Eva raised an eyebrow at the creature in front of her. She wasn’t sure what to call it but it looked like a mini dragon that was totally not cute at all. It gave her an impatient look over the cup of tea he was currently sipping on like a well-bred princess. Yes, the weirdest part of this whole meeting was definitely that Eva and that creature were sitting on one of Era’s famous cafes like two normal individuals even though everyone around them were already staring and talking in hushed whispers. She sighed. This was not how she thought she would be spending her morning in her hometown after a long time. But she agreed that Era gave her a sense of relief like no other place. Eva was actually going to go around the town for a little and immediately head back to Magnolia when she bumped into this creature. Well, rather than bumping into him, it was more like it found her and dragged her over to this café. “You are a mage,” was the only thing it said as it did so.

“And, what do you want from me?” she finally broke the silence as she placed her own teacup down. His eyes snapped up to her as if he was just waiting for her to ask the question. “My name is Daragast,” he said in a tone that said that was supposed to explain everything. She really wanted to give him ‘so what’ expression but opted for a polite and kind smile instead. “I’m Eva,” she replied. It gave her a nod. “So you must have understood why I called you here, right?” the creature waved a paw in front of his face. Actually, she didn’t and this thing didn’t seem like it was going to tell her any time soon, either. “No, sorry, what did you need for?” she asked only to earn an exaggerated shocked look from him. “Are you stupid?” He was starting to piss Eva off. “Haven’t you heard of the killer wolf that roams the street every night and preys on innocent citizen?” No, she hasn’t. Eva shook her head no. “Wow, which part of the world are you from? Stupidsville?” the dragon threw its head back and laughed at its own joke. “Anyhow, it was my master that accidentally let it out. I need you to kill it. If you walk around the streets at night, you’ll most likely come across it. Fear not, you’ll be paid handsomely for your troubles. And in case you die, we will send compensation money to your family”. Eva resisted the urge to grab the thing by its neck and slam it face down on the table. “I, I see. I’ll definitely do what I can to help you, Daragast san,” she replied, her smile threatening to fall apart. She had to wonder what it was with her luck these days, it was a rat just a day ago and now it’s wolf.

500/2000

Eva had a sense of déjà vu as she roamed the streets of Era in a very familiar black robe with a hoodie. The last time she had done this, it was in Marigold under Syllas’ orders to catch a bandit group. This time, she was actually looking for a wolf. The streets were dark with a slightly cold wind blowing over it and a full moon hanging over the cloudless night sky. She walked through the darkness with a robe that made her blend into the darkness. Era was probably one of the busiest cities in Fiore. Unlike many other cities, Era had more rune knights stationed almost everywhere. If she was to really think about it, the only other city that got more rune knights was most likely the capital town of Crocus. Another thing similar to both the town was that at their heart stood their most prized architecture. While the Rune Knights headquarters couldn’t be compared to the palace’s grand style, they both stood towering over any other building in the city right at the center of everything.

She took a moment to let her eyes linger on the structure. It was all starting to come back to her; the reason she had chosen Rune Knights. Eva would admit to herself that she had a rotten personality but more importantly, she knew very well that deep in her heart she was very sensitive to injustice. If she wasn’t, she would have tried to kill her family off ages ago. She used to watch them going around helping people in their bright uniforms and Eva would always imagine herself being one of them. If it wasn’t for that, Eva definitely wouldn’t have tried to become one after already setting down her modeling and dancing career.

She sighed. It wasn’t the time to be thinking about those. Eva moved along, walking down whatever paths that she thought looked interesting until an ear piercing scream stopped her on her tracks. It was audible but it obviously came from a considerable distance. Eva tried to follow the scream and rounded a corner to find red pools of blood on the ground with signs of something dragging the blood covered body away. But what made her want to gag was a severed hand cast off to a side of the street. She followed the blood trail leading her to an alleyway. There, inside the darkness, she came face to face two glittering pair of vicious eyes. Save for the eyes, Eva found it difficult to see the rest of the wolf and actually had to narrow her eyes to pinpoint a horribly mutilated woman’s body under a paw. When she was about to take a step forward, it growled and bared its fangs. It wasn’t until the pale light of the moon landed on it that she finally saw the bloody monstrosity standing in front of her. It took one step towards her, completely ignoring the already dead body to take care of the new threat instead.

1005/2000

Eva did what her instincts told her to do first. She ran. No, it wasn’t because she was a coward but because it was impossible to fight it in that narrowed space and maybe, just maybe, she may have gotten scared of the bloody fangs it lunged at her with. She went wherever her feet reflexively took her, which was into a construction site. She hid behind a truck, sliding down the cold metal and trying to catch her breath. That thing was fast. She wasn’t sure how something could be so fast but it was definitely catching up to her even though she had a good head start.

Eva heard it at the other side of the truck, sniffing and growling at the air. Of course, it must have gotten her scent because it quickly ran over to where she was. Only Eva had climbed the hood of the truck, waiting for it. As soon as it was under her, Eva placed two fingers on her lips and blew a kiss at it. A gentle wind mage the wolf growl as it decreased its speed considerably. Eva jumped back after this, prompting the wolf to follow her, only it was a lot slower than how it was before. She jumped down from the other side of the truck and ran into the still being constructed building.

Eva ran around the building with the wolf on her trail for a while until she found a bunch of metal rods held together by a rope and hung up on the wooden roof. When the wolf came directly under it, Eva let a sharp stream of wind go up the wolf, succeeding in cutting the ropes while she was it. As the metal rods came down on the wolf, she saw it whimper and then howl in pain when some of the metal rods impaled it’s back and paws. It trembled, whimpered again, and gave Eva a pained howl before falling limp on the floor.

She sighed. That had been a little more difficult that what she anticipated. It was the creature’s speed that threw her off at first and she definitely had some near misses while she was dodging each jump it made on her. But more importantly, the wolf was dead now. She staggered over to it and placed a hand over one of the metal rods impaling it. Trembling a little at the coldness of the metal, she gripped it tightly before pulling it out. Eva continued to do the same with each other metal rods stuck on it, carefully trying to not let its blood splatter all over her robe. Well, she could easily wash it or chuck it but she still didn’t want to get blood on her. But seeing as she had no other choice once all the rods were off, she grabbed it around its neck and effortlessly lifted it off the ground. Now where was she going to find that dragon again?”

1503/2000

Eva walked through the cold wind that tugged at her, a trail of blood following her as she dragged the dead wolf. Eva felt terrible for some reason. She wasn’t sure if it was the darkness or if it was the feeling of warm blood trickling down her fingers. It was one of those times that she felt like throwing her life away and substituting it for something else. Eva felt cold both inside and out. The moon that glittered like a jewel above her seemed to wink at her as the light peeked through some clouds.

She found Daragast’s impatient feet tapping harshly on the ground with its tiny hands crossed over what Eva guessed would be its chest. He stood flabbergasted when he noticed Eva and spotted the blood behind her. For some reason, Eva didn’t even bother to hide her feelings as she threw the large creature at him. It landed on the floor with a thud, immediately creating a pool of blood where it landed, flowing over to a horribly pale Daragast who took a few steps back.

“You, what…what is this?” he asked in a tone bordering plain shock and disbelief. “Can’t you see it for yourself? It’s the wolf,” she answered, her blood covered hand going up to run it through her platinum blonde locks, painting a rather gory picture of herself. She noticed the dragon shift its weight nervously, looking anywhere at Eva and the dead wolf.

Her amber eyes glowed like molten liquid as she stared down at the creature and brought a hand forward, showing him her palm. “My reward? Eva asked with a plain voice that sent a chill down the dragon’s spine. It must have been shocked at the difference in attitude she displayed against the one he had met early in the day. But the blood on her hands were making Eva throw whatever mask she had out the window. Was it the realization that she had a proof of her inhumanity on her hands? She wasn’t sure. All she knew was that once she got paid for this situation, she could actually go home, ah, not home, but the room she had rented for the evening and then have a long uninterrupted sleep before she can set off to Magnolia again.

“Here..I..I have it here,” the little blue creature handed over a pouch full of coins, dropping it on her open palm in a way that said he didn’t want to touch her bloody hand. Eva shrugged. She didn’t care for it and neither did she care when he shuddered visibly before asking some other guards to take the dead wolf body away. “Well, if that’s all, I’ll be going,” Daragast muttered under his breathe before running off behind the other guards, leaving Eva under the moon light with blood dripping over her fingers and hair. “Ah, I have things to do as well,” she seemed to say before walking back, wiping her hand and hair on the black robe that she threw into a pile of garbage on her way back.

2017/2000