Chapter 1: Here I Am

Rhys arrives at Frathe City to meet up with a guild of hunters called the Hunters Of THe Burning Rose.

"When The Guardian Falls, The Demon Will Open His Eyes.

When Sanctuary Is Destroyed, The Demon Will Rise.

When All Hope Seemingly Dies, The Storm Will Begin.

The Spirit Of Memory Will Be Restored, and He Will Arrive."

The voice grows louder, and soon it wakes me up. And I find myself banging my head against the window.

"M**********r.." I mumble to myself as I look out the window.

Frathe City. I've heard many things about this city: it has good hotels, the people are nice, and other typical things like that. But one thing that got my attention was word of a guild of demon hunters that operates in this city. They go by "The Hunters Of The Burning Rose". The most I've heard of them was from a story that my uncle told me. He apparently worked alongside them, and he believes they will help hone my skills towards perfection. And that's I'm here.

I wander the streets to see the city from below, to know what it's like down here. At night, I take for the rooftops and look at above. As I'm walking, I see a suspicious group of people walking down the other street. There's four of them: two guys and two girls. They're dressed in what looks to be Hunter Robes. I share a stare with the older looking girl, who has death in her eyes. I don't know what was in my eyes, but hopefully it didn't leave a bad impression.

I reach my apartment and set my things down. I brought clothes to last me for however long I be in the city (or live), plenty of money to buy food and other necessities, and most importantly, my gear. My gear set it quite plentiful compared to other Hunters, but I've made it work. It consists of my special blade and three pistols: two at my sides and one for a sneak attack. I put my weapons on my drawer and take the money to get food.

Hours past by and it's night at last. My apartment isn't fully set, but it's enough for tonight. Right now, I need to get ready for my run. I grab my Robes, set my weapons up, and I leave out of the window. I take the fire escape up to the roof and look down below. I gotta admit, the city looks nice from above. But I have a city to look for and a guild to join. I run from rooftop to rooftop and look at the city around me. I don't see nor hear anything that caught my attention, but that change when I heard the sound of a demon being summoned.

I look at an alley below me and see that my ears heard true. I jump down and hide behind a dumpster to hear how this goes. The voice of a girl tells the demon how they've come to negotiate. It goes on for some time, but they basically told him how he's been killing people and they want him to stop and turn back to hell or else. As the negotiations got deeper in, a rat scurried over to me and in a panic, I threw him aside. It was quite loud, and soon the voices stopped. I too was quiet, waiting on what would happen. Soon, I felt the dumpster behind me being flipped over to the side. I turned around awkwardly and saw everyone was looking at me. I made things more awkward by waving like a dimwit.

"Liars!" The demon shouted. "You said you came alone!"

"Actually, I'm not with them." I said, reassuringly.

"I don't care!" He shouted again. "Die!!" And with that, he attacked us.

The four got their weapons out and were ready to strike, but the demon had struck them back with his long, scrawny arm. That's when I come running in, sword in hand, and towards the demon. He tried swinging at me, but my sword blocked it, and as I came back, his arm came flying off. He let out a blood-curling screech, and before he could attract any attention, I shot him dead. I put my weapons away, but I dropped the sword when one of them grabbed me and pinned me against a wall. I suddenly recognized them as the Hunters from earlier today.

"What were you doing?" The older girl asked me, holding me tight.

"S-Staking out.." I say, nervously. That wasn't the right answer.

"Why? What do you want with us?" She asked more furiously.

"You're.. hunters, right?" I asked, hoping they would understand.

"Of course. We're the Hunters Of The Burning Rose." And in that moment, hope and embarrassment filled me.

"Huh." I mustered up. "I was, uh.. supposed to join that same guild.. but,uh.."

"Wait, you're Rhys, right?" She asked. I nodded in conformance.

"Well, I would tell you to f**k off," she started off, worrying me. "But our guild leader does want you. So, you can come with us." I nod and apologize about the whole incident. She just told me to forget about this and then we'll be good. Good enough, I guess.

We arrive at the guild, which is an old observatory mixed with a library. The older girl went into what I believe to be the head office where the guild master is. In the meantime, I look around the place, particularly a bookshelf. I recognize the books here from back home and soon enough I find myself reading one of them. I was so submersed in it that I forgot where I was.

"Like that book?" One of the guys asked. They both look like twins, so this will be great.

"Yeah.." I said sheepishly "Kinda nostalgic for me."

"The guild master would like to see you now." The girl told me, walking out. I nod and walk into her office. I take a quick look around the room until my eyes fix on the chair spinning towards me and then I see the guild master. She appears to be around the same age as the older girl but with straightened red hair and brown eyes. She's nice, but probably has someone else. So no need for THAT story arc.

"Ah, hello there." She said to me with a bright personality, which feels odd for some unexplained reason. "My name is Azura Rose, I'm the guild master for the Hunters Of The Burning Rose."

"Rhys Osborn" I introduce myself as I kneel before her (why? Good question) "At your service." She chuckles at my lack of social skills.

"There's no need to kneel before me." She chuckled. "I'm not a goddess or anything like that." I stand back up, kinda embarrassed. "So, you wish to join?" She asked. I nod. "Well there's two parts to registration; a questionnaire and a combat test. Tonight will be the questionnaire and tomorrow night will be the combat test."

"Ok. Sounds good." I say, nodding. "Should I, uh, sit down?"

"Of course" she said, about to chuckle. I'm not sure if I'm that charming or that stupid. I take a seat and prepare myself for the questions.

"Question One: Are you prepared to fight off demons and to possibly die while doing so?" She asked.

"Yes." I answer. "I've been preparing for this since I was eight." She smiled at my determination.

"Question Two: Do you have a basic understanding of demon physiology and/or fighting skills?" She asked. I nod a hard yes to that.

"Question Three: Do you have any family or relatives that were once or still are hunters?"

"My uncles," I answer "who are also the ones who trained me to what I am today."

"That's good." She complimented. "Last question: why?" I open my mouth to answer, but I hold back. A memory flashes bye, reminding me why I REALLY became a Hunter, but she shouldn't know. Yet.

"To honor my mother." I say. I mean, that's part of it. But again, it's part of it.

"She's dead?" She asked, and I nod. "I'm sorry, I'm not sure how your father could cope with-"

"Actually," I interrupted. "I never had a father. My birth mother was the one who died, but I never heard anything about the other mother." Her eyes widen at this revelation.

"Oh, I-I'm sorry about that.." she stuttered, but soon regained her composure. "Well, that concludes the questionnaire portion of registration. Tomorrow we'll see how you do in a sparring match or two." We both get up and we shake hands. And she helps me to walk out. She seems nice, nicer than that other woman. But I'm sure I'll change her view of me once I blow everyone away tomorrow with my skills.