A tale of Humans and Hybrids

Chapter 1

So here we go again. This time, we enter the world of the Origin SMP!

I will mostly use everyone's character the way they are in the streams, so same origin etc. The only thing I will change is that I will add some more characters.

As usual, I hope you enjoy your stay :)

Have fun!

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It was early in the morning, most people still asleep as the sun slowly rose from the horizon. The first birds were already singing their morning melodies in the surrounding trees, creating a peaceful atmosphere for the few tired souls that were already wandering about, getting to their workplace or out to hunt for their families.

The village was small and located in the middle of a dense dark oak forest, only a single man made path leading to a far away village that they occasionally trade with. It almost seemed too peaceful to have any kind of trouble going on.

Techno entered the village just as the sun started to rise over the trees and finally light up the paths and market in the center. He knew this lazy morning scene was a false sense of security. Multiple records of a hostile hybrid in the surrounding woods were more than enough proof of that.

The hunter almost didn't take the job as it seemed too much of a bluff or false report to be true. Hybrids usually aren't hostile until provoked, at least most of them are. But never had one terrorized a village for so long without being captured or at least fully spotted. Yet this one managed to stay undetected. Not even a single trace. Every encounter with the creature let to a different story and description of what it looked like.

Only one detail is always the same. The creature has large, midnight black wings. Some even managed to bring a crumpled feather back from their encounter, if they survived it. But the feather he had been presented looked like a simple crow feather, nothing more.

Some say it's a gigantic bird, with sharp talons and a beak full of teeth, even tho that's impossible. Birds don't have teeth, even hybrid birds. Others call it a disgusting mutation of a human body with a bird head, feet and wings, screeching so loud that it will burst your eardrums. Techno didn't believe in any of those descriptions, but mentally prepared himself for a rather disturbing looking creature.

Not that he cared about that. He had brought down many beast and hybrids in his life, collecting rewards that in return would be spent on upgrading and perfecting his gear. Now he proudly wore an almost indestructable set of netherite armor, enchanted with the best spells that exists. Same goes for a large axe, netherite as well. The rest of his gear is just as high quality, the many traps and tools having brought down even the strongest of monsters.

So, naturally, he thought of this mysterious hybrid as just another one of his many successful jobs. The wings will surely go for a good price, if they are as large and beautiful as the reports say. The head as well, no matter if beast like or not, as most nobles love to decorate their walls with the heads of hybrids to show off wealth and strenght.

The thought of a wall full of heads, empty eyes staring at you made shivers run up Techno's spine. Yes, he brought down these beasts in the first place, but they are much less scary looking when they are alive. Something about lifeless eyes staring at him creeped him out, at least if he has to stare back at them.

Shaking his head to get rid of the mental image, he approached a small hut to the left of the market place. This was the location he was supposed to meet up with other hunters.

Usually hunters don't work together unless they have been partners from the very start. No one in their right mind would willing split the reward with someone else, everyone being too greedy to care about others. But in this special case, they had agreed to work together. The village had promised a high price for the hybrid to be removed, high enough to comfortably split between the four. And that was only for the removal. The selling of the beast would bring even more.

Techno knocked on the wooden door, immediately hearing footsteps on the other side. When the door was opened, a pair of brown eyes greeted him. "Hello Blade. Glad you could make it." Before the pink haired man could answer, shouts emitted from deeper in the house. "Is he finally here?! About damn time!" The brown eyed man groaned and closed the door behind the newest member of the team. "Sorry about him. He didn't sleep well."

"Takes more than a simple shout to scare me." They entered the living room where two more people sat on chairs, the large table filled with hunting gear and traps. One man had black hair and a white bandana wrapped around his head, the other wore a dark green Hoodie and kept his face hidden by a simple white mask.

"Dream." "Blade." The two nodded a quick greeting before the masked man, Dream, focused back on his gear. The two hunters have met before, even teamed up to bring down a large hoglin hybrid. The other hunter has a reputation that matched his own, though Dream had managed to miss a few kills, unlike Techno.

"You two know each other?" "Of course they do. Dream was the one who invited him, remember?" "Oh yeah..." The two men began bickering about something, making the masked man groan. "Those two clowns yours? Never thought you would team with someone permanently." "Yes... those two idiots are mine. They are good hunters, if you forget about their constant arguing. The brown haired one is George, the black haired one Sapnap."

Techno hummed and watched the two push each other. "If they break my gear, you pay for it." "Then please keep it away from them..." Ignoring the sounds the other two were making, he turned his attention to the gear on the table. "What do we know about this hybrid?" "Only that they are winged and hostile. The rest can't be trusted, since everyone tells a different story."

"Great... so we know nothing." "Pretty much. Our best chance to get them is at dusk or dawn. Most people see it when the sun is low." "Smart. It can camouflage itself with its wings when it's dark." "Exactly. Which only makes it much more difficult to catch." Techno nodded and took out his own gear, trying to think of ways to bring down this beast. Winged hybrids are rare, and every one he had seen in his life had wings too small to fly with. Only glide at most. So hearing about a fully airborne one was a first.

"I think we shouldn't try to set ground traps for it. If it really can fly, there is no need for it to come down from the sky at any point unless provoked." "So we should just shoot it out of the sky? That's almost impossible. What if we don't injure it enough to fall?" "That's why we won't kill it. We use these things here." He held up packs of ropes with iron balls at the ends. "Tangle it's wings, trap them to their body so it can't fly anymore. It will crash down into the woods, either dead or unconscious."

"That... could actually work. It's worth a shot. Where do you think-" "Hey that's mine! Give that back!" "Grow taller and I might!" "Dream! Sapnap is-" "ENOUGH!"

Techno roared in anger and was so close to just shoot at them with his crossbow. "If you two don't get it together this instant I will go hunt for this thing myself, locking all three of you in here!" "Why me?!" "Because these two morons belong to you!"

To no one's suprise, George and Sapnap immediately sat down on opposite ends of the table, not talking anymore. "While you two argued, we made a plan to get this thing. Do you all have crossbows?" All three shook their heads, making Techno groan. "And you call yourselves one of the best hunting teams." Dream huffed and crossed his arms, visibly offended. "Mine got trashed during our last hunt. Hadn't had a chance to get a new one yet." "I don't care what happened to it. You don't have one now."

The pink haired man rubbed his temples, trying his best to keep it together. "Okay. So I'm the only one able to shoot the ropes. Just great." "We can still split up and watch different spots. If we see it, we just inform you per communicator. We can do this."

George grabbed a map and pushed a bit of the gear to the side. "This are the spots with the most sightings... six in total. We have to switch between spots if we want to cover them all." "This won't be a one night thing, so we have to be careful not to leave any traces for the hybrid to find. If they know they are being watched, they won't come back to that spot." What a suprise. The two idiots can actually do smart planning.

"Do we have any kind of time indication? Does the hybrid come here like once a week or..." "Mostly once a week, but it's very irregular. So we can't be sure about that. It hasn't been seen this week yet, so we have a good chance to capture it in the next few days." "Then let's spend the day to scout out the six spots and get familiar with the surroundings. As soon as the sun starts to set, we get into position." The other hunters nodded in agreement and started to gather up their gear. This will be a long day...