A/N: Just something I wrote up over a discord I run. Figure you'd all enjoy. Updates may or may not come. I probably could have done better but it was late when I wrote it.

Autumn's Dawn

The wind kicked up dust and dead leaves as she walked down the path. Silver eyes scanned the well-traveled road, and yet aside from this simple stirring, no sign of life could be seen. Fall had already begun to make way for winter on this part of the continent, and the previous summer had been a dry one. No doubt the number of bandits would be on the rise, as many humans would have attempted to migrate from their homes to some of the wealthier parts of the continent. Most of them wouldn't make it. However, tragic as it was this was not her concern. The Organization had sent her to eradicate a Yoma that had been terrorizing a small village. Several people had been killed already, and more would likely die before she arrived.

xxxx

It was close to dusk before she arrived. The town was a small farming village if she remembered the information that she was given, and had suffered all the worse for drought that had plagued the rest of the regions. A poor harvest combined with the loss of manpower-whether the villagers had fled or died she couldn't say-had left it in a sorry shape. And yet, they had the funds to call for a Slayer. Either they had been setting aside the beras necessary to hire one of them for years, or they had something going on the side. The smell hit her before she had even set foot into the village proper-a sickly sweet smell mixed in with a coppery undertone. Death had visited this village, and from the smell, it had visited sometime ago. Some of the buildings looked as if though a fire had raged through them. She spotted an unmoving form-from what little there was of, for the vermin had already infest the bloated, stinking form-this was likely one of the villagers-a loose fitting tunic mixed with rough trousers. A broken pitchfork lay nearby-its tines bent and its haft sheared in half. Most likely they had tried to defend themselves from whatever had attacked them. Decay had set well and truly in, and she couldn't tell what had killed them. And chances were the rest of the village had most likely met the same fate. If this was the case, there was very little that would keep her from simply reporting back that the village had been wiped out since they had called her in.

But the Slayer was already here. A small voice-a dim, shadowy echo of her conscience played in the back of her head, demanding to bring some small measure of peace to these poor souls. Ignoring the smell-she had once been forced to treat a comrade after a hunt whose wounds festered with gangrene after failing to tend them properly, which had been a far worse occasion- she proceeded deeper into the ruins of the village. She saw the signs-arrows, a broken weapon, decaying bodies, trails of those that had been dragged from their home, most likely hiding from their attackers-brigands had most likely attacked the town-but there was no sign of them leaving. Had they set up a camp? Approaching what most likely had been the town square, the smell was overwhelming. Aside from the large burned out building-what had most likely been the village chief's home, what looked like a large battle. Bodies that had been clearly disembowled lay around-and what looked like the carcasses of animals-possibly the horses of the bandits along with whatever meager livestock the villagers carried. They had not left the village-at least not alive.

More likely than not, they had run into the yoma had been terrorizing the village-and it had butchered them. It had struck during the panic, seeing an opportunity for easy meat. The bandits obviously had tried to fight back. The warrior couldn't say she had any sympathy for them-they were just as much of menace to her sisters as they were honest folk. After it had its fun fun devouring the bandits and their captives, more likely than not it had moved on, having little reason to stay. No trace of yoki, no unusual sounds, nothing. Just the cold fall wind and a cold uncaring, yet beautiful sunset painting the ruins with a golden hue. Saying a silent prayer to the goddesses that the souls of the villagers would find some measure of peace in death, she went on her way. This was not the first village that had become a grave for its inhabitants, nor would it be the last

Later that night, having set up camp in a clearing some distance from the ruins with a small campfire crackling merrily and providing what meager warmth that was needed, she rested against the massive broadsword that the humans named herself and her kin for, armor set to the side after being cleaned from the hard travel. As she mulled over the days events, a faint rustle of cloth caught her attention. A man dressed in a black tunic, trousers with a heavy traveling cloak worn over it. His boots crunched faintly against the dry earth of the ground. "The mission," He said in a deep, gruff tone, coming to stand a short distance from him, "Was it successful?" Looking up, his features partially obscured by the shifting light of the fire, his brown eyes narrowed. "No," She replied looking back to the fire, "The yoma was long gone by the time I arrived." Debating whether or not to report her findings, the keeper pressed further. "And you were unable to track it?" With few other options, and figuring they would find out themselves sooner or later, she made her report. "The village had been long sacked before I arrived." The flat, monotone voice she had delivered the news with would send shivers down even the most hardened individual's spine, "Bandits were the cause, and the yoma simply finished it."

"I see." The silence stretched on, only broken by the crackling, and occasional pop of the fire. With a sigh, the watcher turned, the movement causing the fire to waver for moment, and then resuming. "We'll send a retrival squad to investigate the ruins-see if anything of value was left. "We'll have your next assignment in a few days, Elizabeth-do as you will until then." She watched him go, and then turned back to the fire.

She stayed there, watching the fire until it was little more than embers upon the cold dawn.