Fan Fiction ❯ Blade of the Slayer: Three Warriors ❯ The Hunt ( Chapter 1 )

Blade of the Slayer

Chapter 1: The Hunt

Rain poured down in sheets, soaking my hair into a moppy mess. I slipped a thick lock behind my ear with my thumb, then gave my earring a small pinch. I probably looked like I had been tossed into a river, I was so soaking wet. My clothes were sagging from the weight of the water. My shoes made a strange squish sound when I took a step, and my socks sucked in rain like a sponge. I had only been out for a few minutes, and already I could squeeze a gallon of water out of my clothes.

I took a breath, and rounded the street corner.

Just as I had expected, the streets were empty and quiet. Not a soul was to be seen or heard. The doors to all buildings were kicked in or ripped off their hinges. The ruins of various car wrecks scattered throughout the street. Innocently parked cars had been crushed as though they had come back from the impound. Charred remains of human clothes were littered to the horizon.

It was the work of a dragonoid.

Now, anyone will ask me, "Clara, what's a dragonoid?" My answer will earn me a strange look. Dragonoids are dragon-like creatures who look like people by day, but transform into hideous beings at night…well, at least when the stars are out. When the stars are out, a dragonoid will emerge and wreck murderous havoc. Apparently, their mission in life was to devour all of mankind.

The old man Magus chose my mission in life: to destroy the dragonoids.

I continued down the street, clutching the weapon that hung at my left side. I stepped past most of the clothes, and I found myself climbing over burned black car wrecks just to continue down the street. The rain continued to pour, and lightning ripped the sky before me for a split second. A count of five later, thunder rumbled deeply across the heavens.

The rain came down harder with some kind of homicidal intention of me. The drops were so big, hard, and cold that they stung and burned my skin. I was forced to take off my trench coat, and tie back my hair. I thumbed my earring again, and kept walking.

Without the rain, there would have been a deafening silence. This was a whole city that was once bustling with noise and cheerful activity. Men, women, and children would have filled the sidewalks with noise, laughter, imagination, dreams, and life. Every city in the world was like that until yesterday: January 2, 1999. In just one day, a dragonoid ate the people of at least fifty cities, towns, and villages…each. Now, I walked through the streets of the latest attack: Sunset City, my hometown.

I should tell you a little about myself. I am Clara Tomoe from Sunset City, Oregon. I'm nineteen years old, and I go to Oregon State University…pardon, I once went to Oregon State University. A dragonoid that went by the name Naappa attacked the college and the surrounding cities. I barely escaped with my life. However, old man Magus and his great-niece, Ayla, saved my life. Magus was a prophet that always dressed in a black shirt and black pants. Ayla was always dressed in a white turtleneck, white khaki pants, and a strange white cape. They killed Naappa with swords instead of guns, introduced themselves to me, took me to their underground hideout, and turned my reality upside-down forever. They made me a Slayer, just like themselves. They explained that the dragonoids were the descendents of dragons from pre-historic times. Sure, I laughed too, until I found out that these dragonoids were intent on destroying the earth and everyone on it. They gave me a sword, taught me how to use it, and I set out on my mission in life: to destroy dragonoids. I have already slain three. The fourth one attacked my hometown, and everyone I had ever known and loved.

I approached a nearby elementary school. Memories wafted into my head as I wandered onto the campus. The school was as dead as the streets, with the same sights. My eyes stumbled across a tattered teddy bear that lay faithfully by a ragged pink shirt. My blood boiled, and my maternal instinct was invading my common sense.

I picked up the shirt, and felt it with both hands. It was warm. I brought my nose to it, and inhaled carefully. I coughed at the hint of carbon monoxide. It seemed like my dragonoid tried to snack on a car before coming to the school. It must have been about eight feet tall, walked on all fours, and moved very quickly. I found that strange. A standard dragonoid walked upright, like a human, and were about five or six feet tall at the shoulder.

I calculated that the dragonoid was still in the school, so I walked in.

***

I peeked into classroom windows, broke into locked storage closets, ripped bushes and small trees leafless, checked up, down, over, under, and inside the playgrounds. I found no trace of my dragonoid. I checked again, going into classrooms and offices, brushing through them with the fine-toothed-comb of my mind. Strangely enough, still nothing.

How do you misplace an eight-foot tall dragon?

"Okay," I fumbled to myself under shelter from the downpour, "think, Clara, think. If I were a dragonoid who just ate a whole school, where would I be?" I thought very hard, watching the rain fall, listening to it drum above my shelter, and hammer on the roofs of the buil…

The roof! Of course!

I climbed up the rainpipe, and rolled on my back to a stand on the flat roof. I shook off some access rain, and looked around. Nothing but death and darkness all around, surrounded in shadows and raindrops. I walked around for a view on the other side. The same sight as before. I sighed in frustration, but I wasn't going to give up.

I considered my options:

I could have yelled out to it, but this was a smart dragonoid. It would simply stay put, knowing that I was there.

I could have flushed him out, but in a situation like this, I had no method of doing so. Besides, how could I destroy my own school?

What about bait? Besides me, no bait available.

Thinking for a very long time, I decided to combine options one and three. I waited for a thunderclap to pass so that I could be heard, then I powered up my super strong swimming lungs.

"DRAGONOID! GET OUT HERE NOW!" I spread my arms out in invitation. "YOU MISSED A SPOT, YOU SAVAGE! YOU MONSTER!" My voice echoed as loud as the thunderclap. "SHOW YOURSELF TO ME! GET OUT HERE AND EAT ME TOO, YOU OVERGROWN WORM!"

Have you ever seen Jurassic Park? Have you ever heard that Tyrannosaurus Rex roar? That's what this dragonoid sounded like. When I heard it behind me, I smiled, not believing what a fool it was, and promptly turned around just in time to see it climb up to the roof.

My assumptions were right: eight foot, all fours. It looked like a typical European dragon: scales, claws, snake neck, long tail, and fiery breath. Dragonoids were supposed to stand upright, had four arms, a six-foot long tail, and were usually black colored. This one was green.

To prove it was a dragonoid, it spoke.

"So, you are the hunter? We meet at last."

"What is your name?"

"I am T'Jassie, number 48. What is your name?"

I wielded my weapon.

"Alright, listen up! My name is The-Kid-With-A-Sword-About-To-Slice-You! I've been hunting you since Seattle, and now your life ends here!"

He gave a bone-rattling roar, which rumbled in my chest, and made me stumble back a couple steps. He pounced like a cat on the hunt, but I leapt away to the side before he could land on me. I moved to give myself room, but T'Jassie swung his neck around and sank his teeth into my arm. I screamed in pain, trying to yank it away. T'Jassie's teeth were inlayed teeth, like a shark's. My arm was not about to come out of his mouth.

In defense, I stabbed my sword down on his bulletproof skin, and it sank into meat. T'Jassie jerked away in pain, but that resulted in ripping off my arm at the shoulder. Strangely, there was no pain. Unexpectedly, electric sparks flung out of my shoulder socket instead of blood. I stared in horror at my dismembered shoulder to see metallic bars instead of a bone, cables and wires instead of blood, mussels and tendons. T'Jassie was equally surprised, looking at the arm in his mouth. We both realized that there was more to me than even I knew.

I quickly regained my senses, and moved in on the attack. I charged with my sword before me, and slashed down onto T'Jassie's neck. Bone cracked and blood splattered from my clean swipe of the sword. The head thumped onto the roof, jaws still clenching my robotic arm. His body slumped, and tumbled to the ground below with a sickening thud. Lightning flashed a split second later, and thunder announced my victory.

I stared down at the body, with time to think. The electricity that zapped from my open arm socket died down and stopped abruptly. I carefully stuffed some lose wires back into my body so that they wouldn't get wet, and I felt the smooth metal socket joint that came out of my body. My arm was robotic. How much more of me was robotic? Was I actually a robot? Impossible! I was a human being! I had a childhood, I was born to a wonderful mother and a handsome father! I had a feaking puppy when I was growing up! I was a straight A student my whole life; I never even got an A-! I had a history growing up as a human being! How could I be a robot?!

I had many questions for old man Magus and Ayla when I returned to their underground hideout at Emerald Harbor.