You are a messenger currently traveling between two kingdoms that are on the opposite sides of the continent. Normally messenger humans would be overlooked since harpies are faster and have a higher chance of successfully delivering the message but due to the length of your journey you would have to travel through lands that would prove dangerous for a harpy. Human messengers are few and far between due to most jobs being taken up by harpies so when there is a job that non-winged monsters can do it often pays well.

The first half of your journey was relatively simple, long but without much trouble. The part of your journey that you knew would cause the biggest issue was the expanse of land between the borders of your kingdom and the neighboring kingdom. Two weeks of walking without any sign of civilization at the minimum was in your future. During that time, you would be open to attack by bandits and thieves. The primary reason for human messengers being replaced by harpies had been their tendency to be attacked by both monsters and humans.

Since part of the standard contract for a messenger was enough capital to purchase the needed supplies to make the journey they were often easy prey. So that’s why after a week into the expanse you began to grow paranoid, especially when you noticed footprints. You start to speed up your journey. You take shorter nights, move faster during the day, and skip meals in order to either sleep or keep moving during those times.

When you were just two days away from civilization you were ambushed. A group of five men surround you and before you can even react you’re on the ground. They tore through your supplies but the most terrifying part was that they cast aside your remaining gold because they were looking for something. It dawned on you that these weren’t ordinary bandits, they were trained mercenaries.

They pull out the message you had been entrusted with delivering and without any words pocket the letter. Three of the men walk away and the remaining two turn to you with their weapons out.

“I hope you like Banshee’s because the best outcome for you is getting with one.” Says one of the men.

You try to get away, but you’re too badly wounded to move. You feel a hand grip your hair and see the knife moving closer to your throat out of the corner of your eye. And then you hear someone shouting in the distance. This startles one of the men who quickly turn towards the direction of the shout. During that time the knife in the corner of your eye had remained deadly still as if whoever was holding it was distracted.

You then hear the sound of metal boots approaching. You’re dropped face down. Though you can’t see it from the sounds you can tell that there’s a fight going on. Steel striking steel pierces your ears and seconds later the fighting stops. One set of footsteps approach you and you feel like a pair of hands tenderly move up your arms to your shoulders. You’re lifted up and you make eye contact with a beautiful woman. A soft thumping sound fills your ears and you move your eyes to see that the woman has a tail which is wagging. You move your eyes back up to the woman’s head and see two vulpine ears. It’s clear that she’s some kind of kitsune but you’ve never heard of one only having a single tail despite being an adult.

You were unaware of how much you were trembling until the kitsune moves gently squeezes your hand and you looked down. The shock suddenly wore off and the events of the day hit you and they weren’t pulling punches. As you suddenly lose any bit of composure you had left the kitsune pulls you into a tight hug.

“It’s okay, you’re safe now.” She whispers.