AoD: The Legend of the Dark Hunter
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my only problem now is that you guys gave me two. you ruine my goal ;_;
I actually think this should be the backstory for aod! :D
I like to spice things up, so it's time for a...
BONUS CHAPTER!
This isn't exactly a "chapter". It's more of a snippet from the past. Just a warning.
Bonus Chapter I: Visions
It was an average night when I got my first visions. But, come to think of it, the most average days are when the most unbelievable phenomenons take place. Always.
I was in my bedroom in my nice little house in Gardenvale. I changed into my coziest pajamas and stepped into the soft bed. I pulled the covers up to my nose and replayed the day's events as the warmth enveloped me. I closed my eyes and prepared for sleep, but no sleep came. When I opened my eyes, it was not the dark ceiling that was above me. It was a hazy maroon sky. Instantly, I was overcame with a feeling of intense pain throughout my body. I began to convulse at the sudden pain, and I screamed until my throat was scratchy. I was still lying on my back, but no longer on my bed. I was in the cold, hard ground with blood and dust splattered on my body. And there is a sword protruding from where my heart must be. I don't know how I am still alive. As I continue to scream in pain, I hear a deep, booming laughter. The voice is mutated. I look up to see a man standing in front of me with a pumpkin head. My eyes connect with his, and I am swept away with a feeling of dread and hopelessness.
"This is your destiny," his mutated voice spits out. "I am waiting." And the moment he finishes, I am back in my room. The neighbors are in there with looks of concern on their faces.
"S_swimmer?" My neighbor Foggy2406 asks. "We heard you screaming. Are you all right?" I say I am fine, but then I pull up my covers and look down. The part where the sword was is still stained with blood.
"How did that happen?" Foggy asks.
"I-I don't know," I respond nervously. I feel where the blood is. It is warm, but no more blood appears to be coming out. I feel around for a wound, but there is none. "I got a bad scrape there," I lie. "It's nothing."
"Well, I'll be off then. Goodnight." And with that, Foggy and my other neighbors leave the house.
Chapter III: Night Visitor
I settle into my soft, comfy bed in the apartment I was assigned to in LISTINGS09's private lab building. I think about the things in the scroll he read us shortly before he ended the day on a rough note and sent us all up to these rooms. I can't quite put my finger on it, but something about the story seems incomplete. It's much too vague. I don't know for sure if the scribes were just bad writers, or if there are secrets to that story.
But I don't want to think about that right now, so I shake my head, imagining the little thoughts being whipped out of my head and onto the floor. It helps sometimes. I close my eyes, preparing to sleep.
I don't fall asleep. I am used to this, because I don't go to sleep right away. I keep my eyes closed, but I still don't even get a drowsy feeling. I squirm a little under the covers, annoyed. Finally, I open my eyes. I am curled up in a ball, taking shelter behind a rock. The terrain is covered with large rocks and boulders, but it is still flat. Judging from the scattered splatters of blood and fire, I guess that this is a battlefield. People in pumpkin heads swarm the area, fighting off humans. Now I know that these pumpkin-headed people are Hunters. Instantly, I know I am in another vision.
A Hunter appears right in front of me. I jump up, startled, and get the urge to grab for my belt area. My hands find a sword, which I unsheathe and slash at the Hunter. He splits in two and his body disintegrates into ash. As if by psychic connection, a large group of the other Hunters sense that one has died in my location and begin charging at me. I sprint away from the rock. The Hunters closely pursue me. I grab for my back and find a bow. I get an arrow and send it flying back at the mob, hitting one of the Hunters in the eye. He turns to ash, but the rest of the Hunters don't slow down for a second.
After a while, I see the edge of a forest. I sprint faster than I ever have, and it gets close and closer until I am inside the forest. I can't see the Hunters behind me. Quickly, I climb up a tree as silent as possible and perch myself on a thick branch. Only a few seconds later, the mob comes running under me. I manage to kill one of them with an arrow before the rest fade out of sight. I drop down from the trees and start running. I look behind me to see if I am being pursued still, but I am not. But right when I look back, a branch comes swinging at my head and hits me hard on my forehead. I fall down and black out.
When I open my eyes, I am at the foot of my door. Ciu22 is standing in the doorway. "Dude, did you just run into the door?" he asks, laughing a little.
"I-I guess so," I stutter. "I must've been sleepwalking."
"Okaayyyy," he says. "Well, we're all waiting for you downstairs. Time for breakfast."
When I first started getting my visions, I decided to keep them a secret. I just didn't know what others would do with that information. They would think I'm some creep, or send me off to a mental hospital. And what if my visions have some great importance in the future that will lead to the destruction of everything if it gets into the wrong hands? It's just too risky.
Anyway, I get some clothes on, run down the stairs, and meet the rest in the dining room. On my seat is a bowl of ham, sausage and bacon mixed into scrambled eggs with some pieces of toast to the side. It looks incredible. I start digging in while LISTINGS clears his throat and speaks up.
"Ok," he says. "So now you guys know what exactly y0u just encountered back at the temple. And it's probably not long until more Hunters start popping up. What are you going to do now?"
"What do you mean us?" Ciu asks. "You're not going to help us?"
"I have my own problems," LISTINGS says suspiciously.
"Anyway, if Danni is so powerful, why hasn't he started chasing us again?" I ask between mouthfuls of scrambled eggs.
"Most likely because he is weak right now," Baker says. "He's probably going to slowly pick people off, one by one, until he has an army to command. Right now, what we need to do is prepare. We have to tell others about what is going on, and prepare them for anything Danni has to throw at us."
"I've seen this in movies before," Ciu says. "Soon there will start being suspicion. There will be spies, and conspiracy theories, and all this chaos once people start realizing what's out there. What will we do when that happens?"
"Simple," Baker says. "Keep on your guard and don't be stupid."
"Well," Guinessis interrupts. "I don't know if you all saw what I saw back there, but if we want to prepare ourselves, we're going to need weapons."
LISTINGS smiles. "Come," he says. "I think I have just what you need."
-•-LOTDH-•-
"Wow," I mutter in awe. "That's a lot of weapons."
We are standing in a room full of lethal killing machines. Swords, bows, arrows, maces, war axes, and weapons I don't even know the name of line the walls in rows.
"You will need to be tested," LISTINGS says. "Each of you will try out at least ten different weapons to find which is right for you. Baker, I already know what you want." He takes down a long, slender sword and hands it to Baker. "Now, who's first?"
Guinessis steps up. "Me." LISTINGS throws a sword at him and tells him to take a strike at a dummy in the corner. He walks over to the dummy and lifts the sword up, but he is awkward with the weapon and it curves away from the target. He then tries again with a mace. He seems much more comfortable, and he hits the dummy perfectly on it's temple. LISTINGS lets him keep the mace.
Next up is Ciu. LISTINGS reaches for a sword, but Ciu stops him. He points to a large double-sided war axe. Grinning, he says, "That one." LISTINGS tosses it to him, and Ciu catches it with ease. He yells and swings at the dummy's chest, slicing it in two.
"Well done, Ciu!" LISTINGS exclaims. "I think it's obvious that that's your weapon of choice." Now, he turns to me. "What would you like, S_swimmer?"
I shrug. "I guess I'll just try a sword." He hands me a standard diamond sword. Nothing very special. I start to walk over to the dummy, but he stops me.
"This time, your opponent is me," LISTINGS says. He unsheathes a sword of his own – a slightly curved sword with an iron blade. He jabs at me, and my hand instantly jerks to deflect it.
"What was that!?" I yell. "Aren't we doing this with armor or something?" LISTINGS takes another stab at me, his curved sword circling towards my neck. I flick my wrist and my sword flickers like a tongue over to the sword, making a loud clanging sound and forcing it back to LISTINGS.
"You're pretty fast with that," he says. "Keep it."
Now that we all have our weapons, he straps identical bows to each of our backs, as well as a quiver with twenty arrows inside it. Next, he hands us a dagger. Finally, he gives us two throwing knives.
"I think you're pretty well equipped," he laughs, looking at us, loaded with weapons. "Well, looks like it's time to say goodbye." He leads us to the door. We walk out, waving back to him as we head off to our next destination-Gardenvale.
"So, we're going to head back to Gardenvale, warn the others, try to teach tem how to fight, and expect that nobody thinks we're crazy?" Ciu asks, obviously not on board with this plan.
"Pretty much," I say. Ciu grunts and we keep walking.
"Help!" It's very faint, but I hear it.
"Did you guys just hear that?" I ask.
"Hear what?" Guinessis asks.
"Nevermind," I mumble, and we keep walking.
"Help!" I hear it again, louder this time.
"Ok, I heard that one," Guinessis says. We run towards the voice.
"Help me!" We see a hazy figure, stumbling towards us. As he gets closer to us, I see that he is very badly injured and covered in dirt. He collapses on the ground. I run toward him and shake him.
"Are you ok? What happened? Who are you?" I shout. Finally, he opens his eyes slowly.
"My name is TubaRiver," he rasps, "and I just almost died." His head slumps down and he is unconscious.
End Chapter III
I made a logo-type picture for the story... It may or may not be temporary, considering what pictures I can get later :D
Thanks to balloon98 for standing still
Like it? If you think you can submit a better picture, PM it to me and I will give you a spot in the upcoming chapter! :D
Thanks to balloon98 for standing still
Like it? If you think you can submit a better picture, PM it to me and I will give you a spot in the upcoming chapter! :D
I couldn't delete the old text (sadly) but then I realized it added a nice shadow!
What do you think?
P.S. No screen-editing mods were used to take this picture. However, text-adding machines and slight effects were used to make the final product.
Aside from the main logo (because I'm having so much fun with this) I'm going to start making other logos for each chapter. Here they are so far:
A big thanks to Da Jinks for posing in Book II's logo :)
Like it? Think yours can be better? Submit pictures of your own to me and I might use them for later chapters, replace some of mine, or give you a spot in the cast of this fun story!
A big thanks to Da Jinks for posing in Book II's logo :)
Like it? Think yours can be better? Submit pictures of your own to me and I might use them for later chapters, replace some of mine, or give you a spot in the cast of this fun story!
Chapter IV: There Is No Return
The sky grows black and stars begin to peek through it. Baker, Ciu and Guinessis are still trying to revive TubaRiver, who is now propped up against a log. Every once in a while, Tuba begins to mumble for a short period of time, but then his head slacks again and he is silent.
The hypnotic crackle of the fire gives the camp a peaceful atmosphere, despite the fact that we are in the middle of a contaminated desert, with a dying man and the son of Chaos chasing after us. I begin to feel a bit drowsy myself, so I stop trying to help the others and lay down on a log. I look behind me, because it is just an impulse. And I see nothing but the desert – wait.
I squint my eyes. I'm right. There is a bump on the horizon. It is too small to make out, but it looks almost like a human. Classic Swimmer, always getting hallucinations. I shake it off and go back to try to sleep. But when I roll over onto my side, there is a man covered in blood and gore with a pumpkin head. In a deep, mutated voice, he says, "There is no return."
I scream and jump up.
"What the hell?" Guinessis asks. That's when I make the mistake of turning around to look at him.
"There's a Hunter right..." My voice trails off as I point and turn around to see – nothing. The man is gone.
"I – I guess I must be seeing things," I say, confused.
"Ok, well try to keep that stuff to yourself," Ciu says. "We're kinda trying to save a dude's life over here."
I nod, still a little shocked. I push the feeling out of my head, and I amble back over to my log and rest my head against it. I know the man isn't real, but I still know something's out there in the darkness. Even if it may not be that man, I know something the others don't seem to get.
We're being watched.
-•-LOTDH-•-
My eyes flutter open. I yawn and stretch, surprised I had no visions that night.
I turn to the others. "So what's the plan?" I ask.
"Let's head back to Gardenvale," Baker says, "and figure out what to do there." We all agree on his plan and start walking, but not before Ciu and Guinessis do a game of rock-paper-scizzors to see who has to carry Tuba. Guinessis wins, Ciu groans, and we're on the move.
We walk. And we walk. Annd we walk. For what seems like years, there is nothing but this grey, contaminated sand as far as the eye can see. Occasionally there's a particularly large sand dune, or the remnants of a dead cactus, but other than that it's this same, boring landscape. But then, after a while, we hear a noise.
It starts out faint. But the more it goes on, the louder it gets. It sounds like an army running, mixed with some sort of metallic screech. Immediately, TubaRiver opens his eyes, gasping, and jumps off of Ciu. "HE'S HERE!" he yells.
Immediately after the last word leaves his mouth, I see Danni bolting at rocket speed towards us, with balls of purple fire in his hands. In a matter of seconds, he is upon us.
"RUN!" Baker yells, and we start bolting, but then it becomes apparent that it is useless since Danni is travelling faster than any runner could. So we make the decision to stand and fight.
Danni throws one of his fireballs at Ciu. It rockets over to him and hits him square in the chest, sending him flying backward. I yell and take a strike at Danni. He dodges it easily and swings his arm at me to hurl the other fireball, but it disappears right when it's about to hit me. I'm so glad I enchanted my chestplate with fire protection.
With new excitement, I slash at Danni. My sword leaves a pretty nasty mark on his left arm, and he wails in pain with his mutated voice. His eyes ablaze with anger, he forms new fireballs in his hands, but he does it too late, because I see Baker charging up behind him with his sword. Right when Danni raises his fireball, Baker slams the hilt of his blade into Danni's head. He falls over, and Baker raises his sword to make the final strike. But when Baker brings the sword down, Danni evaporates into a cloud of smoke. Baker steps back, panting.
"Did... did he just die?" Ciu asks.
"No," me and Baker say at the same time. We look at each other, and I gesture to Baker to continue. "No, he just escaped. He's still out there. You can't kill the Dark Hunter that easily."
"Seems like he's a little weak for being the Dark Hunter and all," Guinessis says. "Do you think he's charging up power or something? Like batteries?"
"Most likely," I say. "Alright, let's keep heading to Gardenvale."
"No," a voice says. Tuba stumbles into the circle, clutching his leg. "No, we aren't. I know where we need to go. We need to go to Woodfire City."
End Chapter IV
Chapter V: Tuba's Story, Part I
A noise. I stop where I am and press myself to the cold stone wall, heart sounding out of my chest, trying not to make a sound. I look in the direction of where the noise came from. It's just a tumbleweed. I sigh in relief, but not too loudly. Though I see nobody, you can never be sure who else is lurking under the veil of darkness.
I've always considered myself as a rebel. I grew up in the poorer part of Eastwind City, and I was forced to fend for myself throughout my childhood. The only memory of my parents was my father's meaty hands accepting a rather large sack of gold coins and proceeding to push me away with his free hand. A twisted face then proceeded to bend down towards me. He had bony cheeks. His eyes seemed to bug out of their sockets, and he had a giant, crooked nose. He bared his white teeth in a smile, and introduced himself as Myusername22. Ever since then, we played a game of making each other’s lives a living hell. But that isn’t the point right now.
I begin sliding, silently, across the stone wall until my hands wrap around the edge of the corner. I poke my eyes around the corner to see if anything blocks my path.
A guard. I knew it.
Things are going to get very ugly.
I stay in my position, silently stalking him. He doesn’t move. He only turns his head. Well, I can at least give him credit for being smart. When you’re guarding something like that, you wouldn’t ever want to leave your post.
Luckily, I’ve come prepared for a situation like this. I cautiously pull out of my pocket a long, red cylinder. This guard is going to get a little present.
-•-LOTDH-•-
I don’t know why, but I can just sense it. I know I’ve had a record of being a bit paranoid at times, but I’ve also had a record of catching many criminals. That’s why they appointed me for this job. This time, I know it’s not my paranoia talking. Somewhere, just beyond the shroud of darkness, is someone who wants to break in. But I know better than to run towards this person. A great guard never leaves his post. Besides, this might be a gang I’m sensing, with members posted at every point around me. But why don’t I sense them?The presence is still there. I can’t see it, but I can feel it, eating away at my insides. The more I disregard it, the itchier I become. But I have to stay strong. I have to.
The temptation is growing. I can’t take it. I whip my head around to where the presence is, and take my first step.
That’s when the explosion happens.
Out of nowhere, the sound cuts like daggers into my ears, followed by a force that knocks me off balance for a second. I look over to where the sound came from, and see a giant mushroom cloud rolling up into the night sky. Instantly, my instincts kick in and I sprint towards the explosion.
I meet a mob of guards standing around a giant charred circle of ground. It looks like the only thing destroyed was a tiny little stand. Why would somebody want to blow up a stand?
Nearby, I see a group of doctors working furiously on a patient. I instantly recognize him as a guard, badly cut and burned. Poor guy. This must’ve been near his spot.
I push through the wall of guards that surround the circle and step into the center of it. I pick up a piece of black wood and examine it. These remains definitely belonged to a tiny market booth. But the odd thing is that nobody was occupying the booth. It was just set up as an extra.
Not a terrorist act, not revenge. What could it be? I begin to piece it together. My post. The presence. The explosion. And worst of all, the rumors. A feeling of absolute dread washes over me.
“Get back to your stations! NOW!” I scream, panicking. I look back to my post, but I already know it’s too late. I sit there, hopeless, and watch the City Hall erupt in fire.
-•-LOTDH-•-
As I sprint away from the City Hall and feel the heat press up against my back, I silently thank fate for not letting anybody be inside the building. Yes, I would’ve done what needed to be done, but I am not a murderer. I only kill people when there is no other way. So, thankfully, that was not the way I had to take.Before long my hands hit the wall and I feel around for the ladder. Once I find it, I climb up onto the ramparts. I sit back and smile as the explosions go off, one by one, like a chain. Everything is running just like I planned it to be. Peering through the smoke, I can see all of the guards cowering by the blast zone of the dynamite I threw, watching hopelessly as the buildings explode. The City Hall, then the Police Station, then the Meeting Center, and for the grand finale, the Flag is blown to bits with 10 bundles of dynamite.
I meet the other members of my Resistance running towards me with smiles on their faces. I smile too, but then remind them to pull down the banners.
Now I am running with the other members of my Resistance, untying the ropes that held our flags up and lighting the flammable parts of the banners. After one full circuit around the wall, all of the burning banners are down. The symbol that burns on them is a ball of fire, with a star in the middle made out of negative space. I chose fire because it burns incessantly, no matter how many times you try to snuff it out, until it consumes you.
Right now, the banners are down, and the centers of this town’s identity have been blown to nonexistence.
This city is mine.
End Chapter V
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