#there's a reason why I said that Cilrus isn't killed off entirely

[monstersofsilence]

Catalyst: The Hunt (Cilrus’ past 1)

The air is cold; the forest clouded in deep mist. Sounds of trampling of multiple beasts, closer to a stampede as werewolf-like creatures ran. Gun shots then rung out, echoing all across the woodland area and caused the birds, that were perched on the branches above the canopy, to flee. A troll kept pace with the beasts, having a rifle on hand and took a shot on the run when she spotted one of the beasts.

Avoiding any roots that are popping from the ground, she took aim at one, pulling the trigger and another shot rang out. The beast fell, dying instantly, slowly petrifying and crumbled into pieces. She kept up with the rest, taking them out one-by-one until there was one left. The troll stopped in a clearing, thick brush all around her as she scanned the area around her.

Hearing rustling from behind, she quickly turned to face the direction of the noise, taking aim with her rifle. She was blind-sided, the beast dashing in and knocked the rifle out of her hands until it was just her and werewolf. “You are the hunter?” The beast began speaking, its voice being audible despite the slight growl behind it. Seems to be the alpha of the pack she was hunting if it’s intelligent enough to being vocal “You?! A single fleshling took out the entire pack?!”

“Hey buddy. I’m just getting paid to kill you guys since you’re harassing a small village.” She spoke up. “Though you were once a troll yourself judging by the horns. Why terrorize people who you were once like before? Huh?

“They are poison! My previous life had nothing but misfortune! I ended up having to steal to live another day.” The beast then smiled deviously. “Then one day... I broke into a lab that was hidden under the village. A scientist was developing a serum and it turned into what I am now.”

“A scientist, huh? Well, this is a bit of a shit show.” She groaned in annoyance after learning of this information. A lab under a village with a serum that can turn trolls into monsters. Sounds like something off of a video game or movie. If it turns out to be true, then the work she did would be for nothing if said scientist continues on developing more serums. And if it then goes into testing it on living trolls, then the village would still be in danger. She’s going to need to take a visit to this scientist once she’s done here. Reaching behind her, she unsheathes a kukri blade, getting to her battle stance as the beast circled around her, growling.

“You may have killed my pack... but once you’re dead, I will rebuild. And everyone in that village will pay for what they done to me!”

“Enough with the sob story! You sound like a comic book villain who turned evil because some jackass stole their crayon as a kid.” She mocked. “Perhaps maybe you should’ve thought positively, moved to a different place. Not everyone are the same. The people there might’ve treated you poorly but perhaps people in another village or town could’ve welcomed you with open arms. Have you even thought of that?”

“Do not think you can persuade me!” The beast yelled. “I’m continuing on my path... as I leave a trail of blood from your corpse!” The werewolf quickly went for a pounce. The troll almost didn’t expect but dodged out of the way to the left, rolling onto the ground and standing back up as the beast lunged forward, swing its claws as she ducked down. She took a swing herself but they stepped back as they went for an overhead, bringing their claws down onto her as she didn’t react fast enough, getting pinned to the ground. The beast kept the troll pinned with one claw, bring the other over their head and swung down onto her, aiming for her head. The troll moved her head to the side, dodging the attack and makes a small cut on the arm that was holding her down, causing them to let go. She rolled away and stood up, lunging forward and stabbed them on their stomach. The beast merely let out a chuckle, grabbing her by the throat and began squeezing. “No blade can harm me, fleshling.” The werewolf said.

The troll gasped for air but was able to say some words. “Y-You’re... right...” She replied. “It’s... a silver blade...”

That was when the beast felt fear, forced to let go of her as she twisted the blade and steps back from them. The werewolf growled and groaned in agony, bleeding from the wound and now slowly being petrified. “You... f-f-fleshling! How dare you!” The petrification process slowly went up to its head, silencing them and then began to crumble away into pieces.

Surprisingly, the petrified head stayed intact. The girl panted, walking over and grabbed the stone-like head, putting it in her bag and carried it over her shoulder. She looked for her rifle, picking it off from the ground and headed back to the village. As she arrived, the troll in charge of the small village waited at the entrance, an older woman with a sun hat on. Spotting the monster hunter she hired, who she was afraid might’ve been sent to die, come back alive, they approached the other with concern. “Miss Xonova!” She formerly called them out. “You’re safe and sound.”

“Yup.” Cilrus replied.

“And... what of the beasts? Are they killed?”

Not bothering to answer, Cilrus reached into her own bag, pulling out the severed, petrified head of a werewolf she killed. “They are all done for. They won’t be a bother.” She smiled confidently to the village leader.

“Oh thank goodness! I will gather payment that was promised for you for a job well done, miss Xonova.”

“Not yet...” Cilrus paused them. She thought for moment, and then gets an idea. “Do you have a doctor in your village, ma’am?”

“Why... of course.” She answered. “Doctor Ovultn lives down the road.”

“Can you take me to them? And I want you to be there with me.” Cilrus asked. The village leader nodded, leading the troll straight to the doctor’s home who does their profession there. Cilrus became subtle loading up some bullets into her rifle just in case anything happens.

They both arrived, the leader knocking on the door as the doctor opened it and was surprised to seeing the bounty hunter he’s heard all about. “Oh! Cilrus Xonova, is it? What a surprise to see you here!” Doctor Ovultn says. “Did you kill off those monsters?”

“Yeah, I did.” Cilrus replied with a slight grin. “They were a bit tough to track down and the alpha leader was a bit of a pain in the ass but they’re gone now.”

“That’s great news! You have no idea how much you have helped me. Stitching up large gashes from claws is very difficult, you know?”

“Yeeeeeeah.”

“Now... why is it you’re here?”

“O-Oh!” The village leader chimed in. “She wishes to speak to you, right, miss Xonova?” She turned to her.

“Yeah. I do. May we come in?” Cilrus suggested.

“Not at all! Please! Come inside.” The doctor moved out of the way and both the leader and Cilrus stepped inside. Right away, Cilrus scanned the inside of the home, spotting anything that looks out of the ordinary from the shelves or even the multiple coffee tables that are around. “What is it you wish to speak to me about?”

“Well... I’m gonna keep it blunt here.” Cilrus began speaking but takes out the petrified, severed werewolf head and placed it on top of his counter. “This guy... he’s the alpha leader.”

“An... alpha leader?” The doctor sounded surprised, staring in awe at the stone head.

“Mmhmm. He was able to speak. Verbally. And he told me something that I now need confirmation for... This village... has an underground lab. And beneath all this dirt there’s a serum that’s being made and it turned people into those things who I just killed... That guy...” Cilrus pointed to the head, continuing to walk around the room and trying to find anything out of place. “... told me that he broke into the lab and injected himself with the serum. Possibly took more of it and created his own pack. Now...” She then turned to the doctor. “I want to know if you are not hiding something.”

The doctor was speechless, not knowing what to say but hearing these accusations was causing him to get angry. “What?! Are you accusing me? Me?!” The doctor talked back.

“Miss Xonova!” The leader spoke out. “What on Alternia is with with accusation?”

“It only makes sense for the one doctor in this village to be skilled enough to be doing these kinds of experiments. A scientist, if you will.” Cilrus simply answered. “I just need to know if it’s true.”

“O-Of course it’s not true! I’m a doctor! A healer! I have been taking care of my fellow neighbors for sweeps when I arrived here!” The doctor explained.

It was then that Cilrus looked at a wall light, seeing what seems to be scratched marks on it but curved up to the left. Almost as if it is turned slightly clockwise. She walked over to it, turning it slightly clockwise and that was when the bookshelf next to it slowly moved forward, stopped and slides to the left to reveal an elevator door. Like from a movie, she knew there was some secret door. Cilrus turned to the doctor along with the leader, looking shocked from this discovery. She aimed her gun at the doctor. “I’m gonna ask you to take me and her down there...” Cilrus demanded.

“L-Listen... I can explain-”

“Now, doc!”

Without any way of escaping around this, he submit and leads them to the elevator. The doors slides open and all three of them stepped inside, heading straight down while Cilrus puts her rifle to the side and pulls out her kukri blade on them, keeping watch on them if they make any kind of move to attack, she’ll be ready. It felt like an eternity being cooped up in a small, square space, going down deep underground to the unknown. Eventually, they made it down and as the doors opened, it revealed the lab the beast talked about. The village leader was shocked from the reveal, not wanting to believe this was all hidden behind her back all this time. The doctor was scared but was ordered by Cilrus to walk inside. A typical lab full of microscopes, beakers of colored liquid which could be god knows what. The one thing that stood out the most was large tubes that had werewolves inside. Three tubes and each of them containing the same beasts Cilrus had just hunted down. All of them seem to be asleep and floating in some kind of liquid. “Wanna explain around this, doc? Though I don’t think you can get out of this even if you try.” Cilrus says.

“You... have no idea how many sweeps of research this has gone through!” The doctor finally just lets it all out. “I was on a breakthrough to assist the Fleet on providing them with super soldiers! This! This was the answer!”

“And those... three?” The village leader spoke up. “They’re the three missing people that were reported gone six sweeps ago...?”

“I needed live subjects in order to test the serum and making sure it worked properly... I-I had no choice but to kidnap them!”

“And you became careless to leave out the serum in the middle of the open in which a troll broke into your home, discovered your lab, and injected itself, along with their buddies, to being werewolves and were killing off people in this village.” Cilrus chimed in. “And this going to stop because I could give two shits if you’re working for the Fleet. What if you can’t control them? Even then, they are a danger to everyone else and if continued, you’d be continuing with these experiments and putting others in danger... Much worse since you kidnapped people for this damn experiment of yours.”

“No! You cannot destroy my life’s work!” The doctor pleaded.

“Watch me.” Cilrus aimed her rifle, shooting all three tubes containing a beast, hitting them. The glass breaks as the liquid pours out and the dormant beasts falls to the floor and they all petrify. Holding her rifle by the barrel, she swung it around like a bat, breaking all the beakers and kicked around any science equipment until it was all broken all the while the doctor tried to stop her but it was too late. The doctor grabbed a scalpel that fell to the floor but looked up only to be looking down the barrel of Cilrus’ rifle. “You’re done...”

“Doctor Ovultn...” The village leader spoke. “You will be put on trial. The council will see to it you be put into a holding cell for this horrible crime you have committed.”

The doctor was done for. He gave up, letting go of the scalpel and just stayed on the floor in defeat. Eventually, Cilrus was about ready to head out, walking towards the entrance but was stopped by the village leader. “Miss Xonova!” She called Cilrus out.

Cilrus stopped, turning to them. “Hey! What do you need, ma’am?”

“I... cannot thank you enough for what you did today... even exposing what was hidden right beneath our feet. I... I would have never known this existed... if you hadn’t come to speak to him... I feel he would’ve continued putting our village in danger... such a horrible man.”

“Ah it’s no big deal! Crazy shit happens and this was a first for me.” Cilrus tried lightening up the mood. “What matters is that your village is safe and sound. You won’t have to worry about freaky werewolves or... whatever else!”

“And I am thankful. Here...” She handed Cilrus the payment, smiling to them. “Thank you... Thank you again!”

Cilrus nodded, began walking down into the forest towards the direction to where her home is. “Secret lab making werewolves... What a fucking day this was!”