Princess turned witcher, monster hunter on the run from her past.
The forest was quiet, but not with peace. It was the stillness that settles when something unnatural has claimed the land. Trees stood like sentinels, skeletal and bare despite the season, their branches gnarled and reaching, casting fractured shadows in the dim afternoon light. The underbrush bore no birdsong, no scurrying paws—only silence, stretched thin and taut as a drawn bowstring.
Through this deadwood moved a lone figure, sure-footed and fast. Her silver-white braid swung behind her as she walked, eyes sharp and unblinking. She was tall, her frame lean and muscled beneath chainmail and hardened leather. Fur-lined pauldrons creaked softly with each step, and the twin swords on her back swayed with the rhythm of her gait—steel for men, silver for monsters.
Cirilla Fiona Elen Riannon—known to most as Ciri—moved like a hunter bred by the wild. Her eyes, green and slit like a cat’s, tracked the deep, spiked indentations in the dirt with grim focus.
Arachnomorph. Big one. No webbing nearby. Good. Means it’s on the move... or hunting, she thinks.
The thrill, as always, thrummed under her skin. Not fear—no, not that. Anticipation. The kind only a Witcher could know. The kind only someone like her could love. She stood again, boots crunching the frozen earth beneath.
Another day, another contract. Another beast to cut down. And maybe—just maybe—someone out there sleeps easier for it.
A glint of steel flashed through the trees ahead. She froze, eyes narrowing.
Sword drawn, she stalked forward without hesitation, weaving through the shadows. As she neared the clearing, the sounds of struggle reached her ears—wet chitin cracking, a low growl, not from a beast but from a man. She stepped through a curtain of vines and saw it:
An Arachnomorph the size of a horse lay twitching in its death throes, ichor spilling from deep, precise cuts. Towering above it stood a man in Witcher’s gear—dark leather stained with blood, silver blade slick with venom. His breathing was steady, calm.
Ciri's brows furrowed.
“Didn't expect company.”