The Mad Hunter

She rushed outside looking for where he had gone but with him nowhere instead she let out a disappointed huff. While the red-haired hunter stood above atop the roof of the mayoral building.

'What strange women' he thought before turning his sights to the Bone Canyon in the distance, with the vague silhouette of a sun-bleached skull peering through the ever-present mist.

His eyes followed the horizon, looking over the perimeter of the town before finding the changing winds to be a sign that he should get started. Rolling clouds and darkening skies would make for a terrible scene in which they would be facing the coming threats.

The panicked masses quickly rushed into their homes while some of the Vyszaard Knights boarded up any of the weakest points in the various buildings.

Those without any homes were welcomed into the church where they huddled beside any of the candles lit by the tentative nuns, hoping the gods would answer.

But no god would answer their prayers, especially ones washed in the vast levels of blood.

Blood stemming from the animals was brought to the trenches lining the western edge of Mannheim. These same trenches grew into a river of mud, with the knights battling the slurry to fasten and bring them to the site.

Landing behind the frustrated knights in a puddle, one of them drew a blade in a huff only for Gode to easily slip past him as he took the reins binding the rattled animals.

"Return to the city and fortify the gates. If any of the beasts get through the gates, it'll be up to you to halt their assault."

"What...what are you planning on doing, the rains have come quite fierce this season" one of the knights yelled.

Only for him to get nudged in the side. With a look from his fellow companion.

"Not our plan so not our problem. If the mad hunter wants us to leave who are we to stop him?" tapping him on the shoulder as he left. Soon he was joined by the fearful knight.

"Had it not been for the rain, I wouldn't have had any trouble dealing with them with my bow." dragging out his blade as the first of his expected guests began to take form through the mist.

Sheltered in their homes hoping for the storm to pass, the people of Mannheim braced themselves as the howling cries of a world beyond their delicate borders, echoed against the vacant streets.

While a vigorous knight raced through the streets alongside her companions, tending to anyone still found to be without shelter, while they were numerous, the impending sense of danger would them even further to aid them in finding a haven within the church.

Once Mirella had felt certain that the streets were cleared, she sought out her companions she had trusted to aid Gode in gathering what he needed, but once she found them, she was shocked beyond anything she thought she'd see.

Near the southern gates, the guards bolted down behind the barricades erected earlier on. Though these guards had not their arms at the ready, rather they had also boarded up the guardhouse.

Only through the notice of one of the guards as they called to the knights, pleading that they remain hidden lest they draw the beast's attention.

Unsatisfied with their behaviour, one of the Vyszaard knights demanded they answer for why they left their station when his rage was met by the guttural tones of an inhumane cry...almost washing them all in a tidal wave of horror, as their legs gave out, all aside from Mirella stood firm, wondering just what was happening beyond the gates.

With sword in hand as she raced over the barricades, she landed in the muddy pool while she searched for the source of the call through the rising mist. Apart from the visceral sounds of choking the only thing she had to guide her was the metallic scent prickling her senses the further she walked, much to the descent of her comrades.

When the cold terror of seeing a severed limb falling beside her had her readying her blade, the creature that lunged from out the mist did not meet a meek and frightful maiden, instead being greeted by blessed steel driven straight through its warped skull before it could react.

With the beast's maw up to her elbow, its corpse laid atop her on the wet ground while her breathing ran erratically. She heard footsteps once more, but under the beasts she had no way of escaping...but struggle she did only for the rain above her to halt around her as she struggled, becoming more frustrated.

Her stillness came when a second blade cleaved through the creature's head, separating it from the rest of the body and freeing her from its weight.

"I thought I told all the Knights to remain behind the barricades for this very reason."

"...and what reason is that you planned on having us deal within the walls of the city?" she answered, unable to see the figure that was shadowed in dirt and blood.

"None of them would get that far if you barricaded the gates well, did you?" Gode chastised her with a little stumble in his step.

"Ugh, whatever. Return to the gate." Pulling her blade free and tossing it to her side before stumbling into the mist.

Some time passes...

The rains beating against the city had stopped, leaving the mist-veiled surroundings bound in an unsettling silence, the hunter made his way back into the city with the guards at the ready to dispatch anything that returned,

It was only as Mirella aimed to kill the approaching shadow that the people were able to breathe with the blade caught in his hand.

"Good, you listened" letting go before collapsing onto the floor.

"NO CYCLE IS WITHOUT END, FOR THERE MUST ALSO BE A BEGINNING. "

"A POINT OF TERMINATION BLENDING WITH THAT OF CONSTANCY."

"SO WILL THE TIME OF THE WARS, OF THE GODS, OF THE STARS AND THE LORDS OF GOLD AND FIRE FIND TERMINUS"

THE CYCLE, FIRSTBORN OF A BROKEN PROMISE, WILL BE BROKEN BY A CHILD OF ITS BIND"

He jumped up with most of his face covered in a thick curtain of red hair that covered his face.

"Who are you, what did you say..." Only for his ramblings to be met by the confused stares of the Vyszaard Captain and the nurses who forced him back down.

"Calm down first, you took quite the hit, sir." One of the nurses responded while the other had frightened expressions about them.

"He shouldn't be this strong, not with all the blood he was missing"

"Where am I, and why are you here?"

"The Vyssenkreuz was treating you. This is the first time you moved in several days" she got him to stop resisting her touch, he laid back.

"...I..should get going. Where are my things...my things" he thrashed about with them half expecting the man to keel over only to get onto his feet and slowly start dressing himself.

"Sire, if you keep moving around like that, you'll just open up your wounds. M'lady, please" the nurse struggled to get a word in while another went to fetch the aid of the knights who waited outside.