Fatigue
I was silently watching a Venom Fanged Centipede, that was at least 20m long, crawl along the forest floor looking for its next victim. It has been a little over a month since I started training with Jayne and, to be honest, it fucking sucks. Well at least now we're allowed to traverse the forest on the outskirts of Faern, my hometown, even though the place is a death trap. The Guild officially made the place a hunting grounds for Adventures a few days back so Jayne figured it would be a perfect place to test my strength.
I mean if I don't come back then it wouldn't have been worth it to train me. Right? Well no matter, I've been making serious growth in my training and I have even begun trying to master several weapons; my goal was to master every weapon known to man so I can be as versatile as possible. Sadly I haven't been able to 'awaken' my magic yet and I still have no idea on how I'm supposed to even get to the red core stage. After the last time I ventured into my inner conscience, I've been unable to go back.
Putting my thoughts to the side, I took up my long bow and fitted an arrow tipped with an enchanted head made of mythril. I steadied my breath and the only thing I saw in my sights was the ugly head of the Venom Fanged Centipede now staring directly at me with its dark purple eyes. I released my breath and let the arrow fly, embedding it right in its magic core, which resides next to its minuscule brain.
I pulled a small knife out from my boot and began to peel away the Centipedes exoskeleton bit by bit, because it was worth quite a bit along side the core. I heard a shrill whistle in the distance, alerting me that Jayne would soon arrive. Just as I thought that, I saw a massive hawk with bright orange and red feathers descend from the sky with a brown haired beauty on its back.
"Haha! Damn kid nice shot!" Jayne praised my prowess with a rather proud smile on her face. As she should.
"Ah it was nothing, it was standing still anyways." I rubbed the back of my head with an awkward smile. I still remembered the last time I got proud and cocky, something that'll never happen again. Makes me shudder just thinking about it.
Jayne's large mount landed with a loud thump. Jayne stood on the back of her mount and looked at the goods I had procured during my hunt and, with an approving nod, she let me climb onto the back of her massive hawk, though the thing looked at me with a slightly annoyed look in its eyes as it rolled its eyes at me. Dumb overgrown chicken.
I had been able to make a decent amount of money off of the various items and hides that I got off of the various mana beasts surrounding what is referred to as the 'Death Mist Forest' because of a strange fog that lingers on the ground and, no matter what you try, it never clears. With the winds blowing my now shoulder length hair behind my head, I was content for the time being as I watched the snow-capped mountains in the distance roll by.
Jayne nudged my side slightly while a playful glint passed through her eyes as she leaned over towards my ear and whispered 'Y'know, since you did so great I might just reward you later..."
I took a deep breath and rubbed my temples, a habit I had developed as of late, and simply stated "The last time you tried to 'reward' me without my consent, my only friend tried to kill me..." Jayne simply rolled her eyes before turning back around wit her legs crossed and her chin in her palm.
"And I'm only 12, Jayne...you're creepy..." Jayne turned to me with a wry smile as she said seriously "I'm only 16, Yuuki..."
"Still pretty weird..."
"Yeah, yeah fuck you too."
We both began to laugh but it was drowned out by the wind. We had gotten closer over the month we have been training together and, honestly, she's not that bad once you get to know her. I mean yeah she's an airhead and a big dumbass, but she's a good person. Wait she's 16!?
"Wait wai-"
"Shh!" Jayne covered my mouth with her hand as her eyes furiously scanned the sky above us. Searching for something. Just as I was about to slip my bow off of my shoulder, an ear piercing screech shook my bones to the core. I whipped my head around and saw a massive black snake, except it had the head of a boar and the wings of a massive bat...and it seemed pissed.
Jayne's face paled as she willed for her bonded mana beast to swoop down, but we were intercepted before we could even get close to the ground. I found myself flying through the sky towards the ground at breakneck speeds. I deftly pulled an arrow from my quiver and, as I nocked it into my bow, it glowed a bright green light. I aimed for the ground just before I landed and a massive gust of wind cushioned my fall. I still most likely had fractured ribs but it was better than being dead.
I had no time to celebrate my cleverness as the massive snake-boar barreled towards my location, causing me to run as fast as I could into the tree line. However, when I made it to the trees, I noticed that the flapping of wings had stopped. I looked behind my shoulder to see the massive beast staring down Jayne and her mana beast, both looking utterly worse for wear. I cursed my luck and bolted towards their location while nocking a different arrow in my bow, this time it had a powerful fire enchantment. I whistled to get the things attention and fired my arrow towards its exposed eye when it turned toward me.
The beast's eye popped like a berry, causing it to go berserk and thrash around giving me enough time to grab Jayne as she forced her mana beast to go into its 'core' state. Basically it was when a mana beast turned into its literal core, y'know like the one inside of its body. Anyway, me and Jayne ran as fast as we could to the forest, the beasts thrashing now turned to pained howls.
We kept running in order to get as far as possible from that grotesque beast, but what was even more weird is that we saw no signs of life. Not even a single mana beast. We ran until we collapsed onto the ground, panting for breath. However, we never let out guards down because one small mistake is what it takes to get you killed.
"W-What the hell was that...Jayne?" I asked, still trying to breathe with my aching lungs.
"I-I don't know, but it looked like a Hell Wyrm from those children storied..."
A Hell Wyrm was a supposed fictional beast that was a common mount for the various Demons that once roamed the continents, but humanity was supposed to have wiped all Demons from existence many centuries ago. Yet here was a Hell Wyrm exactly how the books describe them...
I focused my breathing once again, but this time I focused on hearing rather than my sight. I could hear each individual blade of grass move with the wind and every small footstep that would be impossible to hear under normal circumstances. Then, I sensed it. A large presence making its way towards me and Jayne at an impossibly fast speed, leaving me with little time to react as the Hell Wyrm burst through the trees, baring its ugly fangs. I managed to roll away from the beasts snapping maw as I pulled a thin shortsword from its scabbard across my waist, facing the beast in a defensive posture.
As fast as lightning, another presence entered my vision and sent the Wyrm's head into the ground, creating spiderweb cracks, with a massive shockwave that blew me off of my feet. By the time I recovered I saw the Hell Wyrm lying in a pool of its own blood when a sudden prick on my back caused me to turn around but, before I could complete the motion, I ended up falling over with my body quickly going numb, and my vision fading.
---
[JAYNE SCARLET POV]
I watched as Yuuki fell from the sky and I thought things couldn't get much worse, but they did. Yuuki landed without dying but Hrongi's left wing was broken and we had a Hell Wyrm on our ass. I had thought that Demons were a made up story to scare children, but here I was facing one down with its beady eyes locked onto me. I landed hard on the ground with Hrongi and the Hell Wyrm was bound to see us as an easy meal, but I wasn't easy. Just as I began to cycle mana through my body the Wyrm whipped it's head back only to be met with an arrow to its eye. Clever kid.
I willed Hrongi to go into his core form before scooping him up and taking Yuuki's hand as we ran as fast as we could to the forest. However, when we finally made it I sensed another, larger presence watching us closely. When the Hell Wyrm broke through the tree line and snapped at Yuuki I felt the larger presence dart towards the former at unbelievable speeds before killing it in one blow. Then I saw it. A man at a perfect 200cm with ash grey skin and pitch black eyes. The man had two overdeveloped canines that extended over his bottom lip with an onyx horn that came out from his forehead and curved backwards. He looked...beautiful, yet deadly at the same time. It wasn't until he threw a small black needle at Yuuki that I knew he wasn't just an anomaly.
This had to be a true Demon.
- - -
[YUUKI SILVER POV]
An infinitely dark space was the only thing to greet me as I woke but, instead of being happy, I was mildly frustrated because this space felt different than my inner conscious. I began to 'walk' around trying to find anything that could give me answers. Suddenly, a small static noise caught my attention. It sounded like those various toys that had a small spark of electricity on the end that would zap things if they got too close, but it felt more...'dangerous'. Like something that could swallow me if I'm not cautious enough...
My head started to pound painfully while a constant ringing assaulted my ears. Before I knew it, I was on the ground with saliva dripping out of my mouth as I saw blood flowing from the sides of my head. I was about to lose consciousness but it stopped just as quickly as it had begun and what replaced it was a loud, monotone voice that always sounded bored no matter that it was talking about.
"Ah, you survived. Documented. Well, it looks like we'll get well aquatinted later on but for now I'll have to cut our little chit chat short. Cya." I felt my body turning heavy as my arms gave out and I fell to the floor. Even though I could fully feel my 'surroundings' I felt my vision blurring and my mind quickly fading into unconsciousness.
I woke covered in sweat as I stuck a finger in my ears and, when no blood came out, I was finally able to breathe a sigh of relief. I looked around at my surrounding and found that I was in my room back at the castle with Lyra and Kabuto passed out at the side of the bed, sleeping contently. What the hell happened? A dull ache spread from my back until it enveloped my whole body, making me feel like I had just woke up from falling off a cliff. Well technically I did but it was from a big hawk. Well that's not important, what was important though, is that I now had a small, blood-red insignia carved into my left shoulder. It looked like a man with a singular horn that curved backwards, staring at the sky with his pitch black eyes filled with hatred.