TLOS X Guild Wars 2

Chapter 1

Hunting Grounds

The swamp was filled with silence. Creatures that were smart stayed that way unless they wanted to attract their predator. It was kill or be killed and is one of the many laws that governed nature, a universal truth to rangers across Tyria.

One such ranger was about to observe this very fact of life in action as he remained atop the canopy of leaves. A Charr ranger who goes by the name Lance Evergreen kept his gaze on the bait he set in the water hopping to draw out prey that was gullible enough to indulge in such a trap.

After countless battle against the risen, the Flame legion, and too many names to keep track of Lance was finally given some time off duty. Which he spent honing his hunting skills in Lamia Mire.

Slung across his back were two quivers filled to the brink with arrows and a long bow that was the length of his head to his hips. Lance as always was wearing his favored hat that covered his face without obstructing his horns as a feather decorated the peak. His coat of green, dark blue, and red blended him into the surrounding trees as to give him the cover he needed. His pants and boots were dyed in the same color in order to keep consistency with his attire as well as his camouflage.

Noticing the water ripple Lance drew his bow and notched an arrow with his eyes completely locked on the bait. As soon as the water shattered to reveal a marsh drake Lance knew to make his move.

Lance let his arrow loose allowing it to sail through the air finding its mark on the drake's eye. Seeing the drake in utter confusion Lance whistled and from the tree tops an eagle dived down accompanied by a fern hound. The two animals relentlessly took strikes on their target While Lance shot arrows at key moments to prevent movements from the drake. Seeing that Lance was a skilled bow wielder, an arrow finding its mark on one of his trusted pets was highly unlikely. The beast put up quite a fight but the combined effort of Lance's precision shots and his pet's merciless onslaughts made short work of their ambushed prey. With his prey breathing no more Lance fastened his bow to his back and came closer to reap his rewards.

While Lance scavenged the drake's remains his pets shot him a forlorn look, one which Lance was already used to by this time "Alright here you can have some." He took the meat and threw one large slice to Hunter the fern hound, and an equally large slice of meat to Bedivere the eagle.

'They deserve at least this. After what I've put them through I'm surprised they haven't even left me yet.' Lance thought to himself before continuing his work

Lance had finished carving all he could from the drake and decided to set up camp nearby under a grove of trees. A fire had been started and a soup was on its way as Lance stirred the master piece slowly. It was certainly a nice change of pace from what he went through the past few months.

Hordes upon hordes of undead were relentless in Orr enough that a normal being would have lost his sanity to the dangers they would be presented with, but Lance was different. Even amongst Charrs Lance's bravery went far beyond the standard. He did better than survive, he thrived in such a landscape, Lance led the charge against the undead amongst other commanders and were able to secure a foothold against the undead dragon.

Now that it was a time for rest Lance couldn't shake off his adaptations to such a world. He would sleep light enough for a small creak to wake him, always have one of his claws near his bow and the other next to his quiver of arrows, and even the slightest sign of danger made him consider what he would face. Traherne saw how tightly wound up the Charr was when the poor Slyvarian entered his quarters without knocking only to have an arrow barely miss his head. That incident took place a few days ago and merited Lance's two weeks worth of time off.

Even though he was told to take it easy, Lance had the blood of a hunter and being cooped up wasn't going to help him relax his nerves. So without telling his war band where he would be for the next few days, Lance left Black citadel with a quiver full of arrows, and his two pets by his side.

The meat swimming in the soup had turned soft, which meant that the recipe was followed and was ready to be eaten. While it wasn't as good as some of the food he had tasted during the Lion's arch festival, it was certainly better than the pathetic excuse for food that the pact served as rations.

After his meal Lance extinguished the fire and climbed the tree after sending Bedivere up first to check for snakes. Another one of his hunter adaptations kicking in. Sleeping on the ground meant certain doom for anyone foolish enough to try it without a trustworthy tent. It was a long day and Lance was looking forward to some well earned rest, one which was certain not to arrive tonight.

Not even two hours into his sleep a subtle snap of a twig aroused Lance out of his slumber. Without even thinking it his claws already drew his bow and notched an arrow, while his pets were already by his side loyally awaiting orders just in case hostilities were at large. Following his ears Lance eventually heard splashing which meant something was traversing the water.

Lance's mind went to work to asses the situation 'Another marsh drake? No it can't be they should all be asleep right now and I don't know anything nocturnal here that could make a splash as big as that.'

Upon closer inspection Lance found a grotesque figure with limbs stitched back together trudging through the waters. Lance grit his teeth and silenced his breath, a risen abomination was within the vicinity.

'Risen here?' Lance took another peek just to be sure he wasn't just imagining the situation 'Priority one take down the risen. Priority two report sighting immediately.'

"Have you... found him yet?" the abomination groaned halting Lance's train of thought "The master grows weary of waiting."

Lance sneaked a peek once more to see another figure has just entered the fray this one was an undead human just like the usual he'd see "No he eludes us again and again. This one is not just strong but powerful the master will be pleased once we obtain him."

'New objective get answers. Are they looking for me?' Lance was already formulating a battle plan and was ready to ambush

"I see. Continue... the search." The abomination said trudging away

Lance breathed a sigh of relief until the undead human turned his way "And what of the Charr?"

Cursing under his breath Lance took to action and let loose the arrow he had been holding back. Once the arrow struck Lance's form enshrouded in shadows as he whistled to his pets. Bedivere was the first one out of cover and went straight for the eyes like he was trained followed by Hunter how pinned the thrall down by biting down on the his legs.

Using the stealth to his advantage Lance notched another arrow and let it loose this one piercing the undead human's head effectively lessening the threats in the area. However Lance was not prepared for the abomination's charge. As it knocked away his pets Lance shot two arrows simultaneously to no avail as they only added to the numerous spikes already on the abomination's back.

Lance was knocked onto his back and struggled to stand as the wind was taken right of him with such a blow. Rushing to their master's aid Bedivere and Hunter stalled the abomination's next blow and caused it to focus on them instead. With an opening so foolishly unguarded Lance took three arrows and loosed them one after the other. One arrow hit where its heart should be but the second arrow hit the same spot and drove it in deeper and the third finished off the abomination.

After taking a breather Lance silently thanked Terrence for the steel rod arrows which allowed such a feat. Had it been wooden arrows the other two would only split the others instead of driving the others deeper. With his foes vanquished Lance studied the scene before him.

'Obviously they were looking for someone, but who?'

A quick search through the inventory of the undead revealed the tow held almost nothing of value except for a mysterious purple scale.

'I haven't seen such a pure sheen of purple on a scale before. This doesn't belong on a drake I've seen yet.'

No more clues could be dug up from the thralls, so it was up to Lance to follow the tracks of the undead. Lance decided on the human thrall seeing as its path didn't follow the water making its tracks easier to trace and it seemed to have the most recent encounter of who they were looking for.

'Could it be a member of the pact? I'm missing a few pieces so I can't report this in just yet.'

The tracks led deeper into Lamia mire, which was not alien territory to Lance, but previous experiences told him not to relent his guard. Eventually the tracks curved and jumbled throwing Lance off until he took a step back. A few more prints were added to the area, as well as a few carcasses which were decorated with fresh injuries. Streaks that were cleanly cut through, the one to silence these thralls must be extremely skilled with a blade.

'Signs of a struggle. Whoever they're looking for put up a fight and a nasty one at that.'

Out of all the tracks Lance followed he always hated following ones that came from a struggle. It always gave him a head ache trying to discern which track belonged to who and which one was the one he needed to follow. After taking note on which foot print belonged to who Lance noticed that including the human thrall he killed recently all footprints are accounted for except for the one that took their corrupted lives.

Finally after thoroughly sweeping the area Lance found scratch marks on a nearby tree. A closer look revealed a few more leading up the tree. Lance climbed up for an even closer look and noticed on another nearby tree the same claw marks could be seen. A fresh trail Lance had caught onto and would be coming soon.

'Thought you could hide from me?'

Lance jumped down and followed tree after tree with the same marks. He hated to admit it, but Lance was alive. The thrill of the hunt gleamed through his veins each foot print only a puzzle Lance needed to put together, and from the looks of how deeply the marks were made this time Lance concluded that whoever he's chasing must be getting tired.

Eventually Lance's chase led him to the center of Lamia Mire where the marks were now found on all the surrounding trees.

'Clever, but some of these has got to be the real one.'

Lance didn't get to answer the question as he was tackled to the ground. On reaction Lance kicked off his would be attacker using the momentum and with the same momentum threw himself back onto his feet with his bow drawn and an arrow at the ready with his pets forming a perimeter.

The attacker was gone faded back into the shadows. It was clear that the attacker was no undead, Lance hadn't seen one move so fast before, but they way it felt didn't feel like any other race he's met with either. However it was clear that the attacker is hostile.

Another quick strike this time sending hunter into a tree and into unconsciousness. Lance was losing ground and he needed to act fast. A solution came in the form of Lance's summons. A sun spirit in the form of multiple butterflies fluttered about providing light to wherever they wonder. The intervals between attacks were shortened and soon the spirits wouldn't be able to stay any longer.

Desperate Lance shut his eyes and withheld his breath shutting out any distraction that entered his mind. Silence was all around Lance and to an attuned ranger's ears a single noise could be detected if prey were careless.

A rustle of leaves behind Lance set into motion his entire body. In one second the attacker leaped out of his hiding to strike Lance down only for him to jump out of the way and loose an arrow mid jump to pin down the attacker. To his surprise he heard the arrow's failed echo as it hit armor instead of skin, and now he was vulnerable. A tail as hard as bricks slammed into his body mid air forcing him into a tree next to hunter while Bedivere attempted to stall once more.

Bedivere's acts were ignored as the figure brushed off the avian like he was nothing. Due to being injured and tired Lance's vision blurred and only saw a silhouette of his attacker raising an arm ready to strike the final blow. Lance closed his eyes and smirked. With the snap of his fingers the sun spirit butterflies exploded in radiant brilliance temporarily blinding the attacker with light.

Lance saw an opening and took it knocking off his attacker with a leg sweep and quickly drawing his bow while his opponent was down. Before he could recover Lance drew and arrow and shot it aiming for the limbs careful not to hit the vitals causing the attacker to scream in pain. After repeating the process three more times with the other three limbs the opponent gave one more cry before fainting.

Victory was Lance's as he panted and wobbled wearily but he needed to question his attacker. It took a moment but once Lance's vision cleared he checked if he was seeing right. Before him was a dragon. Arrayed in the same scales he scavenged off the thrall, a gold coloring went from its chest all the way to the base of its tail. A crest of the same gold went down to his neck and two wings were visible while it might be laying down. There was no mistaking it Lance has just captured a dragon.

Wasting no time Lance pulled out a pen and a piece of paper and began writing unusually fast. The letter was quickly finished and tied to Bedivere's leg for immediate sending.

"Quickly get the others. I'll stay here and make sure he doesn't wonder." Lance said sending off his companion

END OF CHAPTER 1