Chapter 2: The Nightmare, Journey, and Powers

The dream that Hurricurse had that night was vivid, and Hurricurse was running, holding hands with a girl in her teens with blue eyes, blonde hair, and a white and blue dress. They were running in a jungle trail for a reason.

They were running away from a collection of soldiers wearing strange blue and green armor, who were armed with bowguns.

Hurricurse and the girl came to a dead end, near a cliff side, and they were cornered. One of the soldiers aimed their bowguns at Hurricurse, before the girl got in the way, and the vision whited out before a bowgun shot was heard.

"LINIAR! NO!" A Voice from Hurricurse said.

It was enough to wake Hurricurse from his sleep, and he got up breathing heavily, his heart beating fast.

Once he calmed down after a while, he looked out of the window nearby, it was already beginning to become daylight.

No sense in going back to sleep now. Hurricurse thought to himself. But what was that all about?

Hurricurse got up, and and saw that new clothes were made for him, probably by Kisisa, and he put them on, since they would be much better suited for him than the torn up clothes he had now.

Afterwards, he went downstairs, and saw Kisisa waiting for him. She noticed that Hurricurse had a troubled look on him.

"Are you OK Hurricurse?" She asked. "You look troubled. Had a bad dream or something?"

Kisisa was not too far from the truth, to be honest, and Hurricurse nodded, since Kisisa was right on the mark that time.

"You want to talk about it?" She asked. "Might get it off your chest."

Hurricurse agreed to do so. And explained what little details he had on the... gruesome image.

Kisisa listened well to what little details Hurricurse had on his nightmare, and wondered if it could have been a memory of some sort coming back to Hurricurse little by little. The dream had to mean something after all.

Hurricurse wondered the same after Kisisa suggested it, but if it was a dream of the past, then why did it have to begin like that?

Just who am I? Hurricurse wondered. And why can't I remember anything? And who is this "Liniar"?

He was frustrated at himself for not being able to remember anything, but what could he do? He will just have to find his memories eventually, even if its little by little.

After breakfast, Hurricurse followed Kisisa to the entrance to the road through Paleozoic Mountains where they would meet Shira and Arion.

When they did meet up, they Shira and Arion were holding spears, one for each of them, and handed one spear to Kisisa and one to Hurricurse. They would need to defend themselves somehow, since the mountains were crawling with predators of different sorts, all day and all night!

Such predators included Jaggis, Maccaos, Velociprey, and the occasional Arzuros, which the girls and Hurricurse could probably deal with, but anything bigger than that, like a Tigrex, would spell doom for them for all they knew.

But they had to cross the Paleozoic Mountains to get to Central City, which was the center of the Revalius region's Hunter's Guild and government, and a central trade route as well.

The group had everything they needed for the journey, including food, drinks, tents for shelter, matches, the spears they armed themselves with, alongside some matches for lighting a fire if necessary.

The group went through the gates to the road through Paleozoic Mountains. They needed to do so if they are to enroll into the Hunter's Guild.

After a while of walking in the mountains, which had a beautiful natural scenery, they camped near a pond on a site near the roads.

Hurricurse knew why he was going to enroll, but he wondered what the motives behind the girls' eagerness to enroll was.

Shira was the first to explain why she was enrolling. Her family was slaughtered by an Astalos, and she wanted to prevent such a thing from happening to others, as well as avenging her mother, father and little sister. She was a warrior at heart.

Arion explained that she was enrolling to see monsters up close and personal, and study them, and she was willing to help thin out their numbers to keep others safe if need be. She was the scientist of the group afterall.

Kisisa's reason was that she wanted to be something more than a woman living on a farm like her deceased parents, and wanted to see more of Revalius and perhaps even the rest of the world as well, see rare sights and be remembered for something grand in the process.

Hurricurse could not help but smile. It was always good to have a dream to forward to achieving after all.

The next day, the group was walking again, and something unpleasant was about to happen.

The group heard calls from a sort of creature nearby as they were walking on the trail through the mountains. The group prepared their spears, prepared to defend themselves if necessary!

That was when green and red raptorial bird wyverns, namely Maccaos, started to come out of the woods nearby.

It was a large pack that managed to split the group into two, Arion and Shira in one, Hurricurse and Kisisa in the other.

Then a larger call came, and a larger Raptorial Bird Wyvern, the Great Maccao, the leader of the pack, came stepping in, and stepped towards Hurricurse and Kisisa. The Great Maccao gets the "Wyvern's Share" in this pack, he has dibs on who eats first!

Kisisa knew that chasing off the remobras that were circling Hurricurse at Remobra beach was one thing, but Revalian Maccao's and their alpha were a whole new ball game! As cowardly Maccaos in the old world were, the Revalian species were at least a bit braver, and more willing to kill humans these days.

The Great Maccao eyed Kisisa, thinking of nice, tender, tasty flesh! Kisisa was about to spear the Alpha raptor, when one of the Great Maccao's Subordinates grabs the spear in it's mouth, and another one bites Kisisa in the right leg, causing her to scream in pain as the Maccao's teeth tore through her leg.

Hurricurse wanted to help her. And speared the Maccao that had Kisisa's leg in the head, killing it as the spear pierced it's brain.

But then another Maccao pounces onto Hurricurse's back, knocking him onto the ground.

The Great Maccao turned it's attention towards Hurricurse at this time. It likes prey that puts up at least some sort of a fight. It ordered it's brethren to stand down, and as the Maccaos backed off, including the one on Hurricurse's back, the Great Maccao gave a snarl of challenge as Hurricurse got up.

But Hurricurse was unarmed now, since his spear was being well guarded by another Maccao, preventing him from making a move towards the spear.

What could he do? He was being challenged by a Great Maccao, had no weapons at his disposal, he might as well just let himself get eaten!

But then, he began to think. What would a monster do in this situation? How would it fight back?

That was when a painful sensation came about in Hurricurse's body. He started to twitch a little, and he looked at his torso, and to his painful realization, he was changing! His torso started to change, alongside the rest of his body, until he was no longer in the shape of a human being, but that of a Rajang!

The Great Maccao reacted with fright, as did the rest of his pack, and once Hurricurse was up to speed with his transformation (whether it was after his shock of being able to shapeshift, or a lingering pain, or a bit of both), he grabbed the Great Maccao by the neck!

The Great Maccao called out to it's pack, but the pack was already turning tail, and running away, leaving their leader to die, as Hurricurse, in Rajang form, snapped the Great Maccao's neck, killing the bird wyvern instantly!

He then threw the limp, dead body of the Great Maccao to the side, and looked around, seeing Shira and Arion looking a little frightened about what had happened, and looked at Kisisa, who showed, suprisingly, no fear towards her savior, just pain from her wound.

Hurricurse made his way, slowly, towards Kisisa, being careful not to spook her, since this power of his was just... unnatural, and he knew this.

"Are you alright Kisisa?" Hurricurse asked, still able to talk in monster form.

Kisisa nodded. But she wondered one thing.

"Were you aware of your power, Hurricurse?" She asked.

Hurricurse shook his head.

"No, I wasn't." He asked. "But I don't want to remain in this form forever."

As he said this, his body felt the pain again, as Hurricurse's body slowly changed back to human form. He looked away from Kisisa.

"I know my power is just unnatural!" He said. "I am a monster, aren't I?"

Kisisa got up, albeit with a bit of a struggle, and limped her way to Hurricurse.

"You are not a monster Hurricurse!" She said. "As unnatural as your power is, it might be helpful, and not just for hunting, but also for finding your past as well! It could be a valuable clue as to who you are."

Arion was the next to speak.

"And if it were not for you changing like that, Kisisa would probably have been dead." she said.

Shira then patted Hurricurse on the back.

"You did the right thing Hurricurse." She said. "And I thank you for saving Kisisa's life.

Hurricurse felt assured in that respect, but he was still not sure if he could deal with what he was. He wondered if he wanted to know who he was, and where he came from, if he had a choice in the matter.

But either way, they still had to make their way to Central City. And with Hurricurse's ability to shapeshift being known, the journey has gotten at least a little safer.

Once the group got to a stopping point for the night, Arion started to treat Kisisa's wound with a first aid kit, and after the night had passed, Kisisa was getting better, and could keep up pace.

And after what felt like ages of walking, they managed to find themselves on the road to Central City. They went to the gates to enter the city, and enroll into the Hunter's Guild of Revalius.

Well, that was quite the encounter! But does Hurricurse, Kisisa, Arion and Shira have what it takes to be hunters? Or will something more or less amazing happen? Find out in the Next Chapter.