Noah’s movements were so fast and precise that the twigs beneath his feet barely had time to rustle.
Noah burst into a small clearing and silently pounced on a large, dark creature. The blade instantly pierced the back of the monster's head, and it collapsed onto the moss.
Without breaking stride, Noah veered sharply to the right—straight toward a second beast leaping out of the bushes. A quick swing sent the monster's head rolling across the grass.
Noah leapt onto a thick branch, launched himself across the gap, and pierced the third monster in midair.
Landing on the ground near another corpse, Noah wiped the blood from his blade and froze. Suddenly, he noticed a strange vibration of the soil beneath his feet.
Noah clenched his left fist and slammed it straight into the ground beneath him with all his might.
BOOM!
The earth shook. The shockwave sent chunks of turf, stones, and dirt flying in all directions, leaving a deep crater at the impact site. At the very bottom, a bright green glow pulsed.
Noah whipped out his sword and thrust the blade straight into the center of the glowing point. But a fraction of a second before the impact, the green spark jerked and bolted forward—right beneath the surface of the ground. The radiance was so powerful that it was clearly visible even through the layer of soil.
Noah bolted after it. He raced through the forest, stabbing his sword into the ground as he ran, trying to pin it to the ground. But it maneuvered between the roots, dodging every strike flawlessly.
At one point, a massive oak trunk loomed right in front of Noah—he nearly crashed into it at full speed, but at the last possible second, he veered left, scraping past the trunk without breaking stride.
He tried stomping, tried tearing up the earth with his bare hands on the run, plunged his blade down—all in vain. The green spark slipped away.
Furious, Noah leaped onto the nearest tree without slowing down, ripped a massive branch free with a single motion, and brought it crashing down onto the ground right in the path of the glow with all his might.
THUD!
The earth bulged and shuddered from the impact. A small green crystal was flung into the air as the soil broke apart.
Dropping the branch, Noah instantly drew his sword and pierced the crystal cleanly in mid-air.
CRACK!
Fractures raced across the surface of the crystal. The next second, it burst with a ring, shattering into fine dust over the grass.
Suddenly, a loud rustle came from the side. Noah spun around sharply, raising his sword, and saw a massive monster with a giant club. The beast had already raised its club to strike, but never got to bring it down.
Right before Noah’s eyes, the monster's body—starting with its head—began to melt away, dissolving into a cloud of dark ash. A second later, absolutely nothing was left in that spot.
Noah lowered his sword and stared silently at the empty clearing for a few seconds.
"Finally..." he breathed out quietly. But then he paused, squinted slightly, and corrected himself: "No... Actually, what a shame."
A few minutes later, Noah strolled out of the forest toward the camp. Sheathing his sword, he stopped at the edge of the clearing and surveyed the surroundings with a familiar look. Three houses now stood where the empty clearing used to be.
At the same time, Iron was finishing assembling the second bed in the second house.
Eliza sat by the burnt-out, slightly smoking campfire. Seeing Noah, she got up and walked over to him, holding a still-warm piece of roasted meat.
"You finally made it," Eliza said, handing him the treat.
Noah took the meat in silence and immediately bit off a large piece, chewing slowly.
Eliza pressed her lips together and pointed toward the thicket:
"I heard some strange noises over that way... Was that you?"
Noah froze for a second, swallowed the piece, glanced fleetingly at the darkening woods, and answered briefly:
"Yeah."
Night finally settled over the camp. Bright stars filled the night sky, and the light of two moons filtered through the tree canopy.
Finishing his work on the bed, Iron wiped sweat from his forehead, exhaled wearily, and walked outside.
The whole company had gathered near the campfire and the entrances to the houses. Clerk's men were murmuring quietly about something, Noah was finishing his meat in silence, and Eliza stood a bit off to the side, watching the rest.
Iron walked closer to the fire, drawing everyone's attention:
"Anyway, everything's ready. But we have a bit of a problem here: only two single beds for fifteen people. Of course, if we try, two people could squeeze onto one bed..."
"Why didn't you just make double beds?" Noah cut him off immediately, not stopping eating.
Iron looked at him and answered evenly:
"I wouldn't have had enough energy."
Pausing briefly, he scanned the gathered group and suggested:
"I think the most sensible solution is to give the girls the beds. What do you think?"
Clerk nodded immediately, jumping on the idea:
"Yes, you're absolutely right!"
"Agreed, let the girls sleep normally," the other guys from his squad nodded along.
"Good," Iron concluded, turning to Eliza. "We only have three girls, so sort it out amongst yourselves somehow."
"Got it," Eliza replied calmly. She turned to the two girls from Clerk's group and waved them over: "You two, come with me to that house."
The girls exchanged glances, nodded, and followed Eliza to the open door without another word.
They stepped inside. The room was flooded with the soft light of two moons pouring through the window.
Eliza closed the door, turned to them, and said:
"I don't even know you guys... My name is Eliza, and you are?"
The younger girl smiled slightly:
"I'm Lera, nice to meet you."
The second, older one also nodded:
"And I'm Helda. Nice to meet you."
"Alright, Helda, Lera," Eliza nodded. "We need to figure out who sleeps where."
"Yeah..." Helda agreed. "How do we decide that?"
Eliza smiled slightly:
"Do you know the game 'Rock, Paper, Scissors'?"
The girls exchanged glances and shook their heads.
"Look," Eliza raised her hand. "I'll count to three, and on three we all show a hand sign at the same time—either rock..." She clenched her fist: "...or paper..." She opened her flat palm: "...or scissors." She held up two fingers. "Paper beats rock, but loses to scissors. Scissors beat paper, but lose to rock. And rock beats scissors, but loses to paper. Got it?"
Helda thought about it for a moment, making sure she understood:
"Yeah, makes sense."
"Me too," Lera confirmed.
"You'll get the hang of it once we start," Eliza encouraged them, getting ready.
"One... Two... Three!"
Everyone threw at once: Eliza showed rock, Lera showed scissors, and Helda showed paper.
"It's a tie. We all picked different things," Eliza said. "Let's go again! One... Two... Three!"
This time, Eliza and Lera both threw rock, while Helda threw paper.
"You won, Helda!" Eliza smiled. "You can pick your bed."
Helda hesitated for a second, looking at the mattress, then shook her head:
"You know, I think I'll take the bed in that first house."
"Alright," Eliza nodded, and Helda said her goodbyes and headed outside.
Eliza and Lera were left alone by the window.
"Well, shall we play to see who gets this bed?" Eliza proposed.
"Let's do it!" Lera agreed enthusiastically.
"One... Two... Three!" — Tie (two rocks).
"One... Two... Three!" — Tie again (two papers).
"One... Two... Three!" — Tie again (two rocks).
"Damn it! Just win already!" Eliza cursed under her breath.
"One... Two... Three!"
Lera threw scissors, and Eliza threw paper.
Eliza let out a huge sigh of relief.
"So... this is my bed?" Lera asked, still not quite believing it.
"Yeah!" Eliza confirmed happily.
Lera walked up to the springy bed, ran her hand over the soft mattress, and looked at Eliza doubtfully:
"Maybe... we could share it? There should be enough room."
"No, better not," Eliza shook her head. "You won fair and square."
Meanwhile, outside, Iron looked around at the men and weighed the situation:
"So, excluding the girls, plus Noah and Elyria, there are ten of us left. And we have three houses. About six or seven of us will sleep in the third house, where there's nothing yet. The rest will split between the first two. How should we decide who goes where?"
Clerk and his guys scratched the backs of their heads thoughtfully. Some shifted from foot to foot, others exchanged glances, not knowing how to divide the spots fairly.
"I mean, I've got a couple of methods... but they probably won't get them at all," Iron thought to himself.
Suddenly, his gaze fell on a dry branch lying near his feet.
"Be right back."
Iron stepped into the darkness of the forest and returned five minutes later with a handful of evenly trimmed twigs, with only their identical ends sticking out.
"Draw lots," Iron explained, holding his fist forward. "Those who draw the long ones will sleep in the third house. Whoever draws a short one can choose between the first two houses."
Clerk stepped forward resolutely. He grabbed one of the twigs and pulled—the stick turned out to be long.
"Looks like you're in the third house," Iron stated.
"Got it," Clerk nodded without argument and immediately headed toward the third building.
The draw continued. The guys walked up to Iron one by one, drawing their lots. Gradually, the group split: those who drew the long sticks followed Clerk, while those who drew the short ones distributed themselves between the first two houses.
In the end, only one guy was left standing before Iron. The last two twigs were sticking out of Iron's fist—one long, one short.
The guy swallowed nervously, hesitated, but pulled one anyway. The stick turned out to be long.
Iron opened his palm, looking at the short twig left in his hand:
"Looks like I got the short one."
"Got it, I'll take the third then," the guy nodded and wandered off to the others.
Iron turned around and headed toward the second house.
Right on the threshold of the second house, Iron stopped, turned his head, and called out to Noah standing nearby:
"Just don't sleep on the roof."
Noah narrowed his eyes unhappily and snapped back:
"Do you take me for an idiot?"
Ignoring him, Iron shifted his gaze to the spirit hovering nearby and asked:
"Elyria, could you please make the floors in the houses softer, and also make something like blankets."
"Will do!" Elyria chirped merrily.
Flying past Noah, she paused for a second, stuck her tongue out at him, and vanished with a quiet splash of magic. The next instant, she materialized inside the first house, then the third, and finally the second.
Green magic rippled in a wave across the wooden floors of all three structures: the wooden floors were covered in a soft, springy layer of grass, and thick, warm blankets made from broad leaves appeared beside them.
Iron, meanwhile, crossed the threshold of the second house. Inside, in the light of the two moons pouring through the window, Eliza and Lera were whispering to each other, sitting near the bed. A bit further away, by the wall, another guy from their group was settling in for the night.
He walked deeper into the room and sat down on the grassy floor in the left corner.
Just then, Elyria materialized right in the middle of the room again. Having finished setting up the last house, she clapped her hands in satisfaction, looked around at everyone present, and called out brightly:
"Alright! Nighty-night!"
And with that parting word, the spirit dissolved completely into thin air.
"Same to you..." Eliza said quietly after her.
"She's not going to sleep," Iron said softly.
"Really?" Eliza said with surprise.
"Yeah."
"How on earth can someone live and not sleep...?" Eliza thought to herself, shaking her head.
Iron stretched out on the grassy floor and pulled the leaf blanket toward himself.
Iron's eyes gradually drifted shut, but a final thought flickered at the very edge of his consciousness:
"Gotta figure out some kind of lighting for the rooms soon... Can't rely on the moons and the sun all the time..."
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