But let’s not get ahead of ourselves here. Why don’t I take you back to where it all began. The day it all started, of how I met this stupid brat.

A dried, brown leaf fell on the lad’s head as he rushed out of the guild headquarters. Adrian gave off a long sigh as he recollected his father’s words to bring back that order of new swords from the blacksmith. Adrian’s father was the guild master of the Lionheart guild, and needless to say, being his son, Adrian had no choice but to run chores all around town. This should have been another such ordinary day, had it not been for the sudden beast hoard attack at the borders, for which they were in need of a fresh set of specialized weaponry for the elite hunters of the guild.

Adrian rushed out to get the swords from the blacksmith crossing almost half of the town, from the guild to the blacksmith. The streets however, were still bustling with tourists and people swarming around the stores with goods from all over the country. Well no one could blame them, as Lionheart was the trade center of the kingdom of Elisia. Adrian rushes into the blacksmith’s workshop, as a scorching wave of heat blasts him in the face. 

“Where the hell are you Carl!!”, Adrian shouted at the top of his lungs. 

“Whaddaya want kid?”, Carl screamed back amongst the sound of metal clanking.

The blacksmith put his hammer down and turned to show his soot covered face as he said, “Ya, here to collect the swords yer ol' man ordered?” 

“Of course it's the swords! Aren’t they ready yet? People are dying out there, you know?”, Adrian said, with the sense of emergency apparent on his face.

“They’re on the table o’er there, drop yer coins there as ye go”, he replied nonchalantly. Having been through countless wars and battles throughout the years, Carl wasn’t shaken easily by a few beast hordes now and then.

“Ye shouldn’t get so worked up so easily son. Back in our days, we sometimes had to fight off those darned beasts barehanded. Wasn’t quite a pretty scene, lemme tell ya that.”

“Geez, alright! I just want the ol’ man to get off my back for these swords. Otherwise he’s gonna make me run around the town again.”

Carl laughed and waved Adrian goodbye as he rushed out of the store, a bundle of swords on his back. Now that he had the swords back all he had to do was to put them in the guild armory, and he would be done for the day. But a little break won’t hurt, he thought to himself as he proceeded to head to the inn. 

He was greeted by the shouts of hunters who had returned from the battle, drunk as hell, and screaming their brave exploits for the whole tavern to hear. He made his way towards Hilda, who greeted him with that sweet, innocent, yet seductive smile that she always sported. “So what does the son of the guild master want today? Perhaps, some steak to feast on? Or maybe something more………..mature for the night?”

“Not today Hilda”, he returned her smile with one of his own, “Just get me a beer for today, I still need to get these swords delivered to dad soon.”

“Ooh, you seem pretty diligent in your duties today. Much unlike the Adrian I know. Is something up?”, Hilda asked, as her mischievous smile turned into a simple sisterly one.

“Well there has been a sudden beast horde attack at the borders and the elites in the guild need a fresh supply of specialized weapons immediately.”

“Ok then dear, one shot of beer coming right up.”

“Hey, I overheard you talking about a beast horde”, a lean, bearded man came up and asked, “I’m not from around these parts, but are beast attacks that frequent here?”

“Well, '' Adrian started, “over here, they definitely are. As you might be knowing, guilds specialize in protecting their respective cities from beast attacks. And it isn’t without reason that the Lionheart guild is so huge. Being the center of trade, this place has an uncommonly high concentration of mana which draws the mana beasts to it in large hordes. But still, this beast horde is pretty huge even by our standards".

Adrian contiued after taking a sip from his mug, "Honestly, I’m having a bad feeling about this but I really dont wanna spread unnecessary rumours and cause needless panic. It normally wouldn’t have been something to worry about. With the elites in our guild, it’d have been just a matter of time before they finished off the beasts in a wave.”

“These beasts however, are an entirely different story” Adrian said while taking another swig of the beer. 

“How so?” the old man asked, “aren’t they just raging animals?”

  “You aren’t from Elisia, are you, old man?” Adrian asked. “Normally that would be the case, just a bunch of wild animals wreaking havoc, but let's just say gods came to hate us around 20 years ago………when that thing first appeared” he sighed.

Just when he was about to take another sip from his drink, the wall of the inn came crashing down and a wooden splinter came flying towards Adrian as it knocked the mug of beer from his hand.

 

A deafening howl of a beast filled the atmosphere as screams of people echoed throughout the inn. And the next thing he knew, Adrian was standing face to face with a 7 foot tall beast, a body ripped in half, clenched tightly between its jaws, right where the old man should have been standing. Its eyes glowing red, and black smoke coming out of its fur.

 

A wolf crex.