by The rustling of leaves and the faint sound of footsteps were the only noises they could hear for hours. They had began their journey when the sun had not even started to peek over the horizon, nature was still deep asleep. Looking over to his right, Kien glanced at his partner. In the dim light you could not make much of his face, especially since it was hidden under a hood.
Kyle Hawk, known by many as the Green Gale of the Jade Falcons, one of the many secret little guilds of Fiore…yet a rather famous one for the people that bothered looking. Not many were allowed in by its mysterious leader, and for those that managed to join there were much less capable to survive the organization's trials.
Kyle J. Hawk himself preferred a select few of skilled, and alive, combatants to be with him instead of a moltitude of dead meat…or at least that’s what Kien had been told during his time together with the guy. The leader of the gang was young, at least visually, his bet was on him being 25, 27 tops. Kien had never asked him, in all honesty, he never really had the chance...nor he really cared. He was just in for the fun fighting and killing.
Under the Falcon's signature outfit, consisting only of a light brown cape with a dark green hood (held together side-to-side with a cream colored string) sporting the organization's insignia on the garment's shoulder pads, Hawk's apparel consisted of boots and light plate armor. Nothing fancy, the young wolf preferred function over looks most of the time. Armor is used in battle and is know to get scratched, chipped or broken after a a few intense hostile encounters. As such, for people like him, embellishments and stuff like that was only but useless added weight. Around his waist a leather belt held the two scabbard housing the guild master's twin rapiers, Parry and Riposte. Not a fancy name by any means, but a fitting name non the less.
Forged as a pair, those two beautiful chrome blades never lost their shimmering and shiny look even after years of extensive use. The right slightly shorter than the left other to ease their swings during a fight, Hawk first of all had the pleasure to admire them at work. Kyle took cautious care of the two every day, almost obsessively he’d say. The edge was sharpened and kept battle ready, the blade straightened if it had bent during combat, the elaborate hilt with gold engravings and exotic looking hand guard always polished with care. Although they were rather fancy looking with their gold and silvers, they did not disrupt Hawk’s overall simple look. On the plus side, those weapons were the only exception to the young wolf's ‘no fancy panzy frilly stuff’ rule.
In a way, they represented a slayer’s soul and the great skill of the weaponsmith that had forged them through meticulous work and years of history.
Work 1 END
Many weapons could also be family heirloom, and it was known that Hawk would never try to separate one of his slayers from their most precious belongings, even if he had to break his own rules. A man to respect, one could say. These twins were perfect, just like Kien's ornate revolver, only for their original owner and no other, no use in taking them away from the rightful warrior brandishing them. Besides, no one could use them as well as Hawk. That much he knew for sure.
What Hawk did not know though, was the fact that Kien was not the original owner of his own weapon at all. He had just taken the thing from a corpse he had found in that rocky region of Fiore. An unfortunate traveller or merchant, probably. Or a mercenary that had gotten into some trouble and met his end in that harsh environment.
Coming up from Hawk's waist there was more armor, which should be granted if you did not want your chest to be immediately smashed to a pulp by one of those huge colossal beasts that roamed these lands, the so called "Behemoths", if they happened to get you. He also had a couple of general purpose pouches on his back, while a set of throwing knives were latched onto both his thighs. On the color side of things, he was sporting greens and blacks, but they didn’t clash with the browns of his sheaths, belt and cape. He was not some kind of fashion model in that regard, but his simple look had its own cool factor.
Kien was silent, most likely focused on his own thoughts. Then, suddenly, his head moved in Hawk's direction. Without knowing, the Falcon's leader had been staring at him for a while now. The young wolf had noticed.
“Something wrong, Kien?” Hawk asked as his green eyes met his gold ones. “No, nothing...” the young wolf replied, looking away and focusing on the path ahead once again. The man beside him grinned. “Always so enigmatic. Tell me, are all the Wolves like that?”
The Wolves referred to the group Kien was a member of. In more common terms, it was a way for the people of Shirotsume to call out werewolves. "Unlike normal human’s individualist views, we are more keen on group hunts and strength in unity. Though, I do not particularly share that convinction. I'm just in for the hell of it. I do not really care for the talk of higher purpose and stuff like that." Hawk hummed. "One thing I do agree with though. I've been given the tools to be an Apex Predator and that is exactly what people will think when they hear my name. I like fighting. That's it."
The Wolves' leader, Lady Weaver, was a renowned hunter before he change into a werewolf and long time ally of the Jade Falcons. That was how Hawk could have got a hold of Kien and brought him on the job.
Work 2 END
As skilled as the man's group could be, they were only a few, and even if they did not want it... they needed the help the Wolves could offer them from time to time. No one could refuse their help in hunting missions.
It had not been a bad experience working with them so far either, their teamwork was impeccable, as expected from a group of highly trained and skilled fighters. Some of them had that hint of elitism in their character, Kien included, but it was not that bad all things considered, Hawk knew that much. Even if they meant it as a way of looking normal people down, the Wolves were special. If you saw them in action, Hawk was sure anyone would allow them some bragging rights too.
“Yo, Hawk.” The young wolf called his partner's attention after yet another moment of silence and meditation. “I never had the chance to ask you, but why did you pull us onto this muddy road of all things?”
Hawk stopped walking and took his own hood off, as it was no longer needed. The sky was clear, no risk of snowing. Instead, he switched it with a hat. Another funny thing about the Jade Falcon's leader: he had never used a helmet. Ever. As he would say it, wearing a tin can on your head only hinders your eyesight, since the first thing a slayer should never do is getting hit in the first place. When you need to hunt dangerous animals, you need to see them coming at you.
“Come on Kien, I told you ten times already. Aside from following my... prodigious instincts… there are clear signs of something big making its way in these forests. Question is how and why. With this cold I doubt anything would want to be here during winter.”
“Instincts my ass. The ‘traces’ as you call them stopped a while ago, and we have been walking for hours now. Also, the intel we had from the scouting teams is less than ideal to do something as bold as this and lose ourselves in the middle of a forest playing hide ‘n seek with ghosts.”
Kien's teammate grinned at the wolf's last remark. “Aw, come on. Don’t you like a little adventure? I thought you were into this kind of mystery stuff.”
Kien scoffed at Hawk's cocky demeanor and happy-go-lucky attitude. "Even if something was here, we should have stuck with the preplanned path and reported back to HQ if we found something. I am bored out of my mind and I hate it. How about you let the actual wolf do the tracking next time? Ain't that the reason I am here anyway?" Part of Hawk's mind told his head to trust Kien and his training as a member of the Wolves, but his other half was screaming ‘Keep going keep going keep going’.
They resumed their marching and delved deeper into the frozen forest. The sun was up now, but the cold was still lashing at their cheecks every once in a while. The road had now disappeared under a soft veil of white snow and frozen water. The muffled crackling of their boots on ice echoed through the trees, as the two kept pace.
The faster they could finish the mission the faster Kien could go back to the coziness of his room.
Work 3 END
Hawk had gone further ahead now, following another of his famous ‘insticts’. With his cape on his shoulders Kein could hardly spot him when he moved away from the main path into some bushes if it were not for his hat. He wondered if he could ask him if he could get one of those, even though he wasn’t a really a Kainozume. It was a rather useful thing to have during hunts, especially if you used it with the hood to blend in with trees and leaves.
The young wolf sped his walking and caught up with his pal. Hawk was observing the ground leading to yet another different direction from both their preplanned and improvised path. He held the lantern we were using earlier in the night to Kien, so that he could safely store it away. With the sun now painting the sky a nice soft blue, artificial lighting was no longer necessary anymore. The oil was almost out too either way.
The young wolf knelt down beside him. “Found anything?”
Hawk pointed at some marks on the soil. “Look. Something rather big has been here, and it was dragging its tail around. Some of the plants are still bent in an unnatural way here, here, here and… there, over those rocks.” He pointed. “Are you thinking what I’m thinking?”
Kien gave his partner a nod. “These traces are old, but the thing that made them could still be around here. I’d give them no more than two or three days of age. Judging by the nature of marks I’d say that we are in the middle of its hunting grounds, or at least we are knee-deep in its territory.”
“Right. We should be able to track whatever did this if the weather remains-Ooooh Gold Berries!” Hawk jumped up and rushed to a small plant with star shaped leaves. He began picking up one berry after the other, settling the bright orange spheres in a glass container.
“Why do you never finish what we started first? We were in the middle of something important here!” Kien scolded. Hawk was a good hunter, but easily distracted and very, very hyperactive some of the time, ususally when shiny things were involved.
“Mate, these things sell good back at home. Like, you cannot believe.” The man replied, tossing one of the berries Kien's way, which the wolf caught with his left hand. “Not only they taste good. but you extract their serum they make for good makeshift healing oils. Very good for disinfecting cuts and bruises.”
He hated to admit it, but Gold Berries were a rare sight at Shirotsume, only flourishing in the harshest of colds. Their healing properties could save you from time to time, and the inability to cultivate them only added to their price, especially for any ‘granny’s natural remedy’ lovers. Still, they weren’t enough reason to drop their mission for collection. They could always come later, when they knew for a fact that these forests were safe to travel in and more importantly: get back out in one piece.
Kien inspected the berry in his hand before washing it with the help of his water reserves. You had to clean them before you could eat them, as they were coated with a nasty tasting dust to discourage any herbivore from taking a bite. After that, you toss it in your mouth and when you pop it all the flavour rushes out.
And so he did, and the taste did not disappoint the wolf. It was bitter at first but then sweet after a while in his mouth. He swallowed and focused again on the black haired, green eyed man. “Are you done now?”
Hawk gave me an affirmative nod before tilting his head to the side, standing up and looking at the sky. They heard a far cry, then small figure plummeted towards the ground and gracefully landed on the man's right arm. “Raven! Hey there lil fella! Who sent you?”
Did I tell you the reason Hawk's group were called Jade Falcons? No? Well, there you have it. Each member of their guild could count on their personal Jade colored Falcon for their messaging needs. Raven was Hawk's faithful assistant, raised by him since hatching. Beautiful bird, she was. Like any other of the guild's falcons, her feathers had those jade green reflections on a darker main tone, when you looked them at a certain angle. Around her neck a small piece of black silk, distinguishing her from her many brothers and sisters to inexperienced eyes like Kien's, who could never tell the difference between two of them for the life of him.
Hawk was scratching her head and ruffling her feathers, making for a rather cute picture. After a moment of cuddling, Raven delivered what she was holding in her beak to her owner and was sent back home. Kien was almost a little sad he could not get to know her a little more other than her sporadic appereances during his time with Hawk. Those falcons were unable to be tamed by non guild members.
“Bad news.” Kyle’s voice snapped the young wolf back to reality. Kien walked over and leaned on his shoulder to look at the message. “Team Kilo and team Lima have gone missing about 34 leagues east from us, two days ago. Pathfinder lost all contacts and even their Falcons could not succesfully locare them. Team Alpha and Team Foxtrot have been redirected there to search for them, but so far they still have about a day worth of travel before they can even begin to do anything. Spyglass suspects that it’s the same thing behind the disappereance of Mister Kent’s sheeps and all the other things that have been happening around here since you arrived.”
“Anything about us?”
“Uuhh…hold on, lemme check…ah! Team Echo, blah blah blah, we need to head southwest and meet up with Team Charlie to assess the situation and report our findings. The Wolves’ scouting squads will take care of the areas still left to chart and control.”
“Well, this puts the word ‘End’ to our little adventure, oh intrepid Jade Falcon.” Kien replied standing up again and gathering the stuff he left on the ground. “I hope Felghran and her men are alright.”
Hawk tucked the message away in one of his cape’s internal pockets. “Do you know her?” He inquired, curious.
“Nothing more than you know. A "guildmate" of mine and a really promising Wolf. She’ll surely get officially promoted to Beta Rank by the end of the month.”
“If she’s still alive, that is.”
“Oh trust me, with that lady you do not need hope. She knows one more than the devil. I am sure she’s alive, kicking, and in a few days mad because we did not find her yet. I hope those Hunters of yours are not that easily sidetracked like you are.” He added a little tease at the end. The pouting on Hawk's end when he questioned his guild's skills never got old.
“Well, I’ll have you know that they earned their Hunter rank within my guild because they were the only ones that knew where the hell they were going after YOUR Senior Warrior thingamagig got US lost in the middle of a desert. Savvy?” He retorted.
Yup, never gets old.
“Either way, we really should rather not make Team Charlie wait. I have a reputation of always being on time to uphold. So no more adventurous detours and giddy up!”
Hawk stared at the wolf as he walked past him before shaking himself up and taking over his own spot on Kien's right.
~
They had been walking for a day now, with no detours as the young wolf had asked. Hawk knows when to call it quit and focus on the most important matter. Two of their teams had disappeared and the Wolves' leaders had decided to ‘abort’ their mission and rally up all of them back to town.
Hawk had been mostly quiet, you could tell that deep down he was worried for his missing friends. Raven had come back to them a couple times, but the news she brought were not that reassuring. Alpha and Foxtrot had begun their search, and even used their Falcons to conduct long range scans of the area. Nothing of relevance had been found. They were currently investigating signs of human and werewolf life near Felghran’s last known location. Also, the thing that was leaving those traces was spotted last night by team Bravo moving over in the two's direction. It looked like a behemoth, but in the night and from that far away it could have been anything, really. Still, the main reason the couple was in those frozen mountain forests was because people of the village below reported signs of a colossal beast moving around the trees, so they still would not let their guards down until they had the whole forest searched, charted and secure anyway.
The fact that four of their allies disappeared only reminded the two to use caution.
They were making steady progress towards their new destination and were currently enjoying a well deserved break after days of uninterrupted marching.
Hawk took a sip out of his water flask and checked on Kien. He had got up and was currently in the middle of gearing up, fidgeting with the holster on his belt. How could he take a shower in this cold weather and under an ice cold waterfall was beyond him. Still,the young wolf would not have survived the wilderness this long if he had not got a strong body, mind and soul. He turned to his side after securing his cape on himself. “Are you ready, Hawk?”
He was about to agree with his partner when he heard the creaking sound of pine trees up above their camp. They were still up in the mountains and still had a while to go before they would exit the forest and get back to the main road back home. “Is that supposed to happen?” He heard Kien ask and point on the side of the mountain. White dust was falling down towards them... and was falling rather quickly.
“No…wait…OH FOR THE HOLY AETHER! RAVINE! RUN!”
They lauched forward and began running full speed from their campfire as the ice dust turned into a huge ice wave and the sound of the waterfall turned into the rumbling of trees being eradicated from the ground and snapped like twigs. In this case, your best bet is to run sideways, trying to overspeed a ravine down the valley is foolish. You are better off trying to get to the far side of the snowfall, where it’s easy to jump out if you get caught in it. Kien was way faster than Hawk, he had already gained a few meters from their starting point and was accelerating. The Jade Falcon hurried up too, not keen on turning into a snowman.
As fast as they were, the snow and ice got to the two faster than the two could anticipate. The wolf acted quick and grabbed Hawk's cape, pulling him away from a falling boulder. He immediately repaid the gesture by making sure that a good chunk of ice would not hit the lavender haired werewolf in the head. They got submerged in snow as the ravine dragged both down with it. It shook them around for quite a while, but their run had some positive results. The two had managed to get hit at the far left end of the ravine, where the less snow falling down would eventually slow down as it hit trees and rocks, lacking the destructive force of the main section, also unable to pull trees out from the ground or move boulders from their original position. Not only that, less rocks and debris to hurt yourself with, which is a very good thing that usually helps you keeping yourself alive.
Kien grabbed hold of the first not moving thing and pulled with all his strength. The tree branch he caught whined slightly under his weight but held up and he was able to pull myself out of the falling ice. He watched as the ravine plummeted into the void showing itself five or so meters from his tree. There was a huge fall where him and his partner had been dragged to. A huge cliff. the wolf spat out snow and waited for a while dangling from the tree.
“Hawk! HAWK! ARE YOU ALRIGHT?” Kien called out.
“Wooooh! Holy Aether I can’t see the bottom of this! You better shut up Kien, I’m not sure I can survive another one of those.”
The reply came from the creek. Hawk was dangling there, the only thing keeping him from falling a few hundred meters was one of his rapiers, Parry to be exact…the longer one he used in his main hand, firmly impaled inside the ice and rocks. He had been less lucky with the tumbling and got thrown at the side, yes, but also over the ledge. Kien quieted down, his partner was right. Shouting could only get them in a worse situation. They both did not need a round two.
“I could use a little help tho…”
The wolf hopped down onto the ground and hurried over the cliff, holding his hand over the edge for the other to grab onto. He pulled as soon as he had grip, and Hawk was safely, if slowly, dragged back up. He was still breathing heavily. “Good thing you saw that coming. We would be six feet under if we hadn’t avoided the main section of that.”
The man barely nodded, shaking snow off his cape. “It was fun, but I won’t be doing it again.”
“Agreed. I think I got a few more grey hairs. And I’m the adventurous one, you know.”
Hawk chuckled at his joke. Kien cracked up not long after. There is nothing that makes you feel more alive than cheating death and laughing in her face.
~
“That was something…” Kien heard his partner mumbling as he wrote a report for Raven to deliver to Hawk.
“Do you think it was natural? At this time of the year there is not enough heat to produce that kind of ravine. Even at noon there could be 3°C to 5°C at max. That amount of snow and ice could never melt that fast to produce something as big as the thing that almost killed us.” The wolf stated.
His partner finished his letter and handed it over to Raven, which quickly sprung in the air to her destination. “Still, it happened. And if happened to us, it could have happened to Felghran too.” He replied.
Tossing another log into their campfire to brighten up the night around them, the werewolf took a moment to think." It is a possibility. And it also rings a bell. We found traces of a behemoth all around these forests, and these events have only started since we were sent here to investigate.”
“Are you implying that this… behemoth we speak of is capable of using his stuff to manipulate the ice around here?”
“I am not implying. Think about it, Hawk. The villagers back at this valley reported signs of a behemoth. Yet, nothing big really happened that could warrant a full on hunt. A few broken shacks, one or two missing livestock... then, when they called us and we arrived here things start to happen the moment we set foot in these damn mountains. Felghran vanished in thin air, we got hit by a ravine, the other team got trapped in a cave by falling ice not too long ago…”
The Jade Falcon crossed his arms. “Well if you put it like that, I suppose that it could seem like someone or something either does not want us to be here… or has been luring us into a trap.”
“Exactly, and I am sure this something has already encountered other slayers. Or at least is one very sly mofo. Maybe we were just lucky, but I think that our path into these woods may have actually taken us away from whatever is still after us, unlike Felghran and her group.”
Hawk stared at me with a serious look on his face. “It’s trying to eliminate us one by one.”
“Divide et impera, my friend. Divide and Conquer. That’s exactly what has been on my mind since Raven began bringing us all those incident reports.”
Hawk moved so fast Kien couldn’t register what happened. Three clean cuts and the icicle about to hit him was shattered in three. A throwing knife flew a hair from his head behind the wolf. A metallic ping followed by a faint thump signaled that it had hit something solid, deflected and hit the ground afterwards. And it was not wood or rock. Kein sprung up, grabbing his Revolver and turning over in the direction of the knife. Hawk behind him covered his rear, shifting his weight from an offensive to a defensive stance.
Everything was still, not a single movement after that. The lazy yellow flames crackled, reflecting off his revolver and Hawk’s Parry and Riposte.
“We got company.” the young wolf heard him say as he threw away his cape to have better mobility.
“Noted.”
Some do it for glory, some for honor, some for money. But what makes them different than us? Well…Kien needed no fame nor money, but thrill to live his life. Nothing makes you feel more alive than facing Death at her own game.
“Here it comes!” Kien shouted, diving to the right and avoiding an ice wave coming his way. Hawk had barely the time to block a huge tail coming his way, before being sent tumbling a few meters away. A backflip and he was on his feet again.
The behemoth didn’t roar, it did not want to attract the attention of other slayers nearby. We were just a league away from Team Charlie after all. The thing wanted them only. And wanted them dead.
Hawk rushed in while the beast was focused at keeping Kien at bay with ice pillars growing left and right of his position. The young wolf had to keep moving or he would get trapped in an ice cage. Which usually means game over most of the time.
The Falcon demonstrated his swiftness, speed and reflexes by dodging or parkouring over all the ice the behemoth sent his way. In a flash he had closed in on the colossus, keeping true to his nickname. He slid under another tailswipe, cut the ice spike growning in front of him and used it as a trampoline to jump up high. Riposte was brought down, but the point of the rapier had the same result of the knife thrown before. It deflected off the side, no damage whatsoever. As soon as Hawk's boots touched the ground he sidestepped away, Parry helping him avoid a large claw to the chest. Two backflips and he had disengaged safely from his attack.
His fighting style was highly acrobatic, fast and nimble. As he said, he moved like the wind. The only thing you could see was the green blur of his outfit in motion. A green gale.
He charged again, making sure to avoid the ice, and this time tried to go for the joints of the behemoth, but his rapiers were repelled again.
“Well, this is new…” Kien mumbled, smashing ice with his claw, noticing the elemental armor around the beast. Hawk jumped at his side, parrying a flying chunk of frozen water coming their way.
“It’s no good, We can’t pierce the armor.” He panted, keeping the colussus dead center in his view and his blades at the ready.
“We should weaken it first. If we chip it you may have an angle of attack.”
“Well then, off you go. My swords can’t cut that deep. Don’t hit head on, you just bounce right off of it.”
Kien nodded and dived to the side again, avoiding a charge. The behemoth slammed into a couple of trees, knocking them down. That commotion would surely alert the others. It was getting impatient.
While Kien kept it busy with him like a toreador waving his red cape at a bull’s head, Hawk made his way towards the beast from behind. The thing was moving and clawing and biting. It was a bit hard to avoid its fast moving tail at first. The thing noticed the man and used his hind leg to try and kick him away, while fending off Kien like he was some kind of pestering mosquito. The young wolf barely managed to avoid that. He swung his claw with as much power as he could muster, coming down on the ice armor ad a 45 degree angle. As predicted, the strength of his claws was enough to chip it. It didn’t seem to damage nor wound the behemoth, but it was a start.
Work 4 END
A gust of ice cold wind coming from nowhere hit Hawk, throwing his balance off and allowing the Behemoth to swat the Jade Falcon away from itself with enough force he felt his armor bend. Snow softened his fall, but it still was not pleasant. He remained flat, dazed by the hit. He could hear Kien’s grunts as he tried to remain alive. In the commotion he had lost grip on Riposte, the blade somewhere around the area. He could hear the werewolf waving one of the ignited logs at the beast, while also using his revolver as support, aiming at the behemoth’s eyes.
Hawk slowly sat up and shook his head. He had to help his partner or he would eventually get too fatigued and get sloppy. If you get sloppy, you die.
Kien noticed that Raven was flying in circles above them, trying to get the attention from the other groups. It was like a sos signal, Hawk told him. But in the middle of the night he doubted she could be easily spotted. They needed a Flare.
Kien slammed into a nearby tree, stumbling to get back up. He was holding his left shoulder. There was a cut. Not deep, but rather large and bleeding. One of Hawk's swords was stuck in the same spot of his last fortunate hit, with the beast shaking wildy trying to get it off.
It was about to charge Kien’s general location when Hawk distracted it. “Oi! ICE CUBE!”
Kien rolled over, the behemoth slamming into the tree the wolf was using as support. He grabbed the rapier and pulled out of the beast's side, throwing it back at his owner who had regained his breath and was standing again.
The creature headbutted, trying to use the spikes on his body to impale the werewolf. The armor he wore absorbed the blow, and Kien thanked the heavens he was using thicker plating unlike his parner. And so they began hacking and hacking at the beast, trading blow for blow. The thing was relentless, it never gave them a moment to breathe nor the time to pull out their flares.
Kien slammed his claw on the creature’s head, cracking the armor. After all this fighting and attacking on his end it could not hold forever. Kien was still going strong despite his bleeding. He was still weaving and dodging left, right, up and down. He was mainly buying time and keeping Hawk safe from the creature Frost Aether attacks, waiting for an opening.
Normal attacks would not be effective, we both knew that. But just like these huking beasts, They too could use Magic. Kien looked over to the other side of the behemoth. Hawk had reclaimed both his rapiers. A quick glance and a nod. He got what he wanted to do.
Kien gripped his revolver tight and charged. He swung around the beast with all his speed. He shouted at the beast, getting its attention. It charged Hawk as well, its head low. The werewolf jumped. In a moment, time seemed to slow down as he was launched in the air by the behemoth. Kien's knees hurted a little but he gritted his teeth and focused on his next attack.
Two shots were brought down on the beast’s back. He could hear a loud crack as the bullets chipped through the armor, shot weakened the ice enough for it to crack. Hawk had climbed up a tree and launched himself at the beast as well, aiming where the head connected to the body. Lightnings coursed through Riposte as he plunged it where Kien had chipped the armor. Hawk pushed onto it with all his weight, the impact force of his blow exploding the cracked ice. The blade sinked in. Finally, tehy landed a first succesful strike. Their combined attack shattered the beast’s armor. Now Hawk's weapon could cut, and Kien’s revolver could pierce the hide.
The beast arched his back and began shaking side to side, roaring. Now it was angry. The young man landed on the ground and rolled to soften the fall. Kien was shaken off the behemoth’s back and fell onto his partner.
He rolled onto the ground and he lost his firearm. Hawk was still holding onto his sword, with Riposte filthy with the beast’s blood. His blow did strike vital organs, and that’s exactly what makes rapiers deadly weapons. They came to a stop completely entangled together like a game of Twister.
The two scrambled, while the beast raged and launched itself at the couple. They tried to get away but the behemoth was faster than before. It was out for blood and wanted them at all costs. Kien thought it would stomp them into nothing, but then Hawk used his free hand and grabbed his flare gun from his hip and aimed at the enemy. It clicked and a bolt of fire zipped out, hitting the beast’s snout before exploding in a bright Green and gold flash, his guild’s colors. The beast was blinded, and stumbled around, missing us and charging blindly into the woods behind us.
Following Hawks’s actions, Kien immediately grabbed his own flare, but aimed at the sky.
He watched as the silver and Purple colors of the Wolves lit up the night sky. The young man rolled off Kien, with his back in the snow. Kien sat up using a tree, panting and holding his cut. The behemoth escaped, or rather: blindly chaged deeper in the forest. But now they knew it was here, so we would not get ambushed again. It already had fought slayers it seemed, the couple did not know who/how/when but it surely had evolved that ice armor to protect itself from their weapons. Kien glanced at his partner, panting.
“Why the hell did you do that? You know flares do not work on them…” he said between breaths. The Falcon gave him a wide grin.
“In my defense…this looks like a gun.” He opened the flare gun through its break action and it ejected the empty and still smoking shell. “See? It’s semi auto.”
Kien chuckled. “You stupid idiot…”
Some do it for glory, some for honor, some for money. But what makes them different than us? Well… we need no fame nor money, but the thrill to live our life. Nothing makes you feel more alive than facing Death at her own game and laugh in her face.
And it that moment, Kien had never felt more alive.
Kyle Hawk, known by many as the Green Gale of the Jade Falcons, one of the many secret little guilds of Fiore…yet a rather famous one for the people that bothered looking. Not many were allowed in by its mysterious leader, and for those that managed to join there were much less capable to survive the organization's trials.
Kyle J. Hawk himself preferred a select few of skilled, and alive, combatants to be with him instead of a moltitude of dead meat…or at least that’s what Kien had been told during his time together with the guy. The leader of the gang was young, at least visually, his bet was on him being 25, 27 tops. Kien had never asked him, in all honesty, he never really had the chance...nor he really cared. He was just in for the fun fighting and killing.
Under the Falcon's signature outfit, consisting only of a light brown cape with a dark green hood (held together side-to-side with a cream colored string) sporting the organization's insignia on the garment's shoulder pads, Hawk's apparel consisted of boots and light plate armor. Nothing fancy, the young wolf preferred function over looks most of the time. Armor is used in battle and is know to get scratched, chipped or broken after a a few intense hostile encounters. As such, for people like him, embellishments and stuff like that was only but useless added weight. Around his waist a leather belt held the two scabbard housing the guild master's twin rapiers, Parry and Riposte. Not a fancy name by any means, but a fitting name non the less.
Forged as a pair, those two beautiful chrome blades never lost their shimmering and shiny look even after years of extensive use. The right slightly shorter than the left other to ease their swings during a fight, Hawk first of all had the pleasure to admire them at work. Kyle took cautious care of the two every day, almost obsessively he’d say. The edge was sharpened and kept battle ready, the blade straightened if it had bent during combat, the elaborate hilt with gold engravings and exotic looking hand guard always polished with care. Although they were rather fancy looking with their gold and silvers, they did not disrupt Hawk’s overall simple look. On the plus side, those weapons were the only exception to the young wolf's ‘no fancy panzy frilly stuff’ rule.
In a way, they represented a slayer’s soul and the great skill of the weaponsmith that had forged them through meticulous work and years of history.
Work 1 END
Many weapons could also be family heirloom, and it was known that Hawk would never try to separate one of his slayers from their most precious belongings, even if he had to break his own rules. A man to respect, one could say. These twins were perfect, just like Kien's ornate revolver, only for their original owner and no other, no use in taking them away from the rightful warrior brandishing them. Besides, no one could use them as well as Hawk. That much he knew for sure.
What Hawk did not know though, was the fact that Kien was not the original owner of his own weapon at all. He had just taken the thing from a corpse he had found in that rocky region of Fiore. An unfortunate traveller or merchant, probably. Or a mercenary that had gotten into some trouble and met his end in that harsh environment.
Coming up from Hawk's waist there was more armor, which should be granted if you did not want your chest to be immediately smashed to a pulp by one of those huge colossal beasts that roamed these lands, the so called "Behemoths", if they happened to get you. He also had a couple of general purpose pouches on his back, while a set of throwing knives were latched onto both his thighs. On the color side of things, he was sporting greens and blacks, but they didn’t clash with the browns of his sheaths, belt and cape. He was not some kind of fashion model in that regard, but his simple look had its own cool factor.
Kien was silent, most likely focused on his own thoughts. Then, suddenly, his head moved in Hawk's direction. Without knowing, the Falcon's leader had been staring at him for a while now. The young wolf had noticed.
“Something wrong, Kien?” Hawk asked as his green eyes met his gold ones. “No, nothing...” the young wolf replied, looking away and focusing on the path ahead once again. The man beside him grinned. “Always so enigmatic. Tell me, are all the Wolves like that?”
The Wolves referred to the group Kien was a member of. In more common terms, it was a way for the people of Shirotsume to call out werewolves. "Unlike normal human’s individualist views, we are more keen on group hunts and strength in unity. Though, I do not particularly share that convinction. I'm just in for the hell of it. I do not really care for the talk of higher purpose and stuff like that." Hawk hummed. "One thing I do agree with though. I've been given the tools to be an Apex Predator and that is exactly what people will think when they hear my name. I like fighting. That's it."
The Wolves' leader, Lady Weaver, was a renowned hunter before he change into a werewolf and long time ally of the Jade Falcons. That was how Hawk could have got a hold of Kien and brought him on the job.
Work 2 END
As skilled as the man's group could be, they were only a few, and even if they did not want it... they needed the help the Wolves could offer them from time to time. No one could refuse their help in hunting missions.
It had not been a bad experience working with them so far either, their teamwork was impeccable, as expected from a group of highly trained and skilled fighters. Some of them had that hint of elitism in their character, Kien included, but it was not that bad all things considered, Hawk knew that much. Even if they meant it as a way of looking normal people down, the Wolves were special. If you saw them in action, Hawk was sure anyone would allow them some bragging rights too.
“Yo, Hawk.” The young wolf called his partner's attention after yet another moment of silence and meditation. “I never had the chance to ask you, but why did you pull us onto this muddy road of all things?”
Hawk stopped walking and took his own hood off, as it was no longer needed. The sky was clear, no risk of snowing. Instead, he switched it with a hat. Another funny thing about the Jade Falcon's leader: he had never used a helmet. Ever. As he would say it, wearing a tin can on your head only hinders your eyesight, since the first thing a slayer should never do is getting hit in the first place. When you need to hunt dangerous animals, you need to see them coming at you.
“Come on Kien, I told you ten times already. Aside from following my... prodigious instincts… there are clear signs of something big making its way in these forests. Question is how and why. With this cold I doubt anything would want to be here during winter.”
“Instincts my ass. The ‘traces’ as you call them stopped a while ago, and we have been walking for hours now. Also, the intel we had from the scouting teams is less than ideal to do something as bold as this and lose ourselves in the middle of a forest playing hide ‘n seek with ghosts.”
Kien's teammate grinned at the wolf's last remark. “Aw, come on. Don’t you like a little adventure? I thought you were into this kind of mystery stuff.”
Kien scoffed at Hawk's cocky demeanor and happy-go-lucky attitude. "Even if something was here, we should have stuck with the preplanned path and reported back to HQ if we found something. I am bored out of my mind and I hate it. How about you let the actual wolf do the tracking next time? Ain't that the reason I am here anyway?" Part of Hawk's mind told his head to trust Kien and his training as a member of the Wolves, but his other half was screaming ‘Keep going keep going keep going’.
They resumed their marching and delved deeper into the frozen forest. The sun was up now, but the cold was still lashing at their cheecks every once in a while. The road had now disappeared under a soft veil of white snow and frozen water. The muffled crackling of their boots on ice echoed through the trees, as the two kept pace.
The faster they could finish the mission the faster Kien could go back to the coziness of his room.
Work 3 END
Hawk had gone further ahead now, following another of his famous ‘insticts’. With his cape on his shoulders Kein could hardly spot him when he moved away from the main path into some bushes if it were not for his hat. He wondered if he could ask him if he could get one of those, even though he wasn’t a really a Kainozume. It was a rather useful thing to have during hunts, especially if you used it with the hood to blend in with trees and leaves.
The young wolf sped his walking and caught up with his pal. Hawk was observing the ground leading to yet another different direction from both their preplanned and improvised path. He held the lantern we were using earlier in the night to Kien, so that he could safely store it away. With the sun now painting the sky a nice soft blue, artificial lighting was no longer necessary anymore. The oil was almost out too either way.
The young wolf knelt down beside him. “Found anything?”
Hawk pointed at some marks on the soil. “Look. Something rather big has been here, and it was dragging its tail around. Some of the plants are still bent in an unnatural way here, here, here and… there, over those rocks.” He pointed. “Are you thinking what I’m thinking?”
Kien gave his partner a nod. “These traces are old, but the thing that made them could still be around here. I’d give them no more than two or three days of age. Judging by the nature of marks I’d say that we are in the middle of its hunting grounds, or at least we are knee-deep in its territory.”
“Right. We should be able to track whatever did this if the weather remains-Ooooh Gold Berries!” Hawk jumped up and rushed to a small plant with star shaped leaves. He began picking up one berry after the other, settling the bright orange spheres in a glass container.
“Why do you never finish what we started first? We were in the middle of something important here!” Kien scolded. Hawk was a good hunter, but easily distracted and very, very hyperactive some of the time, ususally when shiny things were involved.
“Mate, these things sell good back at home. Like, you cannot believe.” The man replied, tossing one of the berries Kien's way, which the wolf caught with his left hand. “Not only they taste good. but you extract their serum they make for good makeshift healing oils. Very good for disinfecting cuts and bruises.”
He hated to admit it, but Gold Berries were a rare sight at Shirotsume, only flourishing in the harshest of colds. Their healing properties could save you from time to time, and the inability to cultivate them only added to their price, especially for any ‘granny’s natural remedy’ lovers. Still, they weren’t enough reason to drop their mission for collection. They could always come later, when they knew for a fact that these forests were safe to travel in and more importantly: get back out in one piece.
Kien inspected the berry in his hand before washing it with the help of his water reserves. You had to clean them before you could eat them, as they were coated with a nasty tasting dust to discourage any herbivore from taking a bite. After that, you toss it in your mouth and when you pop it all the flavour rushes out.
And so he did, and the taste did not disappoint the wolf. It was bitter at first but then sweet after a while in his mouth. He swallowed and focused again on the black haired, green eyed man. “Are you done now?”
Hawk gave me an affirmative nod before tilting his head to the side, standing up and looking at the sky. They heard a far cry, then small figure plummeted towards the ground and gracefully landed on the man's right arm. “Raven! Hey there lil fella! Who sent you?”
Did I tell you the reason Hawk's group were called Jade Falcons? No? Well, there you have it. Each member of their guild could count on their personal Jade colored Falcon for their messaging needs. Raven was Hawk's faithful assistant, raised by him since hatching. Beautiful bird, she was. Like any other of the guild's falcons, her feathers had those jade green reflections on a darker main tone, when you looked them at a certain angle. Around her neck a small piece of black silk, distinguishing her from her many brothers and sisters to inexperienced eyes like Kien's, who could never tell the difference between two of them for the life of him.
Hawk was scratching her head and ruffling her feathers, making for a rather cute picture. After a moment of cuddling, Raven delivered what she was holding in her beak to her owner and was sent back home. Kien was almost a little sad he could not get to know her a little more other than her sporadic appereances during his time with Hawk. Those falcons were unable to be tamed by non guild members.
“Bad news.” Kyle’s voice snapped the young wolf back to reality. Kien walked over and leaned on his shoulder to look at the message. “Team Kilo and team Lima have gone missing about 34 leagues east from us, two days ago. Pathfinder lost all contacts and even their Falcons could not succesfully locare them. Team Alpha and Team Foxtrot have been redirected there to search for them, but so far they still have about a day worth of travel before they can even begin to do anything. Spyglass suspects that it’s the same thing behind the disappereance of Mister Kent’s sheeps and all the other things that have been happening around here since you arrived.”
“Anything about us?”
“Uuhh…hold on, lemme check…ah! Team Echo, blah blah blah, we need to head southwest and meet up with Team Charlie to assess the situation and report our findings. The Wolves’ scouting squads will take care of the areas still left to chart and control.”
“Well, this puts the word ‘End’ to our little adventure, oh intrepid Jade Falcon.” Kien replied standing up again and gathering the stuff he left on the ground. “I hope Felghran and her men are alright.”
Hawk tucked the message away in one of his cape’s internal pockets. “Do you know her?” He inquired, curious.
“Nothing more than you know. A "guildmate" of mine and a really promising Wolf. She’ll surely get officially promoted to Beta Rank by the end of the month.”
“If she’s still alive, that is.”
“Oh trust me, with that lady you do not need hope. She knows one more than the devil. I am sure she’s alive, kicking, and in a few days mad because we did not find her yet. I hope those Hunters of yours are not that easily sidetracked like you are.” He added a little tease at the end. The pouting on Hawk's end when he questioned his guild's skills never got old.
“Well, I’ll have you know that they earned their Hunter rank within my guild because they were the only ones that knew where the hell they were going after YOUR Senior Warrior thingamagig got US lost in the middle of a desert. Savvy?” He retorted.
Yup, never gets old.
“Either way, we really should rather not make Team Charlie wait. I have a reputation of always being on time to uphold. So no more adventurous detours and giddy up!”
Hawk stared at the wolf as he walked past him before shaking himself up and taking over his own spot on Kien's right.
~
They had been walking for a day now, with no detours as the young wolf had asked. Hawk knows when to call it quit and focus on the most important matter. Two of their teams had disappeared and the Wolves' leaders had decided to ‘abort’ their mission and rally up all of them back to town.
Hawk had been mostly quiet, you could tell that deep down he was worried for his missing friends. Raven had come back to them a couple times, but the news she brought were not that reassuring. Alpha and Foxtrot had begun their search, and even used their Falcons to conduct long range scans of the area. Nothing of relevance had been found. They were currently investigating signs of human and werewolf life near Felghran’s last known location. Also, the thing that was leaving those traces was spotted last night by team Bravo moving over in the two's direction. It looked like a behemoth, but in the night and from that far away it could have been anything, really. Still, the main reason the couple was in those frozen mountain forests was because people of the village below reported signs of a colossal beast moving around the trees, so they still would not let their guards down until they had the whole forest searched, charted and secure anyway.
The fact that four of their allies disappeared only reminded the two to use caution.
They were making steady progress towards their new destination and were currently enjoying a well deserved break after days of uninterrupted marching.
Hawk took a sip out of his water flask and checked on Kien. He had got up and was currently in the middle of gearing up, fidgeting with the holster on his belt. How could he take a shower in this cold weather and under an ice cold waterfall was beyond him. Still,the young wolf would not have survived the wilderness this long if he had not got a strong body, mind and soul. He turned to his side after securing his cape on himself. “Are you ready, Hawk?”
He was about to agree with his partner when he heard the creaking sound of pine trees up above their camp. They were still up in the mountains and still had a while to go before they would exit the forest and get back to the main road back home. “Is that supposed to happen?” He heard Kien ask and point on the side of the mountain. White dust was falling down towards them... and was falling rather quickly.
“No…wait…OH FOR THE HOLY AETHER! RAVINE! RUN!”
They lauched forward and began running full speed from their campfire as the ice dust turned into a huge ice wave and the sound of the waterfall turned into the rumbling of trees being eradicated from the ground and snapped like twigs. In this case, your best bet is to run sideways, trying to overspeed a ravine down the valley is foolish. You are better off trying to get to the far side of the snowfall, where it’s easy to jump out if you get caught in it. Kien was way faster than Hawk, he had already gained a few meters from their starting point and was accelerating. The Jade Falcon hurried up too, not keen on turning into a snowman.
As fast as they were, the snow and ice got to the two faster than the two could anticipate. The wolf acted quick and grabbed Hawk's cape, pulling him away from a falling boulder. He immediately repaid the gesture by making sure that a good chunk of ice would not hit the lavender haired werewolf in the head. They got submerged in snow as the ravine dragged both down with it. It shook them around for quite a while, but their run had some positive results. The two had managed to get hit at the far left end of the ravine, where the less snow falling down would eventually slow down as it hit trees and rocks, lacking the destructive force of the main section, also unable to pull trees out from the ground or move boulders from their original position. Not only that, less rocks and debris to hurt yourself with, which is a very good thing that usually helps you keeping yourself alive.
Kien grabbed hold of the first not moving thing and pulled with all his strength. The tree branch he caught whined slightly under his weight but held up and he was able to pull myself out of the falling ice. He watched as the ravine plummeted into the void showing itself five or so meters from his tree. There was a huge fall where him and his partner had been dragged to. A huge cliff. the wolf spat out snow and waited for a while dangling from the tree.
“Hawk! HAWK! ARE YOU ALRIGHT?” Kien called out.
“Wooooh! Holy Aether I can’t see the bottom of this! You better shut up Kien, I’m not sure I can survive another one of those.”
The reply came from the creek. Hawk was dangling there, the only thing keeping him from falling a few hundred meters was one of his rapiers, Parry to be exact…the longer one he used in his main hand, firmly impaled inside the ice and rocks. He had been less lucky with the tumbling and got thrown at the side, yes, but also over the ledge. Kien quieted down, his partner was right. Shouting could only get them in a worse situation. They both did not need a round two.
“I could use a little help tho…”
The wolf hopped down onto the ground and hurried over the cliff, holding his hand over the edge for the other to grab onto. He pulled as soon as he had grip, and Hawk was safely, if slowly, dragged back up. He was still breathing heavily. “Good thing you saw that coming. We would be six feet under if we hadn’t avoided the main section of that.”
The man barely nodded, shaking snow off his cape. “It was fun, but I won’t be doing it again.”
“Agreed. I think I got a few more grey hairs. And I’m the adventurous one, you know.”
Hawk chuckled at his joke. Kien cracked up not long after. There is nothing that makes you feel more alive than cheating death and laughing in her face.
~
“That was something…” Kien heard his partner mumbling as he wrote a report for Raven to deliver to Hawk.
“Do you think it was natural? At this time of the year there is not enough heat to produce that kind of ravine. Even at noon there could be 3°C to 5°C at max. That amount of snow and ice could never melt that fast to produce something as big as the thing that almost killed us.” The wolf stated.
His partner finished his letter and handed it over to Raven, which quickly sprung in the air to her destination. “Still, it happened. And if happened to us, it could have happened to Felghran too.” He replied.
Tossing another log into their campfire to brighten up the night around them, the werewolf took a moment to think." It is a possibility. And it also rings a bell. We found traces of a behemoth all around these forests, and these events have only started since we were sent here to investigate.”
“Are you implying that this… behemoth we speak of is capable of using his stuff to manipulate the ice around here?”
“I am not implying. Think about it, Hawk. The villagers back at this valley reported signs of a behemoth. Yet, nothing big really happened that could warrant a full on hunt. A few broken shacks, one or two missing livestock... then, when they called us and we arrived here things start to happen the moment we set foot in these damn mountains. Felghran vanished in thin air, we got hit by a ravine, the other team got trapped in a cave by falling ice not too long ago…”
The Jade Falcon crossed his arms. “Well if you put it like that, I suppose that it could seem like someone or something either does not want us to be here… or has been luring us into a trap.”
“Exactly, and I am sure this something has already encountered other slayers. Or at least is one very sly mofo. Maybe we were just lucky, but I think that our path into these woods may have actually taken us away from whatever is still after us, unlike Felghran and her group.”
Hawk stared at me with a serious look on his face. “It’s trying to eliminate us one by one.”
“Divide et impera, my friend. Divide and Conquer. That’s exactly what has been on my mind since Raven began bringing us all those incident reports.”
Hawk moved so fast Kien couldn’t register what happened. Three clean cuts and the icicle about to hit him was shattered in three. A throwing knife flew a hair from his head behind the wolf. A metallic ping followed by a faint thump signaled that it had hit something solid, deflected and hit the ground afterwards. And it was not wood or rock. Kein sprung up, grabbing his Revolver and turning over in the direction of the knife. Hawk behind him covered his rear, shifting his weight from an offensive to a defensive stance.
Everything was still, not a single movement after that. The lazy yellow flames crackled, reflecting off his revolver and Hawk’s Parry and Riposte.
“We got company.” the young wolf heard him say as he threw away his cape to have better mobility.
“Noted.”
Some do it for glory, some for honor, some for money. But what makes them different than us? Well…Kien needed no fame nor money, but thrill to live his life. Nothing makes you feel more alive than facing Death at her own game.
“Here it comes!” Kien shouted, diving to the right and avoiding an ice wave coming his way. Hawk had barely the time to block a huge tail coming his way, before being sent tumbling a few meters away. A backflip and he was on his feet again.
The behemoth didn’t roar, it did not want to attract the attention of other slayers nearby. We were just a league away from Team Charlie after all. The thing wanted them only. And wanted them dead.
Hawk rushed in while the beast was focused at keeping Kien at bay with ice pillars growing left and right of his position. The young wolf had to keep moving or he would get trapped in an ice cage. Which usually means game over most of the time.
The Falcon demonstrated his swiftness, speed and reflexes by dodging or parkouring over all the ice the behemoth sent his way. In a flash he had closed in on the colossus, keeping true to his nickname. He slid under another tailswipe, cut the ice spike growning in front of him and used it as a trampoline to jump up high. Riposte was brought down, but the point of the rapier had the same result of the knife thrown before. It deflected off the side, no damage whatsoever. As soon as Hawk's boots touched the ground he sidestepped away, Parry helping him avoid a large claw to the chest. Two backflips and he had disengaged safely from his attack.
His fighting style was highly acrobatic, fast and nimble. As he said, he moved like the wind. The only thing you could see was the green blur of his outfit in motion. A green gale.
He charged again, making sure to avoid the ice, and this time tried to go for the joints of the behemoth, but his rapiers were repelled again.
“Well, this is new…” Kien mumbled, smashing ice with his claw, noticing the elemental armor around the beast. Hawk jumped at his side, parrying a flying chunk of frozen water coming their way.
“It’s no good, We can’t pierce the armor.” He panted, keeping the colussus dead center in his view and his blades at the ready.
“We should weaken it first. If we chip it you may have an angle of attack.”
“Well then, off you go. My swords can’t cut that deep. Don’t hit head on, you just bounce right off of it.”
Kien nodded and dived to the side again, avoiding a charge. The behemoth slammed into a couple of trees, knocking them down. That commotion would surely alert the others. It was getting impatient.
While Kien kept it busy with him like a toreador waving his red cape at a bull’s head, Hawk made his way towards the beast from behind. The thing was moving and clawing and biting. It was a bit hard to avoid its fast moving tail at first. The thing noticed the man and used his hind leg to try and kick him away, while fending off Kien like he was some kind of pestering mosquito. The young wolf barely managed to avoid that. He swung his claw with as much power as he could muster, coming down on the ice armor ad a 45 degree angle. As predicted, the strength of his claws was enough to chip it. It didn’t seem to damage nor wound the behemoth, but it was a start.
Work 4 END
A gust of ice cold wind coming from nowhere hit Hawk, throwing his balance off and allowing the Behemoth to swat the Jade Falcon away from itself with enough force he felt his armor bend. Snow softened his fall, but it still was not pleasant. He remained flat, dazed by the hit. He could hear Kien’s grunts as he tried to remain alive. In the commotion he had lost grip on Riposte, the blade somewhere around the area. He could hear the werewolf waving one of the ignited logs at the beast, while also using his revolver as support, aiming at the behemoth’s eyes.
Hawk slowly sat up and shook his head. He had to help his partner or he would eventually get too fatigued and get sloppy. If you get sloppy, you die.
Kien noticed that Raven was flying in circles above them, trying to get the attention from the other groups. It was like a sos signal, Hawk told him. But in the middle of the night he doubted she could be easily spotted. They needed a Flare.
Kien slammed into a nearby tree, stumbling to get back up. He was holding his left shoulder. There was a cut. Not deep, but rather large and bleeding. One of Hawk's swords was stuck in the same spot of his last fortunate hit, with the beast shaking wildy trying to get it off.
It was about to charge Kien’s general location when Hawk distracted it. “Oi! ICE CUBE!”
Kien rolled over, the behemoth slamming into the tree the wolf was using as support. He grabbed the rapier and pulled out of the beast's side, throwing it back at his owner who had regained his breath and was standing again.
The creature headbutted, trying to use the spikes on his body to impale the werewolf. The armor he wore absorbed the blow, and Kien thanked the heavens he was using thicker plating unlike his parner. And so they began hacking and hacking at the beast, trading blow for blow. The thing was relentless, it never gave them a moment to breathe nor the time to pull out their flares.
Kien slammed his claw on the creature’s head, cracking the armor. After all this fighting and attacking on his end it could not hold forever. Kien was still going strong despite his bleeding. He was still weaving and dodging left, right, up and down. He was mainly buying time and keeping Hawk safe from the creature Frost Aether attacks, waiting for an opening.
Normal attacks would not be effective, we both knew that. But just like these huking beasts, They too could use Magic. Kien looked over to the other side of the behemoth. Hawk had reclaimed both his rapiers. A quick glance and a nod. He got what he wanted to do.
Kien gripped his revolver tight and charged. He swung around the beast with all his speed. He shouted at the beast, getting its attention. It charged Hawk as well, its head low. The werewolf jumped. In a moment, time seemed to slow down as he was launched in the air by the behemoth. Kien's knees hurted a little but he gritted his teeth and focused on his next attack.
Two shots were brought down on the beast’s back. He could hear a loud crack as the bullets chipped through the armor, shot weakened the ice enough for it to crack. Hawk had climbed up a tree and launched himself at the beast as well, aiming where the head connected to the body. Lightnings coursed through Riposte as he plunged it where Kien had chipped the armor. Hawk pushed onto it with all his weight, the impact force of his blow exploding the cracked ice. The blade sinked in. Finally, tehy landed a first succesful strike. Their combined attack shattered the beast’s armor. Now Hawk's weapon could cut, and Kien’s revolver could pierce the hide.
The beast arched his back and began shaking side to side, roaring. Now it was angry. The young man landed on the ground and rolled to soften the fall. Kien was shaken off the behemoth’s back and fell onto his partner.
He rolled onto the ground and he lost his firearm. Hawk was still holding onto his sword, with Riposte filthy with the beast’s blood. His blow did strike vital organs, and that’s exactly what makes rapiers deadly weapons. They came to a stop completely entangled together like a game of Twister.
The two scrambled, while the beast raged and launched itself at the couple. They tried to get away but the behemoth was faster than before. It was out for blood and wanted them at all costs. Kien thought it would stomp them into nothing, but then Hawk used his free hand and grabbed his flare gun from his hip and aimed at the enemy. It clicked and a bolt of fire zipped out, hitting the beast’s snout before exploding in a bright Green and gold flash, his guild’s colors. The beast was blinded, and stumbled around, missing us and charging blindly into the woods behind us.
Following Hawks’s actions, Kien immediately grabbed his own flare, but aimed at the sky.
He watched as the silver and Purple colors of the Wolves lit up the night sky. The young man rolled off Kien, with his back in the snow. Kien sat up using a tree, panting and holding his cut. The behemoth escaped, or rather: blindly chaged deeper in the forest. But now they knew it was here, so we would not get ambushed again. It already had fought slayers it seemed, the couple did not know who/how/when but it surely had evolved that ice armor to protect itself from their weapons. Kien glanced at his partner, panting.
“Why the hell did you do that? You know flares do not work on them…” he said between breaths. The Falcon gave him a wide grin.
“In my defense…this looks like a gun.” He opened the flare gun through its break action and it ejected the empty and still smoking shell. “See? It’s semi auto.”
Kien chuckled. “You stupid idiot…”
Some do it for glory, some for honor, some for money. But what makes them different than us? Well… we need no fame nor money, but the thrill to live our life. Nothing makes you feel more alive than facing Death at her own game and laugh in her face.
And it that moment, Kien had never felt more alive.
