(Heyo, it's me, the author. You're probably wondering why I have been posting a lot less lately. Well, I have an answer for that. Along with writing fanfiction, I have another hobby, which is animating. I enjoy to animate as well as write, so sometimes I animate instead. Along with just life in general, I don't have as much time as I would like (also because I procrastinate a lot).

With that in mind, I am going to have to update less frequently. I am going to try to write at least one chapter a weak, and try to do more than that, but don't hold me up to it. That is all for the Author's note before the chapter, and make sure to read the not after. See you later.)

Hunting for a Beast

Karma POV:

Previously:

Karma decided that nothing could be said about that, and decided to just sit with Gonen for the rest of the watch. 'Until tomorrow' Karma thought to himself.

Present:

The sun was finally up, so Finn and Dara left their tents. Karma was already sitting outside, next to Gonen who had fallen asleep. Karma waved to the two.

"Good morning," Karma said.

"Good morning," Finn replied, stretching his arms. He grabbed his quiver, bow, and sword and put them on his body.

"I'm ready to go when you are," Finn told him. Karma nodded and turned to Gonen. He gently shook Gonen, whose eyes popped open.

"Let's get going," Karma told him, standing up and stretching. Gonen nodded, still half-asleep, and started to grab his things.

Once everyone was ready, and the tents were put up, the group continued on their journey. Karma decided not to comment on Gonen's confession yesterday and continued to chat with him. Gonen looked surprised that Karma was still talking to him, but talked with him nevertheless.

The group ran into a few monsters along the way, but most of them were easy to dispatch. While walking for a while, Karma's theory was confirmed.

"The sword is most definitely moving," Karma said, looking at the light green water his sword was creating.

"How are we going to find it if it keeps moving?" Finn asked. Karma didn't reply, seemingly focusing on something.

"What?" Dara asked. Karma stayed silent for a moment longer.

"It knows we are tracking it," Karma told the group.

The group stayed silent, unsure what to say. The silence was soon interrupted when noise could be heard from a bush. Everyone pointed their weapons at the offending hedge and was surprised to see a woman leave the bush.

"Oh thank god," the woman said. "I've been out here for days, and I thought I was going to die, and there were all these creatures and I'm so happy I found you," the woman spilled out, rushing toward the group. Dara put down her weapon and started to walk to the girl.

"It'll be fine now-" Dara started to say before Gonen raised his spear to the woman.

"Gonen what are you doing!" Dara yelled at Gonen, whose eyes didn't move away from the girl.

"Don't come closer," Gonen said, putting the tip of his spear closer to the girl. Tears started to spill from the woman's eyes.

"Please, monsters are coming," the woman said, trying to get closer. Gonen put his spear closer.

"Gonen stop, why are you doing this to an innocent woman!" Dara said, yelling at Gonen.

"You don't have to do this Gonen," Finn said, trying to reason with the man. The woman started to walk closer, and Gonen lunged at her. Dara pulled out her sword and deflected Gonen's strike.

"What are you doing!" Gonen yelled worriedly. "She's gonna!" but he was interrupted by the shaking of the ground.

"We are too late!" Gonen shouted, and braced himself. The woman smiled a malicious smile and started to unravel. Her color changed to green, and her body started to become vines.

"It's a trap," Karma exclaimed, pulling out his weapon. The sword started to glow a bright green. 'I have been running into these creatures a lot' Karma thought to himself. Finn pulled out his bow and grabbed an arrow.

The ground erupted from under them, and razor-sharp teeth started to close around them. Karma held out his sword, which was being surrounded by pure water. He slashed at the enemy, shooting a blade of pure water. The water hit the target and dented the monster. 'Not enough' Karma thought to himself. The group leaped out of the way before the teeth impaled them.

"How are we going to deal with this?" Finn asked, drawing back an arrow. Karma looked toward Gonen, who seemed to be in tight concentration.

"I have an idea, but I need time," Gonen told the group. Karma nodded, getting into a fighting stance.

"Got it," Karma told him. He charged at the beast, sword in hand. Dara soon followed, her sword clenched between her fist. Ginn docked an arrow, and let it loose. The arrow flew through the sky and pierced the beast. The monster roared in pain, and vines sprouted out of the ground. They launched themselves at Dara and Karma.

Karma leaped over the attack, and sliced through the vines he wasn't able to dodge. Karma turned to Dara, who seemed to be doing pretty well, with arrows from Finn covering her. Karma turned back to the enemy. 'Guess I should try this now' Karma thought to himself. He sheathed his sword and started to run toward the monster. He formed a finger gun and pointed it toward the monster. Water started to form around his finger. A droplet was being formed, and the inside was being filled with steam.

The sword on his back started to glow, the water around his finger started to glow a light green. Karma smirked. The monster sent more vines his way, and he leaped over them. Karma solidified the vapor in the air, to launch himself further into the sky. Light green water was swirling around it at tremendous speeds, with a small droplet in the middle. The droplet had steam inside it.

"Get ready!" Karma screamed. He pointed his finger at the monster.

"Steam bullet revised: Purity Vortex!" Karma screamed, launching the attack.

The bullet shot toward the enemy. Pure water was spinning around the bullet at high speeds, creating a piercing point. The attack hit the face of the monster. The vortex surrounding the bullet pierced into the monster's face. When the purity water cleared the bullet made contact, exploding into the open wound of the monster.

"Bullseye!" Karma yelled, falling from the sky. He landed next to Dara, who was fighting some vines. The monster laid lifeless. 'That was easier than expected' Karma thought to himself. No sooner than he thought that, the monster started to twitch.

The wound started to repair itself. Finn continuously shot arrows toward the wound, but he could only slow down the process of regeneration.

"Gonen now would be a good time to do whatever it is you're going to do!" Karma yelled toward his companion. Gonen's eyes were knit in concentration. The monster roared, and three vines erupted from the ground and launched themselves toward Finn. Finn couldn't react fast enough, and his eyes widened. Karma tried to shoot the vines but knew he couldn't move fast enough. The vines were inches away from Finn, but before they could pierce the blond archer, they stopped.

Karma looked in surprise. He turned and noticed that Gonen's eyes were now open, and he was holding his hand out. His eyes were glowing, and he seemed to be concentrating. 'Is he doing that?' Karma wondered. Gonen clenched his fist, and the vines started to wilt. The wilted vines fell to the ground, and Gonen turned his attention towards the monster.

Gonen took his spear and started to run towards the monster. Dara started to follow him, but Karma held out his hand.

"Just watch," Karma told her. Dara reluctantly stepped back and nodded. Karma turned back to Gonen. Gonen slashed through vines, each slash wilting the offending plant. As Gonen got closer, the monster sent more vines after him, which he quickly disposed of.

Gonen was standing face to face with the monster. The creature roared and opened its mouth. The monster smashed its jaws into the spot Gonen was standing, engulfing him. The ground cracked from the strength of the jaws, as the monster dislodged its teeth from the ground, showing no sight of Gonen. Dara's eyes widened and started to rush to help before Karma stopped her.

"Don't" Karma told her, as he continued to watch. The monster turned toward the remaining trio and started to attack before it stopped.

The color started to drain from the creature, and it began to wilt. The monster yelled in pain, as it started to deteriorate. The monster started to crumble, and soon all that was left of the terrifying beast was a pile of wilted plants. Out of the pile stepped out Gonen, spear in hand, and eyes glowing. His eyes started to return to normal, and Gonen put his spear back onto his back.

"We should get going," Karma said, cutting through the silence. Gonen nodded and started to walk towards the group. Finn and Dara put away their weapons. Karma pulled out his and put it into the water. He widened his eyes in surprise.

"What?" Finn questioned.

"The sword….. It's close," Karma said, surprised. The group let out their surprise as well.

"Well then, let's go," Dara said. Karma nodded.

"Let's go,"


Dara POV:

The group rushed toward the location of the sword. No one knew how the sword had gotten so close in the first place, but it made their journey a whole lot faster. Karma and Gonen were in the front, dashing past trees.

The group hadn't brought up Gonen's fight with the monster, unsure how to broach the subject, so instead, they chose to ignore it for now, and focus on the task at hand.

"We are almost there," Karma said. The rest of the group nodded. This was it. All of the moments on this quest lead up to this moment. 'I'm ready' Dara thought to herself. Gonen suddenly stopped and held out his hand signifying the rest of the group to stop.

"It's here," he said in a whisper. Dara looked around and froze. She noticed a huge lumbering figure, slowly making its way through the swamp. It seemed to be a mass of wet vines, with two holes in its head that resembled eyes. The monstrous creature was slowly moving around the swamp. Although the appearance of the creature wasn't all that frightening, Dara was petrified. The monster had an aura more terrifying than the previous creature they had faced.

Dara was scared, and the rest of the group wasn't moving either.

"A wick," Gonen said to himself.

"What?" Dara questioned.

"An ancient swamp monster, I learned a few legends about them, and none of them are good," Gonen replied.

"Haven't you faced one of these before?" he asked, clearly just as afraid as the rest of the group.

"The last one I faced didn't have this type of aura," Karma said, not taking his eyes away from the creature.

"I don't think we should face it. I don't think we could win," Finn said, all color from his face gone. Dara looked toward Finn. She was surprised, Finn was the last person she expected to hear that from.

"We're too close to turn back now, besides this will solve your town's problems," Karma said, readying himself.

Gonen pulled out his spear, and so Dara pulled out her sword. She was scared, terrified, but if her fighting that thing could solve the village's problems, she wasn't going to back down now.

Finn pulled out his bow.

"Alright on the count of three," Karma said, holding out three fingers. "Three, two, one-" but Karma stopped talking suddenly, before putting his free hand into the water.

"Watch out!" he yelled. The water around him started to turn light green, but before all of the water had been purified, the water erupted, launching everybody in different directions. Dara got up, and held up her sword, looking back at the monster. The creature was staring straight at her. Dara was frozen. She couldn't move. The wick's eyes were empty, but the sight of them made Dara weak in the knees. A tendril of wood sprouted from the ground and launched at Dara.


Karma POV:

"Hey ugly," Karma screamed, running towards the creature. His blade had pure water rapidly swirling around the blade. Karma left into the air.

"Vortex Blade!" Karma screamed, swinging at the wick. The creature didn't even move, before tendrils of wood launched out of the ground, blocking Karma's attack. The sword smashed into the wood, making a huge dent. Karma leaped back and got back into position.

"Gonen! Dara! With me! Finn, you cover us, and continue to launch arrows at the wick!" Karma barked out to his comrades. Dara forced herself to move and positioned herself next to Karma. Gonen walked up to him, brandishing a spear.

"Let's do this," Gonen said with false confidence. Dara nodded and faced the wick once again.

"CHARGE!" Karma yelled and dashed to the enemy. Gonen soon followed, with Dara right behind him. Karma dodged attacks from the wick left and right, evading tendrils of wood and vines. He was charging up his sword, readying another attack. While charging his attack, he used his empty hand and started to launch steam bullets at his enemies. Right before a bullet could hit the creature, the wooden tendrils or vines would block the attack, taking the impact instead of the intended target.

"Tch," Karma said under his breath, as he continued to slice through the vines and wood. The attacks weren't ending, and Gonen and Dara didn't seem to be having much better luck. 'Where is Finn' Karma wondered, and turned to see the blonde archer frozen. 'Great' Karma thought to himself, turning back to the wick. A vine launched toward him, and he jumped to the side. Another tendril of wood shot out of the ground, impaling Karma in the side.

Pain shot through Karma's body. The wound started to bleed. Karma clenched his teeth and ripped the wood out of his body. He blocked off the bleeding of the wound and raised his sword back up. 'This will have to do for now' Karma thought to himself. And continued to attack the wick.

Things weren't looking good. Karma was slowly taking more hits and was getting weaker and weaker. Gonen was doing his best, cutting through the vines, but was also sustaining more injuries. Dara wasn't doing any better herself. Another vine pierced Karma's leg, and he ducked before one could pierce his head. He cut the vine and leaped back.

"We need to retreat!" Karma yelled, backing up. Karma couldn't take that many more hits, and Gonen and Dara seemed to be running out of energy. Karma looked toward Finn, who was standing in the same place he was previously.

"Finn snapped out of it, we need to get out of here!" Karma yelled. That seemed to snap him out of his stupor, and he started to retreat. Karma started to run, with Dar and Gonen in front of him.

"Go! Go!" Karma yelled, fending off the vines that tried to prevent him from escaping.

The group rushed to escape, trying to avoid the monstrosity, but the creature seemed to be gaining on them.

"It's catching up!" Dara yelled as she ran. Karma looked back. With the wounds, he was sporting he wouldn't be able to outrun that monster.

"What do we do?" Gonen asked. The look on his face showed that he knew how hopeless the situation was. Finn murmured something incoherent.

"What was that?" Karma asked. If Finn had an idea, it would be a great help.

"I'm sorry," Finn said. Karma was confused. Was he apologizing for not helping in the fight?

"It's fine," Karma said, "it doesn't ma-" but Karma couldn't finish his sentence before an arrow pierced his leg.

"Aaaaagh," Karma screamed, falling to the ground clutching the injury. Before the Gonen or Dara could react, two more arrows flew through the air, one of them hitting Dara in the shoulder. Gonen reacted in time, hitting the arrow away with his spear.

"What are you doing!" Gonen yelled, stopping abruptly. Finn didn't respond and continued to run through the swamp. Gonen stood up to go after him, before noticing his fallen companions. Gonen knew that with the known injuries, there was no way they could escape the wick now. Deep in his thoughts, Gonen didn't notice Karma inching toward his sword.

"What are you doing!?" Gonen asked. Karma couldn't move very well right now, and he definitely couldn't fight. Karma grunted and grabbed his sword. The blade started to glow bright green. Gonen could hear the wick getting closer.

"I'm saving our butts!" Karma screamed, before impaling the ground with his sword. The ground started to shake and crack. Gonen noticed the wick, almost to them. Before Gonen could say anything, Karma yelled out, and the ground around them collapsed. As the ground fell below them, Gonen, Karma, and Dara fell into the dark abyss.


Finn POV:

Finn ran. Finn ran as fast as he could. It wasn't his fault. If they had listened to him about the wick, he wouldn't be in this situation. Yeah. It wasn't his fault. Because they put him in such a dangerous position, it was only fair that they sacrificed themselves to save him.

'It was unfortunate that Dara girl had to die. She seemed to like me a lot, but no one will miss the other two. The monster will be too busy fighting those guys, and I'll be long gone by then. I won't have to worry too much. I won't die'.

'I don't want to die' Finn thought to himself, 'I don't want to die I don't want to die I don't want to die I don't want to die I don't want to-' Finn halted his thoughts. 'This is fine, I'll just tell the villagers that they died fighting the wick, and I was able to escape. Yeah, I'll be worshiped as a hero. Yeah, it's fine' Finn consoled himself.

'It'll be just like the Thorn Beast incident. Ema and Ikon didn't survive. There is no way they are going to make it out of there alive. My reputation will be fine. I will be fine'.

Flashback:

"Is everyone ready?" Ema asked, setting her bag over her shoulder.

"If anyone wasn't ready, it would be you," Ikon said, shaking his head. Ema smacked the back of Ikon's head and huffed.

"You don't believe that, right Gonen?" Ema asked, batting her eyelashes. Ikon sighed. Gonen stuttered, not being able to decide whether to say yes or no.

"Pu-leez, there is no way you could charm Gonen into going on your side," Ikon said, shaking his head. Ema turned to Ikon and pouted. Ikon's face started to turn red.

"I don't know, Ema seems to be able to charm you pretty well," Dara said, shaking her head. Ikon's face started to become even redder, and the girls started to laugh.

"You can't be talking. You become a walking strawberry every time Finn is you," Ikon said, crossing his arms. At this Dara became bright red and Ikon grinned in satisfaction. Finn smiled a polite smile. He had no interest in Dara, but he didn't mind having a few girls pine after him. It made him look better.

"Well then, we should probably start our journey," Finn said, trying to get the show on the road. Gonen nodded, and the group headed out into the forest. A monster had been making the lives of the hunters harder, and these five had been sent out to slay the beast.

"This should be easy enough," Ikon said smiling smugly. Ema shook her head.

"As if you can say anything. We both know that you wouldn't stand a chance by yourself. You can't even hit Gonen during a spar," Ema said. Ikon ignored the statement and continued on the journey.

"It's ok Ikon, I have been training longer than you," Gonen said, trying to make his friend feel better. Ikon slumped down.

"It hurts that you're being so nice about it," Ikon said. Gonen rushed to apologize, but Ikon stopped him.

"Please don't apologize, it will only make it worse," Ikon said. Gonen looked like he was going to apologize about that, before realizing what he asked, and stopping.

"So do we know where we are going?" Finn asked. He wanted to get this over with, even though keeping up appearances in this group of people was easy. It seems that they considered him a friend, although he only saw them as potential allies.

"I know where we are going," Gonen said, taking the lead. Finn didn't know what to think about Gonen. He was definitely the strongest of the bunch, but he didn't seem to like Finn all that much. It was a shame, Gonen would be a very strong ally. 'I can worry about that another time' Finn thought to himself.

The group traveled for days, looking for the monster. Everyone was very friendly with each other, and Finn was tired of keeping appearances up. Everyone had to think he was a super nice young man that loved to help out. Because that gained his power. And the power that could be used freely because he was given it willfully. 'I can't wait until this is over' Finn thought to himself.

It was the 6th day of travel when they found it.

"I see the monster, it's up ahead," Ikon said, pulling out an ax. Everyone readied themselves with their weapons, and Finn pulled out his bow. If he had a choice, Finn wouldn't be on this quest. His reputation would suffer if he didn't go along, and in the worst-case scenario, Finn was fairly confident in his fleeing skills.

"Are you guys ready?" Ema asked, pulling out her twin daggers.

"I g-guess so," Gonen said, pulling out his spear.

"As ready as I'll ever be," Dara said, pulling out his sword. The group headed toward the beast, ready to take it down


Things weren't looking good. Dara had been knocked out and was lying on a tree unconscious, and Ikon, Ema, and Gonen were trying to fend off the beast, hoping to protect Dara. Finn was behind them, bow in hand. The monster's skin could sprout thorns instantaneously.

Ikon was suffering an injury on his arm, so his performance was lacking, and Ema had scratches all over her body. Gonen also had wounds throughout his body. Finn had a couple of scratches as well.

"We have to hold it back. We can't let it reach Dara," Ikon told the group, holding his ax. The three charged at the monster, and the monster attacked back.

The three thought they didn't have anything more to worry about, but they were wrong. The monster soon started to produce poison-tipped thorns.

"Heeeya!" Ikon yelled and leaped toward the beast.

"Ikon no!" Gonen shouted, but it was too late. Ikon was struck in the hip with a poisoned thorn.

"Ikon!" Ema yelled in panic and ran over to the boy.

"No no no no no no no this can't be happening. It'll be fine. We just need some medicine. It doesn't matter that we don't have any, we can get you some. It is fine we can get you so-" but Ema was cut out of her rant by Ikon placing a finger to her lips.

"I love you, Ema," Ikon confessed. Ema began to tear up.

"I love you to Ikon. I love you so much," Ema said, tears streaming down her face. Ikon's eyes closed, and Ema got up, brandishing her weapons.

"Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!" she screamed and charged at the monster.

Gonen and Ema continued to attack the beast, with Finn adding support. Gonen and Ema kept up a barrage of attacks, and the monster. The monster jerked up and slashed Ema's leg.

"Ema!" Gonen cried frantically. The beast did not move at the sight of the injured attacker but instead bundled up. The spikes all around its body started to shake.

"It's fine, but we need to get out of here, it looks like the east is preparing for an attack," Ema said, trying to get up. When she used her leg, she hissed in pain and sat back down.

"It's fine Ema, I'll grab you and Finn will grab Dara. We will get out of this," Gonen said confidently he turned around, to see Finn staring right at him.

"Finn hurry, grab Dara. We need to get out of here," Gonen said frantically but got no response from Finn.

"Finn what are you doing!" Gonen cried. Finn looked straight at Gonen.

"The right thing for me," Finn said and knocked an arrow. And then he let go.

(Hello, author's note again. You reached the end of this chapter, hooray. I am happy to announce that this story has over 11.5k views, which is pretty great. I thank all the readers who give my story the time of day and hope you will continue to read it.

I also thank everybody who is leaving a comment. Comments are one of my main driving forces, and your comments often motivate me to write a new chapter, so I thank those who take the time to tell me what they think about my story. With that in mind, I hope more people will leave a review, and I hope I can hear about what you guys think. That is all, and I hope you stay tuned for chapter 18, Endless Truth.)