It is midnight at the southern border of the Vallka kingdom.
A pale hooded boy with short black hair and black eyes are sitting beside a dim campfire, surrounded by pine trees and tall bushes.
The dim fire is bright enough for the boy to see about 3 meters around him, and However far he try to look past the trees and bushes it's to no avail because all he sees are bushes and trees.
He throws a fire wood to the fire with his right hand, which is deformed. From the forearm to the tip of the fingers, his right arm is made of reddish skin.
He only has 3 fingers on that hand, each with nails as sharp as knives.
He heard rustle of dried leaves from his left.
He stands up and face the direction of the noise.
He readies his right arm to strike at whatever is approaching, he walks slowly to the direction of the noise just to see an exhausted teenage girl, hair as white as snow and light green eyes carrying a stick with s dozen of rusted nails on it.
The girl's eyes widen as she swings the stick at his direction, fully intending on hitting him.
The boy grabbed the stick with his right hand then twisting his hand, disarming the girl with relative ease.
Before the girl could scream he covered her mouth with his left hand and then speaks,
"What are you doing in this part of the kingdom alone. Are you that willing to die?"
He wonders why she doesn't answer his question, then realizing he still has his hand covering her mouth. He blushed a little from embarrassment,
"Oh my bad, I forgot about that"
He said uncovering her mouth.
The girl stumbled back and landed on the ground with a thud.
She is taking deep breaths for a while before finally speaking,
"You... Who are you?"
She takes a glimpse of his right hand and then backs away for a bit and speaks,
"Are you... A beast?"
The boy sighed and speaks,
"My name is Wilhelm, and I assure you that I am no beast"
He extended a hand which the girl shakily grabbed,
"You can stay with me until the night ends to avoid dangers, at dawn I'll accompany you to a settlement Northwest from here"
He said while dragging the girl up.
The girl can't seem to move her gaze from Wilhelm's deformed right arm,
"Are you... One of those things called fiends? The ones from the myth"
She said before realizing that she might gave a rude impression,
"Oh! Sorry for my rudeness, I haven't introduced myself.
I'm farnesse Langley. I was going on a carriage with my servants to the capital when we're ambushed by some sort of humanoid creatures" She said while forcing a smile.
As Wilhelm was about to speak, both of them heard a screeching noise right from the direction Farnese comes from.