(Humble Beginnings • The Storm)

I

I sat on the red, worn out chair and looked out the window of the wooden and roofed wagon being pulled along by an Aptonoth. As I did so, I thought of my achievements and my journey to this point. I had passed the Guild's test with flying colors, and had been provided with my Guild Card and assigned my first post. I was to finally become a certified Hunter! Years of training under the only Hunter in Moga Village, my own personal hero, had finally paid off.

I reached out onto the nearby desk, bolted to the floor of the wagon, for my item pouch again and looked through it to ensure I hadn't forgotten anything. It was the third time I'd done it in this hour alone, but I could never be too certain. 50 Zenny? Check. Not much, but it's enough to start with. Mirror? Check. Never know when you might need to signal up to one of the Wycademy's air balloons. Black and gold scale hanging from a chain? Check. My mentor, the aforementioned Hunter, had given it to me before I left. She told me that it had been carved from a monster that had nearly destroyed her home village, and that she had carried it her entire carrier as a good luck charm, and her own mentor his, and his mentor before his. Indeed, I had everything I needed, including the carving knife strapped onto my belt.

The road outside grew a considerable amount bumpier without warning. Deciding to investigate, I stuck my head outside the window to see what the deal was. The vehicle had reached a snowy, mountainous terrain. Great cliffs and mountains poked at the sky all around the wagon, snowy tundras and valleys in between the mountains. The wagon had been riding along a narrow ledge on the side of a cliff, the top of the mountain some hundred yards up and the bottom some hundred yards down. I felt a jolt come from out of nowhere against one of the back corners of the transport. My head still out the window, I saw a wagon wheel rolling along beside the vehicle before it finally lost its balance and collapsed to its side.

"Well, that can't be good," I mumbled under my breath, bringing my head back in as the wagon jerked to a halt. It seemed the driver had finally realized what happened. I waited a few moments for some kind of statement from outside. Nothing. After a few more moments of waiting, I figured to go outside and see what the holdup was. I slid the curtains at the back of the wagon open, lowered the tailgate, hopped out, and went around to the front. As I did, the scene before my eyes left me frozen in place. In the driver's seat was nothing but splotches of blood, painting the front of the wagon a grisly color. On the snow, not three inches away from where I had stepped, was a hand lacking an owner. The driver's.

I heard crunching up ahead and beheld a pack of white avian-like Bird Wyverns with blue striped scales and a reddish crest atop it's beaked head. They were so engaged in gorging themselves on the Aptonoth that had been pulling the wagon to notice me. Giaprey. Knowing how these monsters behave, it wasn't tough to piece together what must have happened. They had begun stalking the wagon as soon as it entered the range of snowy mountains, waiting for it to slow down. When it finally did because of the wheel coming loose, the pack predators had been given the perfect opportunity to strike.

They had taken it.

I had to get away from them before they noticed me. Creeping backwards, I headed back inside the wagon to grab my item pouch and an extra meat-cutting knife lying on an empty plate before dashing out. Unfortunately, I didn't account for the massive crunch when my feet hit the snow after jumping down from the rear of the wagon in my haste. The heads of the Giaprey snapped towards the sound, their eyes immediately razor-focusing onto me. Crap. I panicked and threw the knife at the one standing at the forefront of the trio, taking not more than a moment to aim. I got lucky with my impatience, the knife embedding itself into the head of the predator. Only a single dying squeal came from its toothed beak as the Bird Wyvern dropped dead.

Unfortunately this left me with two more still, and now they were pissed. Why the hell had I done that?

I quickly turned tail and did what I should've in the first place, my feet kicking up snow behind me as I just barely managed to run back down the trail without slipping. I hadn't made it very far before one leapt onto my back, its weight finally being the slipping point as I fell forwards, dropping my item pouch, and slammed face-first into the white-coated ground. I rolled to my side, and though it didn't harm the monster it had at least forced the thing to leap off of my back. I knew I'd need to act quick in these next few moments, or my hunting career would end before it had even begun. My right hand shot down to my belt, and in the time it took for the Giaprey to recuperate from being rolled off, I managed to unbuckle the ten or so foot long carving knife. By the time I had it out and gripped in my hands, the Bird Wyvern had regained its senses, and out of the corner of my eye I saw a flash of blue and white. A pressure landed on my chest as the Giaprey jumped onto me and nearly knocked the wind out of my lungs. The monster screeched as its hungry jaws lunged for my throat. I threw my left arm up to defend myself, intercepting its toothy maw. Trying to ignore the shooting pain as tooth sunk into bare flesh, I lifted my knife-holding hand and stabbed at the side of its head. In my haste I managed only to cut open the creature's eye, blood and vitreous spilling down onto my clothes. Its grip around my arm only tightened as the monster thrashed its head about.

If it kept going like this it'd take my arm off. This time, my attack needed to end this. I reached through the pain and the fear, through the rage and the horror, and found a small piece of tranquility amidst a sea of chaos. And I grabbed hold.

The second time around, the knife floated through the Giaprey's scales and effortlessly slid into the monster's neck. The creature let go of my arm and shrieked to the heavens as I ripped the knife out, blood spraying down onto my skin. The creature stumbled away, near the edge of the cliff, and I saw what may be my only opportunity. With only one eye remaining, it failed to notice me getting to my feet and charging towards it. My feet slid on the icy layer beneath the half foot of snow and I began to slip, but it didn't matter. By then I had already built up all the momentum I needed. I slid forwards into the Giaprey, slamming into the side of the creature and knocking it over, off the edge of the cliff while I fell to my stomach just short of it, dirtying the pure snow with the crimson flowing from my bleeding arm.

All I heard of the creature was a prolonged screech as it plummeted to the earth at the base of the mountain.

That's two down. Where was the third? I spared a cursory glance to the wagon yet saw nothing. It had probably ran off to get reinforcements, I reckoned. I'd have to get away before it came back. Making sure my knife was in its sheath and that nothing had fallen out of my item pouch, I left quicker than a guy who just found out that his girlfriend's pregnant.

I ran like hell away from the wagon. There was no rational thought going into my direction, I just needed to get anywhere that wasn't there. After setting a new personal record, I slowed to a stop and checked my surroundings. Mhm, just snow, as expected. Nothing but snowy mountains for miles around. I had at least come to a lower point of the path, where the cliff evened out into what was merely a steep decline that could, in theory, be safely traversed. Out in the valley, in a cliff on the opposite side, was a sizable cave entrance.

I considered my options. I could remain out here and hope to find somewhere else, hopefully much less dark and monster's-secret-lair-looking, or I could take my chances with the cave. A high pitched screech identical to the Giaprey's but much louder than the ones I heard before cut through the cold silence and echoed off both mountains, making my choice considerably easier. Time to go.

I trudged through the snow, deeper down here than on the ledge, towards the cave. Nervous looks were casted behind me every now and then, rightfully paranoid of the Giaprey following me. Eventually, I reached the opening and entered the nearly pitch black cave. The outside harbored large stalactites hanging from the ceiling, as if the natural structure itself was owner of a gaping maw not too different from a Khezu's. Something in the back of my mind told me to get the hell out of here, but I didn't wanna face whatever waited for me out there.

I noticed the sheer abundance of dry wood in the cave. A past inhabitant, perhaps, but he evidently wouldn't be needing this anymore. I went and gathered it all into a single pile so I could try to start a fire later if it got too cold, laying the mirror down besides it so I could easily find it if, or when that time came. For now…I needed to wait here, hope for the hunt for my flesh to blow over.

Some time later I found myself sitting against the cave wall, eyes sliding shut after a brief bout of only half-resistance from me. I needed to stay awake and alert, but the call of rest was much too tempting…I had started to fall asleep when I heard a snarling from deeper within the cave, like demons in the black of night. Eyelids snapped open and I bolted back to my feet, looking into the cave for the source of the sound. Nothing but darkness appeared to my eyes, an all-accompanying abyss within which monstrosities hidden from my sight shuffled and scuttled about. Movement on the floor made my head snap to the ground. Nothing but the mirror. Realization struck. It wasn't what was moving on the floor that I saw; it was what was moving in the mirror, directly above me.

Ghostly pale skin crossed with bulbous red and blue veins shifted across the mirror's reflective surface as some monster hung above me from a suction cup tail. Its neck was extending out, slinking downwards and at the end of it a short, featureless head. It had no eyes or nose, only a single, circular cookie-cutter mouth lined with eerily human lips and filled with dozens upon dozens of rows of triangular teeth. A Khezu, one of the more conceptually horrific monsters known to man.

Waves of panic jolted across my body but were immediately followed by adrenaline pumping through my system and the mixture of the two summoned to me an idea. The Khezu hung suspended directly above the dry wood. I scooped up the mirror and bashed the handle of it onto the monster's head, the latter having lunged forwards as soon as I started moving. The Khezu recoiled away, my hands dropping the mirror and lunging forwards for the firewood, grabbing the piece at the top of the pile and forcing it up into the monster's mouth. With no eyes to immediately tell what was in its mouth the monster was confused only for a brief moment but it was long enough for me.

I couldn't stay here any longer. Bending down and grabbing my item pouch, I bounded forwards and past the Khezu, leaping from the cave mouth down to the snowy ground where I hit the ground with a grunt and a roll.

I think I'd rather just take my changes with the Giadrome.

II

I stood from the roll, being spared only a second or so to recuperate before something pounced on me and knocked me down the steep hill. This was a much less graceful roll than the one prior, as I now found myself tumbling wildly towards the bottom of the valley with rocks and loose branches following behind me. I got back up again, trying to regain my focus, when I heard something from behind. Wind whipped against me as I wheeled around to face whatever had made the sound, and was met with what the fearsome maw of a Gendrome. The monster appeared as an average Giaprey, only considerably larger and with a more elegant crest. I picked a rock up off the white earth and slowly backed away, holding eye contact with the monster and refusing to break it as it did nothing more than stare at me and snarl. Bumping into something else behind me, I didn't need to see to know that the Giadrome had brought packmates along.

Little trivia about the Gia monsters; they're essentially the thugs of the arctic areas. The Giaprey are small, nimble monsters led in packs by the larger Giadrome. The Giadrome commands Giaprey, coordinating hunts and what have you. They utilize tactics where they'll surround prey, encircling around them and leaving them nowhere to run so that they can rip it apart with ease. That's not the sort of knowledge you wanna be in the possession of when you're surrounded by them.

Seeing no real choice for me here, I arched my right arm back behind my head, ready to throw the rock at a moment's notice. The Giaprey on my left moved at me and without thinking I brought the rock down and bashed its head so hard the crest broke off and it flopped on the ground, blood seeping from a new wound on its skull.

It felt a whole lot like the impact had taken off one of my fingers. The Giaprey began converging in on me in the time I had been distracted, taking nips and chews. The attacks were far from fatal or even lethal, and it felt as though they were simply having fun with me while their leader closed in, taking slow steps. I did all I could to fight them off, but it was a losing battle. There were however many of them against only one of me, armed with nothing but a rock that flew from my hands after a particularly sloppy swing. It was reduced to punching and kicking at the monsters and it seemed I was done for, when out of nowhere a roared boomed from atop a large cliff above us. The Giaprey paused immediately to swivel their head at it, as well as the Giadrome and I.

"Oh, we're fucked," I muttered upon seeing the threat. Without haste, the Giadrome turned tail and ran with its goonies following.

They probably managed to get ten or fifteen yards before a blue and orange blur flew over my head and landed smack in the middle of them, sending them all flying as they were reduced to bits of blood and flesh by a deadly three hundred and sixty degree tail swipe. The new and instantly recognizable quadrupedal monster before me was the owner of a lengthy tail that ended with a single spike, two "wings" (although they were really glorified flaps of skin) attached to its arms, and a large, box-shaped Tyrannosaur-like head with long and pointed ears attached to a moderately sized neck. It walked on all fours with an orange body that held vertical blue stripes. These fearsome things, Tigrexes, were apex predators in their ecosystems and challenged by very few. The Flying Wyvern was much, much larger than the Bird Wyvern who's feeding it had just interrupted. I'd be thankful for such a thing, if it didn't mean I was still very likely to be ripped apart and eaten.

The beast rushed at the head Giadrome and slammed a paw onto it, pinning it to the ground. Its jaws opened wide and reached down, ripping huge chunks of flesh out of the smaller monsters body with ease.

With the sounds of bones cracking and meat tearing to accompany me, I wasted no time in turning and getting the hell out of there. My legs carried me far, carrying and carrying until finally they gave out and I dropped to the snow. I allowed myself only a brief break before I got back up and ran some more. I only got a couple dozen feet further this time around before again I dropped to the ground, this time noticing a storm forming in the far distance. I looked down at my weak leather attire and knew I wasn't prepared for any extreme weather in the slightest. It was well insulated but the right arm was entirely exposed, save for a utility ring loosely wrapped above the elbow. I reached for the headband on my forehead that held the goggles and pulled them down. Through the lens my world was dark, but it was still a preferable alternative to exposing my eyes to the flying snow that the winds of the storm would surely bring with it.

I seriously debated for a moment whether or not to head in the direction of the storm, or the way I came from and hope that the monster had moved on to other prospects. I was nearly about to do the latter when I heard an earsplitting roar, and without hesitation I turned back where I had been facing. Braving a blizzard with minimal protection and no food, fire, or shelter still yielded better odds of survival than being anywhere near the general vicinity of a Tigrex.

The sun was setting now. It sank behind the brewing storm clouds, casting its last few rays of light onto me before it disappeared for the night. I waited there until I finally found the energy to get up and begin the trek. Not too long after I started, a minuscule amount of snow started its descent from the sky, settling down on my hair and disappearing against the skin on my exposed arm. I held it close to my chest for warmth as I kept walking and the snow kept falling. Soon enough it was coming down all around me, a blizzard forming and filling my vision with this odd blend of stark white and pitch black, like looking into the eyes of death itself and finding that nothing stared back save for the hollow hatred of the night. Voices up ahead stopped me abruptly when I heard them, and my eyes were drawn to a dim light amidst the dark abyss. I could barely see past my own hand as it lifted against the whipping winds and shooting snow to get a better view, but the lantern seemed as though it was coming closer. I could now make the voices out amidst the howl, yelling.

"Who are you!" One shouted. "Are you alright?"

"My name's-" I started, but was cut off by an earth-trembling roar that sent my hands flying to my ears and shook me to my very core.

"Nevermind that, we gotta get outta here! Get on," The same voice said. I wasted no time in running towards it, seeing a bulky silhouette with a rider atop it amidst the snow and throwing myself over the back of whatever they were riding on. At first I couldn't tell what it was, only that it was furry, very, very furry. As the mount broke out into a sprint, I looked ahead and could just barely make out a pair of tusks, signaling to me that it was a Popo. Large herbivores known for their tongues (which were delicious when roasted) that dwelled in snowy environments. They utilized those tusks to defend themselves against a multitude of predators such ad Giaprey and Baggi, but that was all I knew about them. That, and that they tended to be a Tigrex's favorite snack.

We heard another roar, this time considerably louder. Too loud. The ground behind us shook more and more. My hands clawed at my ears and I felt a warm liquid flowing onto my hands and I couldn't hear myself screaming and I felt like my head was going to explode and I wanted it all to just stop. And then it did. No more roaring, no more shaking ground. The Popo slowed into a jog and the storm let up just enough for me to see that there was another Popo ahead of us, with two riders atop it.

A flash of orange and blue, and the Popo was gone.

Ours stopped immediately and bucked us off, before running off into nothingness. The other man pulled a pair of dual blades from his back and threw one to me. I caught it. The weapon was shaped like a battle axe made with what appeared to be sharpened bone, as well as red objects akin to bloody teeth on the shaft.

"You know how to use that?" He asked. Or, well, more yelled, as the storm had intensified once more and was now raining down hail.

"Yeah!" I shouted back in response. Back home, I trained with every weapon for a considerable amount of time in Moga. These in particular were fast, close range weaponry. Most users were taught an extra technique in which you allowed yourself to surrender control over to the weapon. In the absence of cogitation, bloodlust took over. This was a rare example of when a Hunter allowed themselves to lose control, as doing so otherwise typically only led to disaster. On its own the dual blades were deadly enough, but if one trained to mix the reflex-control of this technique with their own brainpower and decision-making, untold pain could be wrought upon a monstrous enemy.

Before us, the Tigrex emerged from the blizzard's veil. Its tongue slipped out from between its toothy maw, licking blood off its lips as the monster snarled at the two of us.

"Let's hurry up and kill this sunovabitch," The man yelled back to me. "'Fore he kills us." I nodded and prepared myself for combat, assuming a battle-ready posture. I had trained in the usage of only a single dual blade, of course, in the event that the other was unavailable for one reason or another. Of course, it was only now that I wished I had spent more time on it. The other man, clearly another Hunter with some experience under his belt, rushed forwards at the Tigrex. As soon as the monster had been baited into swinging a paw at him, he dropped down and slid under its hide and jerked the sword up, gashing deep into its chest. The Tigrex roared and sent the man flying with another swipe, this one connecting.

He slammed into a tree to my left, unmoving once he slid to the ground save for the faint rising and falling of his chest. I took a deep breath, shaky at first but steadying out as it went. Breathe in, breathe out. I planted my feet firmly in the snow and faced the Tigrex. We stared into each others eyes as if judging the other's very soul. It made the first move. The Tigrex dashed towards me, jaw hanging open and bloodlust in its eyes. I held off of doing anything, waiting for the perfect moment and forcing myself not to react, to follow my mind rather than instinct. When the time was at long last right for it, I ran and jumped to my right just as the monster was about to reach me, barely dodging its crushing jaws. It swiveled around, kicking up snow as it came around for another try, but once more I managed to dodge. That evade was much tighter though; I had only avoided being brutally dismembered by the very skin of my teeth. Its charge crawled to a halt after it passed a second time, drawn out slower than it should have by the slippery snow and its own momentum. By the time it came to a full halt, I was already running.

I climbed up its tail and onto it's back, where I then hugged the scaly skin with all my might, digging my fingernails in deep and praying not to fall off as the beast thrashed about vigorously. I could tell there was a concern for it's own well being; it just wanted me off and in its mouth. Eventually the Tigrex tired out, giving me an opportunity to begin stabbing away with the blade. A roar of pain from the beast loosened my grip as blood began pouring out of the scars I was certainly giving it, before it reared up onto its back and at last I slid off. The roar caught me by surprise and I fell down, slamming on my back into the snowy ground and even bouncing once. The wind shot from my lungs and I felt unable to get to my feet. The Tigrex gave a weaker roar, before turning and charging away.

Even once the strength to get back up returned to me, I didn't quite want to.