Chapter 3

The Scorpion and the Griffin

The town of Verin was an attempt at expansion of the kingdom of Mistral. It was only about a hundred miles from the kingdom itself. There were mild natural barriers, but not so much as the kingdom itself. So after a secure period the town became a heavily fortified area. Walls high enough that no grimm could easily climb over. Automated cannons to obliterate any grimm that moved too close. As well as a handful of heavy anti-air weapons to counter any Nevermores and Gryphon grimm that attempt to infiltrate from the skies. Despite the heavy militarization there was a small and prosperous community. Yeira Wenday studied for the opening of the combat school in Mistral. She was begging her family to move there so that she could apply for it. They had come to an agreement, if she gets high scores on all her basic education they'll move to the city by the end of the year before the combat school opens. Her father's primary career was serving as one of the guards of the town. She looked up to him but felt that her calling lead to something greater.

She had an odd sense when a stranger appeared in the frontier town the guards stopped the woman at the gate she held up huntress identification. Then she walked into the town, shortly after making it into the gate the woman started to slow down, her stride became an exhausted tread. Her balance appeared to shift and she staggered to land heavily on a bench near the road. Yeira approached the woman she felt like she had seen her somewhere before. Brilliant crimson hair in a long ponytail, coppery skin, and when she addressed the woman her eyes slowly opened, they were a bright vibrant green. "Hello." She had a kind voice that had some cheer in it despite being slightly hoarse from exhaustion. Yeira approached the bench but didn't sit down.

"You walk a long way lady?" The woman nodded silently. "So you're a huntress?" She nodded again. "What's your name?"

"Classified." Yeira shifted on her feet awkwardly.

"If you don't mind me asking, why are you here? Or is that classified too?"

"You would be correct." The huntress replied curtly. Are all huntsmen and huntresses like this? Yeira though suspiciously. If I want to be a huntress, I need to be able to at least figure out the intentions of someone else. Then the girl had an idea.

"You look exhausted. My parents would love to have you over for lunch." The huntress smiled slightly as she stood up.

"That actually sounds lovely." The woman wore a metal and leather breastplate that covered her entire chest and most of the way down her stomach with a bronze armored combat skirt and greaves that ended in heels. Yeira felt a little proud of herself as she led the huntress back to her home.

"Hello!" She walked into the house and called out to her parents.

"There you are Yeira, and who's your friend?"

"Don't know her name, but she's a huntress and she traveled a long way to get here. She's tired and took my offer to come over for lunch." Her parents welcomed the huntress. She smiled and sat down as Yeira's mother started preparing lunch for everyone. "So what brings you to the town Miss Huntress?" The mother asked casually.

"I'm afraid I can't tell that information." The huntress replied firmly. After an enjoyable family lunch the huntress' scroll suddenly rang. She sighed and apologized and quickly left the home. Yeira got a little antsy and curious as to what the nice huntress would be doing. So she quickly left and began tailing her. The huntress was moving with a purpose so the girl had to jog to keep her in sight.

The huntress approached the security center near the wall, and went inside. Yeira reached the door and found the guards unconscious. She followed the hallway towards the sound of fighting. Her eyes widened horrified as she turned a corner and saw a soldier, dead, a pool of blood spreading beneath him. Something had punched clean through his armor. Several guards had puncture wounds like something had ripped its way through them. Others had a fine wound directly to the heart. She suddenly felt dizzy. Yeira stumbled against a wall as her lunch fled her body and onto the floor.

She staggered along the wall in the direction of the fighting. Why am I not running away? I have to know if it was that woman, that nice huntress who killed these people. Fighting down the urge to vomit again as the smell of blood and gore only became stronger she struggled on. The finally reached the control room and heard a crashing noise and loud snaps of electricity. She peeked into the door and was horrified. The woman's copper skin was gone replaced by a pale, ghostly visage. Her green eyes were replaced with solid red disks that left trails of light as she moved. She rammed the point of a long-handled spear through a control console. A bleeding guard crawled along the ground to reach his weapon. He grabbed the pistol and fired a few shots at the woman. The bullets bounced off her aura a small dark glyph appeared on her back, a slender black tail ending in a sharp stinger grew from the mark and impaled the guard through the stomach. She didn't even need to turn around to dispatch the guard. The creature pulled out her scroll and contacted someone. "Alright, the defenses are down. When do you want me to open the gate? Seven thirty? Ok I can hold the position for a little while longer until everyone gets here." The monster looked around the room and saw nobody standing at the door.

Yeira sprinted and stumbled down the hallway out of the security station sobbing for breath as she slipped on pools of blood and tripped over bodies. She couldn't understand what was happening. Her mind was blank other than an urge to flee and a pounding in her ears.

She burst into her house and panted and sobbed out what she saw to her parents. They appeared to doubt what she said. However their daughter seemed so terribly distraught that they considered what she was saying to be true. "It does make sense in a way. A strange huntress turning up, not giving her name or objective, could be some kind of infiltrator. So we're all in danger. You said seven thirty? It's seven 'o'clock right now." They immediately started gathering some of their possessions. Food for the travelling and heading for one of the side entrances of the wall. Neira Wenday spoke as they started towards Mistral proper. "It's only a day or two's march from here to Mistral. I'm calling my sister and telling her we'll be coming over." Her husband Talos nodded.

"Yeah, we'll just go and hang out for a bit in case something does end up happening, until we're sure it's safe." The family took off at a quick run as an alarm began to blare over the town behind them. A wave of blackness swept across the ground and clouds of dark figures began swooping in. All the defenses had been shut down and all the gates apart from the main gate were sealed, trapping all the people inside. The screams of terror and death carried across the distance to the fleeing family.

Remarkably the trio hadn't been caught by the grimm that had invaded Verin and made it to the walls of the kingdom, they were inside and exhausted. They were met by a woman in a red jacket and beanie, Yeira's aunt. She approached quickly upon noticing the family who had been worn down by very fast cross country travel. "Sis! What happened?" The huntress asked embracing her sister.

"I don't even know May, first this strange huntress appeared, then Yeira came home terrified, and then the town suddenly came under grimm attack. It's all… I don't know."

"Don't worry, you'll be safe here, I'll arrange to get a home for you three." Yeira was confused. They're talking about what happened, but not about what I said. They… don't believe me.

Over the course of the next few days was fairly pleasant eating bargain food because they didn't bring much Lien to Mistral, though they could access their accounts they had to tighten their belts some. The cheap Pumpkin Pete's cereal floated in her bowl, she noticed the box caught her eye. It was a throwback to over twenty years ago. She looked closely at the picture of the girl on the box. She slowly realized that she had seen that face before. This sent a tremor to the base of her spine and she began to shiver.

That woman, there could be more like her. I have to spread the word, but no one will believe me. Then I guess in that case there's only one thing left for me to do. She began to sign up for the combat school of Mistral. She didn't care that her aura wasn't unlocked. There was a threat to the world. She didn't care if she had to stop it herself. Her hand shook as she filled out the enrollment paper. Wow, I'm incredibly terrified, but I have to get stronger to stop that thing! She steadied her shaking hand with her other hand and finished filling out the paper. Sanctum academy for combat training, she sighed as she signed her name and closed the letter and sent it.