It was three years ago grandma said she was going to teach me to become a Huntress, what she didn’t say was that I was going to be studying the history of them since I was twelve and was too young to be training.

Again, that was three years ago, now I’m fifteen and I believe I was ready to start. My hair was done up in a ponytail, the silver-white colour of it seemed to sparkle a bit and I don’t know why and I sat out in the large field like an area I like to call ‘The Valley.’ It just sounded cool. The place always relaxes me no matter how bad of a mood I’m in with its gentle blowing breeze and the calming whistles of the wind, even the bed of grass I sat on. It was basically paradise.

“Aren’t you an early bird.” The voice of my grandmother brought my attention back up from my notebook. She walked up to me, wearing the very same dress I’ve grown accustomed in seeing her with.

“What can I say, I’m a bit excited,” I said with a chuckle. I closed my notebook an stood up. I wore a black tank top and some exercise pants that I got some time back, making me think this would be a good outfit to use.

“Now then, I suppose you are ready to begin,” Grandma said in a guessing manner to which I quickly nodded, earning a chuckle from her when I did. “Today we’ll be focusing on your speed. A Huntsman must be at their quickest to combat their opponents, so for today you must find three flags I have hidden nearby and you must do it in under five minutes.” She said before revealing a stopwatch in her hand. I blinked at this and looked around.

“Wait, when you mean nearby...ah!” I yelped as I saw her start it. I just ran in a random direction, hoping that I was going the right way. Honestly, it was by chance that I stumbled into two of them and when I say stumble, I mean trip over. I didn’t know how much time I had left before I had found the third hidden between bushes. When I finally came back to Grandma, I was basically a panting mess of sweat and exhaustion. “Got… them… ugh.” I panted, trying to stay standing in front of her. I soon fell onto my knees as my legs cried out in agony.

“Hmm, impressive yes but you’re still three minutes too late,” Grandma said before snapping her fingers and all three flags suddenly vanished. “You will do it again, under five minutes.” She added with a strict tone. I looked up at her and saw her face was serious. I groaned a bit before pushing myself back up and again I heard the stopwatch go off, meaning I had to run again.

Again I ran around, looking for the flags and then running back, this time falling face first into the ground when I got there with the three flags. My legs were so sore that I had to mutter ‘ow’ ever time they throb.

“One minute and forty three seconds late, again.” She said with yet another snap of her fingers and the flags once again vanished. I groaned as I pushed myself back up. I wanted to ask for a break but when I try my words freeze up in my throat from the look she was giving me. I simply turned around and ran out to find those flags again. I felt like I ran all over the Valley twice from this as I ran.

It wasn’t long that I was crawling back with the three flags as my legs so kindly gave out on me. I looked up at my grandma and showed the three flags.

“Got… them… yay…” I said before flopping back down. “... I can’t feel my legs…”

“Perfect.” She said with a smile before showing me that I had gotten them all in only three minutes… yay~. I could only groan at the moment but it was a happy groan, sort of. I saw the flags disappear from my hand as I tried to push myself up to be sitting.

“That… was… hard…” I said, panting. For some reason, I came to regret those words. She chuckled and helped back up to my feet before a chair materialized behind me, which I soon sat on with a heavy sigh. I looked over at her as some feeling returned to my legs… ow. “So… what’s next?” I asked with a small smile on my face.

“So you wish to continue rather than rest?” Grandma asked me with an arched brow and a barely contained smirk.

“After rest…” I said, not wanting my legs to fall off so soon. This earned me a laugh from grandma before a bottle of cold water appeared floating in front of me.

“Speed is the subject for today and I want to see how fast you can become. Your next test is to retrieve an item I have set up just ways away from our current location, that way to be precise.” She said, pointing at the direction to her right, which was in front of me. “The item in question has no value of sort but you must retrieve it in under five minutes, fail to do so and you will start again from the beginning.” Grandma said but the last bit confused me, what did she mean by the beginning?

“What do you mean by… beginning?” I asked as I open the water bottle and drank half of it already. Grandma chuckled at this before the three flags appeared in her hands, without her even saying anything I knew what she meant.

“From the beginning, dear. I never said this was going to be easy.” Grandma said before the flags vanished, leaving me to dread the upcoming failure. I groaned at this before finishing my water. I waited a minute before I was ready to do the next run. The three flags where a pain but I believe this will be better.

Some time later

Two… hour… of nonstop running… and repeating the three flags over and over again… I don’t know how I am able to still stand. I stood in front of my grandma, drenched in sweat and my outfit as was so soaked with my sweat that it felt like a second skin to me. I held up the flag that I got in my hand and stared at Grandma for what she has to say. Speaking Grandma, she was sitting down a large vine that shaped itself to be chair like. Sure it was an odd sight but it was Grandma’s doing so it didn’t have to be further explained.

“Outstanding performance Viri, not only have you set a new record in time but you’ve shown to be how you well you endure these trials.” Grandma said before the flag dissipated in a puff of smoke before the smoke formed the letter A with a plus beside it. I stare at it for a few moments as it appeared.

“Yay…” I said tiredly before falling onto the ground. “... Ow.” I soon felt myself rise up when a fine spiralled out from beneath me, forming some sort of chair or bed I can lay down on. I let out a sigh at this, now feeling all the aches and pain ease a bit. “Thanks…” I said to my grandma. She smiled at me when I thanked her.

“Now before you think that I will not tolerate failure, the truth is actually very simple. If I am to train you to become a Huntress, I want to be sure you are ready for anything and I’d rather not have to see you fall in combat like… like...” Grandma said though as she spoke, her expression became sadder and sadder before she looked down in silence. I frowned at this, feeling bad to see her sad. I wanted to ask what’s wrong but I believe it was personal. She soon teared up but she quickly wiped them away before saying. “You are free to go, today’s lessons are finished.” She said and before I could say anything, she vanished in a flash of light. The only evidence of her being there were a few droplets of tears that dripped from the vine she sat on.

I stayed there, worried about my grandma. Seeing her upset… it wasn’t right. I sighed as I relaxed where I was after my training, only to know that I have to do something like this tomorrow.

I let out a groan as I closed my eyes, about to take a nap.

Some time has passed before I woke up. I stretched a bit before standing up. My legs groaned with a dull pain from all that running but I pushed that aside as I headed off home. I don’t know how but when I think of going home, the door to the living room appears in front of me. I didn’t really question it since it was really useful.

I opened the door into the living room ro see mama sitting on the couch with a notepad on her lap. Now that we have a place to love she can focus most of her time on writing. I remember when I was little that she talked about it, wanting to write a book on adventure and magic. She turned her head to look at me with a smile.

“Hey honey, how was your first day?” Mama asked, making me groan a bit. This caused her to chuckle a bit. “I figured as much.” I sat down in a chair near mama as she wrote in her pad. I thought back to what Grandma said and remember her getting upset.

“Mama, did something evere happen to grandma?” I asked her, making mama stop what she was doing and looked at me.

“What do you mean?” She asked.

“I mean, she was telling me that she wanted me to be at my best when I become a huntress… then she said she she didn’t want me to fall like someone, then she got upset.” I told her. Mama stared at me before sighing.

“Viri… she was probably talking about your grandfather,” she explained. Mama shook her head a bit. “He too was a huntsman, a good one at that. A mortal that captured your grandma’s heart. He… well, he went on a mission one day and… didn’t come back.” I frowned at this, feeling sad about what happened to my grandfather. “As you can guess, mom wasn’t… well, she… She didn’t take the news very well.” Mama added with a solemn look of her own. She let out a sigh before smiling at me. “Now, how about I go run you a warm bath.”

I thanked her as she went off to do just that. I leaned back a bit and let out a sigh, this was just day one I’m worried what grandma has in store for me in the days to come.

A year later...

The past year has been… something. First was the Huntress training grandma has been putting me through, even now after training my arms and legs feel like jelly and I’m sore until the next day.

Other days it’s either Grandma or my Aunt teaching me lessons on almost anything. It’s either I’m physically exhausted or mentally exhausted. I think most lessons I was taken were meant for much older people. Today I had expect grandma to train me like she always does, with the exception a few numerous occasion thanks to Auntie dropping by but it was Auntie who was waiting for me today at the Valley.

“Hello, Viri.” My aunt greeted me as I got closer.

“Hello Auntie, where’s grandma?” I asked her. Auntie gave me a look that she was thinking on what to say next.

“She’s… busy with something.” She answered. I frowned at her, I haven’t see grandma all day and I was starting to get worried. “I’ll be honest with you, I didn’t necessarily plan anything for today so if you want you can just take the day off or something.” Auntie said soon after.

“Really?” I asked her, arching a brow at her.

“I could throw you into a wall but that wouldn’t teach you anything other than walls hurt…” Auntie said before shaking her head. “Just go… do what you like to do.” With that, she disappeared into the shadows and I was left alone.

“Well… that was awkward.” I muttered to myself. I really didn’t know what to do really, this hasn’t happened before and now that it has, I kinda felt a little lost.

Deciding to explore a large door appeared in front of me. Blinking at it I walked towards it and went through it. I looked around and saw I was in the Great Hall, one part of Grandma’s world. Honestly, it was better than doing nothing but then I saw her, it was Grandma. She was on her knees in front of a statue, by the sounds of it she was quietly sobbing to herself.

Why the magic door led me here I didn’t know but I walked over to her. “Grandma?” I said, gaining her attraction.

“Oh, Viri I apologize I didn’t hear you enter.” She said, wiping her tears away before saying. “Did you need anything?” She asked me, her voice concealing her true emotion well but I’ve already seen enough to know it was a lie.

“Are you okay?” I asked her, glancing at the statue then back at her. She quietly sniffled and said.

“I’m alright, dear, there’s no need to worry.” She said, standing up as she spoke and dusted her dress off. I stared at her for a moment before walking up and giving her a hug. I didn’t know why she’s hiding her sadness, but a hug should help. She was surprised but quickly clung onto me, her emotional mask now broken with newly formed tears welling up her eyes. I really didn’t know why she was like this or what caused this at least until I looked up at the statue.

The statue was that of a man in his late thirties with a clean cut beard and short hair. His smile was warm and caring as he looked forward, as if he was seeing what the future holds. His hands were on top of an adelie weapon, almost like he was using it as a cane. I looked down and saw a plaque that says ‘In loving memory: Jericho Mal Kun.’

Behind the statue, I expected a battle of some sorts but instead, it was the man and a younger version of grandma in a white dress. The man’s hair was the same colour as hers, a sunny blonde colour and the two of them looked happy… oh, wait…

“This is… grandpa?” I asked grandma as I pulled away from the hug, giving her some space. She wiped the tears from her eyes and nodded.

“Yes, that man was your grandfather, your mother’s father and… and my husband.” Said Grandma sadly, she once again wiped her away from the tears. “He would’ve loved to you meet you, Viri.” Grandma then said to me with a shaky smile. I looked at her for a moment before looking a the statue of her husband. After that moment I walked up to him and stared up at the statue.

“Hi! I’m Viri Warren, your granddaughter. Nice to meet you.” I said with a smile on my face before pointing at him. “And you better be watching me because one day I’m going to be the best Huntress that’s ever been known in Remnant… no, in all realms!” I proclaimed. Lord that sounded so… anime.

As I stared at the statue I honestly saw the shadows shift a bit, making his smile bigger as if he was saying ‘We’ll see kid.’ I turned around to grandma and smiled at her. She smiled back before she looked at the statue.

“There will never be a day that I would stop missing you.” She said to the statue with a solemn look. She then grasped her necklace, one I’ve never seen her without and kissed the jewel that hung from the necklace. I looked at her as she did this before looking over at me, placing the necklace down with a little smile.

“So… Auntie said today is a day off due to last minute planning… What do you want to do?” I asked her. She chuckled a little at this before a door appeared behind me. It opened on its own and revealed what I could guess was a hot springs, not having seen one myself.

“I don’t know about you, but a dip in the warm water sounds pleasing for me.” She said as she walked by me and through the door. Upon walking through, she turned back to me, waiting for me to come through as well. I blinked at this before following behind her. The smell of hot water filled my nose as the warm heat past through me.

“What is this place?” I asked, looking around at the place.

“It is my own little hot springs. I come here from time to time so I can relax and unwind.” She said as she walked up to the water. The closer she got I noticed her dress was slowly turning into puffs of clouds that obscured her before she finally entered the water with a sigh of relief. “Hmm.” She hummed happily. I blinked at this and couldn’t help but blush at the idea her clothes turned into clouds… actually, it was kinda cool that she could do that. Need clothes? Get clouds! She soon looked back at me and tilted her head. “Are you coming, dear?” She asked me with a smile. I only fidgeted in place, kinda uncomfortable at the moment.

I lean forward to look at the water for a moment, kneeling down to it and dipped a finger or two to test the water. So far it felt like a really warm bath. I fidget a little bit, not sure who to react to this… until I felt the weight of my clothes disappear. I looked down and saw they turned into clouds. I let out a yelp at this, covering myself as the clouds hovered around me. I instinctively tried to cover myself but that didn’t do much as I was pretty much covered by the clouds. I looked towards Grandma in time to see chuckle a little before I slowly entered the small pool of warm water. As I entered the water the clouds seemed to stay above the water before I submerged into the water and the clouds floated away. The water felt… nice… even though I was sitting there naked with my grandma. I lowered myself until I could make bubbles in the water. Despite the first few awkward moments, it was really nice and it helped my still aching limbs.

I relaxed at this before I glanced over to grandma, remembering that she didn’t had anything on either. I turned a bit so I wasn’t staring… because it would be rude.

“Is something the matter, Viri?” Grandma asked me with a little hint of concern in her tone.

“No!... Uhh, no umm..” I fidgeted a bit before adding. “How are you… okay with being under clothed with someone in the bath with you?” I asked. Upon hearing this, Grandma chuckled and said.

“Just like your mother indeed.” Grandma said which only made me blush even more. “Viri, it’s alright if you feel a little embarrassed by this but there’s no reason to.” She said to me with a warm smile. I glanced over at her, I didn’t say anything but I did turn back to face my grandma again.

“This feels… nice…” I said with a smile as I leaned back a bit. Grandma did the same and for good reason too, the position we were both in gave us extra comfort in the water. None of us dared to speak to break the silence as we both simply heard the small natural waterfall refilling the pool. It felt like hours before Grandma had gotten up, thankfully the clouds were quick to form around her and as she walked out of the water, some of it trailed behind her like a vine before it coiled around her and spread from top to bottom, forming a beautiful blue dress as a result. I stared at her as this happened, blinking a few times before I notice that she was looking at me with an arched brow. I blinked a few times before blushing a bit and lowered myself into the water a bit, making a bubbly ‘Sorry’ to her. With a held back chuckle she spoke.

“Don’t worry about your clothes, they will come back to you once you get out of the pool and dry off. I’ll be taking my leave now but do expect me to come by for a visit, I plan to make you and your mother dinner this time.” She said with a smile before giving me one last wave and vanishing.

I was now left alone in the hot spring, which I happily sat in before I float around in the water. This was nice… really nice. Soon a few hours past before I walked out of the water, my skin was a little red from the hot water. As I dried myself off, the clouds formed into my body. When I went into the hot spring I wore a black and white shirt and jeans, now I wore a black and white dress that was perfectly fitted for me. It was soft on my skin, did all my clothes all turned into this dress? Right now I didn’t mind since it was a nice feeling.

I turned and headed out of the hot spring, going through the doors and ended up in my room. I looked around my room before walking downstairs to see mama. She asked me where I got the dress form and all I said was hot spring and she understood what I meant. She was about ready to start making dinner but I quickly stopped her, informing her of grandma’s visit soon and the promise of her cooking. While I have yet to try her cooking, mama was overly excited at the mention of it. The two of us spent the next bit getting ready for grandma to come over for dinner. When that was done I still wore the dress, feeling like it was needed since it was somewhat a gift, I think? Before long there was a knock on the front door. Mama went over and opened it and grandma walked in, seeing her smiling at me. After a short chat, Grandma entered the kitchen to begin dinner and while I had expected her to just magically make the food, Grandma actually did it all by hand and before we knew, we sat by the dinner table as she set our plates down. In front of me was a stew, the warm smell of the food made me drool. Mama seemed excited by the stew.

“This is one of my favorite! Thanks, mom.” Mama said happily before she started to eat. Grandma smiled at her as I took a spoon and ate a bit of it. My eyes widen at the taste and continue to eat.

“I knew you two would love it.” Said Grandma as she sat down with her own plate and began to eat it, albeit slower than me and mama. We were practically wolfing it down. Before long we finish the food and both mama and I let out a sigh at how good it was.

“Thanks again mom, I missed your cooking.” Mama said with a smile. Grandma smiled back at her and said.

“It’s always nice to have dinner with the family.” She said with a little smile, there was a tinge of sadness in her words and Mama picked up on this as well. Both were silent for a solid minute before Grandma spoke again. “If you two wish, I can make this a common thing.” She said to us with a smile.

“Yes please.” Mama said, making me giggle at her excitement at the offer. Grandma also laughed a little mama’s excitement before nodding, making it official that she will come by and cook dinner for us and it was later decided that it was at the end of the week that she will do this. It’ll only make the wait more unbearable as next week now felt like it was months away.

Author's Note

Mavis’ Training is like hell, she doesn’t hold back