Ocean's Last Roar Part 1

The Ocean’s last Roar

            I rushed to gather my belongings. News of my acceptance into the Hunters Guild almost made me faint. My name is Balto, and I am one of three children. I am 15 years old and I live with my Mom, Sister and Older brother. I’ve been told I’m not the most cautious, and that I’m a bit clumsy. I took the test of acceptance into the Hunters Guild 2 weeks ago, and I just got the results. I scored the second best out of the 100 accepted. I grabbed my clothes and stuffed them into a dark green bag of mine. As I’m rushing around my mother reminded me not to forget my tooth brush. As my mom always says, “Two times a day seven days a week, for a clean smile.” She tells me this so much; the little jingle is glued to my head.  I grabbed my bag and raced to the door. I ran so fast I nearly tripped over the rug.

As I waited near the door I thought of the cool things I would be learning when I get there.  Slowly my family gathered around me. As I was getting ready to say goodbye and give hugs to them, my brother gave me his pendant. It was a shield with a sword going down the center. I looked at it intently, and then began to cry. I gave him a huge hug, and he hugged back. I gave my mom and my sister hugs, and as I was walking out the door I looked back for reassurance. I saw my family there smiling, and with a nod of my mother’s head I smiled back; and headed for the sea port.

I started off walking at a rather fast pace, and I was wondering if anyone else from the area got into the Guild. Unfortunately I didn’t see anyone else leaving for the port. I feel lucky; I got into the Guild Center at Tanzia Port. Tanzia Port is a tropical stretch of islands; a lot of fresh fruits and beautiful vegetation grow there. Also the climate is warm but not hot. It’s better than the Guild Center in Loc Lac city. Loc Lac is located in the Great Desert, and the weather is really hot and dry. Although it doesn’t sound as pleasant I sure wish I could go and possibly see the great Elder Dragon Jhen Mohran. Although that would be cool to see it, I would rather travel to Tanzia Port because of its nice weather. All I could do is think about how cool it will be to be a hunter for the Guild. I got so carried up in my own thoughts I nearly walked straight into a pond. I walked for a decent amount of time, maybe one hour before I got to the road that leads to the sea port. As I saw the sign that said “Port 8 miles” I let out a deep sigh. I started walking up the road. I knew the walk would be about another hour, so I tried to amuse myself along the way by kicking rocks and other things. After about 15 minutes of the walk the path started to go downhill. I could feel my pace pick up a bit. Without realizing it I began to sprint the rest of the way there. I ran out of breath and looked over, because something caught my eye. I turned to face it and what I saw was a pack of Jaggi gathered around a cat. The cat began to hiss and swipe at those little raptors as I ran over to shoo them off. Sadly, it didn’t work and they started to circle me. I thought back to my knowledge of them. I soon remembered that they very much dislike fire. I quickly pulled out my torch and lit it. As I swung it at them they ran off. I looked over to see if the cat was ok. It stilled curled up in a fuzzy ball on the ground, looked at me. I kneeled down next to it, and it backed its self away from me. I reached into my pack and took out a small piece of chicken. I placed it on the ground in front of it. It uncurled and sniffed the air. It quickly uncurled and gobbled down the chicken.

I began to walk away, but it started to follow me. I tried to tell it to go back to its home, but it just stared at me. I have a bit of a soft side so I felt bad for it and picked it up and carried it with me. About five minutes into the walk the cat said, “Thank you for taking me with you.” I stop walking and looked down at the cat, I was very puzzled. The cat noticed the reaction on my face and asked, “What was wrong”? I replied, “I never heard a cat talk before.” I then said, “Where I am from there isn’t much cats, and the once that are there don’t talk.” she then said, “Oh I’m not a cat, I’m a Lynian. See there is distinct difference, cats can’t talk lynians can.” I began to say, “I’ve read about lynians although I have never seen one before now.” As we walked I told a little about myself. I already knew some things about her. I could tell that it was a girl, I knew her coat was tan, white, and gray, and that she had a little C shaped part of grey fur on her head. Since I knew this I wanted to know if she had a home, and a little about her life. I asked her if she had a name and she said, “No.” I asked her if I could name her. She said, “Go ahead.” I thought for a moment and then said, “How do you like the name Chamberlyn.” She said, “I love it.” I asked her if she had a home and she said, “I don’t have a home, well I do but it’s not a real home. It is a small fort I made in a tree, it isn’t complete yet, and it gets wet and cold since there is no insulation. I offered her to come with me to the Hunters Guild. She joyfully said, “Yes, thank you so much.” I knew then that this trip would be fun.

It was a while before we got to the port, I was sure glad we got there when we did because it started to get dark outside. We walked up to the ticket counter, and purchased two tickets. Chamberlyn said, “Sorry you have to buy two tickets for the boat.” “I don’t mind” I replied. Before we boarded the boat I handed the tickets the ticket collector. The boat was big, but it wasn’t as big as some of the boats there. I wondered what type of ships I would see at Port Tanzia. ‘ve heard that there is some ships so big that it is as if entire cities could live on them, but I guess I won’t know if that’s true until I get there. As we began to board the boat I looked down at Chamberlyn. She seemed to of tensed up, possibly from the fact we were surrounded by water. I asked her, “What’s the matter, don’t like water?” She looked up at me very fearfully and said, “Yes, yes I hate water!” I gave a slight chuckle; I tried to not make it obvious so her feelings wouldn’t be hurt. We headed to our room so that we could get settled and get some rest. The trip wasn’t going to be long only about two days. This was amazing time since the average time would normally take 5 days, but this was a clipper a boat that had amazing speeds to it, and we also had the current guiding us to Port Tanzia. I climbed into bed and got comfy, maybe a little too comfy. I started to close my eyes and the last thing I could hear was the swoosh of the waves against the boat. I opened my eyes, it seemed as if I had been asleep for less than a few minutes but it had actually been hours. I looked around the room and didn’t see Chamberlyn. I got out of bed and walked up to the main deck level. I looked over and saw Chamberlyn leaning over the edge of the boat. She was green as a patch of grass. I walked over to see if she was alright. She said, “Yeah just haven’t got my sea legs yet.” I looked up at the sun to see what time it was, since we didn’t have a clock on the boat. “It is about mid-day, the sail will be over before you know it” I said. I left Chamberlyn at the side; I knew she would be there for a while.

I began to walk to the canteen of the boat. There I saw a line of people waiting to get food. I walked across the room and stood at the end of the line. The line moved slowly at first but picked up the pace as time went on. I was hungry so I didn’t really pay attention to how long I was standing there, or where I was in line. I’m not sure but it felt like it had been at least 20 minutes before I got to the food. I got to eat some food I haven’t had before. I had dragons head, gold rice, and blueplum juice. I took the tray back to a table. I began to eat slowly and without saying anything. Before I knew it someone sat down next to me. There said, “Hey, is it ok if I sit here?” I said with a smile, “Yes, yes you can.” I told him that my name was Balto and he told me his name was Menjay. We carried on a conversation for a while. Turns out he was going to the Hunters Guild too. We talked about the different things we would have to learn and what weapons we would use. I told him about Chamberlyn, and he said, “Hmm, I have not seen a lynian before. She sounds nice to meet, would it be okay if I met her?” I said, “Yes you can, but be aware she is very sea sick right now, she might be over it by now but I don’t know.” We stood up, threw our trash away and took the trays pack to the collection bin. I then led him to where Chamberlyn was. “Hmm she is not here.” I said. We looked around for a bit but could not see her. I then said, “She might be in our room.” We walked to the room, there on the bed we saw Chamberlyn passed out. I kneeled over and shook her until she woke up. She slowly sat up and in a crabby tone of voice asked, “What do you want?” “This is my friend Menjay, he wanted to meet you.” I said. She got up and put her paw out to shake his hand. He put out his hand and as they shook she said, “I’m Chamberlyn nice to meet you.” We all walked out to the main deck and chatted for a bit, before we knew it was night time. We told him we would see him tomorrow. I and Chamberlyn made our way to our room. I crawled into bed and fell asleep.

I woke up to the sound of “PORT HOOO!” I got out of bed and woke Chamberlyn up. Both of us were excited, although it was for different things. I was excited because I was finally at the Hunter Guild; Chamberlyn was excited because we were finally at land. We packed our things and went up on the main level deck. There we saw a chain of Islands, many small but then the huge main island. Many people crowded the deck. We search for Menjay but there are too many people. We figured we would just wait for him to get off the boat. We approached the dock; there was a crew of men waiting with ropes to secure the boat. The boat sailed slower and slower until we were close enough for the men to throw the ropes onto the ship, there another crew of men tied the ropes around little notches. We got pulled even to the dock where they set up a board for us to walk down to get onto land. The crowd of people swarmed to get on land, much like a swarm of bee’s attacks someone stealing their honey. We scrambled to get on land, we got pushed and shoved put we managed to get off the ship safely. Once there we waited for Menjay to get of the boat. It wasn’t long before Menjay got to us. We started to walk, although none of us had clue to where we were going. We came upon a guide, this guide was a lynian just like Chamberlyn; but its coat was tan and brown and he had a uniform on. He told us we would get to the Hunter Guild If we continued down the path until we get to the Marina, there we would have to turn left and go to the Tavern. We followed his directions and eventually got to the guild. There we walked up to  a man who had a clip board in his hand. We walked up to him and without even giving us a chance to say anything, he ask us for our names. I told him that my name was Balto and then Menjay told the man his name. He told us our room numbers, he said that both our room number was 340. He then said “Lynian if you are to stay at the guild you have to be a hunter or a worker.” Chamberlyn told him, “I guess I will become a worker here, if I could choose a preferred job that would be nice.” He told her, “Yes you may but it has to be an available job.” Chamberlyn said, “I am skilled at reading and organizing, would it be okay if I was a guild researcher?”  The man said, “Yes.” With that matter out of the way we continued to our room. We unlocked the door with the key the man gave us. When we got in and flipped on the lights, and set our stuff down. Immediately Menjay yelled, “I call top bunk!” I let out a sigh, not of sadness or depression but of relief. We were finally in the guild. I took my bag and set it on the bottom of the bunk. I didn’t really care if I got top or bottom bunk, all that mattered is that we were here now. I unpacked my bags, and laid my sleeping bag on the bed. I took my bag and placed it under the bed, while Menjay investigated the room. I told him, “Watcha looking for, traps?” He responded with, “Nah, just looking around.”  I stood up and walked towards the window, I peered outside and saw tons of other recruits getting to their quarters. Since there is two bunk beds per room, I knew we would be getting two more in the room. It wasn’t long before a pair of recruits showed up to the room. As they walked in they watched Menjay and I with wide eyes. I stood up and walked over to them. I introduced myself, “Hello there, my name is Balto what’s yours?” One of them stared at the ground for a second before saying, “I’m Alimanth, it’s nice to meet you.” The other one said, “I’m Drahn, it’s also very nice to meet you.” I introduced Menjay and Chamberlyn to them and after everyone was acquainted; Chamberlyn had to leave to go to the Guild Archives.  Menjay and I helped Alimanth and Drahn set their stuff up, and get settled in. It wasn’t long after that that all the recruits were called to the tavern for a meeting. All the recruits gathered around the tavern. A man stood up on a podium, and got everyone to quiet down. We stood towards the front of the crowd, since we were one of the closest dorms to the tavern; we got there fast. The man began to talk quiet, but got louder as he spoke. He explained how our lives we going to be and how we were going to train for the next few months. He spoke about how many of us would not make it through the training and would be sent back to once we came. He went on about how after all this training we would become great hunters, and maybe even become heroes.

The speech the man gave went on for about an hour. I was bored, but I listened to what he had to say. We all went back to our dorm room, I was the first in. Alimanth followed me because he appeared to be lost. Menjay and Drahn said they were going to stay back and get a drink or two. I walked towards my bed and took off my boots. I sat down on my bed and looked at the Itinerary that we were given. I told Alimanth, “Says we gotta wake up at 7:00 o’clock, and then go to breakfast. After that we get ready to go for a morning jog, the jog is two miles.”  Alimanth looked at me and sighed, after that he gave a slight chuckle and said, “Those fatty kids are gunna be out real soon.” I looked at him and smiled. I crawled into bed and lay there for a bit. It didn’t take long for Alimanth to fall asleep. I was thinking about all the activities we would have to do tomorrow. I began to fall asleep as Menjay, and Drahn walked in the door. I could hear them talking but I couldn’t hear, so I just fell asleep. I heard the alarm going off, and then a thud. I quickly opened my eyes, and saw Menjay on the floor. I wanted to laugh but I was still tired so I didn’t. Drahn got up and stopped the alarm. I got up and helped Menjay off the floor. I walked over to Alimanth’s bed and shook it until he woke up. It was a slow start to the morning but we got over to the Tavern in time for breakfast. Unlike the boat I took there was no wait time in a line for the food. We sat down at our tables and waited for our table to be called for the food. It didn’t take long for us to be called; I think we were the fourth table called. It was wonderful the tavern smelled of gargwa eggs, and mosspork bacon. We took the food back to our table were we ate. I knew we would have to run two miles so I didn’t eat a lot of food, because it would make it harder. It wasn’t long before breakfast was over. We got summoned to the entrance of the tavern. One of the instructors said, “Get ready! You are about to begin the two mile run!” With that I bent over ready to stop jogging. The instructor screamed, “BEGIN!” With that everyone began to run. Since I was jogging I knew I would maintain a good head of the race without exhausting all my stamina. We ran all around the island, some of the exotic plants looked stunning, so some of the more studious recruits stopped to examine them. I on the other hand didn’t stop, I just kept running. I really wanted to get back first, but I knew it would be hard. I ran and ran. I could see some of the recruits slowing down, and I eventually passed them. I caught up to the recruit in first. I was right next to her, and then she gave me a slight smile before speeding up and getting ahead. I couldn’t get any faster, because I would get tired to quick. I could feel my lungs hurt now. I knew I would probably finish second, but I was determined to catch up to her. Just as I made it back to the start, I saw her sitting there catching her breath. I started to slow down then tripped over a pebble, and rolled. The instructor looked at me and shook his head. I got up and walked over to the Instructor and sat down. It was some time before other recruits started to show up. Menjay, Alimanth, and Drahn all decided to stay at the same pace as they ran. They all got back around the middle of everyone. I ran over to talk to them, we waited for the rest of the recruits, it took about 15 minutes for them all to finish. Everyone gathered around the instructor, and he began to talk. He talked to us about how we all did a nice job, and how we would improve drastically by the time we leave training. He told us that our next activity would be push-ups, sit-ups, and pull-ups. I gave a look of disappointment, and then got over to the push up position. Everyone else got in the position too. The instructor said we would only have a minute to complete as many as we could. With his signal we all began. I began to do them very quickly; I got to 23 before I started to slow down. I kept going though; I wanted to get as much as possible. I speed up a little bit more. By the time the alarm sounded I did 67. Now it is time for sit-ups. We all took the position, and the timer started. I got 93, by the time I was done, my abs felt like they were slapped a ton of times. The instructor took us to a pull-up station. There we could do pull-ups in groups of 15. Unfortunately I was part of the second group. While I waited for them to get done, I felt the butterflies in my tummy. I don’t know why I am nervous, I did fine on all the other challenges. It got time for me to get up to do it. When the instructor gave the signal, I started slow but steady. I don’t have that much upper arm strength so I have to go easy on my arms. I managed 15 before I realized I still had plenty of time left. I controlled my breathing, and kept calm. When the time was up I did 36. I felt good now, I did well. While I waited for the rest of the people to get done I thought what test we would do next. When it came time, and all the recruits were done, the instructor told us the next test would be weapons training. I got filled with glee, I’ve been waiting for weapons training and it’s finally here. He took us to the arsenal where we practiced with wood weapons first. It was awesome; we got to use all kinds of weapons. My favorite so far was the Great sword. It might be slow and heavy, but it had some major splitting power. Menjay prefers the dual swords for their quick and violent slashes. Alimanth prefers a ranged weapon called a bowgun. There is two types heavy and light bowguns. Light bowguns are more mobile and have less recoil. Heavy bowguns have more firepower, can shoot more types of bullets, and have a shield on the front.  Drahn prefers the hammer. He says he likes to be able to knock off and break monster’s shells and horns leaving them defenseless. The only thing left to do now is train until I become a hunter.

It has been several months since I have begun training. Alimanth, Drahn, Menjay and I have come a long way, and will graduate into hunters tomorrow. We have become extremely skilled in the weapons we chose to focus on. It is late and we are being sent to hunt the great jaggi tomorrow as our graduation test. For now I will sleep but I can only imagine what actual fighting is like. I woke up again to the sound of the alarm clock that has been the bane of my sleep for the past several months. We all got dressed into our leather and or chainmail armor, and headed to the tavern. There we saw our instructor, he waited with a slip of paper in his hand. As we approach him he handed me the paper. It wrote:

Who’s the Boss?

Slay one Great Jaggi

Quest fee: 150z

Quest Reward: 5000z

Location: Deserted isle

We accepted this quest and departed to the deserted islands. It took 3 hours by boat to reach there. Once there we went to the supply box and got first aid potions and whetstone.  We also got rations to keep our stamina up. We heard a howling noise off in the distance, and we rushed to it. We checked the map to see where the possible location of the howl could be. I looked up and it was pretty obvious that it was in the giant cave in front of us. We walked in slowly and stealthily, trying to not be caught. We unsheathed our weapons and approached the beast. It was at least eight feet tall, and about 1 and a half feet wide. It seemed to be 15 feet long . Just as we got close enough to strike, one of the jaggi let out a warning to it. It turned around and let out a howl to call other jaggi to help. We scrambled in all directions. Alimanth got to a gunning spot out of range from the great jaggi, and began to fire at it. I came around to slice it, but it whipped its head at me and sent me flying back. I rag dolled across the floor and lay there for a minute. It swallowed the pain and got back up. Just as I did, Drahn slammed his hammer on its head and stunned it. By the sound of the crunch its skull had cracked. Menjay took his duel swords and made tons of slits on its hide. I got up and used all my force to splite the monster straight down the middle. I could hear it ribs and spine snap, just that sound gives me the chills. We did it, the great jaggi is dead. The instructor told us that we could carve hides and other materials off the monster to create more armor and weapons. We all took out are carving knifes and began chopping away at the monster. Most of it was destroyed since we hack and slashed at it, but we got a good helping of materials.

                We returned to the Port about dinner time, and we claimed our reward. We graduated that night, although it wasn’t a graduation most would think of. We sat around and talked to some of the other hunters. My favorite was one named Jako. He told us stories about his way to becoming a great hunter, and he told us about the hunts he had been on. While most of the hunters drank beers, ales, wines etc., I didn’t. I preferred juices, and other things. Although I was at the bottom, I could feel myself slowly making my way to the top.  After all we heard stories of a mysterious Elder Dragon that takes refuge in the Abyssal ruins. If I was to ever overcome that and end the ocean’s roar I would need to work and get to the top. I stood up and got everyone to quiet down. I said, “Us hunters are brave, strong and courageous. We may be small compared to some monsters but we have more will power then 1000 wyverns combined. Tonight we celebrate, for tomorrow we HUNT!” With a cheer from the others, I knew nothing could stop us hunters.

Reviews

[Kristin Lee]

Very creative. I like Chamberlyn. She's a fun twist. Good imagery. Be careful to break apart you POV with separate paragraphs to help the overall flow. Otherwise good job :)