Under the starlit night sky, the cart that Elequinn was riding moved silently down the concrete pathways of Woodsten, pulled along by a single chubby Gargwa. Every now and then Galix would tug on the reins attached to the herbivore's mouth when it strayed too close to the streetlamps lining the route, causing it to turn ever so slightly and stay in the darkness.

Lying on her back in the cart with her hands behind her head, Elequinn quietly stared at the buildings that they were moving past. There was no sign of movement inside any of them, but it was not unexpected given how late into the night it was. As she looked at the small trees that were sparsely planted around the road in between every few structures, the girl couldn't help but feel a tad nostalgic.

She remembered her mother often telling her the history of their town when she was still a child. According to her, Woodsten used to be filled to the brim with greenery and the giant buildings of brick and cement had not yet been constructed. Instead, there were huge trees of oak and yew in their place. Occasionally, small monsters would pop out from the forested areas, and the adults would hurriedly round up the children into their houses as they cried to the Guild for help. Any hunters nearby would then hurry to the scene, easily dispatching of the creatures and gaining the admiration of those they had saved.

Many of these hunters were simply passing by Woodsten on their way towards some other destination, and very rarely did they ever decide to continue staying in the town for longer than a few days. Even in the case where the hunters did decide to stay, it was mostly because the travelling merchants that had hired them for protection wanted to do business. Thankfully, Elequinn's parents were amongst the few that decided to make the then small town their home, and it was here that she had been conceived.

Despite the miniscule amount of hunters that were actually dedicated to protecting Woodsten however, thanks to the large number of passing hunters and merchants, the town was always well protected from harm by giant Wyverns. Gradually, they began to prosper, catching the attention of the Hunter's Guild situated in Dundorma.

The setting up of an actual Hunter's Gathering Hall in Woodsten finally provided a reason for many hunters to call the town their home, and as the population of the town increased, so too did it begin to expand at a rapid pace. Elequinn was still only a child at this point, but she grew up witnessing the transformation of Woodsten into a more modern town as many a tree were felled by the Guild, only to be replaced by buildings constructed for the purpose of housing and business.

In Elequinn's eyes, everything the Guild had done to this town thus far had only helped improve the lives of the inhabitants. They had dispatched hunters to protect Woodsten at all times against any monsters that dared roam near, and the trees they had fell were to make trade routes safer for the merchants.

It was therefore still hard for the girl to swallow the fact that she was now willingly pitting herself against the Guild. As she stared at the silhouette of the Guild Hall in the distance, Elequinn couldn't help but wonder if she had indeed made the right choice. Despite feeling a momentary burst of anger back in her house earlier, her profound respect for the Guild was still difficult to remove. It was, after all, an important part of her childhood.

"Hey, Galix," the girl turned to look at her friend, who had been sitting at the front of the cart with his legs crossed the entire time, "you really think that we're doing the right thing?"

"To be honest, I don't know. It's no big secret to you that I never really liked the Guild," Galix folded his arms, "but I grew up in this town too, and I've seen what they've done for us. And as much as I dislike them, I can't deny that they have really helped us out a lot."

Elequinn nodded, feeling relieved that Galix felt the same as her. In her mind, she felt that perhaps there was some logical explanation to the entire thing that both of them were missing, and they were simply unable to see the whole picture.

"Yet there are always skeletons in the closets," a dark expression crossed Galix's face as he spoke, "we just have to dig deep enough. But that's why we're travelling, isn't it?"

"Yeah," Elequinn replied determinedly as she sat up, feeling her helmet's two long ribbons fluttering against her skin in the cold night air. "To find out the truth."

No other words were exchanged between the two as they slowly made their way out to the outskirts of Woodsten. The strong concrete buildings that surrounded both sides of the route gradually became replaced by more rundown structures, along with a few that were clearly in the middle of construction.

The dust and shrubbery in the area was now a lot more noticeable, and Elequinn cast a quick look at Galix. The tanned man was looking straight ahead, his blue eyes hidden as usual underneath the messy fringe of his hair. Every now and them, he would glance at a signpost they passed, as if checking for something. The girl's question was answered without her even asking – her friend was definitely searching for a specific house to stop at.

Now that she thought about it, Elequinn recalled that Galix had mentioned something about a pickup point for his equipment. Her brows furrowed as the girl looked at her surroundings – surely he didn't simply drop all of his gear in such an environment where it would be easily taken away?

The cart jerked to a halt as Galix tugged on the reins of the Gargwa pulling it, causing the fat creature to let out a squawk in protest. Hopping off, the man signaled for Elequinn to follow him before heading towards a path next to a dilapidated building. Despite the bright crescent moon shining above them, the trees in the path had a thick enough foliage to block out its glow, causing the house and its surrounding area to be cast into an inky darkness.

Grabbing her bag and following her friend, Elequinn squinted her eyes as she barely made out Galix walking at a slow and careful pace in front of her. As if the trail was already not creepy enough, every now and then a tree branch seemed to reach out towards the girl like a hungry demon's hands, scraping against her skin and causing her to flinch.

Gradually, she noticed a tiny yellow light pulsating in the darkness ahead of them. The irregular movement it made seemed to be beckoning her towards it, and the girl heard her friend let out a sigh of relief. Whatever the light was, it was evidently what Galix had been looking for. With renewed vigor, the two friends pushed ahead, fighting off the flora that threatened every now and then to give them an unpleasant slap on their bodies.

Moving closer to the light source, Elequinn started to realize that it may not have been as tiny as she had initially thought. As they advanced towards it, the pathway slowly opened up to a small clearing, and the girl couldn't help but let out a gasp of wonder as she finally saw what the origin of the light was.

Their yellow beacon was in reality an insect that resembled a firefly, only it was nearly as large as her entire hand itself. The creature's abdomen glowed brightly like an act of defiance against the darkness around it, and it possessed a luminous red thorax that complemented the light shining behind it well.

Elequinn noticed that its two black eyes seemed to shine with an eerie intelligence, from the way it cocked its head left and right as it observed them. Directly underneath the bug was an assortment of equipment that the girl quickly recognized as pieces crafted from Rathalos parts – the red scales and black talons were items that she often recalled her father working with.

"Thanks for the help, John," Galix let out a hearty laugh as he bent down to pick up the equipment, brushing the dust off the pieces as he held them up to the light the insect was emitting check for any damage. "No one came by, I'm sure?"

"It has a name?" Elequinn stared blankly at her friend as he continued to inspect the pile of armor, carefully scrutinizing each piece before placing it aside. It may have just been her seeing things, but the girl felt sure for a moment that the firefly had replied to Galix by flying abruptly to its left and right.

"Yeah, Aria named every single one of them, that crazy girl. You'll meet her later, since she'll be waiting for us at our destination," her friend gave a casual reply as he moved on to the suitcase, opening it to reveal a bow whose four blue limbs seemed to gently reflect the light emanating from the insect above it. "Hello beautiful, how've you been?"

Taking the weapon and its quiver out from its casing, Galix held the bow firmly in his arms as he nocked an arrow, pointing it towards the sky. There was a soft, almost melodic sound as he tugged on the string, and a short moment later the arrow flew through the air with a whoosh, embedding itself into the trunk of one of the trees nearby.

"Not bad," Elequinn commented as her eyes gazed curiously at the weapon that Galix was holding, "could I have a look?"

"Yeah, sure," her friend passed the bow over to her before making his way towards the tree to reclaim his arrow. "Don't touch the limbs though. They cut."

Utilizing the light radiating from the insect beside her, Elequinn stared in awe at the weapon in her hands. Galix's bow contained four limbs, each one colored a mixture of black and blue. What drew the girl's attention however, was how seemingly razor sharp each one of those limbs were – there was a portion of silver barely visible around their outer edge. The tip of the limbs were no exception to this peculiar quality as well, appearing sharp enough that Elequinn was positive they could be used to pierce objects.

It was a marvelous work of craftsmanship, and Elequinn couldn't help but admire the weapon. She did however quickly identify a flaw – there didn't seem to be a folding mechanism for the bow itself. The girl attributed this to the fact that the weapon would probably slice the fingers of its users clean off if it could be folded into two like other common weapons of its type.

If he can't fold it…won't he need to carry the case around with him all the time?

Elequinn found her eyes shifting to the suitcase at her feet. It was a dull brown in color, appearing almost inconspicuous if not for its bulky size that measured up to almost three quarters of her height. There was a special compartment inside it clearly meant for the bow's quiver, and the girl quickly realized that the case was specially created to accommodate the weapon.

"What do you think?" Galix emerged from the trees, clutching the arrow that he had fired off earlier in his hands. The insect that had been hovering beside Elequinn the entire time drifted towards the man as he approached. "Real work of art, eh?"

"Yeah, very impressive, but…" The girl frowned as she returned the weapon to her friend. From her short examination of the weapon, Elequinn could easily imagine what the bow was capable of aside from merely shooting arrows. "Just for curiosity's sake, who created it?"

"Eh, some blacksmith who called himself Mideus," Galix smiled as he reclaimed the weapon, placing it carefully into its casing and then closing it tight, causing a soft click to sound. "I chanced upon him about a week after I left, and it turns out we were both headed the same way, so I figured I might as well travel with him for a bit. He just plopped this at my feet one day and asked if I believed in 'the arm of Destiny' or something."

"Mideus?"

A perplexed look appeared in her teal eyes as Elequinn tried to remember where she had heard the name before. Something about the name sent chills up the girl's spine, and she was certain that whoever he was, Mideus wasn't someone she would be glad to meet. Try as she might however, she simply couldn't recall anything else about the name aside from the ominous feeling it gave her.

"That was his name, yeah. Really odd guy," Galix continued speaking as he started to put on the armor he had inspected earlier, wearing them over his clothes, "wore some crazy long robe with a hood that hid his face. Seems to really dislike sunlight too, since he insisted if I wanted to accompany him, we'd have to travel under the dark of night."

"And nothing about that guy struck you as suspicious?"

"Eh, I kept an eye out during our travels in case he tried anything funny, but the most he ever did was give me this," Galix made a quick gesture at his bow's casing with his head as he put the rest of his armor on, strapping the parts on to himself tightly. "And boy, does it pack a punch. I took it out for a trial and ended up having to singlehandedly take on a Rathalos that thought I was invading his personal space. Not that I didn't end up being bedridden and having to apply salves and potions onto my whole body for the next couple of days…"

Galix's voice trailed off at the last part into a soft mumble, and Elequinn shook her head in disbelief. Her childhood friend had just practically admitted that he had danced with death in a nonchalant tone, and it made her wonder exactly what other things he had done whilst he was off the grid.

"But hey, it was worth it in the end," Galix puffed his chest out proudly and pointed at the armor he was wearing with his thumb, "Mideus made this armor to commemorate me actually even returning alive. And I could probably have made the gunner set too, but unfortunately I had to pay those Felynes half of the monster's materials just to get them to cart me and the Rathalos back to where the blacksmith was."

"So that bow is powerful enough to make you not even one bit afraid of that Rathalos when you were taking it on, huh?"

"Of course not," Galix let out a nervous laugh as he finished putting on the last of his armor, which was oddly enough missing a helmet. "I was scared shitless. But I wasn't about to just roll over and offer myself up as lunch to a Wyvern."

Picking up his weapon case and turning towards the path that they had taken to enter the area, Galix looked at his friend past his shoulder, flicking just enough of his fringe to the side to reveal his piercing blue eyes. "Besides, how else am I going to keep my promise to your parents if I had died there and then?"

Elequinn found herself blushing inadvertently. Her friend's words had evoked a memory of a time long ago, when a young Galix had felt so indebted to the girl and her family that he had vowed to protect all of them from harm. Her parents had simply laughed then, teasing the boy and telling him that if he truly wanted to repay them, he should do his best to protect Elequinn and Elequinn alone.

Naturally, the hot-blooded youth had promised them that he would do just that. They had thought then that he had simply said things in the spur of the moment – but now, the girl realized that it seemed extremely likely that Galix would make good his words.

"I can't believe he still remembers that," Elequinn muttered to herself, then blinked as she realized that Galix had already moved out and was now a few meters ahead of her. The insect had tagged along with her friend as well, and the glowing light he emitted gradually got dimmer as the pair walked further away.

Not wanting to be left behind, the girl shook her head to clear it, then hurriedly chased after the fading yellow light in the distance.

The path back to their cart was significantly faster now that they had the light of the firefly guiding their way, and Elequinn found herself easily avoiding all the branches that gave her a difficult time earlier. In the distance, she could make out the outline of the house that marked the entrance of the path. Now that she had no cause to worry about the surrounding trees, the girl found herself thinking about the blacksmith Galix had mentioned.

Mideus…was it papa who had told me about him?

A shrill cry interrupted her thoughts, and Elequinn snapped back to reality instantly as her movements froze. Galix too had stopped moving, and the girl looked at her friend in confusion as the latter brought his index finger to his lips – the gesture for silence. Even the firefly that had been shining so brightly beside them had suddenly dimmed the light that he was producing and had perched himself obediently onto Galix's arm.

For a moment, no sound was heard other than the night time wind gently rustling the leaves behind the two friends. Then another cry rang out from in front of them, this time followed by the distinct sound of multiple males laughing. There was no mistaking it – the sound had come from the Gargwa that had been pulling their cart.

"Follow," Galix's voice came out as a soft hiss, a completely different tone from the one that Elequinn was used to, "slowly."

Taking the lead, the man cautiously stepped forward, taking extra effort to make as little noise as possible. Elequinn followed her friend with slow and deliberate movements, although her breathing was already beginning to quicken from a combination of excitement and nervousness. Moving up to the decrepit building, the two placed their backs against its wall.

Taking a quick peek around the edge, Galix let out a hiss of irritation. Three figures holding lanterns were surrounding their cart, taking turns kicking the Gargwa in its chest and then laughing at its comical reaction to their abuse. In any other circumstance, Galix knew he would have charged in and taught the punks a few lessons about mistreating monsters. Unfortunately, even from a distance, the man easily recognized the silhouette of the Guild Knight armor, the curved hat and feather being a dead giveaway.

"Guild patrol," Galix answered Elequinn before the latter even spoke, knowing that she would want to know what he had seen. "Three of them."

"What are they doing here?" Elequinn found herself biting down on her lips. She had hoped to avoid confrontation with the Guild as much as possible after leaving with her friend, but it seemed as though fate had another plan in mind for her.

"I guess they upped the security in towns after what happened at their headquarters," Galix exhaled in annoyance, "they would probably know my face too. A few witnesses saw me as I ran the hell out of Dundorma."

"Well then, what do we do?" The girl touched the headgear she was wearing, feeling the coldness of the azure colored metal piece on her head and the gentle brushing of the fabric against her skin. After all that Galix had done to get her mother's helmet back to her, she wasn't about to just give it back to the Guild willingly.

"If no one shows up to claim ownership of the cart, they'd probably just bring it back to the Guild. And I can't be the one to confront them so it's probably all up to you, Elly," her friend frowned, "You feeling good enough to talk your way out of this?"

Elequinn gulped audibly.

"I'll try."

Taking a deep breath to compose herself, the girl made her way out of the darkness and towards the Guild knights who were still entertaining themselves with torturing the poor Gargwa in front of them. Clearing her throat to get their attention, Elequinn shuffled up meekly to the patrol, catching a whiff of alcohol in the air as she approached and wrinkling her nose.

"Oi, you the owner of this thing?" One of the Guild Knights spoke up first as he saw Elequinn, holding up his lantern with one arm and taking a swig from the bottle he held with his other.

As she nodded, the two other Guild Knights gave each other a puzzled glance before moving to surround her, each one holding up their own lanterns to take a better look at the girl. For a moment, Elequinn felt worried that they would recognize the helmet that she was wearing. Her doubts were unwarranted however, for a split moment later she remembered that there were plenty of other similar looking helmets being worn by hunters around Minegarde.

"So what's a pretty lil' thing like you doing out at this unholy hour?" The other Guild Knight spoke from beside her, and Elequinn winced as she felt some spittle makes it way from his lips onto her face.

"Night walk," the girl muttered the first thing that came to her mind, "I'm taking my weekly night walk around the town."

"So close to the outskirts of town? I don't think so," the Knight standing behind her moved up all of a sudden, his fleshy hands reaching out and grabbing Elequinn's backpack off her shoulders. Encouraged by the jeering laughter from the two other knights, he promptly opened up the bag to reveal its contents. "What's this? Rations, herbs and clothing too? This doesn't look like something you'd bring out for a walk. And what the hell is this junk?"

The blueprints that her father had placed into her bag were yanked out without regard, and the Knight squinted his eyes as he tried to make sense of what he was looking at. After a moment however, he simply shrugged and tossed the papers onto the ground.

"Hey, that's mine! Don't do that!"

Elequinn didn't bother to hide the disgust in her voice any longer. The men before her were supposed to represent the face of the Guild, and yet the way they were acting was downright repulsive. As she reached out to retrieve the blueprints however, the other two Knights moved quickly behind her, kicking her in the back of her knees. Collapsing onto the floor, the girl gritted her teeth as she glared at the knights around her.

"I don't think so, girl," the Knight holding Elequinn's bag let out a chuckle, "You're acting real damn suspicious, if I have to say so myself. I do believe we'd have to haul you back for some…interrogation."

"And if I refuse?"

"Then I'll have to consider that as an act of resistance," the Knight twisted his body slightly and hinted at the Guild Knight Sabers that were on his back, "and let's face it, I don't think you stand much of a chance seeing as you are outnumbered and unarmed."

From the light of their lanterns, the girl saw that the other two Knights also had weapons on their back – light bowguns that had the imprint of the Guild on their frames.

At this point, something seemed to snap inside of Elequinn. The events of the day, from her being forbidden to be a hunter to now downright being bullied by what was supposed to be representatives of the Guild itself, was far too much to hold in. She had kept quiet throughout the injustice of it all, but now she decided that silence was no longer an option.

Picking herself up, the girl looked at the blueprints that were scattered around her feet. They may not have meant anything to the Knight, but to Elequinn, they were almost like her parents' legacy. Each piece not only had detailed instructions on how to improve upon the design of the gloves she was wearing, but more importantly, how to use them in combat.

"Outnumbered, maybe," Elequinn clenched her fists tight, the metallic bracelets attached to her gloves emitting a soft purple glow in response. She no longer considered the trio around her as men, but rather barbarians that deserved no right to call themselves Guild Knights. "But unarmed? I think not."

Mustering as much strength in her legs as she could, Elequinn leapt forward, thrusting her fist towards the male in front of her. Her sudden movement came as too much of a surprise for any of the three surrounding the girl to react to in time, and the two Knights behind her could only watch in shock as their ally took a direct hit from the seemingly harmless girl.

She initially felt some resistance as her fist pummeled into the man's chest, easily shredding through his fabric armor and making contact with the metal plating he wore underneath. Perhaps due to his state of inebriation however, what resistance there was quickly crumbled away into nothingness as the Knight staggered backwards in shock, letting out a sputter of incoherent words before collapsing onto the ground.

Oddly enough, Elequinn felt no pain despite her arms making contact with the man's armor. As she flexed her fingers, the girl looked with fascinated eyes at the gloves she was wearing – the metallic plating on her knuckles were clearly capable of penetrating things harder than steel.

A soft click behind her reminded her of the fact that there were still two more Knights to handle, and Elequinn turned around to find their bowguns already aimed at her. Without any way to attack from a distance, she let out a sign as she held both her hands into the air, keeping an eye out for any movements in the shadows behind the two Knights.

Although they were the ones that had the advantage of ranged weaponry, the Knights were clearly shaken up over how quickly their leader had fallen. One of them took small but steady steps backwards, increasing the distance between them. After witnessing what happened to his leader, he had quickly arrived at a conclusion that he should put as much distance as possible between Elequinn and himself.

It was a good theory, but Elequinn knew something that he did not: someone else was waiting for him in the shadows. A pulsating yellow light in the darkness confirmed her gut feeling, and the girl couldn't help but break into a smile as she pointed behind them. "Hey, look. A firefly."

"Very funny. Now get down on your knees or we will shoo-"

A beacon of yellow light shot towards the Knight before he could finish his sentence, causing him to let out a cry of surprise from the unexpected blow on his head. Turning around rapidly, he blinked in confusion at the sight of the huge firefly before him, its glowing abdomen flashing aggressively.

A moment later, a resonating thud sounded as the Knight's eyes rolled back into his head, his body crumpling onto the floor like a broken marionette. Holding his weapon case tightly in his arms, Galix stepped over the body of the man he had attacked with a smug grin before turning to the last remaining member of the Guild patrol in front of him.

Letting out a yelp of alarm, the final Guild Knight turned to his new assailant and pulled the trigger of his bowgun multiple times. The unexpected reaction caused Galix to curse loudly as he evaded away from the line of fire, sheltering his vulnerable head. A few projectiles created sparks as they bounced harmlessly off his Rathalos armor, the scales and metal plating it was crafted out of proving its worth.

When he recovered from his roll however, the man felt his left leg quickly turning numb. A glance at his feet caused him to let out a groan – one of the bullets had successfully managed to penetrate his greaves, and had buried itself into the flesh underneath.

"Damn it."

From the way he was quickly losing all feeling and strength in his left thigh, Galix was sure that the projectile was laced with some sort of paralyzing agent. Grabbing on to his weapon case and using it as a makeshift crutch, the man scrambled to his feet as fast as he could, barely dodging out of the way as another volley of shots flew at his general direction.

Sensing that the Guild Knight had all but forgotten about her presence, Elequinn took the opportunity to rush forward, clasping her hands together as she prepared to attack. Now that she could roughly gauge the strength of her knuckle-type weapon, the girl knew that she could easily overpower the trigger-happy Knight with one hit.

Hearing the sound of footsteps approaching him fast, the Knight whirled around just in time to see Elequinn a few feet away from him. A smile bordering on mania appeared on his face as he raised his bowgun and pulled the trigger, knowing full well that a shot at this range would be a guaranteed hit.

Click.

The smile vanished from the Knight's face as he looked down at his bowgun and confirmed the worst – the clip was empty.

The next moment, he saw the world turn upside down as a searing pain spread throughout his face, and a dull ringing in his ears blocked out all other sounds of the night. For an instant, the Knight felt as though he was weightless as he sailed through the air. Then something hard and solid thumped against his back, and he realized that he was now looking up at his attacker from the ground.

Glowering at the pathetic excuse of a Guild Knight on the floor, Elequinn considered for a moment whether she had hit him too hard. She had deliberately held back since she knew that her fists would make contact with flesh instead of armor this time, but the results still astonished her. The Knight's terrified eyes and quivering body told the girl that he had learned his lesson, and she quickly turned to where her friend was last seen.

She let out a sigh of relief as she saw her firefly companion scoot off towards a figure in the darkness. However, Elequinn's smile quickly faded away as she realized that Galix was limping.

Taking quick strides towards her friend, the girl offered her assistance to him, and the two made their way slowly back to the cart. The Gargwa that had been abused by the men earlier was still waiting obediently for them, although it was now sitting on the head of the unconscious Guild Knight leader in an obvious act of revenge.

"How bad is it?" Elequinn looked worriedly at Galix as she helped him onto the cart, placing his weapon case beside him.

"I'll live," her friend nodded solemnly before breaking out into a tense smile, "you did well there, Elly. I was going to move in after seeing what that bastard did with your bag, but it seems like you can easily handle your own problems."

"Thanks," the girl accepted the complement sheepishly, then blinked as her friend's words reminded her of the blueprints that were still scattered around the floor. "Ah, crap. Lend me John for a moment, won't you?"

The firefly seemed to understand what was required of him, and instantly flew over to Elequinn's side even before Galix replied.

"Huh, I think he likes you," the man sounded impressed that the insect had flew over to his friend of his own accord, "though I'm pretty sure Aria gave specific instructions for him to only answer to me…"

Shrugging, Elequinn hopped off the cart with John on her arm, using the light the insect produced to locate and pick up the papers on the ground. A dismal groan escaped her lips as she saw that some of the blueprints had been torn and were now barely legible. She had been hoping to read them all at a later date – now the girl feared that she might never be able to read them at all.

Picking up her bag that had been lying beside the fallen leader of the Guild Knight the entire time, the girl placed the papers she was holding carefully into them, then hopped on to the cart.

"Men like them are a disgrace to the name of the Guild," letting out a depressed sigh, Elequinn double checked the content of her bag once more, ensuring that nothing else had dropped out during their skirmish. "I don't know how they even passed the qualification tests to become Knights."

"And how do you know they are not all like that?" Galix grinned playfully before gently tugging on the reins of the Gargwa, causing it to get off the man it had been sitting on and start pulling the cart down the road once more.

"I can't."

Elequinn replied to her friend earnestly as they started moving again, leaving the three Guild Knights behind them. Her eyes focused on the grand Guild Hall that was rapidly shrinking away into the distance – in the morning, the girl knew it would be bustling with activity once again, as it always had been since it was built.

"I can only hope."