Sunset Huntress: A New Beginning

by Wind Typhoon

Interlude: A Dream of the Past and the Promise of Power.

Interlude: An Old Memory & A Promise of Power

The night before…

Sunset was running through the forest, faster than she ever ran before. “What are these things?” Sunset thought to herself as she ran from something. Behind her, she heard the sound of the creature she saw earlier chasing her.

Sunset looked over her shoulder quickly as she kept running. Unfortunately, this brief moment made her not see the hill in front of her. When she ran over the hill, the change in terrain made her trip and roll down the hill. When she got to the bottom, quickly she got up and kept running without looking back. After about a minute of more running, she heard no one approaching her anymore. “Did I escape it?” Sunset thought to herself.

As soon as she thought that, she felt a set of claws rip through her back. Sunset then screamed out in pain as she fell to one knee. She then turned around as saw a pack of Beowulf Grimm standing in front of her. “So, this is where it all ends huh?” Sunset thought as the Grimm approached. Just as they were about to reach her, the area burst into flames as Sunset blacked out.

---

Sunset’s eyes burst open in shock as she sat up in bed. She was covered in sweat and panted heavily. When she looked around and saw that she was in the room, she fell back in bed with a groan. “That’s the 4th time this month I’ve had that dream, yet it’s always at that point where it cuts off.” Sunset said to herself quietly. She sighed and put a hand on her back, only to feel some blood coming from it.

Sunset quickly but quietly then got out of bed and walked over to the walk in closet that their dorm had, grabbing some of the bandages she kept on her at all times. Once inside, she closed the door behind her and walked up to the mirror wall that was at the far end. Sunset then took off the nightshirt she was wearing and turned around. On her back was a set of three claw marks that seemed to be a few years old and bleeding lightly. “Why does this always happen? These past few months, this old wound has started to act up again.” Sunset thought to herself as she concentrated.

Although she hasn’t used magic in a while, she is able to conjure up a telekinesis spell and use the bandages to cover up the scars. After finishing up the bandaging, Sunset grabbed a new night shirt and put the one she had on before in her hamper. She then looked over herself before giving herself a nod and heading to the door. When she did, she saw that the door was slightly ajar. This immediately set off warning bells in her head as she tensed up. “Hello?” Sunset called out quietly.

When she did, no one came from the door and something gleamed at the foot of the door. Sunset approached and she noticed that it was an Eyecon that she had never seen before. She reached down to pick it up and looked over it. The Eyecon was different from the others in the center portion was a picture of two wings folded instead of what was normally there. The area around the center portion was all red with two horns on top. On the top of the Eyecon, there was a symbol of fire with the word “Ho-oh” above the picture and the Letters “EGF” beneath it. As she was examining it, a bright light engulfed her and transported her into the Eyecon.

---

When Sunset felt her senses come back, she quickly looked around the area. Upon doing so, she immediately saw that she was in a shrine of sorts. The shrine had wall with the depiction of fire engulfing a forest with several Grimm being burned alive. “What is this place?” Sunset asked as she looked around the room.

“Well, this is my domain.” A voice said. Sunset immediately wheeled around to where the voice was coming from and saw a man standing there in robes adorned with fire markings and a headpiece similar to a phoenix head.

“Who are you?” Sunset asked as she was ready to fight.

“Come now, you examined the Eyecon, you should know my name.” the man said calmly. Sunset thought back to the Eyecon and remembered the name on top of it.

“So, you’re name is Ho-oh?” Sunset asked.

“It is one of many names I go by, but it’s the one you will know as.” Ho-oh told Sunset.

“What do you want?” Sunset asked as she untensed.

“Not much, I’m just here to offer you power.” Ho-oh said before conjuring fire in his left hand. Sunset simply sighed as she shook her head.

“If you’re going to try to trick me, then you sure have a weird way of doing it.” Sunset said. Ho-oh simply laughed at the sentence. “What’s so funny?” Sunset questioned.

“Oh, I can see why you would think that. A being comes out of nowhere and give you an offer of power. Of course you would be suspicious about me. However, that’s why you're my vessel.” Ho-oh said in a gleeful tone.

“Vessel?” Sunset thought to herself.

“As much as I would like to keep talking, I can only maintain this form for so long. That being said, onto the matter of power I told you about.” Ho-oh told Sunset.

“Look, as much as I would like to get more power…” Sunset started.

“I should reiterate that I mean I want to show you the power you will achieve.” Ho-oh interrupted. Sunset then blinked as she stopped talking and thought about the idea.

“I’m fine with that.” Sunset said as she sighed.

“Ok then, I want you to close your eyes for a moment. When you open them, you will see what I wanted to show you.” Ho-oh said. Sunset simply did as she was told, and when she opened her eyes, she saw something she was not expecting. In front of her was a set of blazing red armor that looked familiar to her. The armor looked like something knights would wear in stories she had read with a few notable differences. The center of the chest piece had a symbol of a flame, similar to the disk that Tempest got a few weeks ago. The headpiece was more of something like Jennifer's helmet instead of a normal knight's helmet with a pair of wings protruding from the sides.

“Amazing.” Sunset said to herself. The armor then extended its hand out as if reaching to Sunset, She tentatively then reached out a hand before another alight engulfed her.

---

When this light faded, Sunset found herself back in the closet with the Ho-oh Eyecon in her hand. Sunset simply looked down at the thing before hearing some footsteps approaching the door. She quickly hid the Eyecon in one of her pockets and opened the door. “Oh, it’s just you Sunset.” Tempest said quietly as she saw her friend.

“Yeah, you thought it was someone else?” Sunset asked noncelauntly.

“No, I was just surprised to see you up. What are you even doing awake?” Tempest responded. Sunset stayed silent for a moment as she thought about how to answer that.

“Well, let’s just say that I need to change my nightshirt because of personal reasons.” Sunset said.

“Really? I won’t pry that much but I expected something bigger.” Tempest said.

“I could probably ask the same question.” Sunset told Sunset.

“Being completely honest, I just woke up because a dream jolted me up.” Tempest said.

“Fair enough.” Sunset said as a yawn escaped her lips.

“We should probably get some sleep, we have some things to do tomorrow.” Tempest said. Sunset simply nodded before the two of them headed off to sleep.

Comments

[blazikenking]

And the Ho-oh Damashii will have a secret to its power: the Gigant form. Dual swords, solar panel wings, rocket feet, oh it's awesome.