Matthew woke up with a huge sound coming from the first floor. The building was filled with screams and people shouting orders. Someone appeared by the door of the room that he was sharing with 4 other adventurers, including Michael. He was the only one in there now though.
"Still sleeping kid? Get up, the wolves are trying to get in. Get ready fast and come down!" the person by the door told him before running downstairs himself.
Matthew quickly tied his boots and put on his vest. Grabbed his weapons and shield and ran downstairs.
The scene was chaotic. The front door was half open with 3 adventurers trying to close it while the wolves squeezed themselves though the gap. Civilians were running past him, going upstairs from the kitchen. Other adventurers where stabbing the wolves that were trying to get in with spears, one of them was Jacob, and pushing them back out. Bodies of wolves were sprawled everywhere.
Matthew ran and helped the 3 adventurers pushing the door against the wolves to close it. Then someone shoved a large metal couch in front of the door. While everyone there held the couch in place so that the door wouldn't open again, someone came with a blowtorch and welded the door shut.
It took a long time for the door to be secured. An even longer for them to feel safe and let go of the couch blocking the door.
"Well. We're not getting out anymore anyway." Jacob joked, but no one laughed.
"What the hell happened?" Matthew asked.
"A big one appeared." another adventurer said "He was so strong that he managed to ram down the door destroying the lock." he pointed at the lock hanging from the door frame. "We should weld the hinge side too." he said looking at the woman with the blowtorch.
"Where are the others?" Matthew asked looking around for Vanessa and the siblings.
"They're on the roof." Jacob said. "They were giving cover for us. You should go up and tell them we closed the door. It's time to save ammo."
Matthew went upstairs. On the way he saw some people injured. The receptionist from the inn was one of them. She was holding her bandaged arm, the hand missing. She tried to smile at him, but pain shifted her smile to the side. Her eyes filled with pain and fear.
At the roof, soldiers and adventurers where still shooting at the wolves that surrounded the building. They all stopped when Matthew brought the news.
Michael got down from the perch. "God dammit" he cursed. "Where the hell that thing came from?"
"What thing?" Matthew questioned.
Michael pointed at the distance. A huge red wolf that walked on its hind legs, with long arms and human hands was at the distance. It howled and the red wolves retreaded towards him.
"A werewolf?" Matthew got surprised.
"Looks like one." Paula confirmed getting closer to the two. "There was never any sighting of one of those here. But also there was never a red moon."
"And it looks intelligent too." Vanessa complemented getting off the perch she was herself.
Matthew kept looking at it while the wolves left the encampment thought the holes they made on the walls.
"If help doesn't come soon. We're dead." Michael noted making everyone on that rooftop who listened to him fall silent.
Help. The only way help could arrive from earth was if a Sage opened a gate to them. However there were only 5 Sages in the world and none at their country. This time Faralynn wasn't there, so her family would not come to save them. It could take months for their country to be able to hire a sage and rescue them.
Matthew quickly thought that he could get a level on Sage if he leveled up. But the odds of him getting a class he wanted was very slim. And even worst. To use dimensional magic required a lot of study. Else one could open a gate to the deep space and kill everything that went through.
He looked up and saw Lumi, Paula's spirit owl, flying on the sky. She was looking scouting enemy positions. Michael was already checking his arrows, making count of how many more he had. Vanessa had gone down saying she was going to help clean the bodies that were downstairs.
They all moved so fast. He felt like a child. Again. Was he only in the way?
He hurried up to join Vanessa. Bringing the wolf bodies upstairs and throw them down. Some they would preserve as food, but the others they couldn't leave inside the dorm. They were going to rot and spread diseases.
It took a long time going up and down the stairs to discard those bodies. By the end of it, he was exhausted. He sat at the rooftop looking at the red moon that was going away. The beginning of the night cycle on that dimension.
"The moon goes around the whole dimension in circles. It takes 27 hours." Jacob appeared behind him explaining. "When its very far away, its just a dot on the sky. Did you know this whole place is flat?"
Matthew looked at him like he's crazy. Why was he saying that?
"I've been working here for 3 years now. I barely adventure anymore. Most of what I do is administrative work. But I always thought that the moon of this place was beautiful. Even now that is red and we're all at this mess."
"Do you regret? Being here? Working in a dangerous place like this?" Matthew asked showing his own insecurities.
"If I had known that this would happen, I'd never be here. Of course. But regret? I don't. I like the job. I like this place." Jacob made a little pause before saying: "Take a deep breath. Can you smell it?"
Matthew breathed in. A wood scent, a bit metallic and sweet.
"That is the smell of the Razor Pine. The tree we harvest here. I love that smell. Working everyday surrounded by such good smell is nice. So, no. I don't regret the life I have. Do you?"
"Most of the time yes."
Jacob noticed his white spots. The place where new skin grew after he was wounded in hell.
"It's been hard on you, huh?" He said putting his hand on his shoulder.
"It's been one thing after another." Matthew scoffed with a hint of sadness.
"You know kid." Jacob spoke knowingly. "It's always hard. Some jobs more than others, but it's always hard. But after hard times comes good times. After we get out of here, you'll go out with your friends. Date your girlfriend. And all because you were here today." Jacob put his finger on his forehead where he'd been burned before. "Your scars are a part of you. A part of growing. You're only who you are today because of them. Regretting your life means hating who you've become. And if you hate yourself, then you have a problem and regretting won't solve it."
Matthew kept silent. Taking in what's been said.
"Now come. We cooked one of the wolves that got in. Everyone is taking out their frustrations on the meat."
At the refectory, Matthew saw almost everyone there eating. The ambient was silent, save for a few quiet conversations and the sound of cutlery hitting the plates. The inn receptionist was sitting on the far corner. Her bites on the wolf flesh hard and strong. Her expression that of hate. She was eating it bare handed, while her handless arm hanged on a sling that crossed her shoulder.
There was about 100 people there. Most of them civilians who worked on the logging operation. He sat beside Vanessa who was on her second plate now. The seats were crowded with so many people that he had to squeeze himself between her and a burly man, one of the company's soldiers.
Matthew felt self-conscious while he felt Vanessa's thigh brushing his. He could smell her perfume which made his face go red. He ate pretending not to notice those things. But it all fell apart when Vanessa passed her arm around his shoulder.
"How you handling things, kid?"
"F-f-f-f-fine." He stuttered from the sudden skinship.
"You don't need to be scared." Vanessa whispered without understanding his true motive for being nervous. "We'll heal you from the demonic mana as soon as we get out of here. Until then, you just have to keep it under control. I know you can do it."
Can do it? Matthew's gaze fell on Vanessa's breasts squeezed in her band t-shirt. The warmth he was feeling now. Like an anger. The need to rip her clothes off. It was taking everything he had to keep his hands to himself.
Then the image of Faralynn invaded his mind. Her kiss. The way she kissed him. It was the same. So out of character, so sudden and without explanation. It got clear to him. She didn't kiss him out of a crush or something like that. "Something is not right." her words echoed in his mind. Faralynn was also under the influence of demonic mana.
Matthew jumped out of the bench. His eyes showing fear. "I'm sorry Vanessa. I'm not feeling well." he said before running away.
Paula, who was sitting across the table saw everything. How he looked at her. His reaction. She's seen it before. Very close. Her hands instinctively massaged her neck. She remembered her ex's hands around her throat. How she was losing conscience. The fear of slowly dying with no strength to do anything against it. The desperation of not being able to breath. And the pain of being taken without consent. She considered Vanessa a friend. She would not allow it to happen to her.