— Captain Bernard Fenwick, “Ballistics and Beasts,” page 20
A few days before Mina brought Emily up into the mountains to begin her magic training, she had started her on something just as important for a monster hunter; Bestiaries.
Mina’s living room bookshelf was packed to the brim with them. An entire archive of monstrous knowledge collected over years of experience. Some books were pristine, while others were so battered that their covers were peeling.
If Emily ever wanted to know anything about a monster, be it its habits, strengths, or weaknesses, she would find it here.
The first beastiary Mina handed Emily was heavier than she expected, the kind of book that could break a toe if dropped. “Insectoids of Ageria: Volume One. By Rutrogar Drugal,” Emily read aloud, squinting at the title. She glanced up, unimpressed. “Gripping title.”
“You won’t care about the title when one of these things is trying to rip your throat out.”
Emily made a face and opened the book, flipping through its pages. The paper was thick and slightly yellowed. Each entry was meticulously detailed, complete with dense paragraphs of information and illustrations. Some of the images were so realistic they might as well have been anatomical diagrams.
Aráchnimite.
Plague-Crawler.
Silkfang.
Stingerhead.
Tendon-Crawler.
Her fingers paused on that last one. The illustration at the bottom of the page made her stomach turn. The Tendon-Crawler was a grotesque mix between a grasshopper and a wasp, its elongated body segmented and chitinous. It had six multi-jointed legs, each tipped with hooked claws, and a gaping maw filled with rows of jagged, needle-like teeth. Serrated pincers jutted out from either side of its face, and, as if that wasn’t bad enough, the entry described how it could secrete acid from glands in its head, spraying its prey to weaken them before using its pincers to pull them in. It was a silent predator, relying on a sensory system to detect vibrations. Just reading about it made Emily nervous. But the worst detail that sent a chill up her spine was how it killed.
The Tendon-Crawler didn’t consume its victims immediately. Instead, it severed the tendons in their limbs, rendering them helpless before dragging them back to their colony, leaving them alive but unable to move.
Emily exhaled sharply, shutting the book with a soft thump. “This thing exists?”
Mina simply nodded.
Emily stared at her, waiting for some kind of reassurance. Maybe they were extinct, or maybe no one had seen one in decades. But Mina just stood there, arms crossed, her expression unreadable.
“So, uh… how do you kill it?” Emily asked.
Mina tapped a finger against the book. “Read the entry.”
Emily hesitated before opening the book again. She skimmed down past the horrifying description until she reached a section titled Weaknesses & Recommended Tactics.
“Fire,” she read aloud. “Exposed joints are vulnerable to extreme heat. Acid neutralization methods can minimize damage. Insectoid oil. Its sensory organs can be overwhelmed with high-frequency sounds or sudden intense vibrations.”
Mina tilted her head slightly. “Understanding a monster is the best weapon you’ll ever have. There are plenty of ways to kill a creature, but knowing what it fears? What it can’t fight against? That’s how you win.”
There had to be over a hundred books on her self. Some were thick enough that Emily swore she could use them as blunt weapons. “I have to memorize all of these?”
Mina nodded.
Emily’s shoulders slumped. “How?”
“Reading them. Morning, before bed, whenever you have time.”
Emily let out a small, exhausted groan and put the Insectoid bestiary back. She then picked up another at random.
Demons and Their Curses: Volume 1. By Faelyn Sylsalor.
The text was just as dense as the previous book, if slightly more structured. Some entries had diagrams of cursed symbols, while others had sketches of emaciated humanoid figures with hollow eyes and twisted grins.
Emily looked at another book.
Humanoids of Ageria: Volume 1, 4th Edition. By Jacke Jaywood.
Then another.
The Bestiary of Monstrous Amalgamations. By Abraham Grimveil.
And another.
Specters and Apparitions: Volume 1. By Lloyd Potter.
None of these sounded fun to read. She was used to novels, like ‘The Ballads of Chester Finch.’ They were long, adventurous tales of monster hunters, knights, and explorers with legendary weapons, facing off against abominations in dramatic showdowns. Fictional hunters always seemed to know exactly what to do, like their knowledge came naturally. But these books weren’t stories. They were documentation. Dry, detailed, clinical documentation. No witty dialogue or thrilling battle sequences. Just hard facts, anatomical breakdowns, and behavioral analysis.
Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.
Emily ran her hand over her head, brushing aside her short hair. “How the hell does one person memorize all of this?”
Mina sat down on the couch, stretching out her legs and crossing her arms over her chest. “You don’t,” she admitted. “Not at first. Start with the things most likely to kill you. Then, when you’ve memorized it, you look at something else.”
Emily looked back at the book in her hands. She skimmed through it until she came across a section she hadn’t expected. Herbivores. She hadn’t really thought about non-predatory creatures before. To her, the word “monster” had always meant something with gnashing teeth, waiting to rip someone apart. And yet, looking at the illustrations, they were no less terrifying than the abyssal horrors she had seen in the rest of the book.
Large, bulging eyes stared back at her from the pages, eerily round and reflective, like glass marbles embedded in flesh. Some had barbed tails coiled protectively around their bodies. Others had long, talon-like fingers despite their docile nature, their hands built for grasping at high branches or burrowing into the earth rather than tearing through flesh. Even knowing they weren’t dangerous, they still looked like nightmares.
Emily turned the book toward Mina and pointed at one of the drawings. “What about these ones?”
Mina glanced up, her expression unreadable. “What about them?”
“They look like monsters,” Emily said, “but they’re listed as harmless.”
Mina exhaled quietly through her nose. “Remember what I said?”
“Oh, right. Sorry. It’s just…”
“Everyone thinks the same way, Emily. You need to see beyond appearances. No need to kill what means no harm.”
“I suppose you’re right.” She looked back at the thick book.
“Look, this isn’t going to be easy. You’ll hate it at times. But believe me, it’s better to have the knowledge and never need it than to be standing there, needing it, and having no idea what to do.”
Emily hesitated. “…That happened to you before?”
Mina didn’t answer.
“What monster was it?”
Mina didn’t answer.
“Come on, what happened?”
Mina didn’t answer. Instead, she got up and grabbed a book from the top shelf; ‘Bloodworth: A Study of Vampiric Predators. By Reverend Isaac Grimsby.’
She opened it up to the entry on vampires and flipped to a section titled ‘Common Myths & Misconceptions.’
“Take vampires. Most of the stuff written about us in fairy tales is made up, but because that’s what most of the general public consumes, it’s all they know.”
Emily swallowed. “So… none of the old vampire stuff is true?”
“Some of it is,” Mina admitted. “That’s the thing about lore. It's a broken game of who said what. Somewhere in all the exaggerations and half-truths, there’s something useful. The trick is knowing what’s real and what isn’t.” She closed the book and handed it to Emily. “This is what I want you to start with.”
Emily exhaled and took the book. She was starting to feel like she’d never be able to keep all of this straight. She hardly did well enough in school to begin with, and there was so much here she didn’t know if she would ever be able to memorize half of it.
Mina must have noticed, because she rested a hand on her shoulder, and spoke in a softer tone. “You’ll be fine. Think of it like a puzzle. You don’t solve everyone the same way. A gun won’t do much against something made of water, and good luck drowning a stone golem.”
Emily let out a short laugh.
“Amateurs think hunting’s easy. They buy a weapon, they point, they shoot. They’re the ones who die first. You’ll be smarter than them. You’ll go into every encounter knowing how to survive.”
“Swords look like they’re more fun though.”
“Only when it’s necessary. A sword’s a tool, just like anything else. The safest way to deal with a monster is to kill it before it ever gets close.”
Emily made a face. “So… no sword?”
“Not today.”
Emily tried not to look too disappointed.
“Distance gives you the advantage. A gun won’t always kill a monster, but it keeps it from taking a bite out of you long enough to find a better option.”
“Alright. So first guns, then swords?”
Mina nodded. “And even then, you’ll need to learn how to use other tools. Poisons, oils, traps. They’re just as important.”
Emily perked up slightly. “Poisons?”
“For certain creatures,” Mina said. “Take vampires again. Holy Water burns us just as the sun does. Stops the healing, leaves scars that never fade.”
Emily stared at her, and the jagged scars running down Mina’s right cheek. The skin there was slightly paler than the rest of her face. Without thinking, Emily lifted a finger and traced her own cheek in the same spot. “Not to be rude, but… is that how you got—?”
Mina didn’t answer right away. But after a moment, she gave a single, slow nod.
Emily quickly looked away, embarrassed. “Sorry,” she muttered.
Mina didn’t seem bothered. If anything, she took the opportunity to redirect the conversation back to the lesson. “It’s not just vampires. Sunlight turns certain trolls to stone. Aráchnimite venom kills, but the antivenom we use to survive can poison them. But that’s another lesson for another day.”
Emily let out a breath of relief. “Good, because my head is already full.”
Mina smirked. “You’ll get used to it.”
Emily wasn’t so sure about that.
After a pause, Mina glanced toward the window. The afternoon light had started to fade into the warm hues of early evening. “We’ll start with the basics. When you’re better, I’ll take you somewhere we can practice shooting.”
Emily blinked. “Wait, really?”
Mina nodded. “You need to learn sooner rather than later. And I want to see how bad your aim is before something tries to kill you.”
“Hey, I’m not that bad. I still hit Draco, right?”
“Draven. And you were lucky. We’ll find out how good you actually are.”
“I might be better than you think.”
Mina raised an eyebrow.
“Don’t believe me?”
“No.”
“Wanna make a bet then?”
Mina only stared back.
“If I hit the first thing you want me to hit, you’ll make a stop and get me some books that are actually fun to read.”
“It’s not a game.”
“Yeah, but I’ll need a break from these eventually.”
Mina pursed her lips. “No.”
“Please?”
“No.”
“Pretty please?”
Mina sighed. “Fine. If you miss the target, you’re cleaning every weapon on my wall.”
Emily glanced over at the weapons room, and gulped. She had just about sentenced an entire afternoon to chores. “If I hit it you’ll also give me a massage.”
“Don’t push it.”
“I’m just trying to give myself motivation.”
“Your motivation should be I won’t beat you if you don’t do what I say.”
“Alright, alright,” Emily said with a laugh. “You’re on.”
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