An eternal and unforgiving night plagues this world were monsters like warewolve, vampire and ghouls now known as fallen call there hunting grounds.
Each and every day soilder of the royal army risk there lives to keep humanity from extinction but the fallen are getting stronger and the number of people whiling to fight is growing thine.
Deep in the dead wood forest soilder scattered and screamed as they ran from the gaint raging warewolf tearing through there brethren ripping them limb form limb consuming them ever chance it got .
The captain order a retreat as his men were dropping like fly " men fall back" he shouted as he ran toward the horse drawn carriages.
The remaining soilders bolted behind him
trying to escape this hellish situation but the wolf was right behind them snarling as it chased them down.
Some of the men stopped and drew there flint lock Pistols firing at the beast trying to slow it down so the others could escape but it was to no avail the beast tour through them and continued chasing the other.
Dashing at top speed the captain reached the carriages screaming at his few remaining men to hurry but by the time he turned around there was only one soilder left.
Half of his body was stick out the wolf's mouth as he screamed and cried in pain begging it not to kill him as the wolf snapped him in two.
" GET US OUT OF HERE" the captain screamed at the top of his lungs as the carriage took of at break neck speeds. The wolf satisfied with the blood bath he just created started to consume the remaining bodies left scattered around the battle field and as he finished consuming his one thousandth victim his body began to morph as he stood up on two legs.
Bones and muscles breaking and reforming his body became more muscular, his fur changing color from gray to black. his size increasing from seven feet tall to a whopping ten feet , his eyes went from a glowing orange to deep dark shade of red and in his mouth glowed and radiated heat like a furnace.
This was the real reason why he wanted to kill all those people to assend to a new form. At his one thousandth kill he was transformed from an ordinary warewolf to a black hellhound.
The wolf let out a long defining howl. The sound of it soo loud that it tour down the surrounding tree.
As the carriage made it's way out of the forest the captain heard the wolf's howl he recognize it's charge in intensity and pitch " NO NO NO NOT ANOTHER ONE" He slammed his fist against the carriage wall as he realized the wolf had transformed. " take me to the city of Regalia I need to speak with Blackstone".
The carriage driver was shocked when he heard this name thinking to him self "Blackstone isn't he one of those men they call hunter the same people bless with the abilities of arcana giving them unimaginable strength speed and the ability to control the elements".
They always sounded to good to be true like some damned fair tail. " captain are you talking about the same black stone that kill the ghouls in blood haven a few years back I thought that old fool was a myth" the carriage driver changed his course to Regalia as he questioned the captain.
"He's no myth, he's as real as those damn monsters and he's one of the few men who can beat that wolf now that he's ascended"
The captain remembered when he first met black stone back in blood haven that time he was just a normal soldier most of his comrades were killed in the war with the ghouls and the reminding few who survived were saved by a beard old man with a two foot long clever a and flint lock Pistols.
The man moved with incredible speed hacking through the ghouls with his clever, Shooting them in any vulnerable areas with his Pistol and breathing fire from his mouth reducing them to Ash.
This man saved the captains life back then and gave him the location of his shop assuring him that he could contact him anytime he need help with any of these beast.
The carriage driver inrupted the captains day dreaming with a question that weighed on his mind " so captain if these magicians exist why don't we put them on the front lines instead of regular men wouldn't that be more efficient"
The captain turned to the drive, he recognize that the only info this man had was from the story spread around by the town folks he had never had first hand experience with the hunters like he did.
" kid first of all the hunters aren't magicians
There mutants just like those monsters we call the fallen the only difference being the fact that they got to keep their minds and human form, second of all there not that many of them and only a hand full help the army in our fight against the fallen the rest are hired by nobles or live normal lives hidden among the people and it's not like we can force them one alone can cause as much damage as an assend fallen"
The carriage driver was fascinated at the fact that the captain knew so much about hunters yet he never heard the other high ranking soilders talk about them " so captain how do you know soo much about these hunters, I've never heard the others speak of them except in stories"
The captain signed as he took his hat off taking out a picture of him and his comrades back when he was a regular soldier " that's because I'm one of the few people who survived the blood haven massacre"
The driver realized he might have stirred up some bad memories from the captain's past he decided to keep his mouth shout for the rest of drive so he wouldn't intrude in his personal business.
The carriage arrived at the entrance of Regalia 2 hour later. The cite was filled with Renaissance architecture and covered in an artificial fog created by a stone hidden in the city that prevented fallen from entering while allowing people to go in and out the city as they pleased.
Entering the city the captain instructed the driver to carry him to silver street stopping him when they reached the hunters shop.
"Stay here " the captain instructed the driver as he entered the store seeing a little black girl with goggles and a wild afro that looked to be fifteen years at the counter.
" Melody darling where's your father" question the the captain as he made his way closer to the counter.
Melody looked at the captain and smiled she pointed to the door dehind the counter indicating that her father was around the back.
" Ah I see your still a girl of few words " the captain replied he knew she could speak but she rather to keep quiet when people other than her parents were present.
" a woman of few words is often a woman of action am I not right captain Lionheart " a man in a Victorian tuxedo replied as he walked from the back door stroking his beard.
It was Blackstone the same man who saved the captains back in blood haven. captain Lionheart was glade to see his old friend and savior the Lionheart reached his hand out for a hand shake Blackstone grabbed his hand and pulled him into a hug.
" it's good to see you old friend " Blackstone uttered while patting Lionheart on the back.
Lionheart was glade to see his friend too though he wished the circumstances were different " it's good to see you too old friend but I'm afraid this isn't one of my pleasant little visits, another warewolf has ascended and the army is running thine we need your help"
Blackstone and melody both had the same reaction when they heard this information as if this insanity ran in the family they ginned ear to to ear " do you what form he assend to"
recognizing this reaction as Blackstones excitement for hunt Lionheart relayed all he knew about the warewolf. He wasn't close enough to see what form it ascended to but he recognize that it ascended by the extreme tone shift in its howl.
This information was key to finding a way to kill the fallen since these monster weren't like the ones from Fairy tales there form determined there abilities hell hounds breath fire, windigo could manipulation
hallucinogenic mist and gray hounds had powerful senses that could predict movement.
Regardless of there form though there was one thing they all had in common you see a fallen regenerates based on how much pray it consumed in the past five days so the best time to fight one is when it's starved or when it's recently ascended since ascension uses up the energy they got from consuming there pray.
Blackstone told his daughter to grab his bolt action rifle and axe they would need to act fast before the warewolf had the chance to eat.
Melody retrieved her father's rifle and axe from the back room and handed it the him she signed with her hands that she wanted to join but her father didn't allow her to come along this time since he wasn't sure how dangerous this hunt would be " I'm sorry Dear but I don't know enough about warewolf you could be kill were not careful"
Lionheart was perplexed " this time, you bring your daughter on hunts are you insane she could be killed"
Blackstone didn't take lionheart insult personally after all he did now melody was also a hunter he quickly explained while gather various item from the shop into a leather bag "melody is also a hunter she awaked her air and fire arcana two years ago"
Lionheart was shocked to hear that melody also had the abilities of a hunter he recognized a hunters arcana isn't past down genetically it's a mutation that appears in random people. This must one of the few cases were a child and parent gained the mutation.
Blackstone finished packing all his supplies and asked Lionheart to bring him to were they last saw the warewolf.
The duo left the store and boarded the carriage making there way back to the dead wood forest.
Arriving at the spot were Lionheart last saw the wolf black stone began searching the area for track broken tree limbs or anything that could indicate were the wolf could gone after the Massacre.
Not finding any tracks black stone took out a red crystal from his bag and crashed it in one hand red powder began to raise from the crystal making a trail that lead deeper into the forest. Lionheart recognize it as a homing crystal an item able to track down any near by fallen in a five mile radius.
" OK Lionheart your with me but you on the hand need to leave this place before you get killed " Blackstone replied while pointing at the carriage driver
Lionheart agreed with blackstone he believed if this boy stayed anylong he might end up like the other. He order the carriage driver to return back to the camp in the next city. The driver obeyed his orders and was off.
Meanwhile Lionheart and Blackstone followed the red trail deeper into the forest leading them to the warewolf while following the trail Blackstone pulled out two blue potions he handed one to Lionheart telling him it would erase his presence if consumed.
They both drank the potions completely erasing there presence and turning them invisible this would allow them to sneak up on the wolf without worrying about being spotted first.
Lionheart admired Blackstones preparedness he believed if any one could help him take revenge on the filthy mutt that killed his men it would be him.
Know confident that the beast would be slain Blackstone excitement for the hunt felt infectious to Lionheart he found him self smiling just like Blackstone but there grins weren't one of happiness they were smiles of pure malice.