It has been a couple of days since Skadi and Grani had left the village, they had walked through the desert of BłędówKa and reached ashore where they set up camp. The crackling of a fire as the sun was descending into night. The two sat on logs Skadi had cut down to use beforehand and was cooking fish which was impaled on a stick, cooking over the burning fire. On the other side of Skadi was Grani who was eating a slice of apple pie. Cleaning her mouth, Grani set her eyes on the hunter who was staring at the fish she was cooking. "so, where are we going now?" she asked. Skadi's eyes flickered upwards, her eyes lighting up by the fire, and stared into the eyes of the Kuranta before the went back to the fish. "we are going back to Rhodes Island. But before we can do that, we need to head into the town close from here," she explained and pulled the now grilled fish close to her mouth, blowing on it to cool it down before taking a bite out of it.
"why though? Cant we just go back to Rhodes?" Grani asked with curiosity, a tilt to her head. Again, the eyes of the hunter flickered up and this time she had her gaze set on the female and retracting her food away from her mouth. She chewed the meat in her mouth shallowed before speaking. "no, we need new bandages for your wound, I wasn't expecting to be hurt so I didn't bring much." This got an Oh from the Kuranta before blushing, twirling her fingers and tilted her head down.
"A-Although, do we have to share the same tent? I have my own, you know... it's kinda lewd, isn't it?" Grani said stuttered out, whispering to herself the last part. Skadi rose an eyebrow, feigning ignorance even though she heard the last part perfectly with her sensitive ears. "no, we are sharing the same tent because we are in a free for all zone. bounty hunters or any other that will cause us trouble, its free game here so it's better for both of us stay in the same tent because of this." the hunter explained Grani nodded at the explanation and understanding the reason... though.. something in heart thoughts wanted to be different. She shook her head of the thought and noticed that they had eaten enough. Grani stood up and so did the hunter who drew a rune in the air before water poured down from the rune onto the fire, ending its blaze. Grani was curious about the runes, and she never did ask what they were.
"Hey, Skadi what was that? The thing you just did."
"My runes?" Skadi asked
"Yeah, those." Skadi hummed, not being prepared for the question since she doesn't use the runes often, nor has anyone been with her seen her use them. So, she decided to hummer the female. "alright, I can tell you inside the tent."
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Grani's ears twitched as the rustling of clothes and thee unzipping of the tent woke her up. Her eyes groggily opened and looked around inside the tent, rubbing her eyes to take the sleep off them. The cold breeze of the wind outside entered the tent from the opening. Grani turned her head to where the hunter should be sleeping but found an empty sleeping bag instead. Her ears picked up the sound of singing? She got curious and put on the rest of her clothes before heading out of the tent.
The Kuranta turned her gaze onto the clear ocean shore, the night sky filled with stars. The water glowed on the night, stars reflecting on the surface. She heard the humming louder and she recognized the voice in an instant. Her gaze turned, spotting a figure oh so familiar to her. The figure sat on a large rock, big enough for multiple people, her gaze on the ocean and sky, the pale moonlight reflecting both her crimson eyes, those that looked like they were in a trance gazing towards the moon, and silver hair that shined in the light. "Skadi," she whispered, like a small breeze in the wind, and an affectionate smile graced her face. Skadi looked beautiful the Kuranta thought and Hearing her name, The Hunter turned her head and greeted the Kuranta with a blank expression when sighting the female. "hey, Grani... didn't know you were up." the hunter asked, her voice soft like that of soothing and gentle waves, and yet, still monotone.
Grani didn't care about that, for one day she would change that one day, after, isn't that what friends do...? Though, deep inside the conciseness of Grani, a thought did occur... one so... Her smile grew larger and sat beside the hunter. "I was wondering where you were when I didn't find you in the tent." Her head turned and focused on the Kuranta. "apologize, I didn't mean to wake you up," the hunter told the knight. The gaze of the hunter went back to the moon and through the eyes of Grani, they seemed to glow in the night. Her heart rate beat faster longer she held her gazed at the Hunter, she quickly faced away, trying to calm her breath. "it's... just that, the scene in front of us reminds me of my homeland, Ægir." That got the interest of Grani, she has heard of Ægir before, just the name of course but nothing else, most of the knowledge of Ægir is unknown. so, she kept quiet and listened as the hunter continued speaking. "it was beautiful, you know? The Sea was clear, as it crashes onto the rocks and shore, the cold yet soothing wind blew that gently through the cites... but... That was before the breakout happened." She sighed in remembrance, her voice still melancholic as she spoke.
"The Old Blood they called, "The blood of an Old Great One," the Healing Church said where I lived, old Yharnam. Capable of healing any sickness or diseases. Fools they were to believe in that." She snorted in amusement. Grani was slightly surprised by the sudden action but did not question it. She was enjoying that her partner was showing more emotion. "Anyway, the people of Yharnam believe it after seeing the miracle the old blood could do. But like all things, it had a drawback. It would turn people into beasts, bloodthirsty werewolves and those who survived became deformed large men, their intelligence downgraded to that of a caveman but they had the strength to back up for their small brain." The hunter turned her head and looked at the Kuranta beside her.
"And wanna know what the Church did? They locked themselves in their great cathedral. They sent their hunters, black-robed killers every night in the shadows to hunt down people who have succumbed into beasthood without any mercy, while the white-robed members did something else. What do the white-robed ones do, you might ask? They went around the streets, bosting about the medical power of the old blood.
To make it worse, there was already a disease that haunted the people of old Yharnam. Ashen blood, it was called. A baffling sickness that ravaged Old Yharnam at that time, which I later found out that it was the church who brought it to Yharnam in the first. symptoms were like poisoning, so Antidote was used to treat it, the same ones I used when you got poisoned by that snake, though it only provides short-term relief and... for the perfect chance for the church to spread the news about the miracle blood." Her words dripped with venom and she clenched her teeth. Grani saw this and clutched the hand of Skadi who was surprised by the sudden touch but she didn't reject it. Rather, she sought comfort in it.
"you can stop now, you don't need to force yourself. Let's go back inside and you can tell me another time, okay?" nodding, the hunter followed the knight back to the tent but not before turning her head to the sea and she saw a glimpse of the moon turning crimson red before she turned her head back to the Kuranta.
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In an endless lake, in an endless sky, hung a red moon and the body of the creature who hid its haunting beauty. No land in sight, no clouds to be seen. Rom, the vacuous spider. the guarding that hid the Crimson moon from the mortal world layed dead on the surface of the water. a figure in blue and black walked towards the body, the female's feet walking on the water like the son of god from the bible. In her hand, a black zweihander that had bandages wrapped around the hilt and some parts of the blade itself. the figure walked towards the dead body. Its face shadowed but its glowing blood-red eyes shined through the black cover.
The job was done and the female had killed the obstacle in her path. Now there was only one last thing to do. The knowledge of Rom traveled to the sword-wielding figure, gaining insight... but that won't matter anymore. The figure had killed the only thing stopping the presence of the red moon from infection the people of the normal world. But with it, the black sword shined an arcane blue, covering the edges of the sword in its beauty, it empowered the cursed sword.
The normal world was sent into chaos. Creatures hidden away by the vail of Rom vanished and ran amuck on the people of Yharnam. But the hunter didn't care, she had a mission to do and now, all there was left was for the blood of an infant Great One to be spilled, a sacrifice the figure was willing to make, even if it meant angering the Old Great Ones. The figure's eyes traveled to the moon, the shadow hiding her features vanishing away to replace it to the face of a girl with pale skin, red eyes and silver hair. Her face was blank, the days of endless fighting made her apathetic and uncaring. But deep inside layed a girl who feared and wanted to be free. The female clenched her hands and she said to it with her sword pointed at the moon....
"prey slaughtered."
The hunter blinked and found herself standing on the bottom of a hill. On top stood an old man who was seated in a wheelchair. She knew this man. it was her mentor, the man who showed her the truth about the world. She walked forward, the white lilies underneath her shaking as her form brushed against them. She stood in front of her mentor. She knew the end was near but she could not give up yet, she still had one more promise to fulfill.