When Hammer Meets Claw (kuujin)

[Ivan]

Winter 5, 510 AV

Ivan was so tired... He’d wandered the woods for the entire day without rest, searching for something to kill. He was getting hungry and did not want to deplete his food stores. It was an hour or two past noon, and he’d set out from the city at the break of dawn. His grip on his hammer was firm, though he had to squint his eyes in the bright light. Two full moons had passed since he had left the mountains and still the sun’s brilliance effected him negatively.

Ivan took a deep breath. His walk had led him a bit deeper into the woods then he would have liked, and he thought about returning. As his belly grumbled, he also thought of returning empty handed. Ivan stopped dead in his tracks, having heard something. It sounded as though some creature had disturbed the bush of the area, though he saw nothing. He took note that it was unnaturally quiet here. Even on the peaks of Sultros, birds sang a tune.

The silence usually meant but one thing. Some predator bigger then him was near by. There was the option to walk away, but Ivan was still without a new supply of food. He thought of what big animals would hunt these parts, but he had no clue. There were no big hunters in the high mountains. He decided that filling his belly and finding out could be accomplished at the same time, and listened again for any noise. Perhaps he wouldn’t die.

[Kuujin]

For Kuujin, it seemed a day just like any other. The sun was halfway through the sky, though it did little to ease the cold chill on the air – not that Kuujin minded. In truth, he liked the cold air, though it made hunting a little more difficult. Prey tended to be a little more scarce and there wasn’t much in the way of berries. He never had a problem finding one sores of food or another though, as he could eat just about anything. Today, he wasn’t particularly hungry, as he’d found a young calf earlier that day. It’d been young and tender, quite an enjoyable meal, and an easy enough hunt. After he’d eaten, he continued his wandering about as he usually did, pushed on by his strange feelings of discontentment. It was a downright frustrating feeling, not knowing what he wanted, how to go about getting it, or even why he wanted it. Frustrated and discontent, two feelings he was sure that, out here in the wilds, he was sure he shouldn’t be feeling, yet felt them keenly. It was then, or sometime thereabout that Kuujin caught a new scent. He wasn’t so alone as he had thought, and considering the scent he figured it to be human, or something akin to one. He certainly didn’t smell as foul as the last human he’d met, which, providing this human turned out to be annoying or bothersome, meant he could eat unhindered. But, as he wasn’t particularly hungry, he figured he’d indulge his mild curiosity. Slowly, he lumbered along the scent-trail curiosity mounting ‘till at last he caught sight of his query. It was a shorter man, much shorter than most were, and he was stocky – lots of muscle. At that point, as usual when he wasn’t hungry for food, Kuujin paused, wondering just what he should do now that he’d located the man. For now, thought he’d simply watch. Most humans didn’t come so far out into the wilderness and survive, and to him that meant that this man was either incredibly stupid or smart enough to survive in the wilderness.

[Ivan]

Ivan exhaled a deep breath. Moving on seemed pointless. There was no food to be found near by and he did not wish to be caught out in the dark alone again. It was time to return to the streets of Sylrias. As he turned, to walk back, he sighed. He’d have to buy his meal, spending yet more of his low funds. That was, until he noticed something that was not there before.

This beast was huge (compared to him, any way). He was not sure how he did not hear the monster step so close. It’s fur was dark brown, and it seemed to him that it was slightly fat, though he thought that there must be some true strength beneath that girth to move it in the first place. That, coupled with the fact that it was staring directly at him, made Ivan uneasy.

Ivan pressed down the switch on his father’s shield, and with several metallic clicks the internal extentions moved outward, doubling the size of what was once an average buckler. He raised his left arm, a rather effective double shield now, and pushed the head of his hammer from his shoulder, holding it up so that he might bring it down on his enemy. Battle ready, Ivan took a step forward to gain better ballance. He did not know what manner of beast this was, never having seen one, so he hesitated in attacking. Instead, because of the nagging feeling that this creature could actually kill him with ease, he moved back a few paces.