Chapter 3: A Journey Begins

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Time skip

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Taverns are a place for all sorts of businesses. Some come to have fun and interact with travellers from distant lands, others come to join groups to head out on expeditions, but most just come to drink till they're dead. Some drink because of the loss of a friend, ally or beloved, while others merely drink for the fun of it. This specific tavern in an underground cavern, however, is a cause for interest. Because in this tavern, sits a particular individual, wanted by bounty hunters, looking to bring this man to justice.

One day, as this individual sat on the counter in the tavern like any other day, he was wearing a hunter's cloak, clad with armor certain joints and body segments with a hood covering his face. As he gulped down his fifth beer mug, a group of 4 bounty hunters enter the tavern. A pair of twins, both had a Mohawk hair style and were wearing jeans, black long spiked jackets and had scatter rifles on their backs and had a cybernetic left and right arm individually. One hunter was taller than the rest, standing at over eight feet tall, with a heavy muscle mass and a mechanical eye, he looked to be the strongest of the bunch. With black leather boots and armor covering his legs and chest, he carried a shotgun which was hidden behind his cape. Finally, the leader, his neck and lower body is well hidden behind a cloak of his own, he stands at around seven feet tall and has a prism like face, both organic and metallic at the same time. He does not wear shoes as he has bipedal legs.

"I got a tip that a suspicious individual was hiding in this part of town, anyone of ya seen him?" The leader of the bounty hunter gang asks while raising a wanted poster with a rough sketch of a man drenched in blood and holding a heart in his hand as he stands on top of a pile of dead bodies. There was no name given for this Individual but a title, "The Harbinger of Death". Everyone glanced at the poster but didn't say anything. The leader looked at all of them and noticed, one person was still concealing their face, drinking away like there was no tomorrow.

"Think it's him boss?" Asks the tall hunter.

"Hm, probably. Stay sharp." The leader warns.

He approaches the mysterious man and stops a few feet behind him.

"Are you the one they call The Harbinger of Death?"

The hooded man doesn't reply but turns his head a bit to the right and looks behind him, making sure not to show his face. "Soul seer." He whispers and a symbol forms on his iris. "Hm, so it's decided then" He thinks to himself.

The leader approaches the Individual and places a hand on his shoulder.

"I'm talking to y-" But he was cut short of his words as the hooded figure had grabbed his head and slammed it on the table before getting up and throwing him, sending him smashing through the wall right beside the entrance door.

"Do not. Touch me. Bounty hunter." The Harbinger spat at him.

The rest of the bounty hunter members took out their weapons but didn't get the chance to shoot as the harbinger made a dash towards the twins and kicks them on their chest, sending them to the floor but not without breaking some tables on the way down. The tallest hunter shoots his shotgun but misses and hits a pillar right beside the harbinger who responds by grabbing a chair and throwing it right at his face. The Harbinger rushed and grabbed the shotgun and shot him in the face.

The twins try to get up but one of them gets immediately shot in the face. As the other twin widens his eyes in shock and fear as he watches his brother fall to the wooden floor with a disfigured face, he turns to the murderer to avenge his brother only to have a shotgun shoved into his mouth.

"waight Phle-!" Before he could beg for mercy, the trigger was pulled and he too was silenced.

"Alright you two-legged basta- " The leader stops in his tracks, too stunned to speak at the sight of his crew slaughtered.

"If you think I mercilessly slaughtered them then don't bother. They chose to aim their guns at me." The Harbinger reasoned as he wiped some blood off his cloak.

Without hesitation, the leader brings out his arms holding an energy blade on each hand and slashes an energy wave at the killer. The Harbinger blocks the attack but still gets knocked off his feet and crashes through the back wall of the tavern onto a roadway. People around the street stop to look at the commotion while some leave immediately not wanting to get in trouble. But one person in particular is seen hidden behind a few people in the small crowd, their red eyes glimmer as they lightly raise their hood to get a better view and a small smirk manifest on their face as they giggle from amusement. The leader come out from the hole in the wall and prepares for his next attack.

"What's going on?"

"Is that Voriax!?"

"The legendary bounty hunter!"

"No way!"

"Who's he fighting?"

Were some of the questions the bystanders were murmuring.

The Harbinger gets up much to his displeasure as his hood had been partially ripped from the edges of the wood from the wall he had crashed through. He proceeds to rip his hood off completely and the crowd of people could only gasp in horror as they recognized who it was.

"It's The Harbinger of Death!!!" Screams a man within the crowd in terror. This causes panic and everyone begins to run away in fear.

As the dust was settling, the leader now identified as Voriax waits for the civilians to leave, he claims. "You shall die for your crimes Harbinger!"

The Harbinger gets up as the dust finally settles and his face now clear for all to see, the identity of "The Harbinger of Death" was none other than Kai.

Kai now stands with his hair grown out and, in a mess, his eyes tired and red from lack of sleeping, he was taller and looked more menacing. Annoyed that his drinking session was ruined he deemed it a reason enough to pull out his sword and fight the bounty hunter.

Kai waits for him to make the first move but so does he. As they both wait for the other to make the first move, their bodies heat up with adrenaline for the battle that is about to ensue. Voriax makes the first move, he thrusts both his swords which kai deflects with relative ease and jumps back to gain distance. Voriax doesn't give him room to breathe though as he jumps onto the air and rebounds off a streetlight above him and attacks from above. Kai redirects the path of the blades, but they still managed to graze his right cheek. he does a spin kick, sending Voriax sliding across the dirt road before he jumped in the air throwing multiple blades at him.

"Slow." Kai mutters before deflecting them all in 5 swift movements with his sword.

Voriax lands on his feet before he pauses for a moment to ask, "Why did you kill them?

"I told you already, they pointed their guns at me." Kai retorted.

"And the people you murdered in the downtown district?" Voriax questions.

"They're souls were corrupted" Kai revealed.

"They were innocent miners and you killed them in cold blood. They couldn't defend themselves; you murdered them in their beds and then those that woke up hearing the commotion tried to call for help but you silenced them." Voriax spoke with a hint rage.

"Those that look at only what lies on the surface will fall to the traps laid beneath them." Kai warned.

"The evidence says otherwise!" Screams Voriax as he reveals another pair of arms hidden beneath his cloak and rushes at him with a blade on each hand.

Kai rushes towards the aggressor in response and their swords collide, sending shockwaves kicking up dust and strong winds. Both combatants leap way from each other only to rush back again and throw a series of precise and accurate blows and counters. The sound of blades clashing and destruction from the battle alerts residences nearby as the battle ensued. Both of them receiving injures but still carry on their relentless attacks.

Neither of them wanting to back down from this fight as they knew they would only waste their breath if they tried and opted to speak with their blades. On top of the tavern was a silhouette watching the two warriors clash in a heated battle to the death. The roads were littered with blade marks and scorch marks as the fight went on, neither side showing any sign of stopping.

Eventually, Voriax does get hit, after Kai had deflected all four of his swords and landed a powerful kick to his chest. As he tried to get up, he was met with another kick to the face. "Argh!" he grunts in pain as he smashes through another wall and falls to the ground. He opens his eyes and sees Kai about to pierce his head as he came slamming down from the air directly above him. Voriax rolls over and jumps back onto a bridge narrowly avoiding the blade.

"How far did he send me in the air with that kick? We're almost out of this district once we cross this bridge." Voriax wonders as Kai now stands with injuries himself.

Kai tries to make a step forward but loses his balance and falls on his knee. "Damn it, Losing too much blood. He's definitely an experienced hunter." he grunts.

"Now!" Voriax thinks as he readies himself for one last push but suddenly, a series of explosions occurs under the bridge, and he end up falling into river with a strong current that takes him off a waterfall.

Kai gets on his feet and stands close to the edge where the bridge used to stand to confirm the bounty hunter's death but was interrupted by someone.

"You're welcome Bloody hoody, wasn't that fun?" A silhouette approach from behind.

Kai looks back and wonders. "A woman? Somethings off."

Kai was about to inquire of her reason to assist but was caught off guard.

"So who else you wanna kill next!?" She yells in excitement as she jumped on Kai, wrapping her arms around his neck as her hood and mask came off, revealing her Crimson red hair, smooth plump limps and the most noticeable feature of all, her eyes. The sclera for both eyes are pure black and the iris being crimson red, matching the color of her hair.

Under normal circumstance, this would probably terrify any normal human being, but Kai has seen his fair share of unique phenomenon's therefore he does not question it. But what he does however is push her away and ask. "What do you want? Why did you help me?"

"Me? I just noticed a man with the same blood lust as I and was rather impressed with your sword skills. So, I decided to help you when you were in a tight spot." The mysterious woman replies.

"Thanks, you can go now." Kai spoke coldly as he turned away from her and wanted to make some distance from all the havoc he had caused.

"Oh come on, not even gonna repay me? You do owe me ya know. My name Trixx by the way. What might yours be?" Trixx ask in a friendly tone.

He stops on his tracks. "What do you want?"

She approaches him and hands him his own wanted poster but marked with a large red circle. "A scholar hired me and told me to find you and bring you to him.

"And if I refuse?" He asks.

"I bring you forcefully." She replies with glee as her eyes glint at the prospect of fighting.

"You'll lose th-" Kai gets distracted by her eyes and has a vivid flash back of another girl he once knew with red eyes.

Trixx tilts her head in confusion before she bonked him in the head. "Helloooo, you didn't answer me..."

"Who is he." He finally spoke.

"Just a scholar researching something highly confidential. Even I don't know, but he'll tell us once we meet up with him." She answers.

"I'll come. But if I'm not interested, I walk. Agreed?" He strikes a deal.

"Not my place to accept it but fine." She quizzically replies.

Before more bounty hunters could arrive, they made their way through a few alleys and was led by Trixx into hidden tunnel system she used which led them to the surface. As they made it to the top, the two suns in the sky blinded them temporarily before their eyes adjusted to the sunlight after spending a long time underground.

"So where do we meet this Scholar of yours?" Kai asks perplexed that they had to come to the surface to begin with.

Trixx looks around before bringing out a gyrocompass and hums to herself before putting it back and pointing towards the mountains. "That way."

Without any more questions, they make their way towards the mountains. The 2 suns shining above their heads did not make it easy for them to cross the barren drylands, but after a whole day and a half, they made it to the base of the mountain ranges. They hadn't eaten as they hadn't carried anything to eat and when asked by Kai of food provisions, Trixx merely laughed half-heartedly saying. "We'll get food from the mountains." as her stomach growled the next minute.

They rest up a bit and start trekking through the tough paths along the mountain and rivers, collecting any fruits and vegies they could find that naturally grew in these mountains and eventually set up camp on the side of a cliff by sundown. As they sit by a campfire to eat, Kai was cooking a stew from the vegetables he picked up on the way and they have a light conversation.

"Hey hoody, wanna try these wild berries? They're pretty tasty." Trixx asks, trying to start up a conversation because she was getting bored.

"No thanks and stop calling me hoody." Kai retorts.

"Why not?" She asks.

"It's annoying." He answers.

"It's your nickname. You ain't telling me your name so I gave you one." She smugly replies.

Silence fills the air once again and the only sound to be heard are those of Kentonix's howling, the firewood burning and the wind blowing.

"Sounds like a Kentonix is close." She replies looking out towards the other mountains.

"What's a Kentonix?" Kai asks.

"Your joking, right?" Trixx questions.

"I've been in the underground caverns for a long time." Kai answers looking to the side, avoiding her gaze.

"Riiiiight...Okay, so they're basically like half wolves, half scorpions? They're native to mountainous places and they're pretty fast and agile. Oh, also pretty tough skin. So, it's best we avoid it's territories while we make our way to the rendezvous point." Trixx awkwardly answers.

"Interesting." He thinks before focusing his attention on the embers of the campfire.

As the howling finally ended and the silence took over the night once again, Kai and Trixx finish eating and where about to set up their sleeping bags before..."Uh Kai.....I...Don't.....feel so good." Kai turns around and his eyes widen as he sees Trixx's nose start bleeding and her skin already pale as she collapses, the sound of twigs and leaves ruffling/snapping echo through the air as she hits the ground.