A/N - Alright, this post was made after so god damn long. I actually had most of this chapter completed a while back. I don't even know if any persons will be reading this fiction since it seemed like I had dropped it. If you are then thank you. My reason for not posting anything is simple, I have school and exams coming up. The results of these exams determines whether or not I can enter university so I can't really waste my time writing. Of course I like my story, and I did say that I would continue it without any readers if I have to, it's just this story is my way of practicing essay writing and I can't really take something which should've been to better my skills in writing an exam, and place higher priority on it than the exam. Hope you guy(s) understand. I know my story is a lot to take in, this is a story which is made up on the fly in some ways, while I do have most events till the next 2 arcs already planned out in my head. I think that should be all for now. Don't flame me for not being loyal to the series, I am, just not consistent. Don't wanna sound like a douche but that's basically everything.
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-15 Hours After Discovery-
Ignis had gotten up not too long ago and he was preparing to go out to do his daily, more like nightly, duties, hunting. Ensuring that he had all his gear, which was not much, just a rusty long sword, a mace, an axe, a wooden bow and some homemade arrows, a worn-out spear and a halberd decoration…basically he moved with all the weapons he could. How could he not? Kuu Verta was where only the strong survived and strong did not only mean physically, one had to have the capacity to react to any given situation.
While taking hold of his bow he remembered the silver beauty. “Where is she?” he thought to himself.
Not caring if she stayed or not, he strapped all of his weapons onto his back and proceeded to head to the doorway.
Reaching there he was surprised to see Calliste laying at the doorway. She was now wearing some old clothing which she must’ve found in the village that Ignis thought somehow enhanced her allure. Before she looked like an aristocrat which made communicating with her very alien but now the villager clothing made her seem much more approachable. What Ignis did not realize however, was that Calliste was sleeping on the single furthest point that one could away from him while also staying under the same roof.
Deciding not to wake her, Ignis began to step over her body until he heard, “Watch where you’re walking, has no one ever told you that it’s rude to step over others?” Calliste seemed to be awake and a bit hostile in her tone.
“You’re sleeping by my doorway, you’re staying in my house at my goodwill and you’re only alive because of my efforts, I think you should watch your mouth even if you’re mentally ill. I was gonna leave you to rest up but with your attitude, you’re not gonna get any food unless you help hunt” Ignis casually spat out in a rather disgusted tone. He was pissed off that she took his goodwill for him being weak enough to be pushed around and he wouldn’t allow that. Who would?
Calliste hearing his comeback, laid on the ground dumbfounded. She had never been spoken to in such a way much less treated so rudely, but what could she refute? Everything he said was the truth.
Seeing the bow and arrows he was carrying on his back, Calliste requested that she borrowed them which in reply she got a swift “NO” from Ignis.
Once again trying to borrow the weapon she said, “I don’t have any weapons and it just so happens that the only weapon I can use is the bow. If you don’t lend me your bow, how do you expect me to help you hunt?”
“Didn’t you have a bow when I found you?” he asked skeptically.
“Yes, but if you looked at it well, it has no bowstring to actually use it” Calliste replied. She was speaking the truth, the bow she wielded carried no bowstring. The essence used to activate the artifact was also used to create a bowstring for use, so that as more essence was gathered to create an arrow, and the arrow got larger, the longer the bowstring could be to accommodate its usage with the bow.
It could carry out the functions of a recurve bow, a compound bow, a long bow and even a crossbow once the essence was properly used to create the needed parts. Calliste only used the artifact in a long bow form as that was the form she was most comfortable and the only form she could use fluently.
Deciding that this talk was taking longer than he wanted, Ignis complied with her request and gave her his wooden bow and arrows to use. When giving her the wooden bow, Ignis took note of how careful Calliste was when she accepted the weapon. Her eyes didn’t show she was treasuring something, it was more like she was fearing something. Determining that it doesn’t affect him, he overlooked it and hurried her along.
-1 Hour Later-
Ignis and Calliste are now deep inside the forest setting up traps.
Seeing all the makeshift contraptions that Ignis had made genuinely surprised Calliste, she did not expect this brute to use tactical means to capture his hunt and was awaiting his primal side to take him over to grapple with a bear or something along those lines.
Ignis was, after all, a demon. Of course not a literal demon, but that was what she viewed him as.
She had decided to observe how this anomaly interacted with his surroundings and how his surroundings would be affected.
As they were both placing seemingly bear traps, Calliste asked,” I didn’t get the chance earlier, but what happened in that village?”
“Everyone died”, Ignis curtly responded.
‘I know that you asshole, do I need to spell everything out?’ thinking this she once again inquired, “How did they all die?”
Like before, Ignis once again responded, “Don’t know.”
“Wha-“, Calliste was bewildered, an entire village died right under his nose and he knew nothing about the occurrence!? Something wasn’t right.
“There is no way you don’t know, from the looks of your shack of a home, you weren’t originally residing there and the only sign of civilization in sight is that village. What really happened? What did you see?” Calliste grew tired of the back and forth babbling and walked over to where Ignis was standing and asked him straight in his eyes.
“For what happened, I DON’T KNOW. For what I saw, well…that’s different”, he replied. Hearing this, a glint appeared in Calliste’s eyes, she was finally getting her answer.
After explaining the events on “that night” Calliste looked at Ignis and for a second there was warmth in them, she did not know what to say and all she could muster was “Sorry…” Hearing this Ignis just walked past Calliste and continued to lay down the remaining traps.
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A lonesome silence descended between these two as they both stopped talking and were having their own respective thoughts.
-Calliste’s POV Begin-
‘Damn those f*cking idiots! They did something meaningless and massacred an entire village no less for the sake of… I swear when I get my hands on them!’ Calliste was currently raging inside as she cursed the ones responsible for Ignis’s misfortune. She did not care specifically about Ignis’s worries, after all everyone has their own dark past and he was a man no less, but what she did care about was how it was associated with her. She could not allow another to suffer for her own irresponsibility especially since she was a Beatorum and they prided themselves on Noblesse Oblige, even if it concerned a barbarian like Ignis.
‘If it’s like this, even though this goes against my oldest vow, I’ll do it’, making her resolve Calliste trailed behind Ignis.
-Calliste’s POV End-
While Calliste was having those thoughts within herself, Ignis on the other hand could only think ‘Food….’ That was the only thing on his mind right now. Of course he was caught off guard with Calliste asking him about what had happened but he had gotten over that a year ago, after all he couldn’t feed himself if he was busy being depressed for the whole day.
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-1 Hour Later-
Ignis and Calliste were now doing what they were at best, hunting. Well, sort of hunting, right now they were waiting for prey to walk into one of the traps as they hid atop two neighboring trees in the vast forest.
-Calliste’s POV Begin-
Calliste was always a good hunter from birth, after all she was the Beatorum blessed with the power of the Huntress. With this blessing came the highest caliber of hunting aptitude one could possess, she had all of her five senses sharpened, possessed extraordinary talent for the bow and most importantly insight to the point where it was questionable if she could foretell events. Right now Calliste’s insight was telling her that Ignis was an incongruity in this world caused by her negligence and that it was her duty to keep him under constant scrutiny. She could also tell from the scars on his body as well as his wild nature that although he was a barbarian, he must’ve been a great hunter.
She had been keeping constant surveillance over him since the night before and dared not to look away. Sure sleep was a necessity to recover from her injuries and his situation is partly her fault to begin with, but none of that mattered right now, she was afraid to look away for dread of what he might do. Of course all of her worries were for naught as Ignis had one of the most simplistic mindsets on the planet, kill, eat and sleep were all he knew how to do and all he planned to do, never mind wreaking havoc, Ignis never thought about even leaving the mountain after being secluded for so long.
As Calliste continued to stare at Ignis from her sentry point, *Crack**Crack*, the distinct sound of branches breaking was heard followed by a deafening *Rooooaaar*. These sounds informed them that their game had been wounded, but with their hunting skills a wounded prey was essentially the same as a dead one.
Taking her eyes off of Ignis, Calliste readied her bow and turned in the direction the sound originated. According to her bearings, the noise came from somewhere nearby, behind her. Spinning with her bow, arrow already nocked, Calliste was ready to take the shot when panic suddenly washed over her, she knew the beast which sounded like a bear was nearby so she expected for it to be right behind her tree, what she didn’t expect was that the bear would be staring directly at her face to face, a few feet away.
‘Since when do bears climb trees!?’ She screamed in her mind. Looking at the ground to confirm she was once again baffled. ‘It’s standing on the f*cking ground! Just how big is this bear!?’ Yes, the bear was standing on the ground. Yes, he was big enough to watch Calliste directly atop the tree. Calliste may be a born hunter, she may be the Beatorum blessed with the Huntress’s prowess, but that was for a regular forest, on a regular mountain in the regular world. But this was Kuu Verta, and in Kuu Verta this is the normal size for some animals! In moments Calliste was rendered useless, what could she actually do? What could those wooden arrows do? All she could was jump to another tree before the mammoth of a bear lunged. But that moment never came, it never came because both parties were currently frozen in terror from the sickening aura that descended upon the area.
Just like Calliste had feared, the moment she stopped observing Ignis, all hell broke loose.
-Calliste’s POV End-
-Ignis’s POV Begin|Approximately Time of Bear Encounter-
“Wow, he’s big! Nah, he ain’t that big, I did in one at least twice his size. Liar that other bear was only a few inches bigger at most. It was bigger though”, looking over to Calliste’s side, Ignis was currently hosting his ever famous one man show.
“Do you think we should help her? Nah. But didn’t mom say to help the mentally ill? Your mom’s dead, are you always gonna rely on what she said!? Just do what you want already! Fine I won-“, Ignis was busy continuing his conversation when he felt a slight sting run through his arm. Using his hand to probe where the pain was coming from, he quickly felt something leathery. Looking over he found an adult sized viper about 7 feet in length, well technically adult sized for the outside world, but in Kuu Verta this was the regular size of a mutated baby viper.
Bringing his arm in front of his face, he brought the viper to eye level to glare at the youngling…which stared in innocence back at him. Ignis’s glare soon turned into a warm look of love as his once scowling face was now smiling, “I’m sorry young one, your parent must’ve been the one that died yesterday while fighting that bear.”
He then proceeded to casually stroke the viper’s head, which it seemed to enjoy…until he swiftly grasped it by its neck and applied pressure, squeezing and squeezing and squeezing until *Pop*(goes the snake XD). “That’s for your dad tasting like shit.”
After removing the baby viper’s teeth from his arm, Ignis looked over to where the bear was, rage burning in his eyes. He told himself he wasn’t going to save her. He told himself he won’t challenge a bear again. Well right now he didn’t care, he just needed something to take his wrath out on.
Equipping himself with an axe and a sword from the artillery on his back, he immediately jumped swinging both down upon the tree sized bear.
-Ignis’s POV End-