help you...? I could... I dont know ... make a fire or something... "Erin blinked confused, before hugging her knees to her chest and burying her head in them.
"Let it be Takun... having to take care of you, keep an eye on the animals and the MotherNight? We'll end up setting fire to the whole forest in that scenario..." The giantess was on the verge of crying, more out of rage than in pain. "just, be honest with me... the quadruplets..."
"They were already dressed to come here... everything has been Lady Frago hand..."
"...thanks for telling me... Go away, please... I'd like to sleep a couple of hours before sunrise..." Takun sighed, feeling helpless as he left the barn, leaving Erin alone and furious, unable to scream louder for fear of awakening the other inhabitants.
The wind roared hard between the trees, and the rain was getting heavier. The armor sank in the mud, while the adventurer did not stop cleaning his helmet. "What a night! It looks like..."
And without finishing the sentence, the adventurer opened his eyes, looking at the sky while the rain stopped.
"Oh... that's a bad sign... I'd better hurry!" With two pulls, the adventurer managed to get his feet out of the puddle of mud, to finish the three steps in one even deeper, burying him to the knee.
"I should have come without armor ... I wonder if Gus had free rooms ... Would it be irresponsible to turn around and go check it out?" Shrugging his shoulders, the adventurer pulled his legs back out of the puddle of mud and started walking back to GreenGa-
"AHAYAAGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG!!!!!!!!!!!"
"...Yeah, I'd better leave the room for later"
A scream.
Two screams. Erin stirred on her mattress, her mind returning back to her body.
Three screams and dozens of knocks on the stable door later.
"What... what happens?" Erin asked the nothingness, only receiving more screams.
When her brain was able to react, new screams marked the speed with which Erin dressed and opened the doors of the barn. Takun and his wife, accompanied by two other villagers, fell to the ground with the force of the giantess.
Erin's eyes quickly became accustomed to the darkness of the night... but it wasnt darkness that awaited her.
Fire.
Much more fire than she had ever seen... and something more in the heavens.
Takun and the other villagers were talking at full speed, but Erin couldnt hear them, because all her senses were centered in the sky.
Beyond the villa floated an orange and black sphere, as if it were a sun, over the trees. The object, as beautiful as disturbing, seemed to ooze liquid over the forest... and again, the giantess's brain made the necessary click.
"TAKUN, WHAT'S HAPPENING!?" Erin shouted, running forward a few meters and starting to look around.
"A DEMON! A DEMON WITH RED WINGS!" Takun's wife screamed, crying on the disconsolate floor. "IT WAS IN FLAMES! IT DESCENDED FROM HEAVEN ON THE HOUSE OF OSWALD, TAKING IT ALL OF FLAMES! GODNESS NEA, PLEASE, PROTECT US!" Oswald tried to hold his wife, but she refused, crying and praying on the ground.
"As he said... that... thing... landed at Oswald's house... we only found out because too much light had started coming in through the window..." Taking a deep breath, Takun stood up, walking towards Erin. "He... or it... or whaterver didnt make a sound... it just... looked around... and in the blink of an eye... everything was on fire... all the houses nearby...
I try... try to open as many doors as I could!"Erin ran back to the barn, picking up her raincoat. "He was a being... almost like a bat! But bigger than you! And his eyes... They were huge, like two windows!"
"Are more people safe?" Erin said without taking her eyes off the sphere, swallowing to herself.
"Only those from the houses on this side of the town, so you... the family Month and I hope Lady Frago too... the fire... it was too intense ... Erin, please, we have to flee somewhere! We have to warn the guild!" Takun begged while Erin held her ground, her mind trying to piece together all the pieces.
"The quadruplets have gone to the forest, havent they?" The giantess' question was direct, but Takun was too nervous to understand it. "ANSWER BACK! YES OR NO?!"
"YES! YES! I saw them pick out their work tools and have run out... why do you ask?"
"Because that... round thing is more or less where we find Mother Night..." Gritting her teeth, Erin grabbed the stable doors, beginning to close them. "Takun, I'm sending you Mrs. Frago, bring her here and hide... If the fire is approaching, flee through the forest..."
"And you? Erin please-"The giantess closed both doors at once, waiting for a moment while leaning her head against them. Putting on the hood of the sweatshirt, Erin closed her eyes, letting the heat of the flames transport her to more peaceful places, seeking the necessary relaxation for what was coming.
"Mother... Father... Grandfather... Grandmother... Emma... Gabriel... pray for my luck tonight" Without waiting a second, Erin launched into the race.
"Godness..." Sighing, the adventurer began to walk again, making his helmet appear again for an extra protection against the flames. "I hope this wasnt about playing with MotherNight... we are the only species that insist on stumbling over the same stone" Shrugging his shoulders at the rawness that surrounded him, the adventurer looked for any survivor who could help, eventually spotting a middle-aged man knocking on the door of a burning house insistently.
"LADY FRAGO, PLEASE! EXIT!"Although the fire was still far from them, and he had no interest in meddling in family matters, the screamer was his only way of understanding what was happening.
In the blink of an eye, the adventurer appears behind him, gently touching his shoulder to get his attention. Before Takun could scream scared, the adventurer covered his mouth with one hand, showing a letter in the other.
"I am looking for the mayor of this village. I am quite interested in buying the MotherNight if you havent already converted it into your end. Would you kindly tell me where he is?" Takun tried to talk, pointing desperately at the adventurer's back. "Oh ... of course, you cant talk back... hehehehe..."And the second he removed his hand, Takun shouted again.
"THE MONSTER!" The adventurer turned slowly, making his helmet disappear to get a better look. A gigantic beast, with an orange body and shaped like a bat... except for the eyes and the wings. While the eyes were huge and bright, as big as the wheels of a horse car, the wings seemed to be crystalline, soft and transparent.
"Wow! What a singular mutation..." The adventurer laughed to himself, advancing towards the beast big like a house. "Normally the MotherNight only increases the size and forms crystals in the bodies of the animals... but you? You are an authentic work of art! Not only have you mutated to become my prey... but you have also managed to master the flames! Simply amazing!"
Takun ran towards the adventurer, grabbing his waist as he cried. "You must save us! My wife and another couple are hiding in the barn!"
"Save you? Yes, I should do something..." The adventurer looked at the beast, his eyes twirling in his eyes in all directions. "I could do it... but of course, I came to this city to do business"
"...Business?..."
"Right! And now... if you'll excuse me, I'll do the first part of our business dealing with this rude man" With an elegant bow, the adventurer turned back to the monster.
The first second was more than enough for Takun. Covering his face, he tried to look away as much as he could, knowing that the only possibility of forgetting that day was that he didnt see the monster. Although a thought crossed his mind while the adventurer put an end to the devil ... and that is that the monster that he and his wife had seen before had no crystal wings...
The monster they had seen had red wings ... and it was much bigger.