Episode Evan: Chapter 1: Everything Changes

Chapter 1 of Evan's Story

The Strength of Hearts

Can Be Greatly Tested

When We Stand Alone

How Strong

Is Your Conviction?

 

 

 

 

2 Years after the Atlesian Revolution

North of Mistral 

The Village of Nix 

Early Spring

 

 

 

            Evan took another sip of his morning coffee.  He was sitting in the tavern of an inn about two hundred miles north from Mistral.  After graduation, most of his teammates and friends went in different directions. Jacob, Ty and Brooklyn all had gone off on their own journeys, but managed to find one another before the Atlesian revolution happened.  After which they continued on their adventures together rather than apart.  Natalie was off with Ruby and Weiss protecting the world, Nathan and Yang were raising their daughter, and Miles and Blake decided to take some time off after Blake’s injury and Miles proposed to her.  Christy meanwhile had committed fully to teaching back at Beacon, so she was not traveling much.  Evan meanwhile was not sure what to do or where to go.  After several years of traveling alone of his own free will, he felt as if he had hit a wall.  There wasn’t a normal schedule to keep.  There weren’t regular jobs.  The world wasn’t falling apart, and he didn’t feel like running with a large group like during his school days.  He wanted to see what was out there, so he decided to be more of a nomadic Huntsman rather than join an alliance or faction like most of the others did.  He had been travelling from town to town helping those he could.  And this current path brought him to this very small town.  The village of Nix was suffering from several different issues.  One report mentioned that there were supposedly a swarm of Grimm that attacked the village, but when the battle was over, there was no damage or any signs that the Grimm were even there.  And in place of destroyed buildings and weapons, there were a few items stolen here and there from different supply stores.  Another report said that there were three people looking over different valuables and clothing items, then they vanished in the blink of an eye and the items they were looking at vanished with them.  There had been several other strange occurrences where it seemed that something was there, but then there was no trace of it or other items of similar quality and value.  Most of the larger alliances had seemingly brushed these bits of information to the side and didn’t bother to send anybody out to investigate, and the Kingdoms seemed to be remaining silent about the issue.  But Evan thought it might serve him well to help the village instead of looking past it like so many others had.  He finished his breakfast and paid the bartender.  With that done, he donned his cloak and stepped out into the freezing cold weather.  Nix was like most of Northern Anima.  Extremely cold and covered in snow almost year-round.  It was early spring, so there was some thaw, but one would not guess that was happening outside of a few melting icicles.  Evan made his way to the town hall and was greeted by two guards wearing broken pieces of ancient Atlesain armor.  The Great War passed through the small town as battles between Vale and Mistral escalated as each side tried to gain power.  The kingdoms gained power and strategic positioning for the war.  The towns and villages between were left with the scraps of the dead.  As the years passed, most of the scraps was forged to help protect themselves from outsiders.  As such, the armor looked man-made, and clearly had Atlesian markings all over it.  The old sigil of Mantle.  The guards opened the door for Evan as he entered the building and headed towards the main office.  The building itself wasn’t glamorous or filled with nice paintings like so many other government buildings around Mistral or on the continent of Anima.  This one was a simple waiting room with some chairs, a service desk, and doors leading to several different offices with a flight of stairs leading up to even more offices.  And everything was very bland.  No colors outside of the brown wood that made up the walls or the floors.  Everything was just like the rest of the town.  Built to survive and nothing more.  Evan made his way to the service desk and handed over his Huntsman’s License to the clerk.

            “Ah yes” the clerk said looking it over.  “The Sheriff has been expecting your arrival.  Right this way please.”  After a few quiet moments, a man wearing a brown heavy coat with blue jeans and a black winter cap stepped down the stairs.  His coat brandished a star with the name of the town emblazoned on it.  On his right hip was a small handgun that looked like a six-shooter from a western movie.  He had a grizzled face with gray hair poking out from beneath his cap.  And at a glance, it appeared there was also a scar peeking out on his forehead, but his cap covered up most of it.  He walked over and looked over Evan.

            “You this Huntsman everybody keeps telling me about?” the sheriff said squinting to look at Evan.

            “Evan Hahn” he replied trying to not look too weirded out by the sheriff’s greeting.  “I am more of a traveler than anything else, but I help where I can.  I do have my official license if you need it for your records or anything…..”

            “Great” the sheriff groaned.  “Wasn’t enough to tell the officials to buzz off, now we’ve got a do-gooder looking to butt in.”

            “I beg your pardon?”

            “Let’s  just head to my office and we’ll get this sorted out real quick.”  The sheriff then turned around and headed back up the stairs with Evan following close behind.  After climbing the stairs and making a short walk down the hallway, they entered an office filled with nothing more than a brown desk, a coat rack, a radiator heater, a chair for guests, and a window overlooking the flat snowfields and forests just beyond the town.  The sheriff sat down behind his desk and Evan took a seat as well in the guest chair.

            “Look,” the sheriff said pinching his forehead, “we’ve had several different Huntsmen and Huntresses pass through this town already trying to help us, but we don’t need any help.  We’ll be more than happy to give you provisions to help you on your way back to the nearest town from here or even as far as Argus.  So long as you don’t drag any other people out here.  We are perfectly capable of dealing with our own issues by ourselves.”

            “With all due respect sir, the reports suggest otherwise.”

            “What reports?  We’ve ordered any and all reports from this town to stop flowing into the mainstream information networks after Mistral tried to poke their noses in here and we threatened them with litigation.”

            “I don’t get all my information from official channels.  There have been a ton of whispers in the underground.”

            “What have they been saying?”

            “I haven’t heard much outside of your little village has been seeing a strange string of thefts recently.  And that people were supposedly turning a blind eye to this town.  But clearly that is not the case.”

            “Right you are.  And we would like to keep it that way.  So if you would so kind as to push off…” just then, another officer burst into the office yelling,

            “Sir!  The thief has returned!  We have her cornered!”  The sheriff didn’t even blink or acknowledge that Evan had heard what had just been said.  He leapt up from his desk and pulled out his gun and ran out with the other officer.  Evan followed them as they ran out into the snowy streets.  From there, they ran towards a nearby convenience store and Evan saw several officers have their guns trained on a figure backed up against a wall.  As they got closer, Evan could make out that this was a woman with green hair wearing a white jacket and pants, and yet her midriff and cleavage was exposed for some reason despite the cold.  The sheriff ran over and pointed his gun at the woman, who just stood there without a care in the world.

            “Give yourself up!” the sheriff yelled to the woman.

            “Give myself up?” the woman responded with a sly smirk.  “Now why would I do that when you morons have all but given me exactly what I need?”

            “Whatever you think you can find here you won’t!” the sheriff yelled back.  “Now you’re going to jail over just some food and clothes.”

            “Yeah, that was just the warm-up.  I wanted to see if there were any smart people in this town.  And as it turns out, there aren’t any!  So you might say there’s nothing here, but I’ve had powerful friends over the years.  They know what this town is really hiding.  So, I’ll just take it as soon as you morons reveal it.”  With that, the woman took a bow, and vanished into thin air.  The sheriff screamed in anger firing at where the woman used to stand.

            “Find her!  Take her in!  Don’t let her escape!”  The other officers started running around in different directions trying to find her.  The sheriff put his pistol away and turned to see Evan standing there stroking his chin.

            “I feel like I’ve seen her somewhere before” he said softly.

            “What did you say?” the sheriff said running towards Evan and grabbing his shoulders.  “You recognize her?  Who is she?  Tell me!”

            “I don’t remember off the top of my head,” Evan said as he pulled out his spear and created a small illusion portrait of the woman based off his memory, “but I think the police records of Remnant can.”  With that, he took a picture of the portrait of the woman and uploaded it via his Scroll to the web for analysis.  After a few moments of searching, one mugshot popped up listed as “most likely suspect.  Emerald Sustrai.  Wanted for crimes against Vale during the Attack of Beacon and for several crimes committed while serving Cinder Fall.  Jewelry  thefts are on her record prior to her involvement with Cinder Fall.  Primary Semblance is Illusions.  Has been missing since Attack of Beacon and is presumed either dead or in hiding.  If alive, assume armed and extremely dangerous.”  Evan put his Scroll away and looked at the Sheriff whose eyes had gone wide.

            “So why would a criminal jewel thief want to come around here of all places?” Evan asked the Sheriff.  “And why do you seem so worried about her presence?”  The sheriff realized how he appeared before Evan at that moment and tried to quickly regain his tough exterior. 

            “Who knows.  She probably just wanted some supplies to stay alive while on the run.  I told you, we can handle this ourselves.”

            “I think what I saw today clearly suggests otherwise.  I want to help, but I can’t do that unless you tell me exactly what is going on.”  The sheriff sighed and motioned for Evan to follow back to his office.

            “Fine.  You clearly aren’t going anywhere anytime soon, so I’ll indulge you.”  Evan followed suit, looking over the snow and realizing that there were some tracks leading out of the village.  But just before he could inform the sheriff, the wind picked up and began covering the tracks.  He sighed and stepped into the town hall building right behind the sheriff.

Author's Note

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