The Monster's Stratagem (Lesbian Story)

1: Dusk

The world was cruel. It took great amounts of sadistic pleasure in watching its inhabitants squirm, like an ant under a magnifying glass. There was no beauty to be found in this dark world, nor was there any joy. Life was monotonous, life was brutal and most of all, life was brief. You are put on this earth and before long, death snatches you away in its claws.

Dawn knew this better than most. Being a Venturer, her life was at risk every month on days like today. The familiar sting of the border washed over her as she made it back to the shelter of the forest, signalling that she was now safe.

Kings Grave Forest it was called. It was given the name due to it being the closest human settlement to the nearby monster kingdom, whose king was particularly famed for being deranged. It had become the gravesite of many a human who had lost their lives in the ongoing struggle with the new species. However, no monster could enter the forest. For many decades, humans had tried to come up with an explanation for the mysterious border than separated the two worlds, but all had drawn blank. The only known information about the border was that it protected the entire perimeter of the forest, and brutally burned all those who were not welcome.

The Venturer, having made it back to safety, slowed to a jog before allowing herself to catch her breath. Standing in a glade littered with flowers, Dawn's  legs trembled with the effort of keeping upright. She had just completed another Venture Day, the one day a month where Venturers leave the safety of the forest and head out into the enemy infested world humans had found themselves in.

Unable to keep upright, Dawn's legs gave way and down she fell into the multicoloured sea of blossoms. She glared at the vibrancy of them. Their happy petals swaying in the midsummer's breeze, a complete juxtaposition to her mood.

With no energy left to stand, she closed her eyes and listened to the birds chirping from their tree branches; the musical notes mingled with the rustle of leaves as a soft wind swept through the forest.

She was so tired - the type of exhaustion that ran bone deep, her body feeling as though it were made of stone with the density of it. She was used to this feeling by now, having been in this line of work for longer than she could remember.

At the age of ten, she began her training; by seventeen, she had graduated and become a Venturer. Now, at the age of twenty one, Dawn was just tired.

Very slowly, she rose up from the grass, stumbling ever so slightly with the weight of her satchel. It was obligatory for every Venturer to be equipped with one, so that they may carry any decent finds from the abandoned civilisations they scouted. Sneaking into long forgotten city ruins was customary for every Venturer on Venture Day, in hopes that they could find valuable items to sell and barter for money, food or clothing in the Base; the central hub of the human survivors that lived within Kings Grave forest. Of course, there were other scattered settlements but none of which had the luxury of the border.

Venturers, like Dawn, on rare occasions also took requests from potential buyers seeking a specific item that could range from a piece of fabric to a stray piece of weaponry. Firearms had all been destroyed by the monsters, with no humans surviving with the knowledge on how to recreate them; however things like knives were simple enough to find if you knew where to look. Larger pieces of weaponry like the bow and arrow were easier to make living in a forest. Though only trained Watchers were granted those, along with a select few who had the money or resources to obtain them. Dawn was lucky that she had decent enough connections to acquire one. She didn't even need to trade any of her Venture Day findings for it.

Dawn had been fairly successful this time around, managing to find a collection of various objects that she knew would sell well. Discovered in the furthest corner of a broken cupboard, she had also managed to find some specific herbs stored in incredibly dusty jars, those were a request from her most frequent buyer.