Fire of the Moon
By Xero the Pyro Summary:
For some reason, all the targets are disappearing, and when a hunter turns up dead, the Guild sends out a young but talented hunter to investigate. The situation soon spirals out of control, and the Guild is forced to bring out a group of their finest hunters, the Dragon Souls. Rated T for swearing, gore (may change later on).
A/U: Okay folks, I'm Xero the Pyro, the "tne" is a typo I haven't changed yet so bear with me please and just think of it as "the". So, thanks for reading this, (tell your friend! XD) and I am sorry, my updating may be random, but I'll try to be consistent. Thank you Axi0us, you are an awesome publisher. Now this is my first fic, so I'll be improving (hopefully), and without further delays, here is Chapter 1!
Ignoring his depleting stamina, he hunter ran as hard as he could. His Conga armor had numerous scratch marks, his helm had long since been destroyed, and he was out of potions. He was only a little ways away from camp; no way in Hell could he/she/it follow him there.
The hunter stopped running long enough to rest, and walked a little ways further before catching himself; he was at the edge of a cliff in the forest and hills. It was night time and this was no climb he wanted to make in the dark, but going back meant open areas and vulnerability. The hunter sighed. He inched the bridge of his nose preparing to climb down when he heard a sharp snap! behind him. He whirled around, his hands flying to the hilts of his icicle daggers. He couldn't see the figure entirely thanks to the lack of moon this night, but he could see the luminous blue eyes, without pupils or mercy. The hunter slowly unsheathed his weapons, knowing how this dance would end.
His opponent thrust their glimmering long sword in a heart rendering thrust, blue flames fuming down its length, but the hunter deflected the blade. His attacker knocked aside his attack with a massive wave of his/her left hand, leaving the hunter with his arms fully extended and crossed. His attacker had his left wrist in a vice grip, and his right hand blade was keeping the long sword from impaling him. The hunter was trapped, his attacker knew it, and with a loud snap his wrist was broken. The hunter dropped to the ground, his blades lay forgotten on the ground.
The hunter looked up, cradling his broken wrist. "How is this possible?" he gasped. "You're human!"
When the creature spoke, it was in two voices, both female, but the underlying voice was silk and smooth, but sold and merciless. "Burn, pathetic creature." The long sword swung down.
Xaren woke up with a start, his felyne, Satan, standing over him, hitting him repeatedly over the head with his scythe.
"Nyaah! Master! Breakfast is ready, and Pete says that if you don't get up now he'll burn your food!"
In a flash, Xaren was up and dressed in accustom black khezu armor with a black metal piece over his chest and his Wyvern blade blood on. Rushing through the curtain quickly, Xaren yelled, "Pete! Please don't burn my food again! I'm sorry!" His lead cook cat, Pete, sighed and turned around saying, "Master, you're too lazy. Invest in an alarm clock, nya."
Xaren laughed nervously running a hand through his untidy brown hair. He ate quickly, and then walked out of his house into the cool air of Pokke village. It was summer, but thanks to the village's close proximity to the Snowy Mountain, there was still snow on the ground, and Xaren's breath came out in a mist.
"Xaren!" called out a gruff voice.
Xaren smiled to himself and turned around, "Well look who ventured outside this fine morning? How are ya old man?"
The "old man" grunted and walked over. His name: Vincent Le' Roein, a retired hunter. He wore old fashioned chain mail and his tanned skin similar to the consistency of leather with warm brown eyes surrounded by laugh lines. He was a kind man that would often share friendly banter with Xaren.
"Old man my ass," grumbled Vince. "Normally I'd teach you a thing or two about respecting your elders, but we haven't the time for that. The village elder has requested your company."
Xaren shot his fist into the air. "Hell yeah! Come on, we all know that means she plans on assigning a special mission! I haven't gotten one of those since that stupid khezu. I was afraid she had forgotten about me."
"Well, don't get too excited. I overheard the details, and they aren't, well, lets just say cheerful." cautioned Vince. "But that's beside the point. I have to go and you have to see the elder." and with that, Vince turned and left.
"Well, whatever I guess." mumbled Xaren.
He turned and walked towards the village elder and her rather snooty felyne companion, Nekoht. A perfect example in contradictions, Nekoht was cold and aloof while the elder was warm and loving. The only clear similarity between the two was that they were similar in height- both the cat and the human were around three feet tall.
"Heya Nekoht!" greeted Xaren. The felyne regarded the hunter with contempt before sniffing and examining a flaw in her cream colored fur.
"So I hear you have an urgent mission for me." said Xaren, his excitement scarcely contained.
"Right to the point then?" chuckled the elderly woman. "Very well. You have of course heard of the rather odd cases of our target high level wyverns and Elder Dragons going missing."
"Yep." replied Xaren.
"Well, one of our hunters was sent to investigate the disappearance of the local Elder Dragons in the Forest and Hills area. He went missing two days ago, but his rather battered felyne returned."
Xaren raised an eyebrow, clearly intrigued. "And?"
"The poor cat was in critical condition, and before it went into a deep coma, it was babbling about a monster with glowing blue eyes and blue flames."
"That sounds like a Lunestra to me," said Xaren, thinking of the blue Elder Dragon.
"Initially I came to the same conclusion, but the hunter sent had many Elder Dragon slayings under his belt, and even surprised, with his felyne, a Lunestra, as difficult as the moon dragon may be, should have been no problem for a hunter of that caliber," explained the Elder.
"So you're sending me? But aren't I a lower class hunter?" asked Xaren in confusion.
"Hardly," scoffed the Elder. "Younger and inexperienced, yes, but in terms of talent and skill I'd say you're every bit as powerful as Vince. On the other hand, this is not a combat mission. I want you to find our missing hunter, and find out as much about his attacker as possible."
Xaren nodded. "Understood."
Three hours later
Xaren's brow knitted in worry, his black hood pulled on to shield his eyes from the sunlight. He was standing in a pretty open area, but the signs of a fight were clear. Scuffed tracks leading to the gorge, sword marks in the ground, burns on the local foliage, and perhaps most obvious, a charred shoulder piece from an armor set. All the signs pointed to a battle yes, but not to a battle between a dragon and human, but between two very skilled hunters.
"Nya, what happened here boss?" asked Satan nervously, his scythe clenched tightly in his hands.
"I'm not entirely sure, but Satan, I need you to do something," said Xaren, distracted.t
He quickly explained his wishes to his companion and friend, and after some slight confusion, Satan dove into the ground in the way only felynes could.
"And now onwards to the gorge," sighed Xaren, already suspecting what awaited him there.
After a good ten minutes of walking, Xaren finally came upon the gorge. With many natural stone shelves littering it all the way to the bottom, it was an easy climb down to the bottom, but Xaren didn't even have to take one step down. Hanging over the edge of the highest shelf, right next to Xaren lay the missing hunter. His body was charred and there was a large sword wound in his chest. The hunter's daggers lay next to the body, nearly falling off the edge to the bottom a hundred feet below.
Xaren was about to get closer when the sharp and all too familiar schnick of a sword being drawn sounded behind him.
That was all the warning the hunter had.
It was all the warning the hunter needed.
Spinning to the left, Xaren narrowly dodged a would be mortal blow from a Saber, a blue blade made from a Lunestra. In front of Xaren stood a lithe figure, clearly human with light leather armor. A hood was drawn, but bright pupil-less blue eyes shown from underneath. Xaren tried to draw his own long sword, a fire blade made from the materials of the Rathalos, the wyvern blade: blood, but he was forced to dodge from the continuous attacks. Every time he would reach up to grab his blade, he would end up having to duck and dodge.
Finally Xaren got fed up with this pattern of retreat, so he jumped to a lower shelf of rock, drawing his sword as he did so. Not missing a beat, his attacker followed, and their blades met. Red flames from the wyvern blade and blue from the saber sprang from the swords and circled the two combatants, adding to the already tense atmosphere. It was a battle of supremacy, one of who had the greater strength, and it was one Xaren was losing.
So he used his brain.
Stepping to the side and spinning at the same time, he avoided the saber and the wave of blue flame and leaving his attacker vulnerable for a split second. Completing the spin, Xaren smashed his blade into the attacker's side, knocking the foe back with an explosion of fire. Xaren did not have time to celebrate his hit though, his attacker was back on their feet in an instant and forced Xaren to the edge with a flurry of impossibly fast strikes. Xaren could barely keep up, and he was aware of the edge directly behind him. Finally with a massive uppercut, the attacker sent Xaren flying into the air for a 100 foot drop.
Xaren smiled, his plan going perfectly. Right on time, Satan jumped out from the ground, swinging his scythe with an enraged "Nya!" The attacker barely had time to dodge, but it was too late. Satan's scythe caught a hold of the hood, ripping it away.
As Xaren fell, he had time to register one fact: it was a human woman.
A/U: Aaaaand that's a wrap! Cut everybody!
Xaren: someone help me down!
Me: nah. okay, how was it guys? good? bad? review please! good long reviews! if you do, ill put up chapter twoooooo.