*Take with you the light of tomorrow, o' setting sun, so that you may shine again when you rise.*
 
For as long as I can remember, life has been peaceful. For each setting sun, a beautiful, final ray of light lulls me to sleep as I await the coming day that brings with it greater things. Upon this beautiful vista surrounded by misty mountains, my small home lies. For my entire life, this has been how I lived. My mother was lost to plague when I was very, very young. Even with such a thing, my life has been good. They taught me well, and frail and young as I was, I was able to take advantage of the bountiful land in which we lived in order to have healthy crop. At other times, I hunt with simple traps. For the last ten years, this has been my life. To wake just before the sun rises and tend to my harvest until it sets.
Most days I can catch a rabbit or some other small creature pretty easily, but today, I seem to have stumbled upon something a little bit... different.
 
                                        -Goodnight, Kind Mother-
 
I remember once cursing life. 'Why should I be forced to endure such pain?', I would ask whatever God may be listening. 'If you are real, Ilias, save mama, please!', I would plead over and over. She never listened, or at least I hope, as my mother's pain indeed came to an end soon after. Just as the sun began to set, so to did her eyes begin to close, taking with them the light of tomorrow. As her final breaths were drawn, there were no magical, final words; no lingering wisdom that she had to share. Just emptiness. She just looked so... Hollow. I don't really know how to explain it, because she honestly looked like she just went to sleep, but I knew... That this sleep was forever. Of course, I was only eight years old, though such a simple thought had occurred to me, such a thing was not possible. Until the sun brought forth morning light, and her corpse was cold and hard, I tried desperately to wake her. But then, I truly understood; my mother had passed away. I do not know why I was unaffected by such a thing, but that's why I can see, so calmly so, that this soul has departed from this world.
 
"I'm s-sorry", I say to the child whimpering softly beside the gentle looking corpse. "I th-hink she's gone to sleep". She slowly turns to me, though it is hard to see in the twilight. I've never been big into social things, nor have I ever actually talked to anybody in ten years, come to think of it. It's probably kind of obvious considering the way I speak.
 
"Sleep...?", the child says in a small voice. "But... she didn't even say goodnight...".
"Uh...", I nervously rub the back of my neck. "It's a d-different kind of... sleep. It's not one p-people really get to ch-choose", she merely turns back to the corpse with an empty expression. What a troubling situation. I honestly don't know what to do, here. I feel like it would be kind of distasteful to offer to bury her, but I can't just leave her here.
 
Wait.
 
"W-what happened...?", I ask, hesitantly. This is bad. Why would someone just be lying dead in the middle of the woods in the first place? Shit, I could have just stumled into something bad. My trap doesn't use violent means to capture wildlife, it just baits them into a container with a simple, magical device my father owned. Kind of like mosquitoes to a bug lamp that doesn't zap, I guess. I'm not sure why this woman tried to get in a damned rabbit trap, but that obviously isn't what killed her. I need to inspect her closer. If she's wounded...
 
"They... were mean...", the young girl says hesitantly, causing me to jump back a small bit. "They told mama to leave, but she said she shouldn't have to since it was our home, but they got angry...". As I inspect closer, the wind rustles and the fading rays of sunlight bleed through, illuminating the scene before me in a golden, flickering scene; this is not a human, and she did not die of plague.
 
"Th-they attacked her?", I squeeze out an obvious question.
 
"They attacked me... They told me I was just a curse, but mama, she jumped in front of me and protected me", she doesn't cry, but I can see her face contorting. "And we ran away until we got here, where she fell down for some reason. I don't understand! Why did she have to die like this!", the young Holstaurus shouts aloud. This is really, really bad.
 
"H-how long ago did you start r-running?".
 
"About midday... I guess". So, with these wounds, she had been running since midday? That's absurd. Even a monster as powerful as one of these creatures would fall like that! It's a miracle she made it as far as she did. "She said... Follow the light, and we will be safe". The light? I look upon her quizzically. "She said it was my fathers, and that she could find him by finding this magical item. But he wasn't here! It was just out here in the middle of nowhere... She saw it, and she fell... And then... you...", she stops and looks up to me.
 
"Are you my papa?"
 
"Wha...", stricken, I'm not sure how to respond to the sudden, very odd, question. "I'm... N-no, I couldn't be, I'm...", a virgin, obviously.
 
"This is yours, right?", she points to the small heirloom left by my father that seems to attract many creatures.
 
"Uh... I-it was my f-fathers", and just then, I realized the significance of my words. "W-wait... Are you...?", there's no way. It couldn't be, right?
 
Clink. The unforgiving sound of steel assaults my ears.
 
"The tracks are getting fresher! They must finally be slowing down!", I hear the voice of a not-so-distant man among the rumbling of others.
 
"Come on!", I shout as I grab the young calf's hand... then fall on my back like some sort of character out of a comical story. This girl's strength is incredible. "W-we have to go! They wil k-kill you, too!", I yell at the scared little girl.
 
"But... what about mama!", she pleads.
 
"Your m-mama...", I think back to my own mother. "W-would want y-you to live...". I'm not sure what it is, but I have an unknown conviction driving me to save this girl. I don't know if it's because I blame Ilias for allowing my mother to die, because she's so damn cute, or my father... He...
 
Her face becomes red and her eyes open wide.
 
She nods and takes my hand. And so, with that, I unknowingly take my first steps into the rest of my life.
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Why were they suddenly assaulted, and what is the relation between our hero and the young Holstaurus? What was the purpose of their assault? Could it be a simple chance encounter, or something more? And what kind of fate awaits our hero? Find out next time on Monster BallZ!
 
私は化け物のあい。