December 30th, 7985

Here's my first entry for my Guild Journal. My uncle...The Guildmaster says I have to write in it as often as I can, so that I can submit entries that show progress of my work for him to review. It's inconvenient, but Guildmaster Garrow says I'll make a habit out of it. Guess I'd better start on that habit now.

I'm not sure how to start off this blasted journal. I think I'll just write a little bit about myself. My name is Eragon, son of None, nephew to the Guildmaster of the Spine Guild, Garrow Cadocsson. His son is my cousin, the Hunter Roran. I'm a Hunter too, but I'm just a rookie. Hopefully not for long.

I officially joined the Guild this morning. I've learnt how to hunt before, but the Guild bars underage hunters from joining. I turned sixteen this year, so I'm eligible. But I'm still the youngest Guild Hunter now. Roran is two, nearly three years older than I am. And folks in Carvahall prefer farming and trading to hunting, so we don't get a lot of recruits.

I haven't been assigned any quests yet, but I think I'll be getting one soon. We living so near the Spine are always having problems with the monsters lurking in those mountains. Just two days ago a little group of Melynx pilfered several bottles of Antidote from the market, and it was more trouble than it was worth trying to catch them.

My candle is burning low. I should probably get some sleep soon.

Eragon

- From the Guild Journal of Eragon, son of None

"OI ERAGON!"

Even before the roosters were due to crow and wake him up for his first day as a Guild Hunter, a certain cousin of his was doing a great job imitating those blasted birds.

"Eragon, get up, now!" Roran sounded extremely impatient, and he shook Eragon's shoulder, hidden under a thick layer of blankets. The lad groaned, only to burrow even deeper into his bed.

"Cousin, I'm serious. Carvahall is being attacked by a pack of Jaggi."

"What?" Eragon shot up from his bed, his hair still dishevelled from his meagre four hours of sleep.

"It's their winter horde. They've been sighted along the southernwestern border."

Eragon quickly stood up and went over to his equipment box, buckling on the set of Hunter's Armour Garrow had given him, the standard issue of the Spine Guild. Roran was already arrayed in his Alloy Armour with his heavy War Mace strapped across his back. Being the more muscular of the two, he was a proficient user of Hammer weapons and wielded them to regularly knockout monsters.

"How many Jaggi are there?" Eragon asked, shoving his helm onto his head. He looked around for his weapon.

"Hale says there are about fifty of them. Byrd has killed a number of them already, but the Jaggi have spread out, and with this many of them, he's worried that their pack leader isn't far behind."

Eragon found his weapon lying on the floor near the wall, and removed the cloth wrapping it, revealing a dull black scabbard, but with an unordinarily ornate hilt. His cousin stared quizzically at it, but Eragon ignored him, strapping his long sword to his back, then ran out of his room with Roran's heavy footsteps pounding behind him. The early morning hallways of the Guildhall were silent, save for a faint commotion from downstairs. Garrow had been long awake, issuing orders to the few Hunters who had managed to come from around Carvahall. The Guildmaster turned to look at the staircase as Eragon and Roran came rushing down to the common room.

"Eragon, you're finally awake!" he huffed. "You are to go with Sloan and Wyglif."

"Wha- Sloan?!" He accidentally burst out.

"Yes. They're the only party that still has a vacancy. Do you have a problem with that?" his uncle said in his commanding Guildmaster tone.

"But why can't I go with you?"

"Because I already have Roran, Delwin and Bardrick with me. You'll be safe with them. Don't worry."

"I'm not -" Eragon bit his tongue. "Fine."

Sloan noticed none of this exchange between uncle and nephew, and cuffed him behind his head. "Where've you been, boy?" he barked. "Let's hurry. Wyglif!"

Thus Eragon found himself running behind Sloan and Wyglif in light snow within just five minutes of getting out of bed, inwardly cursing his bad fortune and the blasted pack of Jaggi. He had wanted to get assigned a quest, sure, but not like this, when his head was still muddled from his lack of sleep, having to tag along with Sloan the Butcher! What a terrible start to his Hunter career. The party moved briskly through snowy streets lined with tall, sturdy houses of wood, their inhabitants still asleep. It would be two more hours until dawn, and the Hunters would try to exterminate all the Jaggi before Carvahall awoke.

It wasn't long before they came across the first of those monsters. They were small group of four, and as Eragon had imagined, they were bipedal and lizard-like, orange for the most part save for their frill, back-stripe and foreclaws, which were purple. They were crashing through the windows of a meats store and plundering its wares. Wyglif nocked his Hunter's Stoutbow, firing several arrows into the side of one Jaggi. Blood sprayed from its wound, and with a shrill cry, it fell over. Its three companions immediately turned away from their food, barking and jumping towards them. Eragon was nearly bit in the shoulder by one of them, and he deftly sidestepped its attack.

"You want to fight?" Sloan roared, swinging his giant Lacerator Blade and knocking all three of them backwards at the same time. Wyglif easily finished them off with several well-aimed shots to their heads. Eragon had his hand on his blade's hilt, but it seemed that the two veteran hunters didn't really need his help, much to his disappointment.

Sloan smirked, sheathing his weapon on his back, then stooped down to carve off a few hides from the Jaggi corpses, which he rolled up and stored in his item pouch. Wyglif broke off several of their fangs, for crafting into ammunition. "Ever fought Jaggi before, boy?" Sloan asked.

"Aye. I have."

"Hmm. Didn't expect that. But if you have, you'd know they're just blasted annoying to deal with in groups. Like wolves, only yappier. So don't get surrounded by them."

"Aye, I know that."

"Good. You better know it," Sloan growled. "A rookie like you might just charge in recklessly and get bit."

That wounded his pride, but Eragon didn't try to argue. "Aye."

"Let's go find more Jaggi, then."

They did find another group, but it was larger, with six Jaggi jumping about in the town square and making claw-shaped footprints in the snow. Several townspeople were running away from them. Eragon eagerly unsheathed his long sword, running towards one Jaggi that had broken off from its pack. In surprise, the monster began barking at him, and Eragon took the opportunity to evade its biting jaws and take it down with several quick slices. Sloan took out two Jaggi at the same time with a wide horizontal slash, before making an evasive roll and cleaving through another. Wyglif was acting from afar and shot several arrows into the sides of the last three, and they fell with arrows through their throats. The once white snow was now stained red with Jaggi blood.

Sloan was staring at Eragon's long sword as he sheathed it, with nearly the same gaze as Roran when he stared at the strange weapon earlier that morning. Eragon caught him looking, and sighed. "What is it?"

"That's a unique long sword you have there, boy," Sloan said, narrowing his eyes. "Where did you get it?"

"My father used to own it," Eragon said, shrugging his shoulders. "My mother passed it to uncle, I mean Guildmaster Garrow. And he passed it to me."

"How come I've never seen you use it before?"

"I only received it yesterday. When I joined the Guild."

Sloan snorted. "Your father used to own it. Of course."

Eragon bristled. "What do you mean by that, Sloan?"

"Your father owned it? Boy, I'm no armourer, but I'd recognize that long sword anywhere: that's a Wyvern Blade. And from its look, its probably Wyvern Blade 'Bloom'. "

"And what does that have to do with my father?"

"How could any father of yours own a weapon like that?" Sloan chortled, but Eragon scowled, clenching his fists to his side. He would've fought him, even if Sloan had ten years of combat experience to top him, but Garrow had sternly warned him not to pick any fights with the Butcher before they had left to hunt Jaggi. "I know that glint in your eye, Eragon," the Guildmaster had told him, staring hard at him. So he did nothing, and damn Sloan for his insults.

"Let's continue on," he said, wiping a tear from his eye. He was still smiling broadly as they walked around Carvahall, searching for more Jaggi. Eragon was glaring at his back. Wyglif fell back next to him, nervously twirling an arrow in his hands. The gunner was older than Eragon but younger than Sloan, and he'd been with the Guild for four years already. They walked together in silence as Sloan continued to make a few more unsavoury comments about Eragon's bastardy.

"Just ignore him," Wyglif whispered, catching the arrow in his left hand. "He bullies everyone."

Eragon said nothing, preferring to look at the ground and sulk.

"Well, if it makes you feel better, it's not your fault that he's bullying you."

"Then whose fault is it?"

Wyglif smiled. "Roran's."

"Roran's?!" Eragon said, turning to look at the gunner.

"Aye. Don't you know? Your cousin is courting Sloan's daughter, Katrina."

"K-Katrina?" He knew the older girl was good friends with his cousin, but he didn't know how much closer they had become. Maybe that was why he saw her so often in the Guildhall.

"Aye. I'm surprised you don't know, considering how close you are to Roran. Maybe he wanted to surprise you, hehe. But anyway, Sloan is extremely protective of his daughter. He doesn't even let her join the Guild, even though she's old enough and an excellent Hunter. I've hunted with her and Roran a few times in the Spine, and -" He suddenly stopped, nocking the arrow he was playing with and shooting it at a familiar orange and purple theropod. "Jaggi at nine o'clock!"

Eragon and Sloan turned to look, and another six Jaggi were running through the streets, barking and overturning an empty cart as they searched for food. An old woman slammed open her door, which to their amusement, nearly hit a Jaggi nearby. "What's all the commotion about?" she yelled. The Jaggi she had nearly hit snapped at her, and she screamed as she fell backwards to dodge it. Eragon ran up to the dog wyvern and sliced off its head, which went bouncing down the streets.

"Are you alright?" Eragon asked, helping the old woman up. She dusted off her nightdress and glared up at him.

"I'm fine, I'm fine! I didn't ask for your help, you know! Young people these days- " she went back inside her house, slamming the door behind her. Eragon stared at the wood in confusion.

"OI! Don't just stand there boy, help kill these blasted Jaggis!" Sloan roared, slashing his Lacerator Blade at the far nimbler monsters. Three of them had crowded around him, biting at his armour as he made another wide slash at them, knocking them all backwards at the same time. Eragon ran up to him and helped to kill two of them, slashing at their exposed stomachs while Sloan hefted his great sword and cleaved through the third one.

"I could handle that on my own," he growled. Eragon shrugged, dashing towards two Jaggi who were running away from their party, but Wyglif shot them before they could escape. That made their total number of kills sixteen.

As Eragon piled the carved Jaggi corpses to the side of the road, he spotted Hale running up to them from the corner of his eye. The watchman ran up to him since he was the nearest. "The Guildmaster told me to find your party and check on how you've been doing."

Eragon wringed the Jaggi blood off his hands, then turned to speak to him. "We've killed sixteen Jaggi already."

Hale beamed. "That's good. Did you see any signs of a Great Jaggi?"

"No, not at all." Sloan and Wyglif came running up to the two of them.

"What's going on here?" Sloan asked gruffly.

"Ah, nothing much, Sloan. I'm just enquiring how your party's been faring."

"We're fine. When can we end this thrice-blasted quest? I swear it's nearly as cold as the Frozen Seaway out here," he complained.

"The Guildmaster's party has killed six-and-twenty Jaggi, and Byrd and I have killed six ourselves, so that makes eight-and-forty. That's probably most of the Jaggi. Guildmaster just says to make one circuit of Carvahall to make sure all the Jaggi have been killed."

"Bah, tell Garrow we'll do it."

Hale nodded and ran off. Sloan stomped off through the snow, muttering curses to himself. Wyglif looked at Eragon, shrugged, and the two of them went to follow behind him.

"Don't know why we have to do quests like this every winter, gah. Why can't the damn Guild just employ some knights?" Sloan grumbled.

"Guildmaster doesn't really have the funding," Wyglif said. "We're a really small Guild. There's only, what, eleven of us, plus the Guildmaster?"

"Aye, aye, I know, I've been here for ten years already," he replied. He still didn't look placated.

They'd gone halfway through the town, criss-crossing through its streets on a thorough search for any remaining Jaggi. Carvahall was starting to awaken, with the roosters crowing and the market starting to open for business. Eragon stopped to buy a steak while Sloan wasn't looking, gnawing on it as they walked. People were moving about on the streets, and carts were trundling in from Therinsford, carrying their last stocks of corn for sale.

They also happened to bump into Garrow's party while in the town square, and Eragon was quick to ask his cousin how the fighting had been.

"Not very bad - they're only Jaggi, after all - but luckily we haven't seen a Great Jaggi anywhere," he said. "It's very strange, but I'm not complaining, those things are a pain to deal with. What of you?"

"Quite easy on our side too. I killed -" then Eragon scowled. "I think I only killed three or four of them. Wyglif and Sloan killed a lot of them before I could."

"I'm not surprised. Wyglif is an excellent archer. And Sloan, well, you know how he is," Roran smiled. "Don't worry, Eragon. Uncle's probably going to assign you a proper quest tomorrow."

"Well, I hope so. And by the way, what's this I hear about you courting Katrina?"

"I- hey look Guildmaster's going to make an announcement!"

"Alright, this quest is officially over. Back to the Guild!" his uncle boomed, and Roran dutifully ran ahead. Eragon only grinned and shook his head.

Apparently, Garrow's party had already covered most of the areas his party hadn't, and since there weren't any further sighting of Jaggi, they could safely deem their quest complete. The Guildmaster paid Wyglif, Sloan, and the two on his own party, Delwin, Bardrick, for their help on the quest, and the four left with their pockets much less empty. Eragon and Roran didn't receive anything since they were living off Garrow's cut of the Guild's funds anyway.

His uncle clapped a hand on his shoulder. "Well, Eragon, good job on your first mission as a Guild Hunter. I'm quite sorry I couldn't give you your inaugural solo quest on your first day, but you understand this was a lot more urgent, don't you?"

"Yea, I'm fine with it, Uncle Garrow." He looked up at his uncle and gave him a forced smile. Garrow didn't seem to notice, and smiled back at him.

"Excellent. But I think I should give this to you, anyway. A little reward to make up for it." He dropped a leather bag into Eragon's hands, and it clinked with the metallic sound of coins as it fell.

"Uncle, really?"

"Of course. Now go and spend that money on something - but not steak, please. Roran tells me you ate another one while on your quest," his uncle told him, raising an eyebrow at him. "It would be better if you spent those crowns on Hunting gear. Upgrade yourself."

"Alright, Uncle, alright," Eragon said, and he exited the Guildhall, grinning.

A/N: This wasn't the most eventful chapter, but hopefully we'll get to more exciting things soon!

I've been a long fan of the Inheritance Cycle but I'm pretty new to Monster Hunter, so please bear with my noobness for a while.

All equipment/item names are in italics, so if you want to find out what they look like, just google them or search them up in the Monster Hunter database Kiranico.

Thanks for reading, and make sure to leave a comment below! :)