"Legend of the Hunter," which introduces Sandstalker, kicks off with a trio of pictures accompanied with some history of the infamous hero-hunter and the heroine Oasis. Check back over the next two days for the remaining two entries.

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Field Journal - 15 October, 2008
Botswana


It’s been a week of firsts.

I hadn’t ever thought of pulling the trigger on a person. Even the rotten gathering of scoundrels that one traditional calls a family has only ever inspired in me the passionate desire to leave them. But there stood that masked jackal before Lord Carrington, accusing him of all sorts of crimes. Self-righteous, exceedingly sanctimonious, as if he and his ridiculous Bureau of Superhero Affairs had any kind of authority over a man of Lord Carrington’s stature. Blister, he called himself. Perhaps he wielded the power of fire. I never did find out; he never had the opportunity to attack.

Did I act irrationally? I think not. After all, Lord Carrington is more a father to me than my own father could ever be, and so much more. A mentor, a teacher, a living reminder of what I’m destined to be. What would anyone do if a stranger appeared and threatened to take a man like that away? What would anyone do if their father was in danger? I did what I had to. I did what nature demanded any able-bodied being do to protect that which is hers.

I pulled my .44 and shot Blister through the heart.

I felt a strange neutrality about it as his body fell and his blood darkened the Botswanan sand. The initial queasy feeling, like that of a young girl stalking her first kill, quickly passed and the elation thereafter departed just as swiftly. I was left with no joy or pleasure, yet no sorrow or regret. I killed a threat and that was that. Nothing could have been more natural for a clash of predators. I didn’t know what to expect from Lord Carrington, but I admit that he managed to surprise me quite thoroughly.

“Shame on you, Tapiwa,” he chastised me. “How could you show prey such disrespect with a cowardly attack?”

Prey? Yes, that’s what heroes are, he told me. The most dangerous prey in the world. Any thug could kill a hero. But it takes a true hunter to capture them alive. I learned that Lord Carrington had earned his fame, respect, and wealth not with the hides of wild animals, but with the masks of heroes. It was a side of his life he’d kept from me for fear of what I might think of him.

As much as he’d surprised me with this revelation, I believe I surprised him more by asking to follow in his footsteps.

What a thrilling venture! Heroes - powerful, intelligent, and unmatched by any other trophy a hunter could hope to acquire. Lord Carrington swore me to an oath that never would I kill a hero that I had marked as prey; not out of some trite adherence to irrelevant moral codes, but rather to keep the hunt sporting. I agreed immediately. After all, killing Blister was a bore. But capturing a hero and keeping her as a trophy…displaying her for all colleagues to see and admire…demanding the respect and recognition that I’d deserved all my life…to be seen, at last, as the greatest hunter in the world….

I would stalk any breathing, sentient force to the ends of the Earth for that. And any who got in my way would be trampled.

I may not have long to wait for my first quarry to show herself. Blister, it appears, was not alone. A young cheetah heroine from the BOS is on her way and Lord Carrington has left the preparations and the hunt all to me. For the first time in years, I ready myself to clash with a foe that lights my blood afire at the very thought of the hunt. This will be a day to remember.

Her name is Oasis. And soon, she will fear the name Sandstalker.

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Lord Carrington, Oasis, and Blister belong to me.
Sandstalker is a joint creation between myself and  WolfRider
Art belongs to  EthanQix