A figure clad in mismatched clothes moves through the darkness, with a green hood and a bee mask covering her face with only brown eyes, corvine black hairs and pointy ears poking out of it. Under the mask is a tanned face covered in scars, some larger then others, one even covering her left eye, still this with her balanced body proportions would still make her a great beauty, maybe for some just a little too muscular. What ruin it all is a very ugly burn covering her skin unevenly from under her nose to her stomach, a costant reminder of her failures and to never lower your guard in war.


    <hr>


    After the meeting''s conclusion i went through a large number of corridors full of twists and turns, which mostly lead to fake entrances and dead ends. This place is a true hell for intruders, but also a pain to deal with for us too. It must have been an architect worst nightmare to design this place. This labyrintic structure never saw use, nobody ever tried to spy on a member during a meeting, so this is just a testament to the distrust existing between the founders. The things we sometimes do for secrecy!


    I''m just happy i can leave behind myself those stuck up nobles. It gives me chills thinking i''m tecnically one of them now. I like to think of myself as a paladin of the people, always on look out, you know just in case one were to propose to use commoners as scapegoats. So far they have yet to do anything, evil or not, we are basically like one of those fancy tea clubs. Except without the tea or gossip, so in the end is even more boring. I get some entertainment by seeing the interactions between those three crafty nobles. Playing political games is not exactly my cup of tea, but i''m neither a true noble or a saint, so to each their own. There is one thing i enjoy about this meetings, is so fun to scare the crap out of them with my face! They don''t expect such a brunt and direct approach as focused as they are on backstabbing others, it does wonders for my stress relief seeing how worked up they get by trying to puzzle together the reasons i might have to reveal my identity. I admit i get off a little on fear and violence, i simply enjoy being the one on top in life.


    My toughts are interrupted when i reach the tunnel''s end, after dozens of minutes.


    "Finally" i whisper to myself.


    I touch in a specific order a few stones and after some clicks the wall parts away to reveal the pitch black basement of a building. I carefully remove my bee mask and hide it under my cloak, then i walk towards the exit and end up outside the back of an abandonated building.


    I have to squeeze and then blink my eyes a little to get used to the lights from the streets. Then from the shadows nearby, my personal escorts come to my "rescue" dressed in black cloaks and we start to move through the city.


    Right now there is no sun in the sky, we are in the middle of the darkest hours before dawn. Darkness claims the streets, making it the perfect den for any wannabe mugger or worst with only the few lights in the city streets, like firepits, scare the ones lurking in the darkness. But this is not the city''s center, this is the poor district. This is the land of nobody. Here only darkness reign. Here in the night the preys become predators. Even someone as experienced as me in the art of combat is aware of the danger, even kids can easily kill asleep soldiers, i know how scarily effective a sneak attack can be and this is a perfect enviroment for them, so i have to keep my senses on full alert and bring others with me. I know this full well because i lived here before joining the army, this is where i got my scars. It would be moronic to survive the battlefield just to die here.


    I suddently fell a little nostalgia and some repressed memories creep up. I try to suppress it, but i only start to fell more and more anxious.


    "Guys let''s stop for a moment at the Green Beetle."


    "But the orders where explicitly to not let you dri-"


    "I will simply change them then."


    "But..."


    "Do i have to repeat myself?!" I glared at him. "I will buy you a cold one, cmon." I smirked.


    "..."


    "I will take that as a yes then, let''s go."


    I start to walk and lead them through a few narrow dark alleys until we come to a stop when the Green Beetle is in sight.


    "Dashing as always!" The others look at the plain looking green building with the crude incision of a beetle on his wodden door and then throw me some weird glances.


    Yes, i know. They have different standards, this looks like any anonymous main district pub, to the untrained eye, but in this area any building with proper paint on and that doesn''t smell of piss or mold is high level stuff. This is because the mob protects the place and gives it acces to the good stuff, alchool with enough of a kick to be even illegal in some places. This and the fact they are one of the few places that still take credit is why i come here, well me and a lot of thugs.


    I might be impulsive but i''m not an idiot, so i let one of my guards knock on the door and enter first to check out the facility before i come in. If you go to dangerous places the least you can do is have some sort of safety net, mind you not many would possibily risk their life for just a drink. It might be boredom or something else but i enjoy some danger once in a while to sharpen my senses before they grow dull with all this burocratic crap.


    The slit in the door is opened an someone throws a few questions at my escort then he is welcomed inside. We wait and after a few minutes he comes outside.


    "All clear" he reports.


    We talk to the guard behind the door and walk inside. We are greeted with a strong pungent acidic smell of alchool and sweat. There are some rough looking people at a few tables, they look briefly our way then they mind their own damn business. We go towards the barkeeper and order some drinks, then we go to a suitable table. While drinking our first shots we are approached by a customer, he clearly was already intoxicated, enough to not notice my heavily scarred face. He tries to court me so i let him seat and entertain me with some small talk. Then... the next few hours become a blurr, alchool is drinked, jokes are told, a few glances with meaning are exchanged and...


    I wake up staring at an unfamiliar ceiling, i seem to be in bed and based on the light from the window it should be well past morning. I try to sit up and i am assaulted by a huge hungover. I fell my head aplitting and my insides burning, the sour aftertest of alchool giving me nausea. Pressed against my body there is something, i look beside me and see the naked body of a passed out male, probably one of the bar patreons i hooked up with. I start to dress myself and get out with haste from the plain looking room of what i assume is some kind of low level hotel.A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.


    "Oh... huh good morning?" I sluggishly say to my escorts waiting in the corridor.


    "Can we now go?" Said one of them with an unamused face.


    "Ehm..." I try to collect my toughts. But my head feels like is both pulsing and heating up. I press a hand on my face and exhale for a moment. "Yes, yes. Is time to go already."


    I can''t believe i lost my composure and drinked enough to pass out with a stranger, that strange report probably weighted on me more then i thought, i should stop stressing over everything. I would normally wait a few hours for the aftereffects to lighten, if i were alone, but i don''t like being surrounded by subordinates that don''t show the appropriate level of fear and respect towards me. I can already see by their grimace and the look in their eyes how the respect they held for me had crumbled already. I''m sure that they now think those terrifying rumors about me must have been fake. I''m just a dumb superior that couldn''t keep her pants on for you? Well i''m sure a few rounds of hellish training at the base will wipe out those toughts.


    After an uneventful travel through various districts we come to our stop, then the escorts greet their superior as for protocol and go towards the military camp. I steered my toughts and put a smile on my face, then i finally entered my home.


    I am greeted by a kid with height of only 1 and a half meters, white porcelain skin, long black hairs, black eyes, chubby frame, two pointy ears, one pointy tooth poking out of her closed lips and a really annoying character, i wonder where she got that from sometimes. She has a serious looking grimace on her face that doesn''t belong on such a tiny frame, i really wonder were she got that from too...


    "Hey sweety!" I cheerfully said to my daughter "Are you skipping school?" I added with an even more cheerful voice.


    "Stop smiling it gives the creeps with that look of yours." Then she gazed menacingly at me "Don''t, ever again, act like you give a crap about me! This was the last time that i put up with your antics."


    "Wha-what?!"


    "Don''t play dumb. No wait, maybe you are, that would explain many things."


    "Brat i will not let you insult me, there are limits to disrespect, even if you are my daughter!"


    "Don''t call me daughter only when is convenient to you! You never act the part of a parent!"


    "Shut up a moment you are giving me an headache!" Well in truth it was more my fault for drinking. "As always you are an ungrateful-"


    She interrupted me "You disappeared for an entire day, you weren''t there when i, when it... you weren''t there!"


    "What exactly happened?"


    "Some strange things... my body feels fuzzy."


    I creased my brows then i understood "Oh you are in THAT period! This is an important step to womanhood, congrats dear."


    "W-what will happen to me?"


    At that moment i saw my husband looking at me, through the open door leading to the kitchen, with a stern look.


    "Something, something love. Something, something sex. Something, something stay away from boys for the moment! Sorry but i have to go, i will later give you a book on the subject sweetie." I said while slowly moving towards the kitchen.


    I close the door behind and i''m confronted with my husband. He has a slim body, black eyes like our daughter, blonde hair and as usual he has some boring noble attire.


    "It was a really loooong metting sorry, now i only have time to wash, get a change and i will then have to go." I say while pretending in most tired voice possible. "So just heat a bath for me, no need to cook up something, also give our daughter a book about womanly stuff, i would leave it to you but i know you hate those talks as much as me."


    "First you forget about your daughter, then you came here late, while we were worried about your well being and you not only act like nothing happened but you order me around too? Damn you didn''t even say good day before laying on me that shitty excuse."


    "What? Sorry if i have to work while you do nothing. To think you even dare to treat me like this after all i have done!"


    "You stink of alchool and for what i can gather possibly a one night stand with someone else."


    "Are you a bloody prophet now? Oh mystic! Can you see my future with your abilities?"


    "Stop bullshitting me." He yells... he never yells. That is a bad sign. Is so unexpected that is even able to shock me, make me flinch. "I''m not blind either! Your hairs and clothes tell more then you think, just look at your current state oh mighty commander of who cares army. I''m sick and tired of this!"


    "W-w-wait darling i c-can expl-" i stumbled on my words taken by panic.


    "Enough!" I want to know right now what the hell where you doing yesterday." His eyes are red with anger, is like the flames of anger he usually had hidden deep inside himself where released all together.


    "Military stuff i swear, i can''t say to civillians much of this, you know how it is."


    "I still have friends from the old times in the military, you know before i met you and became trapped in my home."


    "Oh now you are exagerating and playing the victim card. It was OUR decision to have a kid and-"


    "Don''t try to manipulate the coversation i haven''t finished! After asking around, i was made aware that yesterday you were not even close to the camp."


    "Well, is because... eh... this time was... on another location."


    "Strange because i also checked for the other dates you told me you had military stuff to do and it was the same."


    "Ah... this... that." I didn''t know how to reply.


    "So i was right." He sighed. "I hoped for a moment you would deny it and reveal my assumotion to be wrong. So who is he?"


    That was a trap then? Damn, i fell for it. But i can''t explain i was at one of the meetings, is a secret. Now that my lie is exposed i can''t think of a better one.


    I grit my teeth and shut up while he starts to yell at me again. I think of answers but none come to mind. I will be late to my duties if this goes on. He keeps yelling and yelling. I tighten my fists. I have to wash myself and change, i can''t waste all the rest of the day. There must be a way out of this. I look at him yelling at me, for what exactly? In any case i''m the matriarch, the one shouldering the work and responsabilities. He should be grateful and not feel entitled to all this!


    Out of impulse i punch him in chin, there is a little crack sound but it might very well be from my hand. I closed wrongly the fist, but at least the angle of the punch is right and his brain is thrown agains his own skull from the impact, i know it from experience, i see it in the way he stumbles. I grin. Yes, violence never failed me, if you don''t find a solution it just means you were using too little violence.


    Then anger takes me in again when i notice the finger i broke to punch him. I grab him by the hair while is stunned and with a single punch i break his nose, blood flows everywhere, is like a fountain. I know it very well, i''m used to it is something normal in war, yet for some reason i fell my guts twisting when i see his pain but i suppress it deep down. Is too late to back down now and search for an excuse for this.


    I let my istincts take over me and i start beating him, at one point i even forget who he was, it was the same trance i feel during war. I don''t stop after hearing his yelps and screams, i keep punching him and feel a bloody mush under my fists, blood spraying all over me and making my fingers so slippery i can''t grap or punch in any effective way so i simply resort to kicking him. Then i stop when i hear the door''s creaking sound and see my daughter staring at me.


    I see disbelief in her eyes and pure terror in her face. She realizes it for the first time, the image of the monster i had become sinked inside her. I knew that now i had really done it. I still remembered my parents abuses after all, so i knew from experience.


    I simply walk towards the door without saying a word. She istantly throw herself out of my way on the ground, while shacking and sobbing. I think for a moment about talking to her but i decide against it. I would make it only worse, so i simply went for the bathroom.


    While washing my bloodied and shacking hands i look into the mirror and see in there the reflex of what i have become.


    "I... i just." I stopped myself before i lost control and i pushed down both the puke and tears that wanted to come out.


    Now i simply have to wash myself and get out. I''m NOT a monster like my parents. He is still alive. I''m still succesful. All is good, all is right. It will HAVE to be all right.