Bordertown was never meant to last.
It wasn't a city of legacy, nor a place of progress. It was a living wall with people inside. A buffer between the Kingdom of Vaeloria and the beasts that lurked beyond these very Walls.
It had no grand castle, no great flourishing market, no banners waving in the wind. Just wooden and rotten buildings, worn roads, and a sky that always seemed too empty, waiting for the next blood moon to stain it red.
And in the center of this dead village, there was me, Serena Vaelmont. Baroness of the unwanted, Knight of the forsaken. The last of my bloodline, holding a title that no one envied. Not that I hated this title, it's just that nobody would like to be in my stead, that's for sure.
I jumped down from the watchtower and started walking towards those gates. I hated this routine, but I had to. Especially since the recent reports had been… interesting to say the least.
And there I stood at the gates this morning, watching the horizon as the wind carried whispers from the forest. The world outside the walls was silent. Way too silent.
For years, I lived with the same constant noises. The distant howls of beasts, the guttural roars of monsters, the scraping of claws against earth. But right now?
Nothing.
Not a single cry.
Not a single growling.
Not even the voice that comes with living.
I wanted to scream, frustrated about this situation, but I had to keep my face, so I merely sighed. My breath was visible in the cold morning air. It seems that at least this shitty weather stayed the same. But that was nothing I could be angry about, since I had other things to worry about. The reports were true, and this silence proved it.
The monsters were retreating.
No, if we look at how sudden it was, they were fleeing.
And whatever those monsters are fleeing from, I didn't want to face it.