After laying silently for at least a couple of hours, Layne couldn't will himself to fall asleep. Turning his head to the left, he looked up to see Ren's ethereal eyes staring back at him with the same blank expression she'd worn earlier; it would have startled him, had she not, for an inexplicable reason, been so majestically calming. "Want to see something cool?" she asked placidly, suddenly sporting a light grin; "Considering that I can't sleep, I suppose there's nothing better to do." he replied, shrugging complacently and sitting up. "Remember how I can perform destructive magic?" Ren asked in a self-amused tone, "Well, this is one of my favorite tricks."
"Inflammarae."
As she chanted the word, a spark ignited a compact ball of orange flame, which hovered in her right hand conveniently; she looked over at him and grinned once more, the glow reflecting from her glossy eyes beautifully. Layne stared at it nervously, yet eagerly; "Can you make it just a bit smaller?"
She rolled her eyes and did so, causing the flame to shrink in size just by willing it. She gestured towards the ceiling, and Layne watched with wonder as the tiny flame shot from her hand and etched itself along like a lit fuse — creating a brilliant, torch-esque mural.
"The effect is entirely visual, so you won't need to worry about having engraved scorch marks on your ceiling." Ren noted; she patted the bed as if inviting him to watch the spectacle by her side. He climbed up and scooted next to her. "You're definitely warming up to me," Layne quipped, "I like that." She groaned in response, playfully retorting, "It's too late at night to be cold."
Inflammarae's sparkling etch-a-sketch show lasted for another four hours before going out, at which point in time the duo of Layne and Ren had finally begun to drift off into light sleep — only for the morning sun to shine through the window to their right. It hurt Ren's head enough for her to get up and leave the room sluggishly; Layne merely turned on his left side and continued to slumber.
He felt a sharp sensation on his left cheek; it repeated itself continuously until consciousness found its way back to him. When he opened his eyes, Ren, now wearing a fresh change of robes, was at his bedside poking him; he lightly swatted her hand away. "Give me a moment," he mumbled, "I need to remember something." The raven-haired girl ceased poking, and instead slid to the far end of the bed, unsheathing a steel hunting dagger attached to the left of her belt and pulling a grinding stone from her satchel.
"Oh. That's right." Layne recalled, getting out of bed and walking over to a small schedule on the wall to his left; the schedule had dates for the migration patterns of every major food-source animal that came within ten kilometers of Maire Village. The species included were silvertail deer, iron-tusk boar, and giant crested land fowl; the next migration of deer would reach village territory by tomorrow morning.
Ren peeked over Layne's shoulder and her eyes went wide; "We could feed the entire village for at least a year if we catch enough silvertails." she exclaimed, briefly rummaging through his belongings in search of extra hunting gear as he watched on in dismay. "Wait! You shouldn't throw stuff around like that!" he tried to stop her, but the girl was simply too agile; she dove between his legs and opened the walk-in closet behind him, running inside and spotting a hatch in the floor. Layne managed to calm himself down enough to intervene peacefully; "I can get it."
He unlocked a latch and opened the floor compartment, revealing a battered, but still usable repeating crossbow; beside it was a box of steel-tipped arrows and a small package of arrows with silver tips. Layne grabbed the extra package and properly examined the arrows it contained.
What?! Why silver?
Ren looked at the crossbow longingly; "It was my mother's," Layne told her, "But there should only be steel arrows; why would my mother need these?" he asked, holding the package up so she could see. "That's not ordinary silver," Ren replied, grabbing it out of his hand, "It's Helical Silver — made to kill werebeasts and undead." She tucked the package of helical silver arrows into her belt satchel. Layne handed her his mother's crossbow trustingly, "Be careful with this," he said, clipping the box of steel arrows to the opposite side of her belt, "As far as I've been told, it was one of my mom's prized possessions."
"Consider it in good hands." Ren replied honestly, strapping the weapon to her back.
There was a knock at the front door. It sounded rather urgent.
"I've got it," Layne groaned, rolling his eyes and clicking his tongue, "I'll be right back." Ren grabbed his shoulder; "I'm not afraid of some stupid delivery boy. Even if it's one of the Brotherhood's knights, we could take him together."
"It's not that simple," he said anxiously, "If I answer the door with you right behind me, they're going to think something happened between us last night."
Ren's face turned beet red; "But nothing happened last night." Turning away, Layne ran out of the room and down the stairs; "I know! I'll just be a moment!" he called. She sighed in frustration, lightly banging her head into the wall; seriously, nothing happened!
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When Layne opened the door, he was rather relieved to find it was another hunter; he was relatively muscular, had short, spiked black hair, and stood around five inches taller than him. The man was clad in the typical hunting garb of dark, fitted trappings and a cloak, but wore a leather chest piece, shoulder pauldrons, and kneeplates; he carried a machete, two daggers, and instead of a crossbow, he used a relatively new invention in the form of a long-range firearm. Suddenly, the boy realized that this was no ordinary hunter — this man was none other than Hyk Railler, leader of the Maire Hunters' Guild. To an adolescent such as Layne, when he spoke, it was as if the gods themselves laid bare a message:
"Layne, even though you've got no family name and you're probably the worst hunter I've ever laid eyes on, I'm going to have to rely on anyone and everyone with even the slightest amount of experience to pull off the coming hunt."
Puzzled, Layne tried to process to the best of his ability; "But you kicked me out of the guild." He expressed visible concern over the harsh action his former leader had taken. "Indeed I did," Hyk affirmed, nodding his head while doing so; "And for good reason, too."
Even though they were both hunters, it felt like they were at odds; Layne seemed cautious and did whatever he could to feed himself, whereas Hyk was very singular and by-the-book in his approach. What truly bothered Layne was the fact that his former mentor had always been so simple-minded, stubborn, and arrogant, yet he still possessed this inescapable charisma — as if he truly were the best at what he did. Regardless of the circumstances, Layne now had a job to do — for everyone's sake.
Ren appeared from behind, hooded with repeating crossbow loaded and in hand; "Did I miss anything?" Her stealth surprised Layne quite a bit; he accidentally smacked his hand into the doorframe, grimacing and rubbing it in brief pain. Looking over at the new face, Hyk analyzed her; "This one should join you on the hunt. I don't even know her, but I already like her spirit." He turned back to Layne; "Make sure to find to find at least two other people, because even I don't know what else is going to be out there." Replying in earnest, Layne asked: "So I'm back in, just like that?" Hyk stuffed both hands in his pockets and pondered at the sky for a moment. "I guess you could say that. For now, at least."
With that said, the veteran hunter pivoted away and took his leave, but not before giving a final statement: "A word of advice: if you ever find something unusual out on the field, don't approach it; I've seen too many hunters fall prey to opportunistic ambush predators — some were human, but many of them were far nastier creatures."
Layne bid his mentor farewell, closed the door, and took a seat by the fireplace; Ren set her crossbow down on the table and sat in the seat opposite to him. She turned her head in his direction; "So...who do you suggest?"
"I have a few people in mind."
YOU ARE READING
Dark Earth: Nocturne (I)
ParanormalLayne was an average citizen in Maire Village, foraging and hunting solely for food. He lived frugally and humbly, as anyone would. While out on an expedition with his friends, he's captured by a shadowy figure and taken to a tomblike prison of nig...
