FanFiction:The Art of the Hunt/Season 2/Chapter 10 - The First Hunt Closes

T he hunt was on. Allowing Noami - who, being an archer and a descendant of the Warriors, had the best eyesight - and Reia to lead them, Taka had come directly after them and after him came the rest. They now ran at a great speed through the desert, emboldened by the strangely cool day which had awoken from the frozen night of the Great Desert. Though the sun beat upon them and the dryness of the air scorched their throats, they continued on a great pace. Their Aptonoth were able to keep up, and, for the sake of saving both energy and thirst, the Hunters had taken the liberty of removing a great deal of their armor plates and those who would not allowed themselves to open the ventilation units on their armor and place their helms on the wains which the Aptonoth towed behind them.

In due time, the Hunters could see ahead of them a dark, but glaring, shadow flying high in the sky. It flew fast, nearly as fast as the desert winds which could carry sands and fate, but the hunters were catching up with it, dashing as they were. From a mysterious spring in the dale they had filled the wagon's water tank, and, being fully replenished and well-rested from the previous night's sleep, they could maintain a great pace.

Soon enough, the dark shadow, surely as it was meant to do, noticed their approach, and as it realized that increasing its own pace was both impossible and incapable of stopping or running them off, it approached the ground. Little matter it was to the beast; it was approaching the very town it meant to destroy.

"Dark will be the day in Loc-Lac, but darker still will be the blood of this rabble they have sent for Me," its dark thought said.

The hunters noticed this landing and did not slacken their pace. They crested a hill that, not shortly before, had seemed distant and tall, and looked upon the great Valley of Loc Lac.

Loc Lac was a unique and interesting city, built as it were both in a valley and raised far above it. For amidst the valley in which it was built of old lay a great lake, and from it flowed the River Gathibarnon, which the hunters had crossed two days before in the canyon.

The valley was such that from the center of it, atop the spire in the middle of the lake, one could look about and see a horizon of little hope: to the west lay the Tanjia Mountains and Kamodan Region; to the east and north lay dunes of sand, as far as the eye could see; and to the south lay the Southern Road, which ran itself over the hill the hunters had just crested, and beside it ran the great River. Not long after it surpassed the hill, it bubbled into the cave, only to come out again at the start of the ravine the hunters had crossed through.

The city itself was raised upon the limestone hills nearest the lake, and upon such hills was the city carved out of the living rock. To sheer drops had the hills been delved, both for security and for the use of the bricks, which were supplied to those who wish to build in the city. Any new business or housing development could either build platforms onto the existing hills as had been carven, or they could move on to uncarven places and build their own legacy into the rock. In this way, many bridges and buildings were carved, and even the Jhen Mohran in its greatest power would have found the city a difficult target.

For also near the bottom of the platforms were laid, near every gate or weak landing, a Dragonator weapon. This mighty spear, pushed by the release of steam and sudden pressure caused by the press of a large button, would prod any creature as came to close to the town and threatened the citizens, and its blow struck fiercely. Few beasts could withstand more than a few of the blows without rest.

So it was that the hunters saw Loc Lac, and between it and the group stood the Silver Magala, dripping a substance that may have been blood from a wound in its side. Its head turned to their direction, and had its metamorphosis progressed to the point of eyesight, they would have seen the lust of hate in its pupils, burning with a red fire.

The hunters slackened their pace only slightly, and continued to approach the beast, which had now detected them due to the Frenzy scales which they continued to carry. It, too, approached. As it began leaping towards them, the hunters stopped and quickly re-equipped themselves. Soon, the Hunters were read, and the distance between them and the best was but a few meters.

They clashed. A burst of metallic, loud noise alerted all nearby that the great Beast and its Quarry had met, and were doing battle on the plains.