The Ultimate Hunter: The First Nexarri

The Girl in the Forest

The soft warmth of the fire had long faded by the time Kelvin opened his eyes again.

For a moment, he simply stared upward at the thick forest canopy above him while the cold morning air brushed against his face.

Then everything returned.

The direwolf. The fight. The cubs.

Kelvin groaned softly and pushed himself upright against the tree.

“Hah…”

His body still hurt, but not as badly as it should have. That alone felt wrong.

The wounds across his shoulder and side had already partially healed overnight. The pain remained, but compared to yesterday, the difference was impossible to ignore.

Kelvin lowered his gaze toward his arm silently.

“What… am I becoming?”

No answer came.

Only the quiet sounds of the forest.

Birds.

Wind moving through leaves.

Distant movement far away.

Too distant.

Kelvin frowned slightly.

Even now, he could hear things far beyond what should have been possible.

His senses still felt strange. Unnatural.

At times it almost felt overwhelming, like his body was constantly trying to process too much at once.

Kelvin rubbed his forehead briefly before his eyes shifted toward the spot beside the fire. Empty.

The direwolf cubs were gone.

Kelvin’s body immediately tensed.

“What?”

He stood quickly, scanning the area around him. Nothing.

No movement. No sound nearby.

His grip tightened slightly.

Did something take them?

Did they wander off?

Kelvin stepped around the campsite carefully before suddenly stopping.

Something felt different.

He looked down at his forearms.

Two black markings rested against his skin.

Wolf-shaped tattoos.

Kelvin froze.

“…What now?”

The markings were detailed enough to clearly resemble the direwolf cubs.

One on each forearm.

He stared at them silently for several seconds.

Then the tattoos suddenly gave off a faint glow.

Kelvin stepped back immediately.

The light spread briefly across his skin before two small figures appeared in front of him. The cubs.

Kelvin’s eyes widened slightly.

The two direwolf cubs blinked up at him before one shook itself lazily and let out a small sound.

Then, just as suddenly as they appeared, their bodies dissolved into dark light and vanished back into the tattoos.

Silence.

Kelvin remained standing there.

“…You’ve got to be kidding me.”

He stared at his arms again in disbelief.

First his silver hair. Then the eyes.

Then surviving death itself.

Now this?

Kelvin let out a slow breath and lowered his arms.

At this point, almost nothing surprised him anymore. Almost.

The cold morning wind moved lightly through his silver hair while his gaze drifted toward the damaged sword resting near the dead fire.

His expression hardened slightly.

The blade was scratched heavily now, with visible damage along parts of its edge from the direwolf fight.

Kelvin slowly picked it up.

For a moment, he remembered his father handing it to him only nights ago.

His sixteenth birthday.

Back when things still felt normal.

The memory tightened something painfully inside his chest.

“…I’ll repair it,” he muttered quietly.

His grip around the sword tightened.

“No matter what.”

It was the last thing his father had given him.

He would not abandon it.

Kelvin secured the sword back at his side before glancing deeper into the forest ahead.

He could not stay here forever.

Ashvale was gone.

There was nothing left for him there except graves and ashes.

And vengeance.

That feeling still burned deep inside him.

The vampire’s face remained clear in his memory. The red eyes. The smile.

Kelvin’s jaw tightened slightly.

“I’ll find you.”

The words came out quietly but firmly.

But before revenge…

He needed answers, strength and a place to start.

So Kelvin began walking once again through the endless forest, moving toward wherever the path ahead would eventually lead.

The forest stretched endlessly around Kelvin as he continued forward.

Tall trees blocked most of the sunlight above, leaving only scattered beams of gold slipping through the branches. The ground beneath his boots was uneven with roots, fallen leaves, and damp soil, but Kelvin moved carefully through it all.

Hours had passed since he left the campsite behind.

The direwolf cub tattoos remained quiet on his forearms, though every now and then he caught himself glancing at them.

Still hard to believe.

At least the strange pressure in his senses had become easier to manage while moving.

Not perfect.

But better.

Kelvin adjusted the damaged sword slightly at his waist before exhaling slowly.

His stomach growled faintly.

“Hah… great.”

He had survived magical beasts and death itself, only to still worry about food.

The thought almost made him laugh.

Almost.

Then suddenly, his expression changed.

A sound.

Far away.

Metal striking metal.

Voices.

Shouting.

Kelvin stopped moving immediately.

The sounds were distant, but unnaturally clear to him.

A horse crying out loudly.

Branches snapping.

Someone yelling in panic.

Kelvin narrowed his eyes slightly.

Trouble.

He should avoid it.

That was the smart decision. Kelvin slowly started moving again, intending to continue past the noise.

Then he heard it.

A scream.

Not from fear alone.

Anger.

Defiance.

Someone still fighting.

Kelvin stopped once more.

For a brief moment, memories flashed through his mind again.

Ashvale burning beneath the blood moon.

People screaming.

Him being too weak to save anyone.

His jaw tightened.

“…Damn it.”

Before he could change his mind, Kelvin turned toward the sound and began moving quickly through the forest.

The closer he got, the clearer everything became.

He could hear footsteps.

Heavy breathing.

Steel clashing repeatedly.

Even the frightened movements of horses nearby.

Kelvin slowed as he approached the edge of a clearing.

Then finally saw the scene ahead.

A damaged carriage stood near the center of the clearing, one side broken heavily from impact.

Several horses remained nearby, restless and panicked.

Bodies of guards lay scattered across the ground.

Some unmoving.

Others groaning weakly in pain.

And near the carriage stood a girl around Kelvin’s age with a sword in her hands.

Her breathing was uneven, but her stance remained firm.

Seven men surrounded her loosely.

Bandits.

Even from a distance Kelvin could tell she knew how to fight.

The way she held the sword.

Her footing.

The way her eyes followed every movement carefully. Trained.

Far more properly trained than he was.

One of the bandits laughed while circling her slowly.

“You should’ve stopped struggling earlier.”

The girl said nothing.

She only tightened her grip around the sword.

Another bandit stepped forward suddenly.

She reacted immediately.

Fast.

Her blade forced his weapon aside before she kicked him backward hard enough to nearly knock him down.

The bandits cursed loudly.

Kelvin watched silently from the trees.

She was skilled But exhausted And outnumbered.

One wrong move and it would end badly.

Kelvin’s fingers tightened slightly at his side.

This wasn’t his problem.

He should leave.

He already had enough problems of his own.

His Revenge, Survival and Answers.

Getting involved with strangers was dangerous.

Then he looked at the guards lying on the ground again.

And remembered Ashvale.

Kelvin closed his eyes briefly.

“…Tch.”

A moment later, he stepped out from the trees and into the clearing.

Every head turned toward him immediately.

For a second, silence filled the clearing.

Then one of the bandits burst out laughing.

“What the hell is this?”

Another pointed directly at Kelvin’s damaged sword.

“Look at that thing. Did a child come to challenge us?”

More laughter followed.

Kelvin said nothing.

His eyes moved calmly across all seven men, carefully tracking their positions.

The girl glanced toward him briefly, confusion flashing across her face.

Probably wondering why someone else around her age would walk into this willingly.

One of the bandits grinned cruelly.

“Kid, if you walk away now, maybe we’ll let you live.”

Kelvin slowly rested his hand on the damaged sword at his waist.

Then answered quietly.

“…Seven against one. Pathetic.”

For a brief second, silence filled the clearing.

Then the bandits burst into laughter again.

The tallest among them stepped forward, shaking his head.

“You’ve got guts, kid. I’ll give you that.”

Another smirked while pointing at Kelvin’s sword.

“With that broken thing? You serious?”

Kelvin ignored them.

His eyes moved carefully between all seven men.

Footsteps.

Breathing.

Grip changes.

Without trying to, he could sense small details far too clearly.

One near the left was nervous.

Another behind the girl was preparing to move first.

Kelvin frowned slightly.

That feeling again.

Like his body noticed things before he consciously did.

The girl kept her sword raised cautiously beside the damaged carriage. Her eyes flicked toward Kelvin briefly before returning to the bandits surrounding them.

“You shouldn’t have come out,” she said quietly.

Kelvin kept his gaze ahead.

“Probably not.”

One of the bandits suddenly rushed forward with a curse.

Kelvin reacted instantly.

Steel clashed.

The impact ran through his arms as he blocked the strike with his damaged blade before stepping aside quickly.

Too quick.

Even Kelvin noticed it.

The bandit stumbled slightly, surprised.

Kelvin’s eyes narrowed.

How did I move that fast?

Another attacker came from the side immediately.

“Behind you!” the girl shouted.

Kelvin turned at once.

Not because of her warning.

Because he had already heard the footsteps before the man moved.

Their blades collided hard.

The strength behind the strike surprised even Kelvin.

The bandit’s weapon nearly flew from his hand.

“What the hell?!”

Kelvin stepped back immediately afterward, breathing harder now.

No.

That strength wasn’t normal.

He knew it.

The bandits knew it too.

The girl’s eyes narrowed slightly as she watched him.

But there was no time to think.

Two more attackers rushed forward together.

The girl moved first this time.

Her swordsmanship was clean and controlled despite her exhaustion. She blocked one blade smoothly before driving her shoulder into the attacker hard enough to throw him off balance.

Kelvin reacted immediately beside her.

His damaged sword slammed into the second bandit’s weapon.

The force of the clash sent pain through his arms, but the man still staggered backward.

Kelvin’s breathing grew heavier.

“Hah… hah…”

His body was already exhausted from the direwolf fight.

He could feel it now.

Every movement hurt.

One of the bandits suddenly lunged toward him from the side.

Kelvin barely ducked in time.

The blade cut through strands of his silver hair.

“Damn it…”

He twisted quickly and drove his elbow backward instinctively.

The bandit grunted and stumbled away.

Kelvin froze for half a second.

I reacted before I even thought about it…

The fight around him felt strangely slow sometimes.

Not completely.

But enough for him to notice things earlier than he should.

Breathing.

Footsteps.

Movement.

It all reached him too clearly.

Another bandit rushed the girl while she was off balance.

Kelvin noticed it immediately.

“Left!”

The girl reacted fast enough to block the attack just in time.

Their eyes met briefly afterward.

A silent understanding passed between them.

Then the fighting continued.

Steel clashed repeatedly across the clearing while frightened horses cried out nearby.

The remaining bandits no longer looked amused.

Now they looked uneasy.

One stepped back slightly while staring at Kelvin.

“There’s something wrong with this brat…”

Kelvin tightened his grip around the damaged sword.

Sweat mixed with dirt across his face while pain spread through his shoulder again.

He was tired.

Too tired.

But he could not stop now.

Not while people were trying to kill him.

One bandit charged recklessly toward him again.

Kelvin sidestepped the attack and struck the man across the arm with the flat of his blade before kicking him backward.

Another came immediately after.

The girl intercepted him before he reached Kelvin.

Their coordination was messy.

Unplanned.

But somehow it worked.

Eventually, the remaining bandits began retreating slowly.

One cursed loudly while clutching an injured arm.

“This isn’t worth it!”

Another glared toward Kelvin and the girl before backing away.

“Forget it! Move!”

Within moments, the surviving bandits disappeared back into the forest, leaving the clearing quiet once again. Only heavy breathing remained.

Kelvin lowered his sword slowly.

“Hah… hah…”

Pain pulsed through his body immediately now that the fighting had stopped.

The girl still held her sword cautiously, though her posture had relaxed slightly.

For several seconds, neither spoke.

Then her eyes settled properly on him for the first time.

Silver hair.

Damaged sword.

Faint violet tint in his eyes.

A strange boy who appeared from the middle of the forest and fought like someone who did not fully understand his own movements.

“…Who are you?” she asked quietly.

Kelvin opened his mouth slightly.

Then stopped.

Because suddenly…

He truly did not know how to answer that question anymore.