Infinity in the Void – Freedom in the Abyss

Port de Brest, France.

A team of four people dressed in different attire, too diverse to think they belong to the same organization. But they are. The Hunters of the Hunter Association. All dressed fancy because of the dress code.

They are waiting for a Leviathan Hunter to come. They are not thrilled about this at all, since Leviathan Hunters are all known to be crazy from the long months alone at the sea.

They certainly did not expect a massive mechanical mermaid rising from the depth, one of metallic silver and blue glow. Luckily the port was emptied as this colossal mecha would make people run in terror.

The chest cavity opened up, the mermaid raised one of its four arms for the star of the show to step out—

Boom!

She threw a cage with no bars, a solid black box, crashing into the ground in front of the Hunters before the hand lowered her to the pier. Dressed in a silver hooded trench coat, wearing glasses to soften her sharp azure gaze. And she wields a giant coffin stored with countless weapons.

To look your best is a part of the Hunter dress code. So Charlotte always looks nice and cool.

The Hunter in knight armor whistled, "She got nice drip."

"Thanks.", her voice was serene and soft, "You can call me Captain Sinclaire, the owner of Prydwen over there."

But by the time she pointed at the ship with her thumb, it had quite gone down into the depth once again.

"A pleasure to meet you.", a man in leather clothing, covering his face with a cloth and a tricorn hat, he extended his hand to her, "I am Gerard, the leader of this Hunting Party."

He pointed at the knight, "That's Derren, or you can call him The Second Coming of Arthur Pendragon."

"Hey now, that isn't fair!", Derren playfully yelled at Gerard, "I deeply regret that! Please don't bring it up in front of a woman!"

"Oh! How did you get a mecha?", the Asian dressed in a blacksmithing outfit, decked out in tools and small arms, asked Charlotte, "I'm Yorimoto, by the way."

"My ship, Prydwen, is a Relic known as The Flying Dutchman, it has the ability to repair itself by absorbing materials. So far, it had eaten HMS Hood, KMS Prinz Eugen, and for how it can transform into a mecha, well, it ate Talos."

Talos, the robot of ancient times forged by Hephaestus, the Greek god of the Forge. Despite being a divine Relic, it was defeated by the Argonaut and sunk into the sea.

Everyone here felt the gravity of the situation, and more importantly, how dangerous Charlotte is...

But a girl in a black robe, her waist banded by a dark red corset, she raised her hand, "You are an Alchemist, right? I'm Nora von Hohenheim, descendant of Paracelcus von Hohenheim. Like you, I am an Alchemist."

"Oh? Interesting.", Charlotte smiled, "Tell me, what did you find?"

"Umm... I can only create alloy without the need for fire.", she pulled her hood down, embarrassed when facing a better Alchemist.

"Hmm, that is interesting.", Charlotte nodded, "But we don't have time, I'm here to deliver this for experimentation."

She kicked the cage next to her, and a low growl escaped the confinement. The Hunters took a peak at the opened window when Charlotte helped the cage up. Inside was the bare bone ashen blue skin monster, all tied up with chains, it was gagged with a metallic ball gag, its eyes covered by several layers of bandages. Though the more impressive thing was a silver spear stabbed through its chest.

"So... do you guys have a truck or something?", Charlotte asked.

Derren shook his head, "Nah, we were given the access to a helicopter!"

A helicopter flew down as he announced.

"Hmm, that's faster.", Charlotte nodded to herself, "Let's go."

 

=0=0=

 

The headquarters of the Hunter Association is located in Lozère, specifically Gérvaudan where the Beast of Gérvaudan was first spotted.

A quick history lesson here, due to the Beast of Gérvaudan, a giant beast that seems to be a cross between a lion, a hyena, and a wolf, that kept coming back around the beginning of autumn every year. So a base of operation was created to hunt down the beast every year, which grew as it expanded its operation to the entirety of Europe.

The Arabian Sandworms, the Nuckelavee of Scandinavia, the Wolfskrieger Wolf, and many more monsters of old had been reduced or completely went extinct. All due to the action of the Hunter Association.

A Hunter must Hunt, that is our creed.

Standing in front of a huge castle, which despite its appearance is pretty advanced with arcane technology. There is an underground lab the last time I visited this place.

And here is the person I want to meet, my grandaunt, Florence Silvi, the former head of this organization. Despite retired, she is still in good health despite being over 70 years old. Oh, she seemed to have dyed her hair recently into a dirty blond.

"Hello, Madam Florence.", I greeted her.

"Hello, Captain Sinclaire.", she smirked, crossing her arms, "Seem like you are about to confirm the existence of a brand new species."

"Now that the thing is delivered, can I go?"

"Not so fast, young lady.", she grabbed my shoulder, "You are the one who made the discovery so is it right for you to explain in person."

I rolled my eyes, "Fine, it isn't complicated. But had anyone read my research paper?"

We began to walk into the castle.

"It was a twenty pages long document, it's on the lighter side of what we deal with so most of the researchers had read it.", she said, arching back to stretch, "Man, these old bones are fucking me up."

"You should be in a retirement home right about now.", I sighed, taking out a cigarette, "Fu... So, how is life?"

We enter the hub area, which is pretty empty aside from the staff running around doing paperwork. It's fancy as fuck though with this gothic vibe, bare concrete with oil lamps to illuminate the area.

The castle is more than 300 years old, and most of the institutions are so old they cannot be repaired anymore without the risk of this place falling apart.

We continue to have small talks on the way to the laboratory, mostly about what we have been up to. Florence on her part doesn't have much to do, so she just haunts this place like a ghost waiting for her end, something about her cybernetic spine support being janky.

Honestly, she complains too much for my liking. Like, she's playing into the stereotype that the old people always complain. Plus, she talks so much about Magaret Thatcher, like some sort of ex-lover.

"...and you see, these paintings..."

Now she's going over the paintings depicting the Gérvaudan Hunting Festival, since the beast somehow comes back every year why not make a sport out of it? She complains about how much the new generations of Hunter kill the beast too quickly, not enjoying the thrill of the hunt.

I don't share the same mentality as her, as I enjoy chasing my prey up close, seeing the terror in their eyes is much... much more fun.

I am a sadist, but I don't like to extend a chase. I get bored real quickly since I have all these toys, these weapons of mass destruction. I want to move on from one conflict to the next

Stepping down into the laboratory, letting Florence open the way in... I was instantly hit by the cries of beasts, many monsters locked in cages along the walls as we walked down the corridor.

Dozens of experiments are done daily here, animal lovers would faint looking at these. A cat crackling with electricity being tied down and tortured to test its voltage. A Rainbow Serpent got its scales carefully ripped from its body. A type of monkey covered in brimstone is mined for its material.

With the appearance of Avalon, mutated animals are more present. But here, in this laboratory of utter cruelty, even the hivemind cannot make these monsters forget their primal instinct when exposed to so much pain.

I was led to an operation room full of medical equipment, with a table in the middle of the room where the Wendigo was being tied up in chains, its stomach opened up with most of the organs removed, and placed on the side.

In here, I can spot five surgeons, and three Hunters keep watch.

"How's everything looking?", I asked, stepping over to the table as I stared at the Wendigo.

Hmm, they removed its vocal cords so it can't scream.

"We just got to page 7 of your document.", the old surgeon said with a fascinated look, "And you are right, this thing doesn't obey the nature of biological life. Where does it get its energy from? How can it still function without so much of its vital organ?"

"As I wrote on page 2, the Wendigo operates more like a Relic than a living thing. Open up its ribcage and shine some UV light onto it.", I said as I looked into the thing's eyes, a perpetual rage seething behind them...

The surgeon did as I said, opening its chest up where its pale blue heart was still lying. They shined some UV light onto it and, lo and behold, faint traces of Runic symbols.

"These are... Runes, Runes!", the old man laughed, "What the hell?! This is an amazing discovery!! To think we would find Runes inside a living creature!! Say, what do you think these Runes are for?"

"The Runes I recognized are Einwaz, inverted Mannas, and inverted Uruz.", I stated, "Turn to page 10 for a detailed explanation."

"A Rune related to Death as well intelligence, a Rune for inhumanity, and one for Weakness.", the old surgeon sunk into deep thought, "This creature... is a horrible mutat—"

"No.", I cut him off, "This is likely due to a Curse existing in North America, it does not mutate, as that would imply the Wendigo is still considered human. This isn't a human."

"I understand...", he reluctantly agreed, "So... this Curse you spoke of, changed a human into a feral monster."

"Vorare Frigoris is the scientific name I have given this species. It is like a dark evolution of humans, a species evolved from Homo Sapien in an environment of cold and hunger, with the influence of something haunting the Canadian cold.", I sneered a bit, disliking this thing's face.

"I am not getting the picture, can you give an example?", one of the other surgeons asked me.

I nodded, "The Wendigo and human have as much similarity as a gorilla and a monkey, both are primate but are completely different species."

"Anyway, what do you want to ask next?", I look at the old man.

"Yes, we are still waiting for the DNA sample to come back with the result.", he stated, "I want to know why you started investigating the Wendigo?"

Now, I can't just say that I hold the infinite knowledge of humanity. Luckily, I already had something up my sleeves.

"Because I am a human supremacist.", I smiled, "When something like the Wendigo exists, these savages of the cold, I just can't stand it."

"Ah... alright, just as you said, this has arcane stuff mixed in. This...", then he has a realization, "Do you think other places have similar Curses?"

I closed my eyes, "Siberian Tundra, Scandinavia, and some other cold places where the Eternal Winter phenomenon appears. There is something that drives creatures that eat their own to turn into monsters, that doesn't only extend to humanity."

I gave a brief silence before continuing, "Vorare Frigoris, the Hunger of Winter, is what they should collectively be known as."

"I'll leave the decision up to other people.", I look at the other Hunters in the room with a smile, "A Hunter must Hunt, that's the rule."

Hmm? Florence took out her phone, she had been quiet all this time since this wasn't her field of expertise... something made her grimace.

"I'll get Andromeda to make an official announcement later but I have received some bad news.", she hung up, "We, the Hunter Organization, will effectively cease all activity in Central Asia."

"What?", a Hunter voiced his opinion with a shocked expression.

"The Mongols... more importantly, the Principal of Aequilibrium, had declared war...", she sighed with a heavy heart, "Someone found the Grave of Genghis Khan, and called upon the Steppe to bear arms and reform the Mongol Empire."

"What does that have to do with a Gem Holder Academy?", another Hunter question.

"Because Temujin, the Principal of Aequilibrium, is the mobile capital of the Mongol Empire, Karakorum.", I explained, "She obeys whoever inherits the sigil of Genghis Khan, bound by a Contract made hundreds of years ago."

I took out a cigarette, lighting it up, "It's just unfortunate that it is some random guy that wants to revive the Mongol Empire."

"This is crazy...", he looked conflicted.

"War is always crazy.", Florence nodded, "The powder keg had blown up once more, let's just hope that it does not turn into a full-on Great War..."

Who would do such a thing? To ignite a war?

Well, I am the one who did that. I persuaded some guy in Mongolia to revive the Mongol Empire, giving him some hints about the location of Genghis Khan's burial site. One of the uneventful things I did.

Why?

Because I want people to be distracted when I begin my plan to start my Utopic Dystopia. A war is a good enough distraction...

The best part? 

Desperation.

It is human nature to seek the past, someone seeking the remnants of a glorious empire. People will begin to fear the past, to learn and break from it.

Light tradition ablaze, burn away culture, bury it all in ash. That is my goal.

So Mongolia, let the world hear your steps once again, remind the world of the empire that bury all under its steps. So it can once again crumble.

Shine once more, and perish.

That is the final grace this princess shall give the Shadow of the Horde.