Warning: This chapter contains depictions of violence and gore.

Leaving old man Oos’ home, Rael began to look around, hoping to see some indication of where Varith had gone. Seeing none, he decided to start at the most likely area, the Hunters Hall. Rael sweat as he carried the massive gauntlets down the root path, quickly losing his breath as the weapons seemed to weigh far more than they should, even with their size. Turning the last curve to reach the Hunters Hall, he saw that the doors of the massive tree stump, turned building, were left ajar.

Rael thought. Despite his fatigue, Rael’s steps began to quicken once more as he approached the 3 meter tall double doors.

Using a foot to guide the door open enough for him to slip inside, Rael heard a familiar deep voice booming within. “I don’t CARE if YOU think I need more people with me, give me a guide or I will simply go out and kill anything I can find MYSELF!” Rael saw the well over 2 meter tall hulking figure of Varith shouting at the Hall manager.

“S-sir, even on the m-mainland you must have h-had rules such as ours,” the visibly trembling manager said, “we c-c-cannot simply GIVE you a guide for a subjugation venture without a-at least a t-three person team present!” Rael watched as the top of Variths head began to darken into a deep red with rage.

“LISTEN HERE Y-“

“Varith?” Rael interrupted, hoping to save the unfortunate manager from what would most definitely be the beating of his life “I have your core weapons.” At the sound of Rael’s voice, Varith whirled around looking very much like an enraged bear, but seeing the speaker and the gauntlets, his face turned to a rather cruel looking smile.

“Ah, I was hoping I wouldn’t have to go back to that rotten old farts house for these.” Varith said through his smile. “Now, what was your name again, boy?”

“Rael, and if you truly want to go hunt in the woods here I could guide you.” He answered. Varith looked Rael head to toe, assessing him and his statement at the same time. Both ignored the shocked and fearful interjection from the still trembling manager.

“You seem like you may be a bit scrawny to be of use, boy.” Varith said, ignoring the fact Rael had just given his name.

“I’m one of the best with a bow in Sanvar, and proficient with a sword as well,” Rael replied, attempting to swell his chest to seem more substantial, “and I know these woods just as well as any of the Hunter guides.” It was true, Rael had spent many of his days wandering the canopy trails, much to the Hall’s chagrin.

“Hmmm…” Varith looked Rael up and down again before continuing. “I’ve no doubt you know the woods, boy, but in a fight with creatures, normal weapons like those you’ve used in training will do little good.”

Varith began to turn back to the manager and Rael desperate to prove himself to this mainlander, and blurted out, “I have my mother’s core bow at home!”

Varith halted in his turn and eyed Rael once more. “A bow, eh?” Varith said. “Never been one for long range weaponry… but, if you can get that bow and meet me here within an hour, I will take you up on your offer as guide.”

To Rael, the distance from Sanvar to his home vanished. Filled with thoughts about the venture, his mind became clouded and scattered the time. Bursting through the front door of his tree home, Rael was struck by a sudden thought. Rael thought of the confrontation taking the bow would bring between himself and his inventor father. Rael thought. At that moment, his father’s figure appeared in the work room doorway.

“Oh, Rael,” his father stated mildly surprised, “I did not expect you to leave Sanvar, what with all those mainlanders wandering about.” His father knew that he had wanted to become a Hunter on the mainland ever since he was small.

“I came back to retrieve a book to show them and see how much of it was truth.” Rael lied. He had never lied to his father before so the fact it came out so naturally shocked him inwardly.

“Ah,” Bax said as he made his way to the door, “Just make sure that you don’t harass them too much. From what you and Oos have told me, they are most likely still a bit battered from their trip here.”

“I won’t father.” Rael assured his father and saw him out the door and down the canopy trail leading to Sanvar.

Guilt weighed down Rael’s steps as he turned and made his way towards the work room. Opening the door, Rael’s eyes immediately locked on to the bow. Compared to the bow that Corryn uses, this bow was plain. The grip was a polished wood that widened out to the limbs of the bow, and the limbs had small yellow cores at the tip. Reaching up, Rael took the bow off its mount on the wall and felt the surge that came with wielding a core weapon. The cores of the weapon gave him better control over his movements, making each small motion feel smooth and fluid. Turning on his heel, he then rushed out of the home, nimbly dodging some of the tubes and papers his father had disturbed in his search for tools.

Rael felt exhilarated performing maneuvers at full speed that he would normally not attempt at a walking pace. The enhanced dexterity did nothing for his speed, but the effect allowed him to run the length of the cage walls of the canopy trail. Rael became lost during his trip back to Sanvar once again, attempting to test the limits of the core improvements. After completing a rather impressive number of flips in succession, Rael finally noticed that he had entered Sanvar, and was the recipient of quite a few curious and amused looks.

Turning red with embarrassment, Rael lowered his head and continued on to Hunter’s Hall. It didn’t take long to find the enormous figure of Varith. He had sat himself down on one of the many couches in the main hall and was currently giving the manager, that he had almost beat senseless, a look that promised unimaginable pain. “I’m back, Varith.” Rael said as he drew closer to the glowering behemoth of a man. Varith turned and greeted him with a grunt and rose from his seat, making the incredibly nervous Hall manager twitch involuntarily.

“Well good,” Varith rumbled, “If I had sat here much longer I may have had another…friendly discussion with that miserable pile of nerves.” Rael felt sorry for the manager again, though he knew the poor fellow had only been following the guidelines of the hall. Varith was the type of man that would sooner slap your teeth down your throat then allow you to stand in the way of his goals. Rael grabbed a pack of survival tools that the hall keeps ready to use, and they made their way towards the Northern canopy trail.

“So,” Rael began nervously, “where would you like to visit?”

“Anywhere that has big angry things that try to kill me.” Varith curtly replied.

Rael kept this thought to himself as they passed above Sanvars Northern Wall. “Well, if it’s big and angry you want, we do have a tribe of Trolls living in the North. The older ones are easily three meters tall.”

“That will be a good warm up, take me there…Rael.” Varith paused and seemed to work hard at remembering Rael’s name.

Rael thought wryly. “No problem, it’s about an hour from here walking.”

“Then run.” Varith replied as his bulky body suddenly shot forward. Surprised at the sudden burst, Rael trailed behind struggling to keep the man in sight. After about twenty minutes of sprinting Varith stopped. “This should be about the right area, right?” He looked as though he had just been on a leisurely walk while Rael, sputtering and gasping, looked as though he may collapse. Catching his breath Rael looked around and nodded.

“We will…have to descend…to the ground to…get there from here.” Rael said still trying to fill his lungs with lifesaving air.

“Hmm.” Varith began to look around for the maintenance hatches that were spaced evenly along the sides of the canopy trail. Locating one another ten meters down the trail, he motioned for Rael and attempted to open the latch.

“There’s a trick to it.” Rael said as he moved forward. Reaching up, he grasped the handle on the edge of the hatch and pulled it into the center, then he twisted it counter clockwise, and pushed it open.

“Good, good…now how do we get down from this height?” Varith asked as he leaned his head out of the caged walkway. Rael knelt down and took the pack from his shoulder, rummaging through the contents and brought out two machines with spools of thread that had clasps attached at the ends.

Varith looked rather dubious as he examined the thin rope material on the machine Rael handed him. “I’m…not sure if you’ve noticed, but I am not exactly small of stature.” Varith stated as he continued turning the machine this way and that way.

“The Repeller thread is strong enough to hold three men,” Rael stated as he worked the clasp of his Repeller into a ring on the outside of the cage, “Though you may be large, I don’t think you are quite that big.” Varith continued grumbling as he shrugged on the straps of the Repeller and handed his clasp to Rael. Satisfied that the machines had been secured onto the rings, Rael turned and gave Varith a sly look. “I didn’t take you for the easily scared, Mr. Bear.” With a laugh, Rael flung himself from the opening and hurtled towards the forest floor.

Had the rushing air not blocked his hearing, Rael would have heard the enraged shout that came from Varith just before he hurled his bulk from the caged walkway. After the first hundred meters the mechanisms in the Repellers began to slow their descent. Rael was use to the feeling of falling as he had used Repellers many times during routine maintenance work in and around Sanvar. However, Varith seemed for a moment, as if his heart was assaulting his tonsils before a look of absolute glee lit up his face.

“THAT’S A RUSH!” He shouted as they neared the ground, nearly three hundred meters below where they began the mad descent. Touching down, Rael began to unhook the clasps of his Repeller straps and watched as Varith bounced around on his thread shouting and pumping his fist in the air. “That was almost as great as landing a solid jab on a beasties soft spot!”

Leaving the main section of the machine hanging, Rael walked over to the still exuberant Varith and gave him a hand at disentangling his huge frame from the straps. “Well I’m glad you found it thrilling, the return trip can be rather tedious.” Rael said after extracting Varith from his Repeller.

“So,” Varith said as he stepped away from the hanging contraption, “we just leave them here like this?”

“Yes, the creatures around here are either too big for them or not intelligent enough to use them.”

Varith grunted and began to survey the surroundings. Seeing him look about, Rael pointed north and said, “The trolls usually stay in an area a bit further by a grouping of trees.” Rael began to pick his way around the large roots in the direction he had indicated after stringing his mothers bow and settling the quiver on the back of his right shoulder. With increased dexterity, the usually draining trudge through the roots, was annoying at the worst for Rael. Varith finally calmed down from his adrenaline rush and flexed the fingers of his massive red gauntlets. “We should be there in no ti-,” Rael began after a while of walking but stopped short as he heard guttural voices echoing from just ahead.

Rael was hit with a sudden realization. This thought sent a chill down his spine and a sweat broke out over almost his entire body. The knowledge that he could in fact die very shortly, hit Rael hard, and he froze in place. Varith though, let out his own guttural noise and rushed around the roots and towards the voices. Shortly following Variths departure, Rael heard the voices let out shouts of surprise and rage accompanied by Variths own shouts.

“Business is GOOD!” came Variths voice, followed by the sickening sound of metal impacting, and breaking, bones. The sound shook Rael from his paralysis and notching an arrow in the bow he also passed the bend in the roots.

The sight that greeted Rael froze him in place again. There was a pair of massive grey skinned legs jutting from a hole in one of the large roots; each leg was as big around as Raels torso. The fact the legs were twitching at odd intervals said that this unfortunate troll had already been pummeled into oblivion, and the faintly purple blood splattered around the jagged edges of the hole solidified that reasoning. Further ahead, Varith himself has in the middle of a mad leap into the midst of a group of three trolls, each at least three meters in height. The trolls had enraged looks on their large angular faces. Their long matted hair sticking up in random areas and their greyish skin was covered in mud and other less appealing things. Around their waists, each wore what could only be called rags, as they hardly covered anything, and they were armed with knotted wooden clubs.

The trolls, while disturbing in appearance and smell, were not the cause of Raels shocked reaction. The sight of Variths already blood spattered clothing and grinning visage seemed entirely out of place in the scene of carnage that was occurring. A flying right punch split open the nearest of the three trolls’ face, sending purple blood and rotting teeth flying away. “HahahaHAHAHA!” Varith laughed as he landed and turned to the troll on his left. In what seemed a fraction of a second, Varith landed three devastating blows on the troll’s abdomen. The sound of breaking ribs and ruptured innards surrounded him, and his grin grew.

The troll Varith pummeled began to fall forward, and Varith launched another punch. This time, an uppercut aimed at the creatures jaw. Again, the sound of metal shattering bones rang out and the now dead troll was flung away. The remaining troll recovered from the shock and struck out at Varith. Dodging the clumsy swing of the trolls club by ducking, Varith straightened and began another three punch combo as he returned upright. The first punch hit the soft portion of the troll’s abdomen, sounding like a sack of meat being struck with a metal club, the second hit was a right cross that shattered the troll’s ribs, and the third was a particularly devastating left straight that impacted the sternum of the creature. The force of the last punch left a fist sized impression in the troll’s chest and thoroughly killed the unfortunate beast, also sending it a good meter backwards where it collided with a root and slowly slid to the ground.

Stupefied at the utter devastation caused by the laughing man, Rael nearly dropped the arrow that had slid from its notch at some point during the brutal display of power. Recovering just in time and returning the arrow to the quiver, Rael forced his unsteady legs to move forward through the roots toward Varith.

“Ah, Rael!” Varith called out, still smiling through the gore dripping from his clothes and face, “Sorry about that, it’s been a long trek on that damned boat and the opportunity for a fight made my excitement blind me. Next time I’ll be sure to leave at least one for you and your bow!” Varith gave another resounding laugh and wiped some of the troll blood from his face with his forearm.

“N-no worries.” Rael stuttered. “I’m just glad you didn’t get that excited in Hunter’s Hall.”

Varith laughed again at that and continued to make futile swipes at his gore tainted clothes. “Those beasties smell better than they fight though, and that’s saying quite a bit.” Rael had to agree, now that the shock had subsided his senses began to recover, and the smell coming from the extremely dead creatures was foul at best.

Rael thought as he picked his way around the pummeled corpses. “This seemed to be a foraging group. We can expect much larger numbers as we go further into troll territory.” Rael stated as he maneuvered around the brain matter spilling from the recipient of Variths flying punch.

“Well then, what are we waiting for?” Varith said with another of his disturbing grins. “We need to find a few for you too. I can’t be the only one having fun on this venture!” Another laugh, and Varith moved off towards the north.

Rael shuddered as images of purple blood and laughter flashed in his minds eye.