Charlotte couldn't stop thinking about the wolf… Its sharp image burned into her mind like a presence that defied the ordinary.
She lay in her small bed and her white hair fanned across the pillow, waiting patiently for night to claim her. Sleep was elusive though.
Her head painted vivid pictures: The white fur glowing like fresh snow and its piercing blue eyes as deep as ancient lakes… Her imagination ran wild.
She wanted to see it again. To feel the wonder people normally called "magical".
Morning arrived a few hours later, under soft pastel hues that hung in the sky. The girl had managed to sleep for only a few hours, but even still, Charlotte and Vulen quickly rubbed the last vestiges of sleep away and got ready.
Both changed into ordinary, worn play clothes again and began heading towards the room's door. They only walked a few seconds down the hallway before the familiar sound of yesterday's fight echoed from downstairs.
Their parents were arguing once more… Yet, that day, the conflict was completely different.
"How long, Harold?! HOW LONG HAVE YOU BEEN SLEEPING WITH HER?!" The womanly voice of Alhen erupted in a scream.
"It's not what it seems Alhen! I didn't… I…" Harold stammered.
The agony in the woman's cries instantly alerted both Charlotte and Vulen. They rushed toward the kitchen, where their parents froze.
"Mother?" Charlotte whispered.
She'd never witnessed her mother cry, and seeing the depth of Alhen's suffering terrified her.
"It's okay… we were just… talking about a few renovations to the house," their mother said, wiping her tears and forcing a strained smile.
She tried to play it off with an unnaturally light tone, avoiding the subject to shield her children from the truth. Something that was mirrored by Harold.
"Yeah… it's nothing serious, young ones. How about you go out and play?"
His strained voice was an obvious attempt to send them away and make them forget the ugliness of their marriage… Charlotte and Vulen were not dumb.
They knew something was off, to the point of being scared of what might happen if they dared to ask. And this simple fact made them go.
Even though this glimpse into the adult world pierced their bubble, both managed to forget it after a moment of play.
The rhythm of their day unfolded in a similar pattern to the previous day: Energy at the plaza, curiosity in the market, and freedom in the grass fields. A few things had changed.
Not many children joined them, since most playmates were either helping with chores or lending a hand at the market. Despite the fewer companions, they forgot about the anxieties rippling through their homes for a few hours… And it was beautiful.
Sometime later, the sunset began its descent and caused the sky to glow orange and purple.
Charlotte's friends were returning home, leaving both Vulen and Charlotte behind. The two of them walked slowly through the whispering rice fields… and hopefully, to something more.
"I don't think we should do this… there are monsters outside now… and father didn't give us permission either…" the elf boy murmured.
"It's just a little peek, you scaredy-pants. I wanna see it again,"
Reaching the top of a hill, they saw many stars: Pinpricks of diamonds that now illuminated the sky. Admiring them didn't take away from the magical barrier's beauty, glowing some meters away.
They drew closer and Charlotte saw it: The wolf was there. Its white form stood still and looked at them from behind the barrier. Just when she thought it couldn't get better, the beast walked slowly from side to side, waiting for them.
"Look! Look!" the girl said and ran toward the barrier.
"What is it?!" the boy responded.
They stopped only a few feet from the glowing defense itself.
"Do you see it?"
"Yeah…" Vulen said and finally gazed at the beautiful beast.
He didn't know how to feel. Only managing a sense of awe at first, changing into dread later. The wolf itself was as tall as him… and deep inside his mind, its form felt deeply intimidating.
"Okay… let's head back now. Mother and father are waiting for us."
"WAIT, LOOK, VULEN!" the girl exclaimed, seeing the wolf emerge from behind the dense bushes and slowly walk closer to the barrier.
Its eyes stared intently… showing no aggression or killing intent… only a strange, unnerving stillness… as if inviting them.
The urge was so strong that Charlotte walked closer.
"Charlotte!" Vulen yelled and instinctively clamped his hands over his eyes.
"Just a touch! It will only be a second."
Her tiny outstretched hand got nearer, until only a few millimeters separated her from the barrier. The wooden fence halted her, but it didn't stop her extended arm from phasing through the magical barrier and into the other side.
When she did, the wolf deliberately watched. Deciding to slide closer to her outstretched hand a second later.
One powerful paw after another… It felt like an eternity of tension, only for it to stop a few centimeters from her palm.
"Charlotte!"
The beast sniffed her palm and its nose brushed against her skin. Then, incredibly, it allowed her to touch it. Her soft hand landed gently on its front nose. Charlotte's face immediately lit with joy, forcing her to turn around.
"Look! Look! I'm touching the wolf!" she bubbled with triumph…
Her words were brutally cut off.
Charlotte screamed with a shriek that ripped from her soul and an unimaginable pain appeared in her hand.
The wolf's large jaws clamped down on her hand, tore her flesh, and aggressively tried to drag the small child through the wooden fence.
That scene was a visceral nightmare for Vulen. And even if consumed by terror, his instincts kicked in. He ran to his sister and grabbed her bitten arm, trying to to pull it with every fiber of his being.
Suddenly, the two children were dragged wildly from left to right by the wolf's jaw. Their small bodies hit the wooden fence over and over… Vulen had enough.
In a surge of desperation, he reached out and his small fist connected with the wolf's head. He struck with just enough force that the beast immediately let go of Charlotte, momentarily stunned.
Both the elf girl and her brother tumbled back onto the ground, not feeling a single thing. The shock of the moment overwhelmed any physical pain.
"Are you okay, Charlotte?!" Vulen asked and scrambled towards her.
"It hurts! It really hurts!" Charlotte yelped while tears streamed down her cheeks.
The wounds were not as bad as the boy expected, even if they still needed a healer. Her small hand was bleeding and it was marred by puncture marks from the beast's teeth.
Helping his sister up, Vulen looked at the wolf and saw how it stood a few meters away, its gaze still fixed on them. That's where he noticed. The wolf's pupils weren't blue anymore… they were blood red.
Both of them didn't waste time and began struggling back towards the village, at least until the boy saw something else… Something even more terrifying.
The light from the barrier was completely gone, almost like they were never there to begin with. That fact forced Vulen to turn back and see the wolf behind the fence. Though… it wasn't alone anymore.
Countless more monsters emerged from behind it, their horrifying forms pushing through trees and melting through bushes. There were multitudes of them… overwhelmingly so…
Everything stood still for that one second… then the wolf sprinted. It effortlessly jumped over the fence and into the village territory. Their shield barrier was gone…
Why wasn't the barrier working? Were they under attack?
His thoughts continued, and the wolf kept sprinting. He was now a few meters beside them, ready to attack. That's when a primal war scream erupted to their left.
The elf boy whipped his head and was met by the sight of Ascal throwing a sword through the air. Just moments before the wolf's jaws could claim them, the sword pierced it and pushed its body violently to the side.
The guardian had saved their lives. At least for now.
"Vulen!" Ascal said, looking at the now broken fence.
He saw monsters of all kinds surging through its gaping hole, like a tide of destruction. The crystal nestled in the structure was not aligned correctly…
It had all been part of a plan... The wolf clamped onto Charlotte's hand and had used the children's bodies to hit the structure… It moved the crystal just enough to cause a malfunction.
"Are you hurt?" Ascal asked Vulen after generating another sword from his interlink.
"I'm okay, but Charlotte is hurt!" the boy trembled while tears formed in his eyes.
"Take her back to town and alert the chief on what is happening. GO!"
Even with the Guardian's order, Vulen stayed frozen, watching the monsters quickly approach. Those beasts carried no obvious weapons, except their sharp claws and predatory teeth.
The first three were a vanguard of two low-slung brutish kobolds and a two-headed wolf that sprinted toward Ascal.
"LET'S START THE FEAST!" one of the wolf's heads exclaimed.
"I'LL GET THE LEGS!" the other head responded.
The wolf lunged its fangs forward. They were large enough to rip the arm from an ordinary warrior… yet, Ascal was anything but ordinary.
With his sword held firmly, the elf closed their distance and avoided one of the head's bites by rolling on the ground to its right.
When one head was still recovering from its missed strike, the other focused on him and attacked. Even still, Ascal positioned his blade between its teeth and began pushing it back. He then activated his interlink and created a dagger, quickly cutting the wolf's neck open in one swift movement.
The last head tried to attack against all odds, only for the blood loss to claim its life.
"Guess it's up to us now!" one of the kobolds snarled after watching its companion die.
The kobold may have thought the Guardian was finished… Ascal wasn't. Using the same blood-wet dagger in hand, he quickly spun around and used the momentum of his turn to throw the weapon. It streaked through the air incredibly fast and penetrated one of the monster's skulls.
Afterwards, the warrior elf retrieved the sword from the dead wolf's teeth and sprinted to the remaining kobold. He struck it down with a single slash, silencing its last gasp.
"I told you to run, Vulen! NOW!" Ascal roared, dissolving the daggers back into his interlink and facing the monsters pouring into his territory.
"O-okay!" Vulen finally responded.
He grabbed his sister's hand and continued running away.
Once he heard Vulen's receding footsteps, Ascal finally allowed himself to focus on the situation.
It looked bad… While he was dealing with the first few monsters, a tide of other creatures had streamed past him and moved directly to the remaining crystals protecting Eldham.
They knew about the barrier's weakness? But how? Why were they attacking all at once? Why did they seem so incredibly coordinated?
The monsters inside the perimeter systematically smashed all wooden fences from within, destabilizing the barrier in more sectors and creating new entry points for other beasts to pour through.
"Dear lords…" Ascal murmured before sprinting to the town.
He initially thought that fighting monsters from one controlled point would be doable… Not anymore.
With so many more new entry points and a crumbling barrier, it would be no use. The tactical advantage was lost and he understood the best course of action was heading into the village and protecting its residents.
It was that… or death.