Strag the Ranger

All was quiet in a remote snowy island, save for a small castle that rang with chattering. Outside, a single reptilian creature known as a Saurian patrolled the perimeter with a single club in hand. The guard surveyed the area behind the castle to make sure it was secure. All seemed calm to him... before something struck him in the chest and sent him lying on his back motionless.

Inside the castle, many more Saurian warriors were seen everywhere. Roughhousing with each other, throwing knives at a target, even drinking at the table, as if they were celebrating. A large cage was seen in a corner, with a man locked inside with his hands bound.

Finally, the leader of the Saurian forces, recognizable from the menacing cape he wore that looked different from the ones the others were wearing, came to the center and spoke at the top of his lungs, "We have fought and killed many worthy fighters!" Everyone cheered at that as he listed down all they fought. "We battled Vikings, Amazons, Pirates, even some of the soldiers from various kingdoms!" The crowd cheered even louder at that. "But..." the leader silenced them before turning to the man in the cage. "We have never... had the pleasure... of killing... a member of the Ranger's Guild." he said before turning back to his comrades. "Do any of you know who we have here?" he asked.

"I think it's obvious to everyone who we have here, boss." one of the Saurians answered. "This is Mathyis, the greatest marksman the guild ever produced."

"They say he can hit a moving target from great distances." another one said.


Outside, a mysterious figure approached the castle from one of the walls. Looking up, he saw how high it was and pulled out a grappling hook. The figure quickly hurled it up, where it caught onto the corner of the wall, but also alerting a guard patrolling it.


The Saurian leader quickly unsheathed his sword, getting ready to kill Mathyis. "Got any last words, Mathyis?" he asked sadistically, his comrades snickering with him.

"May the Ancients have pity on you." Mathyis said calmly, not even showing a hint of fear despite his situation. "Because my son will not."


The guard went over to the hook and peered over the wall to see who threw it, only to be grabbed from over his head and hurled over the figure's shoulder and plummet to the ground. The figure then set himself on the walkway and saw other guards approaching from both sides.


"Son?" the leader chuckled. "Don't make me laugh. There's no rumor of you marrying and having a son, or I would've heard eventually."

"You'd think that." Mathyis said defiantly. "But the fact is I've been able to hide my social life outside the guild well. Not even you could be informed."

The leader of the Saurians felt offended that his intelligence would be inferior to someone like Mathyis and angrily prepared to strike him down. Suddenly, the front doors burst open as two soldiers were thrown through it, alerting everyone. Mathyis smiled happily while the Saurian leader was surprised. When the smoke settled, the figure entered with a bow in hand. Removing the hood from over his head, it was revealed to be a young boy with tan skin, black hair and green eyes. This is Strag, Mathyis' son and a ranger in training.

The young ranger fired some more arrows at some of the Saurians, sending them backwards. he then pulled out a small dagger and stared at the remaining Saurians with an intimidating glare, practically daring them to attack. The warriors however, just stood motionless after the display of marksmanship Strag just demonstrated, feeling a bit scared of what his next move would be. Silence filled the room.

"Boo."

The Saurians immediately screamed at that and quickly scrambled to try and escape, running out the door behind the young ranger or jumping out open windows. Soon enough, the only Saurian left that didn't run was the leader, who looked at Strag with an angry look.

"I take it you're Mathyis' kid?" he asked.

"Yes. And I've come to get my dad back." Strag replied.

The warlord couldn't help but chuckle at Strag's determination before getting into position to fight. "Let's see how skilled you are compared to your father." he declared before charging at him with his sword.

Strag quickly reacted by rolling out of the way of is attack and retaliating with a shot from his bow, hitting the Saurian on the shoulder. The warrior just brushed it off and tried to jump at the young ranger. Strag quickly rolled forward and shot an arrow at his back, this time causing greater pain for the Saurian to take notice. Now angry, the warlord made one last attempt to end the intruder, only for Strag to let loose one more arrow and strike him in the head, finishing him for good.

After taking the keys from his belt, Strag undid the locks to his dad's cage to let him out. "So, how did I do?" he asked him.

"To be honest, I didn't think you'd scare his goons off that easy." Mathyis told him. "I guess they were worried about what the son of one of Elysia's greatest archers was capable of." Both he and his son chuckled at that.

"How did these guys even manage to snag you this easily?" Strag then asked.

"Ah, it happened after I fought a Roarc." Mathyis said. "He put up quite a fight that by the time it was over, I was too exhausted to fight. That's when these mangy lizards jumped me."

"Should've known they'd try a cowardly move like that." Strag said looking at the fallen warlord with a disapproving look. "Taking down a fighter when he's too tired to fight back. How spineless." Mathyis looked at the dead Saurian the same way, sharing his son's opinion.

Up in the second floor, unnoticed by the two rangers, one of the Saurians stayed around and was waiting for the right time to strike them when they had their guard down. He quickly readied his bow and prepared to fire at Strag. Suddenly, a raccoon jumped out and bit him in the leg, causing him to miss his shot and alert Strag, who quickly fired an arrow at the attacker and killed him instantly.

The raccoon scampered down the stairs and came over to Strag, who tickled his chin affectionately. "Thanks, Tony. You've earned extra treats tonight." he said.

Strag then caught sight of a brown owl flying through the broken door and landing on his shoulder. He noticed a note was tied to its leg and removed it, letting the bird leave after. Opening the note, Strag saw what it said and turned to tell his dad. "Dad, we got a message from the guild."

Mathyis took the not to see it for himself. "Hm, old Flyright wants us to represent the Ranger's Guild at Chief Ronal's gathering. Well, we shouldn't disappoint them both." With that, the two rangers and their pet raccoon went out the door and left the castle.


The gathering was held at Chief Ronal's home island, which was located in the tropical regions. The chief had brown skin and wore a headdress made of feathers and a fur outfit. He stood at the mouth of a pyramid-like temple, watching his tribe arguing with all the others gathered here. There were many different tribes gathered here, such as a group that was dressed like Vikings and one dressed in labcoats. There was even Guildmaster Rudyard from the Warrior's Guild.

Finally, Ronal decided to quiet the masses so they could get down to business. "Silence!"

"The chief has called for silence!" the captain of his warriors called out.

Soon everyone ceased their bickering and gave Ronal their full attention. "That's better. Now, we are gathered here to put our differences aside." he announced to all the gathered tribes. "As far as I'm concerned, we are the last of those that still try to fight off the Hollow King and all those who aid him and his legion of Hollow Knights. Now, we must put our heads together to find a way to defeat him for good."

"I'm afraid that's considered impossible, Ronal." the leader of a tribe of warrior women declined. "From what I've seen, the Hollow King cannot be struck down by any means of attack."

"No matter how hard we strike at him, nothing seems to harm him." a warrior woman joined in. "No sword, nor arrow, nor magic spell can harm him."

"The Hollow King attacked my castle not too long ago." Rudyard told him. "While my fellow warriors managed to survive, none of our strikes so much as even scratched him. And now our castle is in ruins, to serve as an example no doubt."

"I think the time has come for us to face reality." the Alchemist leader sighed. "The Hollow King can never be defeated."

"I refuse to believe that!" Ronal said in defiance. "Nothing is invincible. He has to have a weakness. And if that weakness was to be found, what would you have to say then?"

Everyone took this moment to talk with each other to discuss their opinion of such a scenario. Ronal sat down to wait until they made their decision. The crowd muttered for a short time before Rudyard stepped forward to speak for every one.

"Everyone feels interested in such an idea." he told Ronal. "But even if such a weakness exists, how would we be able to find it?"

"Don't worry, there is one person we can count on." the Chief replied. "I just received word from the Ranger's Guild that Flyright has sent his clan's best archer to represent them."

As if on cue, an arrow suddenly appeared and hit a nearby tree. Everyone turned their attention to the one who shot it. It was two hooded figures that stepped into the center of the crowd, one of them holding a bow. Putting it away, they then removed their hoods to reveal themselves as Mathyis and Strag. Everyone felt surprised from seeing Elysia's legendary ranger here.

"They sent Mathyis?" the Alchemist said surprised. "I know he's very skilled with any form of ranged weapon, but how is he going to find the Hollow King's weak point?"

"From what I've heard, Mathyis has a special gift called the Falcon's Eye." Ronal told him. "It allows him to see his targets even over great distances, which helped him forge his legend." Mathyis didn't even try to deny it and nodded in agreement.

"And who's this?" Ronal's captain gestured to Strag, having never seen him before.

"This young boy is Strag, my son." Mathyis answered.

Everyone gasped at hearing that. Like many of Mathyis' enemies, none of the kingdoms never received any news that Mathyis married and fathered a son. Perhaps the only ones that were aware of it was everyone in the Ranger's Guild, or Strag wouldn't even be a member.

"No one knew you had a son." the Viking leader said in awe.

"Well, I like to keep my family life under wraps, in case my enemies decide to use my wife and son against me." Mathyis explained before turning to Ronal. "Which means that since I have a family to look after, I must respectfully request a form of payment for the missions I take in order to support them."

Ronal stepped up, not even feeling insulted by Mathyis' request, much to his captain's confusion. The chief walked down the stairs and stopped when he reached the bottom. He then reached into his pocket and pulled out a small bag.

"I'm willing to offer you a hundred gold coins in payment for this mission." he told him, much to the captain's objections. "But that's the last of our treasure."

"That may be, captain, but in these dark times, what good could money do for me?" the chief said before turning to his comrades. "If these two find the Hollow King's weak point and strike at it, will you fight?" At this everyone glanced at each other and exchanged smiles to say yes, much to Ronal's joy. "So be it." he said as he tossed the bag to Mathyis, who quickly caught it with one hand.

"As long as one of us still stands, the Hollow King will never hide his secrets." he said glancing to his son with a smile before they both turned to leave the meeting to carry out their mission.


Mathyis took some time to look at the small bag of coins before closing it and tying it to his belt. He and his son then made their way to the small rowboat-like airship they used to get here and climbed aboard, taking off in an instant.

As they started to relax while taking the journey, Strag suddenly felt like there was something wrong. He calmly scoped the area, trying to find out what it was while his father watched.

"Do you feel like we're not alone, dad?" Strag asked with an uncomfortable look.

"Indeed, son." Mathyis replied, looking around as well.

Suddenly, Strag realized where the feeling was coming from and caught sight of a Thunder Gazer flapping in the distance. He quickly pulled out his bow and sent an arrow flying at the monster, striking it right in the eye and sending it falling into the abyss. The scene zoomed out to show it was farther than one could normally see. This reveals that Strag too has the gift of the Falcon's Eye, just like his dad.

Mathyis could only look proudly at his son. "Well done." he said. Tony came and snuggled under Strag's arm to show support, Strag smiling back at both of them. The three travelers then got back to trying to relax as they continued on their journey to find the Hollow King and see where his weakness lies.