//------------------------------//
// il Cacciatore 
// Story: Ombra della Lama 
// by Vedavyasa 
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When I was fully recovered, I began my hunt again. I knew it would be more difficult now, the Cult of Artemis knew that somepony was hunting them. To compensate for the added danger, I began to carry a sword and dagger along with my hidden blade and knives. After searching through the Royal Guard’s armoury, I decided on a simple sabre and an oddly styled but well made and extremely sharp dirk. Fully armed, I again began to listen to the ponies of the city. In time I heard of another small gate in the sewers, this one in the rich quarter of Canterlot. After informing the guards of where I would be this time, I snuck through the gate and dropped in to a small cavern.

There was a single gryphon there, but he was dead before he could raise an alarm. Taking my dagger in to my mouth in case of another surprise encounter, I continued through the single open tunnel in the cavern. I lost track of time in those tunnels, the unsettling half light giving me no sign of the passing hours. I wandered through halls and caverns, slaying several gryphons as I went, until I found a small stone tablet. On it, a cipher was carved. Thinking that I may have been able to use it to decode the letter I had stolen in the last Sanctuary, I tucked it in to my robe and began to search for my way out. 

It was then I discovered I was lost. I had left traces of my passage, but they had been cleaned away. The gryphons knew I was here, and they were trying to hunt me. I do not believe they realised just how stupid they were until I joined their little game. I sheathed my dagger, and I opened my third eye. I could feel them around me, through the walls and ceilings. I knew where every gryphon in this Sanctuary was. I could have left then, used my sixth sense to find the way out of that pit, but instead I hunted.

I stalked through their tunnels, killing everything that moved. I killed their stallions, their mares, and even their foals. I hunted for what felt like days, and I truly became the blade in the shadows. Even without my enhanced perception, I could smell their fear every time they found another body. I listened to them cry out to their god for a means to drive out this demon that haunted their home; but their god abandoned them. I left a single gryphon alive, a young male. When I was finished with him, he was a pale shade of what he once was. I threw him in to the sewers and ordered him to deliver a message to his leader. As he ran from me, he screamed this message as a mantra, as if it were his only reason to live.

The Shadow Is Coming.

I crawled out of the sewers; this time uninjured, and made my way back to the palace. I went to my room, and I began working on the letter I had found. Thankfully, the cipher stone was the code I needed, and the letter went as such:

“The divine goddess Artemis commands you to double your attacks! We shall drive the ponies from their lands, and we shall feast on their dead in a great celebration when this mountain is our home and ours alone. Artemis will be powerful again!”

I could have brought this to the Princesses attention, but blinded by my pride I did not. I left the palace to find my next prey, alone. 

This was a mistake I have regretted for many years.





Authors Notes
	

There is a blog up with some details about the universe this story takes place in. I'm a bit scatterbrained, so if there is anything you'd like explained further comment on that blog or on this story and I'll do my best to clear things up.