Dappo was three hundred pounds of pure muscle, or so he liked to say. It had been commented that a hanging stomach was a very odd shape for all that muscle to take, but no one talked that way within his earshot. He was pleased to be going on another hunt, and for the Red Spider no less, a true honor. He had served the town all his life, as a proud two-star cultivator with eyes on his third. Perhaps, one day, he would challenge Makoto for the position of border guardian. If he could bring home the carcass of the blighted beast that had killed his brother, he would be a step closer to that goal.

The other two hunters were less accomplished, less ambitious, and he wondered why they had come at all. They weren’t a bad sort, as they served Fringe with their whole hearts, or they seemed to, which was just as righteous, but they weren’t usually the type to take risks.

Kuei was a burly woman, just the right type of thick for Dappo, and he wouldn’t mind having her along on a little camping trip, sacred beasts or no sacred beasts. Timu was another matter. The man didn’t look like much of a fighter, and the single star on his arm confirmed it. He was visibly his own age, a sure sign of a man who didn’t channel well or often. A lack of discipline. Dappo may have been fat and bald, but his face was smooth and without blemish. He was nearly seventy, but he looked younger than Timu.

Then, of course, there were the children. They were so young that channeling hadn’t yet begun to affect their development. Their bodies were the bodies of mortals, not masters of the dao. They would be shredded to pieces if they had tried to venture into Jigoku alone, and that was the point of having criminals along, they were good bait. If they did manage to live through the hunt, then they would be deserving of a reappraisal. Not before.

They were a mismatched trio. The girl, Janna, seemed almost happy to be there, as if this was a real opportunity and not two steps removed from a death sentence. Gomen Ji was a ball of barely contained adolescent fury. His extreme emotions were probably what had gotten him in trouble in the first place. Dappo hadn’t bothered looking too deeply into what had happened, but apparently, the three of them had conspired to steal Soma fruits, and the Ji boy had been the only one to be identified by the raven charged with watching the warehouse.

What a fool to show his face to a sacred animal. He already had his first star, so it was going to be a waste of talent when he died.

The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

The strangest of them all was Makoto Shishio. Dappo didn’t consider himself a gossip, but he would have had to have been living under lake Hylia to not have heard about the cousin of the border guardian with a broken core. Funny, his core didn’t feel broken. Dappo was no ultraviolet artist, he channeled white, and was proud of it, but he had a good sense for these things. The deviant was weak, but he wasn’t broken.

So why the lie?

The group met at a public campsite at the base of mount Jigoku. It was well looked after, a shelter of stained wood with an iron cooking pit. They were all combing through their supplies, a habit Dappo recognized as being common among amateur hunters. They were nervous, and arranging their bags gave them a sense of security and control. The only one who wasn’t doing it was the young Makoto. He didn’t seem to have any emotions at all.

A mystery.

"Enough," Dappo said, "all of you. I want to set out before the sun has risen too high. We need to be under the trees before it gets hot." Kuei glowered, clearly unused to being addressed that way, but she didn’t rise to the bait. Dappo liked to establish that he was the lead as early as possible, less confusion in the long run.

"What is the sun?" Shishio asked.

The group paused in its preparations.

"Are you addled?" Dappo said. Maybe the story about a deviation was more accurate than he had supposed. Gomen Ji growled something under his breath. That anger was real, and it was going to be a problem.

"What do you mean?" Janna took the question seriously.

"I hadn’t thought of it before, but given the geography of Hollow, it obviously can’t be a ball of incandescent gas circling the world. It must be something else."

"A ball of incandescent gas…" Kuei furrowed her brow, repeating the words to herself as if there was any possibility of making sense of them.

"Shh," Janna said, getting in close, "it's the Beetle God, you know that, you are always making the strangest jokes."

"The beetle god, of course."

Dappo absorbed this exchange. There was clearly something going on between those two, a secret code? He brushed the thought away. They would both be dead in a matter of days, no need to waste any effort deciphering the games of the young.

They set out shortly thereafter.