PART ONE:
The hunter landed on his feet, his genetic enhancements making it possible to survive such great falls. He had arrived in what was designated on the map as, 'area eight' of the volcanic hollow.
His initial quest led him there to deal with 'an unknown thing that can spew fire'. It seems some villager was mining happily once and all of a sudden, his cart of ore blew up, leading to him nearly getting burned to a crisp.
Poor bastard. He was an inch away from dying.
Unfortunately, the miner had run away so fast that he didn't have time to see what was attacking him. In the end, he'd made it out alive and unharmed. Due to the fact that no one got injured or killed, the quest was classified as 'low priority' and postponed nearly a week.
Not many hunters displayed interest in this assignment in particular, as the 'aggressor', who took over the volcano, was unknown. They would have rather went hunting where they knew who the local monster was in order to earn parts and forge their equipment.
People those days lacked the sense of adventure. Why not take on a seemingly new threat just for the fun of it?
In the mean time, the Dragon Seer had begun scouting the volcano for signs of the monster. What the Seer observed through the monocular was that the target proved to be incredibly fast and extremely territorial.
The Seer watched as various creatures that inhabited the volcano had poured out of their homes, running for their lives. They were small monsters, large monsters and there was even an Elder Dragon!
A Teostra of all things! That Dragon ran away faster than a Volvidon rolling down a hill!
A weird thing was that it didn't try to fly, maybe its wings were damaged to the point of non functionality...
After having bore witness to all of that, the unidentified monster had begun assaulting the Dragonseer. It had done so by launching fireballs at the balloon.
Alas, none of them actually hit.
As a result, the attacker propelled itself upwards, presumably through the intermediate of wings, and attempted to assault the Seer.
A quick work of the balloon's cooling systems and heat injection systems managed to blow the aggressor away. The pilot then could only get a quick glance at the monster, before it vanished out of sight.
After that event, the only thing that the seer could say for certain was that the monster was red and small to the point that even a Great Jaggi appeared big in comparison to it.
The Dragon Seer refused to fly over the volcano until the threat was removed, causing the quest to become classified as high priority.
The hunter was rethinking all of that. He was still unsettled as to why payment had not yet been assigned to the quest. Perhaps, since nobody was actually sure of what they faced, money could not just be assigned to the killing of the monster.
No, captured. This specimen... intrigued a few people.
Something moved. The hunter had spotted a quick blurry figure passing in the distance. After having drawn his hammed, he jumped further down, eyes scattered in all directions.
Unbeknownst to him, the foe had hid right behind, on the wall he hopped over.
A strike came that the man was not prepared for.
Much of the impact was absorbed by the thick sheets of Seregios plate, causing little damage to the wearer. As response to this, the hunter immediately got a good grip on his hammer and returned fire all the way behind himself in the form of a sideways swing.
His swing was met by the hot air, followed by a blank moment of awkwardly staring at a stupid wall.
'Where… Behind!' As the noise betrayed, the monster proved agile enough to once again escape sight. This hunter quickly realized the margin of his error coming to the fight alone.
Who'd have thought that such a beast existed? One who targeted blind spots and was quick enough to escape the tracking eye? That was impossible! No such monster existed!
Then what was this thing?
Apparently it was kind enough to give the hunter a moment to think about all these questions. It hadn't attacked for more than ten seconds now, as the the man felt. Was it trying to put fear into him? His eyes still scrambled to find his opponent, then it occurred to him:
'Could it be flying?' Raising his head up, he finally managed to spot this foe…
… For only a second as it became a blur and fled.
'It does not want to be seen?' The hunter thought to himself, while only being able to recall that the monster was red from that momentary glance.
That information alone proved useful. If the opponent has red skin, or red fur, or carapace and lived in the volcanic hollow, it could have meant that its alignment was fire. Not that the Dragon Seer hadn't already provided such information or anything…
It was good he brought a water hammer. Water quelled fire, as far as normalcy went.
He heard movement, was the foe behind him once more?
Turning not his body, but leaning forward to use the hammer as support, the hunter threw a leg behind himself. He finally made contact with the opponent. He then turned around to be stunned.
"What…" That was the only sound that escaped the man's mouth at what he was seeing.
His opponent was a 'her'… She had a figure akin to none he had ever seen. It alone was enough to quench his fighting spirit and make it take a break.
It was beautiful… But… Why? It was an abomination! There were… Scales, red in color, covering a part of her, though they were mostly towards the back.
At the top, a beautiful, beautiful dream like face, adorned by long smooth hair and a pair of horns at the side of her head; two pointy ears as well. Were those sapphire eyes he spotted? A beauty among beauties…
Coming downwards, a necklace? A necklace with what appears to be a red jewel. Shoulders engulfed in scales and a beautiful pair of giant sized breasts, also covered by natural red armor.
There appeared to be a smaller necklace, or talisman, hanging below the chest area. This talisman appeared again a little lower, at waists level, merging with scales that led to a long, strong tail.
The back was also adorned with a pair of wings, which would explain some of its mobility.
Was this a Teostra? Or a half human, half Teostra creature? An abomination!
How? When? Why? Who would do such a thing?
She took a step forward and thrusted her tail at the hunter, hitting him right in the stomach and forcing the man to be knocked back a few feet. But that did not cause his legs to buckle. This hit was far from the number one hardest blow he ever felt.
'Quit loitering around!' The damage was real. The opponent had shown that she was no mere woman who only dressed to impress. She meant business and was planning to kill him, the intruder.
A thought occurred to him: what if he tried to speak to her?
"Can you understand me?" He said, while releasing his tension a bit.
However it was brought back up as she hissed, grabbing his attention and giving understanding that she did not speak his language.
It would appear the one who took care of this 'child' was a Teostra mother. But Teostra's were only male! Then was the mother… human? Gods… who would stoop so low…
'Hmpf, what do I know of parents? Had I any to begin with?' One's own history was a matter of the past: gone and of nobody's concern.
He charged, bringing hammer to bare. She jumped up, taking flight.
Raising his gaze to follow her, past the near human feet, past the obscene, he noticed one major thing: her body began glowing orange.
The sign was clear, dodge!
Flame poured down to engulf all the area beneath her. The hunter had thankfully sprinted fast enough to get far enough. No longer in a danger zone, he pulled out a flash bomb.
These rarely worked on Teostra's, but since she was half human, the flash might have stood a better chance.
Having wasted not one moment, the hunter threw it just as the she-monster landed, causing the bomb to trigger not very far from her face.
It was effective, as proven by the fact that she had begun swinging her claws left and right out of confusion. He sprinted at full speed, charging strength into his blow and jumped. He wanted nothing more than to slam the weapon down on her in the form of a leap attack.
His blow was met only by the lava hot terrain, causing his gaze to follow right. She had evaded his attack? How?!
Only now had he remembered something crucial: back when he was in Val Habar, a cook master cat told him a few things about felynes, and, something that affected monsters in general.
"You see these cat ears of meawn? Their puurtty good at hearing things meaw." Sound! She had avoided his attack because he let out a battle cry in the middle of it all!
How foolish of him! This was the sort of mistake that costed many other hunters their lives. There was NO ROOM for error on a battle field. Out there, it was kill or be killed.
Hmm? Was he recalling what happened to his friends in the middle of a hunt? No. He never considered those people to be friends, thus, was unable to feel any sort of pity or remorse.
She opened her eyes. They were suddenly covered in red. Blood? It could have been when it started dripping down her face, similar to how tears would.
Her figure now gathered fire around her visage and her hands. An angered expression gave him all the reason he needed.
'Is this… how I die?'
… No. He was not the kind to lay down and perish in the face of a greater opponent.
He was a warrior! He always had to put up a fight. Ever since little, ever since he had no home, ever since he opened his eyes. He was no stranger to strife. Even when hunters were to be chosen and he was amongst the trainees, he fought and fought and fought.
Monsters, humans, everyone who stood on his path to glory…
Many of them never returned even from their first hunting quest, where they chased a blasted Great Jaggi. It was his magnificent tenacity which allowed him to stand above others and become a prime hunter, a marvelous example of human ingenuity.
But… Was this how he would die? Slain in battle by a beautiful mistress…
'Never!' His hands let go of the hammer.
The hunter received a powerful right to his helmet, becoming staggered good, though not thrown off his feet.
She too had staggered. The monster looked down to see a fist well embedded into her side. This had caused her to kneel and desperately grasp for air.
The burning on his helmet woke him up. He still stood standing while she coughed on the ground. His armor did its job, even though it was not completely fire proof.
His helmet was still aflame as he approached, neglecting his weapon. The hand he used to leave her breathless now held the beast up by its horn, right fist prepared to swing.
She too responded; the two of them exchanging powerful blows, each hitting the other's face. This time his helmet flew off, breaking apart.
The impact of the hit should have knocked him down. It did not as he stubbornly planted a foot firmly onto the ground behind him so he would not fall. Very tiny flames had found way to the right side of his face. He stomped these out before they were able to do any serious damage, though they left some aching sensations.
She was still down on her knees, breathing heavily and looking at him. The beast's previous speed now gone, it seemed, as her legs shaked heavily when she started getting up. With great difficulty, she managed it, but could not take a single step forward.
This was why that hunter was chosen to undertake such dangerous and mysterious quests. Anyone who could send a Teostra running scared was a big threat and the man proved to surpass all kinds of horrors in the past. There were few hunters as ruthless and savage in battle as he was.
'Never give any ground to the enemy! Never back away! You are strong! In combat, even if it costs you a limb or two, you press onward and kill!' The hunter always went forward because he knew the consequence of losing, was death…
They held in stark view of themselves for uncounted seconds, till he bursted forward, starting a fist battle. His blow was met by hers, still aflame, the two proving to be nearly as powerful.
He gave in.
Taking two steps back to put out the flame was enough to demonstrate that she wass superior in strength, a thing which annoyed him greatly.
His genetic enhancements could only do that much, huh?
She flapped her wings to take flight. Seeing this event, the hunter rushed, jumped and managed to grab hold onto her leg and weight down on her.
Surprised at this turn of events, the monster had used her other leg to kick him off, and succeeded.
She then began to channel flame, a thing which he saw as the hunter fell to the ground.
Laying flat on his back, the man could only bring his hands to cover his most vital area, the head, as the Teostra monster exploded, engulfing him and everything else in a few feet radius, in flame…
PART TWO:
"There, there, good hunter. The fire has not swallowed you yet." These words had sounded like an echo, but most importantly, like a caring mother which spoke to her child.
'Mother? What mother?' His eyes slowly slided open. They took a good minute of staring upwards until they could clearly see. The hunter began assessing the situation.
Firstly, he did not recognize the ceiling. A change in location happened without his acord.
He then noticed how he could not move his right arm in order to get up. Raising head slightly permitted his eyes to travel to where they needed to.
Having looked for ten seconds, the head fell back down.
'Am I in hell?' There was a leech on his right arm. More like, the right side of his body. A red hot beauty rested there and engulfed him in an invisible flame.
If that was not enough, the temperature was rising, quickly. His chest armor had been ripped apart and was no longer in sight.
He could use a cool drink…
The environment seemed to have changed. Was he in a nest? A seemingly cramped space with furs and animal pelts littered just about everywhere. It would appear that setting stabilized the temperature, yet why did he feel like it was rising?
He hoped his backpack was nearby... There!
Reaching past the lump of living flesh, his hand entered the potions pouch and retrieved a cool drink. But now something else occurred. He could feel 'it' staring at him.
As he stood over the marvelous sculpture of a monster he not too long ago did battle with, his little man woke up.
This scenario was wrong in every possible way.
Why? Why consider this wrong? Because some time ago, some bitch did something unearthly to create such an opportunity?
'Why would this be good in any way?' Because from the beast, a beauty was born? Was that why?
He brought his left hand back and gulped a cool drink.
There were few female hunters he had seen whose beauty shined close to this monstrosity's. Still, her radiance appeared to surpass them in every single way. Except for one.
One single huntress ever managed to look so astonishingly pretty. A person who long ago devoted her loyalty to him.
She would no doubt be the right choice.
'Ah, she died.' A thought so seemingly easy thrown into the wind, with little care for consequence.
That huntress had the people's respect. The ruckus he received once he returned to Val Habar alone…
The hunters there accused him of abandoning her against impossible odds.
It wasn't until he beat every single one of them into submission and enlightened them to the situation at hand, that they understood the woman's one flaw: she was obsessive by nature.
Obsessed by gear, obsessed by diamonds, parts, fashion, fame, attention…
This hunter understood people the best. The huntress proved to be his ally, but he knew that deep inside, she was doing this merely for the sake of her own personal gain.
He was a renowned hunter, known for his skill in combat and unusual survivability. Getting close to him could indeed prove very resourceful for any woman.
Many times he cursed his destiny, what he lacked since birth and what he had to do to become what he was at that point: that people flocked behind him, as crows to a fresh corpse, to feed off of it and leave its remains in the dust…
Disgusting.
Utterly disgusting.
These thoughts parsed through his mind, being only interrupted when he had seen the monster twitch. She slept soundly near him. His eyes took in no signs of danger at all.
In fact he felt almost at home… Home? Weird… His messy room did not feel like that right there at all. Sitting leaned down in a monster nest composed of animal fur and carapace felt… peaceful. Peaceful? Yes…
That sensation, he liked.
The hunter's eyes ran along her body and absorbed the monsters almost divine shape, memorizing it thoroughly. But they stopped. One nuisance had been spotted. A slightl purple injury mark to the side of her waist.
Bringing his left hand to bare, he touched the purple mark, but jolted his hand back as the smallest form of contact with that area appeared to have sent a shock throughout her whole body.
He had then realized that was the spot he hit when they first exchanged blows. He nearly felt guilty to have inflicted a crack into that perfect ruby crystal.
Except the hunter did not feel guilty. He knew exactly why he had to put a dent in her. Nature's first law: kill or be killed.
Everything Nature taught him, he learned, becoming the embodiment of un-adulterated strength, survivability and combat prowess. Human society and civilization proved no obstacle in his way; he adapted.
But this situation was different. Nature did at all not teach him this step. What he would know about reproduction, was what he sometimes happened to see in Val Habar and Dundorma. 'Kisses' as they would be called.
"Don't worry lass, you'll find your half someday." A fat merchant jokingly told the man who stared blankly at couples.
Such small acts of love did not cause his little man to rise. The sight of such a wild beauty this close however…
She awoke. Eyes opened slowly to see her prey staring back at her, no sensation of fear in his eyes. She sensed no desire to escape. Almost no emotion…
Her right hand rushed at his left shoulder, grasping well and slightly shaking him, to see if he would shudder in determination, as there was no language through which they could communicate other than body movement.
Such a thing had not happened.
What had happened however, was him bringing his arms together behind her waists and drawing her in close. This was a motion she did not fully understand. She merely stared back into his eyes; no ill will was sensed.
They could have been sitting there as such for quite a while, couldn't they have? His mind perceived this development and sought to bring an end to it.
He began drawing her even closer in, until their faces met and shared a kiss.
She became baffled by this event, as her monster brain did not seem to comprehend such a gesture and got agitated. But her body told her otherwise. Half human as she may be, it recognized this signature and prepared for the unavoidable.
She finally came to the conclusion: he was what she had been searching for all this time.
Putting up no more resistance, she embraced his touch, becoming nearly addicted. Her tail began wiggling back and forth against the fur covered ground.
Breaking apart momentarily, she was left almost dumbstruck. There was a clear glimmer of stillness in her eyes, as if her mind was subverted with witchery, demanding more.
'Managed to turn you on have I?' Would he stoop so low?
He would. The hunter's head bearing lower into her pumped chest, kissing and touching gently just about every visible part.
She brought her hands behind his head, hugging it and letting out small moans of joy. She was finally feeling what it meant to be with someone, someone to love.
The scales on her breasts released themselves, coming lose from the very things which they guarded for the first time in forever.
Intrigued by this motion, he continued on to fondle the preciously exposed body parts. She moaned so admirably, further tightening her grip on the hunter.
But he stopped, breaking loose of the arms in a… non-violent way. This surprised and confused the beauty; did he no longer wish them to be together?
'Come to me, be my own!' These words, not spoken through word of mouth, but thought of mind, reached the hunter in the same way that they would reach another of her own kind, causing him to remain dumbfounded.
She had not used her mouth to speak, but instead he somehow heard her voice, in his head?! Did this mean communication was now possible?
'What is your name?'
She formed a fist and placed it above her chest. 'Jorielle.'
There actually came a response…
Repeating the same gesture, he replied: 'Kallaren.' These thoughts traveled at her, receiving a warm smile as response, along with the clear desire of having him continue.
Straying his eyes from hers, they continued down her frame to admire the untold perfection.
'You're beautiful…' These words seemed to make her happy. It was conveyed back at him through small gestures, such as closing her eyes, releasing a smile and tightening her hug.
Now he definitely felt bad for putting a crack in this diamond. She was beautiful any way you looked at her. Made him feel as if he would do anything in the world to repay her for the price of injury, from the bottom of his heart.
That heart, whom for the most of his wretched existence had been stone cold, now became warm, beating faster than ever. The feelings of emptiness and nothingness replaced with love and care, emotions that were taboo to him until then.
He moved a hand down to her waists, looking at what could be described as her underwear, an almost obscene thing.
Though it embarrassed her to have to expose that small part of intimacy, she understood it as a necessary act for procreation.
As he pulled her garment away, she quickly covered the spot with her hand, eyes turning to look away while blushing miserably.
In all honesty, he too was unsure of how things would proceed further. Nature never seemed to explain such acts. He assumed it would merely come to him, as it did.
He felt a small amount of pain, further down. This emotion was transmitted on to her and she quickly turned glance in worry. It would appear that they were connected in both thought and emotion.
Realizing what the inconvenience was, he removed his waist guard and allowed the little man to come into stark naked view.
She looked at it only for an instant, realizing what that thing was, what its purpose was and quickly turned glance. It was meant to ravage her…
Her embarrassment became all the more visible to the hunter. He gently touched her fingers with his own, extremely diligently pulling up on them. She felt this slow, careful approach; its finesse impressing her.
This act alone demonstrated a calm and gentle nature, one who thought of her first before putting his own desires into consideration. It was now clear that for her, he was doing this.
'Yes…' Her voice came to him as thought, finally accepting and moving her hands behind his neck. He placed his against the ground to stabilize the following motion.
Who would have thought that on a quest to battle a horrible beast, he would instead be comforting it? This scenario had never, ever crossed his mind. Not as a child, not as an adult and certainly not as a hunter.
He knew that at some point, he should find himself a female hunter or just a woman and retire from his career of killing that which could very well be innocents. Nature certainly had not proclaimed monsters as villains, same as it had not declared mankind heroes.
This trail of thoughts was interrupted when he realized her curious gaze was upon him. She was confused. Had he given up on mating with her? The monster brought its hands to the sides of the hunter's face, feeling his cheeks.
Woken from his sudden thoughts, he raised arms and gently took hold of hers, somewhat unsure if he really should continue. What, was he going to have a future alongside such an abomination? A beautiful, beautiful abomination…
Her eyes displayed trust he would not find anywhere else he'd look, that she won't betray him no matter what.
The hunter moved their hands downwards, past either sides of her face, having hers locked against the ground, proclaiming his dominance as the male. A dominance she gladly accepted as they locked into another kiss.
And finally… The shy lioness and the little lion meeting in sacred unison of man and woman, a unification which left the two clawing for each others embrace…
THE END