《Terrors Of Wishes》 1 In The Beginning @@ It is said that thousands of years ago, a mere human angered god of life and death and so he and his friends were cursed to roam this Earth forever, always hungry for blood of us humans and never to be forgiven for their sins. They say this is how one of the worlds first most powerful, vicious and hungry creature were born. They are still feared among men. They are now known as vampires, the blood thirsty vicious monsters. Once vampires almost ended human race during the period of dark ages. Soon they realized that wiping out entire species of human would leave them without food to suffer for eternity. To avoid such consequences, treaty was signed between different races; Humans, beasts, vampires, sorcerers, demons and punishers. The treaty that ended chaos between different races is now known as samsara.@@ 2 A Lone Sorcerer In the wasteland of p¨®lemos we could see a lone sorcerer standing straight ¡ªlooking into vast starry sky rasing his hand trying to reach heavens itself. All we could see around him was nothing but vast plane barren land filled with few bushes and covered green small grasses. He could hear insects singing in this vast lonely land. As tears flowed through his deepblue eyes, he folded his fingers and lifted his hand down and laid down on the ground and fell asleep. His silver messy hair was glowing in the moon light. His face was oval shaped with white toned skin. He was rather short for a 15 year old boy, 4 ft. 3 inches. He was wearing a black T-shirt with a symbol of bird in the back and gray trousers. He woke up at first light, " ¡ªit''s been ten days, I had better hurry up and get going"¡ªhe said to himself and continued his journey to the republic city. Oh! by the way republic city is the city founded after dark ages to maintain the peace treaty. It is the place where people of different countries gather together to maintain the peace between them organizing varieties of fairs. He walked several hours on foot before he finally reached republic city. The city was as beautiful, as peaceful and as lively as he had heard about. His main destination was hunting association, which was at the centre of the city. Before going there he first stopped by a restaurant to have some thing to eat as he was starving for days. The restaurant was loud and lively and filled with different people that he could barely find a seat. There was boy beside him drinking beer and smiling showing his pearly white teeth. He was almost as small as him. His hair was black and he had emerald green eyes with a white toned skin. He was wearing a black leather jacket and pants. Sorcerer ordered a chicken roast and a glass ofbeer. " ¡ªshould you be drinking beer for your age "¡ª the boy with black hair asked. " For my age?.... and here you are drinking beer but you look thirteen years old. " ¡ª sorcerer reacted furiously. " I may lookthirteen but I''m actually 63..." ¡ªgave his right hand to the sorcerer saying, " by the way I''m Mike Williams and you are...." " Don''t talk to me as if we were friends, you nasty old vampire " ¡ªhe responded furiously and lifted his right hand horizontally towards mike. " Arrhhhhh....! what''s happening to me " ¡ªmike cried in great agony and fell on the floor crying and screaming. All he felt was scorching pain coursing through his veins. All the water in the restaurant began to float and circle around the sorcerer and Mike at the height of the right hand of sorcerer . "Oh ! I''m only destroying your entire nervous system repeatedly by expanding the blood in your veins explosively because you heal fast." "Arrrrhhh....there¡­.is..no..such..magic...arrrhhh....that...controls...blood " ¨CMike responds in agony. " I''m not controlling blood you idiot, I''m controlling water in your blood. Vampires disgusts me ¡ª I''m only sparing your life because you look like a boy crying and whining to me, you annoying old creature.. Pray that there is no next encounter or I''ll most certainly kill you" The sorcererreleased Mike from his grasp and floating water spilled all over the place. He gulped all the chicken at once and left the money on the table for chicken and beer including money for spilled water. Then after he left the restaurant without saying a word. Mike asked sorcerer with a relief in his voice, " hey wait, at least tell me what your name is " ¡ªand passes out soon after. After his encounter with Mike, he hurriedly visited headquarter of Hunting association. It had a huge cathedral like structure. There were not many people inside as he had imagined. There was huge area for serving food for the members in the middle left wall. There was a counter with beautiful lady attending visitors at the other end of entrance. Remaining areas were occupied by tables for meetings. He approached the lady on the counter and asked, " Excuse me... Ahem... " " The name is Alisha Ramon. How may I help you " ¡ª she replied. " I would like to apply for membership please " ¡ª sorcerer requested sincerely. She reached for top left drawer of counter and picked up a form asking, "By the way what''s your name?....oh and fill up this form with your photo. " It''s Silver Davis " he answered politely while filling up the form. He handed the form over to Alisha saying , " ¡ª here all done " " You may recive your membership ID tomorrow after 10 am. " Silver bid his farewell saying, " Ok see you tomorrow , and thanks for your service " ¨C and left. Alisha thanked him with loud and polite voice, " ¨C Ok bye, thanks for applying for your membership " ¡ª she continued by whispering , " We were running short on members. " Silver then found a place to stay with the rent of 3 gold coins per month near headquarter and went straight to bed as he was tired from all his continuous journey. 3 A Sad News Silver woke up yawning widely as the sun spread its glittering rays. Beside his bed there was a window through which he could see city outside. There was a shop with a young and exceptionally beautiful lady selling fruits and vegetables to the people. Seeing those people he remembered his own home town and a tragic fate he had suffered. Sizen is a closed nation that is surrounded by the landof p¨®lemos which lies near to the ocean. The population of the country was about Two Lakhs Seventy Five Thausand. The country had castle, one at each land. Fire village to the north, Wind village to the east, Lightning village to the west, Earth village to the Southwest and Water village to the Southeast with capital at the centre. Each village is about about Hundred miles away from the capital and each village had population of Twenty Five Thausand. Whereas, capital had population of One lakhs( 100000 ) . About Fifty percentage of the population of capital were ordinary humans while others were Elementals. The capital is surrounded by huge black wall. The walls have five different gates which directly leads to five different castles. King of Sizen is selected through election voted by the people of capital alone, from one of the eldest prince of five lands. One prince is son of the king and four are sons of four councillors who works alongside the king. The king and his four councillors are leaders of one of the villages. The king was Pawan Davis from wind village. . . . . A month ago..... In the water village, Country of Sizen..... Early in the morning the golden sun rose up turning the dark and gloomy sky into a bright and cheerful blue sky. The milky white clouds were hovering around the vast sky. Blue and black birds were singing and dancing with the clouds. There was a huge farm beside the castle and a lake next to it. A black wall stood tall Southeast to the lake which surrounded entire water village. The remaining face of lake was surrounded by a small forest. There was a huge gate in the wall at the northwest side of the village facing towards the capital. In the forest the trees danced with the whistling cool wind which welcomed the new morning. Men wearing muddy and tattered clothes were working in the field. Other men were cutting the woods and few others were lifting the weight. Two men were guarding the gate of the village. Childrens were playing and bathing in the lake, woman were washing the clothes and doing dishes while watching childrens play. A farmer was saying, " hope we have a huge harvest this year unlike last year. " Another farmer replied " I hope so too. " ¡ª and yawned. An old lady smacked both Farmers and said, " We will never have a good harvest if you guys keep talking all day long, will we now ? " " Sorry mam " the farmers replied with little fear in their voice and started working again. On other hand the women were crying to their childrens, " Don''t go swimming too far away from us. " Their childrens replied laughing and splashing water at each other, " Ok mom.... don''t worry about us. " and continued to swim again. It was a joyful, pleasant, beautiful and a normal morning as every other morning but little did they know of the horrors that was to befall them. Soon.... An army of 2000 people arrived at the gate of the village. The group in the front were carrying a red casket. At the prince quarters, Silver was with his mother, Kara Davis. The room was rather Small. There was a wooden bed opposite to the window. There was a table below the window, a wardrobe near to the table and small dressing room next to it. Silver was sitting on the table and his mother was sitting right next to him holding a piece of paper and a pen. Silver was learning the art of healing, poisons and medicines from his mother for he was to become future physician to the king or even The King . Kara was asking questions to Silver about poisons and medicines whereas he was answering to her, Kara : Which is the most effective potion tostop heavy bleeding from wounds..? Silver : Witch Hazel (smile)... "Tell me about blue rocket..." "It''s a flowering plant with flower of violet colour. A deadly poison can be extracted from its root. It is commonly used by assassin. But it can also be used to neutralize another poison made from sea weeds, sea devil." "humm..... what about '' Winter Blessings ''....?" "It''s a potion derived from the leaves and bark of the shurb of the same name. It can stop the effect of the poisons , this potion is effective for about...." As he was explaining about the winter blessings he was interrupted by a guard who came in there hurriedly sweating all over his body. Guard : Forgive me my lady....but...Ummm.... can we speak in private.....its a....ummm..... matter of upmost urgency. Kara looked at silver and gave him a piece of paper that she was holding..."Go to the forest and collect all the herbs listed in this paper." "Fine!." Silver replied with a disappointed voice and took the basket that was on the table, looked at the guard with anger and left the room. "What is it ?.... Is something wrong?" She asked to the guard with curiosity. "Well.....ummmm.....aaaaaa.... actually the.....aaaaaa..... "said the guard, his entire body trembling with fear. He looked too scared even to speak. "Well Spit it out already...." Guard snapped out of his fear. Looking down at his feet, "Forgive me my lady to be bearer of such a sad news but his imperial majesty is dead and your husband along with him. I was told that both of them were poisoned to dea...." Kara fell on the ground crying and screaming with her heart out putting her right hand on her head and pulling her hair. "Noooooo..... he is not dead , he can''t be..." she looked at the guard and yelled, "tell me it''s not true." She was in utter denial. Silence of guard told her everything she needed to know and she cried in agony yet again. "Noooooooooo , not him too."..." why...?" "My lady please pull yourself together , I can''t see you like this." guard tried to calm her down. Kara took her time but she finally calmed herself down and removed her hand from her head as she took deep breath couple of times. Then she stood up wiping her tears from her face. "Who gave you this news?" "It was Ser Jones..." "Ser Jones.....? He''s here?".... "Yes My lady, he is here with an army of two thousand carrying your husband''s coffin and he wishes to seeyou at the village gate. "An army? Why would Ser Jones need an army?" she thought to herself and said "Yes, we must go and see him I want to know everything." 4 Funeral "Hummm... it has single large berry and purplish and hairy steam, it must be ''ginseng''. No, wait...that''s wrong, its goldenseal" Silver thought. "Ahhh!Why do I have to do all the chores ? I mean I''m the prince, aren''t I ? I should be living in luxury with few servants at my command" he seemed to be disappointed. "It will take forever to collect all these herbs in the list. A-r-rh! I can''t even find them. I might not be able to collect them by today. No, I have to.""It was a challenge to me from my mother and I have to show her that I can do it" he had fire in his eye. "I should stop doing that, talking to myself. And I''m still taking to myself saying it. Whatever the hell is wrong with me ? Aand I''m still doing it. Stop it !!!!" he smacked his head with his fist. Then silver started to wonder around the forest looking at different herbs and picking few of them, enjoying the birds singing and whistling leaves. Kara arrived at the gate after walking quite a distance. There she metSer Thomas Davis standing near to the gate waiting for her. "I heard the news my lady. And I''m truly sorry for your loss" Ser Thomas gave his condolences. "Are you now, Ser Thomas" she replied sadly. "Yes, my lady" "Open the gate" She ordered gatekeepers who were at the top of the wall. "Yes my lady" they shouted. Then gatekeepers moved the hilt together and the gate started to open. When the gate opened there were Ser Jones and Ser Vlad standing at the front. Behind them were four men carrying a red casket . There were about 50 soldier at the left side and 50 at the right side of the the casket and an army of two thousand behind them. "Ser Jones.Ser Vlad." she greeted both of them looking at them respectively. "My Lady" both of them replied at the same time bowing their head down. Ser Jones looked at lady Kara eye to eye "I am sorry to be bearer of such a sad news for you, my lady." "Ser Jones, what is the meaning of this? What is the meaning of bringing such a large army at my village gate? Specially, today of all days. It''s making me feel somewhat uneasy." It was the day of summer solstice, not just the longest day of the year but was also considered to be the darkest day of water villagers for it was the day of the sun, when the entire villagers'' connection to the water is blocked. It was the day when villagers were at their weakest. "Forgive me my lady for my incompetence but these are not my men. They are all lord Armin''s men. They begged me to bring them with me. They wanted to bid their final farewell at his funeral" Ser Jones replied politely. "There is nothing to forgive, Ser Jones. So these are all my husband''s men. I am very pleased to see their loyalty" tears rolled down her eyes. "May I see my husband please." "I beg your pardon my lady but I advise you not to see your husband''s body. You may not be able to handle yourself to see the state he is in." said Ser Vlad "I want to see his body" she ordered furiously. "Yes, my lady. But please don''t touch his body. The poison spreads like a plague even with touch. Three of of our men died because of it.Luckily we managed to stop it before it spread." he warned her and then ordered his men "Bring the casket to her and open it." Those men approached Kara slowly and opened the casket .There he was with his eyes open. His skin had melted away and turned black.There was a smell of dead rat mixed with rotten cabbages. He was almost unrecognizable and yet lady Kara knew it was truly him seeing a black star shaped birthmark in his left eye. She almost fell on the ground and brust in tears but she pulled herself together before so happened. "My love, what have they done to you,"she talked to him looking at his eyes. "Who.... did.... this..... to..... him ? Tell me you have found the culprit?" She asked as tears rolled down through her eyes. Ser Vlad looked at his feet and said, "I''m sorry my lady but we haven''t." "W-what do you mean you haven''t found them yet. They killed my husband, damn it." "We don''t know who the culprit is yet. But we are following the leads. We will find them sooner than later." "When you find them, I want them dead.I want that luxury for myself," Said Kara fiercely. "No my lady. Death is far too easy for what they have done to out king. I have far too worse in store for them than death. You may do as you please after we are done with them." "Fair enough,"she replied. Drop the barrier. she shouted at gatekeepers. So the golden coloured barrier that surrounded the village disintegrated into glittering dust''s and vanished. '' Firestone '' an magic item was given to the water village by the king many years ago, when the village was just founded. So that they could be safe during the period of summer solstice. It is an impregnable barrier magic of element , fire. It can only be activated during summer solstice. When thrown into the flames it is activated and deactivated by removing it from the flames. "Ser Jones.Ser Vlad.¡ªwe humbly welcome you to our village. Please Ser you may enter now," Ser Thomas invited them politely. "Thank you for inviting us, Ser Thomas." "It''s but my pleasure,"he replied humbly. After walking a long distance they reached to the castle. Inside the castle there was one huge hall. It was completely empty and had always been used for funeral. There were paintings of Jesus and Cupid''s all over the walls. "Ser Thomas, inform all the villagers about this and find my son as well." She ordered. "But of course, my lady." After two hours, all the villagers had arrived outside the castle gate and each of them were holding a burning candle. The army oftwo thousand were standing around the villagers doing the same. Inside the hall there were about two hundred members of royal family standing in the middle holding a flower in their hands. Hundred soldierwere standing next to the royal families at three sides, except at the front that is. The casket was at the front of the royal families band there was a balcony above it. Where the lady Kara was standing. Ser Jones and Ser Vlad were standing beside her at her left side. Ser Thomas arrived at the side of lady Kara a few minutes later. "Have you informed the village?" she asked. "Yes my lady. They have all arrived outside the castle gate." "What about my son, where is he?" "Well about.... prince Silver, Mm...we were not able to find him. We searched the entire village, even the forest but he was nowhere to be found. ( he replied hesitating ) "Not again, where in the seven hells could he have gone this...." Ser Jones interrupted lady Kara, "I beg your pardon, but is there something wrong my lady." "No, none at all," she replied with fake smile. Ser Vlad walked towards Ser Thomas and stood beside him at his right side. "Then it is time to began the funeral, don''t you think so?" "Yes, ...." Chills went right down to her spine as Ser Jones placed his right hand on her''s right shoulder with his mouth very close to her cheek. "But before we began I have a question for you my lady." "What would that be?" She asked. Her face had turned red. "Do you remember what I told you last time we saw each other ¡ªThat you should not have trusted noone and loved anyone other than your very own children ¡ªYet you didn''t heed my warning even after what had happened last time ¡ªStill you trusted us and loved a dead man ¡ªYou should not have trusted me" He whispered as he said so to her he held a knife at her throat barely not cutting it. Ser Vlad did the same thing to Ser Jones but he slitted his throat and let him fall on ground instantly. "Let the massacre began ¡ªhuhahaha?" he shouted with an ugly laugh. "So it was all just an act, a plo..... plot to kill us all. If I''m to be killed, I Want to know why?" She asked with disappointed and sad voice. "A-r-rh! please have mercy on us." They screamed and tried to escape. "Waa¡ªah!" childrens cried. The soldiers surrounded the royal families. The families were way too scared, they didn''t understand what was happening. Few werebegging for mercy, few were screaming, childrens were crying, and others fell on the ground with hopelessness. Mother''s were trying to make their children fell safe saying, " It''s all right mama is here nothing is going to happen to you,you are safe with me" . "We were ordered to do so. I am not in liberty to tell you why even if you''re going to die" he replied..... "Kill them all," He ordered to his soldiers. The soldiers opened their mouth wide open and fangs appeared in their mouth. "No, not them too. They have done nothing wrong . Just kill me and be done with it but please have mercy on them... kill me instead. Please I''m begging you.... Noooooo,please don''t hurt them. Noooooo...." She cried and cried, begged and begged as the vampires bit in their neck and ripped their head apart one by one as if they were nothing but dolls. They ripped their head apart but they didn''t not drank a single drop of their blood. At that moment she fell in the floor being hopeless as he heard her family crying, screaming and begging to ho have mercy in their child at least.As she learned there was nothing she could do to save them . A few moments letter entire royal families were slaughtered and the floor was coated crimson with their bloodband out side the gate of castle entire villagers were captured in the matters of minutes. "How naive you are do you really think your live has value equal to all two hundred people ¡ªA single life has value of single life alone, nothing more and less ¡ªOh ! I almost forgot that you still had an alive child ¡ªWhere is he now? ¡ªWe can not find your son anywhere. What was his name again? ¡ªOh ! yes Silver. She spitted in his face, "Rot in hell...." she cursed him. At that instant she was happy that they didn''t find her son. "I does not matter to me even if you tell me or not ¡ªI know he is still in this village so we''ll find him sooner or later ¡ªSo you are quite use less to me. He killed her by slowly slitting her throat. As her consciousness faded away,"My son, you must survive this ordeal, you must hide and must never be founded ¡ª and you must always remember that your mother loves you. She died with tears in her eyes while praying for hers son''s survival. But it was just the beginning of the true horrors. They hanged the villagers upside-down slowly cutting in their entire body while they were still conscious. They seemed to be enjoying itThey collected every single drop of blood spilled from their body in some kind of wired vessel. They did same thing to every villagers again an again until every single villagers died being entirely drained of blood. It was a true nightmare. Not even childrens were spared. Ser Jones looked at lady Kara,"Lady Kara, for you loved a dead men and trusted someone like me, when you were at your most vulnerable the great water village, which is considered the most powerful village in entire world, was completely massacred by such a weak army which other wise would have been impossible ¡ªIt was yours and yours foolishness alone that led to the distruction of your people. 5 Tears A light appeared from the darkness as if a new hope was born from despair. Light grew bigger and brighter till everything became clear. "Aawah ! What the hell happened to me" Silver woke up with his right palm in left part of his forehead. As he removed his hand from his forehead and looked at it, it was marked red with his own blood. "What ? blood..." "Why the hell am I in the pit trap" he asked himself and looked around. All the herbs he had collected were scattered all around the ground. "Hum! let''s see, I was chasing a doe and then I don''t remember anything ¡ªI must have fallen into this trap and hit my head ¡ªHope I wasn''t out for very long ¡ªOthers must be worried sick about be." He tried to use his magic immediately after but there was nothing. "That''s a relief, that means I wasn''t out for very long. I''d better hurry up and head back." Then he climbed out of the pit and tend to his wound in his forehead. Afterwards he walked all the way through the forest and reached the lake. There were none at his sight. Childrens were not playing in the lake, men and women were not to be seen anywhere. It was completely isolated. It seemed as if once a lively village has now somehow died. Silver couldn''t withstand the restless feeling that he was having then and so he hurried back to the castle gate. He couldn''t see anyone even while he was going to the castle gate. He finally reached the castle gate. The sight was just unbearable. All the villagers were piled over one another. Their bodies were completely covered in cuts and bruges, completely dried with blood as if they were sone kind of trash ready to be thrown away. His mind completely went blank. He couldn''t think anything. He was not even able to cry. All of the sudden he remembered of his mother and rushed to the castle hall looking for. It was lady Kara''s favorite hanging place. " A-ah! ,..... " he screamed as if somebody had just cut his limbs off. Hundred of people were being hung upside-down in the hall with cuts all over their bodies. Their bodies were also completely drained of blood just like others. The floor was tainted red by blood. The royal families were piled at one of the corners of the hall with their heads severedfrom their bodies. Even the small child had suffered the same fate. He screamed, cried his eyes out and even puked at such a sight. He couldn''t hold himself for it wasn''t a sight any fourteen years old boy can handle. In such a situation all he could think about was of his mother. He looked around; left¡ªright and then at the balcony. There see was laying on the balcony next to Ser Thomas. He rushed to the balcony next to his mother. Her throat was slitted. He held her in his arms, she was not breathing and her heart had stopped. He was trembling with anger, fear and sadness all at the same time. His feelings were completely twisted. He himself couldn''t understand what he was feeling. Even the heavens were angry and wept tears for as dark clouds covered the sky and began to downpour with gloomy thunderstorms. "Mother, Ser Thomas, and every single one of you, I fill find out who did this to you and avenge you all ¡ªThere will be blood for blood, I will kill them all" he made a oath at that very moment as tears flowed through his eyes. "A-ah!... "his visions became blur and then he slowly passed out. Someone hit him hard in his neck from behind. "Foolish boy ! you should have stayed hidden.Ser Jones picked him up. "Everyone bury all of their bodies ¡ªWe will be leaving after that." "Tsh! what the hell do you mean bury them?" Ser Vlad shouted. "It''s much too work and it will take forever to bury them all ¡ªWhy not just burn them where they are ? It will be lot easier that way (sighs) ¡ªOh! I know, our little Ser Jones must be feeling sorry for this lot after killing them ruthlessly ¡ªI guess you are not as ruthless as you thought you were ¡ªI''m disappointed in you," he bragged. "Shut it, you lazy ass ! and listen to the cause or have you forgotten our true objective ¡ªIf we burn their bodies their souls will be freed ¡ªand we need their soul bounded to this land for our cause and burying them is absolutely necessary to bind their soul ¡ªAnd of course you should carve the words; Ser Jones doesn''t feel sorry for any one ¡ªin that thick scull of yours ¡ªone more thing, If you ever again call me little I will gouge your throat out or maybe chop your head up"he threatened Ser Vlad. "O-oh! I completely forgot about that,"he replied with embarrassed voice. 6 Silver Davis and Colin Smith "A-ah! not again, what the hell happened to me this. I was captured by those bloody vampires. The gave me some kind of drugs ¡ªI am still feeling dizzy" Silver sighed. "A¡ªah! why the hell is everything moving?" he shouted aggressively. "Because it''s moving you idiot, look ''round" col replied. They were being transported in some kind of cell like wagon as prisoners. It was dark outside clouds were hovering above covering entire sky. All they could hear was soldiers footsteps and rustling wheels of the wagons. There were two guards beside the wagon walking with the same phase as the wagon. "And who the hell are you again?" Silver asked. "Can you be any ruder ?''mColin..., Colin Smith. What ''bout you?" "It''s Silver Davis ¡ªHow long have I been out for any way?So, what''s your story? Why are you in this cell? ¡ªandwhat''s up with this cuffs?"(he yelled with annoyed voice. Both Silver''s and Colin''s hands were cuffed behind their back. "And...." "Stop right there and calm the hell down ¡ªwhat''s up with all those questions? ¡ªYou were out for three days by the way ¡ª''nd these are bloody Mana dampeners" he pointed at cuffs with his eyes. "Mana.....?" "You serious? ¡ªyou know the mystical energy that allows us to use magic...." "You mean Qi." "Mana, Qi they are the same thing ¡ªYou''re clueless aren''t you, which planet are u from anyway?" wondered Col. "I know what you are trying to do ¡ªyou are avoiding the question about your tragic life. Aaw..." Silver bumped his head on the wagon. And he looked around. They had arrived near a cliff. Thousand of men were marching at the front and few hundred men followed after, with three huge wagons carrying something eerie, inside some kind of transparent vessel. Uneasy feeling passed through Silver''s gut just by looking at it. "It''s kind of a long story" Said Colin "And we don''t have any time to hear your story ¡ªafter all we are prisoners who being taken to god knows where." "Humm ! where should I began. Aaa.... It was twenty days ago. It was like....." "That''s really classy beginning. It already sounds boring" "Shut up and listen, will you ?" It was like every other normal day. Living in my small village with just a hundred people or may be more. It was next to River where I went for fishing all the time. I just love fishing and my powers are great for fishing. Unlike me the villagers loved farming and animal raring. Except me all the villagers were humans. By the way I''m a Punisher. I was abandoned by my actual parents with a note just because they thought I was some kind of monster. I remember ever single word of the Note; The thing you see before you is a monster responsible for destroying everything near him. And we are the ones who brought this abomination to this world. No matter how hard we tried we couldn''t bring ourself to kill this.... this thing. Do whatever you desire to it. You may kill him if you so desire. I mean, what kind of evil parent address their own child like that. But I''m not angry. I''m kinda glad that they abandoned me. I got to meet such an amazing people who were kind enough to take care of me as one of their own. I was so happy to live my life with them. How wrong I was to think someone like me could live a happy life. The villagers were doomed the day they took me in. I was helping the villagers like every other day. Fifty people approached our village at first we thought they were travellers. But they were here with a goal in their mind. "My name is Ser Vlad and we have no intention of harming you. That is if you comply with us" Said Ser Vlad. Our chief replied, " What is that you want from us?" "We want nothing much just give us the boy beside you without causing any trouble and no one will get hurt ¡ªIt would be a tragedy of kill such fine specimens like yourselves, don''t you think?" he kind of pointed at me. Villagers were to loyal to give up one of their own so easily. "We will do no such thing." "Hmmm! I was hoping that it wouldn''t come to this ¡ªbut what can we do right?" The vampires released their fangs. There were two sorcerers too. Including Vlad and the one beside him ready to work their magic. Vampires wouldn''t not have been any trouble for me but fighting vampires and two sorcerers at the same time was hopeless. "No wait, I''ll come with you but promisedon''t to hurt them" I said. "What you mean if you go with them. No one is taking you today" chief reacted to me. "Will you shut up and let do what I want just this once, old man. This is my fault that you''re all in this mess. I have to make this right." Chief didn''t listed to me. But I was too stubborn. In the end I compelled them to listen to me. "Hum ! How noble of you. You have my word we won''t kill any of them" he replied. I was too stupid to think that they would let them go. They captured every single one of them though they didn''t kill anyone. If by some miracle I escaped from them first thing I am going to do is save my family. "So that''s what happened to you" he said with sad voice "So why did they want you?" "I was born with way too much Mana. And from what I know they want to siphon off Mana from me to create magic items." "That does make sense." "Hahahaha.... " Ser Vlad laughed with amusement. "You kids are hilarious ¡ªIt''s not possible to siphon magic from any of the races let alone from a punisher ¡ªexcept from a sorcerer that is." "Then why bother capturing him?" "It''s simple, he''s a payment for the organization who gave us this army." "What idiot gives an army of this size for one person." "You''ve got it all wrong ¡ªhe''s for army of thirty thousand sorcerers and seventy thousand vampires ¡ªand he''s not the only payment. They want Firestone and Waterstone. Silver : So you attacked our village just to get your hands on the Firestone. Ser Vlad : Yup ! That is one of the reasons but not the only one. "Why you?..... " he looked at Vlad with vengeful eye. "You wouldn''t be so cocky if my hand wasn''t cuffed by this damn thing ¡ªI would''ve killed you instantly." "Can it kid ! Even if you weren''t cuffed in that thing you still wouldn''t be able to lay a single scratch on me, that''s how powerful I''m" he bragged. "Tsh ! I don''t have to..." he muttered. "What''s this... ? ¡ªhey col, I can call you col right?" "What is it?" "I''m going to get both of us out of this cell." "Hahahaha..... Good luck with that. That was best joke ever." said Ser Vlad "What? How?" Col whispered. "Just take my hand and trust me, will you?" Said Silver. Col faced opposite of silver) "Hey you ! What are they carrying in those wagons?" he jerked his head towards Ser Vlad "You ask a lot of questions for someone in your position ¡ªyou don''t wanna know what it is anyway." "Just tell me all already...." Silver yelled furiously. "Watch your temper kid" he shouted back. "That''s all the blood we collected from your villagers." "Why would you want to collect all that blood?" "I my self don''t know why? It was also their demand." "Then why didn''t you collected blood from royal families?" "Because it''s so much fun to watch all high royal families head being ripped off. Huhaha..." he said with an ugly laugh. "I wanted to rip off your mother''s head myself. But Ser Jo.... Our commander killed her before I could do so." "You make me sick." "Is that all kid?" "Nope. Do you remember what you just said? ¡ªWell you should''ve have thought twice before saying that." Both Silver and Col stood up. Both of their hands were freed from cuffs. "How did you get loose?" asked Ser Vlad. "It''s kind of your fault, you messed up ¡ªYou cuffed me with ordinary metal ¡ªI wasn''t able to realize before because effect of drugs still hadn''t lifted ¡ªAfter realizing it simple water magic was enough to saw it off. "How is that possible? I double checked every single cuffs we had myself and there wasn''t single defective one. " sweat flowed through his forehead. Silver forwarded his both hand towards Ser Vlad and the man beside him then slightly swirled his palms opposite of each other. Both Ser Vlad and the one beside him fell on the ground before they could even realize what had happened. "What did you do to them ? I don''t understand.... what''s happening here?" col jumped around. "Isn''t it obvious...I killed them both." 7 You i-di-ot!!!!!?? "Seriously! You killed them Just like that?"said col. "Yup!" Silver grinned. He dragged both of their bodies at the top of the cell using his magic. He also killed the one riding the wagon. The horses kept pulling the wagon and kept it''s pace without making any hoo-ha! So no one noticed anything. "What kind of black magic can do that?" Col screamed. "Why would you do something like that?" "It''s not black magic. Water is my element and I can control anything that has water. And I snapped his neck.... it''s simple water magic" he bragged " Wait, what do you mean why?" "Why did you have to go do that? You could have just knocked them out or you know something like that." "How can you say that? They attached your village, tricked you to surrender and abducted your families and they freckin'' slaughtered my entire village." "No matter what they have done they don''t deserve to die. How are we any different than them if we kill to get what we want." "Wow!" Silver was completely amazed. "How can someone be so...so... I don''t even know what to say. Even after what had happened to them" he thought. "I would really hate to loose someone like you who doesn''t have any hatred" he said "Don''t get me wrong, I do hate them and every single bones in my body wants to rip them off..... but I won''t do that." "So basically you hate them and want to kill them but you won''t. That does make sense" he nodded. "Stop teasing me" His face turned red. "Enough of that, we have to find a way to sneak out of here" he jerked his head and lookedaround. "Why not just leave that part to me. I need you to duck right about.... now!" "What do you mea.... A-ah!" he screamed. Silver evadedthe chains whish appeared out of nowhere. Chains were black in colour with a sharp arrow head. It was linked in series of rectangular metal studs with sharp edges, strong enough to cut through anything. Wagon was completely destroyed ¡ªCol jumped out of the wagon. A chain with the bold edges enveloped Silver and pulled him out of the wagon before it completely collapsed. Neeei¡ªghhhh! horse jumped around and ran away. "What the hell? I almost died there!"Silver yelled. "It''s not my fault that you have slow reaction" Col claimed. "You wanted us out of there, didn''t you? You should be thanking me instead of yelling at me." "Should be thanking you, my ass!" Silver smacked him in his head. "Whole point of sneaking out meant escaping without being noticed. Because of your stupidity we will most certainly die." Almost everyone noticed the collapsing wagon and slowly approached towards it. "What the hell happened here." "Wait, look isn''t that Ser Vlad and his Companion under those wreck." "Are they dead?" " How can kids kill someone like them?" "I can''t believe it what kind of monsters are they?" .... .... Soldiers muttered amongst themselves. They were being cautious not to approach them carelessly. After all they were able to kill both of them and didn''t have a single scratch on their bodies. "Col, I have a good news for you," silver said while he looked around as they were being surrounded. "We won''t be able to kill them even if wanted to ¡ªwe have no way of creating fire to kill them ¡ªnor can we chop their head off considering their physical strength ¡ªyou should be happy I won''t be killing them" he said all that very fast. "We are screwed, aren''t we?" asked Col "Totally, what do we do now" he looked at col. "Don''t look at me, If you hadn''t killed those two we wouldn''t be in this mess." "What do you mean by if I hadn''t killed them..., it''s your fault that they even noticed us ¡ª hadn''t you busted us out of there, they wouldn''t have noticed us." "So it''s my fault, is it?" They shouted at each others throats completely forgeting the mess they were in. "I''d had enough of you" screamed a vampire. He was as fat as one could get and his short fat neck connected his round head, like a pig 8 IN THE SHADOWS "Ser Jones" a vampire rushed towards Ser Jones waving his hand. " So what is all that ruckus about?" he asked, glaring. "Mmm... the prisoners escaped from their cell" he said. "And?" "From what I saw, we will be needing your assistance, Sir" "You Vampires are useless" he snapped. "just take me there already." "Yes Ser" he stepped back. Suddenly scarlet coloured chains came flying towards them. It seemed to be aiming for the vampires all around him. One even came after the vampire beside him. Ser Jones lifted his hand towards it. "Fly away... " he said. A jap of blue light from his hands misdirected it. "What the hell was that?" the vampire asked. "the hell I know" Ser Jones said wondering himself what it was. Five minutes ago...at the cliff..... Silver had safely landed at bottom with the help of Col''s chains. He could hear Col shouting,"You''d better survive or I''ll never forgive you." "Someday I''ll come for you, just you wait ¡ªdon''t you dare die on me" he shouted back . "I''m sorry Col" he muttered facing away from the Cliff and began running while grabbing his dislocated shoulder. Col however was left alone to face them off. "I''ll rip you hands you runt" a rather skinny vampire glared at him. "Half of you follow the kid with funny hair." "Over my dead body" said Col Every single vampires backed down. Not because they Knew, he must not be killed. "I never wanted to use this technique for I hate taking lives¡ªbut I''ve no choice. I want to protect Silver ¡ªI don''t know why have came to like him." He stepped forward pointing his fingers towards them and glaring with cold eyes. "Better you than him, i guess." A strange pressure engulfed the atmosphere ¡ªtemperature increasedsignificantly. Col was giving off sinister aura. Air itself became heavy impossible to breathe in. The vampire couldn''t even utter single word. They fell in the ground ¡ªhugged themselves covered in sweat trembling in fear. All they could think of was DEATH. "Oh! the chains that governs the hell and vanquishes evil, come forth and cleanse the undead before you" he muttered. "CHAINS OF HELLFIRE" Scarlet Pentagram with the size of a huge castle appeared before Col. Through which escaped dark fumes with an eerie sound hiding thousands of burning chains with an arrow head. Which blasted high into the sky and came straight down. It stroke down every single vampires. Vampires were completely immobilized. Soon after they began burning till they turned to ash. Ser Jones mouth opened wide ¡ªhe could not made off what just happened. On other hand Col collapsed bleeding from his eyes and nose. After ten minutes ser Vlad made it to the cliff. "So it was your doing no wonder they want you"he said After walking an entire day Silver could no longer see anything, feel anything. Everything went blank just before he fell flat on the ground. Silver eyes opened slowly. There she was a little girl with blonde wavy hair smiling at him. "Finally, you are awake" Said the girl smiling at him. "Ahh! my head" silver muttered."I must be cursed or something, I keep passing out" he said. "Don''t say like that big brother, you aren''t cursed I''m sure of it" "Silver is just fine" he said. His stomach growled and his ears turned pink. "Ok! big brother, Silver ¡ªoh!" she said. "You must be hungry, Hun! ¡ªI have something for you" She reached out a bowl near to the fire place that was in the middle of the room. She handed the bowl to the Silver. It was nothing much just a simple rice 9 THE POSTION MASTER A snoring sound came from the room. Silver jerked his head towards the wardrobe. He heard it again. "What the hell" Silver walked to the wardrobe and opened it. Someone fell right on his feet. "Aaw!!" Said the girl with blonde hair. "April!!! why the hell are you in my wardrobe? Better question, how did you get to republic city? ¡ªand why?" "he-he-heh" She stood up nervously reaching out to her head with right hand. "I couldn''t help myself, I''ve always wanted to come republic city ¡ªI''d heard that they have all sorts of rare book for healing arts" she replied fingering her nails. "So I kinda followed you." "And slept on my wardrobe" silver replied. "What about your brother, what if he comes back?" "You needn''t worry big brother, I''ve left him a note". "Argh!!!" silver jumped around. " ok you need to calm down" he said to himself. With his both hands on her shoulder he said, "listen to me carefully alright, I''ve to go out for a while so you stay here ¡ª don''t go anywhere wondering, ''k! ¡ª If you get hungry you can get something to eat at the kitchen downstairs." "Yes, big brother" she replied. Silver then went out of the door, down the stairs and outside of the house. On his way to the hunting association he stumbled at a small potion shop. He opened the door. He heard a bell ringing as soon as as he opened it. His mouth fell wide open, and his eyes glowed with excitement. It was huge inside. There were varieties of cauldron for sale. Thousand of potions were stacked on hundreds of shelf. In the middle of the room there was a cracked black cauldron through which escaped white fumes. There were few chairs next to it. It was surrounded by a round shelf with small opening. It was holding glass jars containing herbs, frogs, lizards and other insects. "How may I help you, hi-hi-hi?" said a shore voice and someone patted on Silver''s shoulder from behind. "A-ah!" Silver jumped high and looked behind. "Where did you came from, you starteled me." "Who? -me? ¡ªhi-hi-hi, I''m Merlin, owner of this shop, a potion master, hi-hi-hi. Silver glared at him. He had long powder-white hair and beard. His eyes were watery and face seemed energetic but was wrinkled and faded. Fingers were crooked and twisted with long nails, polished black. His back was slightly bent and he couldn''t walk steadily. He looked like an evil wizard from his dreams that he used to have. Even his laugh was malicious. "Wicked" said Silver. "I''m not wicked, I''m Merlin, hi-hi-hi, a potion master and a trickster, hi-hi-hi." "So old man,..." "I''m not old, hi-hi-hi" he snapped. "On the contrary I''m 210 years ¡ªsee how young I''m, hi-hi-hi." "Whatever" Silver muttered. "So young-old man...." "My name isn''t Young" Merlin said. "It''s Merlin, the magnificent potion master, hi-hi-hi." He paused for a while and Silver didn''t know what to say. "For your arrogance, I shall turn you into a toad, hi-hi-hi" he paused again. "Kid-ding, hi-hi-hi" he said waving his index finger. "Heh!" Said Silver. "Don''t heh me or I''ll change you into a leech... just jo-king, hi-hi-hi." "Argh! will you shut, old man" Silver snapped. "Shhhh....!!!!" Said Merlin with index finger in his lips. "I''m gonna look around if you don''t mind." Silver looked around the shop. There were potions that he had never seen or even heard of. He was so excited that he lost track of time. It had already been three hours. Silver bought few potions and finally made it to the association. There were only seven people including Alisha, for such a large organization. Three of them were reading paper, one was eating and two were talking to each other. Silver approached Alisha. "Out of curiosity, why is this place so empty? ¡ª I thought it was supposed to be largest organization in the world." "You don''t know what happened" She replied in surprised voice. "No?" said silver curiously. "Well, it was largest organization governed by six kings of allied nation. Till three years ago that is. We were attacked by everlastings. Thousands of our members were killed and many of them left us after the war, only three of you has joined us ever since, including you. All other branch organization was also shut down. Now there is only two branch organization with total of 893 hunters." "Humm! I knew there was war three years ago but didn''t realize it was that bad" he said. "That bastard refused to help them, why would they help us now? I''d better keep my identity secret ¡ªor they will kick me out" "By the way do you want to work solo or in squad?" asked Alisha. "Doesn''t matter to me." "Well it.... might! Take a look at the book of hunter ¡ªwe call it book though it''s just a simple piece of paper." She handed a piece of paper to the Silver. BOOK OF HUNTER 1. We are not responsible for the death of anyhunter during their mission. 2. Hunters are paid 80% of coins paid by our clients if mission is completed successfully. 20% is used by our department. 3. Hunters may forfeit their membership if they so wishes. But they may not share our personal information to outsiders, such treachery is punishable by death. 4. Hunters may go on any unofficial or personal mission. There will be no payment for such mission. If any loss innocent lives is caused by hunters in such mission their ID will be terminated permanently. 5. All hunters must support us in case of national emergencies or wars. 6. Hunters may work solo or in squad. Solo: Solo hunters may only go on D rank missions. After completion of 200 D ranked missions they''ll be eligible for C or B ranked mission. After completion of 300 B ranked mission they are eligible for A ranked mission or even S rank depending on their abilities. Squad : Squad members may go on any ranked mission except S ranked after having four or more members. Eligibility for S ranked mission will be determined by the department depending on their teamwork and efficiency abilities. 7. All are eligible to join the association regardless of their origin as long as they don''t break the national laws after accepted as a member. 8. Hunters are strictly prohibited to harm another hunter. They may duel with each other officially. ¡ª by department of Hunters "Working solo sounds boring, why would anyone want to work solo? Said Silver. "I guess, solo workers go on missions to earn living, not for the thrill of adventure" Alisha replied. "So how many squads are there, I wanna be in squad." "43, including from other two branches ¡ªunfortunately only one of them is open. After all no one wants new members without knowing them" she said. "I don''t care just assign me to a squad." "Whatever you want. Wait here for a while I will be right back" She turned to the wall behind her and tapped the wall with a stick and a door appeared. She opened the door. "Where are you going?"he asked. "To second floor." "Wait..... there is second floor?" "And third.... where do you think our department is?" she said and went inside and closed the door. The door disappeared. 1 Chapter 1 Prologue Humanity had been discriminated against and enslaved for centuries. It may be because they are the weakest race in the planet. What good are they but to be slaves? In recent year''s one faction of the worst started ''The human right moment'', which became the trigger for greatest war which would not be remembered in the history. Explosions! Wars and famines, every faction fighting for leadership and power, call it world domination. It was the beginning of dark times or should it be called spring of terrors that is to follow. Everything that happens, everything that will happen sprung here at this moment. Conflict and confusion of war can be dread for many but for a few, it can be an opportunity to invade unfortified places if not for the wars. ''The Last Page'' only remaining page of supreme grimoire tells a story; story of a cursed place hidden within ''The Great Black''. It was a place entrusted to guard an artifact of great power. A power that could grant any wish, absolute reign if you so desire. Believing such legend, a team of men sought out for that forbidden place. The place is called ''Mount Karma'' in ''The Last Page''. A place so dangerous that even the most powerful of them could never return once they have crossed the event horizon. No matter the consequences there are always fools who put their hands on something they don''t understand. *** "I thought everyone dies instantly after they enter the event horizon, how come we are still alive." "Naomi is right, not only that there is no storm. Does that mean lore is incorrect?" said Justin. "The stories are true all right; I have researched every history book about the place. There was one survivor from a certain group who have entered this place throughout history. He was a human, like us. Do you understand where I am going; the curse only works on the creatures of grace. I learned that going through his logbook which I stole with the page. That''s why we are still alive. Because the artifact was always meant for humans" explained Heath with a soft and slow voice. He always had a soft and slow voice even when he is being rude or angry. "Have I not told you this before. I thought I told you this before we crossed the event horizon" He continued after a brief pause. "No, you haven''t, your gracefulness," said Zach sarcastically. "Why did this idiot have to be our boss?" he added. "Ohh¡­ honey! I love it when you talk like that" said Heath and kissed Zach in his lips. "Wait-wait! even if that is true why hasn''t anybody else found it before." Wondered Phil. "Isn''t it obvious? every entrance used to be heavily guarded by them and slaves are cowards" said Sam. *** They weren''t the only ones aiming for the mount Karma. A woman wearing a pitch-black suit from head to toe, carrying a weird bag was just about to enter the event horizon. She was standing in front of a dome, so enormous, so dark, she felt like she would be swallowed into nothingness. The "Holy mother of, frack!" she screamed her lungs out as she crossed the event horizon. "am I dead-dead?" "I''m still alive, yay." She said nodding left and right sweating all over. "Ah-Phew! that was the scariest second of my life." She looked at a device in her left hand, "the signal is coming from straight ahead" she said and began her journey. *** Heath''s group walked and walked, but there was nothing but snow-white sand, the sun never rose, the sky was always dark, still, everything was as clear as day and it was as hot as any other dessert. "The air is getting heavier and heavier, deeper we go. No wonder all the slaves died, they are not equipped to survive this." Said Sam. Heath scooped up the sand and grinned after a few seconds. "I understand it now. It''s so simple that it is almost laughable." "What are you talking about?" asked Sam. "I think he''s losing it." Grinned Naomi "Look" Heath showed the sand in his hand to everyone else. "This the reason they all died" he added with excitement. Everyone glared at Heath with a confused face which said "Hun!" "Look, let me Explain. This is the sand they use as grace blockers. Radiation from this sand can block the flow of grace. Unlike us, that much radiation would completely block the flow of grace killing grace users almost instantly." After the conversation, they continued their journey. They traveled for more than a month, due to the low supply of food and water almost everyone had died. Remaining thirteen of them finally managed to reach ''Mount Karma'' surprisingly it was not a mountain at all but a monolith full of holes with a giant goblet floating above it. The word ''Mount Karma'' was inscribed on it. Sam tried to climb the monolith to grab the goblet. ["Climb down off me at once," said an angry echoing voice.] Sam jumped and landed on his back "Oh Gosh! That startled me. That wasn''t funny. Which one of you did it?" cried Sam furiously. ["Foolish child it is I, the great monolith."] Heath bent down on his knee and said, "O-great monolith, we are here but for one purpose for you to grant us our one wish." ["My children, it is not within my power to grant you your wishes any more for I was forever cursed by a great evil. Fret not my children, I can give you a gift to save this world. Is it not your true desires...?"] "Why do I feel like there is a but coming¡­" Said Naomi. ["But my children I do have one condition¡­"] "I knew it! His way of talking was eerie, and there are always conditions¡­" ["Worry not my children, I will not ask what you cannot give. I have thirteen stories I wish to tell you. One for each one of you."] After hearing each one of their stories each one of them simultaneously said, "Yes" ["Thank you! My children for accepting my humble gifts. Thank you." Said monolith. "You shall be saviors of humanity." The goblet separated into thirteen. "Drink my children and you shall attain my gift."] Each one of them gulped the water from the goblet at that very instant a purple lightning struck the monolith. The monolith then vanished from their site. *** ''So, this thing was giving off that huge radiation? What are you?'' Said the girl. It was a bright Violet pebble. She picked it up and stored it inside a led coted case. As she tried to stand up... ¨Cbump- ¡­. "Shit! you startled me?" She cried. There was a man in front of him carrying an oddly shaped staff. "What is a woman like you doing at a place like this?" "I could ask you the same thing" she replied. "Not that you are a woman." "I had been picking up strange signals, so I came here to investigate it. But the signals suddenly vanished. So strange." The man scratched the back of his head. "Yeah! How weird" she said making a clueless voice. "What''s that! In your case I mean?" "Well¡­ ha... ha... ha..., its nothing, absolutely nothing." She grinned nervously. Rumble! Crackle! Ka-boom!... Their conversation was cut short. A huge earthquake had hit them. Not just an earthquake though. There was lightning and thunder everywhere, the black sky began to crack open. The ground and sky were upside-down. Everything began to warp and twist. Space itself was folding within itself, even the lightning seemed to be folding. It seemed like the end of the world. And with a huge flash of light, everything stopped. Both the man and women were stranded in an iceberg. *** Few weeks after that event. The trajectory of the war had shifted in a different direction. The war truly ended after the arrival of a certain man. No one remembered what had happened. Twelve of the gifted did remember but they never talked of it. The was which no one remembered was named ''The dark hour''. Generations had passed as civilizations rose and they fell. Time of three great power had arrived and the evil is in the brink of awakening again.