The Time after the End of Times
Nobody knew what happened. All that was known was the Calamity, an incomprehensibly immense disaster which nearly wiped mankind out of the face of the Earth hundreds if not thousands of years ago.
Nobody knew what exactly took place during the Calamity. Some said the 'men who came before' invoked the wrath of their God or whatever they worshipped, bringing a punishment so great that the Earth itself shook and shifted into the world people knew these days. Others believed that the 'men of old' waged wars upon each other and unleashed all manners of lethal weaponry, basing this theory on observations on the ruins which were scattered all over the world. Metallic or stone-carved, traditional or futuristic, all those ruins shared the same characteristic; signs of intentional damage, even if it's as small as scratch marks. The scientific communities, on the other hand, hypothesized the 'very likely' event of natural disasters where the Men of Old Times were driven far, far away from their own civilization, eventually giving rise to the people known nowadays. 'Very likely' here was more or less vague, as people speculated what kind of tragedy brought the lost civilization to its knees. Could it be the work of the notorious elder dragons? Or was it merely because of actual normal disasters?
What people agreed with was that, not long after the ancient world was lost, pockets of humanity rose from the unlikeliest of places, from the most faraway of ruins all the way to the freezing tundra. These men and women would came into existence once every one five hundred years, each having no identity, no memory, no purpose.
Each time a village folk found them wandering around in confusion, he or she would ran back to whatever settlement they resided and told everyone of the events that transpired. The Old Ones would then be interrogated about anything, their names, occupations, anything that could determine their true origins, including the last memories they claimed to still clung to prior to their awakening. Despite the obvious wariness towards the Old Ones and whispers of possible misfortune they might bring, the folks took pity on them and allowed them entry into their society, In turn, the Old Ones shared all of their knowledge, science and philosophy, eager to discover what had actually became of their world.
So far, five Awakenings occurred exactly five hundred years apart between each other, one Awakening after the previous one went forgotten, and with each Awakening, more knowledge was brought from the lost civilization, and more beasts were discovered by the world, either dangerous monsters or harmless ones.
If the archives related to their resurgence in the new world was correct, in less than one week the Sixth and final Awakening would release the last batch of survivors from the lost world's Calamity. Qualified researchers and hunters would be sent to locate certain places lined with 'stasis pods' or so the Old Ones named the objects and help the newly awakened people to understand the situation at hand.
Strange, really, that for some reasons, probably out of personal desires, many of the Old Ones chose to become hunters as their profession. Ever since the First Awakening, people had been carving only certain parts of a slain monster, for specific uses too. But the Old Ones weren't exactly satisfied with the technique the wyverians taught them, and began collecting the scales, plates, claws, and even teeth of monsters to craft deadly weapons to use against the very creatures themselves. At first, this practice was kind of gross for today's folks, but over time they got over it and followed the Old Ones, crafting even better stuff than them.
And so the monster hunting tradition was started...
Yes, this one was some sort of a surprise to the Old Ones, an atypical anomaly they said. Back in their era, there were no such things as Rathalos, or Ludroth, or even a Lagombi. Those beasts, according to them, lived only in fairytales and bedtime stories. Sure the scientific circles of the lost era had been experimenting with animals, but none were able to breathe elemental energy or grow larger than the laws of physics would allow them (what are these laws of physics anyway?). Heck, to add insult to injury, the Old Ones were angry to see the monsters as the dominant creatures of the world and not mankind, at least not anymore, and seemingly blamed themselves for not appearing earlier to salvage precious artifacts of the old world. The folks of today, much to the Old Ones' astonishment, were perfectly fine living alongside those world-destroying beasts, even went as far as hunting them down, although it was purely of self-defense and protection of their living places. Now, with the combination of the hunters' experiences and the Old Ones' knowledge, monster hunting ended up being a profitable business. But ask the following question;
Who started the tradition of hunting?
And the answer will most likely be like this, with slightly different wording depending on who'd respond;
The wyverians taught us how to hunt, and the Old Ones taught us how to study our hunts.
Ah yes, the wyverians, a somewhat bizarre species of humanoid creatures with reptilian hands and legs, and also longer lifespan than an average human and able to... mate with the latter. Up until the Third Awakening of the Old Ones, not one soul was sure how these semi-reptilian beings came to be. The same can be said with the lynians, cat-like sapient beings who enjoyed the jobs and protection humans gave them; and troverians, dwarf-like people who embodied all descriptions of a standard dwarf (who or what are these dwarfs you talked about?), although the Old scientists pretty much surmised these ones' biology to be that of dwarfism, whatever that terminology meant.
-X-X-X-X-X-
Everything was dark here...
What happened? Did somebody steal the light?
No, that couldn't be true... There was a light here, somewhere...
Who was he? Where is he? Did he have a purpose? Here, nothing surrounded him but oblivion and shadows. Where even was 'here'? There was no color, no sound, and most importantly no answer.
He was... He was a... a soldier... an equal soldier... Equal Dragon Soldier...
That's right. Equal Dragon Soldier. But what is a dragon? Was he a soldier? And most importantly; who or what was he supposed to do? Was he to slay enemies? Was he to stand with comrades? He knew not of the world around him, for the darkness veiled everything from his sight. He tried to listen, waiting for a response, an answer to his confusion, but there were only silence and obscurity.
Did he have limbs or bodyparts of any kind? Maybe. The pitch-black darkness kept him from seeing anything. More than once, he felt things moving behind the shadows. Perhaps they were his hands or legs, perhaps they were something... not him. And the thought had him worried. If he could not see, then he couldn't defend himself from danger. Hmm, what to do? What to do?
It's not responding, try again, harder! A voice was heard shouting. Who was it? What did it say?
Dammit, its nerve system isn't ready yet!
I don't care! We're out of time right now! If we can't make it functional, then the project's a total failure!
Where's the adrenaline shot?! Be ready to give it on my mark!
Images of strange people and machineries formed in the soldier's mind, ephemeraland surreal but at the same time felt real, as real as the darkness around him. Those people... they shouted in a language so utterly unrecognizable to him, all the while moving about with no tangible purpose but to bring in more people, humans, and tools of unknown origin. The soldier tried to focus his thoughts on the memories, but his attempts were for naught. They blurred away too quickly for him to understand. There were flashes of a large room with countless lights which shone too brightly. A moment later they were replaced by mysterious machines that made sounds and lights of all kind, and they too blurred away. Within such a desolate realm of uncertainty and stillness, the images were the only thing keeping him sane, the only thing to remind him why everything was like that.
And so the thing in the dark tried to remember them again, and again, and again. Over and over, putting his faith into what he then acknowledged as his own memories.
And believe me, Soldier, that you will be... useful.
-X-X-X-X-X-
"Be careful, Rei."
"Don't worry about me, old man. I've been doing this since eight years ago."
The gentle downpour did not discourage them as they surveyed the new set of ruins in an area people called "Berlin". Don't ask how they knew of the place; a faded monument with the word "Berlin" carved into it was found some three miles in the North of where the two humans now.
"You sure don't want to take a break for now?"
"Calm your nerves, Greiz, we haven't had any sighting... from elder dragons or otherwise." Rei countered, quietly jumping on a slab of stone.
The elderly man huffed in annoyance. Making himself comfortable on the slab of debris he's sitting at, he took his time to observe his surroundings, laying his eyes on the young woman a few seconds longer before looking elsewhere. The old hammer-wielding man was bald and fairly muscular, advantageous when fighting against monsters but not too good at sneaking around, and considering their scouting place, a type of tripped-over tower with so many openings, he guessed that his comrade would be better at finding her way around without problem should they got spotted. Yeah, Rei Mikato, 28 years old, with average slim body and short, dark brown hair which helped her to blend in with darker areas whenever she wanted. Judging from her appearance, she might as well be someone from Yukumo Village or its neighboring settlements.
Rei took one final glance at the horizon before stepping inside the fallen tower. "I think I know where we are going next." "That's great, so what's the holdup?" Greiz asked. Rei threw an object at him, which he nearly missed with his left hand. "A pack of Jaggis, but not Great Jaggi on sight" she explained, "I saw them clustering close to our destination. I'll scout them again after we have lunch. If they're gone, we'll make our move. If they're not, or if something else came, we'll have to go back to Minegarde and report our finding."
Greiz nodded with a thin cough. Unlike most Old Ones, Rei was more interested in helping with the village's farm. Hunting was never in her blood, the lady would say, although she did have keen eyes to conclude if something is edible or not and predict the movement of animals.
Seeing her here with basic weaponry and hunting gear made the old hunter convinced that the Guild must've goaded the lady into doing the job for them. Worse, anyone more capable than her was occupied in other duties.
"Here, take a seat. I'll make us some nice grilled meat."
"You mean Rathalos meat, right?" Rei asked the now-enthusiastic Greiz incredulously, but sitting next to him nonetheless, "Sorry, old man, but I'm not going to eat any meat other than Kelbi or Aptonoth. Dragon meats have way too much fat for me, you know. " Her declaration brought a sense of irritation to Greiz's pride.
"Listen, girlie. You won't be lucky each and every time you go out for a hunt. Having a proper meal before you go is extremely vital for survival." Greiz elaborated as he made a fire and prepared his cooking tools... and a sack Rei suspected to be full of dragon meat (Oh, not those things again...) "You see, I've seen novice hunters losing focus, or worse, dropping dead all of the sudden, because they didn't fill their bellies or pick a decent combination of food." The smell alone was enough to assure Rei that, yes, Greiz was definitely going to cook her Rath steak.
"Oh, REALLY?" the old hunter sighed loudly at the mocking tone of the lady's voice.
"Yeah. I am not best friends with the chefs in Minegarde, but they've never failed me with their... best plates and I have no intention to not trust them. "
So be it, Rei decided, spending her afternoon being in the middle of nowhere, accompanied by a man with a peculiar preference to monster meat, and no clear objective to their mission. Oh well, at least the man was friendly enough to have conversation with. Whatever their mission's true purpose was, it could wait until later.
-X-X-X-X-X-
Author's Note :
Greetings. This is my first attempt at Monster Hunter fanfiction, inspired by at least one fanfic that is unbelievably intriguing for me. Also, seeing that I won't be able to play Monster Hunter World until the PC version is released, I need to find a productive way to channel my ideas. Don't be shy to rate and review my story if you find it appropriate.
Monster Hunter series belongs to Capcom.
