Chapter Two: An Unforgotten Memory
While dashing through the village, Samuel saw many sites where he'll be seeing every time whenever he receives his requests from the guild or upgrade his equipment. Also, he could visit his dream sweetheart, Macy.
Macy is the blacksmith's only daughter who lives on the eastern side of the Home. From the age six up to now, Samuel has admired her lavishing beauty. Her hair was the most unique feature out of all. It was sparkling gold and long with a small butterfly clip at the right top corner. That's the same clip that he made for her when they once met. Her skin, normally, is as delicate as silk and bore a pure white despite of the black coals from her father's work. Her aqua-green eyes traps many young boys hearts for it led down to her sympathetic face and to her flirtatious body. Being a hunter could bring him closer to her unless her father agrees for any man to get close to her.
While running, the future hunter met eyes with Macy's father, Lucian "Great Hammer" Goldshin, after he created a new weapon. He was a tall broad man who mostly wore black coal around his tan body. His bold stature showed hair from his chin to his torso. It was once rumored that he was born with a small patch of hair on his chest. In his early twenties, before retiring in his forties to take care of Macy and her two older brothers, he used to be a great hunter wielding a hammer made from hard scales of a monster called the Rathian and ores from a volcanic area. Once a monster met eyes with this man and his hammer that will be the last sight they would see.
About 10 meters away from the ceremony site, Samuel looked to his left. Nothing. Then, he looked to his right. Standing there was a horrible black figure at the size of a large monster that he seen in his story books.
"What is that?" Samuel asked himself aloud while stopping.
Suddenly, the black figure jumped into the clear blue sky. As it ascend from the ground, wings at the size of a full grown dragon had grown from its back and it fluttered away quickly and gracefully.
"What was that thing? Why didn't anyone see or hear it fly away like that."
Finally, Samuel made it back to where he started—in the back of a crowed group of both unofficial and official Monster Hunters.
"Samuel Alexander Calden? Did anyone see Samuel anywhere?" a voice rang from the very front of the crowd.
"Samuel," Jake's voice cried, "you've been called by the chief. You need to get going now. Your name has been called three times already. Where have you been this entire time?"
"Like I said, I needed to get into my armor and get my weapon," Samuel softly said as his friend pushed him through the crowd that was now staring at them, "Listen, there are some weird things going on. First, the Home is entirely destroyed. Secondly, our room is the only-"
"Yeah, I'll hear what you have to say after the ceremony. Right now, the chief is about to skip you and this is probably a once-in-a-live thing. So, let's go."
Optimistic was probably the best thing that Samuel could say about Jake. He pushed the soon-to-be hunter through the crowd of both unofficial and official hunters that he spent four years training with. The both of them appeared before the short and elderly village chief, Ambi. Compared to the elders in the Crona Village, Ambi was lively and wiser than the next person when it comes to hunting. This time, while holding his ceremonial long sword, he wore a serious expression and held down his active spirit of hunting monsters.
"Finally, Samuel, you've came to become one of glorious hunters who have, throughout generations, protected this village and other places from monsters," the village chief spoke.
"About the village Chief Ambi," Samuel interrupted silently.
"Yes. What about it?"
"When I was coming back from the Home, I found a mysterious figure in one of the—"
"Say no more, Young Calden. You'll have to tell me about your finding in the village another time."
"Yes, Chief Ambi."
The village chief, standing on a podium about two feet smaller than Samuel, unsheathed his ceremonial sword that was longer and thinner than the boy's sword.
"In order to obtain your opportunity to become a hunter, announce the area upon your body that will receive the touch of the Crona Blade's spirit. Explain why you would want that spot touched by this holy blade and you shall receive the approval to become an official Crona Village Monster Hunter," the chief strongly said.
This was the moment. Samuel consciously thought of a place where the ceremonial blade, the Crona Blade, will touch him at.
"I shall receive the holy blade's touch on my heart," Samuel boldly answered, "There; I can have the courage to protect anyone I care about from any monster that comes at them."
After Samuel announced where his approval would be, the crowd muttered in confusion and awe. The village chief's serious expression couldn't resist the amazement of how Samuel answered. Also, villagers who was spectating the ceremony stopped and stood as if they were petrified. Jake was the only one who spoke out of place of the intense silence.
"Samuel, what's wrong with you? There is no way that the chief will approve you on the heart. No one has done that ever in their—"
"Quiet, Hunter Ryder! Young Calden—I mean, Hunter Calden, is approved to become a full-fledge Monster Hunter," Ambi commanded.
Samuel stared at the Crona Blade as the tip of it touched the armor on his torso. It tapped at the place where his heart lies at. The boy felt as though he was going to be stabbed by the blade.
"Therefore, Samuel A. Calden, I approve you as an official Monster Hunter!"
While pulling the sword from his armor, Samuel looked back at his peers. They were still silent until they began to cheer for him. Many roared congratulatory rants and others shook his hand.
Looking back on the cheering crowd, Jake grimly walked away. Luckily, he was already approved before Samuel. While going through the vast Crona Village, Jake stopped by the Home. It looked the same way that Samuel told him. It was horrible, but not as terrifying as his father's death. This sadness was as if a child lost his favorite toys and couldn't find them anymore.
When entering the Home, Jake found everything black as if a fire devoured the entire. He went upstairs to check on their room to see if everything was alright compared to the burnt scene behind him. Alike to Samuel's view, he saw a door, clean and had no blackness near it—it was their room.
The room was a bit unkempt in Jake's point-of-view. Some posters were hanging and a few of them were on the floor. The windows were wide open and allowed the fresh, whistling wind to come in. Once he entered the clean room, the door grimly closed behind him and everything went silent, cold and black.