The skies are painted with a dark color, the backdrop of the clouds bulging because of the contained storm inside. Smoke resembles trees, fire became the mountain, and the screams of people being ripped open by the creatures of Grimm, became the birds that sing.
The lonesome village of Caninite was ravaged by the darkness manifested. No help has arrived since the attack, and not the fault of authorities themselves, this village is surrounded by the treacherous – grimm infested – Forest of West Anima. For help to arrive, no for help to even notice an attack, it is outright unlikely.
The village is built in a bad spot.
The Grimm, Beowulf, Deathstalkers, and even a matured Nevermore. For anyone to survive is a miracle in itself. However the creature of darkness did not give mercy to the backwater town, as they destroyed every single thing made by human hands. Corpses of many people littered the street, women, children; the Grimm did not give any restraint.
Beings of Destruction, truly they are.
However, just beyond the outskirts of the destroyed town. A woman ran for escape, carrying a wounded child on her back – she ignored her destroyed arm and went as far as she could go. The black haired-child is bleeding on the head, and is unconscious.
The woman eventually stops near a water-fall, a cave she found; and desperately crawls towards it. Inside, tears form, but she endured she ripped her clothes – leaving her naked. She wrapped the fabric around the child's head, and once done she kissed him. A smile struggled to form, but surface anyway.
"P-please be safe," She coughed, "Mercy, please befall on you, my Child. And grace the twin gods be, and p-protect you. Till help arrives."
Her uninjured hand wrapped the child, as she kissed it. Tears full forms, but the woman dared not cry. And a right decision that is, as she heard the guttural roar of Alpha Beowulf coming. Looking at the sleeping child, one more time the woman kissed him on the forehead once again and got out of the cave.
The fading echoes of the woman screaming to lure the Grimm out of the forest, died out; and replaced by the sound of the waterfall. The child is alone, left in the mercy of the elements and whoever finds him.
…
….
…..
An old-man with gray-hair, and red eyes gaze as he grins. His cane trampled the ground as he made forward towards a bed, a child lying peacefully on it. Removing his fedora, and taking out a fountain-pen out his coat's pocket.
"A tragedy not too dissimilar to yours," He said, "You've wished upon me to be reincarnated. But rules exist for a reason; of course I'm beyond them."
The pen stabbed through the child's body, but strangely no reaction of pain occurred, "So in the spirit of what you desired, this is the best of what I could do – considering the conditions. However putting you side will be quite boring, no? God knows how much this has been done, so let us spice it up a bit."
The old-man grins, as a crystal of geometric shape manifests above his palms.
"A saint's quartz, " He mused, as the motion of his arm began to mimic writing, "Making you just like that girl."
Time could not be read in this secluded place, no window of the outside world is here. So only the old-man knew how much time he'd been writing on the child's body. The grin is still there, however there's a steel in his gaze; a respect, as he scribed unreadable symbols into the boy's being.
"Done." he clapped.
The boy did not look any different.
"I hope you do great things." He said. But it's more of proclamation rather than a desire.
"Mmhmm, yeah I have to deal with those Twin-gods, sight~" The old-man exhaled deeply, "Can this old-man be given rest for once?"
A fissure below the boy, and it swallowed him. And the old-man out back his fedora, and walked away from where he came. Leaving this space but a void, with light.
The sands of Vacuo are unforgiving, even to those prepared to traverse its great dunes. Many Huntsmen and Huntresses have fallen to its merciless heat, so the natives did not dare disrespect its dangers. However, from this hostile environment to those who survive and adapt against the rancid heat, are molded into fine survivalists. Just like the Vikings of the north, shaped by frigid cold, the warriors of Vacuo are forged by the heat of this unforgiving desert.
The Grimm too thrive, for after all, where humans are they always follow. Due to the misery of those who cannot endure the conditions, the Grimm of the great Desert are one of most fearsome varieties you could find. Great devours of sand, are the death worms, fearsome predator class:Grimm that uses sands as its weapon. Sun Vultures, massive terror-birds like Grimm, that feast on anything showing signs of weakness.
And other normal classes exist too.
It is a nightmare to travel here, that is why traders from different Kingdoms seek protection from either Hunters, and you're the locals themselves. Such as this fine Dust Merchant, Gabriel. Traveling from East of Vale to Vacuo, in prospect of promised here provided by the kingdom.
While this desert is teeming with lethality, the abundance of natural resources such as oil, Fossil Fuel, and more importantly Dust make this Kingdom a favorite among cooperation who works inside the industry. Gabriel is a licensed Merchant, the only son of the Aurulent company. A factory dedicated to the art of Dust refinement.
Now one might ask, why is a son of a rich-family coming all the way here, alone, when he could just work inside his family business? Well, Gebriel is an ambitious young-man, with aspirations of creating a business of his own, that could stand besides his father's greatest work. Yes, he could just stay inside the comforts of Vale's wall, leech off the benefit provided by his family's company.
He could do that, yes. But, what would be the point?
Gebriel wishes to leave a legacy made by his own hands, one that he, and his father, could be proud of. You see, unlike the privileged rich-children of Vale's many cooperation, the head of Aurulent family raised a child that had the bravery to dream and to challenge the things he had been given.
And he'll be damn, to disappoint the only wish of his father.
Gebriel rode a specialized vehicle made to traverse deserts, it looks like a tank; minus all the war-like purpose. That is not to say this vehicle is devoid of tools to stave off Grimm, it has a specialized gun made to pierce anything – from Grimm skin and to even dense metal. The problem however, is that it's a very demanding weapon to use, taking a lot of time to prepare 10 rounds of ammunition and being deafeningly loud. That is the downside of using concentrated Combustion Dust.
So, Gebriel looked for other methods of safety. And what better way to protect yourself than the age-old method of hiring a skilled bodyguard. Vacuo fostered great warriors and hunters, and it is not called the birthplace of Endurance for nothing, so it is not a difficult task to find de facto-mercenaries offering their services at the literal airports and docks of this kingdom. The problem is filtering out said mercenaries, while this kingdom birthed many strong individuals – it also harbors less desirable people. Along the lines of bandits, criminals masquerading as bodyguards for hire, and blood-driven murderers. It is not a strange occurrence to find the body of a foreigner, with their head ripped out, as a sick power-display.
The lawless nature of this place, guaranteed their existence and sometimes even helped them thrive in this place.
However, it seems Gebriel has luck out. Besides the slow moving vehicle is an individual garb in desert clothing, walking along. His face is obstructed by fabric, and eyes covered by desert-goggles, and also at the side of his hip is a bulky sword. Just from how this man carries himself radiates competency, and skill.
Gebriel had been offered protection services by this man, at the local market. Of course, Gebriel was cautious and vigorously evaluated the man. Not only did Gebriel find him to be trustworthy, the man is also terrifyingly good at disposing of Grimm, from flightless to flying he could bring them down without much of a problem. And all he requires for his service is a respectable sum of Lien and a small box of Dust.
The only problem though, this man, whose name Gebriel never even got, is not a talkative individual.
"Deatworm incoming," The man said suddenly in a muffled voice. Gebriel felt The Rhino shake along the ground, "Brace yourself sir."
Gebriel moved already, shifting his hand from the steering wheel to the trigger of the Ballista. The coated man jumped on the vehicle, as the endless sands reflected on the lenses of his goggles.
And after a silence, the sands exploded and a serpentine dark-body. A death-worm has risen. And its circular mouth, full of barbed teeth, threatened to fall down; devouring the Rhino.
"BANG!" Gebriel did not hesitate as he pulled the heavy trigger. The ballistic bullet impacted like a meteorite on the Grimm's body, penetrating deep inside its dark exo-skeleton. It did not howl in pain, like a Beowulf, as this species of Grimm is believed to bear no Vocal organs. It's a biological death-machine, however the man did not look fazed as his hand rested on the handle of his sword.
The unstoppable descent of the Deathworm's devouring mouth continued even after Gebriel shot its body. The man jumped, silent from the initial velocity, but after that the air practically screamed as he traveled faster than the eyes could see. The sword howled as he unsheathed it, and before the oversize worm could reach Gebriel, the man plunged the blade into its head. And with great strength, change its trajectory.
The Grimm collided with the sand, and threatened to retreat at the depths once again. However the man buried his sword even deeper, his body glowed a bluish color as he shouted.
"Maryoku Hōshutsu!" The end of the sword exploded in a concentrated manner, creating a small dome of heat inside the Grimm itself.
In the skies echoed with an explosion that could rival Atlas' Chain-Dust Bomb.
Gebriel with wide eyes, as the Grimm's head flew, FLEW away due to the explosion. The man jumped backward and landed on the Rhino once again. After that, he quickly jumped back down and checked the vehicle for any damages.
"No damages." A thumbs up meet Gebriel's wide eye.
"Uh… ah, right sorry. Should we get going?" Gebriel bubbling asked.
The man dusted his clothes, "On your signal, Sir."