Dusk Howler prologue

Clenching their fist tightly, every thirty thousand Paladins from the Castle Baskerville’s monastery looked beyond the meadow. A young Paladin asked, “Do  you think they will come?”
“They will.”
“Do you think we can win?”
At these words, he glimpsed at his junior from the corner of his eye, avoiding eye contact. Not a single one of them thought they would come out victorious.  
Even if ‘Their’ opponent were notable…… they were thirty thousand, and even then, they had two Saintess among the thirty thousand Paladins.
The old Paladin encouraged the younger, “We will win.” At that moment, a cry was heard from the watch tower.
A large Bone Dragon flapped it’s wings, descending towards them.
“It’s here! The enemy! ‘They’ are here!” were only a company of five.
At that moment the old Paladin caught sight of the Magician, garbed all in red, on top of the Bone Dragon’s head. He could hear the sound of the Magician invoking a spell. No, rather, everyone could hear the voice that was infused with mana.  
“Meteor!” The legendary 9th circle spell. Of he who have entered the Darkness in human form. Of he who overcame the Darkness and ruled over it!
Then the clouds split, dispersing into a ring like shape, and from it’s center, a huge meteorite began to emerge from the heavens. The blood red meteor expunged large tears as it came down.  
The old Paladin felt the deep foreboding of the coming annihilation. In face of death, the Paladin spewed out his last curse.
“Jaiha! May you be cursed for the rest of your life!”

*****
“..... Mr. Jaiha? …. Mr. Jiha?” Someone was shaking me, trying to wake me up. Only when I woke up did I notice the drool coming from my mouth, and hurrying to wipe it up.
“Ah, yes, yup!” From my surrounding, squeals of laughter erupted.
The assistant who was calling out the interview number spoke with an exasperated tone. “You must be quite confident about your chances, since you had no problem falling asleep before your interview.” The place erupted into a sea of laughter.

Letting out a large sigh, I stood up from my chair, ‘Did I hear right? I could have sworn I heard Jaiha instead of Jiha while I was half-asleep.’ Regardless, it was a weird dream.
Next

Chapter end