• Chapter 3: Hunting Corp.

    "I like it." the King replied with a smile. "Marianne and Alexandros Skyfaller. Very suitable. Now I would have you in my service, what say you?" the King asked, turning to them with a raised eyebrow.

    Alex looked back to Marie with a shrug. "Do we have any other choice?" he whispered to her. She too shrugged in agreement. Turning back to the King, Alex gave him a grim look. "We will aid you in what ways we can." he spoke confidently, and the King looked somewhat pleased.

    "Good." the King replied, walking back to his throne and sitting down with a thud. "Now what to do with you." he muttered, stroking his chin. "Putting you to work in the fields would be a waste. How about..." his voice trailed off. "We put you in the Hunters Corp." his voice resounded as if it were his final decision. "Yes, you would be perfect in the Hunters Corp. Captain get them settled in right away." he ordered, rolling his crown around in his arms. "Oh and Captain. Have the tailors make some clothes for them. We can't have them hunting monsters in Kergan fur sacks." he giggled at the sight of them.

    "Yes, my lord." the Captain replied, he grabbed Alex by the arm and the other guards grabbed Marie and led them out of the throne room. "Well, that went better for you than I had expected." the Captain started, and Alex gave him a bewildered look. "We thought for sure he was going to kill you. He likes killing things." the captain added and both their eyes shot wide open.

    How close had we really been to death just there? Alex thought as they rounded a few corners. He noticed that they were not coming back from where they had originally arrived. Was the Hunting Corp inside the palace? he wondered.

    "Oh right, I suppose I should probably introduce myself." the Captain said stopping the group to face them. "My name is Salogel Arren, but most of the men call me Captain Sal." he explained, taking off his helmet. He had brown eyes, pale white skin, brown hair, and a grim looking face with chiseled features. Like someone who had seen a lot of battles. "I am a Captain of the Guard here in Starlight." he continued. Alex simply assume Starlight was the city they were in.

    At this point he turned and continued to talk while walking. "You probably will see me a lot as you're going in and out of the city to go on bounties." he explained then scratched his head. "Oh right I should probably explain what you two will be doing." he continued, placing his helmet back on his head. "The Star Elven military is broken up into three divisions. The Guard, which defend the five gates. The Army, which trains in legions to fight back our greater enemies. And last but not least the Hunting Corp. The Hunting Corp has a bit more freedom than the rest, they have jobs posted, and Captains take their teams outside the walls and hunt whatever it is the posting wants done." he said as they turned yet another corner.

    How many corners have we turned now? Alex wondered. It seemed like an this place was nothing more than an endless maze of hallways.

    "You will be assigned a Captain and he will tell you where to go and what to do." he said as they rounded yet another corner. "Heck, maybe one day you'll be a captain of your own and you can pick your own team to take down some big monsters. Hell, maybe one day you'll even fight a dragon!" as he said this the other guards laughed as if it were some inside joke he didn't understand. "But that will have to wait for now. Now you meet Kainos." Captain Sal said as they rounded a final corner that had an actual exit to it.

    As they exited the maze of hallways they entered right into another building that much resembled a barracks. Small bunk beds lined the walls, some of them filled with Star Elven soldiers. Unlike the soldiers that guarded the walls who all seemed to wear similar armor, these soldiers seemed to be dressed much differently. Each of them wore unique kinds of trappings, some of them with little to no armor at all, others with very heavy armor. As they continued through the barracks, they made their way into a great hall where many Elves were running about looking as if they were preparing for war. Taking a door on the left, they entered a small room with a round table at which 8 elves were sitting around.

    At the end of the table was a very heavily armored elf. He was bald with a scar running from the base of his left cheek through his eye and past his eyebrow. Something very large had gashed him, and he had an eye patch over the eye. He had a gaze that could kill and looked like a very angry old man.

    Before Captain Sal could speak, the bald elf cut in. "Captain... why have you brought me two infant ogres dressed in sacks?" the elf growled as if annoyed that his time was being wasted.

    "Commander Kainos, I have been sent by the King with orders to deliver these two to the Hunting Corp for duty. They are now in the Kings service and will need food and lodgings." Captain Sal replied with a salute.

    "Thats fine and dandy Captain but what ARE THEY?!?!" Commander Kainos bellowed, and Captain Sal jumped back in fright.

    "S-sir, it is believed that they are the Sky Fallen of prophecy and the King most likely wants them tested." he replied hastily.

    Slapping his hand against his face, Kainos leaned onto the table. "So the Guard is hammering me to get my Captains to hunt Kulkin Dragons for armor scales, Albino Hydras for spearheads, Spine Boars for building materials, and Fire Drakes for wards. Meanwhile the army is pestering me daily for large supplies of Entling Wood for bows, Drake Teeth for arrows, Leviathan dung for the catapults, and Stonenet Spider String for Ballista's." Commander Kainos explained as he stood up to walk over to Captain Sal. "And you Captain come to me, with Sky Fallen? The Gods said to have fallen from the sky to play games with mortals? Either you are ******** with me Captain and I will put your head on a spike outside this door, or..." he paused for a moment to look up to Alex who had been standing in bewilderment the entire time. "You have brought me exactly what I needed." A devilish smile crossing the old elfs face.

    Captain Sal was nearly shaking in his boots as the Commander looked past Alex to Marie who, had remained silent for a very long time now, and was simply staring at the floor, her eyes darting left to right as if trying to make sense of everything.

    "You brought a woman?" Kainos growled. "What does the King expect me to do with a woman? Do her nails?" he mocked, and the other Elves in the room laughed lightly. "Maybe shell bake everyone cookies for the frontlines!" the Commander continued and began laughing hysterically with the rest of the room. "Wait... wait..." Kainos said through gasps of air. "Maybe she'll flash the monsters and paralyze them long enough to to..." he tried to continue but fell over laughing.

    Alex turned back to see Marie boiling over with anger, but before he could stop her she exploded. "Listen you one eyed little midget, if you ever talk down to me like that again I will come over there and drive my fist so far down your puny little throat I'll grab your a*****e and pull it through your mouth." she roared stomping her foot down so hard into the floorboard it cracked and splintered.

    Immediately the room stopped laughing, Alex, who had not been laughing to begin with, drew quite the impressed smile. Commander Kainos seemed to do the same.

    Kainos had stopped laughing and stared at where her foot had destroyed the floor, then looked up to realize she was a whole foot and a half taller than him. "Well now, that's something I can work with." Kainos said with a coy smile. "Hopefully you're as tough as she is boy, I'm putting you with Captain Gallan for now, GALLAN!" he shouted and another elf at the table rose from his seat.

    He was a bit taller than the commander but had a softer look about him. Dressed in green and brown camouflage that was tight to the body, he had bandoleers across his chest and waist, with extra pouches attached almost everywhere on his body. He had a sword, that would have been a dagger to Alex, and a large bow strung across his back.

    "Right, you want me to take them on some easy missions then?" Gallan said, cracking his neck as he glared across the room at them as if they were a threat. "Maybe some Spine Boars out on the grasslands? Should be easy enough."

    "No." Commander Kainos replied. "I want them on the next Entling mission you have, then I want them on the stone spiders. I assume you get where I am going with this?" he said turning to Gallan, who now had a cocky smile on his face.

    "Oh yeah, this is gonna be fun."