Shadows of the Past

PhanGarret invented 'The Guild', but the idea of a Hunter's Guild Soap Opera makes me laugh so much I couldn't let it die. Sorry dude. Hit me later, okay?

Chapter One

A lot has happened to me recently. A hell of a lot. So much, in fact, that I was starting to have trouble keeping track just what had happened to who, and when.

Normally I dismiss everything my mother has to say pretty much out of hand. Hey, I've got my reasons, alright? Not everyone has good relationships with their parents, and that comment includes us Newmen too. But she did always say to me that sometimes the best way to sort out events is to write them down and see what comes of it. Probably the only thing she ever said to me that I paid any attention to.

So, anyway, let's start from the beginning and we'll see what we find, no?

First things first. My name's Herb, Herb Rosaline Delryn. Actually, my name's not all that bad when you compare it to my sister's names – Flora Dawn and Fawn Elisa. I think I got off alright – Herb makes a good Hunter's name, and most people think that Rosaline is my proper name. I haven't bothered to really enlighten many people on that, except for some close friends in the Guild, and of course Mome.

Poor Mome. He hasn't got the best reputation amongst the other Hunters, but he's actually a very kind-hearted person. Our relationship only lasted a few weeks, but we've remained good friends anyway. I find his dedication to the truth refreshing, especially after some of the other scientists I've worked with since we reached Ragol!

And, unfortunately, it was Mome who indirectly got me and my friends into this mess. But that comes later.

As you've probably guessed by now, I'm a Hunter – a HUnewearl if you really want to use the proper designation, but I've never really been one for formalities and things like that. I've managed to reach a pretty high rank in the Guild on the basis of lots and lots of quests completed, not small number of which I've gotten through on sheer will alone. I've got a quiet reputation as being as stubborn as a mule and pretty smart besides, so I'm also becoming a preferred partner for some of the other high rankers as well. It pays to have brains, especially if you can use them right!

I spend a fair amount of time on Ragol, although a lot less since a few friends and I took out Dark Falz. Yes, that's right, you heard me. I was one of the ones who fought Dark Falz. I'd love to say that it was easy, that we didn't so much as suffer a scratch, but I'd be lying. I lost my mentor that day.

'Noel' Jennifer Chandler, a HUnewearl like myself, the person who taught me everything I knew and the woman who destroyed the Black Hound. She took a blast meant for me, and died in my arms. I keep her picture in my locket with me at all times, and every time I falter I just look at that shot of her at my graduation, and I get a whole new surge of strength and determination. She never backed down over anything.

So yeah, I guess you could say I got a lot of my stubbornness from her. I know I didn't get it from my mother. She never stood up for herself over anything. She's so damned weak, she never even objected when I went charging off to Ragol without a thought for the consequences, she just waited until I came back and acted all motherly. Yuck. My sisters take after her too, which drives me nuts. I need the occasional big argument to keep my brain in gear.

I definitely got my flamboyance from Dad. You might have heard of him? Danden Delryn, the insane mind behind 'The Guild'. I was actually on that once, just a bit part, a HUnewearl who accompanied the main character down to the mines and promptly got killed by a collapsing bridge. The stunt was so much fun to do, and because I'm a Newman I didn't even need help, just a big mat to land on. It was brilliant. I reckon if I wasn't a hunter I'd be an actress, or a stunt double. Something fun like that.

Anyway. It wasn't highly publicised outside of the Labs and the Guild, but not long ago Mome was poisoned. I was absolutely out of my mind from worry, I barely even ate or slept. They wouldn't even let me into the same room as him at the time, so I spent most of those few terrible days just gazing at him from an observation room. At the time they thought it was the D-Factor, so I remember just waiting for the first signs of mutation. I don't know what I would have done if he'd turned into a monster, though. Probably just stand there and let him kill me, probably.

I remember the nurse who came in and told me the news. For some reason I don't remember a word she said, beyond the fact that Mome wasn't really infected with the D-Factor and that he was going to get better. I just have this perfect screenshot in mind of her – long pink hair, kind blue eyes, the sort of body that makes the otherwise tougher-than-titanium Hunters act like babies so they can go to the Medical Centre and ogle the nurses. Pam, her name is. She's actually dating Mome now. Good luck to the pair of them. They're cute. Really.

………

Okay, so maybe I'm a wee bit jealous. She's damn hot.

But back to the chase. Pam told me about Sejanus – a RAmar, apparently, and obviously a smart one to have worked everything out – and what Natasha had done to Mome. Once I was sure he'd be okay, I went to find a shower and a meal. Like I said, I hadn't left the room in days. When I was cleaned up I went to find food, but I wound up walking straight into the armoured back of a Ranger. Which hurts. I was kind of stunned for a moment, but then I saw that it was a registered hunter, and his companion was a HUnewearl, so I didn't feel too embarrassed. It was only a few hours later, once I'd eaten and slept, that I was subject to that emotion.

The important part though, was that I'd managed to find the man who saved Mome without really looking. He's kind of intimidating, especially because he's so tall, and I'm such a short-ass, but I wasn't really bothered. Half the Guild are scary. You get used to it after a while.

"Hey, are you the Sejanus who helped Doctor Mome?" I asked, looking up – way up! – at him. He nodded, and on sheer impulse I gave him a hug. Boy, did that earn him a look or two from his friend! "Thanks. Bye!"

I ran off, and I swear I could hear the HUnewearl making some snarky comment about what he did when he was supposed to be working. I did send him a pretty sweet rifle a few days later, and when I bumped into him again recently, he was carrying it, so I guess it all worked out. Besides, it's not like I could use a rifle. I can barely use mechguns!

A couple of days later Mome himself told me all about what had happened, and about the data. He also told me something I don't think he told anyone else – he'd sent a copy of the data to an observational unit in the Ruins.

That was when this whole mess really got started. I decided to get the data back. Really, I should know better by now.