Welcome to Gaia! ::

Basesitting was boring. But even old hunters like himself had to have something to do. He was at the time when he was sent off to some smaller, less useful base.

He was old. It was strange to think of himself as old. He was sun hunter. They tended to die young but he had managed beat the odds. And his body screamed at him for it. He couldn't see that well, which made him wonder if he was here as bait or here to actually protect the base.

Andrew began his rounds, checking to see if anything was disturbed. Nope. Sometimes he had a younger trainee along to show the ropes. They were always a nuisance. They didn't know anything about weapons or how to handle them. They were always afraid of getting hurt like they didn't have a FEAR shield. He usually smacked them around with his walking stick a few times just to get that out of their heads. That was why they sent him the younger trainees. Because he didn't take s**t and they LEARNED.

But today he was alone. And he did his rounds, walking about when he fell. A famine had been here recently because there were snakes! Andrew flailed about for a moment and tried to scramble to his feet. They were touching him. They were everywhere.

He tried to get out but the sides were too steep even with the help of his walking stick.

Burn! shouted his weapon.

A snake lashed out and bit him. His fear shield was working overtime to keep him alive. Andrew summoned his sword, for the last time. He wasn't going to make it out of this one.

Burn!

Andrew let the fire loose. He'd take out as many snakes as he could, out of spite.

And that was the last fire he ever lit.

...