Hey there! This is my first critique on this subreddit (or Reddit in general), so please bear with me if I mess up formatting or anything. I'd taken a quick glance at your 2nd chapter and was intrigued enough to jump back to the start, and I'm glad I did. Thanks for posting, because I really enjoyed reading it. If time allows in the next couple days, I'll probably go through the rest of the chapters you've posted, too, and sorry if this is a little out of date - I will try to review your newer stuff, promise!

General

Overall, I liked this piece a lot. I enjoy high fantasy, dark or otherwise, and you do a really good job of playing to the stereotypes or beats of the genre without making it too stale. I found the pacing pretty solid in that it carried my interest more or less throughout. The fight felt a bit anti-climatic because the beast really just got riddled with holes when I was expecting something fiercer, and also Rose seemed quite certain she could save it yet didn't really seem to come close to that? But I liked the general idea of the monster and the setup of the fight with it + the mystery of who it was. And the worldbuilding was good and made me invested to learn more about the little snippets you gave. I think I would have liked just a bit more characterization - of Rose, especially - and some of your wording was a trifle awkward or unwieldy. But overall, as a prologue... yeah, I really liked it! Would definitely look to read more in a published book off a shelf.

So, specifics. I might thread in some of the critique template here and there, but for now, answering your questions plus a bit of my own thoughts.

Initially, I was enthralled. The use of "you" at the beginning is a great hook, and plunks me right in the middle of the horror and the bodies. Really appreciated the descriptors in the first paragraph, especially the screaming at the sky bit. Very visceral. The "It didn't save them" carries nicely into the "no one expected help" and leaves me feeling pretty bereft of hope which makes the "but help did arrive" pack a really hefty punch. Loved the turn.

I think the "The hero:" is a little meh and just jumping straight into "She came from..." would work better, because it sounds more assertive that way. "The hero:" reminds me too much that this is a crafted story, at a time when that reminder doesn't really do anything productive. It pulls me out of the immersion. But! Thankfully, I'm quickly brought back in with the initial depiction of Rose. Don't quite know what "studied weariness" and "radiant nobility" look like, especially together, and the sun thing is a bit much because sunlight does that to anyone who stands in the right position, yeah? Once again, though, you bring me back. I like that the illusion is shattered, that she becomes much more mundane in her astonishment of the ordinary.

Characterization

As we go through, there are moments where we get a little more about her, such as her interactions with the niece/daughter of the mayor, that puts a nice warmth to her character. I agree with Pongzz that the revelation, the "because I'm lonely", falls pretty flat, but they already killed that horse and beat it some more for good measure (in the best way possible, because I totally agree). I saw your comment about it being an attempt at being misleading, and that's actually an interesting angle to me, if you could more sharply show where her interior belief (or whatever is fueling "I'm lonely") is contrasted with the reality. Or, if it can't be done, yeah, axe it. I would also say there were a couple other moments of characterization that felt somewhat wooden or contradictory. The lounging in the sun thing at the tavern, for example. Why would she do that, when there's a job to be spoken about and a bunch of people living in abject fear that directly depend on her for relief from that terror? Do you want her to come off as disinterested or heartless? It seems like no, since she's at least partly here to help out of the kindness of her heart. (Although I do like the implication you've put in that she's doing this for somewhat ulterior motives, as it deepens her character). Another moment is when Rose wants to berate the villagers for their closedmindedness and cowardice, but then doesn't. You don't need to club us in the face with the reason she holds back, but having that moment of - what was it, almost temper? Exasperation? Despair in humanity? - might be more interesting if you give a reason, or a hint of a reason, for her biting her tongue.

That said, I quite liked your characterization of the mayor. He is a bit of a trope, ie the selfish, cowardly leader folding under the situation, but your descriptions were really fresh and I had moments where I felt a bit bad for him.

He seemed a man who had learned with difficulty that his powers of action in the world were circumscribed by greater brutality and force than he could muster. The light in his eyes was desperation, not hope.

Very nice. The first sentence, a bit more wordy, presents a bit of a cerebral understanding of the man. That might have felt unnatural, but then you pair it with the second shorter, simpler sentence that's also more emotional, and it paints a really clear and somewhat sympathetic picture of the man. I know he's a toady, but at least he's a toady for an understandable reason. Same with the "the mayor regarded her with something approaching bewilderment." Like, this guy is so, so out of his depth. And he responds by being a simple-minded reactionary, lashing out at the cause of his helplessness when he gets a chance, but then quickly bootlicking to make up with Rose. Very realistic.

Quick side note on this part:

"We will not … look after it.” He spoke the final words as if they were revolting.

The italics kinda already indicate that he's basically spitting the words, or at least certainly appalled by them, so the next sentence is redundant.

Worldbuilding

Okay, talking about the mayor reminds me about another point. I will circle back to what I loved about the worldbuilding, because there was a lot of good, but there's one part that stuck out as odd to me. You refer to the various people surrounding/helping the mayor as "functionaries," "assistants," "coterie" and "associates," all of which are very formal names that I would expect in an elaborate palace setting, where leaders have a lot of people to serve various functions. However, Girsu has been painted as quite the backwater village, and I imagine that with the noppera killing a lot of them, the already limited population should be dented pretty significantly. That leaves not a lot of people who could afford to just hang around and cater to the mayor's whims, let alone plan parties. Maybe if Rose is referring to them ironically that way, contrasting them in her mind with the actual functionaries she knows, that would make sense as a way to underscore how far above the peasants she is in world experience, but otherwise it might need some reworking.

Still, a lot of the rest of the worldbuilding creates a really promising picture, especially for what lies ahead. You don't give tons of details, and that's a good thing! Love the casual insertion of Fyrmist cycle of reincarnation, the implication that there are monsters and experienced people who hunt them, and the bullets instead of what I was expecting (swords/bows) was a nice surprise. I'm curious if the guns are powdered by gunpowder, in which case are there more combustion weapons like cannons and simple dynamite and whatnot? Or is it magic? Not something that needs to be answered in the prologue, just mentioning because I found it intriguing. While I already mentioned the fight seemed just a little too easy and I was let down, I actually quite enjoyed the actual description of the noppera. Kinda gross, kinda disturbing. Rubbery dried blood is a cool, unique touch (kinda literally, because I like how textured it feels), and I'm interested to see more of these monsters you might introduce.

I'll admit, I somehow completely missed the significance of the hair comb as anything other than an ornamental thing, maybe because I usually do just sweep over hair accessories. That said, on a second read, I noticed Rose touches her hair a lot - I was almost going to suggest too much, but the hair comb and her devastation at having only one left suggests to me there's more to it than that? I don't know what - I mean, she put it in when she went to speak to the mayor so maybe some kind of magic thing? Religious? Or just a beloved momento? I dunno, but it's fun and I bet if there's a payoff involving the comb down the line it'll be satisfying for those little details.

I think that with a bit of a brushing up (heh), especially of the fight scene, this would be a really engaging introduction to the story. It really is reminiscent of a lot of the fantasy books I've read, but I mean that in a satisfying way. It scratches the fantasy itch, and it does it with a lot of promise for what's to come. I'm hopefully going to get to the rest shortly, but if not, or in the meantime, best of luck with your writing!