Chapter 13

My First REAL Monster Hunt PART 2

(that time I climbed a waterfall)

“Did I ever tell you about your grandparents?” my father asked casting the line into the water. He was very careful to hold the donut shaped reel in his left hand while slowly using his right to reel it back and control the line. He looked like he had been fishing this way his whole life, it was strange not using a rod, but after a few tries myself I managed to get use to it.

“No,” I told him, watching him, studying his movements.

“Unlike you I had only one mother, one father. We lived in a refuge on the mainland, a small village. Kalla and I grew up there together. Our families were neighbors and we shared everything. My father, Bren, was a fisherman. He was one of the best in the village. When I told him I wanted to learn the ways of the sword I’d never seen him so mad before in all my life. He wanted nothing more than for myself, Kalla, and all the others to live as normal a life as possible. One not shadowed by darkness.”

“Is that even possible?” I asked. Since I’d been born I’ve been safety living behind the walls of Haven but that was only after the refuge I was born in was attacked by vampires. Even inside Haven we had drills, bunkers, and plans in place in case vampires or other monsters attacked. It was dark but many of the plans ended with us taking our own lives rather than become prey to monsters or worst, enslaved.

“No, its not. Remember that. The world is in an uproar. Demons grow stronger everyday. My father, as kind and wise as he was couldn’t understand any of that. Rather, he and the rest of the village didn’t accept it. The truth was our village was nothing but an animal farm. The vampires would come and take what they wanted, when they wanted. No one stood against them. All we did was mourn our dead.”

“How could people let that happen?”

“For some it was ignorance. Others didn’t want to believe that the world had once been a better place. From the outside everyone put on a smile. In reality, we were all terrified. Too afraid to accept the truth.”

“That sounds like some of the kids in our village,” I said aloud.

“Really? Getting bullied?”

“Sometimes. Ajax has stood up for me though. I’ve a few friends. Rae, Lewis, Xander. Others think its not fair I have four moms, magic, and a dad that’s a monster slayer.”

“It means a lot that you can ignore them. You are meant for great things. I don’t have any doubt,” my father was nearly crying. I’d dealt with plenty of bullies in my past life to know I just needed to ignore them. A troll couldn’t deny their nature. What brought them pleasure.

“I’m smarter than I look,” I smiled moving my hand up passed my wolf-ears. I still couldn’t figure out how to make them go away.

“When I became a monster hunter I learned the vamps would travel form village to village, eating their fill and moving on. It was population control,” my father said balling his fist.

“What happened?” I asked. I knew that look. He had lost someone.

“One night they came. Both your grandfather and grandmother were taken. When I tried to save them I was pushed back. A vamp held his hand on my neck and forced me to watch,” he started. I could tell he was trying not to go into too much detail. In another time I would have been too young for a story like this, but this post-apocalyptic world is unforgiving. A child with nightmares was a child needing to learn to use a sword. Everyday we lived was a day to celebrate. It was one of the many reasons the village celebrated so many holidays and birthdays.

“You don’t have to continue,” I said.

“After that happened the village acted like nothing happened. Not one person was brave enough to fight back. I left with Kalla. Not long after we started meeting other like-minded people. I trained in the mountains with the Fae, then again at the Hearts and Valor Academy. A man named Ipabog helped turn me into the man I am today. Saving my life on more than one occasion. He helped push me passed my limits. It took years but I returned back to my village. Less than half the population remained. The vamps were hungrier than ever. Something was happening. I still don’t know what but a darkness was, is rising across the world.”

“What happened after? Why did you leave?”

“They refused my help but gave it to them anyway. I wiped out the vampire horde that plagued my home….”

“So you were a hero,” I stated.

“I became an exile. I was lucky they didn’t imprison me and hold me until another group of vamps came rolling in. Most wanted, even people I’d called neighbors. They thought if they gave me up that maybe the vamps would take pity on them,” my father tried best he could to explain. I could tell he was trying to simplify it for me, unaware that I understood better than he knew.

I was probably about his age, maybe just a few years younger, when I died. In another life I’m sure he and I could have been friends.

“I have no regrets,” my father added, smiling. Something bit the line, I could see my father begin reeling in, pulling the line as something under the water pulled back. Fighting with the fish I could see two round eyes protrude form below the water. I could see fishing brought back memories of my father’s own childhood. Nostalgia was strong this night as my father pulled the Mud Skipper ashore and smiled uncontrollably.

-Bestiary-

MudSkipper

Description: With the ability to survive on both land and water Mud Skippers breathe through their skin. They are typically brown and green in color with stripes and spots that can be red, black, or blue. Mudskippers like to burrow in, you guessed it, mud, for the most part and are even known being territorial when they are not courting. Mudskippers typically lay hundreds of eggs. As far as taste, Mudskippers are one of the worst fish you could catch and eat. Tasting mostly like mud, they are not a nutritious part of any diet. Better to catch and release unless you are feeling desperate. Ranging in size from 12 inches, the giant MudSkipper’s found in the Isles of Abyss are known to get as large as a person.

HP: 5 / 5

Weaknesses: Fire, Poison, Lightning, Magic.

Immunities: Water, Ice.

Hours passed. My father, Gob, and I chowed down on some not so good mud skipper that he caught on the banks. It was about the size of me and he pulled it in with only two hands while I fished for smaller prey. Using my Fire Bolt I managed to cook it well-done, though lightly sheared in some places. The only good parts of the fish that didn’t taste like mud where around the ribs. My father thought it was a good way to learn how to use my abilities for things other than fighting.

“Magic is a tool, not a weapon. Its a gift that you can use to make your life and the lives of others easier,” he told me.

I nodded, finishing the last bite of my fish. Once I was finished my father reeled in the fishing line and asked if I was ready to climb. Truth was I was tired. When we had started fishing it was after dark, despite not being able to see the sunlight, I knew it had been hours since we entered the caves.

Seeing this my father smiled and told me to rest. When I woke up a few hours later my father was waiting for me on the other end of the underground river bank.

“Dad?” I asked aloud, trying not to shout. The Agama was gone, its nest left unattended.

“Over here!” my father shouted without a care in the world.

“Dad?” I questioned again. My eyes adjusting, the blue moss had stopped glowing. If I had to guess it was now earlier in the morning, sometime around three or four A.M.

“Swim on over, make sure you grab Gob,” my father shouted again.

Looking out at the running water I thought for sure my father had lost his mind.

“The current is too strong,” I said.

“Try it out, tread carefully,” he smiled.

I stepped into the running water. It wasn’t rushing as fast as I thought, instead it swept around me like I was a rock. It was far less deep where I crossed, only reaching above my knees as I stepped forward towards my father. I tripped once catching myself with my arms. Soaking the rest of my clothes. On the bright side I felt cleaner than I had the day before.

“Pretty shallow here, I figured that out while you were asleep. You and your friends were lucky you didn’t land in this part. Here, follow me towards the deep end,” my father grinned. I walked behind him towards the deeper end of the river, remembering when Ajax, Pan, and I fell. The water seemed to have no bottom. “Probably twenty maybe thirty feet down,” my father pointed just below the waterfall. “Now, are you ready to climb?”

“Climb the waterfall?” I knew my dad was crazy but now he was asking the impossible.

“Check this out,” my father reached out under the water and grabbed hold of a red rope he had hidden under the falls.

“How?” I asked.

“Grappling hook, once we reach the top there is a small bank, about a foot wide we’ll have to walk across to get to the cliff but it should be fine.”

“Why not just grapple the cliffside?”

“Tried, couldn’t quite get the hook to stay in place, almost busted my head open a few times when I missed and the hook came falling down,” my father laughed. I was relieved nothing bad happened.

“Are you sure this is going to work?”

“I already tested it a few hours ago,” my father assured me. Looking at him I could see his clothes were still a little damp, I’d assumed it was just because he had crossed the water the same way I had but he was taller than I was and wouldn’t have had any problems getting across.

Grabbing hold of the rope I began to climb just in front of my father. Gob held tight, digging his tiny claws into my shoulder until we reached the top and walked over the small ledge to the cliffside. My father was right, the cliff was falling apart and it would have been dangerous to use the grappling hook on it. Still, I wasn’t thrilled about being completely soaked. Not to mention I’m fairly certain a fish hit my head on the way up. Gob hated the water more than me, using my shirt to dry itself off as soon as we were safe.

After my father reached the ledge, he pulled the grappling hook back and wrapped it up across a leather sling on his arm. Not only was it a useful tool but the rope acted as a sort of extra layer of armor if worst came to worst.

“Are you sure we should do this? The Arachnids, I might be immune to their venom but you,” I began.

“I’ve built a small tolerance. A few bites won’t kill me, probably won’t even harm me. I’ll let you know if we need to retreat,” my father assured me. I still wasn’t sure. I didn’t understand how or why we were risking our lives to get back a dagger. Obviously, this was more than that. My father was using this as time to train me, to teach me about the outside world. I would need these lessons one day. Fishing, cooking, eating yucky food, climbing. These weren’t skills I could learn in Haven. My father knew that if I was going to survive I would need more than my moms teachings.