knee deep in mud and death, she scanned the desolate forest. or at least what was once a forest.

a forest where, as a child, she played with her siblings and the other children of her village.

now a forest dead. muck and mire and bones and rotted wood.

it had come on the eve of her 16th birthday. a demon, unlike any that had ever come before. a powerful demon who not only killed her people, but ravished the land as well. soaking every droplet of life from every plant, tree and life form. leaving nothing but a dark, dying rotting stench of what used to be her village and surrounding farmland and forest.

one by one, all those of her village were killed, as were many others, warriors and brave knights from near and far. all fell to the same fate. to be among the mud and bones and rotted wood, of the forest.

now, on the day of her 18th birthday, she stands knee deep in the dead forest. the need for revenge flows through her veins as the love she felt for her slain family pushes her on.

for as much as the darkness of the demon drained the land, she was filled with the souls of all those who had fallen.

why she and she alone had survived, she had no idea. but with each day that passed and with every villager and warrior and knight that fell, she felt stronger. older. wiser.

the last of her kind.

now, knee deep in the mud and bones and rotted wood, she gazes. looking for the darkest of the dark.

but now ....

she is the hunter.