“Vegr yfir fjor.” Honor above life.

After her last meeting with the Guardians, the Huntress was left not only with hope for the future of the village, but a new task, a new mission to complete. It had been centuries since she last roamed the mountains, in fact, since she last left the Guardians’ mansion, and she knew it was fundamental to her, to know the field where she was going to work on. Of course, she had thought of taking this boy on a hunt to test his skills, but she perfectly knew that hunting wasn’t everything that a ruler needed. A ruler had to be industrious, capable of quick thinking and acting correctly to get out of a uncomfortable situation. A ruler had to have wit and wisdom. A ruler had to be strong. Diana was going to test him on all these abilities and even more, but to do so, she had to know what she was working with.

That morning, the redhead left the mansion with the intention of learning about flora and fauna that she might’ve not known. She wasn’t going outside that often in the last centuries and wanted to make sure that everything was as she left it. Otherwise, she was going to learn from what nature had to teach her. Being the Commander of Nature, everyone would expect her to know everything about it, but in fact, Nature didn’t need a commander. Nature taught Diana more than anything or anyone else ever could. She was the one that had to follow and respect it, not vice versa.

Inhaling and exhaling the fresh air that slowly caressed her face once she stepped out of the building, the Huntress immediately started walking. Her steps were slow, because she needed to feel the ground with her bare feet, she had to hear it, because it was talking to her. The vampire’s eyes scanned all her surroundings, trying to spot a difference in any of the plants that she herself so kindly grew out a lot of years before. Plants’ main structure might’ve changed for many reasons, and the redhead was ready to know more about those changes if she ever encountered one.

Being a vampire, Diana had troubles of keeping track of time. She didn’t know at all how many hours had passed when her focus was suddenly taken away by a weird smell, one that wasn’t supposed to be there. ’Blood.’ The word came out of the redhead’s mouth as a quick and feeble whisper. She was crouched when she smelled that scent, but immediately stood back on her legs and turned towards where she thought the smell came from. ’It’s not human.’ She stated then, more to herself than anything. The mountains weren’t exactly a place where the villagers came to hunt, so it had to be something different. Someone was purposely attacking and compromising the small ecosystem of the mountains? Or was it Nature’s fault? Fully knowing that her duty as Commander of Nature also needed her to investigate on that, the redhead inhaled deeply, to have a stronger chance to track the smell correctly.

Moving as she was floating over the ground, gracefully and silently, the vampire finally came to a halt when she eyed the source of the smell. A small rabbit was lying dead in the hands of a silver haired woman. Its belly was cut open and it clearly wasn’t Nature’s work. ’Who are you? What are your matters here?’ The Huntress said, her voice firm but gentle. She knew it couldn’t have been someone from the village. This woman simply had a different aura, a different presence, a different smell even.