This is not what Scarlet looks like. Just her clothing so you had a better picture of how she travels around and her two favorite weapons. The locket around her neck is for emergency magic. More details on that later.
"Why? Why did I have to take on a job like this? Oh, wait! It's because I need money and only the well-known hunters get jobs like kill a dragon or slay the ogre." the blond-haired maiden slashed through the forest floor. Every stroke was one of anger and frustration. She didn't want to be here, but she had a job to do that only desperate hunters would take, which she was at the moment.
That stupid giant allowed her to take back the blood from her sword as proof, but those pig-headed men did the typical thing they do. They weaseled themselves out of the bet.
She made sure to preserve the blood in a bottle she had in her satchel. Walking in with a proud smirk across her face she slammed down the bottle as hard as she could without breaking it and gave the asshole who called her out the biggest and snarkiest grin she could muster along with the famous crossing of her arms over her chest. "Read it and weep. Proof. Now, where are my bags boys?"
The one that started this whole argument in the first place and seemed to be the leader of this four-man group picked up the bottle swirling it around just to make sure it was authentic. He even decided to take the cork off, flip the bottle upside down, shaking it till one measly drop of blood dripped onto his ring finger. She watched with a grossed-out face as he sniffed it, then licked it up like it was a drop of his favorite whiskey. Scarlet couldn't stop staring at him.
"Nope."
"Nope! Nope, what! That is the giant's blood! Authentic. I win the deal. Pay up!" she stabbed her knife into the table with rage.
"Exactly. It's giant's blood. I can't tell if its the giant I want's blood."
"It's a giant's blood. I slew him. I kept my end of the deal so keep yours." she knew she was lying through her teeth, but they didn't know that. Plus she should be paid for all her trouble.
The man stood up abruptly causing the chair to be pushed back. It was like the scooting of the chair was a signal to the others to join in on the party, because not even a second after he stood up the other three got closer to her body, standing up as well. Scarlet had two choices to pick from. She would take down these four show-offs, steal their money, and be on her way. (Honestly, in her head this was the easiest solution since she could take on all of them at once with no problem.) or she could take her losses and just move on. She glared at all four men who were just prepared for her to make the first move. Two of them slipped out blades, but keep them "concealed" next to her body. The main gentleman just stood there showing off his broadened, puffed out chest trying to demonstrate how manly he was against a tiny girl, while the last one just kind of stood the furthest away but had a glare in his eye that said it all. " You say the word boss and I will hold her."
Scarlet begrudgingly pulled her knife free of the table and immediately placed it back in its holder on her ankle. She wasn't going to startle up a bar fight over some gold...well a lot of gold, but in the long run, it wasn't worth it at all. As long as she didn't have to serve these bastards she could leave with her dignity intact.
After that event, she was out of money and still had that dumb reputation of a female hunter. In these trying times, any female had to pry and scrounge around for any type of reputation or respect. Forget having a normal life just because you were born with the wrong chromosome. With Scarlet going into a male-dominated profession she had to uphold her dignity the best she could. If only she could slay that one monster. The one that would give her a nickname to last the ages like Scarlet the giant slayer. Scarlet the rogue killer. Honestly anything...but at this point in her life, it was the female huntress who thinks she is a killer. If only she could have slain Ferris.
Moving to the next town over the only job she could come across was a meaningless level one job that any slayer could handle. An entry-level hunter could do this job and get paid. Gremlins. At least they weren't normal gremlins, they were winged gremlins. A shop keeper reported these little buggers were stealing from his carts as they were coming in, so he hasn't had a good haul in months.
Gremlins were annoying creatures for anyone. They were manageable if you knew what you were doing, but that doesn't change the fact they were beyond irritating. They lived and traveled in groups. The smallest one she has ever come across was a group fifteen. They're only as tall as a human's kneecap and the only real dangerous thing about them is they swarm. These greenish-blue creatures with big ears, as big as their own heads, would never travel alone. You find one and there will always others and they would always protect their flock by attacking all at once with sharp teeth that looked exactly like a cat. The gremlins she was hunting were even more irritating because they had wings to fly above a person's head with whatever they deemed as theirs, usually shiny objects.
What made the job even worse was she had to go back. Go back to that same forest she met the monster of Wellwood at. The exact same place she was just released from Ferris. It's for that reason that she planned on going in, finding the flock, killing them within fifteen minutes, then leaving. No stops along the way. No hang-ups. Nothing. She couldn't afford to be found by that giant again when not even two days ago she was released and only because of a deal she made.
Coming into a clearing, she could hear the creatures even before she saw them. Sounded like there were twenty of them, maybe more. Crouching behind a bush she took in her surroundings first. The little blue and green creatures were flying around a cart they tore to pieces. There were crates sitting out that had wood hanging off of them and all of the content was thrown all over the place with no regard what so ever. If it wasn't shiny the gremlins had no interest in it. A few crates must have been hard for them to open because there were a few that we're obviously dropped from the air to bust open on impact.
Her assumptions were spot on as she watched two gremlins work together by grabbing two sides of a crate. They flew into the air about three feet from the ground. She then heard a sound that imitated counting in unison. The voices were high pitched, but whatever they said was spaced out and they would speak it after swinging the crate. After making three noises both released their hands causing the crate to be thrown in the air only to result in plummeting to the ground to break into several pieces on contact. She watched as hay and contents that looked like meat flew out and land on the ground. The gremlins scrambled over trying to collect everything, shoving the meat pieces into their mouths like they haven't eaten in years.
To the left, she noticed a wooden cart with no horses attached laying on its side. About ten more gremlins were either on top of the cart or inside throwing items around trying to find any valuables.
Scarlet watched the havoc unfold shaking her head in disappointment. How have the creatures not been taken care of by now?
Walking out into the open she didn't take even a second to draw her crossbow, load an arrow, then release the trigger. The arrow shot right through the creature's head pinning it to the side of the carriage. All the gremlins stopped their actions, dropping any items in their arms. They seemed so mortified. Green blood pooled out onto the arrow that was sticking out of its body and landed on the ground.
As if on cue all the remaining creatures turned their heads to stare right at Scarlet. One made a horrifying squeal pointing in her direction. All at once, the creatures charged towards her in a swarm. Some crawling towards her while others flew. Scarlet stood her ground with her sword now drawn. She would take them all on. She had to if she wanted to be paid.
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POV Change
Farris was doing his typical rounds through the woods. This was his routine. Get up early. Track around his forest, hunt, then return home. If there were humans in his forest then he would take a few moments to have fun, especially if they were hunters. He loved to toy with hunters. Those humans always believed they were on the top of the food chain and could take anything down. He made it his personal agenda to find these hunters, toy with them, then destroy them. All humans needed to be put in their place, but such overconfident beings such as the rare warrior who hunted giants for money were the ones that needed to be put down a few notches. Over the years this philosophy seemed to work because he has made a name for himself in the human community. He has heard many versions of it. Giant of Westwood, monster of the forest, Devil of the wood, maybe the best one was the Disappearing Titan. Killing hunter after hunter has settled his instincts, appetite, and caused fewer and fewer nuisances to come trudging into his home.
Today seemed like one of those lazy days. Almost done with his rounds within an hour. He hasn't heard any rumors of hunters in his direction. He hasn't even smelt the scent of a single hunter. Today was going to be a pretty boring day.
Walking across the last section of his forest he came across a clearing. He knew for a fact there were no humans in this section because none were stupid enough to sit out in the open.
The wind drifted by carrying a familiar scent, one he did not expect to be back any time soon. One of sunflowers and chili powder. It was a very unique smell, but that told him exactly who it was. 'Apparently, one human is stupid enough.' He thought rolling his eyes. He had to wander a bit off of his typical trail, but in his head, this was all worth it. Today there was nothing else happening and he had nothing else planned for today. He could ensue himself even for a few moments, maybe even get a meal out of this little nuisance who couldn't seem to learn her lesson.
Approaching closer to his goal he started to hear more of the commotion. The closer to the strong scent he got the louder the noises he started to pick up. What the hell was she fighting?
Without actually walking into the clearing he stood observing the sight in front of him. Gremlins. What the hell were those things doing here? These things were probably just annoying as the human, he honestly couldn't decide which one was worse. The blond hunter wannabe or the thriving nuisances who keep attracting more and more humans. They were just like little flies that were attracted to the human's items. One showed up then others appeared, always swarming around getting in the way, and colonizing the oddest of places.
With only curiosity in his eyes, he observed the huntress getting swarmed from all sides. Some were all around her, circling just like piranhas attracted to their prey. Two maybe three at a time would attack her. One from the front, another her attached to her arm, the other pulling at her hair. The human fought in vain swing her toothpick of a weapon all around her. One gremlin would be split in half or stabbed and another would take its place. A few times he winced because he noticed a few would sneak up behind her body or dive from above then bite at her skin. He knew from experience these things were irritating and had a bit of a sting when they attacked him, couldn't imagine a human feeling the same pain, but like a champ, she was enduring every attack.
Looking all around Farris noticed immediately what the gremlins were after. There was an overturned carriage filled to the brim with boxes and valuables, well used to be. He could see a few gremlins running off with the valuables to hide them. If there was jewelry contained those boxes than they were no longer present because another ran off wearing the valuables, probably trying to justify to his buddies he was the leader of the group since he had the most.
From afar the human named Scarlet seemed to be handling herself, knowing usually more then one human is needed to completely eliminate a flock. Several bodies already surrounded Scarlet, drizzling out that weird disgusting colored blood of theirs. But...he was impatient. He wanted the human and these disgusting creatures out of his forest. If this took too long, it would just attract more attention and one human was enough.
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POV change
Taking out her crossbow she aimed for the two that were trying to get away. Cocking back the arrow into place, she fired as one creature jumped on her back. She just barely hit the creature in the wing. She watched it as it spiraled to the ground, but not completely done. Grabbing the body of the one on her back she slammed it into the ground, as she turned around to aim at the one with all the jewelry. Her body suddenly jerked to the right from one slamming into her body, causing her to stumble. The arrow went flying in the complete opposite direction she wanted it to go hitting something else entirely. Scarlet tossed her crossbow to the side grabbing a knife from her ankle to take down the one that pushed her to the side. Raising it above her head she was inches from plunging it into the gremlins head when a sudden force propelled her body across the grass. This was no gremlin. It felt like a gust of wind forced her feet away from her original spot.
Pulling her sun dyed hair out of her face with her right hand, she looked at the object that caused all this trouble in the first place. Well more like the person who caused all this trouble in the first place.
Mere inches away from where she was thrown was the well-known giant's foot. He dug his heel into the ground just to prove a point, pulling it back creating an indent big enough for her to fall into. With wide eyes, she glared at the boots present in front of her noticing the green and blue blood smeared all over them. She couldn't help to shiver at the thought of if she was even a few inches closer her blood would have been added to the mix. Her eyes traveled up the giant's body, looking exactly the same she saw him last, including that evil smirk of I don't care.
The gremlins all froze at this one action. She had been here for a good fifteen minutes, basically exhausted with sweat dipping down her face and back. All he had to do was take a hard step in her direction and he took out four gremlins in the most gruesome way she could think to die. At this point, there were only four left of the group that screeched out at his presence.
Taking a second to collect herself she looked directly into his eyes. "Are you going to finish the job or just stand there?"
"Why would I?"
She growled before taking her sword back up from the ground. Running over she stabbed the distracted creature. As soon as she slid the sharp weapon through the torso of one, a second one turned around jumping at Scarlet's back. She suddenly felt that same gust of wind pass behind her.
Turning around she noticed Ferris simply grabbed the one trying to attack her in his hand. She had to distract herself by taking out the last two with her weapon because Farris simply closed his hand like nothing crushing the creature and spreading the blood like paint all over his hands.
"Great. This is exactly what I wanted." The Titan rubbed his hands on his pants to smear it poorly off.
Scarlet turned around whipping off her forehead with the back of her hand. "Well don't just crush things like they are prices of fruit." She wipes her sword off on her own pants to clean it off before sliding it back into place.
"I didn't have to save your life you know. I would seem more grateful if I were you."
Scarlet whipped her head up. "I didn't even ask for your help! I didn't need your help!"
Ferris stuck his hands into his pocket leaning down a bit to purposely cast his shadow over her. " From my position, it looked like you were about to fail your little job. You owe me now."
Anger filled Scarlet more than fear. She approached him with her sword out. "I don't owe you anything! I didn't ask for help you could have minded your own business."
He crouched down on his knees. He knew she couldn't do anything with that puny weapon, but he knew it would strike a nerve. Reaching over he noticed her flinch back a bit as he plucked the weapon from her hand. "You ow me half your earnings." He inspected the minuscule weapon in his fingers with one eye closed. He was trying his best to make out the details. He could only really tell what color the hilt was and that there was an inscription on the blade, but couldn't read it. He tossed it aside with no regard. "It's either that or you owe me your life."
"What?!" This was the last straw. She grabbed her knife from her ankle once more marching over to him and stabbed it into his ankle.
Immediately she regretted her decision. Quickly dropping the knife she stared up with a bit of fear. She might have just pushed him over the edge.
The giant grabbed her by the waist raising her to his pocket, and dropping her in. "Well, that answers that. Life it is."
Let the adventure begin! Still hate each other. For obvious reasons. So what do you think about the chapter? About Scarlet? Maybe just about Farris? I just want opinions. Comment below! Don't forget to vote and follow for more!