Zi'da 3rd, 717
Her breath plumed outward in a cloud of ice as the chill of Zi'da reached down to creep along the inside of her throat. The woman didn't even shiver as the sensation almost burned on the way down. The frozen menace that was the cold season did little to bother her anymore. She couldn't help the heavy sigh that rested on the tip of her tongue. It was officially into the winter seasons, there was no denying that. Like a river running fast enough to remain unfrozen, the days would dash by and soon it would be Ashan and then the warm seasons would rear their heads and another arc in Etzos would have passed. Nightshade didn't even know how to begin to assign words to the emotions those thoughts summoned. An arc ago she'd been hated, now she was tolerated if not liked.
The woman shifted her thoughts to the task at hand. Totrial was a rather interesting trial as it wouldn't be an unfair assumption to state that she was hunting a monster. Or at least what many people considered to be a monster. Some people were even saying that the beast was the child of an immortal, born from the loins of one wretched and sent to terrorize Etzos. Then again, the people of Etzos cried Immortals when the milk spoiled after being left in the Saun sun all day. She'd been approached by some huntsman not much more than a couple breaks after it was light enough to search her out. Of course, no one actually knew where the half-breed lived so it wasn't until she'd headed for town to go to work that she was assailed by nothing less than begging. The problem seemed to be a bear that was a little more than one would first guess. Now, Night wasn't going to make the foolish mistake of saying that a Bronze Bear was weak. Immortals forbid she said such a thing. But there was only so much damage one could do before eventually, it fell into a trap. That's what happened to most wild beasts who caused too much trouble, the hunters of Etzos made sure of it. But apparently, this one was a little too smart for the common hunter.
She'd taken the job. If it was killing people and it was too smart to fall for typical traps then it needed to be approached like a mercenary would approach an enemy, meaning it was within her sphere to at least take a shot at the beast. If as many people had died from this thing as she'd been told, then it was a serious menace that needed to be dealt with as soon as possible. Dead leaves crunched under her feet as she tried her best to track rather faint footprints. The cold was seeping into her toes and she felt weighed down. She'd decided it would be smart to wear her wing armor for the extra practice, even if it had been giving her some trouble up until this point. Her breath was a little heavier as she tried to keep up the same stamina she had without the giant iron wings strapped over the already heavy normal ones. As a child when she was first learning, Icarus had tied rocks to her feet and back and made her flap in order to build up wing strength. It had done wonders and she was rather proud of the strength of her wings. The strength of her body was a different matter entirely. It felt heavy and lethargic, trying desperately to drag around such a viscous load.
She paused for a moment to catch her breath, allowing her claws to sink into the earth in an attempt to steady herself. She leaned lightly against a tree, trying to focus on her goal instead of the pain these damn wings were putting on her lower back. Why was her lower back screaming at her so much? It was too late to leave them at home now, let alone take them back... It would take forever to get home even flying. She would seriously need to put in the extra work later.
After catching her breath she continued to allow herself to rest a couple moments longer. Her mind wandered but was attentive to every noise. She perked slightly as she heard a kind of growling not far off. It was familiar, canine in nature. There was a secondary noise that was a growl, but also kind of a roar. That one was obviously a bear. Following the noise, she did her best not to make too much herself. She was good at keeping her breathing quiet, shallow, and even. The biggest problem was the earth. It would be so much easier if it could just be Ashan. Hiding and staying quiet was easy in Ashan! But the colder seasons each brought a different difficulty. This was why it was so much easier to fly. But there was no way she was going to be stealthy while flying if she had these metal death contraptions strapped to her.
As she approached the noises she could better make out the sounds of a scuffle taking place. Before she'd completely come upon the scene, growling was broken by pathetic whimpers and what was best describes as screams. The noise was reminiscent of a dying dog, and that didn't make her very comfortable as she approached. Peering around a tree careful she caught sight up what she'd heard. It was a total bloodbath. The corpses of wolves, 6 in total, lying on the ground in pools of their own blood. At the center of the carnage was a bear. Its original color was masked by the deep red and matted browns of its coat. Nightshade sucked in a breath as the bear turned around. It stood on its hind legs, facing the direction she was hiding. Had it already found her!? She was downwind and had been silent, how was it already aware of her presence? Perhaps the legends about this creature were true. It wasn't an animal, the best way she could describe it was a monstrosity.
Gritting her teeth the woman stepped out from behind the tree, drawing her sword. She must have looked pretty foolish. Or at least pretty pathetic in that moment. Such a diminutive creature in comparison facing down what had to be at the very least a 7-foot bear reared up on its hinds. It roared and the woman could practically feel the wind it created, the rancid scent of rotten meat and decay blasting towards her nose as she looked at the rows of sharp teeth, yellowed but unrotting. As the creature fell on all fours, she could feel the earth shaking slightly from the impact. As she looked into its eyes she could see an intelligence that wasn't normal, couldn't be normal. It stood there, watching her, daring her. This was not a mortal beast. She didn't know what this horrendous creature could possibly be, what it might have been once, but she did know that it was dangerous.
She wasn't sure how to first approach it. All she had to block attacks were her wings and all she had to slash with was her sword. This would be roughly the same as trying to fight a Carowa with a spoon. Luckily, she didn't have to think too hard about how she'd make the first move as the bear made it for her. Charging forward the beast lunged at her, jaws wide open as if it thought it might be able to swallow her in a single bite. Perhaps it could. She wouldn't be shocked.
She flung herself out of the way of the creature as it came down upon her. She could see flecks of saliva flying through the air as it turned to her and gave another savage roar. It charged at her again, raising its paws as if to bear down on her body and strike. The woman curled her wings around herself, bracing as the impact nearly knocked the breath from her. She angled the blade feathers to not hurt herself as best she could. As the bear leaned closer a noise of pain tore from its throat. It backed away, a fresh gash of red punctured a little below its chest. It huffed, watching her and pacing slightly. Every time she tried to move her wings out from in front of her it moved forward as if to lunge at her once more. For the moment she was trapped.
Carefully she moved backward, pinning herself to a tree. At this point, it was honestly safer to have her back against a solid surface instead of potentially getting snuck up upon by the monstrous bear. She shifted her blade, placing it right between her two wings so it was trapped where the two metal planes met. The bear was starting to look impatient. It would either give up or lunge at her with reckless abandon.
Her patience eventually paid off. The monster ran at her, a roar filling its lungs. As the beast charged her she thrust her blade forward through the crack where her wings met one another. The bear speared itself on the weapon and she continued to push it deep. She spread her wings slightly as she wiggled the blade around, twisting and wrenching with all of her strength. The bear bellowed as it flailed. She threw her wings a little wider, trapping the creature slightly. Metal feathers slashed and punctured the creature. It first gave roars of anger, trying all it could to escape. That anger turned into a desperate pain as it tried to run. Finally, the creature slowly started to collapse to the ground, its calls becoming pitiful. The woman gave her blade one last vicious swipe before finally tugging it out. Blood pooled around the bear from the mess she made. Without a doubt, the creature was dead.
She stood up, her breath heavy. She would have to get Storm later to help her gather the carcass. She killed it, and even though she did so to protect people, she'd feel guilty just leaving it to rot. After all, it was still a stolen life. She didn't even do that to bandits. Once she had Storm she'd collect the corpse, skin it, and jerky the meat. It was a pretty large, pretty heavy bear. But given her skill, she'd mess up at least some. She'd get roughly, what? 260 pounds of jerky if she was careful? It had been just about to go to sleep for the winter it seemed, as it was heavy and bulky. But a lot of this would be fat... Yes, 260 pounds sounded about right.
