Prologue | The Last Hunter

You and Noel had been the last two hunters in the Farseer tribe.

After the fall of Cocoon, an event that devestated the world and left in its wake ruin and warfare, the land on Gran Pulse began to decay and become arid, too infertile to grow crops. What remained of Civilisation was forced to resort to hunting monsters and foraging the natural world to sustain them instead.

Two hundred years after the catastrophe, your nomadic village had once thrived on a strong population of hunters. But outbreaks of disease and famine had struck the population a harsh blow, dwindling their numbers until there were only two of you left; you and your childhood friend, Noel Kreiss.

Your father had been one of the most prominent hunters in the village in the years before your birth. It had already been decided that you would come to adopt the role too, but he died before you had even learned how to hold a sword.

It was Noel had taught you what you needed to know to be a hunter, how to keep yourself alive. You were indebted to him and his grandmother after disease had rendered you an orphan in a world struggling to survive.

You grew close in the time you'd spent together as children, hunting together until you were adults. You became partners in arms, hunting partners, relying on each other, looking out for each other. Out there in the wildlands, each other was all you had.

You made a good team, and you were well-respected for your work. Without you, the village would starve and die out.

But that was the thing.

There were only two of you left. Once you went, there'd be no more hunters, nobody to protect and feed the people.

The Farseers were a dying race.

And that's what happened.

They died out.

There were only few of you remaining. The forests were becoming depleted, the monsters were starting to move further afield. Another wave of illness stole more lives.

Until one day, there were only four of you left. You, Noel, Paddra Nsu-Yeul and her guardian, Caius.

Life was a lonely affair in those times. You started to drift away from the others, started hunting on your own. You'd leave for days at a time, to get away, away from the despair of trying to survive in a dying world, the hopelessness of having nobody and nothing to live for, no reason to try. Noel seemed only to grow sadder, to grow closer to Yeul instead. He sought to become her guardian, to follow in Caius' footsteps, and he eventually made him his apprentice, leaving you on your own.

And then one day, a few months later, you returned to find them all gone. Not a trace was left behind. You weren't sure how long you'd been away but the camp had fallen into ruin and there wasn't a trace left behind of civilisation. They'd simply vanished.

And now here you were. Still alive, but alone. It felt like you'd been alone for years. Maybe you had. There was no way of telling how long you'd been trapped in the wild. You were starting to forget. You were starting to lose your memories of him, of the village you'd grown up in. They were like dust particles in your head, dancing along the tips of your fingers, but as soon as you went to reach for them, they floated away, stardust.

What had happened to Noel and Yeul? Had they run off together, hoped to find a better life? Or were they dead too? Just like everyone else.

You never had found out.

All you knew was that you were alone in the wild now.

You were The Last Hunter.