Amaris hadn’t slept well in a while now. Era was busier than usual, and something about the town seemed restless. She spent her days out during the daytime and could often be found in her own little shop or out on the market, searching for pretty jewels and gemstones she could work with. Amaris hadn’t paid much attention to what was going on within the city; in the end, there was always something anyways. Yet, when night time came and she wanted to lie down to rest, she could hear what sounded like animal screeching coming from the distance.

It was quite unusual and when she awoke in the morning, she noticed more Rune Knights than usual on the streets. The sounds at night bothered her–the Werewolf had sensitive hearing and in a way, seeing humans being so distressed made her nervous as well. She couldn’t quite explain what was going on, and that’s what bothered her the most. It was a rainy day when she’d awoken and there weren’t many people outside. Amaris knew that there wouldn’t be much going on on the market place today, so she figured not to visit it and stay in instead.  

The place she had rented for herself was quite cozy. An apartment within a larger building and three rooms. She used one room as her bed room, one as her workplace and one as her living room. Amaris didn’t bring many of her belongings to Era, but most of what she had related to her profession as a jewelry designer anyways. It had turned out that Era was actually the perfect place for such a profession since there were many wealthy ladies and lords who loved having handmade jewelry done for their loved ones. Thanks to that, Amaris was able to pay for her rent and earn a little bit of money extra as well.

Lately, Amaris had been wanting to make a special purchase, however, and for that she needed money. It was different from anything she already owned and truth be told, she wasn’t quite sure whether or not she should go through with it. Amaris knew that Fiore was a country of magic and that plenty of sorcerers and sorceresses lived here. It was normal and people seemed to accept it just fine. If anything, it was almost expected to be a user of magic when applying for a job such as a Rune Knight and that’s something that surprised Amaris. As a Werewolf, she did not have magic.

It wasn’t something she had ever been able to do or connect with and until now, it hadn’t really bothered her. But now that she was in Fiore, and magic was pretty much everywhere, Amaris had started considering the usage of magic and how it could benefit her. Of course she would never become a spell caster - that was very much impossible - but perhaps she could enchant certain items in order to benefit herself. Amaris had walked across black markets and underground streets and met quite a few merchants who sold such enchanted items and granted, she found it rather interesting.

She would have to make her own jewelry and have a special wizard enchant it for her. Amaris had also learned that those type of items were extremely difficult to come buy, however, and also extremely pricey. Simply selling her goods wouldn’t be enough in order for her to earn the right amount of money for something like that, so she decided that it would be for the best if she started taking jobs as a mercenary as well. There was always someone who needed someone else or something else dead and she was strong enough to do it. Amaris knew that wizards were known to take quests and jobs from other people for money.

She had worked as a mercenary before and was accustomed to the type of work. When Amaris was much younger, her father had done a similar job and often spoken about it. It was often quite dangerous, but also rather rewarding in a world where money was so important and more often than not, a Werewolf always came out of a fight as the victor. Amaris wasn’t afraid of anything to harm her, she was strong after all, so she decided to go and have a look around town today. Perhaps she was going to hear something or meet someone of interest.

To her knowledge, taverns and bars were usually the places where these type of conversations took place and people who needed work done would approach mercenaries who looked like they could do the part. There was also, however, something like a request board where the citizens or the Rune Knights would leave little notes and flyers with information regarding a job they needed done. The person would then have the chance to contact the quest giver and talk about the reward and everything surrounding it. Amaris didn’t want to get distracted by a tavern when it was still so early in the day though.

She decided to leave her house and have a meal first, before heading towards the mission board around town. Amaris had a preference for a small bakery just across the street – they sold all sorts of delicious pastries and made amazing coffee; it was just what she needed in the morning. Upon sitting down and having her usual breakfast and a warm drink, Amaris decided to have a little chit chat with the owner, who had been living in Era for a long time already. Much to her delight, the owner could point her into the right direction of the quest board and once Amaris was finished with her meal, she would head into that direction. It was a decent walk from where she was located, approximately 30 minutes down the street – Era was a large town, one of the largest in Fiore, after all. She had been here for a few weeks now and enjoyed her stay thus far.

When Amaris arrived at the board, she could see a few other people standing around it. It was almost midday now and plenty of wizards, mercenaries and curious young adventurers had gathered to see where they could help. Amaris had no doubt that most of these people came here with the noble intent to help, but for her case it was truly much simpler than that. She needed money and she was willing to work for someone in order to earn it. Amaris approached the large wooden board and took a good look at it. It was plastered with flyers.

There were so many requests from different sounds of people, ranging from easy difficulty, such as making a delivery of helping out in a café, to truly outrageous and dangerous missions that required strong individuals to be helping them out. Amaris didn’t want to have anything to do with the simple stuff; she was strong enough and well versed hunter and she certainly wasn’t going to make deliveries for anyone at this point. She looked over the board a few more times and quietly sorted out the more dangerous, higher ranking missions that promised a decent reward until something interesting caught her eye.

They called it ‘hunt the corrupted wyvern’ and while there wasn’t much of a description on the flyer itself, it gave away that a wyvern had been on the loose, killing cattle and overall causing a huge mess. In that moment Amaris also realized that this must have been the cause for her lack of sleep lately; she had been hearing the screeches of the corrupted wyvern which had been terrorizing the citizens without her even realizing it. Granted, it was mostly because Amaris’ apartment was on the other end of the town, but she was more than happy to put an end to this annoying and noisy beast.

Amaris took the flyer off the board and approached one of the couriers standing nearby. It was their job to inform the quest givers that there was someone offering their services, in order for Amaris and the client to make out a meeting point. She gave it to the boy and told him she would be waiting at a bar nearby while he was gone and once he left, she did just that. Amaris ordered a refreshing glass of juice while the boy was gone and much to her surprise, it didn’t take him long at all to return.

“The client you have chosen to contact goes by the name of Daragast,” he explained and handed her a piece of paper. Written on it was a time as well as a place. “Daragast of the Magic Council. He’ll be meeting you this afternoon, a table will be reserved in your name. Please be on time.” That was all he had to say and Amaris gave him a nod, allowing him to leave. Daragast was a name she had heard before. He was quite the unusual creature and a member of the Magic Council as well. Although Amaris was a bit sceptical, she wouldn’t mind working for them.

He wanted to meet at 5pm, a few hours from now, in a tavern close to the council itself. It was a rather famous place and the food they served was supposedly delicious. Amaris decided not to dress up or anything, however, and simply decided to wear a tight, leather shirt, black boots and pants in order to come across as more of a mercenary. Granted, she already had a distinctive, fiery look to her so she was sure he wasn’t going to doubt how capable she was. Amaris waited until it was time to go to the tavern.

Amaris arrived on time (a little bit earlier, actually) and once she introduced herself to the waiter, she was lead to the table where, to her surprise, Daragast was already waiting. He was a petite figure, but he definitely didn’t look weak–just strange. Daragast was a dragon-like figure, with green and yellow scales and a uniform that was tailored to fit him perfectly. Amaris could tell just by looking at him, that he was an ancient being. She worried about whether or not he would call her out on her werewolf heritage, but when she sat down at the table, he didn’t seem bothered at all.

“I’m sure you have heard the rumors already,” he began right away, and Amaris liked that. She hated it when people couldn’t cut to the point and wasted an unnecessary amount of time, so she was glad he didn’t. “We have been struggling to control one of the wyverns that has been corrupted with dark magic, and now we see no other way other than to slay it.” He continued to explain the details of the quest, and Amaris listened carefully. Apparently Fiore, Crocus and Era especially, struggled a lot with dark magic and cultists – evil people who brought doom upon the citizens of the country.

Amaris knew that dark magic was more common than the council wanted to admit, and that it probably took a toll on them. They weren’t able to deal with it on their own anymore, and so they asked outsiders for help. Either that, or they simply didn’t want to risk the lives of their precious Rune Knights to fight something so irrelevant, yet strong. Amaris learned that a group of cultists had somehow managed to capture a wyvern and corrupt it, using it to cause chaos inside the walls of Era. They needed that wyvern slain.

“What about the cultists?” Amaris asked. Perhaps he wanted them dead as well, since they were the root of the problem. Daragast only shook his head. “They were the first ones to get eaten by the wyvern, so I suppose that problem solved itself.” Amaris couldn’t help but chuckle upon hearing that. She never had a high opinion of sorcerers, but she always assumed they were mostly talented and smart people – magic wasn’t easy to handle after all. But clearly that wasn’t the case, at least not always. Daragast continued on, telling the werewolf lady that the wyvern was resting on top of the Era dungeon during the day, and that they couldn’t risk attacking it when the citizens were out in town. That made perfect sense to her, and when he instructed her on going for it at night, Amaris agreed. “I suppose it’s for the best. You must be careful not to fall off the tower, however.”

Amaris nodded at his words. The Era dungeon was a 30 meters high tower located close to the Rune Knight headquarters. She had heard that some mages could fly, but she certainly wasn’t one of them so she definitely had to be careful. Otherwise, the instructions was rather simple. They needed the wyvern dead and the reward would be fairly huge should she succeed. “I’m offering you 250,000 Jewels if you manage to rid us of the wyvern without destroying any further buildings and harming any citizens.” The sum was large, not large enough to buy herself fancy magical jewelry with, but definitely larger than what she earned with her jewelry. What followed next was a simple signing of contracts, so that Amaris was granted her money should she succeed at the mission. “Another tip,” Dragarast said with a low voice, “Wyverns have very sensitive wings. And soft bellies. That’s most likely their weak spot.”

They ended their conversation there and Daragast left. Amaris stayed for a little longer, sipping on the glass of wine she had been offered by the council member. She would have to wait until night time and sneak up without being noticed. Then she was going to cut its wings and push it off the tower where it would die from fall damage. The wyvern was stupid big, and her best chance at defeating it was to destroy its wings before it could fly away and defend itself. Amaris had sharp claws and she was quite powerful, so that shouldn’t be much of a problem.

She would have to be very quick however. Fortunately, cropping one wing would already be enough for her to keep it from flying. Amaris waited until night time, but not until it was too late before she started sneaking up the Era tower. She took the elevator that was located on the inside and the last floor would be reached over the stairs. There would be a trap door leading up to the top plateau where the wyvern would hopefully be sleeping. And with that, Amaris began her journey. She entered the Era dungeon without problems, as the people working there were already informed about her arrival.

Amaris knew that this dungeon was basically a prison and people who broke the law were detained here. Unfortunately for her, she didn’t get to see any of that though. When Amaris reached the final top floor, she took a sharp breath in. She could smell the wyvern close by and with her night vision eyes she would be able to spot it without problems - not that it was going to be difficult to see, it was huge after all. As quietly as Amaris could, she opened the trap door and snuck on top of the dungeon’s plateau. Much to her delight, it was still dozing off.

Amaris didn’t waste any precious time – the female werewolf dashed closer and extended her claws, reaching out to slash open the right wing of the wyvern. The beast immediately awakened, screaming in anger and pain. It was then, when Amaris recognized the sound of its voice. It was precisely the same screeching that had kept her from getting rest these past few nights and while she thought about that, she immediately went and slashed the same wing again. Leaving large enough wounds on the sensitive limb of the wyvern, Amaris now had to dodge an attack was the beast was lunging for her with its head and its razor sharp teeth were a dangerous weapon. She did have a plan, however, and when the wyvern began spreading its wings, with one of them being defect, it almost immediately lost balance. Not enough to fall, but enough to slip if pushed. And that was precisely what Amaris ended up doing – she threw her whole weight against the wyvern, pushing it off the plateau and causing it to fall into the depths.

Due to one of its wings having large claw marks and holes inside it, the wyvern wasn’t able to keep itself from falling down and it was unable to save itself. Amaris rushed over to the border and looked won. She saw the wyvern drop dead upon impact and she could hear the haunting sounds of its bones shattering on the ground. No one could survive a fall like that, she was sure of it. But she had to check anyways. Quickly, the woman climbed down the trapdoor and took the magical elevator down to the bottom floor, where she would exit the building and run for the wyvern. It’s neck was twisted in a strange way and she could smell its blood dripping from where broken bones had torn through its skin. She could not, however, hear its beating heart anymore. Relieved that it was over rather quickly, Amaris decided to let the corpse be and responded to the Rune Knights who’d approached. “Daragast will be waiting for you at the checkpoint,” they explained and almost immediately, Amaris was on her way. She met with the dragon-like creature at said checkpoint and he seemed surprise, but also relieved at how she’d done it. “Clever,” he said while giving her a bag filled with the reward money. “You’re strong and clever. I like that – you got the job done much faster than I initially thought. If you ever need work again, do not hesitate to approach me and I will see what I can do.” Amaris simply nodded at his words, took the money and left. She wanted to wash the blood off of her hands as quickly as possible, for it smelled horrendous.