Osrik is a character from Emu777's story Guardian. I have his personal permission to use Osrik, and have his approval on the interpretation of the character.

Chapter Twelve

A Dangerous Mission

"So that's the worst of it. We moved the camp and slept the rest of the night, though I can't for the life of me figure out how, after all that excitement."

Osrik laughed. His face then adopted a more serious, but not unhappy expression. "What I can't figure out is how you managed to keep up with me, at your age. And then there's the tree. The Yoma punched you into it so hard that it left an imprint in the trunk."

Yura managed to keep his composure steady. He put his hand on his chin as if trying to recall. "I don't seem to remember hitting the tree. I took the hit on my staff, and ducked out of the hit."

"I guess so. Though the imprint seemed to be human-shaped."

A shrug and slightly perplexed look was all that Yura gave. In Yura's experience, seeming to have an answer for everything was a sure way to be caught in a lie.

He had never been much for lying, but over the course of centuries, any attempt to keep a secret leads to experience in telling lies. His was a big secret, and so required almost constant lying. That didn't mean he enjoyed it.

"Well anyway, after the night, we had a quick breakfast and parted ways. I went around Benalia-" and made a lunch of a small deer that carried him over for three weeks in regards to his raw meat requirements "-and Osrik went off to wherever he was going.

"We only ran into each other once since then, about a month back." Osrik picked up the story from there. "It wasn't anything exciting that time. We just shared a meal in Porowan, a ways up the coast from here, caught up on events in each other's lives, and moved on again."

Deneve was twitching her ankle with impatience. "And that takes us to the present, I assume?"

"Pretty much. Now, do any of you have a sense of Miria yet?" Osrik pulled back a curtain and looked out the window. "She should have found us by now."

He looked over at the women around him. "None of you are actively suppressing your Yoki are you?" They all shook their heads. "Then what's taking so…"

Osrik smiled. "Well, guess the wait is over." Out the window, a warrior of the organization could be seen walking towards the inn.

Yura moved himself over to the window. "Hm. Another near-perfect example of a woman. I'm starting to think that the organization picks its candidates based on their looks."

Miria was as lovely as any of the warriors managed by the organization. Her face was as perfect as a person could be expected to have. Her hair was longer than most warriors choose to wear it, coming down to the center of her back. Her hair parted from high on her forehead, and long, spiky bangs ran from that point over the front of each shoulder.

Helen laughed into her hand. "Don't say that to her face. Just because she isn't allowed to kill you doesn't mean you want to be on her bad side."

"It wasn't a comment on her. Any warrior ranked in the single digits must deserve the position. It just seems to me that the people who decide on candidates are picky about looks." Yura gestured out across the room. "Take yourselves for example."

Helen smiled, not used to any kind of flattery, regardless of who it came from. Deneve just huffed slightly and stared out the window. Miria would be coming into the hotel within minutes.

Yura watched as Miria approached. He made note that her armour was heavier than that of most warriors. The shoulder pads extended a bit farther and the arm and leg braces, though more simply constructed, were substantially thicker. Yura figured the organization liked to protect their better warriors.

More interesting to him was the reaction of the people. Where the group he came in with was met with welcoming words and respect, people backed away from Miria. The response didn't strike Yura has stemming from any kind of prejudice against Claymores, but rather out of a sense of intimidation from Miria.

Osrik waved from the upper window. Miria acknowledged him with a slight nod of her head. A few minutes later, she came into the room. Yura could have sworn that the temperature in the room dropped by several degrees.

Miria appeared to be as cold as an arctic winter. Her face showed almost no sign of having ever shown any significant type of emotion. He was willing to give her the benefit of the doubt. If Osrik's depiction of her was to be even remotely believed, then she probably just made a bad first impression.

But whatever she might be like, Yura couldn't let his guard down. If anyone was going to uncover his presence, it was her. Now the real test of his ability to conceal his Yoki began.

Osrik smiled and looked over at her. "Good to see you Miria."

"Hello Osrik." Miria also nodded in turn to each of the warriors seated around the bed.

"Yo Miria. Long time no see." Helen swung her legs over to the other side of the bed with a look of mock annoyance on her face. "Don't you have anything to say to us for making us wait?"

Miria surveyed the people in the room, taking careful note of everyone, especially Yura, the only one there she had never met, though she had heard of him from Osrik.

"It took me longer than I expected to determine that there were no Yoma directly in the town. I detected an odd presence, but I lost track of it."

"That's not like you." Deneve turned away from the window. "I wouldn't have expected you to give up after picking up a trail."

"What I sensed wasn't Yoki, but something else." Yura thought that what she had sensed was probably a hint of his own Yoki, before he had put it under complete restraint upon encountering Helen and Deneve.

From any significant distance, his Yoki would not have seemed like normal Yoki at all. He concluded that the vague sense of his unusual Yoki was what Miria had sensed, and also why Deneve seemed somewhat suspicious of him.

"I wasn't expecting there to be any Yoma in the town." Osrik clenched his hands together and looked down at the polished wood floor. "I would assume by now that you all know more or less what's going on?"

The warriors all nodded, shifting their eyes to the floor. Clare was the first to speak up. "An Awakened Being hunt. That's the only reason that four warriors would be gathered in a single place."

Raki's face suddenly became very downcast. He kept silent, but the slight quivering at the edge of his mouth implied that he really wanted to say something.

"Yes. But this will be an Awakened Being hunt like none before."

Yura waved his hand at Osrik. "Excuse me, but they might know what's happening here, but could you fill me in please?" Yura knew what an Awakened Being was. He just wanted to confirm the situation he had gotten himself into.

Looking over at him with a look of regret, Osrik said "an Awakened Being is an organization warrior who has passed their limits. The Yoma power that gives them strength takes over, and they become monsters, just like the Yoma.

They revel in slaughter and feeding on human flesh. Like Yoma, they need to be killed. Unfortunately, though we don't understand why, Awakened Beings are far more powerful than any Yoma, so Awakened Being hunts are very dangerous."

That confirmed it. Yura was in over his head on this one, though that didn't mean that he was going to duck out yet. That just meant that he would have to be very careful.

Clare looked over at Osrik. "That explains why we are all here. Now I want to know why we need a boat."

"The organization believes that this Awakened Being has been travelling from port to port, feeding on the fishermen. Miria and I tracked it from our section of the coast. As far as we know, it has never attacked except over the water. Chances are, if we want to find it before it moves on again, we'll have to go out on the water."

"Does it replace fishermen, or strike from under the water?"

"Sorry Deneve, we don't know for sure. No one has ever actually seen the target. But the organization guesses that the Awakened Being hides near the shore until it sees a likely target, then replaces a shipmate shortly after the ship's departure." Osrik sighed. "Unfortunately, there's not a lot more information on it. This one's very elusive. Like I said, no one has ever even caught a glimpse of it."

Miria gazed out the window and at the ocean. "That complicates things. Over the water is a very dangerous place to fight. A boat would give little room to manoeuvre. And then there is the process of actually acquiring a boat. It seems unlikely that any of the fishermen would volunteer one for such a mission, or the crew to effectively operate one."

Yura cheerfully piped in. "I can help with that one." Clare and Raki aside, everyone in the room turned to look at Yura. "I just happen to own a large fishery in town. I'm not sure about a crew, but I can get you a large sizeable boat. That'll be a good start at least. If it will help save lives, I won't begrudge you a boat."

He saw Osrik's stare in particular. "What? I had mentioned my business holdings hadn't I? No?"

So you're just going to give us a boat?" Deneve, already suspicious of Yura, furrowed her brow. "Despite the high likelihood that you won't be getting it back?"

Yura shrugged noncommittally. "Well, you've got a point. I suppose I can't just let you take the boat so easily, none of you having had any sailing experience and all. I guess I'll have to come with you to make sure you don't crash it into a shoal or something."

Yura saw a subtle twitch of Miria's eyebrow, the first reaction he'd gotten out of her yet. Osrik, on the other hand, was looking at him like he was insane.

In fact, he even asked "Do you have a death wish old man? We were lucky enough to survive an attack from a small Yoma. Do you really think you'd have a chance against an Awakened Being?"

"So you're not going, then?" Yura's eyebrow rose curiously.

"No, I was going to. I have enough sailing experience to keep the boat on the water."

Shrugging again, Yura argued "at my age, I've seen a lot of things, and what I haven't seen intrigues me. Besides, do you really think you can captain the ship alone, with first-time sailors on board? I'm guessing no."

Grudgingly, Osrik nodded his head. It had been a while since he had worked aboard any kind of sailing vessel, and he had never had to give the orders aboard one. He just hoped he could manage the four inexperienced warriors.

As much as he hated to admit it, he needed another experienced had on whatever ship he got hold of. Yura was as good a man as he'd be able to find, ad he was a proven fighter, so at least he'd know enough not to get in the way.

"It's settled then." Yura looked out of the window, gazing into the fading light over the ocean, one of his favourite views across the entire world. "I'll get the boat from the fisheries tomorrow, and we'll head out by noon. Now I'm going downstairs for some real food. Anyone care to join me?"

Osrik and Raki decided to join him. While the warriors didn't need much food, their bodies did have substantial needs. They didn't figure there would be anything of interest on the menu, but as long as it was edible, they would likely eat it.

The four women decided to just go to turn in for the night, and digest all of the information from the day. Helen and Deneve took one room, Clare and Miria took another. None of them slept very well.

Yura and Osrik were woken early the next morning by a sharp rapping on the door. Yura opened one eye, just long enough to see Osrik getting up to open it. Yura noted that Osrik even slept in his black uniform. He rolled over and closed his eyes again, hesitant to leave the best bed he'd had available for months.

Raki didn't even budge from his bed. Yura chuckled silently, thinking how the kid could sleep through the end of the world if he were allowed to. Just as he was settling back in, Osrik came over and shook him. "Come on. Miria says it's time to get to work."

"Really? What time is it?"

"About two hours pat sun up. We should get moving if we want to leave harbour by noon." Though Yura didn't acknowledge this directly, he did grunt and roll himself out of bed. He hadn't slept well the previous night. He couldn't let himself go into a deep sleep lest his Yoki leak out and alert the warriors in the other rooms to his identity.

Still looking very groggy, Yura walked over to Raki. "Time to get up. We've got work to do before sundown." Raki just groaned tiredly and wrapped himself more tightly in the thick blanket. Yura grinned maliciously at Osrik and grabbed the edge of the thick blanket. He yanked hard.

Like in some sort of circus act, Raki was lifted up off the bed, spinning several times in mid air as the blanket was unwrapped from his body. He landed flat on his back, directly above where he came from on the mattress.

Miria watched passively from the doorway, feeling slightly annoyed by the act against Raki, though she didn't show it. Osrik was working very hard not to laugh, but failed miserably when Raki made a dizzy effort to stand up.

"That's a really cruel way to wake a guy." Raki scowled at the two men as they struggled to contain their amusement. After a few moments, Raki managed to steady himself on his feet after the dizzying twirl.

"I know, I know. Sorry, but I just couldn't resist. No harm done, I hope?"

Raki couldn't keep an angry face for very long. A moment later he too was laughing. "No harm done. I just wish I'd been awake to see that." Raki yawned and stretched. He rubbed his eyes and asked "where are we going?"

"Well, first we're going to get breakfast downstairs. After that, I'm going to take everyone down to the fisheries and get ourselves a boat for this dangerous mission of ours."

The good mood that Raki had been in vanished instantly. He was quiet and solemn as he walked down the stairs. Yura exchanged a confused glance with Osrik and asked "was it something I said?"

Author's note:

Sorry for the long time between updates. I've been in a creative funk for quite a while. University has been a lot busier this term too.

Anyways, I'm back at it, and while I might not be able to do things quickly, progress will happen. The storyline itself will be a bit slow for a while too, but please bare with me. I just couldn't find a way to quickly wrap up the slow stuff.