The thrill of the hunt, a monster hunter

Prologue





My bed vibrated as though there was an earthquake. I was launched from my bed hitting the wooden floor. Still startled, I jumped to my feet and ran up the stairs. The first thing that I saw was the sprawling hills of sand we were sailing through, but my eyes did not linger there for long. I watched in awe and horror as a massive beast larger than the ship itself dove from one side of the ship to the other. It roared with such intensity that I immediately grabbed my ears shut, the bellow of the creature still ringing in my stinging ears. The monster was swimming alongside the ship, a sailor cupped his hands over his mouth and shouted "JHEN MOHRAN! JHEN MOHRAN!" alerted all those aboard of the creature.



An armor clad man ran past me nearly knocking me over, he ran to the edge of the ship and leaped onto the beast's back! Three similarly dressed individuals joined him on the beast and began slashing and bashing it with there blades and hammers.

They were monster hunters. All my life I had heard legends of these brave people and their daring heroics. The beast began diving into the sand, the hunters quickly jumped back onto the ship. The Jhen Mohran appeared again far in the distance, I thought we were safe until it began hurling rocks as big as men at the ship or more specifically at the hunters. Two of them were hit and knocked out, a third fell from the ship. Only one was left, she sliced the boulders clean in two defending us from the barrage. "Get to the back of the ship!!" She shouted as she ran to the very front of the ship. Just as I turned to do so The hunter was hit by one of the boulders! I ran to her side, as she laid on the floor crippled and dying she uttered these words. "Its your turn." She gasped for air. "Keep...them safe." She pointed towards the other passengers and sailors at the back of the ship. With a deadly gaze she looked at me, as though she was thrusting upon me this mountainous responsibility. "Good.......luck." Her gasps ended as she ceased moving. As tears formed in my eyes my sadness was immediatly overcome by fear, the Jhen Mohran burst from the sand mouth agape and ready to ram the ship. I stumbled back onto a platform behind me, It sank with my weight and I heard a "click". Suddenly the beast let out a wail of agony as a giant drill shot out from the front of the ship and lodged itself into the beast's chest. The Jhen Mohran clawed at the still spinning drill, desperate to unstick itself. It smashed the drill in two, leaving a piece still in it chest, and swam away. Still in shock from this specticle I looked back only to see the dead hunter pulling herself up. "I knew you could do it kid, you had the fire in your eyes" She said in a raspy voice. Two sailors ran over and placed her on a stretcher, as they carried her off the passengers and crew of the ship raised me on their shoulders.





After that I became famous for a period, "The boy who bested the earth dragon!" but as time went on this became old news and my life returned to normal. I was on my way home from a trip with my father, thats why I was on that ship, and I inadvertently mustered a miracle. I didn't realize it until much later in my life, but if I hadn't gone with my father on that trip, my life would be drastically different, I would be left fatherless and all those people would have died and I never would become a monster hunter.



My father gave up his profession as a trader and joined the monster hunter guild council for the city we lived in. Every day my father would return home with glorious tales he had heard from the hunters who reported to him, each day a new fable of daring heroics and bravery. It was more than enough to fuel my youthful imagination, and I quickly became fascinated with every aspect of monster hunting. I studied the weapons, the armor, the habitats, breeding, and feeding habits of the monsters. But still one thing was holding me back from my dream of becoming a hunter: Fear. Some nights when I closed my eyes to sleep, I saw only the figure of that jhen mohran bearing down on me, at six years of age I stared down death and by some amazing stroke of luck I lived. But even more haunting was the image of the hunter who had nearly died in my arms, she was so young only twelve or so years older than me. With all of these uncertainties floating around in my head I began doubting I would ever become a monster hunter, until one day......



Chapter 1 "Clarity"



One day an amazing opportunity came my way, my father was to travel to the city of Tanjia and represent the hunter's guild of our city in a large regional meeting of the Hunter's guild. Knowing my interest in the topic he brought me along, it was a relatively peaceful trip the first few first few days as we sailed across the gulf, but then we had to travel by foot.



I walked alongside my father down the long winding dirt road that cut through the jungle and led to our destination. I struggled to keep up with my father and the caravan wagon due to my small child's legs. My father, seeing my trouble keeping up, picked me up and placed me in the cart. "There you go, you take a rest now, we're almost to the city." I slowly nodded off into a sound exhausted sleep, and dreamed of slaying mighty beasts with other hunters.



I awoke to a sound that I still hear ringing ever clear in my mind whenever I look back to this day. It sounded like a continuous explosion. The roar of the most horrifying creature I have ever laid eyes upon, The Deviljho, it is called this because many believe that the fury and wrath of this demonic creature could only have been spawned by the devil himself. A hulking giant of tooth and claw, a scaly nightmare, a beast fueled only by rage and a burning desire to destroy and consume. I quickly leapt to my feet and stuck my head out of the wagon only to see the monster running straight at one of the men in our group. It suddenly leapt into the air, its feet crashing down on either side of the man. My father began swiping at its legs with a knife, the beast responded my slamming its tale straight into my father sending him flying into a nearby tree. "DAD NO!" I shouted. The Devil then turned its gaze to me, it's blood red eyes stared at me with an intensity that I never could have fathomed. I sat there for what felt like hours, our eyes locked on the other's, I tried to scream, to run, to do anything but my body froze and wouldn't move. I could not breath, I could not blink, and my eyes could not stray from his deadly gaze. It felt as though from the moment it saw me, it knew me, who I was, what I have seen and done, as though I had no secrets it did not know. I continued to stare at it until it began to slowly walk towards me, I snapped out of the trance it gaze had seemed to put on me and jumped from the wagon onto the muddy ground beneath and ran. I heard another terrible roar and the ever quickening "thump thump" of its footsteps as it gave chase. I looked back to see it growing closer, as I turn back forward I tripped over a tree root that was sticking out of the ground. I braced my fall with my hands as my body plowed into the mud. I turned onto my back and saw the Deviljho's deadly gaze once again, only this time it was much, much closer. I could feel the creature's breath upon my face, it maw stretched into a cracked smile. It quickly inhaled and let loose one of its mighty roars upon me, it roared with such intensity that it pushed me deeper into the mud. Its roar was brought to an early stop as a large blade cut itself into the creature's head, at the handle of that blade was a familiar face. "BACK You monstrosity!" She shouted. The Deviljho was knocked back aways and was quickly engaged by several other hunters. The first hunter looked to me and offered her hand, as I took it and she pulled me up she said "Hey kid! Remember me?" I could never forget this woman, she was the hunter that had nearly died on the ship that I was on when the Jhen Mohran attacked. "You didn't think the hunters guild WASN'T keeping an eye on you did ya? One of our spotters saw the Deviljho, and knowing your group was in the area, called us." She explained. I looked to the beast and saw the other hunters surround it. One man slid a small metal disc underneath the creature. The disc began to crackle and surge with electricity, stunning the deviljho. Another hunter fired darts tipped with a sleeping agent into the beast and within moments it fell to the ground unconscious. The adrenaline began draining from my body and thoughts began racing through my head. Why were they watching me? Where did this monster come from? Suddenly my mind fixated on my father. "DAD!!" I shouted and took off running towards the now abandoned wagon. It took the hunter a few moments to realize what I meant and they took off after me. I reached the tree my dad had been struck against and saw my fathers unconscious body wounded but still breathing. As I knelt down to talk to him he began coughing violently and he opened his eyes. "Son? You have to run!" I hugged him and replied "Dad the monster is gone. These hunters saved us." I gestured to the hunter who had been on the ship the day the Jhen Mohran attacked. "I'm sorry to break up this reunion but we have to get the wounded to the city." A large wagon pulled by a domesticated aptonoth rolled into the clearing and those wounded during the attack were loaded in. As they carried my father away he ushered the hunter who had saved me to speak to him. He whispered something in her ear and while I was too far away to hear it, my fathers lips seemed to say. "Watch over him." She nodded and walked back to me. My father waved as they wheeled him away. I smiled weakly and waved back. The huntress placed her hand on my shoulder. "He's gonna be alright kid, but until then I'll be taking care of you." She kneeled down to my level. "My name is Sophia."



I stood there in front of Sophia still shaking from the events of that day. I stood silently staring back at her as she waited for a response from me. "Whats your name?" She said breaking the eerie silence. "Liam......" I replied weakly now staring at the ground. "Well Liam, I promise i'll take good care of you until your father recovers. Ok?" She said placing her hand on my shoulder in an attempt to comfort me. "Ok...." I said looking back up to her. Although I didn't understand it at that age, I was in shock. Shock from nearly dying, shock from my father nearly dying, shock that I somehow had lived through another experience in which I SHOULD have died. All I could think was: Why me? Why was I spared from death not once but twice? "Kid? You okay?" These words parted the fog that had formed in my mind and as I look to the face of this huntress I realized the answer to my puzzle. My survival wasn't some matter of luck. Fate hadn't stepped in and saved me. I didn't save myself. The sole reason that I was still alive was that these people, these hunters had been their. They fought for me, they were ready and willing to give there live's for my own. Thats when the fear and uncertainty was vented from my mind, that was the day that I decided that, yes I could die as a hunter but It would be in the process of saving lives. I had my mind set on it, I was going to become a monster hunter.



"Thank you." I said looking directly into her eyes. "Thank you for saving me and my father both these times." She smiled softly. "I'm only doing my job, but its people like you who remind me why I became a hunter." I smiled back. "Well come on kid we have an hour or two ride to Tanjia." She took my hand and we boarded the wagon.





Chapter 2



The wagon dropped us off in the out-skirts of Tanjia. On our way to the lodge we would be staying at we passed through a flea market. They had all sorts of foods, cloths, materials, and trinkets. One stand was selling the parts of monsters that had slain by hunters. He had on his desk a cage with a peculiar little creature inside. It was a small bird like animal but it had Scales, feathers AND fur! The tip of its tail had no fur on it but instead look like several spikes folded together. I poked at the cage and the little creature sprung to it's feet and darted its head around looking for the aggressor. It saw me and cowered to the very back of the cage pressing itself against the wall. "That there is a Nargacuga pup!" The shop owner said. "Some hunters brought back an egg from a Nargacuga they killed and this little feller popped out later that day! Runt of the litter i'm afraid, probably won't grow too big." As I watched the infant monster hide its face I heard the sound of several coins being dropped onto the desk. "We'll take it!" Sophia said handing over a great deal of money over to the now ecstatic shopkeeper. "O-of course! Thank you! Here." Still staring at the pile of gold he pushed the cage towards the edge of the table. Sophia handed the cage to me saying. "See I told you I would take care of you." I was far too excited to thank her for this amazing gift. The little narga cub seemed excited to be away from the grumpy old man who kept the shop. "Is it a boy or a girl?" I asked the man. "Girl I think, the eggs differ depending on gender." The little creature looked to me as though I were its hero. I opened the door to the cage a crack and it dashed out of the cage up my arm and onto my shoulder. It rubbed its head on me and softly purred. We continued through the flea-market and finally reached the lodge the hunting guild had arranged for Sophia to stay in. It was unlike any building I had ever seen, this was where the elite hunters stayed. It had marble columns and the hunters guild insignia carved into the front. After Sophia had talked to the man in the front we walked into the room which was equally as beautiful as the exterior of the building. By this time it was already dark out and I was growing tired. I climbed into bed with the baby Narga and quickly dosed off. I awoke the next morning to the yipping of a hungry Nargacuga cub. I looked all around the room but Sophia was nowhere to be found. I found a note on the door that read "I got called on an emergency out in the plains, I'll be back before sundown. Sophia." Minutes later I sat on bed staring at the Narga cub. It stared me back and continued yipping for food. What did it eat? It was a baby, maybe it ate milk? Or maybe it ate meat? I was snapped out of my train of thought by a splashing coming from the other side of the room. I looked up and saw the young monster standing over a fish bowl with a scaly tail hanging out its mouth. "NO!" But before I could do anything she slurped it up and swallowed. "Well at least I know you like fish." I said sighing. I found some NOT living fish for it to eat in the icebox. After a few minutes of it eating and running around I decided she needed a name. My eyes wonder to her cage that she had originally inhabited, it was a striking brownish orange. Looking back to the cub I said "How about Amber?" Jumping in the air "Amber" seemed to like her name and she leapt into my lap. She seemed happy as she stared up at me as though asking me what we were going to do next. Looking over to the window I realized it was still quite early in the morning, Amber had woken me up much earlier then I would have done naturally. I crawled back under the covers and laid my head down on the pillow. But Amber began tugging on the blanket pulling it off me. She whimpered and whined urging me to get back up. As I sat up she ran to the door looking back between it and me. "You wanna go outside?" I said standing up. Amber's scratching at the door gave me the answer. As I opened the door she climbed up onto my shoulder. Once we got outside it didn't so early in the morning as the city was bustling. This city lived on trade, the imports and exports of its colossal harbor. We wandered around seeing the sights here and there until we happened upon the Guild hall. It was a massive two story building with an insignia the size of a boat carved into the front. There were two guards standing by the entrance, their armor and swords seemed more ceremonial then practical. I attempted to walk through the entrance but was stopped by two large polearm blades dropping down in front of me. The guards had blocked the entrance with their weapons. "I think your going the wrong way there kid." The guard on my left boomed. Suddenly a familiar voice sounded behind me. "Its okay gentlemen he's with me." I turned to see Sophia standing there geared up in armor with a longsword strapped to her back. "Eeeeyyyy Sophie!" The guard on the right exclaimed running towards her where he was met with a hug. "Hi Sedric." She replied laughing. I was confused by this sudden display of emotions. "Liam, this is my brother Sedric." She said gesturing from me to him."Sedric this is Liam, i'm taking care of him while his father get healed up." "Well I get off my shift in 3 hours i'll come see you then." Sedric said He waved goodbye as we walked into the guild hall. We walked into a massive room that connected to an even bigger hall that had stairs going up and down for several floors. The upper floors appeared to be offices and meeting rooms. Where as the lower floors had a blacksmith, several shops and trading posts. The area at the end of the hall appeared to be a sort of tavern where hunters could look at a board with jobs and requests posted on it. In addition to the massive hall, to either side of me there were reception desk where hunters could report on there missions and accept special assignments given by the guild itself. Massive tapestries depicting hunters fighting monster of all sorts were hung all along the hall. The floor was smooth marble as were the pillars. I was in such awe that Sophia had to shake me to get my attention, once she did she said "Wait here, I have to go write a report and take care of some business. DO NOT touch anything!" As she walked up one of the staircases to the upper levels I sat down on a stool at one of the tables. I noticed that the floor below was thick glass through which you could see an aquarium of sorts, it had fish, sharks, jellyfish, ludroth, and their leader a Royal Ludroth. I stared at the large lizard like creature as it swam gracefully through the water, its spongey yellow mane flowing along as it did so. The creaking of wheels drew my attention from the creature to a large cage being wheeled to the guild hall. In it was a live and very much awake Diablos, a flying wyvern that lives in the desert and burrows through the sand with its magnificent horns, and it was not happy. The beast bashed the side of the cage with it's clubbed tail, one of the guards escorting it jabbed it with his spear only angering the creature further. Now one thing that should be noted at this point is that the roar of a diablos is very loud and VERY high pitched, it has been known to shatter glass and eardrums alike. It's more of a screech really. I saw that the beast was about to roar and grabbed my ears shut. Even with my ears shut I could could still hear it plain as day but without the ear shattering effect. Suddenly the floor gave way and I was plunged into water. I looked up to see massive shards of glass plummeting to the bottom of the tank and one that was headed right for me! I clawed at the water with all my might, narrowly avoiding the glass shard. As I stared at the falling chunk of glass that nearly took my life, I felt a warm breeze like feeling against my neck. I realized what was behind me and turned only to be face to face with the Royal Ludroth. Its eyes glowed an eerie yellow but there were not looking at me. I followed its gaze to the opening in the tank that was caused by the diablos roar. When I looked back its pupils were locked onto me. Its eyes changed from the eerie yellow to a striking blue and it let out an eagle like screech. I instinctivally began swimming for the opening and it swam after me. Just before I broke the surface it leaped out of the water, carrying me along with it. As I clung onto its spongey mane, I looked around to see the guards that were escorting the diablos still grasping their ears. I was suddenly jolted forward as the Royal Ludroth dashed through the open door and out into the city.





Chapter 3



Sedric slowly rose to his knees after being knocked down by the mystery force behind him. With his right hand he frantically searched for his weapon, after finding it he used it to steady himself and stand up. At first he thought he was hallucinating, he could swear he saw the Royal Ludroth that lived in the guild aquariam running off with the boy his sister had introduced him to minutes earlier. He looked inside the guild hall and saw several men on the floor grabbing their ears and a stream of water flowing out through the door. Sedric quickly dove out of the entrance to avoid a stampede of ludroth who followed he puddles left by their leader. Sedric woke the other guard and they gave chase.



Sophia was walking down the stairs of the guild hall when she heard the ear-splitting screech. Her eyes fixed on the source of the the sound and she saw a caged Diablos roaring right in front of Liam. She saw the ground around start to crack and she continued down the stairs, this time running. She heard the shattering of glass followed by splashing just as she reached the bottom step. She dashed through the crowded guild hall avoiding all the chaos caused by the roar. Just as she reached the pool of water a Royal Ludroth leapt out of the water with Liam clinging to its mane. She ran around the pool to chase after the beast when suddenly a large chunk of wood fell in front of her. She heard the sound of wood splintering and the "thump thump" of a Diablos tail being bashed against the ground. She turned to see the beast with a guard cornered, his weapon nowhere in sight. "Hey!" she shouted drawing her blade. "Pick on someone your own size!" The angry wyvern turned to face her, still bashing its tail rhythmically. Sophia glanced at the door and saw Sedric and the other guard chasing after the Royal Ludroth. Relieved she turned back to fight her own battle.



I clung to the yellow, wet, slimy, mane of the Royal Ludroth as it ran plowed through the streets of Port Tanzia. Everyone dove out of the way of the beast. Now a Royal Ludroth is a semi-aquatic leviathan class monster that uses its spongey mane to store water to allow it to breath on land. While it lives mostly in the water it is able to travel of land but its forelegs can be used for both land and water travel it's hind legs are fin-like stubs, making its walking pattern rather bizarre. It moves like a sidewinder swaying from side to side while clawing at the ground to pull itself forward. It plowed through a weapon shop sending all manner of armament flying through the air causing people to dive to dodge the rain of blades. A small sword lodged itself into the mane a short bit ahead of me. Gathering my strength I slowly climbed to the swords handle and gripped it. As soon as I grabbed it my body's weight loosened it and I slowly slid back down still gripping the sword which was now cutting through the ludroth's mane. The Royal Ludroth slowed to a halt and began shaking furiously in an attempt to get me off and stop the pain I was causing. This only lodged the sword into the skin underneath the mane angering it further. I took this opportunity to jump of the now stationary Ludroth. Suddenly Sedric arrived on horse back coming to a stop between me and the beast.



Sedric locked eyes with the monster. Gripping his lance he charged at the Royal Ludroth, which responded by firing a ball of boiling water at Sedric. Sedric's shield and armor protected him from the attack but his horse was struck and fell over in pain. The beast charged at Sedric who gripped his lance. The creature swatted the lance away with a claw leaving Sedric with only his shield.



I searched frantically for something to help Sedric and found a small bowgun (a primitive projectile weapon like a large musket). I grabbed it and loaded the three shells I found next to it into it. I aimed at the gash caused by the sword and squeezed the trigger. The three round fired off in quick succession but they weren't hard metal bullets as I had expected, instead beneath the casing there were small wooden bullets. These hit the now bleeding wound and burst splashing red liquid that seeped into the open wound. At first I thought it had no effect but than the monster collapsed, asleep. "Great work kid! I guess the story is true, you are a born hunter!" Sedric said walking over to me. "Using tranquilizers to knock 'Im out so we can return 'im to the aquarium was a nice touch. I looke at the shell casing on the ground and realized they were labeled "tranq". "Uhh yeah, I meant to do THAT!"



Sophia rolled out of the way of the diablos' charge. It rammed into a wall causing it's horns to lodge themselves into the carved marble. She took this opportunity to slash at its tail after which she was sent flying by the clubbed end of it. She slammed into a wall and landed some twenty feet from her weapon. The beast, with the hunter cornered, growl immediately in front of her releasing a thick black smog into her face. She rubbed her eyes and coughed to rid herself of the terrible smog. As her vision cleared she saw the diablos clawed at its neck. Sophia saw a small black figure darting around clawing and biting at the diablos' head. The small attacker caused the diablos to bleed,something Sophia had as yet been unable to do. She searched through her pack and pulled out a small round metal object which she tossed at the bleeding neck of the beast. The beast fell over asleep and the small black figure ran up to Sophia. "The narga cub? How did you..." Suddenly her thoughts shifted to Liam and the Ludroth. "Sophie!" She heard her brothers voice and turned to see him and Liam walking through the guild hall doors. "You got a real talented kid here! He'll be a hunter for sure!" That seemed a bit optimistic at the time but he was right.



Chapter 4





After all the craziness the Royal Ludroth and the Diablos were sent to there rightful places and we headed back to the lodge where Sophia told me something that changed my life forever. "That ship wasn't only carrying passengers when you saved it from the Jhen Mohran." I looked at her puzzled as though I had missed something Importent. "That ship was tasked with carrying a very Importent item. A sample from a monster that may threaten Tanzia port the entire region." Still puzzled and now a bit shaken I asked her. "What kind of monster?" "We don't know what it looks like as every ship we've sent to its lair has not returned. One did send a very blurry image seen through a telescope." She held up a blurred image of a black dragon with glowing lines all over its colossal body. "Apperently this monster raveged these lands in ancient times. laying waste to entire towns burning down entire forests and laying waste to all in its path. The only written record of this monster was etched onto a wall of an old settlement rest of which burned down. It read "Mind ye the distant quakes and remember all the lives it takes. If you wish to live please mind this instruction, you cannot run from the herald of destruction. You can only hope and pray he'll pass, lest your engulfed in his fiery blasts. The lives of many he will take, he leaves only ash in his wake. The volcano's fury given form, you will never sense the coming storm. So flee in fear and run for hours, for none can defeat the Dire Miralis."