Desecration Chapter108: We Walk The Hunter's Path

What did it an to really push?

Not for reconciliation, not for damnation, but for the pursuit of making yourself more than what you were.

So considered it transcendent to be so dedicated in one craft that the self died in favour of an ideal. Perhaps those people saw sacrifice as sothing beautiful, sothing to admire. but rare was it for those that fellated the virtues of such self-destruction to willingly walk the path. Only a humble observer offering their admiration.

Others saw the pursuit of perfection as sothing foolish. We are more than what we did after all, and such dedicate to a single aspect of ourselves ca at the detrint of all the others. Vanity? Maybe, but those people didn't understand the necessity that ca with this form of insanity. Passion was a heavy thing to those who held it and it could be hard to recognize the willingness a person had to destroy themselves when you'd yet to find sothing that elicited the sa intensity.

I could hardly speak as an authority on the topic, my reasons weren't so pure as grand ideals. I was a mix of guilt and desperation, all coming together in a slurry of self harm. Everyone around told as much; eventually even I could see it. Took a while though.

Still, I chose to push.

I could feel the weight of Aira's gaze as I rubbed the cheek of a wooden carving with my thumb. A miniature Gar made by the sa boy in what felt like an age. I clutched it tight to my chest and recited prayer before placing it down on the window sill of my room.

"I'll be back soon, friend," I said, slinging my bag over one shoulder and rested my new lowland sword over the other. I walked over to Aira with a passive grin.

She patted on the shoulder and gave a conflicted smile. "Ready?"

"As I'm ever going to be." I shrugged. "Still can't believe Loklan's willing to bring and Xae along for this. Especially since I haven't acclimated to the new style."

"Neither can I, but the man surely has his reasons," Aira sighed.

"Not complaining, just surprised."

Aira scoffed and motioned for to get moving so she could lock the door. We walked down the steps of the inn to the main floor where a quiet tavern awaited us. People chattered to a volu that wouldn't disturb the sleeping, with a few glancing over and giving waves.

Most of the patrons of the inn were either new or familiar with my presence. The new arrivals often being those from the rchant caravans. I gave a few nods and greeted the innkeeper before we went ahead onto the streets of Anik.

A slight chill greeted as we exited the inn. Not as powerful as I expected for early March, but still a chill. I followed along behind Aira, the sounds of the early morning adding a soothing cadence to my stride.

Aira stopped and gave a look just before entering the guild. "Promise you won't do anything dangerous on this hunt," she said. "Though I don't know how much I can trust your word, all things considered."

I rolled my eyes. "All I'm doing is skipping sleep to train, nothing else. It's not as bad as it could be."

"Promise , Yir."

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"Alright," I sighed. "I promise not to do anything that would put in danger on this inherently dangerous hunt, happy?"

Aira narrowed her eyes at . "No, but it'll do."

I smiled and gestured for her to keep going. We entered the guild to find a plethora of hunters nursing headaches as they looked over at us and grumbled. Last night was a roudy one to celebrate the shift of the season, which I found a little funny. Weather was a deceptive mistress and the warmth it had given us could have just as well been lube for a proper ass fucking.

I donated many a bright smile alongside quips. Entirely because hungover grumps hated bright anything, I got plenty of grumbled curses thrown my way as we walked to our table. It wasn't really our table. Loklan had earned enough respect where his fellow hunters were willing to deign him with...a table. Hunters were weird about tables. They had a whole grading system to determine the niceness of the wooden furniture. I tended to just ignore it.

I sat down on the comfy bench of the comfy table and gave Aira a brow when she didn't do the sa. She returned with her own delicate brow and crossed arms.

"What?" I said.

She stared at with an intensity I couldn't fathom before...letting out a snicker. "You're so high strung," Aira said. "Just thought I'd ask what you wanted to eat, considering today is a bit special."

"Chunky at stew is fine," I shrugged.

"How very huntress like," Aira said before walking over to the short line in front of the kitchen.

"'How very huntress like'," I grumbled with a nasally voice as she left. "I just like their stew, is that I cri?"

"Yes," a random hunter from a different table said with all the non-chelance in the world as he played a ga of cards with a few others.

"Fuck you, Everett! No one asked your dumbass."

He chuckled and returned to his ga with a wave of his middle finger. I rolled my eyes and rested my chin on the table, humming away as I awaited my al. If you saw from afar you wouldn't of noticed the occasional flinch as I thought about the chewing.

That was neither here nor there.

Staying up for so long made hallucinate the...specific noise that haunted , which was no fun at all.

"Lass! Look at ye, all ready to go with them bags under yer eyes." A man laughed and sat across from , holding two mugs of ale, one of which he slid over.

"Thanks, Kerro," I said and started downing the drink.

"Ha! Slow down now, don't want the drink to disappear before ya can proper enjoy it."

I kept chugging.

Kerro shook his head with mirth. "Honestly though lass, yer sure it was a good idea to keep yerself awake? It'll be a long hunt and Loklan's relying on you to be our night watch."

I finished the ale and let out a satisfied belch as I considered the question. I shrugged.

"One night won't matter in the grand sche of things," I said.

"Aye." he nodded. "But it isn't just a night, is it? You've been keeping yerself from dreaming fer almost a week now. I don't claim to know what mages can or cannot do, but from what I understand old 'ealer Ken doesn't skimp on his beauty sleep."

I scoffed. "Old? The man looks barely thirty."

"Lass, he passed his first century decades ago. Ye should know not to judge a man by his wrinkles."

I blinked, then squinted hard at Kerro.

He burst out laughing.

"Nah, yer right. He's yet to reach forty. But I had ye going there, didn't I?

"Seriously though, you look like haggard eloped with insomnia and had you as a result. We can tell Loklan to 'ave others on night watch so you can rest a bit, though the wilds ain't the best place for proper sleep."

"That'd be for the best," I grumbled, causing Kerro perked up. "To have other people on watch, not to having rest. I've got shit to do."

"Honestly, if you're so obsessed with magic, you should just join the universities," said a voice from behind .

I looked back to find Gren holding a plate with cuts of at alongside so salad to the side. Xae was standing beside him, scowling at the man as she held a bowl of stew. "You guys get here before we did? Aira's still in the line," I said.

Gren shrugged. "When I got here only Xae was sitting, so she was first."

"And would've liked to have sothing other than stew," Xae grumbled.

"It's good for you," Gren said. "Got all the things you'd want to grow into a strong hunter."

"Exactly!" I said.

Xae rolled her eyes. "Both of you are idiots with no taste. The tongue cannot be abused by such an abomination! It's downright unholy."

"Hey, stew is great," I said.

"Of course you'd think so, village bumpkin."

"I'll literally beat the shit out of you here and now for such sacrilege."

"Yeah? Fucking do it—" a smiling Xae was interrupted by a large hand landing on her head.

"There'll be none of that now," Loklan rumbled. "Not before such an important hunt. Sit down while I get my food and behave. We have much to go over before we leave."