"Our dead are never dead to us until we have forgotten them." –George Eliot
A lone figure walked across the marshy ground. Squish, squash. His upper lip curled in distaste. Personally, he did not like this humid, tropical temperature; he preferred drier areas like the Sandy Plains.
Meow, meow. His gaze dropped to see a group of Felynes walking towards him. His hand instinctively went up to the green hilt of his long sword, the Shadow Binder. As expected, the Felynes jumped at him, attempting to pickpocket him. With a few quick slashes, the cats fell.
I hate those cats, actually, more than this place, this freaking Flooded Forest, he thought. He kept marching toward what the Guild designated as Area 4, where a Gobul was apparently resting after trashing a fisherman's boat. On that thought, he added another peeve to his list of disliked: Fishermen.
Those spineless retards, he started, they can't even hold their ground against a Gobul. They shouldn't be fishing if they don't know how to fight. As he walked toward where he thought the Gobul was, he heard footsteps. Light ones.
Hmm? He paused. The footsteps were too light to be a Gobul's, and he could hear quick breathing… Off!
A young girl, no older than 14, ran straight into the armored hunter. She bounced off his sturdy frame and sat down hard on the damp floor. She looked up and her eyes widened. The man couldn't help but notice that her eyes sparkled in the cloudy afternoon sun.
"Oh! Oh, I'm sorry-I didn't know, uh, I was running form-I mean from- a big creepy fish thing and-"She began.
He stared at her bumbling form. She had her hair cut short, with one side longer than the other, which slightly covered her right eye. He extended a hand. "Get up."
She took his hand and stood up.
"Ok, let's start over. Who are you and why are you here?"
"Uh, I was looking for bitterbugs to make some herbal medicine…my mom is sickly and uh we don't have enough money to hire a hunter- and a Gobul attacked me- you're the hunter form Moga Village right? I saw you around sometimes- Paine, right?"
"Yeah, alright, go back to the Guild's base camp and get some rest. I'll take you back to the village when I'm done hunting."
"No! "She exclaimed. The hunter cocked an eyebrow.
"I didn't find those bitterbugs yet…" she trailed off.
"Fine," The hunter said. Dam, freaking girl. You're gonna be a nuisance.
He resumed his march toward the Gobul.
"Thanks?" the girl wondered. Paine grunted. He began jogging. The girl sighed but followed. He grasped his long sword hilt again and…
…He burst onto the resting Gobul. Good thing he's on land, he thought. He hated swimming too. He slashed and then stabbed the Gobul in the eye. It roared in pain. It inflated and spiked shot up from its back. Wasting no time, the hunter began his Spirit Combo, gouging deep wounds in the Gobul. He completed his combo and hit a Roundslash. The Gobul reared back and fell over.
"Wow!" the girl exclaimed. Paine ignored the congratulations and redrew his weapon. He kept cutting at the Gobul as it righted itself. Sparks flew from his blade as he bounced off the sharp tail spikes. Soon, the hunter went into a repetition. Slash, spirit, dodge. Slash spirit, dodge. Slash, spirit, Roundslash. The barrage was too much for the Gobul, it began to retreat. Paine threw a sonic bomb at the fleeing mass. Scree! The Gobul, flinched, giving Paine enough time to reinitiate his assault. The Gobul's tail whipped around and caught him in the middle of his Spirit Combo. The hunter's Bone armor cracked a little but he ignored it, as he did another Spirit Roundslash. The Gobul flipped over from the impact and died.
"Woah…" the girl was amazed. Paine looked at her. She was watching him with adoration.
"C'mon, let's go. Hurry up and get those bugs."