Selric Nocturne is a bit of a loner in this wide and far-reaching galaxy. A rather skilled and confident loner, but a loner nonetheless.
For years he has traveled this grand cosmos, scraping by as a bounty hunter. He doesn't particularly love the grueling job, but he's good at it, and it pays rather well from time to time.
There is no job too great or small for old Selric Nocturne. As long as the job pays and gives him something to do, he'll accept it. His current job, which he's currently heading towards, is no exception.
He is currently sitting aboard his starship, a small and scrappy Nomad Runner-class ship he calls the Eclipse, on his way to a rather dangerous bounty indeed.
This is a job with a fairly good payout but has one major issue. Nobody who has accepted the job has made it back alive. But that isn't about to scare a man like Selric; he is far too assured in his abilities to be scared off that easily.
The job itself is rather simple; he has to travel to the world of Rustreach and must kill a man who goes by the name of Silas Hawk.
Seems simple enough on the surface for a bounty hunter like Selric, but it'll be far from easy.
The planet on which this job resides, known to all as Rustreach, is a fairly barren world ruled by lawlessness. It lies just beyond the outskirts of the Horizon Confederacy, which is a large group of democratically ruled planets that keep law and order throughout a majority of the galaxy.
On this barren world, one man by the name of Silas Hawk has seized power in recent years thanks to his own strength and that of his fierce gang known as the Gravewind Syndicate. This gang of his has run roughshod over the planet for a long time, extorting the locals and ruling with an iron fist.
The bounty was put out by a coalition of locals who cannot stand his rule anymore and wish to see the man knocked off his tyrannical throne built on the backs of the local residents of Rustreach.
Selric was eager to help after hearing the story behind the bounty from a bartender, and of course the rather generous amount being offered upon the job's completion definitely didn't hurt his persuasion in the slightest.
A few dozen hunters over the last few months have accepted the job, and none have come back. Most, including Selric, presume the bunch all died on the job. After all, taking down the head of a large and presumably armed group doesn't appear like the easiest job in the world to pull off.
While nothing is certain, Selric remains confident in his abilities to get the job done. He has gained quite the reputation since he began bounty hunting a few years back. While the reputation isn't exactly wide-reaching, minus a few fringe corners of the galaxy, those who know of him know he's a very capable man.
Selric is currently sitting on the bridge of the ship as the navigation is on autopilot. He is polishing his twin Stratos pistols, which are common pistols used in combat that fire concentrated photon beams, an essential item for most bounty hunters and outlaws traveling the cosmos.
His ship is now slowly approaching Rustreach, finally coming into sight on his radar screens.
As the ship approaches and he can view the planet, he decides to holster his pistols and stand as he gazes at this planet for the first time.
He looks at the planet, and it is indeed barren. Nothing but bright brown dirt, various scattered mountain ranges, and dust storms as far as the eye can see, covering the entire surface of the small planet.
Selric in his days has seen many a world, but none so far had looked nearly as desolate as this one; part of him finds it hard to believe anyone lives in such a place. But live there they do, and once more the residents are in dire need of help.
Selric takes control of his ship and turns off autopilot as the ship descends into orbit. It's a little rocky as he begins descending due to a dust storm in the area he's lowered down into, but nothing has gone wrong yet.
As he flies, Selric spots a town in the distance on his radar, but after thinking a moment, opts not to park his starship there. Given the fact that presumably the other bounty hunters died in trying to bring down this Silas Hawk figure, Selric reckons there's a good chance his group is already prepared for another attempt and would probably ambush him the moment he lands.
Selric looks on his radar and finds a small and concealed valley buried in the middle of a large mountain range. It would be quite the trek getting to town but a rather perfect spot to hide his ship.
After a moment's thought, Selric decides to land his ship there and make the long trek.
Selric sets the ship down in the center of the valley rather gently. After he lands, Selric walks around his ship and begins gathering and packing supplies for his journey in his backpack. It might take a while to travel, and with those dust storms going on, it could get rather dicey.
As he finishes packing, he looks in his small closet near his quarters on the ship and wraps himself up in a cloak to defend him from the raging storm outside. He looks at himself in the mirror, admiring the view. He can be rather full of himself.
He flexes his muscles a moment, admiring his strong appearance, topped with his ever-stylish silver hair. He even looks good with a grey cloak covering his tight-fitting shirt, brown vest, and camouflage jeans he tends to normally wear hiding underneath. Mind you, this is all how he views himself, and he is prone to exaggeration from time to time.
After a little while, he finally snaps out of his narcissistic daze and finishes packing his belongings for the journey ahead across the mountain range.
Selric, after double-checking everything, lowers the ship's main hatch and exits the ship. Walking towards the direction he saw the town in as he flew over on arrival.
As Selric treks up the mountain, he remains vigilant, as these are strange lands to him, and he's unaware if there's any local dangerous wildlife or if any enemies are hidden and camped out in these valleys.
Hours go by, and minus the weather conditions with the storms, nothing has gone wrong with his journey so far.
As he reaches the bottom of the mountain, Selric notices what appears to be farmland. A large field with some sort of fruit growing about.
Selric remains cautious in the face of seeing this farm. It could be either friend or foe in this still rather unfamiliar land to him.
As he cautiously approaches the farmland, he hears a rather loud scream. It sounds like the scream of a woman. On top of that, he hears howls of some animals coming from the same direction. Rather easily he connects the dots. While he doesn't know what beasts await him up ahead, Selric isn't afraid in the slightest, especially since he has a secret weapon.
He has in his possession and equipped on him at this very moment a Hexcore suit.
Hexcore suits are a rather rare item indeed. It's a rather tight-fitting suit typically worn under the wearer's clothes. It gives the wearer the ability to access their magic power within and use it in combat. It can unlock various powers and can make a person incredibly strong.
Selric not only possesses this suit but is in fact an expert in wielding such a strong weapon, having used it and trained with it for a very long time.
Without hesitation he activates his Hexcore suit, using his magic power to enhance both his physical speed and strength, then uses that to lunge forward at lightning speed.
Within moments, Selric finds the source of the noise. He finds what appear to be two brown-haired women, both wearing farming overalls. One of them looks to be in her 60s and has fallen on the ground. The other one looks around in her late 20s, close to my age. Probably a mother and a daughter, he assumes. They're both surrounded by what appear to be very large and menacing-looking brown wolves.
The daughter appears to be defending her mother with a long staff; it's a hopeless effort, but she appears rather skilled, keeping the beasts at bay momentarily. Too busy focusing on their struggle and survival, neither of the women notices his approach.
They do end up noticing when Selric rushes in behind the daughter to defend her from an attack by one of the circling wolves, kicking the beast far back with tremendous force.
The mother and daughter both gasp and back away as he draws his pistols and starts firing at the wolves. Gunshots and howls fill the air as Selric slings his guns and shoots down all the mindless hungry beasts with skill and precision.
It takes about a minute before the last wolf falls in defeat. Afterward he holsters his pistols and slowly turns around, his attention now on the two women. He offers the mother a hand up from her downed state with a warm smile. After a moment's hesitation from her, she takes his hand and gets lifted back to her feet.
"I don't know who exactly you are, stranger, but you just saved me and my baby girl, so thank you kindly from the bottom of my heart." said the mother in a grateful tone with a bit of a southern twang.
"No problem at all, ma'am." Selric responds back with.
The daughter then interjects, saying, "I know exactly why he's here, Mama. You must be one of the bounty hunters coming for the price on Silas' head, aren't you?"
"That depends on who's asking." Selric replies in a calm manner.
"Where are my manners?" the daughter says as she approaches me with a small grin. "My name is Shae, and this is my mama, Lyra. I'm the one who put out the bounty on behalf of the local coalition."
"Well then..." Selric says in response to her, "My name is Selric Nocturne, and I'm going to be the one who takes care of your little Silas problem."