The Lost Civilization: DLC

by dashboardgecko

A collection of one-shots and mini-stories based off MH fanfiction 'The Lost Civilization,' written to sate my thirst to write! Let's see what sort of adventures and antics the heroes, villains, and side characters of TLC get up to after the main story as we wait for MH4 and the sequel to The Lost Civilization!

21. After Life - Part 4, Core

After Life – Part 4

Core

Disclaimer: Monster Hunter is copyright Capcom. All of the characters in this story are mine, unless noted otherwise.

Edited by: Hoenn Master96 and Thomas A. Hawk

This one-shot is NOT CANON with The Lost Civilization

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"It won't hurt you, you know."

York frowned at the words, staring untrustingly at Levin's Dark Metal arm. The knowledge that something… inhuman was allowing the gold-armored hunter to use his right arm had nagged at him, and when the pair of them had stopped for a rest, he'd asked Levin to let him see the dark limb in full. Levin had been uncertain about it, but with a bit of egging, the other man had finally acquiesced. Now all the Golden Lune armor from the pauldrons down lay on the ground, and Levin held the limb outstretched.

The appendage wasn't comforting to look at up close, all twisted like thorns and black as a moonless night. York had heard stories about Dark Metal, and few of them were good. The thought of someone making a prosthetic limb with the ore were disconcerting, and the Azure Dragongem pulsing softly in the wrist wasn't helping. York had promised not to break the gemstone, though he wondered if doing so was even possible; for some reason his pure-blade dagger seemed to lack its usual sharpness. Worse, the gemstone seemed to be… agitated, with York so close, pulsing in a manner York would have called 'threatening' if he could really try and name the way a small stone was glowing.

"Aw, hell with it. Here goes nothing," he said, grasping the 'forearm' of the Dark Metal limb.

York immediately hissed in surprise and pulled back quickly as a frigid feeling seeped into his hand. A thin layer of frost had coated his glove, and the chill felt as though it went straight to the bone… Levin pulled his arm back as well, glaring irritably at the limb, before rolling his eye and chuckling softly to himself.

"I thought you said it wouldn't hurt me," York muttered, rubbing the frost off his gloves. "Wait, what am I saying? I distinctly remember you saying that!"

"You're not really hurt, now are you?" Levin replied with a grin. "Besides… I suppose it is a rather spiteful sort of metal."

"And what about that whole spiel about being able to control it?"

"Well… I'm a spiteful sort of hunter too," Levin said deviously. "To be fair, you did try and shove a blade in me. I think a bit of a chill is more than fair repayment, don't you think?"

"Yeah, whatever…" York grumbled, shaking the last of the cold feeling out of his hand. "Not like I had any idea what to expect. Considering the personality the last man I knew in possession of one of those gems, I think I had reason enough to be aggressive about it. So how'd you lose it?"

"Same way I lost the leg and the eye," Levin replied and he cinched his armor back into place. "I blew myself up."

"…Ah. I was wondering why you looked so sour about that bomb comment. Was it an accident or something? I heard about some guy who died in a messed up bomb-making incident a few years back…"

"No… not exactly," Levin sighed. "I, uh, smashed a dragon phial in my switch axe, and the explosion incinerated my arm and leg, and burned out my eye. See these scars?" he asked, reaching up to the wide half-mask patch covering the right side of his face. The switch axe user peeled back the black cloth, revealing a wide swath of burned flesh beneath, and York shivered slightly at the sight. "Leftovers from being cooked by dragon element. And they go down the rest of my torso, too."

"Talk about working on a tan… What did you do that for?"

"It was for the sake of killing the Alatreon. The one in my world, I mean. It was trying to hide itself in a crystal shelter, and I couldn't just let it escape. The phial was cracked and unstable, so I managed to get my switch axe wedged into its mouth, and… well, I broke it. I was told the explosion was rather spectacular from a distance, though I was a little too close to really appreciate it… Got to see the Alatreon get burned alive from the inside out though. That was pretty damn satisfying, considering all the hell it gave me."

"So how'd you get this Dark Metal arm?" York asked curiously. "Prosthetic limbs… I know a few people back home that could use a new arm or leg. Maybe you could-"

"Sorry, but I think it's best people don't know," Levin muttered. "Dark Metal is a dangerous material to work with, and the process nearly killed me. Besides, I don't really know the full process and the… doctor that gave me these limbs is a fugitive from the Guild, so he won't be giving up what he knows, assuming he's still alive. What about you? How'd you lose your eye?"

"Well… I almost lost it a long time ago during an arena fight with a Barioth, but the doctor used a new kind of medicine to close up the wound faster. Unfortunately, that left the wound susceptible to sudden flashes of heat, and one such blast went off while I was protecting a bunch of miners. I almost died that day, actually; if a cavern hadn't opened up beneath me, chances are I'd have been here five years ago."

"How the hell does a cavern opening up below you save your life?"

"It was either that or be buried under twenty tons of rock or get caught up in the explosions. Honestly, none of them were really good options… but on the bright side, I only lost an eye rather than getting crushed to death. And I can still kind of see out of it, but everything gets blurry when I try to. Hence, the eye patch."

"Hmm… Suppose I can't really make that much of a fuss. I'd probably be a pile of cinders in the Sacred Land if I wasn't standing next to one of the Alatreon's crystals when my phial exploded. Though admittedly I didn't exactly walk away from that as cleanly as you did."

York nodded at the words, but paused, looking thoughtfully at the gold-armored hunter. "Speaking of which… What was the Alatreon like in your world? Every time you mention it, I keep trying to compare it to the one in my world, and then you say something about it that catches me off guard… Like all this talk of crystals, and what you said about it keeping its word. I mean, really? You'd trust the Alatreon's sense of honor?"

"The Alatreon had a lot of pride in my world," Levin shrugged. "It was a bastard that needed to be killed of course, but it always had a 'my word is law' sort of personality. If it promised something, it did its damndest to make sure it came true. But yeah, I've been wondering about that too. Back on that platform, the Alatreon said something about… soul containers? And a cult? I don't know what sort of things the Alatreon did in your world, but there certainly wasn't either of those things in my world… or at least there weren't as far as I'm aware."

"Let's take turns and compare them then. Let me explain what I remember," York said. "Where I'm from, the Alatreon was a menace to the entire country. For hundreds of years, it tormented the towns, trying to instill fear in the people. It was probably trying to set itself up as a god of some kind, never staying down even when it was killed."

"Yeah, that's a familiar story… wait. Wait, what?" Levin asked, shocked. "What do you mean, 'even when it was killed'?"

"It had the ability to return to life," York explained.

"What, like a zombie?"

"A zom… A what?"

"A zombie. It's like an undead monster that goes around eating the flesh of the living. Prefers brains, I think. Or are we talking full-on Frankenstein's monster, where they piece it back together and hit it with a bolt of lightning? Because I've been told that's not supposed to actually work."

"…What the hell kind of world did you come from?" York asked in confusion, before shaking his head. "You know what, never mind. I don't know about… eating brains or anything, but there was a secret cult called the Brilliant Darkness that basically served the dragon, fetching all the despairing souls it would need to revive itself once again."

"So more like a philosopher's stone and homunculus."

"A what and a what?"

"It's… Just forget it…"

"…Right, fine. It was revived again by the cult's leader, Alteos, in a fortress out in the desert, but me and my friends managed to bring it down after a pretty hectic fight. Course, then it possessed the dead body of my old friend Zeal and tried to kill me again…" York frowned at Levin, who looked like he wanted to interject again. "What now?"

"Did you need to perform an exorcism?"

"I'm going to ignore you now. Anyway, the Alatreon possessed my friend's body, but I finished it off then by crushing its soul container, which was an Azure Dragongem. So, besides the idea of 'raising the dead', which of those things surprised you the most?"

Levin shook his head at the words. "I don't know. The whole 'cult' thing is the biggest surprise for me out of all of that. In my world, the Alatreon hated humans… or maybe it just looked down upon us as bugs or something. Even having them around as its servants or slaves would have probably have been more than it could handle. It didn't want humans to worship it or rely on it; it wanted us to fear it or die to it. It was… solitary, and wanted us around for no other reason than to kill us when it was bored. Honestly I think that was the only reason it didn't try and just kill us all off: for the sake of having something to pass the time killing off. And having to possess a human… I think the Alatreon in my world would have rather let itself be killed than suffer such an indignity in its eyes."

"I suppose the Alatreon from my world was more of the pragmatic sort… Not really honor-bound or anything like that. What about all that about blue crystals and the Lost?" York asked. "You said that the Alatreon was trying to escape to a 'crystal shelter'. What did that mean?"

"The Alatreon in my world had a special ability that I suppose it didn't have in your world," Levin explained. "I don't know how it did it, but it could create these massive azure crystals that could be used to put those inside into a sort of stasis sleep. You saw them earlier when we were fighting it, though it only made a couple small ones. Anyway, when we had it on its last legs, the Alatreon tried to put itself inside one so that it could just hide itself away and heal for… I don't know, a couple decades or something, then return once it was ready and wreak havoc like it did before.

"But that wasn't what the crystals were mainly used for. The Alatreon was so powerful and hard to kill that it had probably been millenia since it had been wounded enough to even consider such an action. No, it didn't use those crystals for itself, it used them on humans. The Lost were people like me, a civilization of people that the Alatreon put into those blue crystals to… 'save them for later' or something like that."

"He put you into crystals? Put you to sleep?" York asked. "For how long?"

Levin paused, scratching his head in thought. "I'm not sure… It was long enough that an entirely new civilization rose and fell in between that time, and even longer for the current civilization to get to the level it's at. My friend Harker has speculated the numbers, but even he's not certain. His best guess was something along the lines of about… somewhere between six and ten thousand years or something like that? Maybe more?"

"Ten… thousand years?" York gasped in shock. "I thought you were going to say decades or centuries, but… ten thousand?"

"Well, that's sort of a high bar, admittedly, though like I said, it's just an estimation." But Levin laughed at the words and smirked at York. "You gotta admit though, I look pretty good for someone who's several millennia old, don't you think? Puts a lot of those old Wyvernian farts to shame, even if I did cheat a little. Though, I guess I'm only one of thousands of Lost that got put to sleep in the crystals like I did, so it's not really as unique as it sounds."

"First the tan, now your beauty sleep," the one-eyed hunter chuckled. "I can't see how some of those things are bad."

"Yeah… there were side effects though," Levin grumbled, earning a concerned look from York.

"What do you mean?"

"Eh… I don't really want to talk about it. Let's just say that things weren't exactly easy for my people for a few years. Things are leveling out a bit these days though, so it's been pretty peaceful, thankfully. It got a lot easier for us once we started branching out from Loc Lac and traveling to new places."

"So what was your… old civilization like? Before the Alatreon attacked, I mean."

"Hmm… That's hard to describe. Lots of big cities, lots of machines, lots of electricity and bright lights, lots of people… Some of the bigger places you could go had towers taller than the Loc Lac Tower, and lots of them too. You couldn't see the stars in the sky at night, there were so many lights. And no monsters, either."

"No… what? No monsters? What, like no really big ones?"

"None at all," Levin replied. "No Diablos, no Barioth, no Jhen Mohran. Not even Jaggis or Baggis. Things like Rathian and Rathalos were mystical creatures to tell children about as bedtime stories. The largest land animal couldn't have been much bigger than a Royal Ludroth."

"Sounds… boring."

"Yeah, well… it was, I guess. The problem was, without any monsters to focus our attention and aggression on, we'd fight with each other instead. Who needs elder dragons when there are human monsters that are just as terrible, if not worse? Guess that's why our civilization fell in the first place: we had a lot of weapons made for killing humans, but not enough for killer larger enemies. Can't say I really miss it that much though. Life may not be as safe as it once was, but hunting monsters is a lot simpler to think about than wars, wealth distribution, and the price of oil."

"...I don't suppose you mean Slagoth Oil?"

"Ha, I wish. Can we talk about something else, though? Thinking about how my old life was destroyed by the Alatreon isn't exactly a refreshing thing to think about."

"I guess not… sorry about that. You mentioned Loc Lac before," York noted. "I guess it's good to hear that there are some other similarities between our worlds besides the Alatreon, but did I hear right? Both you and the Alatreon said that Loc Lac was destroyed…"

"Yeah, you heard right," Levin replied. "The Alatreon attacked Loc Lac in my world about five years ago. It was… mostly my fault. It was angry at me for not being its happy little plaything, so in a fit of rage it decided that it needed to make an 'example' of humanity, so it attacked Loc Lac. The city wasn't completely leveled or anything like that, though the Alatreon did take out the Loc Lac Tower, but enough of the city proper was destroyed that people don't really go there anymore."

"Sounds pretty awful to me. In my world, the Alatreon's scales were practically impenetrable, save for a few special blades. But you had to have chased it off, right? I mean, elder dragon or not, Loc Lac has one of the highest hunter populations around."

"That's true, but there were other problems. The Alatreon had one hell of a reputation in my world. I'm not sure what people thought of it in your world, but where I came from, the Alatreon was sort of like a boogeyman. People were certain that it was totally, completely invincible, so all most people and hunters did was try to hide."

"That's… kind of pathetic."

"That's what six to ten thousand years of complete failure to even hurt the creature will do to people. At least you could kill yours, even if it did keep coming back to life. We didn't even have that much."

"Hmm… I guess that's fair. Can't say any of the hunters I've seen would've backed down from that sort of challenge though. Still, hearing that Loc Lac was destroyed… that a bit chilling. I have in-laws there myself, and I'd hate to hear that it was devastated by a monster."

"You don't live there yourself?"

"Nah, I keep my distance," York replied. "It's a big hunting hub, and a fun place to live, but not the best place to raise a family, you know? Rose and I live in a place called Moga Village."

"Moga?" Levin asked, cocking his head in thought. "That's… isn't that an island off the coast?"

"That's right!" York grinned. "You've heard of it then? It's become a pretty booming hunting port in the last few years!"

"Erm… Well, I have heard of it," Levin admitted. "But, ah… I'm pretty sure it's not the hunting destination it is where you come from. Passed through a few years back to help keep the Gobul population in check after a big breeding season, but all I remember of the place is a few dozen huts floating out over the water. Not exactly a prime location for hunters. I heard that the ecosystem's apparently doing backflips these days and confusing the hell out of everyone. They've got to be running their local hunters ragged with all the troubles they're having."

"Really?" York asked, slightly disappointed. "Well, if Loc Lac's gone, and Moga Village isn't booming, where do people go to gather for hunts?"

"Mostly Tanzia Port and Orage Dell on the western coast. Both of those towns are really close to each other, so hunters usually jump between them fairly frequently. Out east you've got Frost Town as a pretty popular smithing town, and it's right next to the Volcano area, so that's good if you're hunting the more dangerous monsters. There's a place called Yukumo Village in the mountains on the other side of the country too, which doubles as a tourist trap because of its hot springs. Only been there once myself. I guess Perir's getting pretty popular too, but only with Lost hunters and their friends."

"At least Tanzia and Yukumo sound familiar, but jeez, your hunters are all over the place, aren't they? Isn't there a central location or anything?"

"It used to be Loc Lac, but during the recovery, hunters had to gather at different towns. I guess it just, I don't know, fell out of popularity. Tanzia's the big one now, but even then it's not much bigger than Orage. I think the Guild prefers it that way though. Having a majority of hunters all in one place when the Alatreon attacked it made for a really rough recovery for the Guild after putting so many skilled hunters into their graves… Keeping them nice and spread out seems to be working a lot better."

York nodded, accepting the answer as the two hunters reached the base of a sharp incline. The tunnel they were following cut sharply upwards, looping outwards and heading towards the exterior of the tree. It wasn't sharp enough that York would need to actually scale the slope, but it would be a slow, tiring climb. At the very least, it seemed to level out a hundred yards up or so, but York knew it would just be a temporary break before he and Levin would start climbing upwards again. This tree was very, very tall, and they were nowhere near the top.

"So… you got a family back home in your Moga Village?" Levin asked as the pair scaled the slope.

"A wife, Rose," York replied. "And our son, Wes. How about you?"

"A wife, and a child on the way," Levin replied. "Ellie says it's going to be a girl, and she's probably right. She says its women's intuition or something, but I've learned that her instincts are usually correct."

"Pregnant, huh?" York chuckled. "I remember that mess… When's she due?"

Levin cocked his head thoughtfully. "Let's just say I would like to be out of here as quickly as possible. The Alatreon said it could take us a week, but I would really prefer it didn't take that long. We might be pushing it a little close… At least the in-laws will be there in case I can't… You know what, forget about it." Levin turned to face York as the white-armored hunter pushed himself up a short stone ledge.

"By the way," Levin started, motioning towards York, "what's with the armor? I don't think I've seen a design like it before… Is it Barioth? That's the only monster I know that has white fur like that. I know there are some smiths out there that are getting a little creative with some of the higher-quality materials out there…"

"Actually, I designed it myself. You'd be right with the Barioth guess, but there's a bit more to it than that. I used Royal Ludroth sponges underneath to help absorb shock, while I have a tightly woven Rathalos scale layer above that, which helps fight heat and prevent deep cuts. The Barioth pelts are basically a treated outer shell. I made the whole set to be as strong as possible, while also being very lightweight. I prefer to avoid taking hits when I can, after all.

"The Gold Rathian armor is quite impressive though," York noted. "I've fought a lot of monsters myself, but I can't say a Gold Rathian is on that list. Bet it was a great fight."

Levin smirked. "It might have been… if I'd actually fought the thing."

"You didn't? Then how did you…"

Levin laughed at the question. "I am legally forbidden by the Guild to disclose that information!"

"Well that only makes me more curious!"

Levin chuckled. "Well, if what the Alatreon said is true, it's not like you'll be able to do anything with the information anyway. If you must know… a friend of mine summoned lightning from the sky and electrocuted the Rathian to death."

York frowned at the words, scowling slightly. "Are you talking about… magic?"

Now Levin looked surprised. "What? Magic? No, no… technology. He built a lighting generator and turned it on the Gold Rathian. Of course the machine blew up after seven bolts of lightning, but it was a machine that did it. I mean, the hunter's world is pretty weird… mercy knows I can't understand how monsters do half the things they do, but there's no such thing as magic."

"Eh, I'd agree with you, but I've seen some really weird stuff," York replied. "Case in point, a resurrected dragon soul possessing my deceased friend. Experiences like that tend to give a guy an open mind."

"Hmm… good point. Can't say things ever got that weird in my world. The last thing I need to deal with is the dead rising up… Um, well, aside from the 'living dead' we've already encountered in this place." The switch axe user frowned uncertainly. "Though… Harker did mention something strange happening to a couple of my wife's employees up at that tower he's excavating. He's still investigating, so I don't know the full story yet, but from what I managed to hear… Ah, never mind, it's probably nothing. He always gets a little antsy when it comes to those towers…"

"Towers? What towers are you… Oh, hey, speak of the devil."

The path before them abruptly opened up ahead of them, leading out into a wide hollow deep within the trunk of the tree. They found themselves in a very tall chamber, a little over a hundred yards wide but cutting straight upwards into the tree by at least a half-mile. Taking up most of the space in the chamber and partially embedded in the far wall was another of the tall obsidian towers, standing in stark contrast to the ashen coloring of the surrounding tree bark and roots. The tower rose almost all the way to the top of the chamber, and thick roots wrapped around most of the structure. Several other paths branched out from this chamber as well, though most of them were partway up the walls, far beyond the reach of either hunter.

"Well, that's fairly convenient," Levin noted. "This'll knock a good chunk of the distance off our journey." The hunter glanced back down the sloping path they'd come from as the two of them began making their way towards the base of the tower. "How high do you think we've climbed by now?"

"At least a mile or so," York replied. "The Alatreon's little tower was already pretty tall as it was, and we've only gone upwards from there. I'd say were about… a fifth of the way from the top of the tree by now. I'm pretty experienced when it comes to climbing, and I figure we're making good time. We should get to the top within the next day or two if we keep up this pace, though I'd need to get a look outside to really be certain."

"Ugh, no thank you. That trunk was almost straight up and down, and I'd rather not have to look down from whatever height we're at."

"What, are you afraid of heights?"

"Not really, just… not the biggest fan of falling from them. I've heard some older hunters telling stories about jumping from ledges a quarter-mile high and hitting the ground running, but people can't actually do that in real life."

"Well, all we can do is keep climbing higher. Come on, let's try and get to the top before we take a break. I want to put as much distance towards the top as I can between stops."

The two of them began making their way up the side of the structure, climbing up the vines that wrapped around the exterior. They were forced to pause about halfway up the side when they came across a long stretch of the ashen roots that was… slimy. Just… slimy. Neither York nor Levin could figure out what exactly the roots were supposed to be emulating, though stepping on it made York feel like he was trying to walk across pudding. Neither of them really wanted to try and cross it either, so they had to loop back and find another root that they could climb instead.

It took the better part of an hour, but soon the hunters were close to the top. Only thirty or so yards remained from the vine they stood on and the top of the platform, though the vines were far sparser there. Only one path remained to them now, a singular branch that sloped slowly upwards. Both of them were staring impatiently up the side of the pillar, wishing that they could just get to the top already after such a long climb.

"Alright, I'm getting sick of this," York eventually muttered, glancing up the side of the structure. "I'm going to speed this up a little."

"Not sure how you're going to do that," Levin replied, keeping his eye on the path in front of them. "We're going to have to keep along this branch anyway, so unless you plan on just running the rest of the way…"

"That's the slow way!" York grinned.

"That's the only way," Levin replied. "Unless you see an elevator somewhere…"

"An ele-what?"

"An ele… you know what, never mind. Unless you see a ladder somewhere then."

York smirked. "Who needs ladders? Why don't we do this the fun way instead?"

"What fun way?"

"This way! Try and keep up!"

With that, the white-robed hunter dashed towards the wall before leaping up the side, grabbing hold of a crack in the wall several yards up the side. The next moment, the hunter began pulling himself up the side of the structure, climbing up towards the top yard by yard. In just under a minute he reached the top, grasping hold of the edge of the upper platform and pulling himself on top. He paused for a moment to catch his breath, before turning to look back over the edge. Levin still stood down below, craning his head up with a look of concern on his face.

"Your turn!" York called down.

Levin didn't reply immediately, instead turning and glancing behind him. The curve of the root he stood on was only a few feet away, and he looked over the edge to the drop behind him. This close to the top of the tower, it was nearly a half-mile straight down to the bottom, and the gold-armored hunter cringed, pulling himself closer to the wall.

"No thank you!" the switch axe user called back up. "I prefer living!"

"Always taking the safe and easy path can't be called living, you know," York jeered.

"Becoming a sticky red stain at the bottom of a very long drop can't be called living either," Levin snapped back. "Now if you'll excuse me, I'll be taking the safe and easy route."

"Huh. Gonna make me wait here for you, slowpoke?"

"That's what you get for taking the quick and risky path!"

York chuckled to himself as he pulled away from the edge. He hadn't figured that Levin was the person to be able to climb that sort of wall anyway. The gold-armored man claimed that he didn't have problems with heights, but he kept himself away from ledges as much as he could. York doubted he could've been able to climb up this wall anyway, especially in full plate armor and with such a bulky weapon slung over his back. He might have had the physical strength for the climb, but it wouldn't have been easy or smooth going. Stepping away from the edge, York began to look around for a path they could take once the switch axe user managed to get to the top of the platform. There were a few tunnels off on the other side, where the obsidian structure merged with the tree…

But from across the platform, York heard a low, menacing growl and turned quickly, searching around for the source of the noise. He caught sight of a low overhang on the far side of the platform, mostly covered over in thick vines, and just beyond them, he could see a pair of piercing red eyes glaring out at him from the shadows. Several thumping footsteps echoed through the chamber as the creature approached the root barricade and pushed through them, striding towards the white-robed hunter.

It was a Rathalos! Or… a Rathian? The wyvern, whatever it was, seemed to have similar attributes to the Queen of the Land and the Lord of the Sky at the same time. The Rath core was a veritable rainbow of colors shimmering resplendently under the pale light. Sharp greens and reds covered a majority of the creature's torso, but bright blues and pinks were almost as prominent, trailing along the creature's neck and head in colorful stripes. The beast's wings, however, were a brilliant, shimmering glow of gold and silver. The scales seemed to shift and change in the dim light, creating one design after another on the glimmering wings.

But what really caught York off guard was the creature's skull and tail. Black scales and plates trailed along the Rath's head, as well as a long trail of spikes tipped in bloody red along the wyvern's spine, a bleak abyss at the center of such a palette of colors. Also, pale blue crystals sprouted from the creature's body at the tips of its wings and the sides of its tail. The crystals pulsed with light, thrumming brilliantly with each step that the Rath took towards him, and York couldn't help but feel that the crystals were slowly growing longer with each step.

As the beast growled menacingly at the hunter, its eyes blazed a furious red. The scales on its body shifted color slightly, changing to a collection of mostly reds, greens, and a large chunk of azure, before reverting back to its resplendent coloration.

Glancing over his shoulder, York could see that Levin was nearly to the top of the spire. He seemed to be taking his time working his way along the roots of the tree, and hadn't yet realized that this creature was up here. York slid his blades from their sheaths, and the Rath's eyes narrowed hatefully. The Alatreon had told them that it took a few minutes for creatures to recover from fatal wounds here, so all he had to do was deal a fatal blow to this creature and the Rath would be out of commission for long enough for Levin to get to the top and the two of them to escape. Then again, the Alatreon had also told him that the creatures in this realm were terribly powerful, and had the battle experience of millions of their species. York had fought his fair share of both Rathians and Rathalos, and if this 'core' included the souls and memories of Raths that he'd fought and killed…

"Well… This is going to suck."

---

Levin sighed to himself as he neared the top of the platform. He probably would have been to the top of the structure by now if he didn't keep having to watch his step in case one of the vines he walked on turned out to be fragile. He seemed to be getting lucky though, as his path was proving sturdy. Soon he'd be at the top…

However, he paused as several heavy thumps sounded from above, and as soon as the switch axe user looked up, a blazing orb of fire soared through the air overhead before crashing into the far wall and detonating. The switch axe user cursed as the echoing sound of wingbeats and roars of anger could be heard, and he immediately picked up the pace, dashing up the last few dozen yards.

As the hunter scrambled over the edge and onto the top of the platform, he cursed at the sight before him: a multi-colored Ratha… a Rathi… A Rath was flying through the air above the structure, launching fireballs downwards towards York. The dual blade user was frantically sprinting just to keep out of the creature's line of fire, but the wyvern's aim seemed to be spot on, and every shot sent flames nipping at the white-robed hunter's heels. Already the top of the platform was covered in lingering flames and dozens of shallow craters left behind by the fiery blasts.

The Rath noticed Levin almost immediately as the hunter climbed onto the platform, its eyes narrowing fiercely on the hunter. There was a flicker in the creature's appearance, and for a moment a wave of gold-colored scales swept across the wyvern's body. The next second it was back to its technicolor radiance, and the beast bellowed in fury at the switch axe user. Levin glanced down at his armor, remembering that he was wearing full Golden Lune mail, and he remembered that the core held the memories of every Rath that had ever died. Including, no doubt, the Gold Rathian whose scales and plating he was wearing now.

"Well crap…"

Rearing its head back for a moment, the Rath unleashed a powerful roar that echoed through the chamber, before immediately sweeping its wings forward and lunging towards Levin through the air. The switch axe user cursed, diving out of the way as the creature tore past him, its talons ripping into the obsidian like a blade through cloth and leaving long tears in the stone as it slid to a halt. Almost before Levin had a chance to roll back to his feet, the wyvern had spun around, flames welling up in its maw as it prepared a fireball. An orb of flame ripped from the creature's maw, rocketing across the platform and forcing Levin had to dive out of the way again, allowing the fireball to sail past him and detonate against the far wall.

As Levin swung back around to face the wyvern, he found the creature already charging towards him. He cursed, leaping out of the way as the beast rumbled past him, but as he did so, the Rath suddenly spun about, swinging its tail in a wide arc. Levin abruptly dropped to a knee, barely lowering himself enough to avoid having his head taken off by the wyvern's spiked tail. Even as the Rath continued to turn, flames burst from the creature's gullet, sending a short jet of fire outwards which nearly caught Levin as it passed. He ducked away just in time though, pulling away before the flames could envelop him.

As the Rath turned back to Levin, York dashed in from the side, swinging his swords at the creature's ankles. Though the blades managed to slice into its leathery hide, the weapons seemed to do nothing at all, leaving only trace scratches on the beast's body which vanished a moment later as the core's healing ability made them disappear. The creature turned on the white-robed hunter immediately, fire welling up in its maw. But as the flames grew, Levin saw that the blaze underwent a rapid change: the colors began to shift, not to blue or white, but jet black.

With a howl, the Rath's head snapped forward, and the wyvern unleashed an onslaught of dragon element flames, which washed over the stone in a wide wave. York managed to dodge back, sprinting out of the main wave of fire, but the sparking red energy leapt through the air into his dual swords, jumping through the metal blades and into the man's arms.

"What the hell was that?!" York cursed, leaping away as black and red energy crackled over the obsidian. The man looked down at his arms, hanging loosely at his sides for a couple moments for he managed to shake them back to life. "Damn it… what's with this place and dragonblight? First you, then the Alatreon, now this Rath? Why the hell is a Rath able to use dragon element?"

"It's possible!" Levin shouted back. "I've fought a Silver Los that could use dragon element!"

"Seriously?"

"That reminds me, don't use any smoke bombs against it! The same Silver Los could practically turn invisible in a cloud of fog!"

"Are you kidding me?! How many tricks does this thing have up its sleeve?"

Almost in reply to the dual blade wielder, the Rath took to the sky once more, lifting itself into the air and bellowing angrily at the hunters. Flames began to well up in the creature's maw once more, but rather than launching yet another fireball at either of the hunters, the wyvern instead began to gain height above them, raising itself higher and higher into the air as more flames built up in its gullet. Levin's eyes darted towards some of the narrow tunnels leading away from the top of the tower; could he and York make it to one before the Rath attacked them? But it was too late, and the Rath tilted itself downward, twisting into a nosedive. Levin cursed, trying to figure out how the creature was trying to attack. The beast was still welling up flames in its maw, and had yet to release them, and Levin didn't dare try and dodge if the creature could fire on him the moment he moved.

However, as the creature got close to the platform, the Rath quickly righted itself in the air. Snapping its head forward, the wyvern unleashed the fireball, the black and red orb searing rocketing towards the earth. It wasn't aimed at either of the hunters however, and instead smashed into the ground a couple dozen yards in front of them. Both hunters felt the concussive blast as the fireball detonated, though neither of them were within range to be injured by the blast. However, the Rath was still falling, and with a powerful beat of its wings, the creature snapped to a halt in the air. The motion sent a heavy gust of wind down at the obsidian structure, catching the black-fire explosion in its wake, and the wind swept up the dragon element along with it, creating a massive wave of dark fire that billowed across the platform like an oncoming storm.

Levin gaped in horror as the rush of black fire swelled towards him. The wave of fire was rushing out in almost every direction, and there was no way to dodge it and nothing to hide behind on this platform! As quickly as he could, he swung his switch axe around, shifting the blade into sword form before slamming the tip of the blade into the obsidian platform.

"York! Get behind me!" he shouted, bracing his shoulder against the flat of the blade. The dual sword user sprinted towards him, sliding behind him the moment before the dragon fire enveloped them.

Levin hissed in pain as the dark wave crashed into them, dragon element jolting through the blade and into his arm. The jagged World Eater blade managed to deflect a majority of the inferno, sending the flames to the sides and around the hunters, but the weapon was not made for defense. Levin could feel the flames searing past him on either side, red and black bolts of dark energy jumping into his sides; his armor was resistant to the dragon element, but damn did it still hurt! He could hear York cursing in pain behind him as well, suffering from his own jolts of red and black voltage.

Finally though, the rush of flames began to die away. Levin wheezed in relief as the roaring black inferno faded, groaning as he pulled the tip of his blade from the ground and turning to look up at the Rath again. The beast seemed surprised that the hunters were still alive as it lowered itself towards the ground and settled back down to earth, but if anything the rage in its eyes only seemed to grow stronger as it growled menacingly at them.

However, as the beast clawed at the ground, preparing to charge, York leapt out from behind Levin, pulling several gleaming metallic objects from his pouch. With a snap of his arm, the hunter threw the objects towards the wyvern, and Levin realized that they were throwing knives. He hadn't really seen hunters use them before; the damage was negligible, and even if you coated them in paralysis or poison venoms, you were hardly able to get enough of the venom on them to really add much to a fight…

Some of the throwing knives bounced off the creature's thick scales, clattering to the ground uselessly, but several managed to wedge themselves into the beast's hide. The blades barely managed to pierce the creature's thick hide, but pierce it they did along the creature's shoulders and legs, and Levin could see the coating on the edges of the knives seeping into the creature's body. The Rath hardly seemed to notice or care about the attacks though, charging towards the hunters with fire welling up in its maw once more. Levin braced himself, preparing to leap to the side when the creature got close enough, but before the wyvern could reach them, the creature's charge grew uneven and the beast stumbled. With a wail of surprise, the Rath crashed into the ground, sliding to a halt and struggling to get back to its feet. Its efforts seemed futile though, as one of its wings was shaking quite badly and one of its legs wasn't moving at all.

Levin was shocked; he hadn't expected throwing knives to be that effective at all. He wasn't about to ignore the opportunity to attack, however, and charged the Rath as it struggled on the ground, approaching the wyvern's head while York looped around to attack the beast's chest and belly. The monster saw them approaching and tried to twist its head around to fire jets of flame at them, but in its current state it could do little to aim properly, and Levin was quickly upon it, swinging his switch axe down onto the creature's black-plated skull.

The Rath winced back as the switch axe user's blade clashed against its head, breaking scales and sending shards clattering to the ground while bolts of dragon element seared from the edge of the blade. However, though the creature was helpless, Levin felt like his attacks were doing nothing at all. The wyvern was wincing under the impacts of the blows, but wasn't receiving any real injuries, and the dragon element bolts jolting from his switch axe seemed to only be irritating the beast. From the sounds of York's cursing on the other side of the creature, it seemed like the dual sword user was having about as much luck as Levin was.

Cursing in irritation, Levin focused on the creature's eyes. No matter how tough the beast's plating was, its eyes would still be a weak point! Pulling his blade back, Levin prepared to thrust the blade into the wyvern's eye socket and activate the phial burst.

The creature's eye grew wide in realization, however. The Rath howled in fury, and there was a brilliant flash of blue light as the switch axe came down towards it. Levin winced from the sudden flare of light, but a moment later there was a loud clashing of steel, and the switch axe jolted in his hand, deflecting wildly as though Levin had just struck a boulder. The hunter nearly dropped his blade, but managed to stumble back, keeping his grip on the weapon. As the light receded, Levin realized that the Rath's skull had changed. Its scales and plating, formerly consisting almost entirely of red-tipped black scales, had grown as a swath of blue crystals sprouted up from between the gaps in the plating, coating the creature's skull in the bright materials.

The creature shook its head for a moment, before its eyes snapped back to Levin. The hunter leapt forward again, lashing out with his switch axe before the wyvern could recover, but again the weapon clashed against the bright blue crystal growths, hardly even scratching them. Flames blazed to life in the beast's throat, but rather than trying to twist its head and burn the hunter, the Rath's head pointed straight down, unleashing the flames straight onto the platform. Levin cursed, leaping backward and dashing away from the creature as a wave of fire spread of from under the wyvern. York had to pull back as well as the rush of flames swept past the wyvern legs, nipping at his heels as he fled from the creature.

Levin pulled back a good thirty yards from the Rath before turning to face the creature again. The effect of the paralysis seemed to have worn off by now, and the wyvern was pushing back upright before turning to glare furiously between the two hunters. As Levin braced himself for an attack, he spotted some motion along the monster's legs: underneath the beast, more of the bright crystals were sprouting from the beast's body, this time from between the gaps in the scales that lined the Rath's chest, where York had been attacking the beast. The wounds were quickly covered by the new plating, guarding the legs and chest with an entirely new layer of defense.

"Watch out for those crystals!" Levin called out as he carefully approached the wyvern again. "They're hellishly hard! It's like trying to attack a steel wall!"

"Yeah, I know!" York called back.

As the Rath turned towards the hunters again though, there was something different. If the Rath's eyes had been red with fury before, they were positively blazing now. Jets of flame gusted from the creature's gullet with each breath it took, but strangely enough, the fire had changed from dragon element to a bright blue flame. It didn't seem to just be fire either, as each burst of blue flame seemed… charged, with sparks dancing along the Rath's fangs.

"Electricity too?" Levin moaned as the creature began to stride towards them. Then the beast braced itself, rearing its head back and inhaling deeply. As strange and unique as this Rath was, Levin could recognize that the wyvern was preparing a roar. Levin braced himself for the sound, preparing to charge the monster as soon as the sound began to die away.

However, as the Rath's head snapped forward, the creature did not unleash the bellowing roar that he'd always heard Rathians and even Rathalos use. The noise that erupted from the creature's mouth… Levin could only describe it as apocalyptic. The roar that tore from the Rath's gullet was so deep and penetrating that Levin felt his very heart trembling in his chest, and his breathing became ragged. His legs buckled underneath him, and the switch axe user toppled to the ground, the powerful roar continued to pound against his skull and chest, and he nearly passed out as his vision swam.

Thankfully, the Rath's roar began to fade only moments before Levin was sure that he'd lose consciousness, and the switch axe user was left gasping for breath as he steadied himself. The deep growling of the wyvern pulled his attention back to the core , and he forced himself back to his feet. As he looked back towards the creature though, he realized that York was in worse condition than he was. The dual blade wielder had been several yards closer to the Rath, and the power of the roar had hit him even harder than Levin, leaving York still struggling to push himself up from the floor. The Rath's eyes narrowed as its gaze landed on the recovering dual blade wielder, and blue flames and electricity began to well up in its maw.

Levin cursed, dashing forward and shouting at the wyvern before the creature could try and attack the downed hunter. The Rath balked a bit at the head-first charge, but as Levin swung his switch axe from its sling, the beast's eyes narrowed, and it padded the ground with its talons as it growled viciously at him. Levin quickly curved to the side, trying to make it look as though he was attempting to flank the wyvern so the creature would turn away from York's direction.

Before the beast even started to turn though, the crystals on its head began to glow. The Rath reared its head back for a moment, and the light flared even brighter. Then the creature's head snapped forwards, and the Rath clashed its fangs together, unleashing a short burst of light. Levin braced himself to leap out of the way of whatever was coming… but nothing came. Levin paused where he stood, surprised. He'd expected more from that sort of buildup, even something as simple as a blinding light like the Gobul could release, but the flash hadn't even been that bright…

"Below you!"

Levin's eye darted towards York's voice, spotting that the dual sword user had managed to push himself to his feet, before he turned his gaze towards his own feet. He realized that the obsidian under him was… glowing. No, that wasn't right. Rather, there seemed to be an orb of nearly white light hovering just an inch off the ground between his feet. And the orb was growing brighter! Levin cursed, leaping away from the orb, but was blasted across the platform as the orb detonated, erupting in a burst of pale blue and white light. The blast wasn't large, creating a sphere of light a few small yards wide, but the force of the small burst of light was more than enough to throw Levin a good half-dozen yards through the air before he crashed to the ground, his switch axe falling from his grip and clattering away from him.

Levin hissed in pain as he struggled to push himself to his feet. Damn it, that had hurt! What the hell kind of attack was that? How had that orb gotten under his feet? He hadn't seen the Rath launch it at him or anything! And that blast… how could something so small hit so hard? His body felt singed by that searing light, and he could see the smoke streaming from the plating on his back. As he pushed himself to his feet though, there was another small burst of light as the Rath snapped its teeth together again. Levin cursed, glancing down; sure enough, another of the small orbs of light had appeared under him. The hunter scrambled up, dashing away from the orb as quickly as he could, and a moment later there was a flash from behind him and a short wave of heat as the orb burst, creating a condensed explosion of light behind him. The hunter leapt towards his switch axe, grabbing the blade by the hilt and swinging it back into his sheath as he ran around the beast.

As the creature focused on Levin, York rushed to beast from the side, lashing out at the monster's throat with his dual swords. The creature's reaction was nearly instantaneous, however, and a flash of light swelled over the creatures skull as more of the bright blue crystals crawled over its body, deflecting the dual blades like a club against a steel wall. York cursed as his swords bounced off uselessly, and was forced to leap back as the Rath swept back, leaping into the air and swiping its long, spiked tail at him in an aerial backflip.

The dual blade wielder staggered back, trying to put some more distance between himself and the creature, but even as he did so, the crystals sprouting from the wyvern's wings began to glow brilliantly, and with a flap of its wings, the glow burst forth as nearly a dozen orbs of energy shot out from the crystals. York cursed, leaping away as the beams smashed into the obsidian around him and detonated in a wave of concussive blasts that sent the dual blade wielder skidding across the platform.

The switch axe user quickly moved in, trying to pull the creature's attention so York could recover, but the wyvern hissed venomously at him, snapping its fangs together several times in quick succession. Levin cursed, sliding to a halt and looking down, where several more of the small orbs of light had appeared below him. He quickly dodged away from the closest one, but the sheer number of them was overwhelming, and as the orbs detonated, the blasts buffeted Levin from nearly all sides, throwing him across the platform and tumbling over the obsidian. Levin groaned in pain as he pushed back to his feet, receiving a hand as York appeared next to him and helped him up.

"Don't suppose you have any advice on how to deal with these beams of light, do you?" the dual blade wielder asked as the Rath slowly began to hover towards them. "You were talking all about crystals and crap like that earlier. Is this something else you've seen?"

"No… this is all new to me," Levin admitted. "I was hoping you'd know something about all that."

"That figures… What kind of Rath grows crystals and shoots beams of blue light?"

"I couldn't tell you…"

The hunters were forced to halt their conversation as the Rath abruptly twisted in the air, swooping down into a low dive. The pair dove out of the way as the creature rushed past, but both were caught off guard when the creature lowered its head, allowing its chin to clip the ground. However, rather than smashing into the dirt as Levin had suspected, the wyvern's chin spike pierced into the obsidian like it was nothing at all, tearing a wide winding gash into the platform. Levin cursed in pain as shards of stone smashed into his back, throwing him to the ground once again as the Rath completed its pass and lifted into the air again.

Before the Rath could get too high though, York darted forward, lashing out at the beast's tail with his dual swords. There were some sparks as the blades clashed against the beast's scales, but none of the blows seemed to be breaking through the thick plating, doing little more than cracking a few of the weaker ones. The Rath howled furiously, dipping in the air and clawing at the white-robed hunter, but the man ducked out of the way, before striking out at the creature's feet, though with as little success as he'd had against the wyvern's tail. The Rath bellowed in anger, lifting itself further into the air and out of the dual sword user's reach as blue flames and voltage began to well up in the back of its throat. York cursed, pulling away from the beast, but almost immediately the blaze roared from the creature's maw as the Rath unleashed a barrage of half a dozen fireballs. The dual blade wielder managed to avoid the blasts of the first few, but cried out in pain as the next couple got too close, and the blasts threw him flying across the platform, singed and sparking from the fireballs fire and electricity.

Though the flames in the wyvern's mouth faded away after the attack, the anger in the creature's eyes only grew more fiery. The Rath core inhaled deeply for a moment before unleashing yet another catastrophic roar. Even though he knew it was coming, the power of the roar shook Levin down to his core, staggering him and forcing him to his knees, clutching his skull. Even the ground under him was shivering from the force, making stones and debris clatter around the obsidian.

As the creature's second devastating roar began to die away, Levin realized that the Rath's appearance was starting to shift once more. Though the bright blue crystals lining the beast's wings and tail were already glowing, more of the scales along the creature's body were starting to flare to life as well, especially the red-tipped spikes that trailed down the wyvern's spine and the talons at the tips of the beast's feet. Both were beginning to glow a sinister red, as though they were growing hot like magma. Its wings were undergoing a similar change as well, the scales beginning to glow with a crimson aura, and each motion of the wings released a wave of hissing black-and-red miasma around it, blackening the ground wherever it touched. And to top it all off, the beast's eyes, already glowing a hateful red, had flared even brighter, and now the beast looked as though its eyes were literal flames, two orbs burning hot in the creature's skull.

More flames began to well up in the creature's maw as it glanced between them, and Levin prepared to dive out of the way. However, the Rath's skull began to shiver, and as the flames coagulated in the back of the creature's throat, Levin realized that the flames were welling up with such heat and intensity that the very air around the core's head was beginning to shimmer. Then the Rath's head snapped forward. What tore from the Rath's maw was not a fireball, however, but a wide, devastating beam of pure blue energy. Levin didn't even have time to think before the heavy laser tore from the creature's throat, smashing into the stone platform hardly a dozen feet to his right, blasting through the obsidian like it was nothing.

Levin yelped in horror, jumping backwards as the wyvern turned its head and the beam ripped through the ground in front of him, raising up a wave of flame before him. He felt the very earth below him shift as the energy tore through the ground, and was nearly knocked off his feet by the sheer force of the eruption. The Rath swept its head to the side, swinging the beam towards where York stood as well, the beam punching into the ground and leaving a searing line in the tower top. The dual sword user was forced to dodge away as well or be caught up in the raging inferno.

A moment later the beam of energy finally died away, the lingering trails of flame dying away in the back of the Rath's throat, but the few moments it had taken the Rath core to attack had left a swath of devastation across the top of the obsidian structure. Levin and York braced themselves for whatever the wyvern would do next, preparing to rush forward if the chance appeared. However, before either side could do anything, Levin yelped in surprise as the platform under him suddenly shifted. The world seemed to drop out from beneath him, and stone smashed against stone as the whole thing jolted to a halt a moment later. Levin hurriedly looked around, trying to figure out what had happened, before he saw that the section of the platform he stood on seemed to have slid a little off the side. There was a deep, rough grinding sound, and his foothold began to shift again, and the chunk of platform he stood on began to slide backwards.

Levin realized what the Rath had done now, though he could hardly believe it: the beam that the creature had let loose had been so powerful that it had sheared completely through the platform, severing an entire crescent-shaped section of the stone from the top of the tower. And Levin and York were still standing on that section! The Rath growled viciously as it hovered into the air, before it ceased its flapping and dropped to the ground, smashing down onto the platform with such force that the pale stone shattered like glass, and the earth under Levin shook violently.

The creature's weight had done what the Rath intended though, and the severed chunk of stone began to slide downwards, slipping over the side of the platform. Levin immediately leapt forward, dashing to get off of the sliding section, but already the thickest part of the chunk had slid over the side, and the slab was beginning to tilt upwards. Levin scrambled up the ever-rising chunk, leaping over the edge and onto solid ground once more before the slab fell over the side, plummeting to the ground below.

Levin didn't have time to catch his breath, however; the heat from the beam had left the severed remains of the platform glowing a dull orange beneath him, and he hissed in pain as heat seeped through his boots. As quickly as he could Levin dashed back up the glowing slope, before leaping back onto the relative safety of the obsidian platform. The safety wasn't to last though, as bright blue crystal flashed from the side as the Rath charged towards him, before snapping its tail around in an aerial backflip. Levin cried out in pain as the underside of the creature's tail slammed into him with a solid blow, flinging him across the obsidian before his shoulder slammed into the ground.

The switch axe user coughed in pain as he struggled to push himself to his feet. Somehow he'd managed to avoid being pierced by the spikes that lined the sides of the creature's tail, sparing himself the poison that likely tipped them, but that blow had hurt like hell! Even if the spikes hadn't punctured his armor, just the flat of the wyvern's tail had hit him harder than any attack the Alatreon had struck him with earlier. As he managed to push himself to his knees, his attention snapped back to the Rath as the creature howled at him, before beating its wings and lunging through the air, aiming its talons for the hunter.

There was a flash of white from the side however, and before the Rath's talons could punch through his armor, York crashed into Levin, dragging him out of the creature's way before the wyvern slammed into the ground. The creature's momentum kept it going, however, and the beast howled in surprise as it slid over the obsidian towards the far side of the platform, rushing through the overhanging vines and nearly crashing into the interior wall.

"Thanks," Levin grunted, pushing himself upright.

"Don't mention it," York replied, glancing back at the Rath. The wyvern had recovered, and was slowly working through the vines back towards the hunters. Both eyes were riveted on the hunters, the glow of fire deep in its maw as it readied itself to fire on them if they tried anything. "Alright, I admit, I was hoping to try and temporarily kill this thing so we could get away. Screw that though, we've got to run!"

"Don't need to tell me twice! Think we can make it to one of those tunnels?"

"Hmm… If it'll let us… Just making a mad dash seems like it wouldn't work…"

Levin glanced towards the narrow paths that lay on the far side of the structure, leading further into the interior of the tree. The Rath was between them and the tunnels, however, and seemed to notice his gaze, growling low under its breath. The wyvern paused where it stood and widened its wings, as though showing that it was not going to let them pass. The hunters were nearly on the far side of platform from the far wall, and with the Rath core between them and escape, the tunnels felt a long way away…

"We'll need to find an opening to escape… or make one," Levin muttered.

"Yeah, easier said than done. You said I can't use smoke bombs against it, remember? You've got flash bombs; think you can blind it?"

"Yeah, if I get a chance. But I can't count the number of times I've blinded a Rath with a flash bomb! If this core's got as much experience as the Alatreon said, there's no way it wouldn't be able to see something like that coming and try to stop me. I've seen Raths that could shoot flash bombs out of the air before they went off, so even if I used one of Harker's I'd need a clear shot without a chance of it countering me…"

"You just keep making this harder and harder, don't you?"

"File your complaints with the Rath core, not with me!"

"Right, just ask it politely if it would ease up on us a little…"

"...Actually, now that I think about it, that's probably a tactic nobody's ever used on a Rathian or Rathalos before. It might confuse the thing for a second or two…"

"Please tell me you're joking."

"...Mostly. Rathians have been known to be amicable every now and then."

"And do you really think this is going to be one of those Raths?"

Levin glanced towards the wyvern. Its eyes were still glowing red in fury, and sparks of electricity were jumping along its fangs as each breath it took sent a gust of flame shooting from its mouth.

"Eh… no, not really."

The hunters braced themselves as the Rath core began to stride towards them again, more slowly this time, however. Despite the creature's rage, the wyvern seemed focused on keeping them from running, no matter what. Levin and York looked at each other cautiously before slowly moving in different directions, working their way into flanking positions around the beast. The Rath snapped its head back and forth between them, but appeared to be bracing itself waiting for them. Levin found his hand drifting towards his item pouch. How quickly could he pull out the flash bomb and throw it?

However, the Rath caught sight of him, snapping its head in his direction, fire blazing in its maw. As the creature focused on him, York charged, sprinting towards the Rath's skull to try and attack it. The wyvern didn't seem to notice at all, but rather than launching a fireball towards Levin as he'd been expecting, the creature instead lifted up one of its legs, before slamming it down onto the obsidian.

The stone structure abruptly fractured under the blow. Wide cracks spider-webbed across the stone in a wide circle over thirty yards wide, and Levin was thrown onto his back as his foothold jolted under him. He heard York cry out in pain as the sudden upheaval smashed into him, throwing him backwards through the air before crashing back to the ground. Levin scrambled backwards, trying to get away from the uneven terrain. However, rather than chasing him, the Rath smashed its talons down again, breaking through the broken slab and clamping down onto the stone below. With a howl, the creature began to beat its wings furiously, and the entire chunk of broken stone began to shift. A deep, rippling fracture ripped up from below, and an enormous slab of stone was torn from the platform and pulled into the air by the Rath.

Then, in a single motion of extreme strength and mobility, the Rath backflipped in the air while holding the massive slab in its talons. At the top of the arc, the wyvern released the chunk of platform, hurling the mass into the air. Finally, as the Rath spun around, righting itself in the air, it cocked its head upwards, glowing blue flames tearing from it maw as it unleashed a massive fireball up towards the twisting slab, the burning orb striking the chunk directly in the center. There was a thunderous blast as the fireball detonated, blasting the slab to pieces and sending a rain of small chunks of stone plummeting down to the earth. Levin cursed, diving to the side as several boulders as big as him smashed onto the platform around him, cracking the pale stone under him and rolling past, toppling over the side of the platform. Several more came plummeting straight down, crashing into the ground and fracturing into even smaller pieces. York was quick enough to dodge out of the way of the falling debris, but Levin was forced to hold up his arms to defend his face as shrapnel fell on them, and could feel his armor denting under their force.

The Rath core wasn't done yet either. While still in the air, the creature twisted its body around in a wild spin, and dozens of spikes suddenly dislodged from the creature's body, plummeting towards the earth. Levin yelped in shock, leaping back as a thick black and red spear nearly punched into him, slamming into the platform in front of him with enough force to embed itself halfway into the stone. He could hear York cursing as the dual sword user did the same on the other side of the platform. But he couldn't afford to hold still, for even as the black spikes had struck the earth, dozens more glowing blue spikes were still falling, each of them seeming to have far less momentum than the black ones.

The glowing spikes struck the earth around him in a staccato of impacts, though thankfully they were widespread enough so that both he and York were able to dodge them without much effort. They all stuck into the platform just as the black ones had, but didn't have the speed or force to pierce the stone as the black spikes had. A moment later, the Rath reared back, and a vibrant blue light swelled up from deep in its gullet, but it wasn't fire that tore from the wyvern's mouth a moment later, nor did the beast even aim at them. Rather, the Rath unleashed a spray of at least a dozen glowing blue orbs of light which sailed up over it, arcing through the air before falling back to earth. They were slow-moving, and seemed to curve through the air on their own, reminding Levin of how Zinogres used insects to launch electricity and dragon element at their enemies.

Then Levin realized that the blue orbs were arcing towards the glowing crystals that were punctured into the platform. The switch axe user immediately leapt back from them, certain that whatever would happen when the two connected, it wouldn't be good. He was proven right a moment later when an orb connected with one of the spikes closest to the Rath. The bright crystalline spike seemed to absorb the energy from the orb, flashing brightly before detonating in a blast of white light. The rest of the orbs came down a moment later, and there was a staccato of explosions as each of the glowing blue spikes blasted to pieces in a wave of brilliant light, sending shards of the spikes flying in every direction. Levin hissed painfully as he pulled up his arm to block the spray of shards, letting them ricochet off the buckler on his arm.

Even as Levin and York struggled to recover from this attack, however, the Rath core's merciless onslaught of attacks continued. The miasma pouring off of the Rath's wings suddenly seemed to increase in volume, and a swell of dark mist filled the air around the wyvern. It was shockingly fast, how quickly the darkness seemed to swell up, and in a moment the creature was nearly completely obscured behind miasma. Then the fog swelled outwards, and both hunters winced as the dark haze washed over them in an instant, completely enveloping them in darkness.

"What the hell… York! Where are you?" Through the haze, Levin could hear a low growling rumbling across the platform, and Levin couldn't help but feel that the Rath could see them, even if they couldn't see it.

"I'm over here!" the white-robed hunter shouted back. Levin tried to follow the sound, but the miasma was so thick that he couldn't spot York at all. "Watch your back! It's probably going to attack through the haze! Brace yourself for-"

York's voice cut off, however, when the Rath suddenly howled viciously, and the sound of the creature's wings beating could be heard as the wyvern soared through the air over him. Levin braced himself fearfully, trying to follow the sound, but the beast seemed to be spiraling through the air above him, circling the pair of them at horrifying speeds. For several seconds, Levin's head spun left and right, hopelessly trying to follow the Rath's flight. Then he realized that the miasma around him was shifting, slowly growing less thick as a breeze began to cover the platform. Finally! Levin had feared that the Rath would have a clean shot at them, without either of them having the ability to see its attack coming. Already he thought he could make out York's outline nearby, and he was starting to make out the edges of the platform. If this breeze managed to blow away even a portion of the haze, then he and York might have a chance…

But now that Levin thought about it, he hadn't felt any wind since arriving in this 'realm of the dead', not a single breeze. The air had been, well, dead. Where was this breeze coming from then? It couldn't possibly be… Then he realized, as he watched the miasma around him, the dark mist wasn't just churning… it was spinning. The breeze around him was making the miasma spiral, twirling up into the air in a massive twister! And the wind was growing stronger!

There was a flash of movement through the haze, outside the haze of miasma, but it was gone before Levin could catch sight of it. Then there was another flash of motion, and another, and another. Finally, Levin managed to catch sight of it, and recognized the glowing scales and spikes of the Rath, and his fears were confirmed: the wyvern was circling the air around the platform, tearing through the air at speeds Levin would have thought impossible. The Rath was churning the air itself, forcing the miasma to spin into a tornado around them!

And the wind was growing worse! With each passing moment, the Rath's movements were changing the wind from a light breeze to raging gales, with enough force behind them that Levin was certain he would have been thrown off his feet if he wasn't carrying the weight of his switch axe and armor. There was a clash of metal, and Levin glanced over, realizing that York was losing the fight against the wind with his lighter armor and weapons, and had wedged one of his dual swords into the ground below him to keep from being blown off his feet.

Even with his heavier armor, however, Levin soon found the wind overwhelming him. The switch axe user stumbled towards the edge of the platform, where several thick vines were crawling over the side. He quickly reached down and grasped hold of one of the thicker ones, thankfully finding it to be one that wasn't weak or unstable. He was just in time as well, as the now howling winds were growing strong enough to drag his feet out from under him, forcing him to cling to the vines to keep from being dragged across the ground. The wind only got worse though, and soon Levin could feel his body being pulled into the air, and the white vines were the only things keeping him from being hurled into the air at the mercy of the twister. Looking up, Levin could only stare in horror at the sight: the Rath's power had created a spiraling black tornado of devastation.

But even then, the winds continued to grow stronger and wilder. The Rath was tearing through the air around the platform at speeds that Levin had thought impossible for any living creature, churning the gale faster and faster. All around him there were deep groans, and suddenly the very platform began to splinter apart. Loose slabs of rock and entire sheets of the white stone began to rise into the air, spiraling upwards into the tornado. Swaths of the white vines were ripped from the ground and walls, pulled into the vortex created and filling the sky with debris. Levin found himself clinging to the vines as his feet were pulled into the air, desperately hoping that they wouldn't snap or give out. York did the same clinging to the hilt of his sword, no doubt wishing that the rock that his blade was wedged in wouldn't break away like so much of the platform had already.

However, in a moment, it was suddenly over. The dark miasma swirling around them suddenly vanished, and the wind began to die away. Levin yelped in surprise as gravity suddenly returned and he fell to the ground, grunting as he landed on his chest. Groaning in pain, he quickly pushed himself upright, looking around for signs of the Rath. York was recovering as well, yanking his sword from the earth and holding it at the ready in case the creature reappeared. It couldn't have given up, not after so much build up…

A moment later though, a massive object dropped from the sky before crashing into the top of the platform with a terrible smash, and Levin stumbled backwards as small stones and shrapnel clattered away from the impact zone. As the dust settled, the switch axe user realized that what had fallen from above had been a part of the platform itself, a wide slab of the white stone that had been ripped from the earth by the force of the Rath's wind and carried skyward. But then, if one stone had fallen back down on them…

Looking up, Levin felt his breath hitch in his throat. Dozens of slabs, of equal or greater size, were falling towards the platform, spinning through the air as pieces broke off of them. The hunter yelped and scrambled back as one such slab struck the earth not ten yards in front of him, fracturing into hundreds of pieces and throwing shrapnel and stones in every direction, and the hunter just barely managed to dodge two stones the size of his head that shot past him across the platform. Off to the side, Levin could see York dashing out of the way as another pair of the slabs crashed into the ground near him, practically detonating with the force that they struck the ground and sending debris chasing after him across the ground.

Even as more of the slabs plummeted towards them, however, they weren't the most horrifying sight in the sky. High in the air, above all the broken pieces of the platform, was the Rath. The creature had taken on a near demonic form now, appearing to have pulled into the miasma it had released around itself, swelling across its body like black flames. The dark aura swelled across its body, with only the blood red spikes and bright blue crystals shining through the haze, as well the glow of its burning red eyes. With a terrible roar and a beat of its wings, the wyvern dropped, shooting straight downwards and tearing towards them like a meteor.

The creature's speed was terrifying. Already it was passing by the highest of the platform slabs, and only seemed to be picking up speed as it dropped. Levin realized that the creature wasn't intending to sweep over them or anything, but planned to crash into the platform itself! Levin didn't dare guess what the true purpose of the miasma was, but if it was able to add any power to the creature's attacks like Levin feared, the impact would likely destroy the entire platform, with Levin and York along with it!

"Close your eyes!" Levin shouted, reaching into his pouch. He fished around for a moment before finding what he was looking for: Harker's flash bomb. If there was a time to use this, it was now! "Use your arms to cover your face too!"

"Isn't that a little too-"

"Just do it!" Levin bellowed. With a quick motion, he pulled the pin on the bomb and hurled it straight up towards the oncoming Rath, only fifty yards above them, before throwing himself to the ground and covering his face, squeezing his eyes shut as tight as he could.

There was a flash of light that still made it into his eyes, despite his precautions. He could hear York slinging curses nearby, but more importantly he could hear the Rath above them screech in surprise and pain. Levin quickly opened his eyes and pushed himself into a kneeling position, staring up into the air, fighting through the spots in his eyes to try and figure out whether the flash bomb had worked.

The Rath was flailing wildly in the air, rapidly losing control of its flight. The creature beat its arms desperately, trying to balance itself out in the air, but its panic was throwing it off balance. With a shriek, the Rath began tumbling through the air, a twisting mass trailing a stream of black miasma behind it. There was no way for the beast to possibly slow down in time, but its momentum was still carrying it straight towards the two hunters.

Levin cursed loudly, turning and dashing towards the edge of the platform. York was still stumbling around, a blade in one hand with the other near his face as he blinked repeatedly, trying to recover his vision. Levin grabbed his arm as he ran past, dragging the dual sword wielder along behind him, ignoring the curses and confused shouting as he hurried to get out of the way. Reaching the edge, Levin spared only a moment to look down before dragging York over the side, falling a few feet down onto a thick root that wound around the side of the platform. York stumbled from the fall, but Levin dragged both of them prone, bracing himself for impact.

There was an earth-rending crunch as the Rath came smashing down, punching into the top of the platform like a meteor. A shockwave rocketed over the two hunters as chunks of the stone were ripped apart and sent flying over their heads, sailing over the edge and plummeting towards the earth below. Levin winced as wave of heat and dark miasma followed close behind, shooting over their heads and out into the sky. The flames and darkness continued to blaze over them for some time, before finally beginning to die away. The miasma slowly began to dissipate into the air as well, floating upwards and fanning out into nothingness. The rumbling and crumbling on the platform began to grow quieter as well, until finally it was quiet enough for Levin to dare trying to get up from the ground.

"Damn it, that was loud!" York muttered, blinking and squinting as he tried to see through his lingering blindness. "It crashed, right? Is it dead?"

"Hold on, I don't know… let me check," Levin replied, glancing over the edge of the platform. The Rath certainly wasn't moving, that was for sure, and the creature was a mess of limbs covered in broken chunks of rock, right at the center of a wide crater the wyvern had created upon impact. It looked like the attack had killed it for a moment, but there was still a lingering haze of miasma covering the beast, so Levin couldn't be certain.

However, a moment later, there was a low groaning sound. The rubble began to shift, and the red and blue crystals along the wyvern's body flared back to life once more as the beast slowly pushed itself back to its feet, shaking its head. The haze that coated the creature's body faded away, but the wyvern's eyes flared to life again, blazing back to the hateful red.

"Crap…" Levin muttered.

"It's still alive, isn't it?" York sighed. "Great… and now I'm blind, too."

As the beast stood up though, rather than howling in fury, the beast's head spun around awkwardly, its eyes snapping around without rhyme or reason. Strained, confused growls burst from the creature's throat, and it began to flail around wildly, flames licking at its lips as jets of flame shot from its maw without aim. The beast took to the air, pushing itself backwards, but hovering a safe distance from the ground. However, it's flight carried it back just far enough that the tips of its wings smacked against the wall, and the shock from the sudden impact made the creature lose its balance and plummet down, smacking into the platform again.

"What the hell is it doing?" York hissed. "I can hear it, but… is it doing some new attack?"

"I think… I think it's still blind!" Levin replied. "Come on, now's our chance to run!"

"I'd love to and all, but I can't see anything either, you know!"

"Do you really want to sit around and wait for it to get its eyesight back too?"

"Fine! Whatever. Just get me out of here!"

Levin grabbed hold of York's shoulder, pulling the dual blade wielder along as the two of them crept their way back towards the top of the structure. Peeking over the edge, Levin searched for some way away from this creature. There were a couple paths that cut into the core of the tree, but Levin couldn't guess where they went. What if one was a dead end? How would he know? But he didn't really have much time to pick right now, and immediately chose the closest one. He and York just needed to survive right now, and getting away from the Rath as quickly as possible was the best way to do that.

He could see the Rath still struggling to figure out where they were though. Its head was snapping back and forth at any sounds it heard, its blue fire blazing within its maw, but the devastation the creature had wrought onto the tower had left a lot of the obsidian structure crumbling apart, and every shifting stone and clattering pebble earned a jet of flame from the creature's mouth, trying to pinpoint the hunters' location.

Grumbling under his breath, Levin reached down, plucking a stone from the ground next to him. Looking over the edge of the platform, he hurled the stone away towards the far side of the obsidian. For a moment the Rath's head snapped in his direction at the sound of his armor clinking together, but as the stone hit the platform, creating a loud crack before rolling over the dark stone, the creature's attention shot back to that, and flame erupted from its maw as it unleashed a fireball towards the clattering. The fireball sailed over the platform until it struck the obsidian, barely a yard away from where the stone had struck the ground. There was a thunderous explosion as the fiery orb detonated, erupting in a blaze of blue fire and crackling electricity.

The roar of the blast was their chance. "Now!" Levin hissed. "Let's go!"

Pulling York over the edge of the platform, the two began to sprint for the far end of the platform, where the obsidian met with the trunk of the tree once more. The pathway into the core of the tree opened up there, wide enough for the hunters to run through, but far too narrow for the wyvern to follow. They couldn't run full speed, unfortunately; York's vision hadn't fully returned yet, and he needed to step cautiously to avoid tripping. Thankfully, the clattering debris from the Rath's fireball was still holding the beast's attention, and it hadn't yet heard their scurry to safety yet.

They nearly made it the tunnel without incident, but as the rumbling from the blast began to settle, the creature's head cocked to the side at the sound of Levin's clanking armor. With a howl of rage, the creature snapped around, fire welling up in its maw as it fired a jet of flame at the hunters, though its aim was off and the wave of fire roared only a few feet behind them. York cursed as the wave of heat washed past them, and ignored his blindness to dash faster, risking tripping in exchange for escaping. The Rath bellowed furiously upon realizing it really was them, and began unleashing more fireballs towards them and slinging spikes in their direction as well. The wyvern's aim was devilishly accurate, the spikes and flames nearly hitting the hunters numerous times, but narrowly missing enough for the two of them to escape unscathed.

With fireballs and spikes crashing into the walls on each side of them, the two hunters dashed into the tunnel they'd run towards. Almost immediately, the path in front of them sloped upwards in a sharp incline several dozen yards high, and both men were forced to slow down and scramble up the side. Behind them, they could still hear the Rath bellowing in fury, and the creature's lumbering footsteps echoed as it charged after them, apparently realizing where they had gone through its blindness. There was a loud smash and a cry of pain a moment later however, and the earth shook under the hunters as the beast smashed into the wall near the entrance, nearly making them fall down the slope.

They managed to keep their footholds though, and continued climbing the slope away from the Rath core. The sound of the creature struggling behind them could be heard, and then the Rath's howls became suddenly clearer. Levin spared a glance backwards, realizing that the wyvern had managed to wedge its head into the narrow opening of the tunnel, and though its eyes were unfocused, it still knew the hunters were there. Fire began to well up in the creature's maw, and Levin cursed fearfully.

"Go! Run faster!"

"Easy for you to say!" York snapped back, but picked up the pace as he scrambled up the slope.

Sure enough, a moment later, the Rath unleashed a wave of flame from its maw, which smashed into the slope and raced up the side after the hunters. The pair rushed to reach the top as the flames churned through the tunnel behind them, leaping over the upper ledge just before the blaze roared through the air behind them, crashing into the ceiling and filling the air above the two hunter. Levin found himself gasping for air as the oxygen in the room all but vanished under the flames, until finally the inferno faded, and all that remained was heat and some smoke. The two hunters were left prone on the ground, coughing and gasping for air as the smoke swept away and air returned to the tunnel, until finally the air was clear enough for them to breath and push themselves back up.

"Go now!" Levin hissed quietly. "And stay low!"

York nodded as he pushed himself up to a crouch. Levin noted that the man was blinking fitfully, meaning he was probably getting his vision back. By now the man was likely starting to make out basic shapes, though it would still be a few minutes before his vision was acceptable… Levin groaned a bit to himself, wishing he hadn't blinded enough people using Harker's flash bombs to recognize those kind of signs by now.

The two hunters crept along the ground, listening to the Rath's grunt and howls behind them. Every now and then, there would be a rumble from behind them as the creature unleashed another wave of fire into the tunnel, trying to cook them, but soon the pair were out of range of the creature, and the moment they were they began sprinting away from the beast. Soon the creature's howls changed from uncertainty to anger and frustration. It seemed to have realized that the hunters had escaped. Levin could feel the earth shaking under him as the creature raged, but he ignored it, continuing to run from the Rath.

The hunters continued to run for more than half an hour, listening as the howls of the Rath steadily grew more muted the further they got from the beast. It seemed that the wyvern truly wasn't able to follow them, and they had truly managed to escape. Finally, Levin and York allowed themselves to stop, panting for air. The area around them was quiet; they had finally gotten far enough away from the creature that they could no longer hear the roaring of the beast, and the pair allowed themselves a moment to relax. The two hunters found their way into a small hollow in the tunnel, a dark nook where they could sit down and recover.

As they strode in, Levin couldn't help but feel that something was amiss… He felt like there was something pulling at him, trying to draw him in. But he brushed it off for the moment. This entire realm left him constantly feeling strange. He supposed it was just a side effect in being in the underworld, or whatever… Geez, the Alatreon was right: there really were a lot of unnecessary names for the afterlife.

"Damn it! What the hell was with that thing?" York groaned, leaning against the wall and taking a pull of water from his canteen. "I can't even count the number of Rathians and Rathalos that I've hunted over the years, and I've never met one that fast and powerful! Those spikes, that miasma, those crystals… And that roar…"

"I guess the Alatreon was right…" Levin muttered, sitting down on a rock and fishing through his own satchel for rations. "If that monster is the… the 'core' of all Rath souls, then it should have all the knowledge and skills of every Rathalos and Rathian that ever existed. That core probably has the experience of billions of battles against hunters. Mercy, we never stood a chance!"

"Damn it… of all monsters, I never imagined I'd be outdone by a Rath… After all of that, I don't think I'll want to visit another tower again either. But what the hell was that thing you threw at it? I've never seen a flash bomb so blinding! I've still got spots in my eye!"

"Something a friend of mine made. I keep one or two on me in case of emergencies… Really big emergencies, trust me. I knew it was coming and I still can't see that well, either. One of these could probably blind a Gigginox, and they don't even have eyes."

"Somehow, I can believe that," York huffed. "No wonder you wanted to dig that out of those blue crystals… Remind me to ask for the blueprints for those later."

"Don't look at me. I don't know how to make them," Levin replied, waving his hand. "I'm no alchemist. I've seen what happens if you mess up while combining materials, and I leave it to the people that are crazy enough to try. I like not having holes in the walls of my house."

"It's not that hard," York shrugged. "I do it all the time. Not that Rose appreciates it…"

"You don't know the people I know," Levin replied. "So how long do you want to rest before moving out again?"

York shrugged, leaning against the wall and closing his eyes. "I could use an hour or two. That was a nasty fight… I don't think we even managed to hurt it for all the hell that battle was."

"It probably took more damage from hitting the ground there at the end than we ever dealt to it," Levin agreed.

"No kidding… Yeah, let's try and recover a bit more before moving out again. If that's the kind of monster the rest of the cores we might run across end up being like, we'll both need to be at the top of our game just to survive, and I don't want to use up any potions before I need to. How many of those flash bombs do you have left?"

"Two," Levin muttered, glancing into his pouch.

"So if we're lucky, we won't run into more than that many cores between here and the top of the tree."

"That's a big 'if'. I've never been very lucky, York."

"Yeah, neither have I," the dual blade wielder sighed. "Why else would we get stuck in the realm of the dead? Damn it, I could use some of Hugh's insane luck right now…"

"Hmm… What if we run into a Gigginox core? I was joking earlier when I said one of these could blind one of them."

York groaned in dismay, rubbing his hands across his face. "Please don't say things like that, Levin. The last thing we need right now is for one of us to start tempting fate…"

"Yeah, yeah. We'll just need to make sure that we keep an eye out for paths where larger monsters can't follow us."

"This tunnel is pretty narrow," York noted, looking around. "We'll have to keep watch for more tunnels like this as we keep ascending this tree. Anything much larger than a Royal Ludroth shouldn't be able to fit through here, and all the inclines should keep the worst of them away."

"Worse comes to worse, at least we can run away if things get rough," Levin replied. "As long as we can do that much, we should be able to survive."

"Hm. Man, running's never really been my style. But between your flash bombs and my smoke bombs, there shouldn't be any monsters out there that we can't at least-"

"Levin? York? Is that you?"

The two hunters froze at the voice, and Levin's eyes widened in shock. The voice sounded human, but it was distorted and uneven, as though hundreds… thousands… countless voices were trying to speak all at once, through a single mouth. Five simple words sounded twisted and uneven, a distorted cacophony of noise. And yet, he could understand them perfectly. Underneath the twisted words, Levin could just barely make out a single voice, a single inflection of tone among the countless others that sounded… heart-wrenchingly familiar. Both of them leapt back to their feet, searching for the source of the voice, and their attentions were immediately called to a small overhang, a wide nook that curved up into the side of one of the thick white roots. A shadowy, humanoid shape was crawling out of the darkness with a low, unsteady gait, as though it couldn't quite figure out how to walk. As its motions carried it out from the shadows and into the light, Levin realized that it was, in fact, human, though just to gaze upon it was horribly disconcerting.

A flickering haze seemed to coat the thing's body, shifting and changing with each passing moment, and Levin realized that, if he was quick enough, he could see that it was clothing, repeatedly taking shape as a shirt or cloak or dress, before changing the next moment into something different. Rarely, the haze would shift into armor, sometimes new and gleaming, more frequently old and damaged, but the covering was rarely visible long enough to spot details, only a vague idea.

The 'human's' body was… unremarkable, though its complete indistinction was unsettling. It was neither tall nor short, fat nor thin, muscular nor weak; there was no hair though, not a single strand grew from this thing's body. But its skin tone seemed to shift like the mixing of dyes, coloring itself in every possible pigment, one moment shockingly pale, the next a resonant black, and often the skin was covered with a myriad of hues, none of them dominant over the others. The most unsettling thing about the 'human' was the face, however. The face was much like the skin and clothing, shifting and changing with each passing second, back and forth just as quickly as the rest of the body. It was a blur of shapes and expressions, moving so quickly that, without a careful eye, it seemed little more than a simple, smooth face, empty of emotion or thought. But at the same time, every once in a while, something within the shifting face seemed… familiar, like a memory half-forgotten and just on the edge of recollection.

The eyes though… the eyes were the only thing that stood out. They were shifting back and forth between only two colors: a golden yellow, and a dark hazel. The eyes were staring directly at Levin, though Levin couldn't help but feel that, within the shifting expression, were the eyes also focusing on York as well? The 'human's' gaze seemed entirely focused on him, and yet… he couldn't help but feel that the thing was somehow looking at both of them with the same intensity, at the same time.

"Is this… is this the human core?" York whispered next to him, taking a step back. Levin could tell that the man was just as unsettled as he was, and wondered what the dual sword user was seeing.

"It has to be…" Levin replied, taking a step back. The words of the Alatreon still hung in his mind; the slightest touch from the core had the chance of pulling his soul out of his body! Or not… the Alatreon had been clear in its uncertainty about the whole situation. But just looking at the core now, all shifting and vague like a spectre, Levin definitely didn't want to risk it.

"We should probably run," York said quickly, motioning back to the path curving onwards through the interior of the tree. Levin nodded in agreement, and the pair of them quickly turned to run away from the core before-

"Wait. Don't go."

The two of them froze where they stood at the words. Again, again amidst the hundreds of voices that the human core seemed to be speaking with, Levin could swear that he heard a painfully familiar voice among the rest, one that called out to him from his memory. He could hear a pleading tone, and the words the core spoke seemed to have some power to them. Every syllable resonated inside of Levin, forcing him to stop at the core's request, and deep inside he could feel something tugging at him, calling for him, urging him to turn back. Was this the 'call' of the human core? Was his soul resonating with the deceased, now that they were so close? Or was it… something else?

"Turn around. Let us see your faces."

Again, he could hear the pleading over the horrible cacophony of the voice, and once again Levin couldn't help but obey. He felt as though he had to, he absolutely needed to. York, standing next to him, turned as well, under the same spell as him, and both of them were shocked to find that the core was right in front of them, within arm's length. It was staring at Levin intently, and once again, he couldn't help but feel that, though the eyes were boring directly into his, they were staring just as intently at York. Levin wasn't sure how long the flickering eyes stared into his; all he knew was that he couldn't… wouldn't dare move until the core was finished. Finally though, the core's intent gaze lowered, and the expression on its face relaxed.

"Look at you," the core said gently. "You've gone through so much. You accomplished such dreadful tasks. You have undergone such pain and hardship. How you came to be here in the manner you did, we do not know, but it's all over now, and you can finally, truly rest."

With that, the core began to reach its hands towards Levin and York's faces. Levin flinched, leaning back, but found that he still couldn't step away. The core looked at him curiously and paused.

"Wait…" he moaned, struggling against the pull of the core. "Don't do this… I have to get back to Ellie…"

"I'm not dead!" York hissed through his teeth. Levin could see out of the corner of his eye that the other man was trying just as hard as he was to pull away, but was having just as much success. "I haven't died! I'm not… not supposed to…"

But the core smiled gently at them. "Be at peace. Such is the way of the world. You will enter a new existence, leaving all else behind… and the world will continue to spin."

With that, the core extended its arms fully, and its hands brushed against the cheeks of the hunters. For a moment, Levin felt the warmth in them, the gentle caress of the display. But before he could dare to hope that the Alatreon had been wrong about the core, that he and York had nothing to fear from the humanoid existence, and sharp sting of terrible cold ripped through his body. His eye widened in horror as the feeling swept through him, and in a moment he felt as though he was being ripped out of his own body. He couldn't even manage to scream; his voice refused to obey him, and he could feel control of other parts of his body fading as he felt more and more of his… soul be pulled into the core.

At the same time, visions flashed through his mind, flickers of places he'd never been or seen before. Haunting voices, some familiar, most not, whispered in his skull, calling out to him. They came in a wave, countless numbers of them sweeping over him and across him all at once. It was too much! Far too much for him to handle or understand! A wave of feelings, thoughts, sounds, smells, ideas, and desires crashed into him, overwhelming him. His mind couldn't handle it, not while trying to keep himself from being pulled in, and in horror, he felt himself pulled out of his body and into the core. He found himself tumbling through the din, the nonsensical typhoon of visions that the core was pushing into his mind. He could barely feel the smallest connection with his body anymore; only a tendril of feeling remained, the barest feeling of the core's hand and fingers against his face, but even that was like a ghost of a feeling.

There was something else though… something small and nearly impossible to make out. Something was pulling at him, some small memory. It was that familiar voice again, the one he could just barely hear in the core's voice before he'd been pulled it. It cried out to him, urging him to follow, to listen, to focus.

Amidst the chaos, Levin did as he was told, and focused on the voice, trying to pick it out amid the cacophony of the core. As he did, the voice became more focused, and the noise around him grew dim. The visions began to fade as well, the relentless wave of visions easing away. There was still some distortion, but as Levin tried to make sense of it all, the voice he heard grew stronger and clearer, and the tugging at his memory grew stronger. He knew that voice! He recognized the tone, the kindness, the familiarity…

"…Mom?"

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York, Rose, and Wes belong to Thomas A. Hawk

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Author's Note: Please Review! With the upcoming release of 4U, there's been a fire lit under me to finish this story as soon as I can, so I can get working on the sequel properly!

Is it wrong of me to want to name my monster? I'm rather fond of calling it the Resplendent Rathian (or Rathalos, if you prefer). There were a lot of tricks the monster used in the fight that I took from other fights. Some of you may recognize the 'flame wave' from Hawk's "The Master Corps" story, but most of the other attacks were nasty techniques from Frontier monsters, such as the Zerureusu (Rathalos subspecies) and the Unknown Black Wyvern (Rathian subspecies). But trying to base the Rath on creatures from those games made this chapter a trick to edit, I'll tell you that much. If I tried to show off the full range of what the Rath species was capable of across all generations of games, this chapter could have easily gotten up to 30k words long, and that's way too much. So I cut it down, making it an effective curb-stomping, while still having the Rath core throw all sorts of attacks at the hunters. This is more along the lines of what the Alatreon battle in the last chapter would have been if the elder dragon had actually been trying to kill them.

Also, it is one of my greatest regrets, upon the completion of this chapter, is that I have only now discovered the Frontier monster called the Dhisufiroa, which is to the Alatreon what the Zerureusu is to the Rathalos and the Unknown Black Wyvern is to the Rathian. Not to mention its appearance seems similar to something that's coming up later in the story…

So, since I've been watching 4G livestreams almost constantly since it came out in Japan, I've kind of been planning what I'm going to do with myself once 4U releases here. The standard fare of course: which weapons to use, what items to collect, and of course, what armors and armor skills to look for. One set that caught my eye belongs to one of my favorite weapons, the sword and shield. Personally, I like playing a support role as SNS, slinging Lifepowders left and right and bringing materials for more. But there's a setup in 4U that intrigues me greatly: getting a set with Wide-Range +2 and a new ability called Mushroom Lover. Mushroom Lover turns certain shrooms into potions, armor/power seeds, nutrients, energy drinks, and most dramatically, ANCIENT POTIONS. I think you have to eat a Dragon Toadstool for that effect, but even so you can carry up to TEN of them! I don't think the effect transfers over Wide Range (that'd be super OP), but still it's pretty awesome. I personally dub it the Support Stoner Set.

I came across some interesting info recently. Those of you that read TLC may consider it rather daunting for being 1.18 million words long. But it's come to my attention that the longest fanfic ever written, nay, the longest single story ever written in the English language, is a Super Smash Bros. fanfic called The Subspace Emissary's Worlds Conquest. An ungodly 4 million words long, in progress since 2008, and still updating at 220 chapters. Some small piece of me wants to give it a try, just to see if I can read it, but sweet mercy, I don't think I could do it. That is literally almost as long as The Wheel of Time, a 14-book series that took me almost 2 years to read through.

Playing: Bastion, Final Fantasy III, MH3U, Mario Kart 8, Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword (AARGH! Finally going back to finish this like I always meant to!), Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds, Pathfinder, Hyrule Warriors, Pokemon X, Pokemon Alpha Sapphire, Super Smash Bros. WiiU
Listening: Yeasayer, Switchfoot, Pet Shop Boys, REM, AC/DC, Mighty Mighty Bosstones, Animal Collective, Keane, Mystery Skulls, Cold, The Thrilling Adventure Hour Podcast, The Friendzone
Reading: Jojo's Bizarre Adventure by Hirohika Araki, The Five People You Meet in Heaven by Mitch Albom, Tate no Yuusha no Nariagari by Aneko Yusagi, Spellcross by Stefan Martello, The Silent Kingdom by Freedan the Eternal, Aura Knights and Faber et Filia by Hoenn Master 96, The Master Corps and Frontier Lineage by Thomas A. Hawk, Jormungand by Takahashi Keitarou, Boku no Hero Academia by Horikoshi Kouhei, Girl Genius by Phil and Kaja Foglio, Stand Still Stay Silent by Minna Sundberg
Watching: GenerikB livestreams, MH4G livestreams, Patema Inverted (GREAT MOVIE, HOLY CRAP), Yogscast Jingle Jam livestreams