It was a night like no other. No stars were seen, and all the Flashbugs had dispersed the vicinity of the South El De District. The only lights to be seen emitted from the southernmost village, but the cause was unnatural.
Smoldering pyres bathed the village, and residents were fleeing in terror. The only hunters on hand were three bow users and three bowgunners, who engaged the attacking monster. They opened fire upon the mysterious beast, which was considerably larger than any human, Feyline or Wyverian. The opposing threat reeled back, growling in annoyance at the combined artillery fire.
"Retreat!" One of the hunters said as soon as the beast began squealing almost like a baby eagle would, followed by a volley of meteors that fell in the direction they were fleeing. Losing one of their bowgunners to a meteor, the hunters split off, with two groups attempting to flank the beast while one of the bow users took cover to exchange her arrow coatings. With the right coating, she was about to head back into the fray until she noticed something out of the corner of her eye. In the rubble of one of the village houses, a lone boy sat curled up by a stone pillar, afraid for his very life. The lone bow hunter took initiative, heading towards the boy as the beast marched onward toward her comrades.
"Hey, kid. Are you okay?" She asks, receiving a shivering nod in response.
"My name is Quilena, what's yours?"
"D-Dreigul…" He quivered.
"Okay Dreigul, here's what's going to happen, I'm going to take you out of here, and you're gonna take the next ferry to Jumbo Village in the morning. Do you understand?"
The kid nods, and Quilena holds out her hand for him to grab. She leads him out of the debris and runs for the nearest village exit, all while the beast continues to do battle with her allies. Roars and blood curdling screams ran rampant throughout the skirmish.
As soon as they reached the outskirts of the village, Quilena lets go of his hand, and set him up with Zenny a few Energy Drinks.
"Okay Dreigul, this is where we part ways. Jumbo Village has a trade vessel that departs every morning, this should buy you passage," She hands him an Airship Ticket. "Now stick to the shoreline, be sure to signal them when they arrive." Quilena continued, walking back towards the village.
"Where are you going?" Dreigul asked.
"I'm going to do my job, if you don't see me by the time the trade ship comes, don't wait up."
Quilena reenters the inferno, leaving an indecisive Dreigul at the gates.
Quilena hurries further into the village, readying her bow and looking for her comrades. She stops at the village center, unable to see due to the excessive ember waves that hindered her vision. Suddenly a low growl was emitted, causing her to turn to the source. The smoke that was previously blocking visibility was dispersed by vile wings, giving her a good look at the monster that she and her comrades were fighting.
It was a slender bodied beast, its arms and legs were versatile enough to shift between locomotive postures. Black scales covered its back whilst crimson scales spanned abdominally from its lower jaw to its tail. Three symmetrical horns donned its crest, and one overgrown horn that towered above the rest. Two beady yellow eyes leered into Quilena's very being as it held the limp body one of her comrades in its arm.
Throwing the body aside the crimson beast charged after her on all fours, attempting to take a huge chunk of flesh off her. She responded by dodging the snapping jaws, firing off a few arrows at it. Shrugging them off, the monster continues going after her, smashing any leftover debris that got in its way. With all the debris flying about Quilena had to somersault out of the way, which was what it wanted. The beast had systematically trapped her in a corner, making escape impossible.
The dreaded fiend licked its chaps and prepped to turn Quilena to ash, until a volley of two bowgun rounds struck its side. The beast turned only to see a young boy carrying an extremely large weapon as if he could barely hold it.
"Dreigul, you fool!" Quilena yelled as the immense serpent turned to the boy, striking Quilena with its tail and launching her into the blaze. The beast began closing in on Dreigul, ready to eliminate the nuisance as the boy tried loading in more rounds quickly. He cocked back the bowgun when he reached the capacity and immediately fired three shots, the recoil guiding the bullets to targets he wasn't even expecting to hit. The bullets first hit the arm, then the neck, and soon dead center in the beast's right eye. Recoiling, the serpent fell over backwards and wriggled around attempting to divert the intense pain elsewhere, to no avail. Failing to do what he came to do, Dreigul used the time to flee from the smoldering village and head for the shoreline as previously directed.
The crimson beast rose back up from the ground, looking around for the meek being who dared to blind it. With no sign of Dreigul and no scent of any other hunters, the serpent spread its wings, and took to the skies.
Dreigul had made it to the shoreline, and looked back to what used to be his home village. He began tearing up, only until a loud roar pierced the night sky. The young boy saw a lanky figure fly out of the wreckage and circle around, prompting him to conceal himself in the sand so he wouldn't be spotted. Covering everything but his eyes, the boy watched for several minutes as the monster hovered over the village's vicinity, then leave to whence it came.
A sigh left his body, followed by shivers of grief and cold. Though the Wyverian elders of his village taught him to regard the monsters as if they were their own neighbors, Dreigul couldn't help but disregard their teachings in a fit of silent fury and fear. The experience had shaken his very core, and he couldn't cope with the loss. He was mortified. He was alone. He was an orphan.