Streaks of Light

It was a bright and sunny day outside of the forest. Not a cloud in the sky and just overall beautiful. What a fantastic day to be outside! There were probably little squirrels gnawing on their little acorns and deer eating the grass. It was most likely beautiful outside!

Most likely.

For Pua, she didn't get to see that. She was out in the Twilight Forest, still very deep inside of it. She occasionally saw a streak of sunlight break through the canopy. It looked so beautiful, yet at the same time, so menacing. However, the world was a menacing place, she had never felt any hope on her own survival before, not even now.

Pua always stuck to the tree branches high up, never near the ground. It was too dangerous on the ground, something could pounce on her and devour her. She didn't want that kind of fate... Not at all. To cross from longer distances, she would use the vines she had available to her. The only times she went to the ground was to collect the food she hunted and to cook something. Nothing else, ever.

This time was no different. She was out in the forest, traveling from branch to branch. She had a nice backup of already cooked meat in her sack. She got by a small streak of light and grasped for it. The concept of sunlight was very foreign to this Detra. She had been living in the deepest parts of the forest all her life, she had only occasionally ever even seen sunlight in her whole life. She soon moved on, not wanting to stay there for too long.

A shorter than average male Shurian pushed through the brush of the Twilight Forest.  It would have seemed as if the sun had just set if it weren't for the rare stream of light breaching the treetops and reaching the forest floor.  The Shurian held only knives for weapons but was armed with all manner of tracking equipment and supplies necessary for survival, as well as a yellow glow around his head indicating the use of Enhancement on his senses.  He was followed by two Azaar and a Hobblin.  One Azaar, a female, brandished a greatsword, almost cleaver-like, that could probably fell a tree in a single swing.  The other, a male, had a short bow strung across his back and a scimitar at his side.  The Hobblin took up the rear, holding his crossbow at the ready.  

None of them spoke a word.  This was not their first hunt inside the forest, and wouldn't be their last, if they were lucky enough.  The forest could be dangerous, and that's just they way they liked it.  Today they were hunting something quite ferocious, a forest worm.  Now, this may not seem scary in name, but these creatures grew to fifteen meters long and were one of the alpha predators of the forest.  The group had not hunted one before, but they saw one once, swallowing a full grown bear whole.  

The Shurian looked down at the earth, trying to find signs of their target.  After a minute or so, the Shurian held up his hand, prompting his companions to stop, and proceeded to examine the ground.  Leading from a body of thick underbrush was a circular indent into the ground indicating something had been dragged through here.  In this case, it was more than likely a forest worm.  The Shurian waved them forward and they took off at a jog, following the trail of their target.

Pua had seen a forest worm a while back.  She had hidden from it's immediate vision and soon after, snuck away, not wanting it to catch her scent and start tracking her.  She wasn't going back down while that thing was in the general area, much less with the people there as well.  Any misstep and thi scouild end very badly for Pua.

She looked down at the small crowd of people and decided to recoil back into the brush of the tree in fear.  The longer she was out here, the more dangerous it seemed to become.  She wasn't going back home though.  She set out in hopes of finding a solution to her fears, but still seemed completely frozen in fear whenever she saw anything possibly hostile.

Pua began to make her way to the tree trunk when something snapped.  No, not an idea, but a stick.  Snapped off the branch and fell down the tree.  Pua covered her mouth to mask the squeak of fear she had and just prayed that no one heard that and woul start hunting her specifically.

How could the group not hear the great tumble from the tree?  The biggest question was how such a thing had avoided detection of the Shurian leader.  Whatever it was must be exceptional at keeping its presence hidden.  All four looked over to the source, not far off, and readied their weapons.  The four jumped into action, rushing for the tree.  There, they found a lone Detrovian girl, cowering at the foot of the tree.

The female Azaar spoke up.  "A Detra? And a small one at that.  Just a youngin'?"  The Shurian leader snarled, "Regardless of it's age, it's ability to avoid my detection is striking.  What are you doing out here, girl?"  The Shurian had one of his knives out.  It wasn't aimed at Pua but it was still at his side.  The others seemed more relaxed, seeing Pua as something harmless.

Fear struck Pua once more as the group had discovered her. She wanted to run, but had no where to run to as she was against a tree. She looked to her left and right, then to the Shurian's knife. If that thing wanted to, he could easily catch and gut her... She had to play this smart. Smart wasn't a thing in Pua's dictionary though.

The fear slowly overwhelmed her as she kept backing into the tree. Eventually, she spoke up, eyes squeezed shut an fear showing across her whole body, "N-none of your business!"

This felt like a mistake, every warning in her head screamed, 'you're about to be gutted because you were in the wrong place at the wrong time.'

Anger boiled in the Shurian's eyes at Pua's defiant response.  "None of my business? You seem to forget the situation you're in, girl!"  He pointed the knife at her now.  "Are you tracking us? Spying on us? Were you going to steal our prey?"

Finally, the Hobblin spoke up. "If you're going to kill her just do it already.  We should get back to our hunt."  The Shurian replied, "No.  I've got something else in mind.  You, little Detra, get to leave.  You can run, you can hide, or do both.  However, after three minutes, I am going to hunt you.  If I catch you, I will kill you and take your head. If I don't catch you, you get to live.  Understand?"  "But boss, what about the forest worm?"  

"Those tracks are at least two days old.  It will be a while yet before we manage to find where the trail leads.  And I need a hunt now.  It's been too long since I hunted something smart.  Even better that it avoided my detection before, but that won't happen again.  Mark the spot so we can return later."  He turned back to Pua.  "Well, what are you waiting for? GO!"

As the Shurian got enraged, Pua was already terrified, so this was only making it even worse. She was on the verge of wetting herself a little. As he raised her knife, Pua yelped a little, leaping back and forgetting there was a tree behind her. She bumped into said tree's trunk and said in a terrified voice, "T-t-t-t-t-t-tracki- Spyin- P-p-prey!? I-I-I don't wanna do any of that..."

It was too late, the Shurian has lost it, and they aren't above murder apparently, even of a child. Actually... That could mean many things... Some, more bad than others, and some downright... Illegal-er... They seemed to have started arguing, and she was too stricken with fear to even move. That is, until the Shurian turned back to her and shouted for her to run. That got her moving, she bolted around the tree and nearly tripped in her fear, why did she meet a pack of murderers of all people?

She had to think fast, she only had three minutes of planning and any mistake she made could cost her her life. She was light enough on her feet to where she didn't make a trail, but that wasn't gonna be enough, she needed to get up, get the high ground. She did have some means of defense, and besides... They were just some hunters, they weren't used to traps... Hopefully. She needed to play every part in her favor.

Pua moved as quick as she could without leaving an easy trail. Once she had a minute left, she dived behind a tree and started climbing. She needed to get into the high ground if she was to survive. Sweat was coming out of literally every one of her pores, fear was had completely overtaken her and she needed to survive. Once she was high up, she got to work, moving though the high branched once again, the only sign of where she was now was the occasionally shake of the leaves, which could hopefully be added up to a light breeze coming through, unlikely as they were so deep though...

Well she didn't seem like the type capable of properly spying for someone.  Not that it mattered anymore.  The Shurian was raring for a hunt, and he was going to get one.  Even if the youngling could put up a mediocre chase it would be worth it.  Not like anyone from the outside would know to arrest them.  They were so deep in the forest no one would be the wiser if someone died.  The closest settlements were many kilometers away, and who know how far the Vale was.  He counted the seconds in his head until reaching the final coutdown "...3...2...1... Time to hunt."

The Shurian inhaled heavily through his nose as a wicked grin formed on his face.  First he would use his natural tracking abilities to find her, and only if he needed to would he use his anima.  He was at least going to be sporting about it.  What fun was it if she got caught right away? The girl was light on her feet and made very little trail to follow, but the trail wasn't completely covered.  He began in the direction he watched her run, followed by his companions bored at this sudden distraction.  

The Shurian noticed a small broken branch and the location it broke from.  The fact that it was still soft and had not yet become brittle indicated it was recent.  The relative location it was broken indicated the direction of the perpetrator.  Such things may not be noticable to the commonfolk, but these were standard tricks of the trade for a hunter.  Little hints like this kept him on the trail.  One moment it would seem like they had lost the girl, but the next would reveal another hint to where she went.  "Where are you now, little rabbit." The Shurian growled to himself.  The group was not far off from where Pua was now, and she could probably see or hear them moving through the underbrush, drawing ever closer.

Pua's fears were only getting worse as the Shurian hunted her. If he found her, she was dead. If something else found her, she was dead... Either way, this was gonna end badly for Pua if anything saw her. Then the Shurian started calling out to her. She said nothing, partly because she was hiding, but mainly because she was too scared to function her lips properly.

Pua needed to get away from the Shurian before he saw her. She got up and began jumping from tree to tree, her legs wobbling in fear the entire time. Slowly, but surely, she made her way across the trees without falling. Each leap, however, made a ruckus on the branch due to the sheer terror in her movements. She couldn't keep it well, hopefully the Shurian wouldn't catch on too easily.

Dead end again.  But surely another trail would appear as it did before.  Searching the surrounding area yielded no luck.  She just up and disappeared? It couldn't be.  Maybe this was a false trail, or he had followed the wrong path.  He had to recover the trail to continue the hunt.  Where could she possibly have run off to?

That's when he noticed some rustling.  It wasn't much but was enough to make him look up.  He saw no one, as the foliage was too thick, but it was enough to give him an idea. When she first appeared, she had fallen from a tree. So she was a climber, huh? Then there was another rustling, a little farther off from the first, and this time a bit more prominent.  It didn't seem to be the wind.  Something probably made that rustling, and the hunter had an idea of what.  He followed close behind, watching carefully for more rustles.

He had watched closely enough to be able to predict where the thing causing the rustling would be next and used his strong Shurian legs to pounce up into the canopy.  His trajectory would take him flying right behind Pua, where she had just been a moment before.  His crashing through the canopy sent leaves and twigs swirling and scattering about.  He grabbed onto a larger branch, ten feet above Pua.  "Found you, little rabbit!"  With fangs bared, he jumped at her again from above.  Pua would be in a tough situation.  If she were to fall, she would be immediately surrounded by the remaining hunters.  If she stayed in the trees, she may have a chance of avoiding the Shurian if she was quick enough.  But that also depended on how long she could hold out against an onslaught.

Pua jumped at the mere sound of the Shurian pouncing up at her. She would begin to slip, but due to all the foliage, was easily able to grab onto something and use the fall to make her escape. Which would be met with some degree of partial success.

She wasn't falling all the way down. Though, it was enough to scare her a lot. She couldn't stop though, stopping would mean death. Hanging from under the canopy, she would begin climbing from branch to branch as if she were a child to some monkey bars, and the child doing really really good. Fear was the only thing keeping her going now, fear of death, fear of the Shurian, fear of the other hunters. If it existed, then it was worth fearing at the moment.

She could only hope that none of the hunters were too great a shot with a bow as she climbed like this. One arrow and that could be the end of her life...

The Shurian saw the girl fall, and his companions below say her catch herself on the branches.  None of them would shoot to attack her.  If any of them took away from their leaders hunt there would be hell to pay.  At most they would detain her were she stupid or careless enough to fall right on top of them.  They watched and continued to follow as she swung from branch to branch.  As they pursued they may have served as some sort of distraction, causing Pua to be focused on what they would do, even though they had no intention of attacking.  

The Shurian pounced again, pursuing his prey.  He made swipes at her as he drew close, but her constant movement allowed her to dodge at the last second.  This hunt was both frustrating and thrilling at the same time.  Maybe he would make a habit of hunting people like this.  Instead of going down for another swipe at Pua, this time he pounced higher into the trees.  Watching carefully he jumped from the branch, dropping right onto the branch Pua was hanging from just as she was reaching for the next.  The force of the impact shook the entire tree and would make it extremely difficult for Pua to maintain her grip.  Especially with only one hand.  

Should Pua drop, the Shurian would watch for a moment as she fell to the ground, taking note of his allies who were running to catch up, and then descending upon Pua once more, dropping right next to her and holding her down with his foot on her abdomen as he put the knife to her throat.

Pua was moving as quick as she could, though it wasn't quick enough obviously when she got ambushed by the Shurian who shook the entire tree with his landing. Obviously it would require incredible luck for Pua to even stay on while still full up on energy, not that she's been running for so long and in some pain from falling a little... She had no chance, she just fell.

What she thought was gonna be a quick and painless death was met with a crowd of hunters catching her and the Shurian holding her down by the abdomen and his knife to her throat. This couldn't have gone worse for her and now she was in tears out of sheer terror. She could feel some warmth along he neck and after realizing by the viscous feel of a liquid, that she was drawing blood from the knife. She squeezed her eyes shut and pushed herself against the ground as much as possible to avoid the knife's press.

The other hunters gathered around the two.  "I've caught you, little rabbit."  The Shurian was relishing the moment, feeding off her fear.  At this time he wasn't a hunter anymore.  He was a madman, drunk off his sadism and feeling of power.  His grin was wide and he licked his chops.  He wanted to drag this on as long as possible.  He wanted that fear.  If he could generate that level of fear, that showed really how strong he was, at least in his mind.  

"Hurry up and kill her already.  Just following you around is boring as hell.  Just get it over with so we can get back to the real hunt."  The male Azaar complained to his leader.  The Shurian glanced over at him, snapping out of his blood rage.  He gave a soft laugh, "I guess you're right.  Well, kid, it's been fun.  But it's time for the prey to meet the butcher."  He reaffirmed his grip back on the knife, ready for a swift kill like a real hunter, though his bloodlust still pulled at him in the back of his mind, itching to take over.  

Out of nowhere, the ground shook with such force, everyone was lifted off their feet.  This was not a continuous shake like an earthquake.  Instead, this was a singular pound as if someone had kicked up the earth from the bottom.  By the time everyone had righted themselves again, they heard the agonized screams of their Hobblin companion become muffled and then disappear.  They looked behind them to see a gigantic forest worm swallowing their ally whole.  Its forest green body had a girth of over a meter, and its circular mouth took up the entirety of its head, leaving two minuscule eyes along each side of its neck.  The Forest Worm that they had been hunting, had apparently been instead hunting them.  It gave out a squealy, yet powerful roar as it charged for its next meal.  

"What the-?" The Shurian couldn't believe he hadn't detected this huge thing.  How?  Had all of his years of training and hunting been for nothing?  Was he to die here?  What would his family do?  He readied his knives, sharped finely.  The male Azaar ready his bow, jumping backward.  The female Azaar readied her cleaver, jumping forward for a powerful swing.  There was no more time for attention on Pua.

Pua was mumbling incomprehensibly about how she didn't want to die in between her terrified sobs. Little did she know, something scarier was coming and said scary thing had saved her life. She heard someone's screams of agony from where she was lying. The Shurian had gotten off of her and was now focused on something else... What? She didn't know, all she knew was that she only had one thing to do at the moment.

Run.

Pua climbed to her feet and started booking it in a random direction. She didn't stop until she was well away from the encounter. She had come across a stream and a large tree trunk with the roots making good cover. It was a great place to just fall into and cradle herself for a while. The blood was getting all over her at this point and all she had for cloth was her own clothing. To patch up the wound, Pua tore some of her cloak off and wrapped it around her neck as if it were a choker. That'd make a good bandage for a while, but she was gonna have to find something more permanent eventually, either that or more time to make it better.

At the moment, she was too tired to even try to make the makeshift bandage better, now that the wound was dealt with, she just fell over and lied against the tree. For as long as she needed.

As Pua ran from the scene, cries of terror could be heard echoing throughout the forest.  The forest worm was a much more dangerous foe than anticipated. It is unlikely any of the hunters would survive.  

Little did Pua know, she had run right back towards where she first encountered the group of hunters.  Sticking in a tree nearby, where the worm tracks had been seen, was a dagger.  That dagger had been finely crafted from the bone of a crocolisk.  These creatures were giant elongated crocodiles with six legs and a gaze that petrifies anything careless enough to look directly into their eyes.  Their bones were also extremely strong and rivaled steel.  

The entire length of the dagger was about 46 cm, about two-thirds of which was the blade.  The blade was slightly curved and one sided and widened at the base to give a natural guard.  The handle was wrapped in bandages, but in such a way that was comfortable to hold.  At the bottom was a miniature pommel, with room for a gem to be set into, but had no gem in it.  The blade would rest in the tree, waiting for its new master.

Pua looked up at something shiny and crawled over to it, keeping her everything down as she approached. The shiny object turned out to be a knife or a dagger. She grabbed onto the dagger and pulled it out of the trunk. It was really nice looking, but she didn't even know how to properly use a dagger, much less one this long It felt more like a shortsword now rather than any sort of knife she knew...

She held the dagger in two hands, similar to how one would wield a shortsword in two hands. It was really heavy. Well, her first step would be to start carrying it as she didn't really have room for it. It was too nice to leave behind to never be seen again. She went back to her resting spot and just sat there for an hour or two before getting up and going on. She never wanted an experience like this again.