Three full moon's had passed since his search had begun. Although he had patiently listened to the old man's tale, regretfully, Heero knew that there was little the other man could have told him about this monster's location. Not many others would have given credit to old geezers like that, but Heero had found that it was actually these older people that knew most of the accurate information about the monsters. Unfortunately, the monster Heero was looking for would not be found near the human civilization. To find her, he would have to travel to the accursed realm of magic, known as the dark woods.
As the legend goes, when life first started in the world, a great war existed between humans and monsters. Because of its weakness, mankind could not defeat these heathens. It would have been a slaughter and extinction of man if the gods had not shared in this hatred towards these creatures. Out of envy to their magical powers, the gods cast all monsters into the dark woods. There they were forced to spend their sinful lives hunting on one another and suffering the most painful of punishments. In the dark woods, no mercy would be granted, and no souls would be sparred.
The fate of the humans was contrarily blessed. Because of their love and respect for the all-powerful beings, humans were forever cherished in the eyes of the immortals. In return for eternal protection, humans had built large temples to give thanks and worship to the gods.
No human has ever traveled into these woods. In his life, Heero had never even seen the dark forest. Although he had an idea of what to look for, he had no idea of what to expect. Those few who had traveled near the woods often spoke of the thick black fog that marked the beginning of the demon's realm. No town was even remotely located near the edge of these forests. It was the place where monsters were born, and it was the place where human civilization could not go.
Since it was Heero's sole responsibility to eradicate any monsters from the areas just around the Sank kingdom, he had more than comfortably mastered the necessary skills to challenge any monster. But despite all that, even he felt reluctance to travel into the very heart of monster territory. There was also the fact that he knew nothing of the monster he was searching for. There had never been a creature born from two lines of demons. No one knew what kind of powers, if any, this monster could have.
Heero was abruptly brought back from his thoughts when he was suddenly pulled back sharply by his horse. The animal had been fairly restless since they had left the last town about twelve days ago. For this reason, he had found it safer to guide the nervous animal by foot. Even as he managed to calm his stallion companion, Heero felt an overwhelming power surround him. He looked ahead and simply froze.
The sky had divided into two parts. On his side, the sun shone ever so brightly, while the wind carried the soft tune of a refreshing winter. On the side belonging to the demons, the sky had no color. No clouds, no rays, no mercy. Even if a few rays of sunlight playfully entered into the demon's forest, they were instantly ripped apart by the sheer force of darkness. Just as he had heard from those few daring travelers, a large thick fog stretched about as far as he could see on either of his sides to form a well-defined border. Frequent flashes of lightening displayed that there was indeed a forest in all this darkness.
Heero closed his eyes as he tried to calm his own nerves. After the horse had calmed enough so as to not try and escape, the hunter reached into his sack and brought out a small round bottle. He opened the lid and threw his head back as he quickly drank the contents. Even as he wiped his mouth with the back of his hand, Heero could do little but grimace at the awful taste of the unicorn blood.
He found it strange that he had not grown accustomed to its taste. In his line of duty, drinking unicorn blood became almost like a habit. The powers that had once belonged to the deceased animal protected him from the magic of the monsters. Some believed that killing a unicorn was a price too high to pay for such a task; but to Heero, magic was magic. Unicorns were magical creatures, and like all others, he hated them to no extent.
So without further due, the hunter mounted his horse and marched into the darkness.
~End Part 1~
Onto part 2
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