The Mother Superior gave a slight nod, and her assistants slowly pulled aside the heavy, blood-stained white sheet.
I leaned over the stretcher to examine the remains of the victim.
The gashes on the flesh were deep and clean, and the shattered bones once again confirmed the unbelievable violence of the winged predator we were tracking.
The moment my analysis was complete, the nuns lost no time.
They moved the body toward the back of the room where a stone altar awaited.
Right before my eyes, they immediately proceeded with the cremation, the purifying flames rising rapidly to devour the evidence in a thick smoke laced with the heavy scent of incense.
I stood back up, leaning against a stone pillar, watching the ashes drift toward the arches of the chapel.
“Is this your first victim?” I asked the Mother Superior politely, breaking the leaden silence.
She slowly turned her chalk-pale face toward me, a veil of far too calm sadness passing through her eyes.
“Unfortunately, no…
A large portion of those who die here were devotees of our chapel.”
Her words echoed curiously in my mind.
Why was the Calamity specifically targeting the church folk?
Was it vengeance, a ritual, or a simple geographic coincidence?
Before I could dig deeper into the matter, the nun stepped slightly closer and added a piece of information that instantly grabbed my hunter’s attention: the town’s farmer had also been attacked a short while earlier, and all of his cows had mysteriously vanished.
Sensing a new trail taking shape, I gave the nun a brief nod of farewell and left the stifling atmosphere of the chapel. This story is hosted at g.com.
To get to the farmer’s land, I had to cross a section of the town.
Under the eternal dome of pitch-black clouds, the narrow streets of Happy felt increasingly hostile, with residents tracking my movements from behind closed shutters.
Upon arriving at the farm, the sight of the empty enclosure, the smashed fences, and the upturned earth left no doubt about the Calamity’s raw power.
The farmer, still in shock and trembling with rage, was pacing across his devastated property.
Catching sight of me, he spat on the ground and crossed his arms.
“That monster took everything in a single night,” he said, his voice cracking with anger.
“My livestock, my livelihood…
everything.
But if you want my advice, Master Hunter, you’re wasting your time here.
You should be looking into the former sheriff instead.”
“The former sheriff?” I repeated, furrowing my brow.
“Why him?”
The farmer stepped closer, lowering his tone as if fearing the walls had ears.
“He and I had a severe dispute some time ago.
Since that day, he resigned and has been living completely apart, isolated in a shack at the far edge of the village.
And do you want to know the strangest part?
No one saw him anywhere near the area this morning when the body was discovered.
He doesn’t show his face anymore.
It’s far too easy to blame a demon when an old enemy has every reason to seek revenge.”
The list of suspects was beginning to grow, and the mystery surrounding this town was turning into a true nest of vipers.
Exhausted by my morning spent tracking on the roofs, the high-speed chase through the chapel, and these relentless interrogations, I felt an immense fatigue weighing down on my shoulders.
My body was demanding a break.
I took my leave of the farmer and retraced my steps to finally return home to our isolated building.
Pushing the door open, the quiet of the apartment felt incredibly relieving.
Alya was keeping watch, faithful as always.
Without losing a single minute, I sat down at the living room table and opened the village documents I had retrieved earlier.
I laid out the large, dusty map of the town of Happy on one side, and the registry of residents on the other.
With my eyes locked onto the names and street layouts, I began cross-referencing the accounts, fully determined to separate truth from lies before leaving this city.