Excerpt: Monster Lore: Mina's Misadventures

Silence hung thick in the air, clinging to the ravaged old trees strewn about the open patch of land. Enormous oak limbs laid broken in two, riding upon each other like a haphazard fence of some gigantic gardener. The remaining trees stood quietly, encircling the entities within its impromptu stage.

A huff of tired breath resonated across the stark, orange sky.

“…You’d better step aside, miss. I can’t guarantee your safety here…”

A tall, cloaked man spoke up within the ravaged woodland arena, his face obscured by the tattered hat riding low on his brows. An arm stretched outwards from the shredded hems of his cloak, idly shifting a gigantic blade weighed upon his shoulder.

Across the arena stood a young girl, perhaps no more than twenty years old, with silver oval glasses framing her soft round face. Her arms outstretched, the girl seemed adamant on refusing the imposing man to advance any further.

“…Miss, I really must tell you, this is stupid, even for you.”

The man spoke up once more, glaring at her with piercing yellow eyes. The towering sword swayed only slightly as he paced slowly to the side, which the girl responded in kind by imitating his footwork with her own.

“...Seriously…”

The man let out a groan and glanced over his shoulder. A group of men began pulling themselves from the mass of fallen tree limbs, some beginning to tend the wounds of the more seriously injured. The sword-wielder paid them only a sliver of interest before shifting back to the young girl before him, as well as the “thing” directly behind her.

The quarry of his hunt.

“I’m not going to tell you again, miss. Move or die.”

This time, the man did not merely say it out of custom. He drew the giant slab of metal from his shoulders and firmly gripped its handle, legs firmly planted for a readied strike. His eyes were on the girl, but his attention was soon shifting elsewhere.

“No, I will not!” The girl finally declared after a long period of silence. Her voice resolute, if a small bit shaky. “I will not let you continue to waste the lives of these endangered animals! How would you like it if YOUR kind was wiped off the face of the earth?!”

The man simply snorted a response.

“Not my problem, missy.” He muttered.

A second later, an exhausted huff blew past the maiden’s form as a low rumbling noise began to shake the very ground she stood on. A shadow, towering above the landscape, soon enveloped all who stood in the wide open clearing of dead trees and furrowed soil. The bespectacled girl slowly turned around, only to see an enormous dark red silhouette against the darkening evening sky. In the midst of the massive dark form, two shining yellow gems could be seen in the tallest spires of the beastly form.

“Not my problem, especially if you are its next meal.”