Chapter 1 Just another day

Part 1; Dezolis, The Ice Planet

The thick layer of snow looked denser from her hiding spot, flakes landing down on her face as she tried to keep still. The Snow Slug wouldn't budge an inch if she moved, all she wanted to do was flick her tongue out and lick them away. For the better part of two hours, Raven and her partner Storm lay on their bellies, in the cold snow waiting for the Snow Slug to make it's move. Snow Slugs weren't usually any problem, but this one had come onto the outskirts of their town Jut, and Raven decided that before it came a problem, they would kill it. And it wasn't a bad way to make two hundred Meseta, the official currency of the Dezolians. Inch by inch Raven's pink tongue slid from her mouth to lick away the flakes. Being the best Hunters that Dezolis had to offer, they were used to spending their time on their bellies, killing off the beasts that dared venture into their habitat. Not to mention the Snow Slugs weren't bad to eat.

"That thing is never going to budge" Storm whispered as quietly as she could, knowing her luck she would speak and the giant slug would decide to move. Raven knew she was right so she had to lure the beast out, not to mention she was getting hungry again.

"We have to draw it out Storm" Raven strapped her crossbow to her back and pulled out her multi-purpose hunting knife. Storm looked at her worriedly,

"The last time you did that, you almost died"

Raven couldn't help but grin, "Only if you don't pull me out in time Storm"

Before she did anything she watched, just incase the Snow Slug decided that it was ok to come out it's hiding spot. It stayed where it was and the only thing that moved were the flakes of snow that came falling gently to the ground.

"Looks like plan B Storm"

Storm didn't like it but she knew that there was no stopping Raven, so all she could do was wait patiently for the slug to come out. Raven cut her hand as deep as she dared, the droplets of green blood oozing on the snow. Raven waited as patiently as she could for the slug to pick up the stench of blood. Storm saw the ripples of snow as the slug made it's way to it's dinner.

"Got it!" Raven heaved it up so the beast was out in the open, it looked like a human slug only it was alot bigger, it's slimy green coat used as a luring tool for smaller prey. It's mouth was always open, the pinkest of tongues trying to latch on to anything that moved. The Snow Slug's size was enough to make it a worthy opponant but it had so much more power than that, it could shoot beams of ice from the little stalks on it's head, it could heave balls of ice at moving prey. The one thing that made a Snow Slug fall was fire, and lots of it.

"Ready! "Nafoi!" "Nazan!"

The combined power of Raven's fire magic and Storm's wind magic caused what was called a fire storm, it was like a tornado but made of the hottest fire. The creature let out a loud screeching as the fire incased it trapping it inside the painful vortex. Raven and Storm pulled down their hands and the fire spell stopped, the beast no longer moved and had turned from a brilliant green to a charcoal black.

"Well that's one problem taken care of" Raven shrugged putting one hand on top of the other and saying a quiet healing spell. "Let's go to the guild and collect our Meseta, the mead and sandworms are on me"

The walk back to town was a normal one, they saw friends and other hunters on the way.

"You shouldn't of cut your hand Rae" Storm scalded again passing a couple of pregnant women.

"You read the message, kill the Snow Slug thats what I did"

Storm tried not to roll her white eyes, Raven was the best and oldest Hunter that Dezolis had so she knew what she was doing, but sometimes it was like she had a death wish. Storm just wasn't ready to take over as the head Hunter. She was more than happy to be second in command. Hunters on Dezolis weren't unusual, they were around to kill the monsters that had escaped during the explosion of the Bio-Plant. Other than slaying beasts, Hunters protected the town they lived in from threats, not that there were many on that account because Dezolis was a planet of peace. If you didn't like someone, you simply moved to a different town. Raven collected there money from the guild leader and instantly went to the inn to get their mead and sandworms. Storm as she always did looked around at the different Dezolians, there were the dancers on the stage providing entertainment, the inn keeper and his daughter, and other hunters and even a few incubators. On Dezolis if you had a magical gift you were trained to be a Hunter, if you didn't you simply picked another job. There were many to choose from and the only one that was set aside for women was being incubator. It was only men that could be the incubatee, other than that people were free to choose. Storm watched a couple of incubators talk to the inn keeper. She had seen the incubator process once and she didn't much care for it, the woman would lie on her back, a long curtain coming down and hiding her upper torso from her lower body. Their legs would be up in the air and spread apart, the man would stand in front of her and jerked his man area until the white goo would come soaring out, when he was done so was the woman. There were times when things didn't quite go right and the woman would have to stay in her position for hours at a time, alot of them would bring something to do to stop the bordem. Storm was just glad that she possessed wind and healing magic because she couldn't be an incubator and having to stay still for that long.

"Raven!" A small girl came running up to her, the smile stretching on her tiny face. "Grandfather Dorin wants to see you!"

"Thanks Jana. We'll go and see him now"

Grandfather Dorin was the information monger for Jut, if there were any questions you needed an answer too, he knew it. It wasn't very often that he called on Hunters from the guild. Raven left some meseta on the table before picking up her crossbow and strapping it to her back.

"Let's go see Grandfather Dorin"

There walk was a quiet one, several people passing them on the way in their attempt to keep warm. Storm and her pure white frame was the first Dezolian to match the snow. Her long hair and eyes melted into the snow, if it wasn't for her black armor her tall body would've been lost to the snow. Raven was shorter than Storm and covered in the markings of her kills, it was an old tradition that had since been abolished, everytime you kill a beast you got a tattoo. Thanks to her long standing nature, Raven had almost ninety percent of her body tattooed. Her long black and silver hair flowing down her back. Like all Dezolians they had their ears on top of their heads like horns, they also had an extra pair of eyes on their hands and the greenest of blood. Any human would've called them freakish aliens but really they looked just like almost every other Dezolian.

"What do you think Grandfather Dorin wants?"

"Who knows? Knowin him it could be anything, unless he wants to give out my measurements again"

Storm let out a giggle as she recalled the incident, Grandfather Dorin was blind in one eye and going blind in the other, so when they walked into his tent to ask about a healing medicine for the town of Meese, he didn't realise who they were and asked if they wanted to know Raven's measurements, in her anger she punched him in the face. If it was anyone else he would've called for a gaol sentence. Raven let it go eventually as he didn't have any bad intentions.

"Let's just get this over with, I want another sandworm"

Storm rolled her eyes playfully at her partner's stomach, Raven was always hungry. Always.