The cool breeze caressed the path to the village. The mountains still wore their veil of mist. Emi walked at a brisk pace, but her mind wasn't on the mission.
It was on her hunger.
"Alex!" she shouted, stopping suddenly and turning to him with a mischievous grin. "Let's stop! You have to cook something for me. I'm starving!"
Alex let out a sigh. It wasn't real annoyance, but the routine resignation of someone who already knows how the movie ends.
"Again?"
"Yes, again!" she affirmed, as if it were the most logical proposal in the world.
He didn't argue. He knew that, one way or another, he'd end up cooking.
"Fine. But only because we're not in a hurry."
Emi let out a whoop of joy and ran off toward the nearby river, her imagination already seasoning the feast Alex would prepare. He, on the other hand, knelt on the bank. With a subtle gesture of his support magic, a sturdy wooden fishing line appeared in his hands. The dusk painted the water gold, creating a peace that contrasted brutally with his life.
That's when he heard a faint rustle in the bushes.
He turned his head, ready for any threat.
He wasn't ready for what he saw.
Emi, with a smile of mischievous complicity, was removing her outer clothes and slipping into a brilliant turquoise swimsuit. The fabric stood out against her skin and the curves Alex normally worked hard to ignore.
He blushed instantly, averting his gaze to the river as if his life depended on it.
"Are you going to fish while I take a bath, Alex?" she asked, not a shred of shame in her voice. She waded into the water and leaned back against a rock, letting the current play around her.
Alex swallowed. His concentration had vanished, replaced by the heat in his cheeks and an image that refused to fade. He tried to fix his eyes on the fishing line, but his mind was elsewhere.
The change came without warning.
The wind died. The murmur of the river transformed into an agitated, unnatural bubbling. Alex felt the chill before he saw it: the water's surface bulged, distorting as if something enormous were rising from the depths.
A colossal shadow loomed.
It was an aquatic creature, but a nightmare version. Green, slimy scales, eyes glowing with a sickly light, and a mouth full of fangs sharp as daggers. But the worst were the tentacles: thick as logs, snaking through the air with terrifying speed.
And they were heading straight for Emi, who, still relaxed, hadn't seen them.
"EMI!" Alex roared, his heart clenched with panic, lunging toward the bank.
He was too slow.
A tentacle shot out like a whip, aimed to crush her. The air whistled with the force of the blow.
Emi, finally, looked up. But there was no fear in her eyes. Only a defiant, brilliant calm.
"Don't worry!" she shouted toward Alex, raising a hand. "It's just a slightly oversized fish!"
In her palm, light began to condense. It wasn't just any glow; it was the very essence of midday, captured and tamed.
The tentacle descended.
Emi released the energy.
A blinding, pure, and devastating burst sliced through the tentacle as if it were paper. The scales disintegrated in a crackle of light. The beast howled, a guttural sound of pain that reverberated through the forest.
But it wasn't enough.
The creature, enraged, launched two more tentacles.
Emi didn't retreat. She took a step forward, into the water, and extended both hands. The air around her trembled, charged with a potency that made Alex's skin prickle even from a distance.
"ENOUGH!!" she bellowed.
And then, she let it go.
A concentrated beam of liquid sun erupted from her hands. It wasn't an explosion; it was a whip of pure light, a drilling ray that pierced directly into the monster's core. There was no resistance. The light bored through flesh, bone, the creature's very essence.
One final, agonizing roar filled the air. The beast convulsed, its tentacles twitching in spasms and then… it crumbled. Its colossal mass fell back into the river with a dull thud, sinking rapidly as the last flickers of light consumed its place.
Silence.
Only the murmur of the river, now peaceful again, and the faint smoke rising from the impact point.
Alex stood petrified on the bank, his mouth slightly agape. He always knew Emi was strong, but seeing it was another thing. It was… terrifying. And fascinating.
Emi turned toward him, splashing water. Her turquoise swimsuit was torn on one side from the scuffle, revealing a bit more skin than Alex knew he should ignore. But even disheveled, soaked, and with hair plastered to her face, she radiated an unbeatable vitality. She was, without a doubt, the most impressive person he had ever seen.
"Well, that was faster than expected!" she announced, with a triumphant smile that lit up her face more than any spell. "Did you see that, Alex? I disintegrated it in a blink!"
Alex let out the breath he didn't know he was holding.
"You did good, Emi…" he murmured, and a small trace of a smile touched his lips. A silly pride he would never confess out loud.
She emerged from the water, shaking herself off like a puppy. She sat on a rock near the campfire that Alex, by pure instinct, had already begun to prepare.
"That was amazing! See? It's no big deal," she said, watching as he placed fillets from the creature over the flames. "And you, Alex, standing there as usual. Do you want me to give you combat lessons someday?"
He shot her a wary look.
"I'd rather master the art of not poisoning us with this," he replied, flipping the meat.
The aroma began to rise, delicious and earthy. Emi scooted closer, her eyes now shining with hunger instead of divine power.
"You have to try it, Alex!" she insisted, tearing off a piece and biting into it with gusto. "It's delicious! And it's thanks to your fishing, don't forget!"
Alex didn't answer, focused on the fire. The fear had dissipated, replaced by this absurd normality. A normality where monsters were the appetizer and chaos ended with a shared meal.
As he watched Emi laugh, with monster juice on her chin and residual light dancing in her pupils, Alex understood once more.
He didn't find peace in spite of Emi's chaos.
He found it within her.