[Story] The Fae Hunter

[Corvus Silver]

Corvus quickly picked up the trial of two creatures. One appeared to be a large feline, the other... a little girl? The fact that only the footprints of the feline had blood made it obvious which of the two was the more dangerous, and in the worst case scenario they were working together, like some kind of symbiotic relationship.

"Or a girl and her pet cat," the bounty hunter muses to himself as he walks.

He freezes in his tracks as he spies a tail vanish behind a tree. Corvus hides behind another nearby tree, despite knowing that the beast has more than likely already smelled his presence. "It must be too weak to attack, or it would've gone after me by now. Either way, looks like I found something to take back to the city." Once his efforts to steel himself in his mind are finished, he takes a deep breath, then quickly and deftly turns around the other side of the tree and charges forward, shield and blade both up and ready to defend.

[Zilla]

He finds it. The body of what must've been a majestic sabretooth tiger, now spent and sprawled on the earth, matted leather and bones on its chest struggling to rise and fall as it pants heavily. Though clearly in its dying throes, it chooses to pull itself up and crawl after the light footsteps that dance off merrily into the underbrush without even a cursory glance at this new stranger. The beast doesn't make it past two steps before dropping dead.

Somewhere, Corvus can hear the tinkling sound of a young girl's delighted laughter as the light goes out in the tiger's dulled eyes.

[Corvus Silver]

"Great, a psychopathic little girl who attracts wild beasts and kills them. At least I won't be wanting for prizes to take back after this." With a sigh, Corvus rushes ahead of the tiger's corpse and follows the girl's footprints through the underbrush.

[Zilla]

The trail leads him on a merry chase, weaving between branches, under roots, and around trees. The toes of the footprints themselves start pointing in multiple directions, as if dancing around him in a circle. There were points where the footprints stopped entirely with what seemed to be a large impact on the earth, only to reappear some distance away with the same ground impact.

The tracks finally stop with the footprints faced squarely in Corvus' direction, but there is no further sign of the girl save for that of a muffled chuckle.

[Corvus Silver]

"Alright, now the real game starts." The bounty hunter kneels forward, holding his shield in front of him, tilted slightly downwards as he points his sword in front of him. "Helhawk!" The gem within the sword's hilt suddenly glows and releases a blast of heat that hits the ground in front of the shield, spraying flames around the area. Corvus quickly stands and sees the flames part around the footprints, as if circling around a wall. His instincts take over and he swings forward, trusting on his strength to break through whatever is hiding in front of him.

[Zilla]

For a moment, it seems as if the shield doesn't exist, and the sword swings forward with no resistance for just a moment too long. Then an invisible grip tightens around the blade and attempts to wrench it out of Corvus' hands.

[Corvus Silver]

Reacting quickly, Corvus Leaps forward with the momentum of whatever is pulling Hellhawk and kicks forward with both legs just below his blade.

[Zilla]

There's a slight yelp, and something falls down to the ground with a thud. For a moment he can see a shape, a flash of angry teeth, then it turns invisible again. The sword suddenly swings up, trying to break the blade at an awkward angle.

[Corvus Silver]

Corvus can't help but snicker as the invisible hand tries to break his favorite sword, then releases Hellhawk and pulls out another sword from his previously empty scabbard.

He charges forward, slashing horizontally while moving his shield to provide cover as the swing progresses.

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