1323

Dawn.

Two men trudged their way up a hill, looking for a new beginning. When they reached the top, they stopped.

"Look." The one leading said. "We're here."

He looked down on the town below them.

"Finally." The one following replied.

"It wasn't that bad."

"It took us days."

"Could've been weeks."

"Whatever… can we just get going already?"

"Ah." The older one noted as they walked through town.

"What is it?"

"We don't have any money for a place."

"So…"

"Guess we gotta go hunting."

"I just wanted to rest…"

"Don't worry, we don't need much, probably."

They made their way to the quest counter.

The receptionist looked up. "Wait… you two are new here. Who are you?"

"I'm Allen Gilmore." The one leading announced "And this is my younger brother, David."

"Yo."

"Anyways, we should pick a quest. Let's see here… how's fighting a Barroth sound?"

"Alright."

"Then let's get goin'."

They headed into the desert.

"Ok David, you distract it and I'll focus on damaging it."

"Sure."

After some wandering around, they found their target.

Allen nodded, signalling David to run off first.

The Barroth spotted him quickly and roared, recognising the hunter as a threat.

It immediately charged forwards, stopping just before it reached him to slam its head into the ground. David hopped backwards before bringing his sword down, barely making a dent in it.

As he bounced off, the Barroth shook off mud, forcing him to dodge again. As he jumped back, it went for another charge, this time not stopping just before him.

David blocked it, causing him to get pushed out of the way. The Barroth wasn't able to stop, so it kept going.

"Perfect timing."

Just as it started to slow down, another figure appeared before it. Leaping through the air, Allen brought his longsword down on the brute wyvern's neck.

There was resistance. The cut wasn't as deep as he'd hoped. He fell to the ground and backed off to where David was standing.

"The mud around its neck is too thick, I can't cut through it. We gotta get rid of it."

"How?"

"Well, let's start by getting it closer to the ground."

In the time this short exchange had taken, the Barroth had already closed the distance between them. It interrupted the conversation by charging in between them, forcing both to jump back.

The monster went straight for Allen, but David got its attention by slashing at its legs.

The monster swung its tail around, catching him in the side. It then slammed its head into the ground, almost crushing him.

David ran past its head and swung for its legs again, figuring that was the quickest way to take the monster down. In retaliation, it stomped at the ground, stunning him for a moment. This moment was enough time for it to swing its head around, knocking David away.

"And… done preparing. Hey! Big monster! Over here!"

The Barroth heard him and turned, getting ready to charge.

As it neared him, Allen didn't move. He just stayed in place confidently waiting.

It was only when it was within a few metres of him that the monster understood why. The ground gave away, revealing a pitfall trap.

Allen continued to grin, quickly placing down some barrel bombs. Around this time, David managed to recover and started to walking back to where they were.

Allen took a few steps back, before picking up a rock and chucking it at the barrels, detonating them and causing a giant cloud of dust to appear.

Both hunters waited for it to clear.

The Barroth was less patient, charging straight into view and knocking David away.

The mud was gone. It was now visibly enraged.

Allen just stood there and watched as it drew closer to him.

"Hey. David. What are you doing?"

There was no response.

"I said it's your job to distract it. You're my shield. I don't need a shield that just lays around."

The Barroth had no idea what was going on, but it continued charging anyways.

A figure appeared before it.

Resistance.

The Barroth wasn't able to see what was stopping it, but it could feel it. It pushed as hard as it could, but to no effect, eventually coming to a stop. Its head crashed into the ground, lacking the energy to stay up anymore after that burst of strength.

"Sorry." David replied. "I just got distracted for a minute."

"Don't worry about it. Anyways, can I get a leg up real quick?"

"Sure."

David held his sword out, the flat side facing Allen. Allen ran forwards and jumped into the air, landing on the sword. David then flung him into the air towards the Barroth.

He landed on its back, drawing his sword.

Multiple slashes. He landed.

"You weren't weak. We're just stronger. See ya."

The Barroth went limp.

"And we're done here."

It was night by the time they got back to town.

"Now then, since we got some money, how about we get something to drink?"

"Sure."

As they were chatting to themselves, someone approached them.

The man was obviously drunk from a glance, seeming to be in a bad mood.

"I don't recognise your faces. Ya new?"

"Yeah, just arrived today. Have you got anything actually important to say?"

"Like I thought, you piss me off. I dunno what you're used to, but you're in my town now, so lemme teach ya how-"

Allen elbowed him in the face, knocking him onto the ground.

"So you don't."

David looked at him questioningly.

"It was self-defense."

"...But he didn't do anything yet."

"That's how it always goes, if I'd let him say like two more words I'd have gotten punched in the face. Look, he's tryna punch me right now!"

"In response!" The man yelled, as Allen dodged around his attack.

Allen kicked him in the stomach. The man charged again, this time catching him, but as he did he got punched.

The fight continued on for a few seconds, Allen seeming to have the advantage.

Frustrated, the man reached behind him and grabbed a knife.

As he tried to stab forwards, his arm was grabbed from the side.

"This has gone far enough." David calmly said.

"Yeah, I guess. Hey, dude. Lemme teach you something this time. I dunno what you're used to, but you're only supposed to use weapons on monsters. For humans-"

David punched the man, making him drop the knife and sending him flying.

"Fists are all you need."

"Wait."

"What?"

"Don't cut me off. I wasn't done."

"Ah, sorry. We were both there, so I figured we were doing a finish each other's sentences thing."

"I mean, yeah it works, but like, some warning or something."

"Sorry."

As they were talking, the man crashing into other people had started a chain reaction of fights between drunk people.

"Let's just pretend this has nothing to do with us." Allen suggested, as they sat back down.

This was interrupted by a woman with a cigarette in her mouth approached them.

"You're the ones who started this, aren't you?"

"Nah, we've got nothing to do with it." Allen replied, trying his hardest to sound emotionless.

The woman didn't even seem to listen.

"One of the plates that got thrown around almost hit Olivia… do you even understand what you've done? You very nearly almost indirectly grazed her face. Her perfect face… Can you even comprehend how unforgivable an act that is?"

"...Who's that?" David asked.

"You don't even know how she is!?"

"Why do you keep getting louder with every sentence?"

"THE ONLY SENTENCE YOU'RE GETTING IS DEATH!"

She kicked the chair Allen was on, breaking it.

Allen fell to the ground, but the woman didn't let up, kicking him in the face.

David tried to stop her, but found himself getting stopped by a man with an eyepatch over his left eye.

"I get that you wanna help him, but when she gets like this it's just better if you let her do what she wants."

"Don't care." David responded, managing to escape his grip.

He was just about to move forward, when he got cut off again, this time by someone in front of him. He was definitely an adult, but looked a lot younger than David.

"You're the enemy, right?"

"...I guess."

His eyes lit up.

"Then let's do this!"

David barely had time to react as the one in front of him kicked off the ground, jumping straight for him.

His opponent threw a kick downwards, hitting David on the shoulder. More kicks were thrown, hitting his upper body.

David managed to withstand the pain before he finally caught one with his hand.

"Hey." The attacker said.

"What's up?" David replied.

"I can't fight like this. It's no fun. Lemme go."

"Well if you insist."

David swung him around and threw him across the building.

Allen crashed through a table, trying to catch is breath inbetween attacks from the revenge(?) seeking beast.

Allen looked around at his surroundings. He noticed an incredibly tiny girl nearby, looking at him indifferently.

He decided to warn her.

"Hey, you should probably be careful. There's some crazy woman on the loose, in about three seconds she's gonna crash through here. It's not safe."

There was no response.

"Hey, move it. I'm talking to you, kid."

This caused a response.

The midget charged straight at him.

"Don't call me short!"

"I didn't?"

He blocked a punch. Followed by a countless number of punches aimed at him, impossibly fast.

"You assumed I was a kid because of my height, didn't you? You did!"

"Yeah but it's not like I had anything else to go off! You sure weren't sayin' shit!"

"Oh, do I have to, huh? Do I have to explain everything to you the moment I come into range of your vision just to stop you assuming shit? Just don't assume things!"

"Look, you seem like a lovely feral animal, but I don't really have time to chat, cause-"

Before he could finish, the thing he had been fearing crashed straight into him.

Two more cut David's path off.

His senses quickly ignored the one to the left, who had started yelling something dramatic he wasn't listening to.

Instead, he was entranced by the woman in front of him.

The rest of the world cut off.

Everything was silent. He was only focused on what was in front of him. He advanced slowly towards her.

As David approached, he felt something charge into him, but he brushed it aside with a punch.

He finally reached her.

Time seemed to freeze. The moment stretched out forever, while he tried to find something to say.

As he was on the verge of forming words, he suddenly felt a sharp pain, causing by being kicked in the crotch.

The last thing he heard before hitting the ground was "Don't mess with me, idiot."

A little while later, both the brothers ended up outside, somehow.

"Ahh. I lost the money…" Allen thought aloud "Looks like we're sleeping out here tonight."

"I don't really mind." David responded "We're used to by now, right? Though it would be nice to stay inside for once."

A group approached them.

"Yo." The woman leading began "You guys are the one who started the fight, right?"

Allen raised his guard, recognising some of them from earlier.

"What about it?"

"So you are…" She paused for a moment.

Allen and David prepared themselves.

"Wanna join our group?"

The idea didn't get a shocked response from the brothers alone.

"Wait, why?" The revenge seeking woman from earlier asked.

"Cause they seem interesting."

"But they almost hurt you."

"And?"

"...W-well if you say so."

Allen found himself dumbfounded at how quickly his attacker from earlier had been shut down, but he still managed to find something to say.

"Look, why would we join you when we don't even know who you guys are?"

"Ah, I guess you don't. Then let's just do that. You guys start."

"Allen Gilmore."

"David Gilmore."

"Ahh, a pair of brothers? I like it. Oh yeah, I'm Olivia. I guess I'm the captain here. Anyways, the rest of you go."

The woman from before started.

"I'm Claire. Don't get me wrong though, I don't expect you guys to join. Or want you to. In fact, get as far away as possible. You're a threat."

"Be nice." Olivia ordered her.

"...You're a minor threat at worst."

Before either of the two could respond about how that was probably worse, they heard someone snap their fingers. It was the man with the eyepatch.

"Dragging out your intro isn't cool, give the rest of us some time." He then turned to the brothers "Name's Lock. I'm the type who hits a hundred percent of my shots. Nice to meet ya."

The sorta feral guy from earlier spoke next. "Doug."

The aggressive midget spoke up. "My name's Beatrice. Remember it."

A guy who neither of them recognised but seemed to recognise them introduced himself. "I'm Nate. Also known as the lightspeed strike gunner, or the eternal flare. Feel free to ask for autographs."

"If you're gonna bullshit them at least make it believable." The girl standing next to him complained. "Oh, and I'm Maria."

"That makes everyone," Olivia finished "except for Troy, who's the big guy. He doesn't really talk much. But yeah, we're the dawn hunters."

She started to pose.

"Are you really doing this?" Maria asked.

"Of course. Now then..."

She took a deep breath.

"The sunrise and sunset is inevitable, you already know what's going to happen every single day. No matter what you do, that can't be changed. So in that case, all you can do is try to make it so that by the time the next sunrise comes around, things are better than they were last time. That's how we move forwards."

"...I'm surprised you can say all that without getting embarrassed." Was Allen's only response.

"Hehe, thanks. I get that a lot. So?"

"Well, why not? We're in."

Allen got off the ground, signalling David to follow.

He got up, following the newfound teammates into the uncertain night.