Darkness and Lightning: Part I

The slopes grew steeper, but Smokes kept to his pace, knowing that his horse, Soldier, was up to the task. The dark gelding was big and used to hard labour, soldiering through ankle-deep snow as though he was a ploughing ox. Smokes hugged close to Soldier's mane for balance and to shield himself from the harsh winds biting at his exposed cheeks; his furred hat covered everything except his face. He could hear little as his ears were muffled.

Up and up they went the mountain, the sun all but a blur under misty air and clouds. Then, the ground levelled, and Smokes pulled Soldier to a stop on top a crest. He let in a short breath—the air tasted metallic—and looked up.

The peaks of the mountain stood hidden farther than he could see, which wasn't much in this weather. The crest which he had just arrived on was merely a footstool and he dreaded the time later when he would have climb up further. But for now, he turned his attention back on to the path ahead, where it winded down steeply into a white valley. Grey fumes rose steadily from the chimneys of the village, melting the snow on top the roofs of huts, the water trickling down the edge to where they were collected in buckets.

Smokes dismounted and regretted the second his boots touched the ground. His boots were once of excellent quality, but wear and tear had done its damage, leaving small recesses where the snow and ice could slip in. Taking each step felt like lifting weights, and he could feel his feet all wet and disgusting. Not to mention the difficulty in going downhill while leading Soldier by the reins. He wished he could simply ride down, but that was too dangerous.

Eventually, Smokes made it to a point where he could take strides rather than inches and found that he could breathe easy again. There was no gate to the village, no walls either. A crooked pole with a ragged blue banner passed off as an entrance.

Two players sat by a small table by the pole, playing shogi. Shogi had become a favourite pastime of many Aincrad Clearers, even for those who played little beforehand, as the intense concentration the game required took minds off the everyday looming threat of death.

Smokes noted their thick white cloaks rimmed with blood red, beautifully made, under which they wore padded jerkins and leather trousers dyed white and red. He most especially envied their boots, however, made of lizard-hybrid hide from the floor below; waterproof through and through. Smokes had an eye for good hides; it was part of his job.

The nearer of the two players noticed him first and stood up, the hilt of his sword showing from under his cloak.

"Who are you?" he asked. He had large bushy eyebrows, unusually round mouth, and no facial hair.

Smokes smiled. "I'm Smokes."

"Hell of a name," Eyebrows said. "What are you doing here?"

"I reckon the same as you. Hunting, grinding, levelling, all that nonsense."

"How did you find this place?"

Smokes was used to being endlessly questioned. The best response was to simply answer as honestly as possible—without, of course, revealing anything. "Research, rumours, info brokers, and some luck."

Eyebrows looked to his partner. The farther player had stayed seated, watching Smokes with a bored expression as if simply waiting for his friend to hurry up and finish, eager to get on with the game. He shrugged.

"Didn't expect to find some KoB folks here though," said Smokes. He had caught glimpses of the red insignia cross of the Knights of the Blood Oath hidden under their cloaks, confirming his suspicions.

"You're a clearer?" the seated man asked. He was older than Eyebrows by a good number of years, Smokes reckoned, and he had a sharp jaw with a stubble. Most probably he was the superior rank of the two.

"Yes and no," Smokes said. "I do my part in the active clearing of Aincrad. But do I fight on the frontlines where most of the action happens? No."

Eyebrows frowned. "So, you're not a clearer."

"Yes and no, like I said."

"No, you're not." Eyebrows took a step closer to him, perhaps to intimidate him. He was taller than Smokes by half a head, seemingly larger with all that padding and cloak, but Smokes always had this devil within him that caused him to not be afraid. "There are those of us who've died fighting. Don't you dare consider yourself one of us, if you haven't risked your life."

"I have risked my life," Smokes said calmly. "How else am I here?" He let it sink in for a moment. "And clearing is not all just fighting, you know. Lots of preparation is needed for raids, dungeon crawls, and boss fights. Supplies, mats, scouting, mapping, you name it. I'm just simply one of those that work behind the scenes."

Eyebrows opened his mouth in what seem to be a retort but was stopped by the older player. Superior stood up, obviously not happy with where things are seeming to go. He eyed Smokes for a long while.

"Smokes, is it? What guild are you? You're definitely not a solo player, so don't bother lying to me."

Smokes nodded and reached inside his shirt. He pulled out a silver chain fashioned with a horned dragon's head.

"You're DDA!" Eyebrows spat, his hand falling to his sword's hilt.

"I knew it," said Superior. "Horses are expensive. Few guilds could afford to give their non-frontline members horses."

Almost as if he could understand their conversation, Soldier neighed, striking up snow with his front leg. Smokes produced an apple from his cloak and fed it to him; he finished it in about three bites.

"Fucking scum is here to spy on us!" said Eyebrows. "Well spy all you want, we got nothing to hide. But if you DDA think you can come steal from us you're hella wrong."

"I didn't expect any KoBs here actually," said Smokes. That was the truth.

"Calm yourself, Korthe," Superior snapped, then faced Smokes again. "Let's see, horned dragon head chain. You're a Hunter Dragon, Smokes."

"One of the few," Smokes admitted.

There was a very tall hierarchy structure inside the Holy Dragon Divine Alliance, with the lowest being Dragonlings while the Dragon Emperor sat atop the food chain. Hunter Dragons were unique in the sense that they do not have any underlings who answer to them, but were still regarded to be highly respected for the specialised role they serve. Said role being to track, and hunt, perhaps tame, but mostly kill, rare monsters that appear within the world of Aincrad. The gears of players are often what makes the difference between living and death, and the best of gears are made from the rarest of materials, which can be obtained through hunting these monsters.

"You're tracking something here then?" Superior questioned.

Superior was a hard person to lie to. Too observant. "Yes," Smokes said. "But, of course, tracking is hit and miss. You could spend weeks on a lead only to find that it's a dead end and you've wasted all your time. I'm been lucky a lot so far though."

"Do you think you'll find something here?"

Smokes smirked. "Now why would I tell you that?"

Korthe was all in his face. "You arrogant piece of shit! What are you tracking?"

"Korthe! Leave him," Superior said, holding the younger man back from drawing his blade. After a few moments, he shrugged. "Whatever, it's none of our business." He looked at Smokes in the eye, a look that serve to warn. "Just carry on. We have a squad stationed here because this is one of our hunting spots. If you don't bother us, we won't bother you. We're all here to do what we can to end this game."

"Fair truce," Smokes said. "I'll be getting on then."

Superior nodded. Korthe was seething but kept control.

"What's the name of this village by the way?"

"Corsea."

Smokes nodded, then led Soldier forward, giving one last yearning glance at the KoB players' boots.

Author's Notes: Yo, hope you all enjoyed this short intro to this story. I intend this story to be short, fast paced and fun. I always thought it would be cool to write about a monster hunter character so here he is. I thought it was interesting to write in the perspective of someone in the DDA as normally they get portrayed to be the villains and scums. Not to mention what little screen time they actually had. Honestly, had quite a bit of fun writing this. While I don't have an exact final word count for this story, I estimate at this rate it'll be around 15k words. Please do review and say what you think. I consider this story to be like a practice story, where I am trying a writing style that I think is fun and easy to write with. Next chapter will be up soon.