Of Master and Apprentice (Book 3)

Chapter 4

"Luna, wake up." Janus shook Luna's body in an attempt to awaken her.

Luna opened her eyes and saw that everything was still dark with the full moon up in the night sky. "What time is it?"

"It's the middle of the night." Janus began lying himself down. "It's your turn to take watch."

Reluctantly, Luna forced herself to get fully awake and take her shift. With Janus asleep, Luna came to realize just how peaceful and still the night can be. Usually at times like these, she would be sleeping comfortably in her bed under the cover of a blanket.

She stayed awake until a few hours before sunrise and woke Janus up, telling him to take his shift before falling asleep again. When the morning came, Janus handed her some bread for breakfast and abandoned the boat when they reached their destination to proceeded on foot.

They walked through the plains under the morning sun. They can see a forest in the distance. Luna had heard of how demons used to make settlements in forests, treating it like some kind of encampment to breed, sharpen their weapons and do other things that might bring an end to the seraphim.

Their ears suddenly caught a sharp cry coming from the forest. "What was that?"

A winged demon flew out of the woods, letting out a shriek. Upon seeing it, Luna's senses immediately put her on flight mode.

"You wanna try it?" Janus asked, offering her his rifle.

She looked at the creature again. It didn't seem to be coming their way, but overall, she's just scared if she might anger it and in turn, it would then try to kill her. She hesitated, but when the demon let out another cry, she looked up realizing that it had seen them and began changing its flight course.

She took the rifle from Janus. "How do I do this?"

"Just put the stock on your shoulder, one finger on the trigger, and your other hand on the forestock," Janus instructed. "And make sure to relax your arms when firing, a rifle has a lot of knockback."

Within a second, she was already in a shooting stance. She took a deep breath and a good look at where her target was before closing one of her eyes to see through the scope. She relaxed her arms and pulled the trigger, missing her first shot.

"Now unlock the bolt and pull it!" Janus told her.

Luna unlocked the bolt from the receiver and pulled it rearward to eject the shell. She put the bolt back in place before taking another good aim at the demon. She fired the rifle a couple more times and missed both shots.

After only three shots, she could feel the strain on her hand and shoulder as she wasn't used to shooting. Her hands were that of a baker's, not a hunter's. The demon screeched and began changing its trajectory to a dive.

"Here quickly, reload!" Janus reloaded the rifle for her. She watched as he unfixed the bolt and placed three bullets in before securing the bolt in place. From there, Luna learned how to reload. "It's diving towards us, shoot it. Quickly!"

Luna aimed again and made sure that the demon was in the middle of the reticle before she fired. She heard a loud bang from the rifle followed by a shrilling cry coming from the demon as it got unsteady before slamming into the ground.

"I did it!" Luna said to herself. Her sense of accomplishment compelled her to smile. All her life, she was afraid of demons; of how they appeared, or what they could do to her, but that day, she has successfully killed one. "I actually did it!"

"Well done," Janus praised her. "Now let's go check on it, make sure it's dead."

Luna and Janus ran towards their prey, only then did they get a closer look. It was grey from its human-like head to its feet. Its arms served as wings with three talons as fingers. It was about the size of an average man, only looking bigger due to its wingspan. Together, they could still hear its faint breathing. Luna felt her body shudder as she looked at it.

"Finish it," Janus said.

Luna ejected the previous shell and aimed for the head before pulling the trigger. A loud bang marked the demon's death.

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First hunt, first kill. So what do you all think of the story so far? I would love to hear those comments down below, so don't forget to give me that valuable feedback and hit that star button.

I dedicate this chapter to Akgzero. I was his judge in the Flower Awards and I have to say his book is quite impressive. So be sure to check it out guys.

-Zyrofern