Monster Hunter: Stars of Hope

Chapter Nine: Rising Flame

A measure of wonder and horror gripped not only many of the local guild personnel, but many civilians of Granport as well, when all beheld the sight of an Anjanath nearly burnt to ashes being rolled into the city with the commander of the guildhall accompanying it. Only a few more observant eyes were able to draw their focus away from this enough to notice the clearly much more mundanely slain Great Jaggi and the battered rookie hunter that walked alongside it. As quickly as this grim caravan appeared, questions and rumors began to spread through the streets, neither of which Nia was allowed to address herself; Haldys didn't want her, Perren, or any member of the retrieval team to risk starting a misinformed panic before he could address what had happened officially, and thus ordered all of them to remain silent on the matter until then. Given that the monster they were now dealing with was one strong enough to almost kill what was otherwise a rather fire-resistant brute wyvern with a single fireball alone, it was clear to Nia why she had received these orders from him.

It would make the old man's job a whole lot harder if everyone lost their nerves on account of a monster that powerful potentially lurking not far from the city.

Of course, it had been a few hours since they had returned, and Haldys was soon to give his address now. Many were gathered within the Granport guildhall, including Nia, who was now at least physically feeling much better after being tended to by a guild medic and having a couple more potions. Silently, she stood at the back of the room, leaned against a wall and trying not to draw too much attention to herself as she surveyed the crowd of hunters, hub workers, and other guild members exchanging their own theories as to what was going on amongst each other. Even a number of civilians, mostly members of the city's leadership, were present, all gathered here at the behest of Commander Haldys, who wished to ensure that all of Granport would have the correct information; no wild, uncontrolled rumors.

"May I have your attention?", a familiar voice echoed from above, to which all went silent and looked up towards the interior balcony of the gathering hub, seeing Haldys stood there with his hands behind his back and a solemn look on his face. "Thank you", he spoke out before finally addressing the situation at hand, "Ten years ago, a settlement a little over a week's journey on foot from our city, known as Arba Village, was wiped off the map by an unknown monster, resulting in the loss of two great hunters, among other innocents. The Hunter's Guild spent years trying to determine for certain what was responsible... to no avail. Many of you are already aware of this". For a few seconds, he paused, giving a moment for everyone to soak in that information before he continued, "Fast forward to now. The lone survivor of that tragic day, and child of those two hunters, graced our guildhall as a newly graduated hunter themselves". Nia didn't know if 'graced' would be the word she'd use, but she had little time to consider another before the old man continued, "Today was the day of their first hunt for a large monster, which would be the Great Jaggi some of you saw rolling in. Shortly after their success, an Anjanath nearly attacked the retrieval team. Shortly after that, a third monster showed itself... Many of you have likely heard the story of what destroyed Arba Village: a Rathalos glistening with a bright, white glow, capable of spewing flames of the same color from its maw. This report was only supported by a single witness, and since then has become accepted as inaccurate at best".

Haldys breathed in deep for a moment, bracing for what he was about to reveal.

"That same Rathalos was the monster that attacked the Anjanath", he declared, the audience erupting into an unnerved chorus of murmurs and whispers that went quiet as soon as he resumed, "I, as well several others present, have personally laid eyes on it and witnessed its power firsthand, though only in a mercifully brief display. Though we cannot say currently whether it is a subspecies, variant, deviant, or something else entirely, the researchers have gathered what precious little data we have and given it the only title they thought would fit: 'Hopesbane'". Nia hated that name almost instantly. Of course, she understood why they would give it such a label, even in spite of the desire to keep people calm; Titles like that, especially for monsters that had far weaker counterparts which hunters were likely more familiar with, served a dual purpose of warding off the inexperienced and unaware from believing they could handle such a threat and providing a quite massive morale boost when a creature bearing such a title was struck down. In spite of this, the logic behind the title of 'Hopesbane' did little to make her despise it any less, though she could not be certain how much of this was hate for the monster itself. Soon, Haldys continued, cutting off the fresh surge of worried noise from those gathered, "This monster's behavior is erratic and violent, so much so that we have reason to believe it may even be cannibalistic based on the original reports. More than that, it is powerful, far more so than any monster that any hunter in all of Granport has ever faced in battle before, myself included. Needless to say, we have our work cut out for us". A sense of dread had washed over the gathering hub.