A downpour of rain, humans with weapons and lanterns, mother and I running with nothing but our tunics and fur to keep us warm. She tripped and fell and as I went to go pick her up, I could hear the voices of our pursuers.
“Those Beastkin couldn’t have gotten far, find them!” I could hear their giant of a leader bellow out.
My mother struggled to her knees “Yimu, listen to me very carefully.” She took off her tribal pendant and put it around my neck. “Take this pendent, keep it safe, run as far as your legs can take you and no matter what happens do not look back, can you do that for me?”
I started crying “No! Daddies already gone! I don’t want to lose you too, Mommy!”
“I’m sorry Yimu, but I’d only slow you down. I wouldn’t live with myself if anything happened to you.”
My mom pointed to her bleeding twisted ankle
I started to panic, I knew she couldn’t walk on that leg, but I didn’t want to leave her behind either, there had to be something, anything I could do to save her. Then, my mother quietly held me in her arms.
“Yimu. Right now, the best thing you can do for me is live, and know that no matter what happens, as we become one with the wild, know that your father and I will always love you and watch over you” She wiped my tears away with her thumb “So promise me that, you will survive.”
I nodded my head, and after that, I heard one of our pursuers shout out. “I heard something; it came from that way!” As they headed in our direction
She pushed me away from her “NOW GO!” My mom shouted, and with my eyes blurry with tears I ran, I ran with every ounce of energy I had. All I could hear was our pursuers confronting my mom and her defiant screams, in the distance as I continued running.
Then I woke up. The sun beaming over my head stirred me from my sleep.” Ugh...that dream again” I woke up to the sight of an isolated grove and the remains of a campfire. How long has it been since I've had these dreams? 5-6 years? Well, at least every time I have that dream, I learn something new. I started to collect myself and grabbed a worn and tattered notepad nearby and started to write something in it sat up remembering what I was sleeping on, the side of a large wolf, my partner, and my friend.
“Morning Noma, did I wake you up?” I said as I stood up. Noma looked at me concerned then got up and started to brush his face close to me to comfort me. I just chuckled and patted his head “Sorry for worrying you. I’m fine, really”
I walked towards my bag, and pulled out my knee-length loincloth, Leather cropped vest, and breast band and quickly put them on. While personally, I prefer to walk around in the nude, we’re a short walk away from a small, developed town, so I got to deal with it for now. Normally I would also try to take a quick bath, but since we’re so close to town I figured that could wait until I delivered my “Cargo”
As I finished putting my gear on, I walked behind Noma, to the sight of a human male that I had tied up unable to move. A scruffy, unkempt man who would be considered disgusting in every sense of the word “Hey asshole...wake up” I said coldly as I kicked him awake.
The man had a startled confused look on his face. “Huh...what? Wh....where am I?”
He looked up and saw me standing above him and as it all came back to him the man started pleading “Please let me go! I... I was just trying to get money for food!”
Sure, everybody ambushes lone travelers, strips them of all their belongings, and sells them because they are poor and hungry. Happens ALL the time. I just rolled my eyes. “Give it a rest dude, you’ve caused a lot of people a lot of problems for months now. Broke apart families and ruined lives, the least you can do is accept your punishment with some dignity.”
The man instantly switched from an apologetic look to an irritated one. “Oh, look at you, don’t think your hot shit just because you got an oversized mutt as a pet”
Noma started growling, but I stopped him and snapped back “I suggest you watch your tone; Noma isn’t a ‘pet’ he’s my friend”
“Whatever, if it wasn’t for your “Friend” there I never would have lost to a tiny furball like...” Before he could finish, I kicked him on the side of his head slamming his body into the ground, completely unamused at him commenting that I was only 4’9. As he lay on the ground completely disorientated, as he did, I walked up to him and stomped his chest.
“You’ve got a real big mouth for someone who got their ass beat by a little girl.” I knelt and grabbed his collar “Let me make this perfectly clear, the ONLY reason you’re not dead right now is due to the guild paying me more to bring you in alive. So, I suggest you keep that in mind before I decide not dealing with your mouth is worth losing a fourth of my pay.”
The man just stood there in absolute silence, not daring to say anything that could set either me or Noma off. “Good” I said as Noma lifted the man with his mouth and threw him onto his back “Come on Noma, let’s go”
The settlement in question is one I've grown to frequent whenever I need supplies, sell things or pick up and drop off bounties, at first it was largely out of necessity, but over time I found myself growing quite...fond of the place and many of the people living there. The first time Noma and I came here it went about as expected, with me being both distrusting and having no idea what to do. Nowadays though, the sight of a beastkin wolf girl popping in from time to time is rather commonplace. I still don’t trust non-beastkin completely, but I've learned to be polite with them. Having said all that though, there’s a reason I've chosen this settlement in particular.
As I approached the gates of the settlement and the guards let me in, I was greeted by a group of 5 local kids who have become familiar with me and noma at this point.
"HEY! It’s big sis Yimu!” One of them shouted. As they did several other kids started to crowd me. I couldn’t help but crouch down and smile
“Hey guys, it’s been a while.”
“You catch another bad guy sis?”
“Yep, you wanna see?”
The kids started clamoring to get a good look at the bandit. One of the boys wanted to smack the bandit in the head with a stick, but a girl stopped him telling him the bandit might still be dangerous. I got a chuckle out of their roughhousing as 2 people from the Delver’s guild showed up having got word of my latest catch.
“Ah Yimu, caught another one I see.” One of the Delver's guild members said approaching me.
“Yeah, not to get to the point but you think you can take care of this guy for me old man?
“Please don’t call me that. But sure. Make your way to the guild house and once you’ve been cleared you can get your payment.”
“Thanks.” I turn around to Noma and the kids “I’ll be back in a little bit, you guys have fun, ok?”
“OK!” The kids shouted at once while Noma gave an enthusiastic bark.
Not too long after that I eventually made my way to the delver's headquarters near the town square, and after a few minutes of being bored out of my mind watching the human female receptionist who was only a few years older than me fumble around with some weird panditan contraption, I finally got my payment.
“Identity confirmed and payment approved, Nice Work as always Yimu, Here’s your payment”
“Ah Thanks, Lorna”
“I got to say, I can’t get over how someone as young as you would be skilled enough to hunt local bandits regularly.” She sighed as she reminisced “I still remember when you first came in here a few years ago when I just started to work here as an apprentice. You on the other hand weren’t even 10 years old and you were begging me to give you a bounty. You were incredibly persistent, so I thought I'd give you something small like dealing with some wild animals that had been messing with local crops. I was honestly surprised that you came back with several freshly dead deer and a huge wolf carrying them all after just a few hours.”
“Yeah, and then I told you to stop messing around and give me a real job” I said as I counted my money
“Well, I can’t give you really big bounties since you’re not an official delver, but after seeing what you could do, I was able to convince the guild to allow you to be a freelancer. Speaking of which, have you ever considered being an official delver? You’d probably have a really good chance at passing. You could finally start making some real money if you did”
“Thanks, But I'm not interested in doing this as a job.”
“Aww, that’s a shame.”
“By the way did you find any new info about the guy I'm looking for?”
“Nothing yet, for someone so big and dangerous he sure is a pain in the ass to find. Really all I know is what I already told you, that they are a former bandit boss, and they are currently hiding out somewhere in the surrounding area, and you’ve already gone through all the bounties that could give you clues so, aside from that I've got nothing else.”
I sighed heavily frustrated that I kept running into dead ends
“Well, I’ll keep looking. If I find anything you’ll be the first to know”
“I appreciate that.”
“What does he look like again?”
“Big man, almost twice as tall as me, incredibly strong, use a really large ax, and has a unique scar on his chest.”
“Got it. I’ll let you know if I find anything, and I'll save some bandit bounties for you that might help”
“Please and thank you.”
Me and Lorna said our goodbyes and I went back to get Noma and found him playing with the kids. The kids were all pretending to be Delvers with Noma acting like the big bad beast they need to beat. Obviously, Noma was holding back at worst hitting them with love taps (the kids asked him to)
As the kids were kind of allover Noma with him playing the part of the defeated beast. As they saw me one of the kids approached me.
"Look! The monster's master has come to avenge them"
"Guys come on it’s getting late, and I really want to go home"
"Everyone prepares to fight the tiny monster lady!"
Now, someone with a cooler head would remember that they are just kids and not let them get to me over my height...I am not one of those people.
"Oh, so that's how you want to play it huh? FINE!"
"Ahh run away!"
"Get back here you little bastards!" I played along with their game and chased them around for about an hour. Eventually, the sun was setting and finally, I was allowed to leave.
“Will you be back soon, big sis?” one of them asked me.
“Of course, just promise me you all will be good and stay out of trouble, ok?
“OK!” They all said in unison.
Then Noma and I made our way home. As we strolled along, we walked by a large oak tree and as we did Noma stopped and looked and I did the same.
“Brings back memories doesn’t it Noma?” I said as Noma barked in Confirmation. “We’ve come a long way since then. Honestly, before I found you, I was ready to just give up on everything.” As I said that Noma started nuzzling on me as he did all those years ago as if to tell me to not say things like that.
“Hehehe, it’s ok Noma, I don’t feel like that anymore. Besides, I can’t imagine how you’d last without me”
Noma had an unamused look on his face, lowered his head, and rolled me onto his back, barking commandingly.
“Hahaha, yeah, you’re right we should hurry up and head home. You’re probably hungry and I seriously need to clean up. Alright then. Let’s go!” As I said that Noma sprinted off with me on his back making our way home.
A few minutes later, we made our way to a large cave, covered by a large leather curtain stitched with leaves and branches that covered the narrow opening, making the entrance impossible to see if you didn't know where to look.
“Nual! I’m Back!”
As I shouted out, a male wolf beastkin cub a year or so older than me and completely in the nude came up from behind the curtain.
“Oh Yimu, welcome home. The hunt went well I take it?”
“Yep, turns out the guy wasn’t as big as his talk. Course he just had to take a jab at me working with Noma”
Suddenly I heard a familiarly annoying voice come into my head. “Of course, he did. Anybody with common sense could tell you that.”
Just then a female wolf similar in size to Noma walked out from the cave, the wolf while strong and vibrant with life still had signs of age on her.
“I can’t imagine a lot of people would make any excuse to justify losing to one so...seemingly unimpressive.”
Seeing her left me with an irritated frown on my face. “Hello to you too, Vesia.”
“Oh, don’t be so moody child. I’m just worried about Noma. Poor boy can’t even communicate telepathically yet. Besides, no matter how you feel, you can’t deny that when it comes to combat Noma does a lot of the heavy lifting between you two.... not that there’s that much to lift in the first place.”
“What was that you old bitch?!”
“Alright, Alright. Calm down you two. Vesia, be nice, you know how Yimu gets when you talk about her height.”
Vesia just started chuckling “Nual honey, I was just having some fun with her. No big deal. Right?”
“Riiiiiight. Anyway, could you go and make sure the food doesn’t get burnt?”
“Sure. I’ll uh...leave you two alone.”
Vesia chuckles as she's about to back inside the cave, but before she does, she turns to Noma and winks at him, which causes Noma to blush.
Then Nual turns to me and starts to talk me down. “Sorry, I keep telling her not to poke at you like that but exploding the way you do definitely doesn’t help things.”
I let out a heavy sigh. “UGH! I honestly don’t know what you see in her Nual.”
“Eh, she’s not so bad once you get to know her, besides she’s been with me for as long as I can remember. Saving me when I was abandoned to watching over me when I was at the orphanage. She’s pretty much the closest thing I have to a mother or even a big sister. She’s only as harsh as she is because she’s worried.”
“Eh I guess you’re just stuck with her, if only she wasn’t so...what's the word? Aloof about everything.”
He said as he chuckled “Eh you get used to it. Any leads by the way?”
“Nah, the idiot didn’t even know who I was talking about. And I thought I had a good one this time too.”
“Damn. Well, I'm sure you’ll find who you're looking for eventually”
“Yeah, with any luck I’ll...”
As I was talking, I started to sniff the air and noticed the mouthwatering smell of roasted pork.
“NUAL! You caught a wild boar?!”
“Huh? Oh yeah, a big one too. We got enough meat to last us for weeks so can eat as much as we want tonight.”
“YAY! Oh, it's been so long since we had actual meat!” I shouted as I jumped for joy.
“I know but, you haven’t cleaned in a while, have you? Go to the river and get cleaned while I finish up” handing me a bar of homemade soap
“Got it!”
“Come on Yuvia, help me finish up.” He says as he walks back inside the cave and the large female wolf follows behind him.
I grab the soap and bathing basket and quickly ran to the nearby river undoing my breast band and loincloth as I did, before taking a deep breath and cannonballing into it. I could have just grabbed a basket and rinsed myself off, but I love the feeling of swimming in the river, the cold crisp water carrying the dirt and grime on my body down the river. No sooner than after I come up for air, am I met with the sight of Noma bellyflopping into the river, making an audible splash that could be heard in the surrounding area.
“NOMA! How many times have I told you not to do that?!” Noma started barking in a way almost akin to a chuckle and started using his tail to splash at me.
At this point, I started to get really aggravated “Oh, that’s how you want to play huh? Fine! Take this!” I said as I started splashing him right back and this went back and forth between the two of us for a good ten minutes before we got tired. Eventually, we got out and I started to clean myself properly, scrubbing my fur and skin and scooping water to rinse myself off.
As I started to wash my privates, Noma slowly walked up and started to meekly rub his nose against my crotch, and my feeling of shock was replaced with a feeling of mild annoyance knowing what this likely meant, I look down and as I suspected between Noma's legs, I see his large erect penis.
“Again Noma?” I said as I sighed. Noma started whimpering as if embarrassed over this. Normally animals have a set mating cycle, where during a certain time of the year when they are supposed to mate, but Noma's cycle has been active much more than normal, to the point where it’s similar to humanoids. When he’s like this he runs the risk of potentially trying to mate with various wild animals and potentially hurting them, so to keep that from happening I have to.... relieve him.
I sigh and shake my head “Lie on your back Noma.” Noma did as I asked and laid on his back, his veiny penis exposed for all to see. Nervously I went up to Noma, grabbed his penis pointing it skyward, and timidly started to stroke it. Noma’s penis is so large that I could barely grasp it with my hands, I often found myself needing to use both hands to rub him, feeling its throbbing warmth in my hands with each stroke, and as I did Noma was wagging his tail in enjoyment.
I noticed that these frequent mating periods lined up with me and Noma became more in sync and got stronger. Before I would only have to worry about this once every three months, but as we got stronger three months turned to two, then to one, and now I have to relieve him every two weeks, how long is it going to be before I have to do this every day? Would I be able to deal with that? As I was thinking that Noma started howling and without warning, he started to cum. It was such a large amount that it completely covered my hands and arms and almost got on my face.
“Ugh...you always shoot out so much” I said looking at my hands dripping in wolf cum. Noma rolled onto his side, wagging his tail in clear satisfaction while I just stared at him very unamused. I then walked over to the river to clean off my hands, and as I was about to put my hands in the river, I started to stare at them and thought about how...sticky Noma’s semen was. How gooey it felt as it trickled down my hands, how it's overwhelming smell made me feel light-headed. Without even thinking I found myself slowly inching my face towards my hands, my mouth open and my tongue sticking out.
“I wonder what it tastes like? Maybe....just a little...”
“YIMU! DINNER’S READY!”
At that moment, I snapped back to reality and dunked my hands into the river. My face was so red with embarrassment you could easily see it through my fur, as I asked myself what it was, I was about to do. Just then Nual walked into view and saw me crouching alongside the river.
“You alright? You look kind of out of it.”
“YES! I.....I'm fine” I said still absolutely flustered
“Hmmm...Well, whatever. Dinner’s done come on back”
“Right! Food! Yes! Uh...C-c-come on Noma.” My mind was so scattered that all I could think about was getting back to the cave and clearing my head. Maybe it was just my imagination, but as I was walking past Nual, I could have sworn I could see a small smirk on his face.
Later on, in the evening Me, Noma, Nual, and Vesia all sit down around a campfire in a cave filled with both handcrafted items as well as things we bought from town with the money, I made from taking bounties as well as selling animal pelts to the local vendors. Me and Nual were both sitting down eating pork off the bone with nothing but the fur on our bodies to keep us warm. Some might look at this as savage, but I've always enjoyed this lifestyle it's just so...freeing, and I've known Nual long enough that being naked in front of him was no big deal, in fact, he was the one that got me into it.
We just started catching up as I had been away for a few days, joking and laughing about the guy I caught, and just enjoying each other's company while Noma and Vesia were fighting over the meat.
“Hey! Quit it you 2 there’s plenty for everyone to have their fill!” I shouted
Nual with a smile on his face suddenly spoke up. “This kind of reminds you of when we first met, doesn’t it?
“Oh, don’t get sentimental on my now”
“Honestly when I think about it, it’s funnier than anything else. You looking like you didn’t bathe in months, slowly inching your way to steal some of the food I had collected that day...”
“...Only for you to shoot an arrow so close to me it almost grazed my ass!” I finished
“Hahaha yeah, that yelp you made was great.”
“Please don’t make light of my trauma. Me and Noma hadn't had a proper meal in weeks at that point because we didn’t know how to hunt properly and had to survive off of scraps, and then I find you, not even a year older than me with a big pile of food, thinking it would be easy to take some food and slip away. I legitimately thought I was going to die when you shot at me. So, me and Noma were ready to fight for our lives and....”
“Then your stomach started to growl loud enough to be heard by me, and then you passed out on the ground”
“Certainly not my proudest moment." I said as I looked down on the ground in shame.
Nual just started laughing “Well it all worked out in the end, right? You got taught how to hunt to feed yourself and I made a new friend.”
“Don’t tell me the only reason you helped me was that you were lonely.” I said with a snarky tone.
“Maybe?” he said with a wry smile, the 2 of us started laughing. I always enjoyed these back-and-forth moments with Nual, knowing I can talk to him about anything. He taught me how to hunt and fight, but I also consider him my best friend, and I wished the 2 of us could just stay like this forever. But...
“Nual, I'm grateful that you helped me out when you did. Because it means I have a chance to find.... him.”
Nual sighed and crawled over to me. “Yimu, don’t you think it's time you gave up on this quest for revenge?”
“This again Nual?” I asked as I stared in his direction.
“I’m just worried about you that’s all. You’ve been running yourself ragged lately. When you’re not out on bounties, hunting, eating, or bathing, you’re training yourself to the point of exhaustion and any spare money you make is spent on training manuals about how to fight alongside various animals.”
“They helped you get stronger too, right?
“True enough, I’m just worried you’re going to end up hurting yourself before you even have a chance to fight the guy.”
I stared at Nual with a piercing gaze before giving him a playful job on his arm. “Nual, you don’t know how I'm happy that you’re worried about me. You’re the only one I've told everything to, so the fact that you care enough to try to stop me means more to me than you know. But this has been haunting me for years now, and I won’t be satisfied until I've smashed that bastard's face with my foot. I won’t ask you not to worry, just understand I have to do this.”
Nual had a face betraying his reluctance to drop the issue. “Ok how about this. Why don’t you take a break?”
“A Break?”
“I mean you said so yourself you’re run through all the bounties that could give you any clues, now might be a good time to rest”
“I'll sleep on it. But until then...” I said, and without warning, I snatched Nual’s portion of meat out of his hands “I think I’ll take this as your punishment for being such a worry wart!”
“Huh? HUH?! HEY! Give that back!” Nual said as he tried to get his meat-bone back, but I kept it just out of arms reach and the 2 of us tussled around play fighting. I started to munch on meat while I held Nual back with my foot and as we were fooling around my foot slipped and Nual fell on top of me between my legs with his flaccid dick touching my pussy.
Noma and Vesia stopped for a moment to look at us, and Nual and I stared at each other in silence before remembering the 2 of us were butt naked and separated our faces starting to go red under our fur.
“I...I... I’m sorry Yimu, I did...I didn’t mean to...”
“N-n-no. I-it's fine, that was my fault...to begin with.”
The 2 of us just sat there in awkward silence for so long that it was all most suffocating
Finally, Nual spoke up “Maybe we should finish up and go to sleep”
“Yeah”
The 4 of us finished dinner in very awkward silence, with Vesia, in particular, looking somewhat disappointed.
Later that night, I lay on my floor mattress unable to sleep, still thinking about earlier with Nual, despite how awkward it was I didn’t hate it. If anything, it felt so natural. I started to massage my boobs thinking about what might have happened if Nual was erect, I was inexperienced with sexual things, but I wasn’t completely ignorant to it, and playing with Nual like that actually sounded kind of fun.
I closed my eyes and as I did, I slowly started to rub my clit. But as I was fantasizing about Nual, I started to think of something else. The warmth of Noma’s Pulsing Penis, and the strong stench of his semen overwhelmed my nose. I took my hand remembering the gooey liquid that was on it and began to breathe deeply as if the scent of Noma’s semen was still there.
Multiple thoughts of Noma and Nual filled my head, memories of all the times we all fought, hunted, ate, and played together, but sometimes there were flashes of images of me offering myself to Noma as his mate and others of me having sex with Nual and as they flashed back and forth between each other my heart started to beat faster and my tail began to wag on its own. I started to rub faster and faster and faster until a feeling akin to a bolt of lightning went through me causing my body to stiffen before I lay on the mat exhausted.
As my mind cleared up, I open my eyes and stared at the night sky. “What is wrong with me?” I said out loud softly “Why am I even thinking about stuff like this?” Fantasizing about Nual was easy enough to explain, but Noma was a full animal even if he was still a Mana Beast, and for some reason when I thought of Noma my emotions got more intense. “Ugh...dreaming about becoming a Mana beast’s mate. Maybe Nual’s right, I need to take it easy.” I mutter to myself as I slowly drift to sleep.
The next day I told Nual that I would take a month-long break which he was VERY happy to hear. During that time, I was just relaxing helping Nual gather food and water, and just enjoying his company. Sometimes I would even visit the settlement just for the sake of it. Now that I think about it, I don’t think I ever went to the settlement for anything other than business, so it was a new experience for me. But as I started to wander around the settlement, I ran into a very familiar face.
“Lorna?”
“Oh. Hey Yimu”
“What are you doing here?” I asked
“I was going shopping. Though I should be asking you the same. You never come to the settlement outside of work.”
“Yeah, well I thought I'd take a break from bounty hunting so much, figured it would be a nice change of pace”
“Ah, I see. Well in that case...” Lorna then put her arm around my shoulders. “How about I take you out to my favorite eatery. My treat. “
"You sure about that? I don’t want to hold you up.”
“Eh today's my day off anyway, I got time. Come on, let’s go!” She says as she tugs at my arm
“Alright, alright just stop pulling me!”
So, Lorna took me to this simple-looking place filled with all sorts of different foods. Most of which were sweets that I never really bothered to try, and I was amazed at how many different flavors there were to the point where I thought I would get addicted to them. It was a short visit no longer than an hour or 2, but afterward, we promised to me up again the next chance we could.
As I headed back home, I realized, for the briefest of moments I had forgotten all about my desire for revenge. I started to think it wasn’t that bad to just relax and take in everything and made me appreciate how non-beastkin lived. But as much as I would enjoy this, I still had a job to do. Once this is all over though...well, that’s stuff I’d worry about later.
One day, 3 weeks into my month-long break, I was practicing my archery; I pulled the arrow on my bow ready to fire, and as I did the arrow started to glow with a faint silver light...
“YIMU!”
As I was about to fire a voice called to me from the side, I turn to see Nual walking towards me
“Oh Morning Nual”
“You go back to practicing?”
“Yeah, this month-long break has been nice, but I figured it’s time for me to get back to practice, I wouldn’t want to start getting rusty”
“Hmm...In that case, you want me to help you with that?”
I thought for a second before realizing what he meant “Oh yeah. It’s been a while since we did that didn’t, we? Sure, I could use the help”
We took a short walk to a small clearing, the 2 of us walked towards the center and stood in front of each other with several feet of distance between us. Noma and Vesia noticed us moving and stood on the side to watch.
“Ready?”
I nodded “Ready”
I rushed him and went for a swift kick, he blocked it and then countered with a swift punch which I avoided. The 2 of us began going back and forth trading and dodging blows with each other, to onlookers this might just come off as 2 kids playing fighting, but this basic form of unarmed combat is meant to be used with archery against enemies that managed to get too close. Though I will admit I probably go for kicks more than I should, I just enjoy the feeling of shoving my foot in someone's face.
This went on for a couple of minutes with me and Nual starting to get our fur soaked with all the sweat and it looked like I was gaining the edge, so I went for the finishing blow, but as I tried to land a high kick he ducked and grabbed my crotch.
This completely took me by surprise, and I backed off, but before I could ask what the hell he was doing, he kicked me and sent me flying a good 10 feet.
“And that’s my win”
I shot upright and was irritated “NO FAIR! That’s playing dirty!”
“Anything goes in a fight, right?”
“Yeah, but you can’t just grab a girl’s private parts like that, if it was anybody else, you’d be is SO much trouble”
“Well, I'm glad it’s you then.” He said with a sarcastic smile. I just glared at him completely unamused, and he started to laugh nervously. “Ok, ok, I'm sorry. Will you forgive me?” He said as he held out his hand to help me up. I looked at him for a moment before grabbing his hand...and then kicking him right in his crotch
“Now I forgive you” I said as I got up and he collapsed to the ground in pain. I started to walk away and as I did Vesia walked up and sat down next to him.
“Boy, you know you deserved that.
“Yes, I know! Shut up!” Nual said still on the ground in pain.
Vesia started to bark akin to a laugh and I couldn’t help but do the same as I went back to the cave.
Finally, at the end of my month-long break, I put on my tribal gear and prepared to go into town to get a bounty to hunt.
“Oh, you’re heading out? Feeling up to it?” Nual said as I was girding Noma to ride on him.
“Yeah. This break was just what I needed I haven't felt this refreshed in a long time.”
“Hey, I heard that work is kind of slow on the bounty board, might be a good idea to wait another week.”
“Thanks, but as much as I needed this break, I’m ready to get back to work. Though I’ll probably take an easy job to get myself back into the swing of things, shouldn’t take me more than a day or 2”
“Yeah....yeah that’s a good idea. Hey, I found another wild boar lurking nearby, how about I make that for you when you get back?”
“Sounds good! See ya later then!” I ran off looking back as Nual waved at me with an oddly sad smile on his face. I didn’t think too much of it as I made my way to the settlement. When I got there, I did the usual, greet the guards, leave Noma with the local kids and make my way to the guild house. Though this time I did decide to buy one of the town pastries that I've grown fond of along the way.
I finally made my way to the guild house and as I went in and saw Lorna wasn’t there. When I asked where she was someone said she was called to the back, I probably should have waited but curiosity got the better of me, so I snuck back there when no one was looking and found her turning on this weird projecting device and when she did a transparent screen of light appeared with a person I've never seen before talking through it.
“Report.”
“Yes Guildmaster, our scouts have confirmed that the information given was correct and he’s currently situated in the Fey Forest about 400 Kilometers from here. From the look of things, it would appear he intends to stay there for some time making this our best chance. He has several others with him, but they all appear to be little more than henchmen.”
“Hmm...That Forest is incredibly thick and dense and filled with multiple hostile mana beasts, Correct?
“Yes Sir. Had it not been for the tip we got a few months ago we likely never would have even considered looking in a place so dangerous, as most normal people wouldn’t even try to hide there for an extended period. But of course, this is not a normal person we’re talking about.”
"And you’re absolutely sure it's him?”
She opens the folder and starts to go through the papers inside “8 feet tall, wields a massive ax like it’s a dagger, and an incredibly distinct scar on his chest. Exactly like our informant described. It’s Logan Kavuldun, sir”
“The Wildland Demon......I trust those sent to confirm the findings were not spotted.”
“No sir, our scouts were under strict orders to not engage the target under any circumstances”
“Good.”
A moment of awkward silence filled the air between them.
“Guildmaster are you sure about this?”
“Yes. He’s proven too powerful to be taken alive, and we cannot afford to have him, or his legion makes a resurgence.”
“That wasn’t what I was talking about Guildmaster. Surely you could afford a few freelancers to...”
“This is considered official guild business now, even if he isn’t as influential now, he’s still as dangerous a fighter as ever. It's much too dangerous to allow freelancers to join, they simply would not be able to keep up.”
“But sir....”
“...Lorna. You often mentioned in your reports about a young beastkin girl who has proven herself to be surprisingly capable. Yimu was it?”
I saw Lorna tense up when she heard my name.
“Yes, when I saw your reports, I was genuinely surprised at what I read. She has done much for her age and would likely make a fine delver if she chose to pursue that path. The girl has great potential and something so precious should not be squandered on things such as petty revenge.”
Lorna looked at the projection in shock “What?! Sir, how did you...?!”
“You accidentally left your.... personal notes in the copy you sent us.”
Lorna looked down with a gloomy and embarrassed look expression on her face. The Guildmaster took a much warmer tone to his voice.
“Lorna, you’re doing the right thing keeping this from her, don’t think otherwise. Besides the condition that Beastkin boy had in exchange for giving you that information was to specifically keep her away from Logan, correct?
“Yes Sir”
“As a member of the guild, you are duty-bound to honor all contracts to the best of your abilities. She’ll get over it. Just make sure you keep being a friend to her as you have. Are we clear?”
“.... Yes Sir”
“Good. High-ranking delvers are on their way to your position; they will be there in a week. Make sure to aid them however you can when they arrive. End of line.”
“Acknowledged”
So much happened all at once that it felt overwhelming. Were they talking about me? Is this the guy I was looking for? How did they know why I'm looking for this guy? And Beastkin boy? ...No. It couldn’t be. As I was thinking about this, the projection faded out and Lorna breathed out a massive sigh, puts the folder down on a nearby desk, and rubbed her temples with both of her hands while walking toward the window.
I could worry about this later, right now I had to look at that folder to make sure, for all I knew they might have the wrong guy. As I slowly sneak inside the room to make sure I'm not heard, and as I do, Lorna starts talking to herself.
“Why am I doubting this? The Guildmaster is right, Yimu cannot be allowed near that monster...This is ok.... right? Ugh...I'm going to have to save up to buy a lot of sweets for her once this is all over.” Lorna sighs again “I need to get some fresh air and clear my head”
She says that she makes her way to the door leaving the folder behind and I hide near the desk to make sure she doesn’t notice me. After she locks the door behind her I spring from under the desk, I see the folder on the desk and letting curiosity get the better of me decide to look inside, and when I opened it, my heart started beating so fast it felt like it would burst out of my chest.
Inside was a picture of the man in my dreams that I’d been looking for. A bit rough but it was him. I started looking through the folder thankful that I took the time to learn how to properly read and it turned out to be a file going back several years with the latest entry being just a few months ago.
The guy on the screen mentioned personal notes Lorna wrote down, I looked for them and found everything about my intentions was there. What happened to my village, why I started hunting local bandits and so many other personal things that I’ve told to no one...but Nual. But why? Why would he tell the guild all this? When did he take the time to look for the guy? And why would he tell them to hide it from me?!
I was furious, my mind was racing my heart was pumping I wanted to tear this room apart in absolute anger and frustration... No. I couldn’t let anybody know I was here or that I found out, if I did, they would do all they could to stop me. I grabbed the picture of Logan and snuck out of the nearby window into the alley leading to the main street. I found Noma waiting for me likely sensing my distress and knowing something was wrong.
“We’re heading back home” I said simply.
Noma lowered his head for me to get on his back, and we both raced back to the cave. I already knew the location of the fey forest they were talking about as I had traveled past it a few times before while hunting other bounties. I could go right now but before that, I needed to talk to Nual and get some answers.
A Few hours after I left the settlement, I made it back to the cave and jumped off Noma's back.
“NUAL!!!” I shouted with as much power as I could muster. I could hear frantic rustling inside the cave and moments later Nual walked out of the cave with oddly sweaty and ruffled fur. Behind him was a visibly irritated Vesia.
“Y-Yimu. You’re back so soon.” He stuttered, then he noticed that I was incredibly upset “Yimu....what’s wrong?”
I walked up to him pulling out the picture I had in my pocket. “I’m just gonna come out and ask, does this picture look familiar to you?”
Nual’s eyes went wide when he saw the drawn picture. “W-W-Well... this is an interesting picture. Where did you get it?”
“Honey, just stop it.” Vesia said cutting in. “If she has that then she likely knows everything, there’s no point in playing dumb”
Nual reluctantly lowered his head and sighed. “Look...I’m sorry Yimu I...”
Before he could say anything, I rushed in and tried to punch him in the face, but he reacted quick enough that he managed to catch my punch in his hands.
“So, it was you after all!”
“Woah calm down, yimu I can explain!”
“Explain what?! You knew where the guy I was looking for was all this time and you never bothered to tell me! What’s there to explain!?”
As I was about to go for a kick, Vesia tackled me and pinned me to the ground.
“GET OFF ME!”
“Not until you calm down child.
Out of Nowhere Noma leaped onto Vesia and pushed her off me. They tumbled several feet before managing to land upright. The 2 of them just stared each other down both of them ready for a fight.
“You don’t want to do this, Nual. I am in a VERY foul mood” As she said that her flames started to emanate from her body coating her mouth, paws, and tail. Even seeing this Noma did not back down. The 2 of them charged at each other and started to fight darting back and forth at incredibly high speed
“Both of you stop it!” Nual tried to call out to them, but while he was distracted, I rushed him and pinned him to the ground, as Vesia and Nual were fighting in the background.
“You knew how important this was to me! You knew I spent the past 3 years looking for any trace of the guy with little to no rest.”
“I just didn’t want to see you get hurt!”
“What you think I can’t beat him?!”
“You didn’t see what I saw ok!? When I finally found him, he was currently fighting an elder mana beast. It must have been at least 30 feet tall, and with a single swing of his sword, he caused a shockwave so strong it not only killed the elder mana beast but also turned the entire section of trees behind it into a pile of splinters! Even for the most powerful of fighters, it is not normal to make an elder mana beast look easy. You don’t know how strong he really is!”
“YES, I DO!”
“What?”
I pulled out my old and tattered notepad
“Whenever I go to sleep, I always go back to that terrible night, and every time I do I do my best to remember as many details as I could about him. What he looks like, how he fights, how he sounds, his movements, his tendencies. I willingly threw myself into that nightmare to try and get as much information as I possibly can. I know exactly what I'm getting into, and I don’t care. I don’t care how dangerous it is, I don’t care if I die as long as I take him with me!”
There was a moment of silence while the 2 of us could hear Vesia and Noma fighting in the background.
“Yimu. I care. I didn’t keep it from you because I didn’t think you couldn’t beat him but the idea of you not coming back.... left me scared and I couldn’t just let you walk potentially to your death. Besides what about your mother? You told me that her last words to you were for you to survive right? Why on earth would you go against her wishes and throw your life away for something stupid like revenge”
“And what could you possibly know about that? You never even knew your parents! You wouldn’t know how it feels to have everything you love, to have everything you ever cared for be ripped away from you in a single night!
I felt myself getting more and more emotional to the point where I found myself unable to hold back tears “Don’t you get it Nual?! I can’t go the rest of my life with these nightmares. This will only end when I kill him with my bare hands. My Heart, Soul, and every strand of fur on my body is screaming at me, demanding that I kill him! This is my fight, and it had to end by my hands!”
“No child, this isn’t just YOUR fight.”
I turned around to see Vesia walking towards us with Noma on her back covered in wounds and burn marks.
“NOMA!” I screamed as I rushed over to him.
Vesia rolled Noma off her back onto the ground “It's ok, they are just flesh wounds and first-degree burns. He should be fine after a couple days of rest.” Vesia then turns to Nual. “Nual, you are unhurt?”
“Yeah, I'm fine, she didn’t hurt me too badly. “
“Good. Now then.”
Vesia then knocks me down and plants her paw on my chest and got close to my face.
“Vesia what are you doing?!” Nual shouted.
“It’s fine Honey. I won’t do anything to her.” Vesia then turns back to me “Now listen to me very carefully Yimu. If you truly wish for vengeance that badly, then I won’t stop you. But if you don’t care about your life, at least care about Noma's. “
I looked at her in confusion, why was she bringing Noma into this?
“No matter how strong you think you’ve gotten, you know deep down that without Noma you have no hope of making it back alive. You need Noma for you to have any chance of winning, and even if you do, can you honestly tell me you could live with yourself if Noma ended up dying because you dragged him into your selfish quest for revenge?”
I looked up at her completely stunned, all this time I never once thought about what would happen if Noma died because of me. I couldn’t help but feel ashamed after that.
“I understand what you’re feeling better than you know. But this stopped being just about you the moment you and Noma became partners. Even if you could live with yourself, I can promise you I wouldn’t.... Keep that in mind before you try to do anything stupid.”
Vesia took her paw off my chest and walked towards Nual.
“Ugh...now the mood is completely ruined, I'm just going to get some sleep. Go comfort the child will you dear?”
“Sure. Sorry about that.”
“Eh we can try again later”
Nual ran up to try and help me and Noma. Surprisingly Noma was well enough to walk, although he was more limping than anything else, and was able to get to one of the nearby cots to rest. Several hours passed and Nual just got done treating his wounds after which Noma fell asleep.
“There. He should be all better by tomorrow.”
“Right. Thank you.” I said as I just sat there staring at Noma in a complete daze.
“...You know. The wounds looked worse than they really were. Vesia honestly did a really good job holding back.”
“Mm-hmm”
Nual just sighed and sat down next to me. "Listen don’t worry about it. I told you Vesia is only as harsh as she is because she cares. Just let the guild handle it ok? Professional Delvers are some of the bests in the world. They’ll make sure he won’t hurt anybody else, ok?”
I simply nodded.
“Well, I’ll leave you two be.” But as he got up to leave, I grabbed his arm while still looking at Noma.
“Stay...Please.”
Nual smiled slightly and just sat back down. When he did, I put my head on his shoulder, and in-kind gave me a one-handed hug and pulled me closer to him.
“Sorry”
“It’s ok.”
The 2 of us just sat there in silence, as Noma slept in front of us.
3 days passed since then, and as Vesia said Noma was back to full strength after a day or so of rest. I was happy but at the same time, I had a hard time hiding the doubts in my mind, as Vesias words weighed on me more than I cared to admit.
Later that I lay on my cot in the cave and thought to myself, one day to reach the woods, one day to scope the place out, and one day to finish the job. If we left now, we could make it and get back with time to spare.... wait. We? I thought this as I started to realize all my ideas revolved around the assumption that Noma would always be with me. My plans and confidence all depended on Noma.
Even so, Vesia was right selfishly dragging Noma along my personal quest for revenge just wouldn’t be fair to him. So that got me thinking could I do this without Noma? I thought about it a little bit and I realized... I wasn’t sure. I was confident I could beat him with Noma I knew I could. The 2 of us together just couldn’t be beaten.... but on my own...I... started shaking. I was scared. That’s when it hit me...I could really die if I do this, and all my work would have been for nothing.
That’s when I started to think maybe it wouldn’t be so bad to give all of it up and just let the guild handle it and just live out my days quietly with Noma, Lorna, Vesia, and Nual. I was so torn on what to do, I want revenge but at the same time, I couldn’t do this alone.
Realizing this I got up and went to where Noma was sleeping. Noma got up excitedly and started to nuzzle against my chest.
“Hehe, Hey Noma. Feeling better?” Noma Nodded confirming he was ok and ready to go. “Good, good... Listen I'm going, to be honest with you. The last few days have gotten me thinking about how good we have it. Living with Vesia and Nual, hanging out with Lorna and the Kids in the settlement, and just living our lives easily. We got friends and families now so.... maybe it would be better if we... if I just forgot about killing logan and just letting the guild handle it. What you say huh? Wouldn’t that be great?”
This was probably the hardest thing I've ever had to do in my life, of course, I want to go after Logan, but not if it meant putting Noma's life in danger. If anything happened to him because of my selfishness... I don’t think I could forgive myself. It would hurt, and I'd probably have to live with the same nightmare the rest of my life, but if it's between that and potentially losing Noma....then I'm willing to bear with the nightmares.
But as I was thinking this, I saw Noma stare at me intently before lowering his head shaking it in disappointment and as he did, I swear I could hear the words
“Yimu, you’ve always been a terrible liar”
As I was wondering where the voice came from, Noma got up and walked to the deeper part of the cave and took my bow into his mouth, walked back, and presented it to me. I instantly knew what he meant.
“Are you sure?”
Noma nodded with determination. I found myself holding back a tear but pulled myself together and grabbed my bow from his mouth and hugged Noma as best I could.
“Thanks, Noma”
The 2 of us quietly prepared to set out, we had to leave tonight, or we wouldn’t make it before the guild did. It took little more than an hour to grab the essentials and we could just hunt and scavenge the rest. After we were ready, I got on Noma's back and set off, I said a few days ago that I didn’t care if I died as long as I killed Logan. But thinking about the past 5 years, I realized I have too much to just throw my life away. This isn’t just about avenging my family; it’s about moving on with my life.
I can’t just survive; I must live... I will live. That’s a promise.
End of Part 1
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