Chapter 4: Confronting Reality

I took my first step outside into the oasis that was our village. With a breath of fresh air, I walked out into the streets of sand with Asch. Everyone immediately noticed us and looked at us, whispering to each other. I had a feeling of uncertainty and embarrassment, mostly because I was scared of being the center of attention. Asch knew of this, and he placed his hand on my shoulder from behind. I looked back at him. He was smiling. I smiled back and my hopes were boosted.

We continued to walk, heading towards my home. The sun was already three-quarters across the sky. We attempted to smell the various dinners that would be in the process of cooking at this time of day, but there weren't any for some reason. Kids were running around playing, but they also stopped, looking at me. Two of them were Tarin and Gyro. They were friends of my brother. I stopped and looked at them as they attempted to stare me down, processing who I actually was. Then, a look of success came across Tarin's face.

"Dariue!" He exclaimed, taking a look at Gyro, "It's Dariue!" They both looked at me in amazement. I laughed out loud and patted both of their heads.

"Yo." I said in a low, clear tone. "I'm headin' home at the moment."

"Ohhhh, does he know? Does he know, Tarinnnn?" Gyro said in his childish tone. Tarin immediately put him into a headlock, whispering to him. "Shut up, Gyro! He's not supposed to know!" He looked up at me and smiled awkwardly.

"Aha, yeah, you should go home." Tarin said, and I nodded, patting his head again, and walked forward towards home once again. Asch had his arms crossed as he was walking with me and grinned at the two kids as he passed them.

We arrived at my home a few minutes later. It was to my surprise that just about everyone in the village was there. Even the mayor was there. A man that I know by the name of Yango saw me and yelled out, "He's here!"

I blinked and immediately everyone stopped talking and turned to me. My jaw was dropped slightly, and I was once again embarrassed. I was blushing. Then, everyone started applauding me. Asch was applauding as well. I looked at everyone, still with surprise on my face. The mayor walked out from the crowd, causing everyone to slowly stop applauding. The mayor placed his arm around me.

"Tomorrow will be a great day." He began. He was very tall, and wore slightly more formal clothing than the others. He had gotten the almost-to-be-tux from a merchant in Loc Lac. How do I know this? Well, he's similar to Asch. Everyone knows him. Everyone loves him. He was an idol to us all…. Well, not really an idol. But he was still cool. "Our young friend and fellow villager, Dariue, has finally come of age to become a monster hunter. And as we can all see, surely he has been given great aid because of our great Asch." He then looked at me, and actually kneeled down on one knee. I was surprised. And then not only did he kneel: EVERYONE kneeled.

"Being a monster hunter is a great career that many fear to take." He looked up at me. "In diplomatic terms, you are now Sir Dariue Goddrick." He stood up and so did everyone else. He turned to my father, who was at the front of the crowd. "Will you have the honours, Garinu?"

My father nodded then raised his arms, "Let the feast begin, and the festivities of the evening shall commence."

I was surprised AGAIN, yes, I KNOW, I get surprised a LOT. The reason why I was this time? There was a HUGE table that was placed in the 'street.' It was very long, and there was a lot of food. I was given the honour of sitting at the head of the table, but instead, I wanted to sit beside my love.

Yes. I had a girlfriend. Her name, you ask? Her name's Teia. She's very beautiful. She has long, blonde hair, and has the best blue eyes I had ever seen. I could go on forever about her eyes alone… But that would be awkward, now, wouldn't it? She was 14 at the time. I sat down beside her and unlocked my helmet, removing it. I looked at her for a moment as she stood up to see me. She wore such a beautiful dress. It was a blue and white dress; the same one that she wore to a village-wide dance a few months back. She knew I loved it. Her skin was also very light and soft.

"Hey," I said, smiling as we sat down, "What's up?" She was smiling back. I got to look into her blue eyes, and like always, I got lost in them. Like an ocean full of… gah, I cannot describe. I told myself I wouldn't! Haha.

"Hi, Dariue," She said. Her voice. That was another thing. Such an amazing voice. No matter her mood, her voice soothed me.

"There's a lot of food here, isn't there?" I exclaimed, looking at my plate. My stomach growled. I hadn't eaten all day. Rule #1: ALWAYS eat. That's my number one monster hunter rule. It keeps your strength up. She nodded at my comment about the food.

"How about we head somewhere after?" I asked, looking at her once again, having a feeling of warmth splash my face. She nodded and blushed very lightly, "The usual place?"

"The usual place," I smiled warmly. Then everyone began to eat.

Later on that night, the sun had set. I met with my brother, sister, a bunch of friends and such. We all conversed for a while. Then Teia and I headed up to our usual bonding place. It was a high hill on the outside borders of the city. I still had my armour on, holding my helmet. We sat down. I took my great sword out of my sash and placed it down on the ground beside me. We sat very close, looking up at the amazing night sky. It was dotted with thousands of stars. It was a new moon that night, so it didn't block out any of the stars.

I looked into her eyes as she looked into mine. I could see all of the stars in the sky in her eyes. Only, they were more beautiful. Shining so greatly.

"So." She exclaimed, looking at me with that familiar smile.

"Sooo." I said, chuckling lightly to myself, smiling back.

"You're actually fulfilling that crazy dream of yours." She then put her arms around me as we laid down, looking at the sky. I put my arms around her and nodded. "Yep… It's kinda freaky, isn't it? I'm actually going to fight for once."

It was then that she held me closer, her head now on my chest. I swear she could hear my heartbeat, suddenly beating faster. I blushed lightly.

"That's the thing… you're going to be fighting… things like Diablos…" She looked up at me with concern in her eyes. I looked down with kind eyes and ran my hand down her back, rubbing it slowly.

"I'll be okay… I promise. I'll visit all the time." She made a little sound of sadness and closed her eyes, as if she were going to fall asleep.

"I'll miss you…"

"I'll miss you too." I said to her with my calm voice. It was then that she looked back up at me, and then she moved closer to my face, and we kissed. It was long and stationary. Just a nice, normal kiss.

"I love you, Teia." I hugged her close. She said that she loved me too.

"Can you take that armour stuff off?"

"Why do you want it off?"

"I want to feel your warmth one more time…" She said as her voice got quieter, looking away. I knew she was blushing. I chuckled to myself lightly. "Yes, I can." I then slowly removed my armour, piece by piece. Hunters can remove their own armour. It's just difficult to put on. I kept my Chainmail pants on because of the fact that all I had were mere undergarments. After I removed the top half of my armour, she nuzzled into my chest. Her warmth was more than anything I could ask for. I could stay like this forever.

Forever. What she said was hinting the truth.

We weren't going to see each other for a long while.

That was reality.