It was a dark night in an unknown region of Limbo, the terrain was filled with countless tall yet scattered trees of varying colors. Some had dark small leaves, other large brown ones a few centimeters long and wide.
The land in which the trees were planted was also of a variety with some parts having short green grass, other long and some none at all.
The sky above the land was a beautiful mixture of colors with two large moons of varying sizes and many stars giving light to the land below.
The region was indeed a beautiful sight, a quiet starry night befalling the land. However, the tranquility in a certain part of the region was brought to an abrupt halt as a loud noise echoed through the night.
The source of the noise was a young shirtless child striking a gigantic boulder bare handed. The boy had medium length black hair and cold grey eyes. His body toned from strict training, hunting and discipline.
So much so that despite his fists looking bloody, the boy didn't look to be in pain as his expression remained firm. Instead, the only sound that echoed through the night was that off his fist striking the boulder.
"Nine thousand nine hundred and ninety-nine...." The boy muttered while breathing heavily. He soon calmed his breathing and prepared to strike once again but something had caught his attention and brought him to a stop before he could do so.
"I was just finishing..." The boy muttered in a neutral tone towards the man behind him without bothering to turn around.
The man behind him was of a very large and muscular stature, standing well over three meters in height. He had long white hair and a beard to match with a stern expression on his face.
This seemingly unfeeling giant however showed a smile at the boy in front of him. When the boy was about to turn his head, the man ceased to smile and simply crossed his arms.
"Training is important. But so is resting pup." The man spoke while looking at the child sternly.
"I was just finishing father." The boy replied before turning back at the boulder and giving it a final strike.
His stance was firm and his aura vigorous as he ignored everything around him and struck the gigantic boulder. Not long after his fist made contact, cracks spread all across the boulder before it disintegrated.
"I'm not a pup anymore, I'm a beast monger." The boy declared in a casual manner causing his father to snicker.
"You'll always be a pup in my eyes Aron. That is unless you can best me in a battle one day." Harald declared before walking away.
Aron pondered on his father's words for a moment before eventually following him to a ruined stone building with mats made of leaves and fell asleep.
With time being odd, the duo would always just sleep until they were free of fatigue.
Harald had woken up early and prepared to make his son do the same by using water in a crudely made stone bowl. However, the second Harald threw the water towards Aron, he rolled off the grassy mat he slept on and missed getting splashed just at the last moment.
"Must you do this every time?" Aron asked while letting out an annoyed sigh knowing he'd have to dry his mat which would take long because they were in a region of Limbo currently experiencing a phase of continuous nighttime.
"As long as I wake up earlier than you then yes, yes I must." His father replied while letting out a chuckle before walking out of the single roomed ruined building they called home.
"Now follow me, quickly" Harald ordered as he walked away. Aron dragged his mat out and left it outside and then proceeded to follow his father.
They walked only for a few hundred meters before arriving at a clearing in the forest near their home.
Upon arriving Harald sat comfortably on the lush and green grass that covered the ground all around. All looked to be tranquil in that area. However, Harald's expression soon turned serious as he faced his son.
"Do you notice anything?" Harald suddenly asked his son. Without needing to even look around, Aron immediately answered the question.
"A scent that doesn't belong in our territory." He responded bluntly and his father nodded.
"While you were sleeping, I found that we were being stalked however I've already delt with the majority but l let five get away for you. Take it as training." Harald instructed casually while Aron listened keenly.
"Can I have a weapon?" Aron asked casually, causing his father to snicker whole shaking his head.
"My weapons can only be wielded by the head of clan Limbo Strider. Remember the rule I told you. The best weapons are earned not given." Harald replied before gesturing Aron to go on his way.
Aron could only sigh upon hearing his father repeat one of his many rules. Harald had what he called "Rules that make a man" that he passed on to Aron whenever the situation called for it.
These rules weren't truly rules that Aron needed to follow but instead words of reference. Harald used these as a way to impart onto Aron the wisdom he'd gained thus far during his life. He thought that should anything happen to him before Aron reached an appropriate stage then the boy could at least depend on these rules to survive.
"Just how many more rules are there?" asked Aron but he got no answer from his father.
'He makes them up as we go along...' Aron frowned and thought to himself before going into the forest.
He was following a scent that seemed unfamiliar to the forest while keeping his focus on his weaker side in case of an ambush. As he did so he's eyes stopped on the bottom of a nearby tree.
There laid a wounded rabbit that was twitching its leg, said leg had what looked to be a long scratch on it, Aron didn't show any abrupt reaction and calmly walked over to the rabbit.
He crouched down near it and ran his hands across its fur gently before lifting it up into his hands. With that he finished inspecting the rabbit and figured out just what was stalking them upon remembering one of his father's lectures.
[ Normally hunting in groups and native to mana rich forests. Large frame with viciously sharp claws and strong muscles. Very rare but only a danger level of tier one rank C. But what makes them so adept in killing is...]
Aron furrowed his brows and his expression turned grim before he ripped the rabbit in half using his bare hands. Dark red blood splattered on his hands, chest and face but his expression remained the same.
'Their ability to shapeshift....' He thought just as an irritating sound reached his ears.
One came from a bird up on a tree while the other two came from a bush. The bird let out a loud cry before its body began to deform and morph.
Its frame continued to grow larger and larger while its feathers fell off. Its wings became large muscular arms. Its tiny legs grew and bent at odd angles. As for its head, it too continued to grow upward while its eyes were nowhere to be seen.
The transformation soon ended and Aron's targets soon revealed their true forms as they began to wander around him slowly.
"Death Stalkers. They used one of their own as bait...but father mentioned they were five..." Aron began scanning his surroundings for any oddities while showing the three-meter-tall beasts circling around him he wasn't the slightest bit intimidated.
They had large front muscular limbs with clawed hands rather than paws while their hind legs looked much smaller in proportion compared to the rest of their body.
One of the beasts soon grew impatient and pounced towards Aron. As it came close to striking him with its claw, Aron dodged to the side before striking it in the face with a hard punch.
It let out a pained shriek but didn't seem injured. The other two beasts took this as an opportunity and came rushing behind Aron. He showed a small frown before launching a kick behind which struck one of the beasts right in their chest bony chests.
He didn't stop there however, he followed up the attack by rotating his entire body to land another brutal kick to the beast's chest. This time the sound of its bones cracking could clearly be heard.
When the other tried to claw at him while he did this, he simply caught its arm and struck it hard with his elbow, shattering the bones in that creature's arm.
Although still a pup, Aron's physical prowess was already superior to many lower tier beasts because he was already a tier two rank D existence.
Another shriek followed as it pulled away but Aron didn't let up. He charged towards it and struck its chest with a kick and climbed on its oddly shaped head before grabbing onto it and twisting with immense force.
Another cracking sound could be heard followed by yet another shriek from the creature. Aron used this chance to land punch after punch on it until it's skull caved in.
The moment he pulled his bloody fists away, another death stalker tried to catch him off guard but he caught it by the arm before tossing it towards the other beast.
The two beasts collided against a large tree with extreme force and before they could even get up, Aron appeared in front of them at a frightening speed with his bloody fist ready to crush even more of their bones.
Hit after hit landed on the now immobile beasts. Aron didn't stop even when their shrieking stopped. He was only sure after he forced his bare hands into the death stalker's chests and crushed each of their oddly shaped hearts.
Aron didn't relax after doing this, his gaze instead shifted back to his surroundings as he looked for the fifth beast. Seeing nothing odd where he was, he caught his breath before leaving the scene. He soon began to investigate another area looking for any animal that seemed out of the ordinary.
The death stalkers were known to be able to maintain their forms for up to five hundred heart beats and could become as small as a few inches and up to twenty feet tall. They had both an upper limit and lower limit of what they could morph into.
Given the oddity of time in Limbo, beast mongers used their heart rates to measure certain intervals of time especially during hunting. It was crude but for the most part effective.
Aron was looking for an animal neither too small or too big. A few animals present in the area fit this criteria but they didn't have the scent he was looking for.
'If it's not in the open then...' Aron stopped wandering and looked towards a cave in the distance.
Upon getting close to it, he could see small trail marks on the ground as if something had been dragged into the cave. Then a bit further ahead, right at the entrance of the cave he found drops of blood.
Aron shifted his gaze from the ground to the cave's entrance and muttered to himself...
"Found you."
....
[ RULE #326: The best weapons are earned and not given]
[BEAST INDEX #1: Death Stalker]