Fate - First Reply Hunter Killer

[Askandr Korotkov Stryzga]

He hunted monsters once before he became one. Before the thirst took over, when the light in his heart was not obscured by hungering darkness, Askandr fought the nightmares that his people feared. As a knight, he would often partake in hunts, galloping through the outskirt villages surrounding his homeland, leading a squad of fool-hardy riders, and routing the odd dire wolf or troll.

A century passed, and he was doing much of the same, except instead of riding, he was prowling. The clanking of black plates resounded through the forest. He did not need to be stealthy, his senses able to pick up the faintest trail of his quarry, and he had the speed to give chase should they be foolish enough to run wildly in the presence of such old and deep trees.

His helm-obscured head swiveled to the sound of shifting brush, waiting only to see a pair of squirrels crawling away into a tree. Askandr shook his head, moving further toward the scent of something foul. Something he was tracking since sundown til now, the outer reaches of dusk.

It was a dark scent that reminded him of himself, an unnatural aura that blackened the tranquility of the night, much like his own. As a knight, he felt a sworn duty to dispel this foul evil that tainted the forest, but in the back of his mind, the beast scratched at his conscience, its ravenous growl ringing in his ears.

"Devour..."

 

[Taayi]

​

Despite the forest enveloping everything around it, occasionally one could look up and gaze upon the stars beginning to peek out from the darkening sky.

The evil Askandr pursued laid further into the forest. Eventually, what would have been a feeling or sensation would have revealed real evidence of some malicious being nearby.

The first thing Askandr would have witnessed would be the body of a peasant elf strung up to the trunk of an ancient tree. The elf appeared to have been a man past middle age. Meager means, no signs of wealth.

And this was a bit of a ways from a frontier village.

The corpse appeared to have been dissected – ripped apart and organs removed. Blood markings painted the elf’s skin and tree bark.

The evil within this forest was not that of a beast.

And more evidence of its presence would be found further ahead.

 

[Askandr Korotkov Stryzga]

He pressed deeper into the thickening woods, red eyes glinting beneath his blackened visor, silent save for the continual clanking of steel. The corpse halted his advance, neck craning upwards to inspect the handiwork of whatever ran afoul in this forest.

Nothing of beast-mind would have done such a thing, the corpse less mangled and more operated upon. Askandr sneered. It was intelligent enough to leave such work displayed. Whatever it was, it was not a beast, for no brutish creature could have had the hubris to display their kills like this. Either way, it was an evil he could not let go uninvestigated, at the least, moving further, deeper into the woods, following the grotesque trail of similarly displayed corpses with a machine-like march.

The presence he felt grew heavier with each step taken, the serenity of the forest having almost been completely drowned out, replaced by this dark aura. Yet, despite the presence he felt, no fear was held in his unbeating heart, for this was such a task he undertook many times. He was no longer a man, but he was still a warrior.

Taayi

 

[Taayi]

And Askandr would have been able to find a trail of more desecrated bodies. Another elf. A dwarf. A couple humans. The deeper he would have went, the greater the density of hanging corpses became.

Eventually, a different type of noise could be heard in the forest. Not the trees dancing in the wind, or crunching of leaves underneath paws and hooves.

Voices. Two. Words indistinguishable at a distance. But if one got close enough...

“I-I don’t h-ave anything... w-why are you d-oing this?” a man’s voice full of dread asked.

“Because, I must,” another man’s voice replied. His voice seemed somewhat muffled by something.

“Be grateful, any pain from existence will soon be behind you,” the same voice attempted to console the other man.

The origin of the two voices would be one young human man dangling from a tree – much like the bodies before on this trail. Only this time, he would be alive.

And a second person stood before this hanging man. Someone wearing a dark cloak. A mask obscured his face. But a maddened eye pierced through the darkness and focused on its captive.

 

[Askandr Korotkov Stryzga]

The frequency of corpses made good in tracking the progress of Askandr's travel. He was unflinching as more and more filled his vision. His sensitive ears would pick up the sounds of conversation, his body stilling for a moment to focus on the noise. It was still a few hundred paces from where he stood.

As they conversed, Askandr's body coiled tightly, winding like a spring, the muscles on his legs tightening, his body curling into a hunter's pounce. And suddenly, he crossed the gap in a near instant, a blur of black piercing closer toward the sounds.

Before another word could be uttered, he stood between the robed figure and the tree that held the other man captive. Askandr cut an imposing figure clad in a black plate with an ominous aura surrounding him, a tattered cloak swaying lightly in the slight breeze of the forest air.

Askandr stood there without a word, a barrier of steel and blood-lust, a red eye shining through his visor as his heavy stare bore down upon the masked figure, fists clenched in hostile intent.

Taayi

 

[Taayi]

The man in a dark cloak gave no visible reaction to Askandr’s sudden interference. He lifted his hands up as if in prayer. A knife sat in a palm. A closer look would reveal it to have an ornate, ceremonial design.

“So many corpses, and I wondered if you’d never show!” he excitedly declared.

A harmonic echo coated this man’s words.

Seeing Askandr’s armored form appear and apparently provide protection, the tied-up man screamed, “Save him! I-I-I don’t want to die!”

The masked man tilted his head.

“Is that your intention? To save him?” he asked Askandr.

 

[Askandr Korotkov Stryzga]

The hooded man's words were strange. Was he expecting him? The trail of corpses made much more sense as something less of a grizzly display and more of a lure as Askandr processed his words. There was a question there, but Askandr did not have the time to ask it.

He gripped the greatsword's hilt strapped to his back, fingers curling tightly at the steel with woven cord. Askandr held no fear for this man before him, only contempt—that aura of menace grew with the shadows of moonlight. His focus honed more into the man with the hood, almost ignoring the other restrained on the tree entirely.

"I came here to kill you."

More of a threat than a promise. Spilling blood always allowed drinking it, but the beast was satisfied for the moment, no need to do more than what was required for now.

Taayi

 

[Taayi]

“P-lease... save me...” the bound man pleaded with a whimper once more.

The masked man lowered his arms after Askandr’s words. His head tilted as his fingers caressed the blade of his knife.

“And you’ve not tried, yet. Why?” the masked being asked after Askandr’s threat to kill.

If Askandr’s eyes diverted from this foe for a moment, he might have seen some of the strung-up corpses with heads turned and pale, glassy eyes gazing down on the black knight.

But with a blink, such a scene might have disappeared.

“Hmmm,” the masked man hummed.

Then a voice called out from behind and above Askandr’s head, from where the helpless victim on the tree was, and asked, “Is it because something’s on your mind?”

Askandr Korotkov Stryzga

 

[Askandr Korotkov Stryzga]

Askandr paid little heed to the man behind him, finding his voice more of a nuisance than anything. Were he one step closer to a mindless beast, he would have silenced the buzzing noise behind him. Permanently. He watched the hooded man play with that dagger, eyes honed on the bladed implement.

At the man's question, his head twitched into a tilt, the arm that held the greatsword winding tightly.

"Actually, I was. Pondering about how I wanted to do it." And suddenly, Askandr swung at the hooded man, the intent to kill honed into a strike meant to inflict gruesome slaughter in a singular stroke.

Askandr's blade arm lashed downward like a tightly wound steel cord in a diagonal slash. The weight of the blade did not hinder his monstrously fast swing in the slightest, its heftiness contributing only to the force of the blow as it aimed to part the robed man's body diagonally.

Taayi

 

[Taayi]

As Askandr’s sword swung through the visage of the masked man, his shape appeared to dissolve as if smoke.

The corpses sprung up on the trees chuckled.

The same voice that asked the question from behind Askandr spoke out once again, “But why... this?”

If Askandr looked behind him, he would see the masked being in the same position as just before he swung his sword – just in a completely different position.

The living man hanging from the tree started to struggle against the bindings – seeing his captor now closer than his supposed savior.

“No! Save me!” he screamed.

Turning his gaze toward his captive, the masked man commanded him to be, “Quiet!”

Askandr Korotkov Stryzga

 

[Askandr Korotkov Stryzga]

"Why what? You will answer for the blood spilled tonight." Beneath his helm, Askandr's fangs twisted into a sneer. He turned to face the man again, noting the supernatural trick that nullified his strike. The laughter around him did little but earned his annoyance.

His grip on the hilt loosened momentarily before tightening and striking upwards. The heavy blade crashed down at the robed man once more. But his intent was not to harm, banking more on the figure to dissipate again into smoke. Once the blow was finished, he aimed for the captive's bindings, digging into the tree's bark as he swung with little effort.

"Stay close or die." He did not bother to spare any more words or look behind him to see if the man was safe. Taayi

 

[Taayi]

Again, the masked being dissipated as if mist at the swing of Askandr's sword. This gave Askandr a clear path toward the bounded victim in order to free him.

Once released from the tree, the helpless man started praising Askandr with, "Thank you, sir knight! Thank the heavens you're here!"

With just the clothing of a peasant, the man offered little in the way of self protection against even more mundane threats such as wildlife.

Despite not being visible for the moment, the masked being's voice called out once more as if from all corners of the foresaken forest.

"Do you believe such heroic acts bring you salvation? Is that it?"

Askandr Korotkov Stryzga

 

[Askandr Korotkov Stryzga]

"Be still and do as I say, mortal." Askandr's voice boomed with stern authority, having little patience for disobedience in this situation. He scanned the surrounding woods, his glowing eyes granting him a clearer view, less obscured by the thick shadow of nightfall. "Are there others still alive or just you?"

The hollow voice that warped around the woods earned a scoff from Askandr, these were often the last words uttered by the very monsters he hunted moments before their demise.

"Your words mean nothing to me, monster. I am the hunter, and you are my prey. There are no heroes in this tale."

Taayi