SOPHIE.


    The faint ray of the rising sun managed to slip through a gap in the dark burgundy curtains right over my eyelids, waking me up quite pleasantly. I rubbed my crusty eyes, taking a moment to silently observe my surroundings.


    It was Saturday, a day when I didn''t have to go to school, but that didn''t mean I could rest. Like every weekend since my father''s death, it was my turn to go to the well to fetch water.


    Not everyone in the city could afford to have water at home. This was my job now, one of many responsibilities I had to take on. While walking to the well, I couldn''t help but let my thoughts wander to the injustice of it all.


    ?The circumstances surrounding human birth are truly absurd and unfair?, I thought bitterly.


    Some are born holding a golden spoon, others are born having to forge it ourselves. Just by luck, some are created from the sperm of a loaded bastard.


    Just because they were lucky, they were conceived from the egg of a disgustingly rich woman. Effort? It could only be called effort if moving your tail faster than other sperm was considered an act of merit.


    Others might be endowed with extraordinary talent; one that could forge a clay spoon into a golden one if the opportunity arose. The inequality in human birth was the same in this world.


    One might be prone to following the path of martial arts, while another might be born with a gift for magic. The point is that the disparities between human beings were evident from birth.


    I rolled up my sleeves upon reaching the well, exposing my untanned, pale, and prominent skin. The years of doing chores while taking care of my mother had made my arms look a bit thick and strong.


    I would need three trips to fill the house''s water tank. Unfortunately, the well was quite far away, since areas where underground water could be found were quite rare.


    The full buckets were very heavy, but I lifted them as I always did. ?If the buckets were bigger, I could make fewer trips?, I thought. ?Wouldn''t that be easier? Though if they were bigger, I probably couldn''t lift them...?


    After my father''s death, the family burden suddenly became heavier. As the eldest daughter, it was natural to assume the responsibility of carrying the family''s weight.


    But this was something nobody knew at the academy; I was ashamed to talk about my humble origins in a place where nobles or prodigies like Anastasia went.


    My mother had done everything possible to give me what I needed to attend the academy. I myself had tried my hardest, always giving my best to earn a scholarship that covered 80% of all school expenses while my poor mother struggled to pay the remaining 20%.


    ?What''s the point of striving day after day, if it meant nothing to my best friend? What''s the point if I could lose what little I have in the blink of an eye??


    Although I considered her my best friend, I had never talked about my origins or difficulties with her. I didn''t want to make such excuses or justify my behavior that way.


    I knew that the pain I caused her that day could never be forgotten. Because once a glass breaks, no matter how much one tries to piece it together and "fix" it, that glass will always be fractured. Friendship was like that, it could be "fixed," but it would never be the same.


    While I was preparing to return home, I heard a sound in the distance and turned to look at it. There was tension in the air and the seeds of fear began to sprout in my heart. My ears seemed to catch something like wood breaking, and after that...The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.


    —A scream? —I murmured to myself.


    It sounded like a strangled bird, but there was no way it could be a bird''s song. A shiver ran down my spine; there had to be some kind of mistake. It couldn''t be a human voice. I tried to erase my uneasiness with these thoughts, but then they vanished when the sound resonated in the air once again.


    My heart skipped a beat in my chest. There was no mistake: it was a human scream. I threw aside the water buckets —I couldn''t run with that heavy load— and ran toward the place of the scream, because the uneasiness I felt wouldn''t leave me in peace. I ran like I had never run before in my life, so fast that my legs were about to tangle.


    The neighing of horses, people''s screams, and the chilling shrieks became clearer as I approached.


    My heart was racing, but I couldn''t stop. Something terrible was happening, and although fear gripped my chest, my legs kept moving forward, toward those sounds that became increasingly clear in the distance.


    I ran, ran, and ran as if there was no tomorrow. My lungs burned and my legs trembled, but I couldn''t stop. Upon arriving, the sight before me was so heartbreaking that I felt my heart stop.


    —Blood? —my voice trembled, while an expression of horror drew across my face.


    Everywhere there were bodies next to destroyed buildings, and smoke rose to the sky like a macabre sign of destruction. A part of the city had turned into a pandemonium, a vision of hell I never thought I would witness.


    My stomach churned and contracted when I felt a strange sensation in my palate: it was bile threatening to come out along with gastric juices. The scene before me was too much to bear: some people were melting like candle wax, others had their heads split open with tentacles sprouting out, while others vomited their entrails through their mouths among hundreds of debris. Those who could still move fled desperately.


    I couldn''t contain myself anymore. I bent down to vomit while bringing my hands to my mouth. A yellowish liquid fell to the ground along with small pieces of decomposing food, and a bitter smell filled my nostrils when I felt energy leaving my body.


    ?I can''t stay here?,I thought. ?I have to get home.?


    With iron will, I wiped my mouth with my sleeves and started running again. The journey to my house wasn''t long and I arrived quickly, although I was tired and exhausted.


    But what appeared before me was an even more cruel and bloody scene: my house had been destroyed. Nothing remained but a pile of rubble and wooden sticks of different sizes; the ground had turned into a sea of blood.


    The pool of blood under the bodies of my murdered mother and siblings mixed with unknown blood that gave off a suffocating smell. Their bodies lay dismembered and blood stained many places in the house. My entire family had been murdered.


    —Ahhhh!!! —a heartbreaking scream came from my dry throat.


    I screamed from pain, anger, frustration, and regret.


    ?Don''t cry.?


    ?Don''t despair.?


    ?This is not the time to be sad.?


    But I was devastated. My family had been murdered. It was too painful. I wanted to scream until I lost my voice. ?If only I had arrived earlier...?


    Trembling and crying uncontrollably, I frantically searched through my family members'' bodies to see if any of them were alive. And... I fell to my knees when I realized there was nothing, I had lost everything.


    Unconsciously, I held my breath. Suddenly, there was a suffocating silence. Instinctively, realizing things had gone very wrong, I lifted my body. Then, I shuddered when I heard a noise.


    I slowly turned my body and what I saw made me fall into despair.


    A monster was behind me. With a large, elongated, and robust body, it measured more than three meters tall with a length of more than 7 meters. Its skin was hard and scaly, with scales that overlapped to give it better protection. Its head was wide and flat, with a frightening, toothed jaw, with sharp knife-like teeth. Its eyes were large and round, with horizontal pupils that I had no doubt could see in all directions. Its legs were large and robust with sharp claws.


    I realized that the monster in front of me was a contaminant. Those were powerful and supernatural creatures. Their very name instilled terrifying fear in simple commoners like me.


    So I knew with certainty that...


    ?I was going to die...?


    With that thought, the moment I lowered my gaze, my expression became empty and distant...


    —...That''s right —I murmured.


    My dry lips were firmly pressed together. From the beginning, I only had two options: run or fight. It didn''t matter which I chose, I simply didn''t want to die without fighting.


    When my thoughts reached there, my courage level shot up several levels.


    Cough! I coughed dryly.


    ... I made a movement. No, I tried to make one.


    At that moment, a man in thick silver armor appeared out of nowhere, he looked like one of the city''s adventurers.


    With a movement I couldn''t see, he cut the monster''s neck and split its neck and skull.