Alia’s Quest for the Bukavac
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Moisture misted off the tips of the mountains as the sun rose higher in the sky. The peninsula of forested land jutting out in the middle of the lake, just between Alia and the mountain she was headed towards, was aglow in the morning light with bright green and mustard yellow. It was a good day for monster hunting.
Since she was a kid, Alia knew that she wanted to grow up to be just like her older sister, Kendra, who had been a promising monster hunter before her disappearance a few years ago. Now that Alia was old enough, she was determined to find out what had happened.
From the bits and pieces she was able to gather up over the years from unsuspecting (and unintelligent) police officers, her sister’s loyal friends and her now withdrawn parents, Alia knew that Kendra had been hunting the famed Bukavac, a six-legged monster with gnarled horns whose origins trace back to Slavic culture. It was said that these monsters lived in lakes and other freshwater pools of water, coming out during the night to make loud noises, jump on people and animals and strangle them. The only way to defeat one was with fire.
As soon as Alia had her camp packed up and on her back, she set off in the direction of the mountain. Everyone she had spoken to insisted that she not go looking for Kendra - it had been too long and it was most likely that she had died during her hunt for the Bukavac, but Alia felt it - she knew it - Kendra was alive. And if she had indeed survived a conflict with the Bukavac, she would’ve surely made her way up the mountain to where it could not reach her. Bukavacs, though fantastic swimmers and incredibly agile underground, were absolutely powerless at higher altitudes and were poor climbers. Kendra was smarter than anyone Alia had ever known; she had to have made it.
Making her way towards the base of the mountain, just a few thousand feet in front of her, Alia prepared herself for the climb, grabbing rope and climbing knives from her pack.
“Maybe I should eat something first. There’s no way of knowing if I’ll find a good place to sit and eat once I’m climbing,” she thought, pulling a granola bar out of her pack too.
The wrapper crackled open and between the crackles, Alia heard the quick snap of a branch just to her left. Dropping the bar and raising both climbing knives as she whirled around to face the forest, Alia’s eyes met those of another monster - a Kumiho, a man-eating fox with nine tails.