Citizen 637 Kagiro

Night had quickly crept upon the Dome, but the city of Atlas was still bustling with activity, even at such an hour. Some of the merchants began to shutter their booths in the various markets throughout the cities, while others stayed open to cater their goods and services to the nighttime audience. Daytime hunters returned with their hauls, and in turn the nighttime hunters embarked on their expeditions. Novice divers were beginning to go home for the night, while the more experienced ones vouched to continue for a bit longer due to their expertise in the matter.

For Kagiro, this night was one like no other. She was tasked with taking down her Offering to the Ancients, an event for her to prove herself and her abilities by bringing down either a large stag or boar. Both were not an easy task, but Kagiro was sure she was up to it. She had to be.

“You ready?” Kagiro was snapped from her thoughts by a familiar gravelly voice.

“As ready as I’ll ever be, Grim.” Kagiro sighed. In all truthfulness, Kagiro wasn’t sure how she was going to pull this off. Although she had been complimented for her exemplary hunting skills in the past, those had been things like harmless game birds and small, albeit quick and slippery, fish from the shallows of the rivers. She’d never faced a challenge with such power, and more importantly, drive to survive. These targets would for sure fight back if need be, and could do some real damage. Kagiro had seen it first-hand. She shot a glance over at the purple Rexal who had spoken to her just now.

His name was Grimoire, but everyone had taken to calling him Grim for short. Grim was almost like a rival to Kagiro, but in a friendly way. They’d known each other since they were very little, so of course they would see each other as such. Not that Kagiro just felt purely platonic towards the purple Rex, but she refused to acknowledge it in the event that it interferes with her life. The two were practically inseparable for the longest time, but eventually each of their priorities set them apart. Grimoire was adopted into a family of fishermen, while Kagiro was born into a family of adept hunters. They were permitted to spend their spare time during their childhood days however they saw fit, within reason of course, but once they began to mature and near adulthood, things became more and more demanding of them in terms of schooling, family life, contributions to society, and of course their future professions.

But everything they’d endured had led to this; their Coming of Age Ceremony. While they wouldn’t be completing them together, as most Rexals embark on this journey alone, they would be doing them around the same time. Grimoire’s would be tomorrow afternoon, somewhere within the Dome that his family had chosen to call their home. Kagiro vaguely remembered Grim being excited to hunt in the snow for the first time.

Kagiro’s hunt would take place tonight, at the peak of the darkness. She would have to utilize everything she had in her skillset to accomplish this task, but she couldn’t let everyone down. She had to bring home her offering, whether she came back unscathed or not. Coming home with nothing would surely mean failure. Not that she wouldn’t be able to retry another time, but it would bring a huge burden of shame to her family, who were all first-try passes and spoke of this challenge as if she were taking down a mere pheasant. How would they feel if their daughter returned to their doorstep with empty claws? Ashamed for sure, maybe even angry. Kagiro couldn’t let them down. She wouldn’t.

“Kagiro!” the voice startled the striped Rexal, who had become lost in thought once again. Her father was calling her name. The older rex stood next to her mother, who had a huge smile on her face. As Kagiro approached, she began to feel the pressure building.

“...It’s time?” Kagiro asked, internally wincing at how timid she sounded. What was wrong with her? Why was she backing down now? This wasn’t the time…

“Indeed it is, Kagiro. You know what has to be done, but I know you’ll ace this test. What else have we trained you to do?” Kagiro lowered her head at that last statement. Although she knew her mother was joking, she couldn’t help but feel like she was up on some sort of pedestal, one that meant disaster if she fell.

“Go on Kagi. The trial ends when dawn arrives, remember.” Her father spoke next, patting her shoulder roughly. He had always been firm yet gentle with her, but this time it felt…intimidating.

Without a word, Kagiro nodded, taking her first steps into the dark forest ahead of her. This forest was just the beginning of one of the many untamed expanses within the Dome, a place of wildlife and foliage, lost ruins, caverns, rivers, lakes, and much more that didn’t belong to the city of Atlas and instead existed as a wild reminder of the nature of life outside of civilization.

Kagiro paused just before the shadows could fully envelop her. She turned back to see her parents looking on with proud smiles. It hurt her a little, to think of what they’d say if she came home unsuccessful. But upon seeing Grimoire standing next to them, his family having attended the travels to the edge of the city with Kagiro and her family to keep them company, she felt a fire light inside her being. If she wanted to maintain her friendship with her childhood friend, the one she feels she may have fallen for long ago without realizing and simply repressed her feelings about it, and prove herself a worthy contender for his future partnership, she had to do this.

Grimoire gave her a toothy grin, his eyes squinting as he did so. He waved his hand at her in a goodbye, and she could almost hear him saying “See you at the end of this!”

Kagiro, now fueled by hope, thrust herself into the undergrowth of the forest, letting her instincts and the light from her halo be her only guide now.

As the darkness grew thicker around her, Kagiro pressed on, stopping only to listen for any sound of activity. So far it was merely the chirping of crickets and the calls of the nightlife. Some would say it was almost impossible to find a single specific prey item in such a vast area, but Kagiro wasn’t entirely ignorant. She had been raised to track down her prey swiftly and efficiently, albeit she’d only used it to find the treasure parcels her parents would hide for their little scavenger hunting training games, as well as the occasional rabbit. Something this big would require a lot of focus and effort.

Just as Kagiro moved to continue her mission, she picked up a strange scent. It smelled vaguely like the venison jerky her father would sneak her pieces of behind mother’s back when she was little, but its scent was much less…obvious. It also carried stronger hints of earth and vegetation. But Kagiro had a feeling she knew what this new scent was. She stealthily followed its trail, making sure to keep herself silent and hidden from obvious view.

It took a little while, and a lot of backtracking to relocate the scent when she got off-trail a bit, but her efforts were not unrewarded.

As Kagiro nosed her way through some particularly tough bushes, she spotted it; a regal-looking stag, standing proud in the center of the clearing ahead, scanning the area for signs of danger. Kagiro quickly ducked back behind the bushes, just enough to remain hidden but still keep her eyes on the stag.

The ungulate swiveled its head for a moment, seemingly finding no presence of danger to itself, and bowed its head to graze on the lush grass beneath its hooves. Kagiro needed to get closer to this animal, much closer, if she were to have a chance at catching it. If she jumped out now, it would just flee into the open forest to its right. But if she managed to slink around to the right side of the stag, she might just be able to cut it off and corner it at the edge of the clearing, right where she was presently hiding behind a tangled mess of shrubbery, much too dense for the stag to get through easily. That was the plan, to corner the stag from the right and take it down. Kagiro silently shuddered at the thought of how tough this could get, and once again her brain led her down a spiral of “what if’s.” As she crawled along, trying to remain out of sight of the stag, her thoughts ran rampant. What if I can’t do it? What if I get too injured to continue? What if it escapes? What if I fail…?

As Kagiro let her thoughts consume her, she failed to notice a particularly brittle branch right beneath her next footstep. She pressed all her weight onto it by mistake, and it crumbled with a loud *CRUNCH* beneath her talons. She quickly lifted her foot from the ground, pieces of the broken branch tumbling from between her fingers. Her heart sank. She was only halfway to her needed position. She chanced a look towards the stag, heart pounding with tension.

The stag’s head was now raised on high alert, its ears swiveling back and forth to search for the offender in his presence. Unfortunately for Kagiro, she lowered her body a split second too late after taking her glance. The stag had spotted her. Her whole body froze up, but her veins felt as if they were on fire. This was it. The stag would escape her grasp, and she’d go home with nothing after all.

What happened next surprised Kagiro. The stag, instead of turning tail and running, bowed his head and shook his antlers in a threat display. He huffed wildly, as if challenging Kagiro to a fight. Kagiro almost backed down, until she remembered why she was here. This was her chance! She had to take on the stag in a tactical battle, and somehow manage to overpower him and take it down. She had to fight.

Without another thought, Kagiro leapt out from the shrubbery she was cowering behind, a fire in her body lit like no other. Her apertures flared with magic, and her halo glowed bright. The stag scraped his front hooves at the ground and shook his head, turning up the earth in small patches. Kagiro growled lowly, her chest rumbling with noise. The stag seemed caught off-guard at the sound, and Kagiro’s years of training took over. She whipped her body around and swung her tail at the stag, just missing his left side as the animal leapt out of the way, simply grazing his shoulder instead. The ungulate staggered, but regained his composure quickly. He lunged at Kagiro, who leapt to the right in an attempt to avoid. But the stag had anticipated her movements and swung his head wildly to his left. *THUMP.* Kagiro was hit on her right front side with the stag’s antlers, but luckily the hit glanced off her throat armor, leaving nothing but scratches where he had made contact with the hard armor. Kagiro stumbled with the sheer power behind the hit, and the stag used this to his advantage. He let out a high-pitched howling whine, rearing onto his back legs and kicking at Kagiro with his front limbs, managing to catch her head with the sharp edge of his hooves. Kagiro’s right brow was sliced open, just missing her eye by inches. Her muzzle was now laden with scratches, each one beading with blood at their edges.

The stag suddenly turned his body in a one-eighty degree turn with a whirl of motion, planting his front hooves firmly in the dirt, and kicking hard with his back legs, hitting Kagiro dead on the chin, in the more unprotected spot where a Rexal’s throat armor transitioned into their skin under the jaw. This made Kagiro see stars, and she was sure she’d chipped a tooth as her lower jaw slammed into her upper at the force behind the kick. She reeled backwards, reaching up to clutch the affected area. She gasped for breath, sputtering over a mouthful of blood that had begun to pool. The stag remained vigilant, watching her every move as she stared daggers at the animal, assessing her options. The stag wasn’t going to back down unless he knew he'd won. Neither was Kagiro. She couldn’t. She had to bring down this animal and show her competence to those she needed most in life. Otherwise what was this all for?

The stag huffed again, watching as Kagiro struggled to keep her vision clear. She began to feel dizzy, but she readied for her next strike. She had to push through the pain.

Kagiro let out a roar, and with it the magic in her body glowed brighter than ever, illuminating her insides as visible when looking into her maw as she cried out. The stag faltered, and Kagiro used this to her advantage. She reared up, nearly doubling her height over the stag, which, for the first time, cowered in her presence. In one swift movement, Kagiro brought her full weight down hard on her front limbs, which landed firmly on the stag’s spine. With a *CRACK* the bones beneath her talons broke, forcing a pained cry from the stag. The animal’s back half went limp, causing him to stumble under its own front heavy weight. The stag collapsed, writhing in the bloodstained grass below. Kagiro gripped the stag by his antlers, lifting its head and pressing a talon to its throat. Kagiro quickly swiped her claws over the main vein in his throat, ending his suffering as quickly as possible. The entire body of the stag crumpled to the ground, blood pooling out from his throat. Kagiro wiped the blood from her hands on the grass beneath her feet, standing proud over her achievement. She’d done it.

Her moment of blissful victory was shattered, however, when the throbbing pain in her head broke through the haze of adrenaline and reminded her of the hits she’d taken. She needed to see someone quickly, even if just to patch up her scratches, and in the worst case scenario be treated for a concussion.

For now, she lifted the lifeless stag by his midsection, tossing it over her shoulder and stumbling back the way she came. Her vision was getting more and more blurred, her steps unsteady. As soon as she set foot out in the open where she’d entered the forest, where her family now looked upon her with great pride in their smiles, she collapsed. Gasps were heard from her family, and soon enough they were surrounding her, trying to make sense of what was going on. Kagiro’s last thought before blacking out completely was “I did it, Grim.”

Author: 6ftDemon