Hey, if you were following this before you're probably wondering why I deleted chapter 1 and rewritten the story.

I hated it, I hated how unnatural it felt, the writing sucked (still sucks) and a monster being more trusting than the human was dumb.

I've also changed Casey's partner with a Lagiacrus because I forgot Alwin was a character halfway through writing (bruv) and I suck at writing flying scenes.

The plot has also changed, not that anyone would have known about that, and hopefully, it's for the better!

Please be patient with my irregular updates (I was recently hired and still studying so I barely have time for myself!) and my writing, English is not my main language so if you see typos or bad grammar feel free to correct me (but don't be rude please!)

Enjoy!

My name is Casey Sten, I am writing in this diary in the event that something happens to me.

It had been two years since I left my village, I'd been traveling through these years in hopes to find somewhere safe for me and my companion, a Lagiacrus, we'd become friends when I was a teen.

I had found her on the edge of the territory of my old home next to a giant crystal clear lake, her blood ran through the multiple claw wounds into the soaked sand beneath her and to this day she refused to tell me what happened, I can't tell if this is because of trauma or if her pride was ruined on that day, that's because I helped her, even when she was aggressive towards me, but she couldn't do anything to me with how wounded she was at the time.

Our relationship was rough, trust was hard to earn, I tended to her wounds and bring her fish, back then she was little, a little higher than a horse, she probably had left her parent's nest a few weeks before the fight had happened, even though she ate everything I threw at her and her bottomless pit she calls a stomach/Gillard.

She tried to intimate me by snapping her jaws and growling at me but stopped trying because of my stubbornness, she must have realized I meant no harm (or that she needed me to survive, not that she would admit that).

It took four years for her to trust me, I was surprised she decided to keep around that lake I found her at, still skittish of course, I was so happy back then, I finally had someone to talk to, being raised in a village of glory-seeking hunters, I was expected to follow my ancestor's footsteps and become a hunter,

I was excellent in training, and I quickly became the top-line student and a long shell gunlance user, and just as quickly as I was respected, that changed in my first hunt, or whatever that was, there were reports of a Kut-ku making trouble in the village deposits at night, while others hunted small monster, I was tasked to hunt that Kut-ku down as my first test, and so I hunted.

The search for clues took some time, but nothing I didn't get to train, the monster seemed to have somehow found out it was being hunted, its footprints were desperate and clumsy, when I finally cornered the thing, it was scratching the wall as if it was trying to dig through it, as I was starting to ready to engage it turned around and started to talk, to actually talk, well... it was more pleading than talking, it kept repeating that 'he was sorry' and 'didn't mean to cause trouble', how he was just trying to keep himself alive, yes, a He.

I was able to understand the Kut-ku I was supposed to hunt, I was expected to kill sentient beings, to mercilessly slaughter them as they pleaded for their lives... I didn't even notice back then in my state of shock when that Kut-ku slipped by and ran.

I didn't tell anyone what had just happened when I returned empty-handed from the hunt and reported that my target had escaped, that Kut-ku was killed the next day...

Well… I didn't tell anyone, except whom I thought back then my friend, that snitch.

That mistake cost me everything, I quickly became an outsider to everyone, a freak. I became desperate for someone, anyone to be with, so desperate to the point that I wasn't even scared when I approached the wild and injured lagiacrus, if she was just a little better she would have ripped me to shreds, after all, she was in her survival instinct.

Not only was it hard to build this trust, but it was also extremely challenging to keep her hidden from hunters and predators,

I managed it well until I was spotted caring for her needs by hunters, forcing us to leave in a hassle, which brings us to the present.

I am presently writing this as I ride Lagiacrus through the vast ocean searching for a place where we belong.

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