Hunting For A Hunter

Marik couldn't bring himself to meet Serana's gaze. She was, in his opinion, only more intimidating for being a sword in addition to a person.
He headed towards the bench Lizair had motioned to and tried to avoid getting in Serana's way.

Serana moved to stand near him. "Tell me everything."

He flinched, then slowly looked up at her. His first instinct was to begin telling her about his birth. His second instinct was to begin telling her about the string of events causing his birth from the furthest point he could recall. His third instinct was to begin telling her about the birth of the gods. Then he realized all that might just make her even angrier and that would be a bad thing. Better get clarification. "U-um... okay... where do you want me to start?"

Serana sighed slightly. She never failed to get annoyed by the people asking for monster hunters. "Tell me about what happened in the village."

He gulped and looked down, all six of his hands clenching and unclenching in his lap. "I... I don't know much," he said. "I... I live- lived, outside of town. I... I only found everything after. It was... it was..." He trembled, tears beginning to well up, but he managed to keep going. "Blood, everywhere. Buildings... destroyed... blown apart, or burned. So... so many bodies... everyone... just... dead... some were... some burned... but... others..." Now tears did begin to leak from his eyes, and his headband started developing several wet spots. "I... It... I don't... they looked like..." He stopped, took a breath, and then said, "I... I think they killed each other. Some of them. There... I know what it looks like when a butcher knife slips. When a finger gets stuck between a pair of shears. It was... it was like that, but... not... And some of them... they killed themselves... I... I couldn't find tracks... there... it looked like they just... went crazy..." Then he realized that it probably did sound like they'd all just gone crazy, and he looked up, eyes suddenly wild. She couldn't think that. Then they wouldn't help and they'd lie there, in the ground, and never know what killed them. "But they didn't! I know them, all of them! They never would have done anything like that! They... they don't have fire magic, or explosions, or anything like that! It was something, something made them do it, and burnt them, and tore down the houses! It wasn't them, it was a monster!"

Serana frowned, looking down for a moment. Whatever it was sounded dangerous. In top form, she had no concerns about Liz being able to handle it, but he wasn't in top form. His injuries were no longer in danger of opening, but they slowed him and refused to heal properly. If it turned out to be a dangerous fight, she had no idea if he could get out of it alright. She wanted to tell the man to go find someone else.

At the same time, she knew Liz would just track him down anyways. She couldn't stop him if he really wanted to go. "I'm not certain what it could be, but Lizair is an expert hunter. If anyone would find who destroyed your village, he could."

"I could what?" Liz came shuffling back in, dressed in full armor. "We should get started if we want to avoid the trail going cold."

Marik jumped up as soon as Lizair spoke. If they were willing to help, he didn't want to wait around for them to change their minds if they were ready to go now. "S-she was saying that you could help. That you could track down the... the thing that destroyed my home," he said. "I-if you're willing, I can just grab my things. They're just over there." And then, something very important occurred to him, something he couldn't believe he'd almost forgotten. "A-and I can pay you! I- I brought what we had... It's probably not much, n-not to someone with experience, but... it's... it should be enough..." He then considered what Lizair had said about how powerful he was. "It... m-might be enough. Maybe..."

Liz shook his head. "I don't care about money. My concern on a mission like this is to take care of any threats before they can hurt anyone else. Get your things. I have a faster way of travel than whatever you were planning on us using." He gave a meaningful glance at Serana, who looked away after a moment.

"A-alright," he said. He dashed off and quickly disappeared around a hedge. I did it. I found one. I'll find whoever did this. Or, okay, he will, but... they'll be found. He soon returned, carrying a several bags, one in each hand, and a traveling pack on his back. "This is everything. How are you planning to get there?" Now that he could focus on actual, physical activity, his nervousness had, if not vanished, been greatly reduced.

Liz chuckled. He's so nervous. He'll hate this. He raised a hand, turning to look at Serana. "Would you do the honors, my dear?" He snapped.

On cue, the woman began to change. Her skin seemed to turn to crystal as she grew larger. Her face elongated into fangs, and her hands turned to claws. A tail sprouted from under her robes, which seemed to be fusing with her body. Wings burst from her back, and what had been a stern woman was now a dragon made of diamond.