The night was young in Oak Town. The wind was calm and the sounds were silent. Well, mostly silent. Those who found themselves in the general vicinity around the Phantasm Castle would instead hear the loud cracks and grunts of a woman stretching out in the front. This woman’s name is Liberty Song, a relatively new face to the world and even newer to Oak Town. Given a task by the Lord of the castle, Liberty had to check on multiple locations to make sure that their beacons were all set up and good to go if they are needed in the future. It looked like there was going to be a lot of walking in the immediate future, so she took it upon herself to stretch and prepare herself. It was only a few minutes before she was on the move.

The first destination was, conveniently, right in front of her. Walking up the hill, as one would expect, was a piece of cake. It was slightly inclined, like hills are, but she’s walked up worse in worse weather so it was easy. Upon reaching the top, her eyes locked with a man who was clad in armor. One of the guards most likely, especially since he was moving wood back and forth between a currently burning pile and a not burning pile. He continued his work before he caught a glimpse of Liberty in his vision and turned to her, greeting her with a modest wave before returning to his work. There was an awkward silence for a while as Liberty just kinda stood there and watched the man do his work, deciding to speak up.

“Uh… good work. Keep it up, I guess? I’m just going to… go…” Slowly, she backed up, tripping over a rock on her way. Luckily, she was able to regain her balance pretty quickly before turning on her heel and headed in the direction of the next beacon. Also on a hill, the fastest path in between the two beacons happened to be through a forest, meaning that Liberty was going to be walking through a forest, late at night, by herself, with no way of defending herself. Technically. She has her magic, but she had no intention of actually using it. Even if she were to be attacked by something, she was just going to fight against it with her bare fists.

Anyways, she made her way through the forest at a brisk pace. Not exactly a run but she wasn’t taking her sweet time strolling through the forest either. Just like the previous hill, not much of an incline and she made her way up with ease. This time, she was met with a sleeping guard instead of a working one. He seemed pretty deep in his sleep too, as if he’s been at this for a while now. Observing the beacon, it looked like it was set up correctly so Liberty decided to let the man sleep. There was no use in waking him up if he had no need to be awake.

The final beacon was located to the north. Right off the bat, Liberty knew something was up as she couldn’t see any smoke coming from the hill that was supposed to have the beacon. Quickly, she made her way down the hill and jogged through the forest. She made a mental note that there was an abundance of forests in this area, they should probably cut down a few trees or make a path to speed up travel if they plan on using these beacons on a regular basis. As Liberty made her way to the top of the hill she stopped in her tracks, but gilded due to a liquid she stepped in. Turning around, she would find out that the liquid was blood. It’s source was from the headless body of a guard on the ground. The blood was starting to coagulate so he’s been like that for a while, there being an almost finished beacon. While it was a sad sight, Liberty couldn’t waste her time. If there was no beacon, she had to notify the Lord, and she had to be quick if she didn’t want to be the next dead person on the hill. Hastily, she ran down the hill and through the forest to the castle.

It wasn’t long before she found herself back at the gate, but this time out of breath. The guard stationed there just stared at her, waiting for her to say something, mainly why she was running.

“Everything alright?”

“Almost everything… The farthest beacon… is not finished. The man working on it is dead.” She leaned against the castle’s outer wall to catch her breath as she reported back. The guard just nodded in response then waved her off, signalling that her job has been completed. Relieved, she waited to catch her breath before she walked back into town, putting the memories of the night in the back of her mind.

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