Sun Down

It wasn't a long walk from the small settlement where Stella meet up with everyone but it still took longer than she thought. Though it wasn't a terrible walk by any stretch of the imagination. Even during the season, the trees were covered in a layer of frost.

The path to the village was along the coast line with the frozen trees to her left and the sea on the other side. She had Autem, her shield fold up resting on her back with Iuris, her sword resting in its sheath on her hip. Though they were never there for the whole trip, there were a few small encounters by both bandits and Grimm.

Eventually, Stella reached a small hill that symbolized the near end of her journey just over the top of the hill lay the little fishing village she helped protect. "I wonder if any fisherman had a good hall today?" she wondered aloud. Though once Stella got to the top of the hill the sight that lay before her was not the one she was expecting.

Even though she was only gone the day she could see dark smoke rising from the roof tops over the stone wall that lined the village. Stella fearing the worst drew Iuris from its sheath gripping it tightly in her right hand. While she grabbed Autem off of her back having it fully unfold forming the full kite shield she always used. With that she started to run towards the village with one singular thought in her mind, "I hope no one has is to gravely hurt" she whispered under her breath

As she neared the village she got a better look on how bad the situation had unfolded. As Stella got closer to the village she got a better look at the stone wall and many of the marks that were dug into the stone. Many of the marks were old some from bandit attacks but much more were done by Grimm trying to get inside the village but there were some fresh marks that lined the wall.

Though her worst fears were soon realized as she arrived at the main gate. Though the main gate was made of wood it had stood firm through many encounters. However now the main gate looked as if it was blown apart by a cannon with many of the boards splintered.

Though the most troubling thing wasn't the gate open wide but the claw marks that were carved into the wood. This caused Stella's heart to sink in her chest as she worried for the people in the village.

With that Stella rushed into the village fearing the worst so once she passed the gate she quickly raised her shield in front of her. At a slight angle so she could see over it but enough to cover most of her body for protection. Though once she got a better look at the village square she slowly lowered her shield as she saw people helping each other. Throughout the whole square, there was turned over stalls with many buildings falling down.

After a quick scan to make sure there was no immediate danger she quickly rushed over to someone try to help another person out from under the rubble. Using her shield to help hold up a piece of wall that had fallen down on the poor soul. "What happened here?" she quickly asked the man as he crawled out from underneath the rubble.

"It was a terrible event," he said with a hint of laboured breathing as he crawled out from under the wall. "It started as small bandit raid nothing we couldn't handle. But what happened next was nothing we couldn't have suspected."

Once he finally he crawled out of form under rumble Stella removed Autem from underneath the wall causing to fall to the floor with a thud. With that, she propped him against a still standing wall as he was catching his breath. "So what happened?" Stella asking with a small tone of annoyance hanging off of her voice.

After a few deep quick breaths, the man described the whole encounter. "At first there was a small bandit group trying to extort us for some Lien and or some Dust if we had it laying around." The man stated as he sat against the wall. "At first they couldn't get around the wall and The Atlesian K50s were enough to keep them at bay. But where there is violence there is despair and where there is despair the Creatures of Grimm aren't far away." Trailing off at the end as finished his thought.

Stella quickly checked for a pulse to make sure the man had not just died on her. After finding a faint pulse she quickly waved down a passing person to help carry him to somewhere to get the help he needed. Though on her walk over to the makeshift emergency area she asked the kind lady who was helping her. "Did the Grimm really attack here?"

"Unfortunately yes." The young women stated. "It was the worst thing I have seen in a long time. There must have been a passing pack of Ursas as at first they were attacking the bandits but not long after they wanted into the village."

At this moment they had arrived at the emergency tents and after they found an empty cot and a nurse to help the poor man Stella resumed her questioning. "OK, that explains why the main gate is completely shattered it had a hard time holding back Beowolves but a pack of Ursas could defiantly destroy it. But what happened after, couldn't a handful of K50s possibly kill a pack of Ursas?"

"Well to correct you on one aspect" the young women quickly chimed in. "it was one Ursa Major that torn down the gate." This cause Stella to worry, a pack of Ursa, not a big deal but a pack lead by an Ursa Major that could pose a problem "And secondly the K50s did hold out for a while taking a couple of Ursas down before they were all dismantled by Ursa Major." The young Lady continued snapping Stella out of her train of thought "though, in all honesty, we got lucky a passing Huntsman managed to lead the Ursa Major out of the village, though we haven't seen him return yet." The last bit of her sentence carrying a hint of concern in her voice

"How long has it been since he left?" Stella asked quickly in hopes it was not long ago though she didn't believe in that.

"It's hard to say" the young lady responded. "Maybe an hour at most?" she said with very little confidence in her voice

This caused Stella's heart to fall, the lone soul who managed to protect the village while she was gone was missing and not just that but the sun hung low in the sky with the moon creeping over the horizon. "Which way did he go?" she quickly asked this time with her voice full of urgency.

The young lady quickly pointed into the woods "He headed northward when he first left but it's hard to say…" her voice quickly drifted as Stella quickly raced into the direction of the forest. "Where are you going?!" the young lady quickly asked towards Stella.

"To find him and bring him back!" Stella yelled back as she raced into the forest to find the man who helped save the village.

While Stella was never the strongest tracker of her former team as she started towards the forest the words of her old Grandfather rang in her head. "When following a large Beast such as an Ursa you don't need to rely on the directions of their prints. Only the path of broken branches and toppled trees for they do not care for subtlety." And thankfully the old words of her grandfather were true in this case.

At the edge of the forest there was no obvious path to follow but only a few feet into the forest the path was laid clear as day. The scene was looked as if someone decides to carve a giant circle into the forest. "Granddad, you are right once again," Stella stated with a smile forming at the corner of her mouth.

She followed the path for what seemed to be all most as long of a route she took to get to the village. Hoping over fall logs with Autem and Iuris still drawn and ready for the eventual battle with the sun slowly falling. For some time it seemed like she might have been too late to save the poor soul but a sudden noise told otherwise. A quick scream could be heard through the forest and thankfully for Stella, it sounded close. She quickly raced in the direction of the scream and eventually found the source of it in a small clearing.

There crawled up in a tree was presumably the man who had lead the Ursa Major away from the village. And at the foot of the tree the Ursa Major who looked as if it was trying to topple the old tree. The man quickly caught sight of Stella in the little clearing. "PLEASE HELP ME!" the man begging for his life.

"Just hold on!" Stella responded to the obviously scarce man.

"WHAT DO YOU THINK I AM DOING?! HOLDING A TEA PARTY WITH THIS MONSTER?!" He responded in a manner that quickly reminded Stella of Tanner.

"Fine." Stella stated as she shifted her gaze back to the obvious problem, with the Ursa still focusing on the man completely ignoring her. "Well, first I have to get it attention." She stated as she quickly transformed Iuris into its second form, an over/under double Barrel shot gun with the inside of the blade wrapping around to form the stock of the gun. With two quick pulls of the trigger, both barrels fired their respected round towards the Ursa, shifting its attention to towards its new attacker.

"Hello there" Stella quickly taunted the Ursa as she reloaded Iuris and shifted it back to sword form now holding her shield in front.

The Ursa let out a loud roar just before it charged Stella as it quickly slashed it claws towards her but still was able to block the attack using Autem to hold its paw above her head. With that, she quickly slashed towards the Ursa with Iuris but before the attack could land the Ursa moved back to avoid the attack. "So you are smarter than the average Ursa." Stella once again taunting the beast.

The Ursa quickly charged at Stella again but this time throwing its shoulder towards her that she was able to block again but she was pushed back some distance. Stella quickly looked over her shoulder to the direction of the setting sun think to herself that she was running out of time. She quickly charged the Ursa this time trying to get a clean hit before it was too late.

The Ursa quickly swung its claws towards her again but Stella instinctively blocked the attack and just as quickly landed a slash on the beast shoulder. She hopped back to but some distance between the Ursa and herself, seeing the beast was now favouring the other shoulder more. With that, her confidence went up a little bit since she made the first strike but that didn't last long.

Stella could quickly tell something was not right and she quickly turned her head towards the sun that had now fully set over the horizon. This caused the new found confidence to quickly disperse and while she was distracted the Ursa once again charged her but this time she had not enough time to raise Autem, sending her flying into a tree. Causing the tree to snap where she impacted.

"This isn't good." She quickly told herself as she got back up with her full attention back on to the Ursa Major. "I have to end this quickly or I might need to climb my own tree."

What Stella didn't notice was the man in the tree quickly throw a large branch towards the Ursa causing it to turn its head in his direction. "Hey over here you forest reject" he mocked the Ursa in a style that reminded Stella once again of Tanner. But this gave Stella the perfect chance to finish this fight so she charged once again towards the Ursa. However, instead of cutting it with Iuris she quickly gave an uppercut using the top of Autem to land more power on her punch on the Ursa jaw.

This caused the Ursa to rise up on its hind legs then in quick succession she shifted Iuris once again into its shotgun form. With that Stella fired the two shells again causing the Ursa to fall onto its back. With at any time wasted Stella quickly climbed onto the Ursa's stomach plunging both Iuris back in its blade form and the pointed edge of Autem down into its chest.

After a few minutes of the Ursa trying to shack of Stella, it fell still and started to dissolve signalling the end of the fight. With that Stella pulled both Iuris and Autem out of dead Ursas chest hoping down from it and giving a quick breath of relief.

"WAHOO!" The man in the tree quickly shouted "WE DID IT!" he proclaimed from his preach.

"What do you mean 'we' did it, " Stella asked with annoyance in her voice.

"Wel, I distracted it so you could land that amazing move," The man said as he was climbing down from the tree "I am Aaron, Aaron Rod, and am I happy to be out of there I thought I would have to start building a house up there. So thanks …" he trailed off just realizing he never ask Stella's name.

"Stella and that's all you are getting out of me" she quickly snapped at him just then they could hear howls from other animals in the forest "and let's get out of here before you attracted any more unwanted attention," she said as she quickly hurried down the path she came from.

"Right Behind you" Aaron responded in fear as he to raced behind her.

Thanks for putting up with this slightly longer chapter once I started right the fight between Stella and the Ursa I just couldn't stop.