The Hunter

Taras K’ark made his way through the forest carefully as he watched for motion among the treeline. Although thankfully, there was nothing but it didn’t change that he remained on high alert. He looked off towards the younglings as they were with the other Hunter who was telling them the kinds of plants that they could and could not eat or harvest. Taras for his part was not paying attention to what the old warrior was saying, his pale face hardened from years of hard work. There were three diagonal scars across his face and he was blind in his right eye and he was missing his left arm but even with all of that, there was no one who knew plants better than he did.

Taras rubbed his right arm, wrapped in bandages up to the shoulder as he continued to watch over the harvest. They weren’t far from the City's walls in Omaeda, so even out here they should have at least had some form of relative safety but his time as a Hunter had taught Taras never to find comfort in the woods outside of the walls. Everything was a monster ready to kill, and he had to be just as ready to kill in return if it meant that this little excursion of young kids were going to make it home safely. He rubbed his right arm again, the habit something that he had picked up since keeping it wrapped in bandages for the past few months and Taras quietly strode over to Seryth who was with the children. The older man was still full of life and this was where Taras knew that he belonged, teaching the others everything that he knew. But as Taras looked around there was something wrong with the small band of people he was supposed to be watching over. Eyes widened in his skull as he looked down at Seryth and shook his head.

One of the children had wandered off.

Taras called them children when in truth they were not that young, the youngest of them was 12 in the group that they had brought with them and it was this one that was missing.

“Seryth, take them back. Mara is missing,” he said urgently as he was already in motion and striding deeper into the woods.

Eyes scanned the floor and noticed the small tracks as he knelt down and prodded at them with his left hand. Mara couldn’t have gotten far, but then again kids had the uncanny ability to make it much further into the woods than it was ever necessary to. Taras said a curse under his breath as he rose to his feet and looked up at the sky. Dusk had already settled over the forest, dammit how had he let the time slip like this? How could he have let Mara wander away from them? He was supposed to be their guardian not someone who let them walk away when he wasn’t looking.

Taras made a small gesture with his right hand, hooking three fingers and pressing them against his forehead. There was nothing as he stood there and waited, but then he could feel it: the familiar tug in his body. Something stirred to life in his body as his vision became clearer, he could see the individual ruts that Mara’s boots left in the soft earth. The sounds of small woodland creatures and monsters echoed in his ears a hundred fold and his sense of smell sharpened until he could tell apart the very smell of the breeze from the woods around him. Taras surged out into the woods, deeper as he followed the small footprints the foolish young girl had left as she wandered and he could only pray that she was not already lost to the Corruption or some monster.

It had taken Taras fifteen minutes to reach the place that he needed to be, near a small break in the woods and he let his gaze land on Mara who was kneeling in front of a patch of odd looking flowers. They were violet and carried a sickly sweet smell to them, dripping with a silver colored sap. Fear gripped Taras blindly as he realized too late where he was and what had already happened to the girl. He turned to the right, barely avoiding the charging monster that barreled out of the woods to tackle him and he rolled in the dirt and looked upwards.

It was demented and deformed as all creatures taken by the Corruption were. It’s skin was ruptured as if it was a rotting corpse, the smell offending Taras’s hyper senses right now as he shook his head and fought the wave of nausea that struck him. Long bone protrusions jutted in awkward places from its skin, and the monster with the build of bear opened its maw and roared into the ever darkening dusk. None of this was good, it wasn’t good at all. Taras could hear motion around him, more beasts alerted by the Parvus’s roar and he knew that the only option that he had now was to kill the monster and return with Mara, although doing that was easier said than done.

There was something in the air, a whim of ambition that pulled him to be more than what he wanted to be. That’s what it must had been Taras thought as he looked at Mara who was on the soft dirt ground. The call of the forest that had pulled him was what must have urged the young girl to try to move further into the woods: maybe the young girl had thought that she was going to be able to gather more and be of greater help to them all. Something stirred in the woods ahead of Mara and Taras only stiffened further as he watched. Trees withered and thinned and dried until they looked like twigs and Taras cursed once again under his breath. The dusk had turned into night and the monster in front of him was in motion as it ran towards him and he was barely able to roll out of the way. He reached backwards and removed the spear that was strapped across his back. It was something that was natural to him, an extension of himself at this point.

It was taller than he was, about six feet in length and the spearhead was broad and a serrated double edge. The twisted bone staff was coiling about like a double-helix and the core of the spearhead was made a glowing silver. The weapon spoke to him, as an extension of himself it shared part of his soul and it whispered ever so slightly in his mind as he spun the weapon and faced the massive beast. The monster roared once more, spraying spittle and more of the physical manifestation of the Corruption. It landed on the forest floor, sizzling as it rested there but Taras kept his eyes firmly on the girl behind it. Mara had not moved in the past twenty minutes, only cupped the flowers delicately in her hands. Her small body trembled as he shook his head and realized what had happened to her as well. She’s gone he thought silently and he could feel his anger swell within his chest like a white hot iron.

Taras hated the monsters, hated the Corruption, hated the fact that the little girl that he came out here to save was now too far gone within the coiling smoke of the Corruption that crept from some unknown place within the forests.

Taras yelled in defiance as he pushed off his right foot into the fray. His anger swelled as he called upon his power and felt the stir of the Nine in his body. Silently the weapon in his hands whispered to him, ideas and things to do as he raised it and caught the claws of the monster on the body of the weapon. This was a spear that was crafted from the spine of the monster Kerask: a horribly armored beast that reminded him of a centipede that was crossed with a Drake. It was strong, it was not going to break or falter and it had served him well and would continue to do so.

The beast lashed out with another paw, and Taras leaned back and it grazed the armor of his abdomen. It sparked and he lashed out with the barbed spear, slashing into the hide of the monster. It roared out in pain and anger, more annoyance than anything else and it swiped out and slapped Taras with a massive hand. He flew through the air, crashing into the woods and pain flared throughout his body and it screamed its defiance at him. I know I know, I’m an idiot he thought to himself as he rose to his feet as the monster charged him. In his right hand, he summoned flames and threw a sphere of fire that was almost as though he had thrown a miniature sun at the monster. It’s white fur burned, singed black and it veered off course enough for Taras to dodge to the right.

Once more he thrust out with his spear and this time it bit into flesh more solidly, the monster bellowing its outrage as he pulled his weapon back and examined it. Blood stained the bone white spearhead, the serrations rending small chunks of flesh as he looked at it. This wasn’t enough to take down a beast like this, if anything now he was only a mild annoyance. It would be easier if the rest of my team was here Taras thought after having decided to go out with Seryth instead of going with his team out scouting to the north. He probably could fell a beast like this alone if he needed to, but it was going to cost him more than he cared to wager in this moment.

Some strange part of him however, the part that he knew well was not as open to the idea of retreat. He was going to kill the Parvus and avenge the young girl who no longer moved as she knelt before the flowers. The Smoke was still pooling forwards slowly and carefully as though it was trying to box Taras in from all sides in a makeshift arena against the Parvus. The Hunter roared in challenge and summoned his magic power shrouding his weapon in bright lightning. For a second the monster and the Hunter only watched one another: man against beast, humanity against nature. Taras bared his teeth animalistically and rushed into the fight once more, swinging his spear in a downwards arc. Imbued with magic, it cut deeply and cleanly into the Parvus’s flesh drawing black blood. It screamed and swiped at him once more and he ducked, stabbed out with the spear, and ducked back. There was a small hole in the monster’s center mass as it staggered for just a second, the second that Taras needed.

He ran forwards and placed both hands along the body of his weapon, and put all of the power that he could muster into the pierce. Flesh broke and muscle tore. Warm blood trickled down Taras’s vambraces and for only a moment, he watched as the body of the beast grew weaker and weaker. He twisted the spear, and pulled it free, the serrations catching and pulling free the monster’s heart. Taras panted heavily as he rested the but of his lance on the soft dirt ground and he smiled to himself. He had done it, he’d avenged the young girl that he was foolish enough to let out of his sight.

Taras never saw the blow coming.

Caught up in his musings, Taras didn’t hear the motion behind him as he was flung through the air and crashed into the ground. He kicked up dirt and grass, and his head spun as he groaned and turned on the ground. He looked up and saw a monster that was at least three times the size of his spear. It walked upright, long slender limbs and scaled as though it was a Drake. It’s neck was elongated, it reminded him of an owl’s neck as it craned to look at him. In his head, Taras flipped the pages of a bestiary from the City, and he could remember this creature.

A Kumori, a Shadowwalker.

Its scales were dark as though forged from the night sky, and this was a creature that Taras knew he would need the rest of his team to have a chance of killing. The monster’s neck snapped forwards like a snake lunging and Taras barely had the time to pull his legs up. Teeth sank into the ground with an angry hiss as he rolled backwards unto his feet and looked for his spear. It wasn’t far from him, about seven feet to his left if he could make it in time but the Shadowwalker was quick, they were notorious for their speed and power.

He watched it carefully and brought up his left hand to grab the bandages on his right arm. The Smoke of Corruption coiled around him and he wondered if this would be able to pierce the Kumori’s scales. It was worth a shot if it meant that he was going to be able to live. Taras called upon power, power that he had gotten from the Corruption when he became a Hunter as he undid the bandages that covered the entirety of his right arm. The cloth fell loose and tumbled to the ground and exposed a right arm that was not human. It was dark like ash, glowing veins pulsating through them. From his arm, his own small miasma cloud emanated out, thick like ash from burning woods. The Kumori was no longer entertained as it lunged at him and Taras pulled his right arm towards him. The ash that came from his body turned solid like chains, wrapping around the monster and yanking it to the ground. It crashed to the soft dirt with a heavy and solid thud and he allowed his arm to create more ash. This time he reached out his right hand and the ash solidified into a blade in his hand as the Kumori broke free of its bindings and lashed out at him. Taras parried, the blade barely chipping into its hide as it was forced back. This was not something that he was going to be able to kill, the best choice was to see if he could make it back to the City walls and escape. He jumped back avoiding a swing, and in one move lifted his spear from the ground.

Taras summoned more of his Urithi: the power unique to him from consuming a chalice of Corruption when he became a Hunter and allowed his ash to conceal him as he ran into the woods towards the City. He allowed himself to remain enshrouded by the ash, a good cover from the monsters of the night and the whole way that he ran, he could only think of his failure. Mara had died on his watch, her blood was on his head. He would face his penance when he arrived at the City, he would do so gladly but he had to make it there first.

Taras cursed as he remembered that he had to wrap his mutated arm, it made the others nervous, his Urithi, the manifestation of a part of himself that he could use in battle even though he was clearly not a monster that followed the whims of the Corruption. They all manifested in different ways to different Hunters. All graduated Hunters had one, his was just unpleasant to look at. But these were all concerns for when he arrived home.

For now, Taras K’ark would live another day.