Soul of a Human

The newly formed team of opportunity went past the guards and into the main courtyard. However, no other team was visible. Instead, they were greeted by another Ice-kin, who brought them to a room in the main fortress. The man waiting for them was, to their surprise, the chief of the Snow village.

"I see you found one more, " he acknowledged. I'm sorry Thor made it difficult. However, it is a part of the trial."

"Still, congratulations on passing the first part. Now, the second is quite easily explained. You have one month to return here with proof that you killed a monstrosity. But this was the previous rule for the last time. You already know of the strange new monstrosities and can fill in your new member if she doesn't. Because of them, we're prolonging the time, giving you more time to scout out potential prey. Meaning I see you in two months." The Snow-chief explained.

"That's it?" Mor asked.

"Yes."

"No further rules?" Jorgen asked. "Like it is not allowed to attack other hunting teams?"

"No, it is frowned upon but not outright forbidden." The chief stated.

"What's that about new monstrosities?" Titania asked.

"Your team will fill you in. They have firsthand experience with them. Now that's enough questions. Get going." The chief ordered them, and they were dismissed and brought outside again.

"Well, it's straightforward," Mor grumbled.

°At least the rules are easy to memorize.°The human added.

"Then everyone, get your gear, and let's go!" Elly stated.

"No," Mor said and got a surprised look from the other Ice-kin.

"Why not?" Jorgen asked.

"We need to adapt our fighting style with Titania here. Rushing will get us in trouble. Let's stay a week longer and practice a bit. We do have the time," Mor explained.

°You think a week will be enough to calm down your mother?°The human asked.

°No, but with her, even a year won't be enough.°Mor sighed.

"Do you not have trust in your abilities?" Titania asked.

"I have. But do you trust in my abilities? What if we really did lie to make ourselves look better? Also, I need to adapt to your power level. If I outpower you, you can't work as our guardian," Mor stated.

"True." Elly agreed.

"What do you mean true? I have the biggest output in weapon enhancement in my whole village. It will take more than a bit of magic to outpower me." Titania stated.

"I see your point, Mor. We need to familiarize ourselves with each other before going out." Jorgen said.

°Also some supplies would be good.°The human said.

°Good thinking.°Mor agreed.

Titania was unconvinced and tried to argue the point, but the three others told her to trust them, which she had no choice but to do right now. However, a few hours later, she had adjusted her stance when Mor showed off his power. Titania had never seen an Ice-kin weapon glow before. She herself was able to get it into the high-pitched humming, which was very good for a non-soul-trained Ice-kin.

After this first display of what everyone was capable of, the week of training was very welcome. They also used the time to get supplies, even while enduring the teasing from the older hunters because their group was the only one still in the city. However, the young hunters just let the old talk and concentrated on being as prepared as possible.

This included informing Titania of the new kinds of monstrosities, which the woman took quite well because of the tales the veteran hunters of her village had told.

"So this is not just a wild tale to scare the children?" She asked.

"No. There seem to be new subspecies of known monstrosities with stronger magical abilities," Jorgen said.

"That's why I would like to rope in some of my kin. As you have seen, we have a good grasp on the magic side of things, and you should get used to the different effects. Luckily, we have Clare at hand. Meaning we can try more dangerous stuff." Mor added.

"Who's Clare?" Titania asked.

"A friend of mine and an excellent healer," Mor answered.

"Oh no," Elly complained. "I'm not joining in such a training! Yours was bad enough! I don't want to imagine what happens when you don't have to watch out not to hurt us."

Titania took an uncertain look at Elly.

"Is it that bad?" She asked.

"No." Mor said.

"Yes!" Elly exclaimed.

"Maybe." Jorgen added, confusing the woman.

As Mor had promised, he included getting fighting practice, which Ambor was more than happy to provide. He was the perfect test monstrosity to train team cohesion and how to handle magic tricks. Orth also pitched in. His stone armor was also a great exercise for the young hunters, and with Clare on hand, they could do an extreme version of the magic training Mor had done with Gorn and his team.

Over the week-long training, everyone, mostly Titania, became intimately familiar with Clare's healing process. Soon, Titania shared Elly's view on what the Soul-kin called a crash course, which had, in truth, more in common with torture.

Sophie, in turn, hovered around Mor whenever she could, tried to forcefully create moments to couple Tiara and her son together. In addition to that, she tried to convince Mor to come home with them and not join in this suicidal thing.

Mor and the human planned what supplies they needed, and with Dino's sponsorship, behind Sophie's back, mind you, they were well prepared to spend prolonged time outside a settlement.

With their new formation in place and preparations done, the group left a week later. Sophie had to be restrained by Morokhan and Tiara. Otherwise, she might have gone with the hunting party.

With the goodbyes and well wishes of the Soul-kin, Elly's parents, and Jorgen's father, the group left the city, starting their hunt for a howler.

"Aren't your parents here?" Jorgen asked Titania.

"No. Father is stuck guarding our village, and mother is no hunter, so the two of them didn't come with the group." Titania answered.

Titania, Mor, and Jorgen were walking together while Elly was scouting ahead. Titania covered the front, Mor had the rear, and Jorgen was in the middle. This was the most responsive formation because even if they were about to hunt a howler, it wouldn't do to be unattentive and risk an attack from another monstrosity.

"So why are we hunting a howler again? Can't we just get the first monstrosity and be done with it?" Titania asked. "I want to succeed in this hunt and not die horribly to a maybe changed monstrosity."

"Because of Jorgen," Mor answered.

"Do tell." She stated.

"It's quite simple. A howler is the reason my mother can't hunt anymore. She lost her arm to one. I want to show her and my father that I can kill something like that and surpass them." Jorgen explained.

"I understand. I'm still not completely sure if that's the right thing for a first hunt. But we have similar goals, so I can at least see where you are coming from." Titania said.

"Right, you said something about wanting to prove to her father that you can be a hunter and get a wife," Jorgen stated.

"Yes. That old man wants me to find a husband and have children, but I'm not interested in either. The men in my village are all idiotic brutes and have no sense of decency. However, there is someone I'm interested in." She said.

"But she's a woman," Mor stated, and Titania nodded.

"She's the cutest thing." She told them

°A little girl-on-girl action. No choice if you live in a village of gorillas.°The human chuckled.

°What are gorillas?°Mor asked.

°Strong animals, close to humans. At least they have two hands and feet and are quite intelligent and social.°The human explained.

°And what does that have to do with Titania's village?°Mor continued.

°Forget it.°The human said, and Mor shrugged.

"Don't worry regarding the howler. If it's too much for us, we're running. No one of us wants to die, either, " Mor said, and Titania nodded.

"I will entertain you for now, but if you're taking unnecessary risks and aren't handling this with as much care as possible, I'm leaving you idiots to die," Titania promised.

"Sounds fair," Jorgen said.

"Don't worry. We trained very hard for this and know that howlers are extremely dangerous. We need to get a surprise attack in, or we have no chance at winning." Mor acknowledged.

"That's why I said this is no target for a first hunt, more so if you are a thrown-together team like we are," Titania said.

"But if we do that, your father has no choice but to acknowledge you," Jorgen said.

°That's dirty.° The human stated.

Titania thought about it for a second and concluded that the Ice-kin was right. If they were able to hunt down such a beast, it would mean that the whole team was very talented, and no one could argue the results.