User blog:Darknessabove/The explorer, volume 1, chapter 2: friend or foe?

"Business is slow today"

Elena sighed, she had recently stopped at this village, to sell her silk based clothing and while she had done some good business in the last few days, today, there were very few customners browsing her wears, chances are, that they had decided to retire for the day to spend some quality time with their husbands.

Elena looked up at the sky, she hadn't managed to find herself a husband yet, even though she had ample oppotunities, none of them matched up to one young man that she had met a few years back.

"Those eyes of his, so full of fire, oh how they made me wet" she said to her self, before sighing again.

"Guess i'll call it a day and pack up" she though to her self as she started folding clothes, packing them away into wooden boxes.

"Excuse me miss, could i possibly buy some silk" a voice behind her echoed in her ears, the voice so familiar, casuing her body to flare up in excitement as she turned around with a sinister smile.

"I think i can give you more then just silk... Garth" she said as she stared at the man in front of her, her arms on the stand as she held her head with both hands, the boredom of todays lack of activity only serving to increase her satisfaction over this encounter.

"Ah... hi Elena... haha... ha... shit" Garth replied nervously.

Smooth entrance

Garth stopped some distance from the village, it was quite large, with a small military outpost in the center, not surprising considering its proximity to order territory.

"Well, i badly need to restore some of my supplies, especailly for my "bait" packages, especially if i meet any more of those blasted beelzebubs" Garth muttered to him self before pulling out a devil gem, externally, it looked like a fairly common cut gem, but internally, scarlett colored energy formed the shape of a being with wings attached.

Garth breathed deeply for a moment, before exhaling.

"Masquerade: incubus"

The scarlett energy inside the gem erupted, flowing round Garth before disappearing.

There were 2 guards at the gates, both armed and armoured, a first line of defense incase any one attacked the village, along with ensuring no order spys could infiltrate inside the village and possible sow choas.

One of the guards looked down the path leading out from the village to see a lone man walking towards the gates, one of the guards, an minotaurus, became quite excited over this.

"Hold on, we don't know who he is, so tread with caution.

The man approached the village gates, stopping only when the guards stood in front of the gates, baring his way

The second guard, who was a lizardman, walked around him, observing him from all sides, she could sense the energy of a woman on him, but the fact he was alone was what interested her, not to mention she couldn't see most of his face, baring his chin and one blue and scarlett colored eye, due to him wearing cloth material over his face.

Before the guard could ask him any questions, the man grabbed her by the arms, even though she couldn't see his face, the tears from his eyes started to soak the cloth material.

"Have you seen any gyoubu danuki come through here?" the man asked the lizardman, shaking her as he spoke, worry in his voice.

The lizardman was taken back by this, but quickly composed her self before replying to the man.

"We haven't seen any for a few days now" the lizardman replied, her face softening as she saw the man look down on the ground, before rubbing his eyes with his hands, trying to stop the tears flowing.

The man sat on the ground, trying to calm him self.

"Why did you ask that question, and more importantly... are you taken?" the minotaurus asked the man, her eyes full of wonder, ignoring the weak demonic energy coming from him.

After a few moments, the man replied to the minos question, telling her and the lizardman about how he and his wife had been travelling towards this village, but were ambushed on the way by bandits, causing them to get split up as they both ran in seperate directions, hoping to lose the bandits and reunite at the village, the expression on the lizardman and the minos changing from one of sympathy to one of anger, before changing back to a softer expression.

"Whats your name?" the lizardman asked.

"Billy... Billy Rekoj" the man replied, his face full of worry over the fact that his wife hadn't turned up yet.

"Well... Billy... you must of had a hard journey... so its best that you rest up in one of the inns, in the meantime, i will ask the commander of the outpost to send out some troops to try and find your wife... and punish these bandits that caused you and your beloved to seperate" the lizardman said with a soft but reassuring tone.

The man stood up, looking at the lizardman before hugging her, causing her to freeze in shock.

"Thank you... thank you so much, when my wife arrives i'll inform her about the wonderful and caring hopsitality you gave a man such as me" the man said, the lizardman's cheeks became a flushed red, along with the minotaurus's... who was looking at them in envy, though the man quickly stopped hugging her and apologised for his rudeness.

"I'm sorry for suddenly hugging you... my wife does moan at me for getting to emotional sometimes" the man said, smiling at them before going through the village gates.

"Oh, so you like that kind of man?" the minos grinned.

"I... I was just caught off guard" the lizardman replied snappily.

The man smiled to him self as he entered the village.

"Works everytime" the man muttered to him self with a big grin on his face as he walked towards the market, intent on resupplying before the effects of the masquerade spell wore off.

New danger

Laura and Selena were walking down the path towards the village, about a 5 minute walk until they arrived at the gate, Laura flexed stretched her arms, while Selena just swayed left to right as she flew around, both girls had been following the faint mana trail that Garth ahd left behind, though it had vanished for some reason a while back.

"Are you sure that he would of entered this village, after all, while hes a tricky bastard, i doubt he could sneak past the guards without being detected" Selena asked Laura.

"I've got a gut feeling that hes came here" Laura replied to Selena, resting her axe on her shoulder.

"You sure that isn't just your stomuch wanting food" Selena asked Laura with a snarky tone, causing Laura to glare at her.

Before Laura could say any thing, Laura was shoved out the way, much to the surprise of Selena, not many could simply push a minotaurus out the way, not with simple strength.

"Who the fuck do you think your pushing around" Laura shouted at the passer by, who stopped and looked at her.

The passer by was a amazoness, who looked about 17 years old, coming close to 18, give or take a few months, her skin a light brown colour, covered in varoius tribal markings, which amazonians used to identify which tribe they belonged to, her breasts and nether regions barly covered with purple, cloth like material, which was simply knotted together at the ends, her hair was a light green colour, while her eyes were a light blue.

Amazonians were pretty much identical to humans in looks, baring the pointed ears, the tendency to be taller then the average human male and the long, scale plated tale that protruded from their back just above their bottom.

Laura stared back at the amazoness, those eyes... those markings... she recognised them... they were the same as the ones Garth had.

The amazonian took one look at the Minos eyes and immediatly closed the gap between them, standing right in front of her.

"Have you seen him?" the amazonian asked Laura, her stunned look at the sudden question, along with her nervous shifting confirmed the amazonians supicions.

"So hes here... finally" the amazonian muttered to her self, smiling, as she turned around and ran towards the village.

"Shit, we have to hurry" Laura said as she started to pick up her pace, sprinting towards the village behind the amazonian, with Selena closly flying behind/

"Mother will be pleased when i bring you home" the amazonian muttered to herself again as she picked up the pace, eager to meet the man in question.

Old acquaintance

Garth walked around the village, browsing the various stores and purchasing goods and supplies, the monster nearby giving him glances, especially when he went to buy semen from one of the stores.

"Me and my wife were blessed with a child a year back... and shes a real hungry one" Garth said, continuing to play the husband with a lost wife, which caused many of the unmarried monsters to flock around him, eager for him to tell them the details of the conception.

"Well i won't lie, it was very hard work, but i'm sure if you ladies find the man of your dreams, you'll be more then eager to work for it" Garth said to the monsters flocking him, giving them a wink, which caused several of them to swoon.

"Well, i must be on my way ladies, i do hope you lot find your beloved like i found mine" Garth said as he went away form the monsters, who were now talking amongst them selves on the kind of man they would like to get and how many children they would want to bare.

"I better try and avoid getting into talks like that, i don't want to draw any unnessary attention" Garth though to him self.

Garth continued to walk before stopping for a bit, he had one item left to get... rope.

Garth continued to walk around, until he spotted one store being packed away, cloths being packed into wooden boxes by an arachnee, though he couldn't see her face since her back was to him.

"Perfect, if i can purchase some silk off her, then i can make some pretty good rope, arachnee thread has always been stupidly strong" Garth said to him self before walking up to the store.

"Excuse me miss, could i possibly buy some silk" Garth said to the arachnee, who froze, before turning around, the moment Garth saw her face, the color drained out of his own.

""I think i can give you more then just silk....Garth" the arachnee said, resting her arms on the make shift stand, holding her head with her hands as she smiled at him.

"Ah... hi Elena... haha... ha... shit" Garth replied nervously.

Wanted man

Garth started to back off as Elena stood up, moving round the stall she had set up, with her large, spider like bottom half, she easily towered over Garth, the spider half of her a crimson black, strong, powerful legs allowed her to remain stable, for most humans, it was frightening, but then you got to her top half, which was more human looking, soft, light coloured skin ran up her torso, with big, bountiful breasts, covered with her own custom made silk bra, which as Garth had found out in the past, could be easily removed when needed, the same silk materail which made her her slip on gloves, which ran up to her elbow, a light scarlett color.

Her head was covered with sliver hair, which had a tinge of purple in it, the top half of her body could pass for human if it wasn't for her eyes, 2 large, crimson red reds sat in the usaul place for most species, but then 6 more ran up towards her forhead, though tbf it was the large spider body which gave away her monsterous nature.

All 8 of her eyes were focused on Garth, scanning his body, he had grown since she last saw him 2 years ago, his eyes, still full of the same fire she had seen back then.

"My my, after all the time we haven't seen each other, your first sentence is asking for my silk" Elena sighed as she put her hand on her cheek, pausing before she continued

"So forward, i can't wait till the wedding" Elena started walking towards Garth, with him backing up.

"Now now, you know i don't mean it in that way" Garth said as he looked down, even though his face was covered, she could tell he was embarrased.

"You always go in aggresive, but the moment some one comes onto you strongly, you become so meek... so cute" Elena said with a smile.

Garth was currently looking for a way to escape when a monster he had met from the market earlier rushed up to him, causing Elena to glare.

"Here, its for you and your wife, i hope you make another kid together" she said before kissing Garth on the cheek, then walking off.

Garth turned around when he felt murderous intent behind him, irridating from Elena.

"So Garth" Elena said with a fake smile, cracking her knuckles "You mind telling me who this hussy is that you've had a child with".

Garth right now was cacking him self, Elena was not a easy monster to run from... and he'd never seen her angry before.

"Elena, if you could just calm down for a second i wil... " Garth stopped as he heard shouting in the distance.

"Where is he, i know he's here" a female voice boomed in the direction of the market Garth had been browsing, slowly getting closer to where he was.

"That's probally for me, guess the guards figured out i was lieing to them" Garth muttered to him self, before hearing laughter behind him, coming from Elena.

"Yeah, i think this doesn't help ether" Elena said as she pulled out a piece of paper, on it, a hooded man was drawn on there, text underneath the drawing.

"Wanted: Garth Hawkins, crimes: resisting arrest, thieft of artifacts and goods from stores and military camps, refusing the love of many monsters, teasing many monsters and overall habit of causing chaos whereever he goes, Reward: several high quality devil gems, a class 1 manomo realm wine made from intoxication fruit, along with making him your husband.

Caution: is very skill in the art of deception and is known to carry a large stock of devil gems, loaded with a variety of spells, also seen to be a capable melee combatant, along with being skilled with a bow, as been observed using strange orb like items, which so far have been observed to explode, releasing a paralysing smoke.

Further warning, the amazonian Sebi tribe has claimed that Garth belongs to their tribe, so caution is advised if you plan on capturing him near their territory.

While Garth is not a blessed human, he is regarded as a class S bounty, so treat him on the same level as a hero".

Garth stared for a second at the poster, he knew that he may of anoyed a few monsters in his travels, but to be regarded as a rank S bounty was very... very bad.

"Well... i never knew i was that popular" Garth said, trying to laugh off the very real danger of havinga  S rank bounty, a bounty of that level would draw some of the strongest monsters alive... along with the fact that he was a man.

"Its a shame really that this poster will be taken down today" Elena said with a sinister smile.

The sentence sent a chill down Garth's spine, he was about to run when the world slowed down around him, his senses screaming at him to immeditaly dodge.

Garth dodged to the side, barly avoiding the blade of a large sword.

When things can't get any worse

Garth quickly turned around to his attacker, the moment his eyes met her face, he grabbed a devil gem and threw it at her, causing her to back off, the gem falling on the floor harmlessly, remaining still on the ground.

"Fuck, that one had no spell loaded" Garth angrily shouted to himself as he sprinted as fast as he could, her being here meant that "they" knew he was nearby and that caused him to be filled with dread.

"I won't let them have me, i won't, i refuse" Garth shouted in his head as he barged pass a few monsters, who gave curoius glances before being knocked out by Garths persurer, who was determined to get her hands on him.

Garth found him self out side the outpost gates in the middle of the city before.

"Fuck, the exit was the other way" Garth though to him self as he turned around, barly having time to avoid the hand reaching for his face, though he avoided being grabbed by it, the cloth surrounding his face was removed, revealing his face to the troop that had just exited the outpost walls... which included the lizardman and the minotaurus from earlier, who were at this point staring at him, the mino had a grin on her face, whiel the lizardman had a pissed of expression.

"Ah...ah...this is getting worse every secon... oh shit" Garth mutter to him self as he dodged another blow from his pursuer.

"Stop resisting, you belong to the sebi tribe... to us... to me" she said, staring at Garth before attempting to grab him again, him dodging yet again.

"Fuck you, i'm never going back there, i hate it, i hate it" Garth angrily replied, tears streaming from his eyes, a crowd had gathered now, with Laura and Selena barging their way through, running into the middle of the square.

Laura was about to speak, but stopped when she saw Garth's face, tears streaming down it.

Elena walked into the square, effectivly cutting off Garth's last possible escape route.

Battle royale

Garth looked around, he was surrounded on all sides, distracting him for a moment, giving his pursuer, the amazonian, more then enough time to grab him, forcing him to the ground.

The amazonian quickly mounted him, pinning his legs and arms down as she brought her face close to his.

"It is the fate of all men that have our mark to belong to us, you especailly" she said, her strength simply overpowering Garth.

Garth spat at her, saliva landing on her cheek, before running down her face, causing her to grin, before punching Garth in the stomuch, causing him to scream in pain.

"Your coming back with me to our tribes village, that is final" she said, raising her fist up, intent on knocking him out, only to find she couldn't force it down.

Elena had shot out webbing, attaching it to the amazonians arm, before pulling on it, causing her to fly backwards.

"Thats my future husband your beating up there" Elena said angrily, she had no intention of having Garth taken away from her by some tanned, muscle brained idiot with a oversized sword.

"He belongs to the sebi tribe, some overgrown spider will not change that" the amazonian said, cutting the webbing that was attached to her arm before grasping her sword with 2 hands fully intent on fighting.

Elena and the amazonian would of started fighting if it wasn't for the fact that Elena dove past her, she was fixated on Garth... or more precisly, Garth who was about to be dragged away by Laura and Selena.

"Shit" Laura said, grabbing her axe.

"Take out the spider Selena, the amazonians mine" Laura said, before charging at the amazonian, intent on bringing her down.

Garth coughed as he got up, reaching into his backpack, pulling out a strange flask, the liquid a crimson red, a label on the flask reading "Beast", as the towns troop ran towards him, intent on restraining him.

Unleased beast

Garth poped the lid of the flask open, emptying the contents of the flask, dropping it when the last drop left it, he was immediatly tackled to the ground by the lizardman and the minotaurus guards.

"So, do you want to go first or should sarah" the minos said to the lizardman.

"I will not mate with some one so deceitful, Tirina, i'm simply helping you to restrain him" Sarah replied to the minotaurus guard.

They were both about to get the shock of their lives when Garth started to break out of their hold, they were pinning both his arms down with their own, but he was overpowering them.

"What the f..." Tirina said, before Garth pulled his arm free and punched her sending her flying across the square, much to the shock of the audiance that had gathered.

"Shit, get over here and hel... " Sarah called to the other troops, but before she could finish her sentence, Garth headbutted her, then kicked her away, the force sending her flying as well, though she was able to land on her feet... barly.

Everyone looked, Elena, the amazonian, Laura, Selena, the towns people that had gathered, and the troops of the garison, where did this sudden burst of strength come from.

"Never though i'd be forced to use this" Garth said, spiritual energy was pouring from his body... along with demonic energy, his right eye was flicking with black energy now, his eyes simply stone cold, none of the fire in them that he prevouisly had... only hate remained.

Garth put his hand over his right eye, energy pouring through his fingers, up into the air, before he held out his arm, pointing it towards group fo troops that were running towards him now.

"Slam" Garth said, the troops suddenly being forced to the ground by a massive force of air, unable to move a inch.

Garth then turned towards the amazonian, before disappearing in a black haze, only to reappear in front of her, bringing his fist to bare.

The amazonian guarded with her sword, the blow forcing her back a few meters, but before she could steady her self, Garth was attacking again.

Garth kept laying blow after blow at the amazonian, she was barly able to block the blows, as they came one after the other, her sword begining to crack due to the sheer impact of each blow.

"I fucking hate you and that blasted tribe" Garth shouted as he continued to attack, his hands were dripping with blood.

"I hate that blasted village, i hate those blasted elders" Garth continued, finally breaking the sword that the amazonian had been using to block, which shocked the spectators.

"I hate how you fucking look at me, like i'm nothing but a piece of fucking meat" Garth shouted as he forced the amazonian to the ground.

"But most of all, i hate what you did to my father....and what you took away from me....and were going to take away from me" Garth raised his fist, intent on hitting the amazonian, but immediatly let go and dodged instinctivly as a massive ball of flame was launched at him.

"Stand down... human" the voice came from the direction of the outposts gates.

"Commander helen is here, he's really in for it now"

Escape

The commander walked towards Garth, she had been watching the fight, not intending to get involved, but the moment she had seen him overpower the amazonian, she had to step in.

"Garth hawkins, you are under arrest, if you don't come quietly, i will be forced to restrain you personally" Helen said, she was a dragon, one of the most powerful type of monsters in existance, her aura had caused Garth to snap bakc to his senses, before flaling on his knees and vomiting black energy... and blood, shocking everyone around.

He coughed several times, each time, droplets of blood sprayed onto the floor.

Garth looked around, his vision was hazey at this point, sounds muffled, his body felt weak.

Elena wanted to run over to Garth immeditaly, worry in her eyes, along with several of the townspeople, but were stopped by Helens glare.

"Hes an S class bounty, even if hes on the floor, he cannot be taken lightly" she shouted, walking up to Garth.

She stood there as he looked up, his right eye had returned to its scarlett color... but his left eye... had turned a dull grey.

As she went to grab him, she heard him muttering words under his breath.

"... miles... " she heard him say, which cause her eyes to widden, he was casting a spell, she didn't know what, but it could be a powerful one, so she went to strike him in attempt to knock him out.

"... shift" he muttered out, the moment it left his lips, he disappeared in a puff of black and blue energy.

Aftermat

Everyone stood in silence, the events of today seemed like a dream to them.

The amazonian was staring blankly at the spot Garth had coughed up blood, before being knocked to the ground by Elena, who right now was furious.

"What the fuck have you lot done to him, i saw his eyes... full of hatred... cold... dark" She shouted at the amazonian, Elena was joined by Laura and Selena, along with Helen.

"Your going to tell us what your relationship with him is... and you will not leave until you have answered all my questions" Helen stated, ordering her troops to surround the amazonian, before turning to Elena.

"I would every much like you to also come, any information regarding Garth could be vital... especially after todays events" She said to Elena, who responded with a simple nod.

Helen had a lot of questions going through her mind, the biggest one being how he had been irraditing demonic energy without feeling its effects, along with using spells that were demonically charged in nature.

"I best get in contact with the magical branch of the demonic lords army, this isn't something that can be ignored" helen though to her self, before wlaking back to the outpost, followed by the amazonian, Elena, Laura and Selena, who had worry on their faces, except the amazonian, who was still deep in though.

Chapter 1

Chapter 3

Index

Authors notes:

Okay, i decided to finish the chapter tonight, mostly cos it was in my head, though it brings up more questions then answers, especially his relationship with that amazonian and what was in the contents of that flask... and what it did to his body.

The 3rd chapter should shine a bit of light on it, though it will also be ina  different location... who said teleportation was accurate.

Critism as always is welcome.

Btw i've had a few asking me about using some of the characters (mainly Garth) for stuff, by all means, feel free to do so, i treat this as public content, just don't be claiming the characters to be your own invention, open source and all that.