Her hand was tired, her head hurt, she hadn't slept, and she was painfully hungy. May felt however, that the task she took upon herself was more important than anything. She volunteered, a rash move out of vengence, to assemble and lead a strike team against a nigh unstoppable foe. Unfortunately, time was scarce, so the battle would take place close to home, meaning she needed only the best, to stop this legendary beast in its tracks. This wouldn't be easy, considering the size of the tracks he made.
"You alright?" her squire asked, peering in cautiously, as not to wake her if sleep finaly came.
"Just more cross-referencing, boring, uneventful, and not dangerous cross-referencing." she snapped. She went over list after list of hunters. She wished she could have done this a month ago, when there were only a few hunters in Minagarde. The recent boom made her job more difficult, but perhaps she'd get better results with the increased options. "I want this Wolfbait fellow, if he's around."
"I'll tell the militia man, it'll take a few men to round him up."
"I don't care, he's the best it seems, the Legendary Unseen Demon, if i recall my bedtime stories correctly."
"True, but he hasn't hunted in two winters."
"I don't care! I don't keep you around to question me, so get moving!" she screamed, finaly hitting her breaking point. Her squire was about to leave, when she noticed a familiar, yet suprising name on her list. "Katamar?" she inquired.
"Yes, he just signed up, apparently he's on his way back from his first quest, a great success." claimed the nervous squire.
"Hmmm... I've heard of his explorations, and he's certainly knowledgeable. I want you to send the militiaman and his team to keep up on his progress, if you think he's ready in time for the coming fight, then 'persuade' him to join our cause." she grinned, her mood suddenly better.
Her squire gave a nervous nod at her emphasis on the word, persuade, then he left. May continued to scan her list. Famous hunter, infamous hunter, novice hunter, etc. She then saw two names, near each other in rank, Grayburg and Odysseus. She fought back tears as she read their names, and the word deceased after them. She fought to forget the memory, but sleep overtook her duing the struggle, and thus the memories had free-reign in her head.
Just days earlier...
"Why isn't Wolfbait here?" asked May, "I though yall were pals."
"We were, but that ended a couple winters ago," replied Grayburg, May's father.
May let the conversation die at that, trying to avoid causing painful memories. After an awkward silence, a chubby felyne tapped Odysseus on the shoulder, then wispered to his ear.
"Word is, the monster is in the marsh-lands, we've been told not to engage it yet, just get intel." Odysseus reported,, fidgetting with his blue blade as he did when he was bored.
The team, made up of the three hunters and a couple felynes, continued silently in their hot air balloon over the fog covered feilds below, untill the feilds became marshes, and was made invisible by the thickening fog. The silence was broken when they began hearing crescendoing echoes. The thuds became louder, and louder, until they reached a deafening peek, at which point they stopped all together. The confused team looked over the edge of their balloon. It was no use, as the fog blinded them to anything below its sinister blockade.
"Was that him?" asked May.
"It's likelly. I wish this fog wasn't here; it makes me uneasy." replied Grayburg.
"How do we report on something invisible to us?" asked Odysseus, rhetorically.
As if to answer the question, the fog began to spread, as a titanic red figure, remniscent of stone, began to rise. The team looked, as the beast stood on its hind legs, back facing them. The mighty beast was easily as tall as the hotair baloon's altitude, and the team stood aghast at the monster.
"It's... It's... its him..." mumbled Odysseus.
"A moving mountain of sanctity..." Grayburg added, followed by the silence of the entire teams awe.
This silence was broken by the creatures mightly roar. The team had no choice but to drop their equipment and cover their ears. The beast took this opportunity to begin turning slowly toward the humans, and their fur covered companions. By the time sound returned to the team, the monster was approaching the balloon at a steady pace.
"Retreat!" ordered the fearful Odysseus. The felyne team began igniting the firest to increase altitlude, the quickest way to escape the behemoth's hostile intentions. As they rose, the monster approached. It became evident the closer he came, how tall he was, and how much higher they needed to fly to avoid death.
"We're not goint to make it!" Grayburg cried, as the beast's shadow began to overtake the balloon. "We need to lower altitude if any of us are going to get out of this alive!"
It was too late, for the mountanous beast grunted, then snapped at the balloon with his razor-like teeth. The balloon could no longer hold hot air, and began to plummet. In response, the monster lunged toward the balloon on his way to the ground, The monster came mere feet from May's shocked form, but quick thinking Grayburg rushed to raise his shield in time to save his daugher. This move costed him his life. The monster's first few teeth wer chipped by the inpenetrable sheild, but the force knocked it out of Grayburg's grasp, and the creature seized the opportunity to pluck him from the falling balloon.
The team struggled to stay on the aircraft, which was falling barely below freefall. The vehicle crashed into a jagged cliff, impalling the balloons cloth, leaving it hanging. May was knocked uncontious, and luckily managed to do so on the edge of the basket. Odysseus and the felynes weren't as fortunate. The two fell from the balloon upon collision with the cliff, and the three were dead upon impact with the ground.
Startled May awoke, unmoved by her nightmare. She, like so many others, had managed to grow cold in the last few weeks of the war. She looked behind her, at Grayburg's javelin. She adopted the weapon in her father's memory, given she had no time to mourn with this creature approaching the capital. She never bothered to ask how the guild gatherers had managed to reach her, or find her father's beautiful lance. She didn't really care though, she knew how to weild his heavy weapon better than her own sword and sheild. After realizing she had been sidetracked, May went back to her urgent work, trying to find the 4th man, and perhaps a 3rd, if Katamar would not meet her expectations...