Hey, hey, hey! Mocon here with another author's note. So, many a technical difficulty has happened in the past few weeks, but surprisingly this chapter didn't take me months to make, even though it felt like it took me that long to me. As this chapter was made on like 4 different devices and I have terrible memory, please tell me if I messed up at all in the comments, whether grammatically or with the characters. Thanks for sticking around those who've read from the beginning!
Ok, what's the game plan? Cassandra thought as she rode the Popo driven wagon to Dundorma. She had been on the road for a little less than an hour, mostly reading a little from a book she always brought with her. Now, as her stop approached, she began to feel anxiety build up in her chest. She always felt this way when she had to talk to people alone. All the confidence she had when she was with Isaac simply washed away as soon as he left her side, and she hated that about herself. What am I gonna say? "Hey, Aiden! So, that ritual, huh? Whats all that about?". Even in her head, she knew that that was terrible. She bit her lip in frustration and rested her head against the wall of the wagon. Come on, me. You talked to him before, you fricken punched him in the face! Why is this any different?. She knew how it was different, though. This is why it was so difficult for her to make new friends, and meet new people. Isaac didn't let that stop him though, Cassandra thought with a smile. Neither did the guys over at the guild, or any of my friends. I talk to them daily, I say things that I could've easily kept to myself. I'm a hunter, god dammit! If I can kill a monster, I can talk to a person!
"Miss Everly, there's a man dressed in white on the road. 'This the guy you wanted to meet?" the driver asked from the front of the caravan, the wagon slowing to a stop.
...Hoh boy... "Yup, that's the guy." she answered, peering out the canvas flap on the wagon wall to see the other hunter leisurely walking toward the caravan. "This is my stop. Thanks, Rook!" she exclaimed, stepping out of the caravan and tossing up a gold coin to the driver, who caught it without looking. He grunted lightly in response, as was his nature, and turned the wagon around to begin the trek back to Val Habar. Her tanktop flapped in the wind as she walked towards Aiden, trying to appear as confident as possible while her insides twisted and turned.
"Ah, my Cassandra! What brings you here?" he asked happily, the sight of her snapping him out of his thoughts.
"...Hi." Off to a great start, dumbass.
"Impatient, are we, hm? You must have more questions for me."
"Must be hard, being so vague all the time." she said unconsciously, stepping up beside him as they walked back down the road. Way to go, subconscious! You always pull through for me!
He chuckled lightly and turned his gaze to her, "Always leave them wanting more, my dear. It makes life more interesting."
"And more annoying for the people who want more." she added, feeling more confident in her social abilities.
He chuckled harder this time, "That's true, too. What do you want to know?"
"What does the ritual entail, exactly?" she asked, the question that had been on her mind for days finally floating between them.
"That, I actually don't know much about, myself." heanswered with a shrug.
Wow, that got me exactly nowhere. she thought, defeated.
"I do know some things, however. I know that it requires my friend to evaluate you. She'll first assess what monster's blood is predominate within you, then you'll have to fight those monsters in the arena, because materials from those monsters specifically are used in the ritual. After that, not so much."
"Wait," she said, suddenly realizing something, "How do you not know what happens during the Awakening if you're awakened?"
"...I was born like this." he answered in a slightly shaky voice after a few seconds, taking Cassandra aback. She had never heard him speak with any sort of emotion this intense. "Do you believe that this is a fate I would wish for myself?"
"A-Aiden, I..."
But, she was cut off by the sound of his chuckle and the dry crinkle of a hand being run through hair, "My apologies, Cassandra. You did nothing wrong. Heh, guess I got a bit silly there."
Silence took over their walk home for several minutes afterwards, anxiety knotting Cassandra's insides. What would Isaac do now? "It's Cassy." she said, almost whispering.
"Hm?"
"My friends call me Cassy. We're gonna be partners soon, right?" she asked, a friendly grin spreading across her face in the fashion of a certain someone, "Might as well be friends too, while we're at it."
A look of utter confusion flashed across his face, as though he had never heard such words in his life, or at least in that order. He broke eye contact with the girl, and stared down at his feet with the same look. Is he...is he blushing? She thought as he began to grin slightly, still looking down at the ground. He's totally blushing! And a genuine smile! Suddenly, deep, hearty laughter escaped his lips, giving Cassandra a turn to be confused.
"My apologies." he sighed, wiping his eye a little, "It's just... I've never been asked such a thing before, and...it's quite a strange feeling...to have a choice, you see." She felt a twinge of sadness in his voice, one that resonated with her in an unidentifiable way. "However," he began, returning his silver gaze to her, "I just so happen to be quite used to strange, my de... I mean, Cassy." Just like that, her anxiety melted away from her guts, and she felt a whole lot better being around him.
A very peaceful silence surrounded them as they continued their walk, now about halfway there. She enjoyed walks like this, just her, the world, and her thoughts. Yet, she felt that in order for her new relationship to take off, she should have to actually talk to the person beside her. She could probably get some more info now that she's no longer afraid to talk to him. Unfortunately, it seemed like Aiden also had the same idea, at the same time, because that's exactly how they decided to speak.
"So Aiden, you..."
"Cassy, I'm..." They both stopped talking immediately at the sound of the others voice, turning to face the other. They both giggled a little at the slight, Cassandra holding out her hand to the other hunter as a gesture for him to start.
"I wanted to...apologize for how I acted the other day at the house. Most people who ask for information as you have do so for reasons I don't condone, and seek Awakening for the power and fame it can bring. I'm still not a very good judge of character yet, so I just assumed..."
"Hey man, don't worry about it. You saved my life, you're entitled to be as rude as you want! Besides, that was before we became partners, so it doesn't count!"
He chuckled again, looking down at his new friend, "What a way of looking at things."
"Anyway, I've been meaning to ask you something. You said your friend was gonna be doing the ritual. Are you gonna be vague and annoying again or are you gonna tell me who she is?" she asked, feeling more confident talking to him.
"You know what? I actually don't feel like being vague. You can imagine how incredibly new this feeling is to me right now. I think I'll just keep talking about how wonderful it is to have the veil of vagueness lifted off my body!" he exclaimed, laying the sarcasm on thick.
"Ok, now you're just being difficult." she said in mock anger, enticing another laugh from his lips.
"Ok, ok, I shall tell you about her. Her name is Io Heseka. She goes by many titles, but the most common one is "Io the Red". She is a little... rough, but she has a kind soul. That's why Nature is so fond of her." he explained, trying to gauge whether his answer was good enough by the expression on her face.
"Why are all you guys named after colors?"
He shrugged at the response, "After Master found me and showed Io to me, he let me pick whatever name I wanted. I had a first name at that point, so I just went with the theme for my last."
"Ok, that works. See, was that so hard?" she asked mockingly, adding an inflection to the statement to drive it home.
"Actually, that was incredibly painful. Oh no, I feel faint..." He even pretended to swoon. Damn, he's a good actor!
"Oh, shut up, dude!" she giggled, holding him up as he fell back against her jokingly.
"Hey, Cassy?" He leaned forward now, away from her.
"What's up?"
"Where is Isaac right now, if I may ask?"
"He's visiting his mom in Cathar." She shot him a look of confusion. Why does he want to know?
"Ah, that's what I thought. You've also talked to your family, right?" Concern was heavy in his voice.
She sighed, looking out at the setting sun, "I've talked to all the family I need to."
Suddenly, she could hear his steps stop abruptly in the dirt, and when she turned to look at him, she saw a look of sadness on his face. "Look, Cassandra. I may not know all that much about the Awakening, but I do know the risk. A birth defect you didn't know about, a sprained ankle, even a thorn prick can dramatically change the mutation process. There are many things more worse than death, I've seen them. When I first told you about the book, I said I did not care. Well, you're going to be helping me and my Lucy, so now I care. What if you regret not letting your parents see their daughter one last time?" As he finished, he placed a hand on her shoulder. She could feel her face flush at his touch and the pressure that his words held, but she refused to allow them to change her mind.
She placed her own hand over his and returned his gaze. "Aiden, I understand your concern, and thank you for being open with me about the dangers. Really, I appreciate it. But, I already told you, I've talked to all the family that I needed to." And she had. Val Habar, Isaac...they were all the family she needed.
"Noooooooooooooo!" the scream pierced the air around them as a large, brightly colored object fell out of the sky. They turned in shock to see it hit the trees with a wet snap, with several more sounds accompanying it's fall down to the forest floor. They turned to look at each other one more time, and then sprinted over to the object.
Or, rather, it went over to them, because as soon as the two hunters had entered the tree line, a very disoriented and leaf covered Isaac stumbled into them. "Isaac?!" Cassandra exclaimed in amazement as the taller hunter slumped against her, clearly dazed.
"Be careful with him. He might have a concussion." Aiden said, stepping on the other side of Isaac to hold him steady.
"Cass...Cassy I'm ok I think, I think...I may have hit my fall in da head." Isaac slurred, making sporadic hand gestures all the while.
"Definitely a concussion."
She ignored Aiden for a second, putting all her attention towards her friend, "Isaac, what happened?"
Suddenly, he pushed himself up and gripped Cassandra's shoulders with urgency, "Cassy, Cassy...we gotta...we gotta stop you...you're gonna smooch a bad man."
Smooch a bad... As she went over the words in her head, her tan face turned scarlet and she unconsciously slapped him across the face, forgetting that he had a concussion as she stammered "We weren't gonna kiss, ya ding dong! We were just talking."
Aiden shot her a look like "how the hell was that supposed to help?" as Isaac shot up his fists in triumph, clearly unfazed by the slap, "Yay, I did it!"
"Do things like this happen a lot?" Aiden asked as they laid Isaac on the ground.
"You wouldn't believe it. He'll be fine, just needs a mega potion and he'll be back to being an idiot consciously in a snap." She turned now to her friend with a bottle of the medicine in hand, "Isaac, did you really jump off an airship just for that?" she asked in a soft voice. She tipped the bottle to pour between his lips before he could answer, and as he drank, her own lips spread into a calm grin.
He finished the potion and, after the bottle was removed from his lips, he pointed to Aiden, "He's a bad man, Cassy."
"Why?" both Aiden and Cassandra asked inquisitively.
He removed a piece of paper from his jacket pocket and held it out for both of them to read. It was a copy of the poster from Cathar. They read in silence for a while, tension building between them with every word. Finally, Cassandra turned slowly to Aiden, who was already looking at her. "Aiden," her tone was very serious, her gaze piercing his soul, "Did you have anything to do with this?"
"You would have been the first know if I had organized this, you have my word on that." he said sincerely, not showing a shred of doubt.
"If it wasn't you," Isaac started, his speech already back to normal, "Then who else could possibly have..."
It seemed that nobody but Aiden heard the sharp snapping of trees in the distance, or felt the massive rush of wind because as soon as Isaac and Cassandra had turned in surprise at the noise, Aiden was already behind them, pulling them quickly to safety as a large red and white blur blew past them like a bullet. It crashed with a loud thump against a great tree, embedding itself deep into the bark. Cassandra leaned past the tree they were hiding behind to get a better look at the object. It's...a person?! she thought, shocked at the figure before her. They were cloaked in an armor unlike any she had ever seen before. It was made from some sort of white stone with veins of blood red etched like arteries under the skin. The breastplate was segmented, each piece surrounded by tufts of white fur. The abdomen was covered in scale-like chainmail, which ended in a plate mail cup and waist armor. The arm and leg armor was a mix of the mail, plate, and fur, and on the right chest plate was a guild insignia carved into the stone, just in front of the heart. What was most striking about the figure was their helmet. It seemed to be modeled after a creature that she didn't recognize. It looked kind of like a Zinogre, but it's head was thinner and hornless, and it's snout was longer. It was depicted snarling, made with the same stone as the rest of the armor. Unmoving, unknown, at that point, it was more intimidating than any monster she had met before.
She almost didn't notice the ground shaking a little for the third time, revealing the direction of the perpetrator of the figure's expulsion. A Brachydios? Right outside Val Habar?! It's shiny obsidian armor sparkled slightly in the now early moonlight as the monster entered the newly made clearing, eyes glowing a strange deep red as it glowered at the person in the tree. Cassandra had just noticed the monster's distended belly when she heard the figure stir in the bark.
"That's not what I meant..." the person grunted in a gruff, slightly muffled voice as they tore themself from the tree, "When I said fist me, sweetheart." The figure was tall, as tall as Isaac by the looks of it, even though their stature was slumped as they wobbled on the ground, seemingly not used to standing after being hit so hard.
Cassandra made a move to stand, but she stopped as Aiden tapped her hip, gesturing for her to stay low. "Shh." he whispered as he pointed ahead towards the two. The Brachy stopped it's walk, growling at the hunter with eyes as red as blood. It looks just like the Nargacuga. Cassandra noticed shockingly, breath caught in her throat as a sudden wave of nausea hit her. Isaac noticed her immediate apprehension, and laid his hand over hers. She gripped it unconsciously as the Brachy reeled it's head back, inhaling deeply, and then launching it forward with an earsplitting roar. It was different than a normal roar for a Brachy. It was a lot more shrill and rusty. It's almost like it's in pain. The three hunter's, without ear plugs, held their hands tight against their ears, gritting their teeth against the onslaught of noise.
The other hunter did not seem at all affected by the noise. In fact, they were motionless as the noise subsided. As soon as it did, however, the hunter did a very peculiar thing. They reeled back their own head and detached the jaw on the helmet, opening the snarl into a gaping crevice. Before she had a chance to think, the hunter leaned forward with incredible speed, and released the most terrifying roar she had ever heard. She heard an incredible howl mixed with what she thought was several human screeches as the air around them rippled with the shear force of the noise. The Brachy fell back, blinking in surprise and...horror? The air around the party felt incredibly dense, like the whole world bunched up in fear of this strange and powerful creature.
The hunter closed their jaw with a click, "See? Not so cool when someone else can do it better, huh, sugar?" their cracked their knuckles as the Brachydios shook its head and licked it's fist plates, "Still rarin to go? Didn't your mother ever tell ya?..."
The monster wouldn't wait for the hunter to finish. It's fist primed to blow, the Brachy rushed forward, launching itself in the air...
"...not to bring fists..." the hunter pulled back their own fist, a strange crackling layer of red electricity over the gauntlet on their right hand as the Brachy crashed down straight for them. What the hell's going?! That person's gonna get smashed!
The hunter launched their fist forward, the two appendages connecting. "...to a me fight!" Red lightning flashed up the monster's arm for a split second, and then the entire surface exploded.
Shards of plate and blood flew in all directions as the monster screamed in agony, launching backwards from the force of the explosion. The blast didn't faze the hunter at all. They kicked back against the ground, launching forward like a bullet to basically teleport above the Brachy's head. With incredible force, the hunter kicked down against the monster's mantle, knocking the beast out of flight and smashing it into the ground with enough power to shake the whole forest. Cassandra watched the whole minute fight, mouth gaping open at the sheer power of the figure who now sauntered away from the monster towards the tree that the monster punched them at. She turned towards the other two beside her, Isaac with a starry eyed look of amazement and wonder (Not surprised at all.), and Aiden, who merely grinned lightly, giving a look of someone who's visiting an old friend.
She turned her attention to the hunter, who was draping a long sheet of cloth over their shoulder that Cassandra realized must of been some sort of cape. She heard another rumble coming from the monster, who she saw was starting to get back up. However, this time instead of the crazy glowing eyes that it and the Nargacuga had shared before, it's eyes were dull red, and extremely confused, darting between the hunter and it's broken paw. Just like nothing had happened, the Brachydios turned in the opposite direction of the hunter, towards the great volcano. "Nice talk, buddy! Good luck with the kid!" the hunter called out in a friendly tone as the monster disappeared into the trees, "Sorry 'bout the paw!"
Cassandra had never been so confused in her whole life. Who was this person, why did the Brachy just leave after the fight, why was Aiden currently walking towards the hunter...wait. Why is Aiden walking towards that thing?! Her frantic thought were cut out as he clicked his tongue, "Not going to kill the beast?"
"Naw, too tired," the hunter yawned, turning towards Aiden, "'sides, it was pregnant. 'Bout to pop, too."
"That is more of a reason to get rid of it," he pointed out fiercely, tension mounting between them.
"What can I say?" the hunter said icly, "I've got a weak spot for that sorta thing. What you gonna do about it, kid?"
The two predators stared each other down, the air growing heavy again. Are they gonna... she thought, squeezing Isaac's hand a little harder. Suddenly, the two erupted in laughter, the taller hunter draping an arm on the shorter one's shoulder, pulling him close. "Da fuq?" she deadpanned as the hunter pulled Aiden down for a noogie, knocking his hat to the ground.
"Aiden! Long time, no see, kiddo! How's my favorite nephew doing?"
Aiden pushed away to face the hunter, hair badly ruffled, "I'm not your nephew, old woman!" Women?! Cassandra thought, taken aback. This beast of a hunter?
"Who you calling old, snow cap? You probably have more white hair than I do!"
"All of your hair is white!" he quipped in return, trying desperately to escape her grasp (but failing miserably).
"Not my bang."
"I'm still convinced that you dye it red."
"Not to interrupt your reunion with this completely kick-ass dude, but what's going on?" Isaac asked, breaking his odd streak of silence with eyes still sparkling with wonder and confusion.
"Oh, right. I forgot to explain." Aiden realized, easily slipping out of the hunter's now loose grip and gesturing towards her, "This is who will be conducting the ritual. We were supposed to meet her tomorrow, but it seems like we're ahead of schedule."
"Hey, kids." she waved a little at the two, and then gave them a formal bow. "I am Io Emric Heseca, guardian of the 1st Grand Library, and head of the Awakened division of the Hunter's guild. Welcome to the suicide mission."
So, what'd you think of this one, eh? Kinda short, but I didn't want to put too much in this one. I already have too many characters to keep track of! Speaking of characters, I'm gonna start writing bios of characters in the story on the tumblr account to keep anyone interested on track with the story, and as more information comes out I'll update it accordingly (also I may put other cool surprises up so go check it out when all that's good). Anyway, see you in the next chapter!