MHICEBORNETHING

Amongst the battlefield, as dirt and smoke were lifted from the ground by the powerful tremors under his feet, the brave hunter fell to his knees, his body felt heavy and weary. That once invincible spirit of determination fading and crumbling away at the feeling his breathing becoming sharpier and thickier to exhale.

Hiryu could only muster enough to lift his gaze upon the massive creature towering above him; An intimidating nightmerish figure which shrouded Hiryu in its shadow like a mere insect. Barely managing to keep himself alive, he lied there alongside his fallen bretheren...now laying lifeless on the floor, engulfed by the massive dustclouds that were brough forth by the mere stes of the enraged Elder.

They had done so much, gone so far. Yet that once stubborn refusal to give up seemed to be as fleeting as it vitals at this moment. Memories passing by about their climb into legend. Visions of moments past back in the Old World, as well as the mark they ahd left in this new patch of land. The faced the spiny Nergigante, fought back against the light of Xeno'jiiva; De-crowned the golden reign of Kulve Taroth and even fought against the apocalyptic coming of the fantasy-invador Behemoth...

Yet all felt in vain, armagedon drawing near and the fate of the ecosystem that sustained them now sealed to its fate. The might of the elders had finally take its toll. Bashed, drowned, frozen in ice...all bringing each of our once heroes to their end of their tales. Back down to the zeroes they once were...

The monstrocity before him stepped forth, bringing about to crush them like the insignificant vermin it assumed them to be. In his last moments awaken, looking at the incoming step that'd mark his end, Hiryu clutched the dirt with his hand. Closing his eyes he wished for a miracle, a shift of fate that could once more give them the chance to right the wrong. As memories of failed freezing dragons and tempered atrocities plagued his mind in his very last moments. He could only hope for one thing...

That this time they'd make it right; Against the Wrath of the Everwyrm...

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"Hey! Come on, man. Wake up!"

Hiryu groaned awake, face slammed and drooling upon the wooden finish of his dining table. His eyes slowly opened to recieve once again the sunshine of the afternoon invading his sight, responding with a simply groan as he clutched at leftovers of another over-excesive meal.

A simple nightmare, a fleeting dream, possibly product of ll the food previous shoved down his gullet, brought the hunter back to the realm of the awaken. It was another normal day at the Gathering Hub, posed all the way at the very top of the settlement of Astera. Looking up, Hiryu's gaze would simply meet with his fellow Hunter friend Daemos, Hammer-wielding etraordinare, clapping to bring forth his attention.

"Watch out for the slobber. You'll just smear it all over your Palico or something, dude." Said Daemos, glancing upon the group all around him, "Come on, there's gotta be /something/ we can do, right?"

"Yeah, like what exactly? And don't you dare to bring up those Arc-Tempered shits or so help me..."

The acrobatic dame, Anya, quickly replied, followed by a groan. Her body laying down upon her back at the table's bench, just letting her limbs dangle down as she just continued to rut in there. Her fellow companions weren't fairing much better: From the Ace Hunter and bringer of shenanigans Sheydra (also knowna s Kyrehx), letting her face just rest upon the table; The weaponmaster Gavin, just sharpening another set of weapons for the Nth time while sighing in boredom; To the likes of hardworking pro KnightMage to the darkness-monologuing Xehanorto or the currently drunk and dazed Berri; To all others, now laying defeated as boredom took its toll.

These whining excuses for Hunters had just moments ago bee legends; The Sapphire Stars of Astera. Having saved the New World countless times, and faced so many challenges, their status as heroes had slowly started to corrose and rust. The Comission simply letting them be and fall upon their rut while the horrible realization they once dreaded had finally come true; they ahd achieved it all..

Weary Hunters - No battle left to fight; Not monster left to hunt...

"We can still just pick whatever What's the worst it could happen?" Sheydra added, only to be cut by the angry frown of Anya.

"Don't you go saying it. Who is to say this wasn't caused by your Stand's horribly mistained machiantions?..." Was her question

"It doesn't work that way!"

"It totally works that way!!"

"Ladies, Ladies. You're both right...in the sense that nobody really CARES what caused this nor to blame" Gavin quickly snapped before returning to his weapons. "We knew this'd happen eventually. You jsut dismissed by plan of going back to the Old World on the last ferry!"

"On /this/ economy? We'd have better luck getting swallowed by a Lagiacrus." Berri added, moments before comically slamming back down face.first on the dinning table, once again drunk off his ass.

"We can't go back with our tails between our legs. We made the leap to the New World for fame and fortune! And now we have it and still sucks cause nobody cares anymore!" Anya stated quickly, throwing her arms up in the air before eltting them drop down.

"Saysyou. I'm fine with it" Gaving said.

"Well your face is stupid. So there."

"Amazing comeback...actually, no it wasn't, it sucks. F -, broze prize, Don't pass GO, don't collect 200 dollars...!!"

Whines whines and whines kept flooding the Gathering Hub, cementing the fact that this'd be a day like all others; In which much little'd be done...

The back-and-forth then started. Not the first time by a long shot in this time of absolute boredom. Hiryu simply glanced at his hand as he silently let his mind wander. Was this really their Tale's end...?


But the curious thing about these kind of tales, is that they tend to always happen in the elast expected times. And so it came in like a freezing wind....literally. As the entire crew was suddenly coated in a sheet of white which engulfed the entire Gathering Hub into a winter wonderland!

"G-g-good grief the coooold! Who t-t-thought female hunters ww-wearing less was a g-g-good idea!?" Anya snaped as she got up. Arms brought to herself as she shivered and stuttered due to the sudden cold.

"Ok, you definitely c-c-can't blame me over T-THIS" Sheydra quickly defended herself, equally as shivering.

Everyone looked around to see the piled snow that formed all around them out of nowhere. A change of enviroment so drastic, one'd imagine it was cleverly planned by some kind of higher plain god or set of videogame developers. But it was as they looked around for a reason when they were all stopped by a sudden echo-y shriek. Looking down at her feet, KnightMage saw an school of shadows suddenly slip across the snowy wooden planks, only to glance up and see the source; A flying migration of Legiana, all flying in formation across the clear blue skies, yeling and shrieking as all those winged wyverns did.

"That's unusual...." The usually quiet KnightMage commented, but not much thought could be formed past that, as in mere moments, a bigger shadow zoomed past them, barely visible by our heroes.

What they COULD see however was a huge spike of ice that was dropping down on them like an incoming missile. The group dispersed like croackroaches, superman diving away as the massive icy crystal struck upon the wooden floors, snapping and cracking part of it like a powerful arrow piercing through its target.

The Hunters slwoly lifted their head from their self-made barricades or tables and chairs, then moved closer to the now impaled chunk of ice. Stabbed at the very top was the most unusal sight of them all: A wrapped piece of paper, seemesly intact with only a little shards of freeze forming along its margins.

Sheydra took a hold of the paper and unwrapped it, claiming in a surprised tone. "Guys, look! It's from Velkhana!"



"DEAR PESKY HUNTERS,

THE NEW MONSTERS AND I HAVE TAKEN OVER THE HOARFROST REACH

A BUNCH OF NEW SPECIES ARE NOW PERMANENT GUESTS AT THE NEW WORLD

I DARE YOU TO HUNT US IF YOU CAN."

"Okay this is getting ridiculous. Since when these monsters can WRITE!?" Anya was quick to point out the ludicrous scenario of this very introduction.

"That doesn't matter. What does is that this is what we were looking for!" Her fellow female hunter quickly replied back, "We have whole bunch of monsters to go kick ass at! Think of all the fame and loot we can get out of this!"

And well, what one can say? When it came to loot, they whole group could be very motivated. The fearless leader Hiryu took his own personal glance at the letter. Remembering very well how much of a pain in the ass that Velkhana had been in their first and last tussle against her. This was now payback time.

And so, our intrepid bunch of idiots quickly followed the marks left by the migrating hordes of Monsters, who also seek refuge withing this new unexplored freezing territory, finding themselves at their new base of operations at Seliana, reinvigorated by a newfound sense of conquest.

Hiryu's heart still stirred. Were those dreams simply silly whims of his mind? Or were they an omen of a sealed fate? Whatever they were, they felt rather small in his mind, as a simply and much raw desire was currently innffecting the group again: The feeling of starting a brand-new adventure...

The winds of change had come here to stay, and they were freezing cold. Will our band of misfits melt through with their fiery determination? Or will they dreams be forever encased in ice? Only time could tell...

- MONSTER HUNTER MONDAYS: ICEBORNE