November 16th, 1349
The sun rose into the sky, signalling the start of a new day. The city of Dundorma started its day, the night dying off.
Two people and one felyne walked up to the gate, and looked to the one who was attending it.
"You hunters?" He asked.
"Yep." The taller one responded.
"Guild card?"
The three of them showed their cards.
Zach Gilmore
Lyra Windgralde
Shoot Windgralde
He read over this, and checked through the records.
"Okay, you two can pass," he said, looking at Lyra and Shoot, before turning to Zach "But you're banned from setting foot in here."
"Damn, the hell'd you do, nya?" Shoot asked.
"Ain't important," Zach quickly dismissed the question "Anyways, look closer, ended when today began."
"Oh yeah, so it did. Well sure then, welcome to Dundorma, then."
The three of them stepped through the gates, entering the walled capital at last.
"So this it, huh?" Lyra muttered "Kinda underwhelming…"
"Whaddya mean?" Zach asked.
"Well, I expected it to be like… bigger." She answered.
"It's a city, biggest place ya ever been. Hell were ya expectin'?"
She was silent, but Shoot cut in.
"It isn't that good, nya, you're just some New World twit who's easily impressed."
"Ain't ya the ones who spent most of yer life in a melynx village?"
"Anyways, nya, what are we even here for?"
"Oh yeah, that. We gotta find everyone from my hunting group three years back, we're getting back together."
"Wait, so you're finally letting us go, nya?"
"...Wasn't stopping ya…?"
"You're blackmailing us, nya…"
"Oh yeah, that. I didn't really mean it, I just made it up on the spot cause it sounded kinda cool."
Both of them stared at him in silence. Zach quickly looked around for a way of changing the subject, before spotting Riko, walking around alone.
He quickly moved towards him, trying to ditch the previous conversation. Riko looked over to greet him.
"You doing good, man?" Riko asked.
"Yeah, pretty much. Just got here, what about yerself?"
"Got here last week."
"Huh?"
November 9th, 1349
The sun rose into the sky, signalling the start of a new day. The city of Dundorma started its day, the night dying off.
A lone human walked up to the gate, and looked to the one who was attending it.
"You a hunter?" He asked.
"Yep." the hunter responded.
"Guild card?"
He showed his card.
Riko Ford
He read over this, and checked through the records, before finally saying "You're banned from setting foot in here."
"Nope, ended today." Riko replied.
"No."
"...Yeah it does."
"It ends next week. You can enter then, but if you go in now, you'll get arrested."
Riko then tried to make a grab for the records but the man snatched them away, then showed them to him.
Riko thought for a second, before looking up, smugly grinning.
"You almost had me, but you forgot something important!"
"What's that?"
"I can't read that!"
"Get out."
"So then I just awkwardly hung around for a week, before I finally got here a few hours ago." Riko finished.
"...Huh." Zach responded, trying to find something else to talk about, before being cut off by Riko continuing the conversation.
"You go anywhere?"
"Well yeah, went down south around the jungle type areas, met the two I got standing somewhere around here now, even fought a deviant, before I finally made my way back up here. Wasn't bad, got some practice in that typea environment, and Zappy seemed to enjoy himself. What'd ya do?"
"I went as far as Harth, then I came back when the volcano stopped being active. I met some new people I guess, they left pretty quick though…"
Zach knew this was going badly, but he needed to make this go somewhere, since now he was worried.
"You notice anything different around here? Since ya left?"
"Well, the building where I used to sit on the roof and gaze up at the stars by myself at night is gone, so that's a shame. So I guess I can't do that anymore…"
"..."
"..."
"Riko…"
"...Yeah?"
"Are ya good?"
"..."
Riko then walked off, silently.
"He looks like he's gonna kill himself…" Lyra muttered.
"Don't just go and say that!" Zach yelled back.
They continued through the city for slightly, before seeing another trio walking through.
It was one dude, and two similar looking girls. By coincidence, the dude was Ben.
Zach and Ben walked up to each other and started prancing for some reason.
"Is this how you greet each other?" Natalie asked.
"No." They replied in unison, straight faced.
Then after about five minutes, they stopped, because Anthony showed up.
He didn't really know what was going on but they stopped either way.
"So I recognise you two, but who are the other four."
They were quickly introduced.
"So, ya see anyone else?" Ben asked.
"Well, I saw Alexandra I think, but she just slipped off."
"Neat. So ya do anything?"
"Fuck no."
"Same."
"By the way, where'd you guys leave your monsters at? I mean, I had to leave Wave outside for now, since we don't have anywhere to stay."
"Just outside the walls, guessing yer the same."
Zach nodded "Yeah, don't wanna cause much trouble round here right now. I mean, who the hell'd do that?"
On cue, Callum ran up to them, followed by Sanchez.
They were completely silent, which left Callum having no idea what was going on.
"How ya doin'?" He asked, but was just met with more silence, before finally Zach managed an "Alright, you?"
This was then cut off by a screech of a bird wyvern.
A Yian Garuga with a wounded eye reared its head, screeching with everything it had and disturbing the neighbours slightly.
The rider climbed off its back, clad in all black armour. Across his back, there was a short sword and a shield rested. He removed his helmet, revealing shortish black hair and glowing red eyes. There was a silence while everyone else tried to work out what was going on.
"This Joseph?" Ben asked.
"When did Joseph have glowing red eyes? Or a Garuga? Or an SnS? Or was tall?" Zach asked.
"Hey three years' a long time." Ben replied.
"Not long enough for ya to get anythin' done though…" he muttered back, before finally cutting this off by turning Callum "So who's this?"
"Oh, that's just Ed."
The man finally spoke in a deep voice, responding to his words "Fool, my name is not Ed. It is Edward, the forbidden warrior of unlimited power."
"Don't recognise ya." Zach and Ben responded in unison.
"Well of course, that makes sense-" Ed began, before being cut off.
"Did ya even get yer own chapter?"
"What does that me- I mean, of course, no I didn't! Someone of the shadows does not need something as pathetic as a chapter!"
"Yeah…" everyone realised he had no idea what was going on.
"So what's your monster?" Natasha asked, as she had to talk for once.
"Haha, you see, this is my pact partner. His name is written in a language unbeknownst to you mere mortals, but a version I suppose you should be able to comprehend would be 'Revelation-Beast XIII, the twenty-seventh seat of the wyverns of the first circle of the unchained ones'."
"I still don't get it." She responded, not having understood half that sentence.
"Well, I shouldn't have expected more. For the time being, you may refer to him as Revel." He smugly made a "hmmph" noise, as if signifying victory.
"Cool…" She responded, summarising the thoughts of everyone else present.
Everyone talked for a while longer while Ed stood there, still believing himself to be the coolest.
Meanwhile, about a hundred miles away, three wyverns capable of flight raced through the skies.
Terrence couldn't understand what Joseph, leading the group on the back of Nargy was repeatedly murmuring, but he figured it was "Not gonna be late."
The group then looked over to see three wyverns descending out of the air.
The three riders got off and removed their helmets.
"Ah!" Anthony went "Sean, Alicia, ...!" Anthony struggled for a few moments, until Matt finally said "Ya don't know me."
"Oh good I felt like a piece of shit."
They were about to have their moment of explaining what they did, until armed guards ran up to them.
They drew their weapons.
"Wait, what?" Matt questioned.
"Knew this'd happen…" Sean muttered.
"Since we came over the wall on our wyverns," Alicia explained "We're now here illegally technically. Also our wyverns are dangerous and now they need to hunt them."
"Wait, if flying over the wall'd get us in trouble why'd ya both say we should do it!? Ya know Klaus'd find it easier to stick to the ground!"
There was a lot of contemplation going on, until Sean finally said "I figured it'd be a pain."
"Okay shouldn't expect more from ya but what about Alicia?"
She gave off a sadistic smirk.
"Why the hell'd ya suddenly go and turn into a sadist!?" He yelled, before they all started running from the guards.
They then disappeared, the guards chasing after them.
Finally, when that was half settled, a hunter walked towards them.
It was Alexandra she was back from what she was doing, Zino was following her.
"So'd ya do anything?" Callum asked.
"I got stronger." She responded.
"...That it?"
"You don't understand my path."
"Do y'just wanna go stand with Ed over there."
"Edward!" The man in all black yelled.
"How'd ya even meet this guy?" Zach asked.
"He just sorta showed up." Callum responded, before they saw someone moving towards them. He had a large weapon over his back, and appeared to be glad to finally see everyone else.
It was Riko.
"There weren't any good roofs." He hastily explained, though he was glad inside to finally have most of them back in one place so he wasn't lonely.
Meanwhile, Joseph saw the wall of Dundorma on the horizon. "Huh, wonder if I can fly over…" he thought "Well, only one way to find out…!"
He directed Nargy to land on the ground nearby and ran up the gate "By being responsible and asking!" he finished thinking.
"Hey can I fly over this wall?" He asked.
"No you gotta enter through the gate." The man working there responded.
"Cool and good. I get this now." Joseph confirmed.
There was a pause, before finally Joseph said "Yeah we're gonna enter now."
"IDs."
"Oh shit, those…" Joseph mumbled, fumbling around in his pockets.
Joseph Gilmore
Terrence Gandor
Vert
The other three present read over this. Before finally Terrence spoke "Vert… why don't you have a surname?"
"...What's that?" She responded, severely confused.
"...How do ya not know what that is?" Joseph asked.
"It's like, a second name right. I mean you guys have them, but when I was filling out my card I figured out it wasn't needed, since I already put my first name…"
"YA CAN'T JUST NOT PUT A SURNAME ON IT, YA GOTTA MAKE SOMETHIN' UP AT LEAST!" Joseph yelled.
"How do you know about making it up?" The man asked quietly.
"OH SHADDUP, EVERYONE DOES IT!"
"I didn't…" Terrence muttered.
"NOT HELPIN'!" Joseph snapped at him, before turning to Vert "Anyways, how the hell'd ya even get around before without one?"
"Well, usually I just did this…"
She lunged at the worker and grabbed him, before slamming into the ground headfirst. He gasped as he collapsed and finally slipped out of consciousness.
Both Joseph and Terrence stood there, in shock.
"See, like that." Vert finished.
"WHY IS THAT YER ANSWER TO THE PROBLEM!" Joseph yelled.
"Well, now he won't be a problem. We need to go quickly, right?" Vert asked.
"We need to go quickly, yeah, but I'm worried about that guy's health, now!" Terrence joined now "Isn't he dead!? He's totally dead!"
"No, he's not. That couldn't kill anyone…"
"It'd definitely kill someone, did you even see what you did!? You threw him onto the stone, not the grass!"
"Ah…"
"AH!?"
"He should be okay…"
"That's not good enough… even if he does make it won't he report us?"
"Don't worry. He… won't be able to."
"The hell's that mean!?" Joseph now yelled.
"Look, it'll be fine. Here, I'll give him some money."
She threw some coins on him.
"Shit, I threw too much…" She muttered.
Vert went to pick it up, but Terrence heard other people coming, so he grabbed both of the others and started running.
After a few minutes, they figured they lost them, and they tried to find the others.
Finally, Joseph saw a large crowd of people ahead of him, recognising about half of them.
Even so, he saw the others there, and finally, after three years moved towards them.
There was a long silence while the four from Loc Lac stared each other down, until finally Ben said "Why have none of us changed?"
"Well, I mean, I changed, ya know? Got better at aura and stuff, it's really cool." Joseph corrected.
"Yeah… ya still don't look much different, 'sides yer armour." Zach complained.
"Shaddup, ya didn't do much better yerselves! Ya just got some people ta join ya, I did that and more!"
"I got a grappling hook." Callum said.
"...Huh?" They all said in unison.
"Yep." He confirmed, holding it up.
"Seriously!? That's cool as hell! Use it!"
So Callum did, zipping around the buildings, until he got yelled at to stop.
The group then broke off, got their huts ready, left their stuff behind then finally left the walls again, to go check on their monsters.
Most of them were treated normally. Vrai was met with some suspicion, but everyone seemed to accept her well enough.
Since they'd never seen Azure or Pink Raths before, Natasha and Natalie were both bewildered by Azure and Ayano.
The main thing that drew focus was Nargy.
Out of the group: Riko felt betrayed that he was once again the only one without a monster; though now he was even more on his own, Anthony was impressed he even managed to get one this strong, Alexandra was simply impressed but still felt superior with Zino, Sean and Alicia didn't really care and the other three from Loc Lac weren't sure how to react.
So, finally, the group headed back into the city.
As they headed back, Joseph turned back to the other two of his travelling group. "Ya know, from this point onwards ya don't gotta follow me anymore if ya don't want." He looked at Nargy "Same for ya too, ya don't got any reason to if ya don't wanna be stuck here for a while."
"Yeah, guess I could say the same to ya…" Zach said to Lyra and Shoot. Ben nodded, figuring he didn't have to say the same thing to Natalie and Natasha, as did Callum to Ed.
The first to respond was Natasha "We don't have a reason to leave, I still don't get this place, do you?" She asked Natalie. "No…" she muttered. "Yeah, so we're staying."
"As if a master of the dark like me would be scared off by something as simple as the city of Dundorma. This is nothing compared to the fires of Gershenvolt!" Ed yelled, so that was probably a yes.
"Even if you've said that you made it up, nya, we can't rule out you blackmailing us, so I don't think we have a choice." Shoot answered. "Plus… we don't really have anywhere else…" Lyra quietly added. "Don't tell them that…" Shoot muttered in response.
Finally, that left three more.
"Well, mine should be obvious enough," Vert began "I still don't understand the aura, so I'm still going to follow you, even if we're staying here."
Terrence seemed to think about it a little while longer "Well, my aim was to travel the world, though I guess if I stay here there's no chance of that… still, this counts as a place, right? Plus, I've never been somewhere so big before, so it should be something. I'll stick around, at least for now."
Nargy looked up at Joseph, as if thinking back to everything that had happened over the past two years. Should he have the desire, he could easily resume normal life in the wild, he was still young. But still, perhaps it was a thing of survival, or perhaps he even enjoyed it. He did not know what it was, yet there was still something there, compelling him to stay.
Nargy stepped forwards, and then Joseph's face twisted into a smirk as he muttered "Knew ya needed me…"
Nargy then turned his back on Joseph and walked off.
"Ah, alright I get it. I need ya, not the other way around. Just come back, dammit!"
So, Nargy finally turned around, this time the one who was looking down on Joseph.
They finally headed back into the city of Dundorma, which was awaiting them.
The first thing they did was start drinking, after having entered a pub.
So there they were. Alexandra, who had recognised Terrence's surname, was talking with him about Aron. Even though Terrence felt kind of awkward, he still had to be polite. Natasha was struggling desperately to keep up with a conversation between Ben, Callum and Matt. Meanwhile, Natalie was trying to understand how felynes talk by listening to the conversation Shoot was having with Alicia, Anthony and Riko. Finally, Sean, Ed, Lyra and Vert all sat quietly in their corner for people who are bad at being social.
This left just Joseph and Zach.
"Ya know," Zach began "Even though it been three years it's difficult for me ta accept that Daimyo's dead."
"Cool…" Joseph responded, dragging the last syllable out to show he didn't really want to discuss this.
"Don't cut me off, ain't done yet. Yeah, what I was tryna say is that it's difficult to accept. I guess it must be even more for yerself, since ya knew him so long. So, that ya been able to move past that… I get that it could be seen as bad, but that's what life is, ain't it? Ya don't let the bad stuff get ya down all the time…"
"Nah, that ain't right. I think about how I let him die everyday, it really keeps me goin'."
"Huh? I get that he meant a lot to ya, and I know that losin' important people hurts, ya should know that already, but that seems bit fair, don't it?"
"I'm not doing it so I can be sad, I'm doing to give myself strength to keep continuin'. When I think about how I failed there and every other time, it's what keeps me up. So I don't have to go through that again. That's what I mean by it."
Zach thought for a little while, before finally muttering "Well, guess that's one way…" and finally downing his drink. He looked to Joseph "Ya know, even though ya don't look much different, ya really are. Can't say if it's better or worse, but it's good that ya have."
Joseph grinned somewhat and downed his.
What happened next he couldn't remember, but he definitely woke up in his hut feeling like death on the 17th of November.
He walked outside, leaning on Nargy for support before finally finding the others.
They looked about how he did.
"So uh…" Ben began "How ya doin' on funds?"
Joseph checked his wallet. There was 47 zeni.
"..."
"Yeah, everyone else's same for some reason."
There was a long silence.
"So uh… how are we gonna do a hunting group like this?" Zach asked.
"Well," Ben began "I really enjoyed travelin' by myself, so I figure I might as well head on my own way, right?
"Yeah, same…!" Natasha added "Natalie and I might as well head off now, thanks for all the fun." Natalie quietly nodded.
"Nya know," Shoot smiled "I'm sure ya got no blackmail on us, so isn't it fine if we just leave, nya?"
"While I do enjoy being here…" Alexandra began "I feel I work best on my own, so I'm going off with Zino."
"Yeah same…" Anthony added "Wave and me are best suited to areas with more water, so we're good there."
"We're a trio," Alicia explained "We don't have any reason to stay." Sean and Matt nodded.
"One of darkness should not be bound to a district of such bright colours, it is unjust." Ed smirked.
"I've decided!" Terrence yelled "I wanna travel the world!"
"Someone like me has no right to be part of a group…" Vert sadly muttered.
"Honestly I'm fine being poor." Riko explained.
Zach was somewhat amazed, especially when he saw the three remaining just trying to sneak away.
"Oh no, you ain't doin' that. All of ya." Zach coldly stated.
"Ya already said yer joinin'. If ya leave now, I'll spread it. No-one's gonna take hunters who leave at the first sign of trouble.
They all silently looked towards him, and sighed at once.
"How we gonna get around this, anyways?" Joseph asked.
"Uh…"
There was a disappointed silence.
"We'll start takin' requests outsidea hunts."
"Huh?" the group asked.
"Yeah, like requests from people. It's more work, we'll be good."
The group didn't really agree, but they were forced to accept it, so the group began.
Meanwhile, the machinations of fate began to advance again.
Fallon stood alone in her room.
"So, that aura user is back here now. I wonder how he's doing, but that's not my concern for now…"
She thought a while longer.
"My main concerns are… there… and them…"
There
The king sat atop his throne, in a country far separated from all else.
The people bowed under his reign, having been overthrown by the overwhelming might of the monsters they had once ruthlessly slaughtered.
An inferior race, they would soon pay for their crimes. But still, that could not happen now, much work was needed. So he awaited news on his throne, news of overturn in the world.
Them
The hunter looked at the shadowed figures surrounding him. On the floor next to him, there were multiple others, pools of blood forming around their heads.
The one who looked to be in charge turned to him.
A male voice spoke, reading
"Robert Millar, a hunter who originated from Jumbo, yes?"
"Y-yeah…" he meekly responded.
"Such a shame… your name isn't shown anywhere in the records for it. However, there is a Robert fitting your description, I must say it is interesting. A famous druglord, believe it or not. After most of his gang was arrested, he fled and was never seen again. That is, under his old name…"
"Look man, what's it matter to you? I know that… what I did was wrong but, that's why I became a hunter! I don't want to be associated with that life anymore, I'm different now!"
The man looked down for a moment, before uttering "Truly pathetic…"
Robert tried to escape, but was stopped by the others surrounding him.
"No matter how much you struggle, in the end, you cannot escape the sin you created for yourself. A hunter like you, one that joined just to escape your problems… you truly are trash."
The cloaked figure drew his weapon, an axe.
Robert drew his own weapon, a sword and shield.
He took the first move, lunging with everything he had. Just as he drew near, the opponent disappeared. The last words he heard were "Repent eternally."
The cloaked leader looked down upon the dead trash, as the others began to leave without a word. He had been successful this time, but he knew there was much more to go. These thoughts stuck with him as he departed into the cold night, his mission burning brightly.
END OF PART III
TO BE CONTINUED IN PART IV
So yeah, here we are at the end of the part. I did not improve, like, at all. But I mean, hey, I made it. It wasn't that bad of a part, probably had more plot development than the last did or something cool like that, but it's over now, so whatever.
Also, with this chapter going up, it's been a year and a day since I started this series. It felt rather slow, but looking back it felt really fast, so I don't know how to feel about that. But yeah, I feel like I've definitely learnt something from all the mismanaged time I spent on this, so that's probably meaningful or something. Thanks for reading up until now, I can't really express how weird it is to me that anyone can put up with my shit. I hope that you continue to not see sense and drop this as I continue.
Except not because hiatus.
Yep, that's right, I'm off to go spend all year playing Idolmaster and making shoujo manga. Well, in reality I guess it's because of school, since I'm in my last year it's kinda difficult to keep up with this, since on most days I have nearly no time to write. Which provides kind of a problem. So, in the interests of that over this I'm putting this series on a boat. Sorry, I guess, at least I would say that but I added that last scene just because I was going on hiatus, because I hate you all.
I don't know when I'll be back, I'm planning on rewriting the first part at some point to make this story more easily accessible before I move into part IV, so uh we'll see then or something.
If I don't come back just pretend the city was attacked by a Fatalis after the chapter ended and they all died in the ensuing battle.