“THE GUARD IS ON ALERT! A MONSTER HAS INFILTRATED THE CITY!!” shouted the newspaper vendor early in the morning on the esplanade in front of the Tower of Dawn.

This headline on the front page of the newspaper “The Flying Parchment” reflected the agitation of the city's inhabitants since the previous day, when the monster had been seen for the first time. Rumors were rife, and no one really knew how to separate fact from fiction. The guard had not yet given an official statement, as its investigations were still ongoing.

“I saw it darting through the market yesterday at noon!” declared a baker in terror. “It was a shapeless black thing gliding over the cobblestones like a ghost!”

“The monster was breathing fire! It burned Mr. Joval's cart to ashes!” added another.

His neighbor, a matron who had seen it all, immediately replied, “Oh, come on! That was the work of Edman of the Blue Tower! If only he spent more time learning to aim instead of hanging out at the tavern, the problem would already be solved!”

As the owner of the Drunken Boar Tavern, Youl Weiss had heard the most outlandish rumors since he took over the shop thirteen years earlier. But even he had to admit that what he heard that day was quite unusual, even for a city of mages.

“My uncle Reck saw the monster last night!” exclaimed a young man sitting at the bar. "When he left the tavern, he walked through the old town and came face to face with the creature! A horrible black thing lurking in the shadows that suddenly jumped out in front of him. With horns and sharp claws all over its body! He ran home and spent the night with his old rifle in his hands, shaking like a leaf. My father almost tripped over him in the early morning and narrowly avoided a bullet to the head. This is madness!!!"

His interlocutor, an employee of a merchant guild, shook his head with a mixture of horror and amazement.

“By Skellus... I thought it was just an exaggerated rumor! A spell gone out of control or another of Zokel's cursed inventions. A monster really managed to get through the Barrier?! It's hard to believe...”

Youl, busy drying his beer mugs, couldn't help but nod in concern, lost in thought. 

“Speaking of Zokel, I've got a good one to tell you!” said a customer at a nearby table, with a mocking tone. "Zokel finally managed to get himself drunk on the toxic fumes from his crazy experiments! Yesterday afternoon, I saw him trying to drag the chief of police to his old shack to show him imaginary damage in his laboratory. The old man was completely delirious, hysterically repeating that a monster had stolen all the ink from his books!"

“No, but seriously, he has to stop with his nonsense...” replied his neighbor.

“And the best part is that the chief arrested him for public intoxication! I can still see his face when the guards took him to the station! Ha ha, unforgettable!! Look, they immortalized him on the last page of the Flying Parchment, it's hilarious!”

Indeed, the photo was quite funny. Two muscular guards had Zokel under their arms, and the magician, much smaller than them, was kicking his feet in the air and screaming, his eyes bulging.

Well, Youl had to admit that Zokel deserved it. His experiments were tragically known throughout the city for being either completely idiotic and a source of headaches for those unfortunate enough to cross his path, or bordering on miraculous and yet terribly dangerous. There was never any way of knowing which way the scales would tip. There was a good reason why the magician had never been promoted to mage.

Youl set down the last mug with a grimace. And immediately shooed away the black cat that had just jumped onto the counter with a sharp flick of the dishcloth.

"Did you hear what happened at the market yesterday? Apparently, a fire monster destroyed three stalls! And the mages from the Blue Tower who were there couldn't catch the monster! The guard searched the entire city, without success. "

“What? Three stalls? I didn't see any signs of fire on my way here. You shouldn't believe everything you hear, kid.”

“But I swear, Jo! It was the Grand Mage herself who repaired the damage with a snap of her fingers!”

“Nil, I highly doubt that the Grand Mage has time to worry about that, with the High Council of Mages starting in eleven days. They have other fish to fry with what's happening on the rest of the continent” replied Jo with a grim look. “There have been terrifying rumors circulating for months. Huge monsters appearing out of nowhere and claiming many victims. I'm not talking about the small fry we've known about for centuries. I'm talking about degenerate wolves the size of horses and bloodthirsty harpies. Some even talk about the corpses of victims rising from the dead...”.

These words sent a chill through the assembly. No one dared to respond, and fear could be seen in everyone's eyes.

Well, this was clearly the moment to change the subject. A tavern with a gloomy atmosphere was bad for business.

“Come on, that's enough!” exclaimed Youl. “Who wants to drink to the health of the guard? Our valiant protectors who had to put up with a drunk Zokel all night? I can't imagine what havoc he's been wreaking from his cell... Did they say how long they were keeping him locked up?”

“Hmm... I think they mentioned forcing him to take a refresher course in protective measures for magical disciplines. The famous course that the High Council has already enrolled him in seven times, without him ever attending. Wait two minutes, I'll check. Who was the last person to have the newspaper? Ah, here it is, just a second... Um... What...?!”.

To everyone's amazement, the newspaper left on the neighboring table had changed somewhat in appearance, with blank pages completely devoid of ink. 

*****
“RAAAHHH!!!! BUT I'M TELLING YOU I'M NOT DRUNK!!!!” Zokel yelled at the top of his lungs from his cell. "I didn't drink, I didn't make any potions yesterday, I didn't even cast a single spell!! I spent the day writing on parchments and poring over old grimoires, and that's all!"

On the other side of the bars, the guard looked at him skeptically. 

"The alcohol test spells didn't reveal anything. But coming from you, Zokel, it could still be hallucinations caused by your crazy experiments. The last time we saw you, you were running around screaming in an unpronounceable language. With green skin. And bright yellow eyes. Madame Petzel herself had to intervene to catch you as you threw yourself off the city walls. In front of the Council and the ambassador of Windurt, no less. "

“I had just created a spell to translate an ancient gnome dialect! It was fully functional! It's a major breakthrough in magical research!”

“Yeah, yeah, more like you almost made a major breakthrough in turning yourself into a pancake. Anyway, what is this ridiculous story that caused your visit ? 

“It's the fault of that monster who ransacked my laboratory! All my precious books and magical grimoires are lost... years of research gone up in smoke!”. The wizard collapsed against the wall, tears in his eyes.

The young guard ran his hand through his hair and grimaced. “Okay, I owe you one for the stuffed wyverns. I'll go check out your lab. I'll wear a mask against toxic fumes, just in case. We'll talk about it later.”

“David!!! Wait, don't leave me here!!! Daviiiiidd!!!!”

*****

“If it's for Zokel, he's not here right now.”

David was speechless for a moment. Standing before him was a giant with shaggy red hair, an impressive build, and a face covered in scars. He was wearing an apron three sizes too small and a yellow cloth on his head.

The guard hadn't expected to encounter the mercenary Gregor Mallory when he knocked on Zokel's door. Gregor frowned at his stare and added in a threatening voice : “Is there a problem?”

“No, no, no!!!! No problem!! I know where Zokel is, he's currently in the drunk tank at the guard station. I came to check on the state of his laboratory. He told me about a monster that ransacked his books?”

Gregor let out a long sigh and stepped away from the door to let him in.

 *****

Skellus watched with curiosity as humans bustled back and forth in the main hall of one of the city's mercenary guilds. Earlier, he had feasted on fresh ink left on small pieces of paper hanging nearby. It was a well-deserved snack after spending the day exploring the city and its inhabitants.

Now lying quietly on top of a crate, Skellus was fascinated by one human in particular. Although physically similar to the other humans in his eyes, his fellow humans moved out of his way and trembled before him. 

"SO?!! Who can explain to me what happened to the quest board?!! How could all the quests posted there have disappeared on their own without ANYONE seeing anything?!!  Huh!! Which one of you thinks this is funny?!!"

Among humans, was the strongest the one who shouted the loudest? So their voices replaced their claws? Curious.

“Raaaaahhh!!!! No one is leaving here until I find the culprit!!! And Julos, I'm putting you in charge of reprinting copies of all the quest announcements within the hour.”

“A copy? But we don't have copies of the quests, boss. Following last year's budget cuts and Julia's subsequent departure, there is no one left to make copies of the quest announcements.”

The scream that came out of the boss's throat echoed throughout the room and made all the other humans tremble like leaves. Their apologies flew in all directions in an incomprehensible hubbub.

So “Boss” was the name of the human who screamed the loudest. Skellus preferred his own name.

*****