Chapter Text
Monsters have existed for as long as the dark from whence they came. And too, the fear of them. To hold and harness that fear came humans, and humans developed, as they are wont to do. Where some can't help but still live in that fear, others found the strength to overcome it, crafting tools, methods, guides and guilds whose sole purpose is to suppress, subdue, destroy the Monsters and the dark chaos they bring. Some humans become teachers, taking the weak-minded and turning them to steel so that the number of Hunters in the world may grow and one day beat out their natural born predators.
They haven't, yet. Hope remains that one day, the world they live in shall no longer be shrouded in the darkness the Monsters bring.
But Monsters have ways, like humans do, of multiplying. Some breed, some make, some simply just produce more. The threat, it seems, has no end in sight, no matter how many more bodies pile up.
But still, they fight. They teach others to fight. And so it will continue, until someone reigns victorious.
𒅒𒈔𒅒𒇫𒄆
Qifrey is a teacher of the monster hunting craft, living just outside a troubled city named Kalhn. He trained at the Hall of the Knights, and bears their mark to this day. The Knights are a disciplined guild, bringing up their Hunters by the book, until their skills become so tenacious they could write their own. They study trap crafting, anatomy, tracking, weapons fighting, magic, combative defense, and the list still goes on. Training with the Knights is long and intensive, and many come to the guild in their childhood for lifetime membership. It's rare in their country, for a Hunting guild to allow children. Though the Knights believe, with them being the most vulnerable population, that gaining the knowledge of these skills in one's youth is key to their survival. There is scarcely a body person they do not take, nothing they believe can't be trained and ingrained, so long as their dedication to their life allows it. So long as their ranks grow. So long as they follow all the right rules.
After his village was overrun by shadows, Qifrey found solace in the arms of the Knights who came to save what survivors still hid in the remnants of homes. He was alone back then, the only survivor of his family. The man who would later become his teacher, Beldaruit, cradled his shaking frame and told him he'd be safe in their keep, and offered not only their support, but their teachings. He'd easily accepted, having nowhere else to go. He was hardly the most studious child at first, often stubborn, often making trouble. But at least he hadn't done it alone.
He'd made a friend in Olruggio, a boy in a similar situation of witnessing death before his very eyes. His father sent him here, an experienced Hunter himself, wishing for his boy to grow strong of will and join him in the field. Qifrey…didn't think he'd make it far, at first. He often paled at dissections, cut his fingers picking up the wrong side of the blade, froze up at taking the lives of even hungry hobgoblins that crept through the chambers of the Hall and hid under their beds. But in their differences bloomed friendship, a close and tight formed bond, despite any denial of its initial existence. Qifrey would teach Olruggio the right ways to handle his sword, and Olruggio's mastery of magic would comfort Qifrey after a harrowing nightmare, and things just happened, as they do.
They hardly spent a moment apart, both in and out of lessons. And when the time came to assign Hunting pairs, well, there was hardly any doubt in who they'd spend time in the field with. They learned a lot about each other in those long days and nights, setting traps and waiting by them. What else can two people do to keep each other sane in silences that could mean the arrival of the Reaper?
Qifrey often had trouble letting people in, but never Olruggio. Olruggio held his secrets, his amusements, his hopes, his fears…his heart. Yes, at one point. Perhaps at all of them. He finds it hard to tell, exactly. Olruggio was a star in the cold dark of his life, shining more brilliantly than any constellation in the sky ever could. Olruggio spoke often of their future, what they might do when they were grown, how they might change things. What their base of operations might look like, when they got assigned a Hunting Cabin of their own. How they'd teach their apprentices. The manuals they'd write. The prizes they'd hang off their mantle.
They were always an "us" in Olruggio's heart. Qifrey always wondered if that had extended beyond friendship.
He'd never gotten the courage, or the opportunity, to ask.
Early in their adulthood, something had gone wrong. Qifrey remembers it most nights when it gets too quiet during nightly surveys outside the cabin.
They'd just celebrated one year since moving into their cabin when a notice came in from the Knights — trouble in Kalhn, feral vampires, most likely — and they'd swiftly left on horseback, weapons in hand. They'd fought alongside strong allies, Easthies, Luluci, Galga, and managed to trim the attacking herd only somewhat before the devastation only persisted. Easthies had sent Qifrey and Galga to instead recover survivors, initiate evacuation protocols. Olruggio wanted to go with, but Easthies outranked them, and arguments were null. Three Hunters were, after all, better than two. "So are five!" He'd pushed back, but people needed to be saved.
And so they'd evacuated the neighborhood, with some aid from another guild in Kalhn. They'd helped in the fight, too, but only succeeded in driving the hoard out and upping their body count in the process. Qifrey had run until he tasted blood back to ground zero, where he'd fought alongside Olruggio only hours before, hoping to embrace his friend after the arduous trials of the attack and help patch his wounds; but his friend hadn't been there. When he'd cornered Easthies in a medic tent and demanded to know Olruggio's whereabouts amongst the wounded, he gave no answer. Rather, no answer that worked for Qifrey.
"We…lost sight of him in the battle."
"You must understand, even with the help of the Claw, the hoard's numbers were overwhelming."
"He'd run off to aid a young girl who'd been separated from her mother…"
"Steel yourself. We at least know he still lives. We found his pendant among the wreckage."
Olruggio's Pendant of Life, a glowing bismuth that harbored a small piece of his soul, being handed over to him had been the only thing keeping Qifrey's hands from twisting tight around Easthies' neck. Every Hunter gets one. A way to be tracked by your guild, proof of continued existence. Should the light go out, a funeral is held. A bed is cleared. A new Pendant gets forged for the next poor sucker who has to lie in it.
But Qifrey could never bring himself to unmake Olruggio's bed or throw away his schematics for Monster traps. He could never even move his riding boots from their spot beside the door. Not when the Pendant still glowed. He'd hung it in the window, amplified by a looking glass, hoping that Olruggio might wander away from wherever he'd been taken in search of home. In search of him. He'd sat by the door every night since that one, staring at those damned filthy boots, suddenly missing Olruggio's habit of tracking in dirt after the nightly survey.
He did this every night, for months that turned into a year, up until the Pendant stopped glowing.
𒅒𒈔𒅒𒇫𒄆
Qifrey hates that that night still haunts him. Though he never quite moved on from Olruggio's absence, he has a welcome distraction from its phantom presence in his living room window.
He'd come away from that fight with more than just his trauma; after a year of sitting in silence, Luluci had shown up at his door with a young girl who shook in her shadow. In the aftermath, Galga had pointed her out as the girl Olruggio had been trying to save when he'd gone missing. Luluci introduced her as Agott Arklaum.
"We at the Hall believe her to be in great need of a teacher," she'd explained to him, or rather, tried to convince. "Beldaruit suggested you, naturally. She…startles, but she's a quick study. She'll be useful to the Knights with the proper guiding hand."
He'd refused at first, of course. He was hardly keeping it together on his own, how could he possibly take on an apprentice? What could he teach her while he was still in mourning?
Though, they'd always talked about this. Teaching together. And perhaps company would be nice. And he'd been trying to save her, hadn't he? Caring for things Olruggio cared for always came easy to him, anyway.
Qifrey had kept Luluci in suspense until sunset, when his decision was made. He'd take her and he'd teach her and she'd never leave his sight, the first promise he ever made to her. Not like her mother had done to her, not like the Knights had done to his friend. He'd taught her patiently, and taught her patience. Agott ached to excel beyond her years, to run out into the field and take a Monster's head on a pike for her mentor's empty mantle, but for many reasons, he put emphasis on taking it slow. (And he likes to think she is growing to appreciate it.)
When Qifrey had finally found his rhythm for spreading the Knights' wisdom, another lost girl had fallen into their midst. Quite literally, actually. A fiery girl with strawberry hair, stuck inside a tree they'd passed by on one of their surveys of the woods. A branch had broken and she'd fallen right into the path of their horses, spooking them both half to death. Told them she'd been running from a purple wolf with glowing white eyes, and thought to do nothing else. When they'd taken her back to their cabin for a hot meal and bandages, she'd gotten stars in her eyes when she saw they bore the mark of the Knights, and pleaded to be allowed to stay and learn from them. Qifrey learned her name was Tetia.
Richeh had come to them on her own accord, all the way from the Hall of Knights. Whispers float around the Hall, apparently, of the way Qifrey teaches. They scorn him somewhat, and that deeply intrigued her; for since she has an unorthodox way of learning, she'd rather by mentored by someone with an unorthodox way of teaching.
And so it's been the four of them living inside the sturdy walls of the cabin for a while now. Teachers of the Knights can often expect to take up to five apprentice Hunters in their first seven years, and Qifrey had done over half that in less than two. Their presence brings him peace, helps to mend a hole in his heart he still pretends isn't there. He learns from them daily as much as they learn from him. How could he not, when they are the reason for his getting better? His Agott, His Tetia, His Richeh. He truly owes them the world. It's hard to think in a few weeks, they'll be taking their first survey on their own.
Even more so in moments like these.
"Mr. Qifrey! We need your help!" Tetia's squeaky voice rings out as she runs inside from the stables. "Agott's horse has got out again!"
"She wouldn't so easily "get out" if someone remembered to latch the gates closed every morning!" Agott growls, rushing up the back staircase and into the cabin for her hiking boots.
"Horses should roam, every once in a while," Richeh calmly reasons, watching the chaos from her seat by the window. "We have fences up for a reason."
Agott shouts from the sunroom that "a horse can jump a blasted fence if it so pleases, that's why we don't let them roam!," and Qifrey softly huffs a sigh. Though, he can't help the smile that works it way onto his features. There's always damage control to be done with these three.
Agott nearly rushes right past him on her way back out the door, and he manages to catch her shoulders in her emotional whirlwind.
"Now, Agott," Qifrey says, his tone soothing. "Surely you're not going to look for Emily on foot, are you?"
Agott bristles with irritation. "The sun has yet to set! I'll return before nightfall, I promise, but I have to retrieve her!"
"While I understand your eagerness and concern, we must always leave this place together until you all are old enough to venture past our outlined perimeter. You know that."
Agott sighs bitterly, worrying the inside of her cheek as her stubborn gaze falls to the floor. "I…know," she concedes. "I just..worry she's gotten far into the woods! If we're going, we'd do best to go now."
Qifrey easily lets her go, as it seems she's at least calm enough now that she won't run blindly into the forest, and makes for his ready bag he keeps by the front door. "Then we'd best not waste much more daylight. Richeh, Tetia, make haste with your boots and packs. We'll just have to start our survey earlier tonight."
"Yes sir!" Tetia chirps, giving a salute to Qifrey before running into the sunroom herself. Richeh's answering noise is a bit less commital, but she drags herself from her window seat nonetheless. Agott waits by the open back door, fiddling anxiously with the pendant around her neck. Qifrey offers a hand on her back as a temporary comfort.
When Tetia and Richeh return geared up, Qifrey leads them outside, latching the back door tightly behind them. It rained earlier, smudging the seal of protection he draws on it whenever they're absent. He redraws it quickly as the girls saddle up, and joins them in the stables, helping Agott onto his own horse after he does the same.
"Hold tight to me," he tells her, and then they're off.
𒅒𒈔𒅒𒇫𒄆
Qifrey does not often take the girls this far into the woods, but at least this is for a good cause.
It's just after dusk when they finally come across Emily's hoofprints. They tie their horses along a perimeter fence of someone else's design, and then tie a connecting rope to themselves, following the prints down a path illuminated by moonlight.
"Stay close to me, girls, and to each other," Qifrey instructs softly. "Move in time with my steps. Hands on your weapons at all times. If you hear anything besides us, tug on your ropes."
His girls all make soft sounds of their acknowledgment behind him. With the presence of a perimeter fence and a manmade path comes the insinuation of an area that's been swept, or at the very least laden with traps, but Qifrey keeps his head on a swivel. There's never any telling what creatures may still lurk in this part of the forest.
A sudden snap! of branches ahead of them stills their movements all at once. Qifrey quickly extinguishes his lantern, his grip on the hilt of his own sword tightening. They wait to see what may jump out at them and attack but- oh no. Just a rabbit.
Tetia softly gasps as the grey thing hops across the path and back into the brush. "Aww, little bunny!" She whispers.
"Would you mind staying focused, Tetia?" Agott chides.
They continue on the path until they come to a clearing surrounded by skinny birches. The tracks stop here, and the pathways carved into the wall of trees could lead them absolutely anywhere. Qifrey sighs a bit bitterly, preparing himself to deliver the bad news.
"I...don't believe the tracks go any farther than this," he confesses, turning to face the girls.
Agott, predictably, can hardly mold her face to hide her shock and disappointment. "That can't…she must be out here somewhere. Could we…just try a new path?"
"Agott…" Qifrey tries. "It's really getting quite late. Perhaps we can try again in the daylight hours and -"
"Please, master!" She begs, her voice rising to a bit too loud in the quiet of the night. Lower, she asks again, "Please. We have to find her. What if…a Monster…"
Agott is really quite the sentimental child deep down, so attached to what she calls her own. Qifrey sees so much of himself in her, down to the way she digs her heels into the sand over matters of great importance to her. So often that can get her whatever her heart desires, if it's within Qifrey's means, but he can't risk their lives like this. He won't. Immovable force vs. unstoppable object.
Seeking compromise, he offers her, "Emily's pendant case still hangs in her stable, yes? When we get back to the cabin and you're all safe in your rooms, I'll check for it myself." He takes Agott's hand in his one not on his blade, squeezing it tight. "Its light still glowing when we left gives me hope. We'll find her better in the light of the sun anyway."
Agott grits her teeth, surely about to fire off some brand new argument when a brand new sound puts them all back on their guard. A rumbling of bestial footsteps, a shrill cry. Qifrey all at once fears a banshee, and is quick to gather the girls behind him when- a whinny…? A horse.
A black-speckled Appaloosa bursts through the trees in a flurry, sending leaves and branches flying in its wake. Emily, in the fur and flesh, racing as though being chased (and perhaps was) right towards them. Qifrey frees his hands in a flash to grab onto her reins, attempting to soothe the fit she's worked herself into.
"S-steady, girl!" He stammers, stopping her before she can mow them all over.
"Emily!" Agott smoothly unties herself from the line (Qifrey really regrets teaching her how to work ropes for her first month of lessons) to join him at her horse's side, reaching up to pet her crest. "It’s alright, girl, we've got you.."
"Goodness, where could you have run off to so far from home?" Qifrey asks Emily, who neighs in response. "You had us worried si-"
He notices something then that gives him pause. Out of the corner of his eye, he sees Agott does, too.
"W-what is it, master?" Tetia asks, still quivering a bit from the shock of Emily's arrival.
Richeh answers before he can. "There's something on her back."
Indeed, there is. Not just a something. A someone.
Wrapped in a battered cloak, breathing hard and shallow and positioned haphazardly across Emily's saddle is the frame of a small child. Qifrey pulls the hood of the cloak down to assess them, and sees it is another girl, her green hair so mussed that it would almost shield the bloody gashes that trail the length of her right cheek were Qifrey not standing so close. His breath hitches as he rushes to sit her upright, to check her over for anymore injuries.
"Girl, can you speak?" He asks, leaning into her, hoping she'll open her eyes. "What happened to you? Where did you come from..?"
"Please…" the young girl croaks, a weak hand reaching out to Qifrey's shoulder. "Please help…my village, my- m-my mother-"
She takes a shuddering breath, and promptly falls limp into Qifrey's arms.