Sorry for the wait, I had a lot of work and exams in the past month. But now those are done i can finally try and get back into my writing groove. But with out any further delay here is Tales of a hunter ch 10
I open my eyes opened to a bright light. I groan, and quickly put up my hand to hide my eyes from the light. My eyes adjust to the light slowly; I can make out my arm, its black and purple all over. "What happened?" I moaned lightly, I lay there puzzled for a moment taking everything in. "The last thing I recall is… right the Dragonator, I killed the Jhen Mohran. " I pause for a second. "Looks like they found us outside on city's the door steps." I mumble moving my head my head looking around. I'm currently lying in a bed in a light green coloured room. "This is the hospital, isn't it?" I groan again catching site of a mirror in the corner of the room.
I grunt in pain as I push myself up. I want to see the extent of my injuries. I scoot my body to the edge of the bed and sit up on the edge. I look down at my legs that are exposed out of the light nightgown I am wearing. I quickly notice my right leg isn't covered like I usually have it. My bumpy uneven scarred skin is exposed; I avert my eyes so I don't look at it. Looking to my left leg, it looks just like my arms, bruised all over. I lightly shove myself off the bed and stand bear footed on the cold tile floor. My body starts to ache all around. I bite my tongue and press on through the pain. "I guess it is a good thing that pain tolerance is a big part of the job for being a Hunter." I laugh lightly to myself and walk to the mirror.
I gasp lightly seeing myself in the mirror. My whole body is covered in many large bruises. I have one black eye, two bandages on my forehead on my face. Both my arms are covered in bruises like Swiss cheese. I avoid looking down to my legs, and focus on my left arm. "Last time I remember, you were dislocated." I say aloud to myself, looking at my left arm. I move my left arm around examining it. "Well guess they put you back in when I was unconscious. Good it hurts like crazy getting it put back in." I say aloud again.
I hear the door open behind me, before I turn around I hear a very familiar voice, "Senlie what are you doing! Get back in bed you shouldn't be up and moving yet!"
"Morning Karlen," I say cheerfully turning around to see my sister in her school uniform walking right at me. She reaches out and snatches my arm. I gasp in pain feeling her squeeze my bruises.
"Oh, sorry," Karlen says quickly, feeling guilty so squeezing my bruised arm. "But get back in bed!" She growls at me quickly.
"Yeah I'm going." I groan walking back to the bed, and sitting on the edge of the bed. "So how long has it been since we slayed the Jhen Mohran?"
"I'm doing good thanks for your concern." Karlen groans, she sits down in the chair by the bed. "It has been two days."
"How are the others?" I ask thinking of when I last saw them unconscious in the desert.
"They are all alive, you all have the same extent of injuries, bruises and concussions but you are all expected to recover fully in about a week." Karlen answers, opening her school bag and starts digging into it.
"That's good to hear, hey I just noticed, where is Nihxen?" I ask looking around, "He would have usually been on my lap the second I get back."
"Oh, I asked him to get something from the market before he got here." Karlen answers while she keeps digging through her bag. "You know, I can't go to school without people asking me about you."
"What?" I ask surprised at the news, "How so?"
"They ask me if you and I are truly sisters. If you truly are the person who slain the Jhen Mohran." She paused pulling out several note books from her bag, "And the most asked of all, your autograph." She says happily taking a pen out of her bag, "Do you have the energy to make a couple of your fans happy?"
"W-what wait, they want my autograph?" I asked puzzled but at the same time happy.
"Yep, I almost think I should be charging them. We would make a killing." Karlen laughs handing the pile of note books to me. "Could you please sign some of these so I will stop being pestered by people?" I take the note books from her and just stare at them. Karlen notices my blank stare at the note books. "Are you alright? Did you recently take any medicine?"
"This doesn't feel right…." I whisper silently.
"Senlie?" Karlen says looking at me concerned.
Something just doesn't feel right deep down in my gut, "I never wanted this…" I managed to mumble. "I never became a hunter to become famous…" We both sit in a moment of silence, "I became a hunter, so I could provide you a better life. To protect the few loved ones I had left in this world."
"Senlie…" Karlen says softly looking at me.
"So why is this happening? I don't want to be famous; I just want to protect you." I sob lightly.
"Senlie, why can't you see?" Karlen says lightly looking at me in the eyes.
"See what?" I sniff lightly.
"You already did give me a better life then I could have ever dreamed about before. You already succeeded in your goal." Karlen sobs lightly, hugging me. I don't say a thing; I just pull her in tighter, realizing that ever since my first missions, I succeeded in giving her a better life.
"Oh, I'm sorry am I interrupting something?" I hear a voice say, both of us look up to see who said that. My heart stopped for an instant; in the door way is the Guild Master, Phil.
"K-karlen, can you come back in a couple minutes, please?" I ask her quickly, letting go of her.
"Senlie?" She asks looking at me. With one look she can see I mean business. She nods, and backs up. "I'll be back in ten minutes with Nihxen. The Fur Ball probably got distracted by a fish stand in the market." She zips up her school bag leaves the room, closing the door behind her.
"What a lovely little sister you have." Phil, the Guild master, says Looking at the door Karlen closed.
"Thanks…" I reply silently, being careful what I say.
"Senlie Uden, you are quite a person too." He says looking at me. Shivers shot down my spine. "You are a very interesting person." He continues, as he starts walking towards me.
"I am?" I ask confused, but suspicious of him. What does he want with me? Why me?
"Yes you are. Slaying a Jhen Mohran when all hope was lost." He pauses, stopping at the corner of the bed. He puts his hand behind his back, "Slaying a High rank Rathalos in Low rank gear." He walks to the chair that Karlen was sitting on earlier, and turns to face me. "Both of those built up your reputation in this city. I would be lying if I was not impressed about these deeds you have done, but…" He fades out, his eyes looking right at me.
"But?" I mumble softly.
I can see his eyes move down my body, stopping on my scarred leg. I quickly pull the covers from the bed and cover my scarred leg, hiding it from his stare. "But, not as much as the one that started this all."
"What?" I ask softly feeling fear rising up, knowing what he is talking about. Haunting memories rise from the past. I clench my leg where my scar is.
"Surviving from an unknown Elder dragon attack on your very first mission…" My heart skips a beat, dark past memories cloud my head, and sweat covers my body. "Senlie Uden, you are a very interesting hunter, and possibly one of the most valuable hunters we got."
"What do you want with me?" I shout in fear, trying to keep myself from being claimed by dark memories.
"If you haven't figured it out by now, you will soon." Phil grumbles, turning around. "Let's just say you have some experience that no one else has."
Finally as the dark memories from the past catch up to me it clicks. "Wait, no, no you can't..." I shiver in fear finally making sense of what he sees in me. "You want me t-to…" I can feel tears roll down my cheeks, "Slay the…" I pause reliving that horrid day, "Elder Dragon that got away that day." I feel my scarred leg remembering what I could about the unknown dragon.
"So you are sharper than you seem." He says lightly, "But no need to worry now, you are far from ready to take it on." He pauses, "You will know when you will be ready. But do keep in mind, if it ever does show up again, you will be sent. You know more of the beast than anyone else does."
My heart stops, I find it hard to breath, "No," I choke. After all these years of trying to forget about that cursed day, now I must face that, my nightmares.
"I know, but you are our best shoot at taking out it, the Elder Dragon that has only showed its self once in history." He groans, "From the few reports of this Elder Dragon I funded an archeological team to go to the ruins in the Flooded Forest. When you are healed up I will be dispatching you to go along with them to the ruins. It would benefit you to learn about it."
"No-no, why me?" I whimper in fear, all I can think about is the Elder Dragon.
"I am sorry for making you uncomfortable, but this threat must not be taken lightly. It will show its face into this world eventually, and when it does we must be prepared." He walks towards the door, "You best beat that fear before it costs you something valuable. If you ever want to talk to me, I'll be in the guild hall. Oh, and before I go I have to say… Welcome to High Rank Miss Uden" With that he walks out the door closing it behind him.
I breathe heavily in fear looking at my scarred leg. I knew it never died that day, I knew it fled, but never did I expect I would have to face it ever again. I collapse on the bed breathing heavily, fear clenching on to me. "This can't be happening, I can't fight that thing." I whimper, slightly crying into my hands. I hear knocking on the door, but I don't react or answer. I just want to fade away into nothing, so I can't be found.
"Senlie, are you ok?" Asks a familiar male voice.
"Mac?" I whimper softly, "You are ok?"
"Yeah, sorry if I worried you I just got out of the desert, my Sand skimmer got destroyed. So we had to walk back here, luckily we were found by a search team." He answered walking into the room closing the door behind him. "But enough about me, you don't look ok. What did the Guild Master say to you to make you like this?" He asks, trying to look at me in the eyes.
"How much of my past do you know?" I ask him keeping my face covered, not even sure why I'm going to tell him.
"Not much, besides when we hunted that high rank Rathalos." He answers backing up.
"Well, it starts a little over two years ago… when I first started to hunt, my first quest to be precise. That's where I obtained this," I say pulling the sheets back revealing my horribly scarred leg. I could hear Mac gasp at the sight of the scar. "Right, I forgot this was your first times seeing my scar…" I paused for a moment sniffing back snot and trying to fight back the tears. "I was hunting a Great Jaggi, and I succeeded, but that's where everything went to hell. "
"How so?" He asks curiously, still fixed on my scar.
"An unknown Elder Dragon attacked, and I ended getting caught up in the fight between it and four of the most elite hunters the Guild had. They all died trying to get me out of there."
"Please don't tell me you blame yourself for that." Mac asks looking right at me.
I don't say a thing; I avoid his eyes and start tearing up again. "Ever since that day I have been scared of darkness. I can't last long in the dark without having a meltdown."
"Senlie…" He fades out.
"I can't even look at my leg sometimes without reliving that day." I add in feeling more tears run down my face.
"He wants you to slay that Elder Dragon." Mac says aloud catching on. I look at him and nod with tears running down my eyes. "Senlie, I'm going to help you."
"What?" I ask looking at him shocked to hear that.
"I'm going to help slay the Elder Dragon Senlie. When do we-"
"No Mac, there is no point in two being killed by it…" I whimper, "Don't throw your life away."
"Then what about you!" Mac shouts at me.
I freeze for a moment, I never saw Mac like this before. He is too kind to raise his voice. I slowly come back to reality, "I have been damned to die against it ever since my first encounter with this it." I sniff again.
"Senlie, have you forgotten the other day?" He said softly, "You, Nihxen, and I swore we would not abandon each other." His voice picked up, "We all said we are shooting for the top!" His voice rose again, "So guess what, I'm not going to abandon my friend to die! I'm going to fight with you! If we don't succeed I have no problem dying with my friend."
I lay there quiet, he is serious he isn't going leave me. How can he have such courage? I though he was a timid and quiet person. But he is not; he is being brave, and loyal. "You are something you know that?" I sniff lightly. Maybe I can learn something from him. My body starts to calm its self.
"Oh?" He asked me looking puzzled.
"I had you all wrong, I thought you were timid and quiet, but just now you proved me wrong. You are actually brave, loyal, and above all else a great friend. "I say looking him in the eyes. Mac starts blushing cherry red.
"N-no I'm not, I'm the farthest thing from being brave." He replies looking away to hide his cherry red face.
I laugh lightly, "Well, when we recover we will go to the Guild Hall, the Guild Master has a special assignment for me. I would be happy if you could come too."
"Of course I will we are both shooting for the top are we not?" He smiles still red in the face.
"Yeah, we are." I smile softly looking at him.
A knock came from the door. "Senlie you in here?" another familiar voice comes from the door.
"Yes I am, come in." I say looking to the door, pulling my sheets over my scarred leg.
"How are you feeling?" The person says as he walks in to the room. I see his head is covered in bandages, and is bruised all over like I am. His dull green eyes look right to me, and then I realize its Allen.
"Good, How about you Allen? Last I saw of you, you were out cold in the desert." I ask looking at his injuries, and comparing them to mine.
"Good, good, just a massive headache and a slight concussion. But either than that ready to go hunting again soon." He replies to me with a grin on his face.
"Well aren't you the anxious one." I smirk back to him, "Too bad we aren't allowed to go on a quest till a week has past."
"I'll be counting the days trust me." Allen replies walking in to the room closing the door behind him. "I should have asked this earlier but hope you two don't mind me hiding in here for a while. I was in the same room as Gear, and his bride to be came in and is currently chewing him a new one."
"Oh…" Mac and I groan, feeling bad for Allen and Gear.
"Yeah, so I left quickly." Allen laughed lightly walking to the beds edge and sits down. "I must say we had a lucky strike the other day."
"Oh? When we fought the Jhen Mohran?" I ask confused.
"Yeah, remember how the Dragonator was bent?" He asks looking right at me.
"Yeah, but it couldn't have been that bent, because it killed it." I answer him, thinking of the last images of the Dragonator that I recall seeing. It was ripping apart the Jhen Morhan sending its blood and guts flying.
"It was, but when the Hunting Gong broke free and hit the Dragonator, that bent it close to being straight." Allen stats as he stretches his arms.
"Wow," I say surprised, "That was a lucky call."
"Yeah no kidding." Allen says quickly.
"So what you planning on hunting when you recover Allen?" Mac asks before the conversation continues.
"I have a Diablos quest lined up for when I recover." Allen answers taking a seat on the bed beside me. I notice his eyes glancing at my covered leg.
I get a weird feeling from him looking at my leg. Not the usual I don't want people asking about my past, but eyes of curiosity almost. "Well aren't you going big for being freshly recovered?" I say aloud, double checking to make sure the sheets cover my leg to get Allen to stop looking.
"I need a horn from it to finish a Bow Gun I'm trying to make." Allen answers moving his eyes from my leg, he probably caught on I noticed he was looking at my leg. "What about you two?"
"We've decided to gather materials from the Flooded Forest." I answer him before Mac can say anything.
"Ah I see, well good luck with that." He says getting up, "Well, I'm going to walk around to find something to do, we should get together sometime and go for a hunt."
"Yeah for sure." Mac and I both reply.
"Later," He says leaving the room closing the door behind him.
"I should get moving as well." Mac says getting up as well. "I finally get to move in to my place today."
"That's great; I wish I could help you move in." I say gesturing to the hospital room.
"Oh, don't worry about it, you are injured and I'm pretty much wearing everything I own here." Mac says with a light smile, "Guess I'll see you later."
"Yeah, see you later." I reply as he leaves closing the door behind him. "Well that was an eventful twenty minutes." I sigh heavily; my eyes are drawn to the pile of note books on the night stand. I grab one and open it curiously. It's filled with neatly written notes, that I don't bother reading. "Am I really that special that people want my autograph?" I whisper to myself, picking up another note book and paging through it. A tittle heading catches my eyes 'The Foundation of Loc Lac' curiously I read more.
'Loc Lac is the Capital of the Tri-lands, and the foundation of the city is what created the Tri-lands. The city is located in the middle of the Great Desert, which acts like a trading stepping stone for many other villages like Moga and Yukumo, and even countries separated by ocean and desert, countries like the United Lands and Quadtry. Trade is what created the City of Loc Lac, and continues to be the core life of the city. The location of the city currently sits on a shallow bedrock spike in the middle of the Great Desert, which that location has been the center of trade for hundreds of years. Attempts were made to colonize the spot, but Monsters always got in the way and ruined what was built. Once the Guild spotted this trade site they aided in the attempts of colonizing the area. They sent out their best hunters to clear the spot and to fend off oncoming threats. The hunters succeeded in driving the monsters out and away from the area. The city quickly established and has become the city it is today.'
"That is missing so much from what I was taught by dad when he was still alive." I mumble to myself closing the notebook and spotting a pen on the ground. I reach down and pick up the pen, and look at the notebooks. "I never did want to become famous… but there is no helping it now." I groan to myself and open the notebook to the first page and sign my name. "I might as well try and get some enjoyment out of this, or at least give other people enjoyment." I say lightly putting down the notebook and picking up the next and sign it too.
"It fits perfectly," I say walking around in my new Rathalos armor. "And it's actually feels more comfortable then my old Barroth armor. I can't thank you enough Forge master."
"That's great to hear, and you are welcome. It is the least I can do for you, you rising star." The Forge Master says grinning with a smile on his face.
"Oh stop it; I'm nothing special, just an average hunter." I reply trying to sound flattered. Ever since the Jhen Mohran I have been hearing that everywhere I go, and I am starting to get annoyed with it. "Well I'm glad it was finished in time for my next quest."
"Glad we fished it in time, see you next time then." The Forge Master says hopping off the counter and back into the Forge.
I leave the forge and start heading to the Guild Hall. "It's time," I say looking at the sky as I walk to the Guild Hall. Shivers shoot down my spine giving me goose bumps. It has been two and a half weeks since the Jhen Mohran was slain. Now my expedition to the Flooded Forest to guide researchers to some ruins will begin in a matter of hours.
"Senlie!" I hear Karlen's voice call out to me from somewhere in the busy streets. I quickly spot her near the Guild Hall stairs in her school uniform carrying my Item bag and Longsword I asked her to get from the house. I quickly wave at her and walk to her. "Aren't you looking flaming in that Rathalos Armor." Karlen whistles.
"Yeah too hot to handle," I joke along with her, spinning around so she can see the full Armor set.
"I brought your equipment," She says handing me my item pouch which I strap to the back of my waist. "And your weapon," She hands me the long red and orange Longsword.
"It's been a long time since I used this one," I say taking the sword from her and flipping it over my shoulder and tying it on. The Dancing Flames this sword is called, it is made from parts of a monster called the Agnaktor, which is a red Leviathan that thrives in the fiery depths of Volcanoes and are only found it the Tri-Lands. "Thanks a lot Karlen you saved me a lot of time doing this." I say pulling her in for a hug.
"No problem, glad I can help you." She replies hugging me back.
"Nya, I made it in time." I hear Nihxen meow hopping onto my shoulder.
"I hope you are ready to get wet Fur Ball, because the Flooded Forest has the word 'Flooded' in it for a reason." I say looking at him in his matching Rathalos armor with mine.
"A little bit of water won't stop me Nya." He purrs in my ear.
"That is good to hear," I reply letting go of Karlen, "This is going to be a little bit longer of a quest, so I won't be back for roughly two days."
"I'll be waiting, and have a large meal ready for when you get back." Karlen says with a big smile.
"Sounds great, I can't wait." I say smiling back at her. "Well, you should get back to school."
"Yeah, the teachers are going to flip that I'm skipping class at the moment." Karlen agreed, "See you in two days then."
"Yeah see you then." I say, shivers shoot down my spine as I say it.
"Love you sis, you too Nihxen." She says going in for one more hug, Nihxen and I quickly hug her back.
"Love you too," We both relpy.
"Now get going, I don't want your marks to suffer from this." I say nudging her on.
"Alright- alright I'm going." She answers running down the road and disappears into the crowded streets.
"You ready to go, Nya?" Nihxen meows in my ear.
"Yes, I am Fur Ball." I answer him turning towards the Guild Hall doors. "I'm sure Mac is waiting for us inside the Guild Hall." I start walking to the doors almost feeling ready for this quest that my fate lies on.
So here again is another chapter end, I hope you enjoyed it and are excited for the Flooded Forest chapter (Because I sure am ready to write it after many days brain storming about it). So as usual please hit Follow/ Favorite buttons and be sure to leave a comment and/or review. I truly love getting feed back, which actually helps me get my act in motion and get to writing more often.