"Alright, let's do this." supporting a large grin, Nathan hopped onto his bike and started the engine. He wore a simple shirt and camo pants. On his back was a large bag, filled with many essentials.
The sky was a deep shade of blue as if it was just getting out of it's twilight hours and dawn was about to shine. Having locked up his house for a few days, he adjusted his hair and was on the road!
His destination?
Well, of course, he was going camping! In the Appalachian–Blue Ridge forests! New York was a north-eastern state and so, while there were larger and more expansive forests in the country - which were still largely untamed considering the time period - Appalachia was the best pick for the time. Closer forests existed, but Nathan's logic was that - if he was going hunting anyway, putting his life on the line, there was no need to half ass it. So the destination was set. And there, he would be starting his hunt.
One might ask Nathan, why was he so sure there were going to be monsters in the forest?
To that he would reply - "There are always monsters in the forest."
He was fairly certain he would find something. After all, the forests are the original backrooms with all sorts of myths and Folklore associated with them.
Besides, where do Hunters usually go to hunt?
Exactly.
May the spirit of the hunt bless me. He chuckled. Then, he remembered that the spirit of the hunt prevalent in the west was Artemis; a goddess famous for her hatred and disdain for all men. Never mind. It's alright if you ignore me.
Even though it was very early in the morning, with the sun not even having risen yet, the roads were jam packed with all sorts of vehicles. Motor bikes, bikes, scooters. He took the highway that led towards the lower parts of the states, and from there, he would head further towards his destination. The roads were still in development at this time and most of them weren't multilane. The one he was taking was a two-lane road and was in relatively good quality.
Depending on his speed, he could take anywhere between 6 to 9 hours getting there, so he was in for a ride. In the distant horizon to the east, the sky took the shade of a bleeding wound and the clouds shimmered in the afterglow. Slowly, the first rays of the morning sun streaked across the road.
...
It was close to noon when Nathan saw them.
A huge shadow stretched across the sky, blanketing the ground from the sun. The undulating mass moved like a cloud, though a little too close to the surface.
Nathan's eyes dilated and his senses began to scream at him. The world seemed to slow down and Nathan realized with some horror what was floating in up above.
Birds.
More specifically, they were pigeons. Pigeons with Bronze beaks that glowed in an eerie golden light and looked as if they could strip a man to his bone. Their unfocused eyes regarded no one as they simple flew together in a pack.
Nathan had seen such pigeons before, but never in such a number.
Now... Nathan realized the name of these creatures.
"Stymphalian Birds." He muttered under his breath, trying to concentrate on the road. Having read Herakles' story, he knew that one of his labours was to slay the Stymphalian Birds, Birds with metal like beaks that travelled in gigantic packs.
If he remembered right, Herakles could not kill them outright, so he used bronze bells to confuse the Birds and when they were trying to fly away, he shot every one of them down with a bow.
Gulp!
Nathan gulped heavily and looked at the receding shadow in the distance.
Is it even physically possible to shoot down that many pigeons by himself? Even for Herakles, it seems a bit out there... but what do I know. Maybe I'll also be at that level one day. Shaking his head, he decided not to worry about them. His senses were returning to normal now that the monsters were going away.
The larger the number of monsters around him and the stronger the monsters, the greater his senses seemed to swell over. It was an almost painful experience when so many of them appeared out of the blue.
Everything was simply... too much. Too much information to process at once, so much that he was almost sure he had failed to catch even 90% of everything he was sensing right then. The normal human mind isn't meant to be perceiving things at such a fast rate anyways.
...
Nathan travelled along the road and eventually, the occassional building and town gave way to trees on both sides. On both the sides, darkness loomed and the branches and barks of the trees pressed ever so close.
He felt a sense of dread. A primeval part of him telling him to turn back. Nathan squashed down his inherent survival instinct and kept driving.
He would be stopping at one of the official park stations and take the dirt trail through there first. Only after that would he venture into the woods; not rush in blindly.
As he mused his next moves, his senses began to pick up again. Pupils dilating, ears turning more sensitive, the wind whistling around him with the intensity of blades.
Far ahead, where the road curved into a gradual turn, he saw something moving among the trees. And then, with a large rustle of the trees branches, out leaped a large creature.
It stood a staggering 4 meters in height and had gigantic protrusions on it's head, twisting like the branches of a tree. It's four legged form jumped onto the road, eyes scanning both sides. It's fur gleamed with a silver gray hue, reminiscent of ash.
It was a stag.
But there was something wrong.
As it came into view, Nathan noticed two gigantic wings on it's back. They were folded, but he could tell at a glance that their total span would be larger than the stag itself. Furthermore, the hind quarters of the stag were not that of a stag, but that of a bird.
The monster's eyes turned monetarily to the rapidly approaching Nathan and without missing a beat, it leapt into the other side of the road as quickly as it had came.
Nathan felt his senses growing duller again.
Monsters really are everywhere. I've never seen something like that. I'll be seeing a lot more like those I guess. He thought to himself, replaying the image of the monster in his mind. Hunter's Instincts live up to their name. It makes sure I can practically never get ambushed. Well, if it concerns monsters anyway. I can't say much about actual animals and humans.
He kept moving, convincing himself that such strange vistas would keep becoming increasingly more common for him.
After an hour of getting through the woods, Nathan finally came across it.
It was nestled on the side of the road and one could miss it if they were going too fast.
It was a large board on the side that read the name of the park, coupled with a diversion on the road, wide enough to support two cars end to end.
He turned inwards and instantly noticed a large building on the left and a parking lot on the right. Right ahead, the way was blocked and the dirt track began.
Parking his bike there, he noticed a couple more cars standing around. He spoke with the park ranger stationed there.
Knocking on the door, he hears some rummaging inside and out came a rotund man with a large beard. He wore a ranger uniform and his badge displayed his name.
'Johnny'. Just that.
The ranger greeted him with a smile and he was strangely sociable. Apparently, the man had been working here for 3 years.
"We get a lot of hikers this time of the year." He said, handing him a map. "Hey, you look like you can handle yourself out there, but word of advice.
"Stay on the trail and do not, under any circumstances, go into the deep wilds. We stop looking 5 days after someone is reported missing. Some bad stuff in those woods."
"Noted." Nathan told him.
They of course had a procedure to go about this. They needed his name and the amount of time he would be hiking for. When he got out, he could report at any of the ranger stations and they would report back to see that the hiker had returned safely.
By Johnny's own words, "About 3 in every 20 people go missing."
As he was about to head off, Johnny called out to him.
"Stay on the road I tell you!" He shouted, watching Nathan walk up to the trail. "If you get lost, chances are, we won't even find your corpse!"
Nathan waved at him and headed in.
Although his words were grim and made Nathan feel more than a bit afraid that he was about to be hunting actual monsters in the woods, he felt that it didn't matter.
And it wasn't like he was lying too.
Chances were, if he died while hunting a monster, he would be eaten - so his body wouldn't be discovered anyway.
"Alright, let's do this." Nathan placed the bag into his inventory and and began trotting up the trail as a brisk pace.
He was officially here for 2 weeks. He might make that 3, if he can find some satisfactory monsters to hunt.
"I hope they aren't so strong they're completely out of my league... well, maximum effort I guess."
...
A/N: For those wondering about the stag - here's an image.
(Image here.)
...