-please all the students at their first year must come to the headmaster room!

Seji: let’s go Taiku, the headmaster will make a speech for all the first year students! My father said he is one of the strongest hunters alive!

Taiku: ehy Seji…how are you so active at 7 a.m.? it’s going to be a boring blabbering like always..

Seji: c’mon Taiku we are about to become hunters! Aren’t you exited?

Taiku: I’ll be happy as long as they awakens my Grace. It’s useless to study if we can’t protect people from darakus.. i’m not like you Seji, you were born with your Grace, but i have to achieve it at all cost.

Seji: I’m sure you will Taiku, but that’s the hunters institute objective too, so try to like it one way or another

Taiku: meh.. I guess you’re right.. let’s go to the headmaster Seji, we’re almost late.

Kibishiga: Welcome students from all around the world, my name is Tada Kibishiga. I’m the headmaster of the northern hunters institute. Since you came here, you all are compatible with the God’s Grace. For those of you who were lucky to born with it, even though I doubt there’s someone, you’ll avoid the surgery needed to implant the Grace inside you.

However, don’t consider yourselves that lucky, using your Grace when you are born with it, it’s much more painful even though it’s more powerful. As hunters, you must know that your grace will react when you are near darakus. Each grace act differently from the others, so you’ll have to learn and understand its ways indipendently. Based on your type of connection and how your Grace manifest, you have to follow different classes. When your teachers consider you ready, you will take part to some simple missions and you will start your journey to fight the darakus.

The darakus are beings made of hate and fear, more of these emotions your hearth bears, the more powerful the daraku will be, if you think your earth is not pure, you should leave now, because facing a daraku will mean certain death in your case. With that said, I wish you all a good permanence here in my school. You will now be divided in two groups , the group that has not his grace yet will be redirected to our hospital sector and will soon be implanted with grace. Take your time to decide weater you should stay or not, once you have your grace, there’s no way to go back.

Seji: Taiku…are you sure you want to get your grace?.. didn’t darakus killed your sister when you were younger?..your hate and sadness may be dangerous.. i don’t want you to get hurt

Taiku: don’t worry about me, I only want to be able to protect my family , I’m not becoming an hunter over revenge Seji

Seji: I hope so.. well, you’ll soon get your grace implanted Taiku, since then, we have to separate for some days. Hope everything will be fine! See you again my friend!

Taiku: don’t learn too much until I’m back! I don’t want you to be better than me Seji

Seji: don’t worry!

As the young hunter left, Seji felt his cicatrix burning, and he started crying.

One of the teachers, miss Kokoro, saw Seji and that his cicatrix was glowing, so she approached him.

Miss Kokoro: oh my! Why are you crying young student? My name is miss Kokoro, one of the teachers. Your cicatrix is glowing, you know why?

Seji: my name is Seji…my…cicatrix? You mean the X mark I have on my cheek? I can’t stop crying.

Miss Kokoro: yes, precisely. The cicatrix is a mark only the Graceborn have, it is said to be the scar where the gods have put the grace at your birth.

Seji: why is it glowing miss Kokoro?

Miss Kokoro: we are not sure yet, it depends on what are the abilities your grace gave you, it’s usually linked with strong emotions.

Seji: but I don’t even know why I’m crying

Miss Kokoro: that might mean that your grace have some sort of prediction ability, allowing you to know when a loss or a bad event in general is about to happen. It’s a really rare ability, as the fact you are a graceborn wasn’t enough. It may just be that standing near so many hunters made you feel all the lives they lost, or maybe their grief. Let me show you your room, Seji.

Miss kokoro lead Seji to his room, which was at the third floor of the institute , Seji felt something deep within him, a feeling he never had, like if something much bigger then everything he could think of was about to start and he was scared. He felt a lot of darkness.

Miss Kokoro: this is where you will stay, and where you can return at your will, consider this your room, and the institute your home.

I informed the headmaster about your cicatrix, he will be here soon to talk with you.

Seji: talk with me? Why? Did I do something wrong?

Miss Kokoro: no none of that, but you are such a rare type of hunter, the headmaster wants to be sure this kind of power is in good hands.

Seji: oh I see..i don’t feel that special teacher, I was born with this Grace but I still can’t use it.

Miss Kokoro: give time to time, apprentice. I’m sure you’ll be able to use it at some point

The teacher left, and Seji was standing still staring at the wall in his room, thinking about the words miss Kokoro said before, he was also scared to talk to Kibishiga, especially because he was going to see him to be sure he was worth being an hunter. As Seji turn his head, the door squeaked and before he could get back to reality Kibishiga was in front of him, with that kind of look you give to a murder suspect. He took a long breath.

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Kibishiga: so, young hunter, you are a Graceborn.

Hunters like you are so rare this days. Miss Kokoro told me your cicatrix is burning. Is it right?

Seji: yes, sir. But I don’t know why.

Kibishiga: simply call me master young student, there’s no need to be that formal. You know, Seji, I met only three other hunters that were graceborn. They’re all dead.

Seji: -.-‘

Kibishiga: Graceborn hunters are usually a priority target for the horsemen army, and they are killed as fast as possible by darakus. But, since your Grace stood inactive since now, you were unable to be detected by the horsemen, allowing you to grow enough to use your power and defend yourself

Seji: but… I can’t use my Grace

Kibishiga: when the God’s Grace is dormant, to be awakened it needs a strong emotion, wether it be a happy strong event, or either a painful bad experience. But anyway, do you know how to fight and kill a daraku, Seji?

Seji: no one ever told me, master Kibishiga

Kibishiga: The Grace is a liquid metal forged in the land of the Gods, Shurama. Before the Earth as we know it even existed, there was a war raging in Shurama. Two factions, known as “light Gods” and “dark Gods” fought each other to rule Shurama. When the light Gods won, the Blacksmith melted all the holy weapons used in the battle, to prevent further wars. The metal of those holy weapons never went solid again, and took the name of “God’s Grace”.

Humans like you, are the “chosen” of the Gods, which means that Grace flows in your blood since your birth. To fight darakus, the grace will take a material form, it could be a weapon, it could merge with part of your body or even give you supernatural powers. The darakus are the incarnation of the humanity’s hate and fear, so fighting a daraku with your hearth filled with those emotions will only strengthen them.

As master Kibishiga finished his phrase, a loud noise followed by a scream could be heard from the medical sector of the institute.

Kibishiga: stay here Seji, my Grace is reacting.. there’s darakus inside the institute. Lock your door and try to remain calm, if you start feeling fear they will found you.

Kibishiga disappeared before Seji could say anything, he wasn’t afraid, but for all of his life all he wanted was to protect people from darakus, he couldn’t resist. He headed to the medical sector to see what was happening.

As he reached the operating room where the daraku entered, he felt his heart stop as he saw his best friend lying on the floor with a hole in his chest. Kibishiga was fighting the daraku, it was no match for him, the daraku was destroyed by one shot of the master’s Grace, which was a bow made of lightning.

Seji fell on his knees, staring at the friend’s dying body. His eyes turned to pale white, and they were emitting such a strong light even Kibishiga had to cover his eyes. At that point, Seji’s body was a light emitting mass, and when the light started to fade away, he was wearing a black mantle, his eyes where completely white and a long shining katana materialized in his hand. Seji walked to his friend.

Taiku: hey..Seji.. you made it, you awakened you Grace

Seji: what happened Taiku! Why was a daraku inside!

Taiku: he broke in through the wall and killed the nurse.. before he attacked me, he said that my sister had a good flavor, and that he followed my sadness and hate until he got here.. you were right, Seji, I wanted to fight to revenge my sister, my heart wasn’t pure

Seji: don’t say stuff like that! You are a kind hearted person! You picked me up and helped me when I lost my father, you were always there for me..you are my best friend, Taiku

A tear started coming down Taiku’s face

Taiku: I’m glad to hear that, you are my best friend too..take care of yourself, please, save our world from this pain, I belive in you Seji, you ca save us all i…belive…

Seji, still in his awaken form, saw a bright light come out of Taiku’s body, he knew it was over, he knew he just lost his best friend, soon, the sadness and grief started turning into pain and hate. His heart became stained by rage and anger, but, differently from other hunters, he felt his power rising instead of dropping. Days passed, the days then became months, Seji kept on studying and he often had a chat with Kibishiga, who felt responsible for Taiku’ death. Seji never made friends after that event, he was a loner and he talked only when strictly necessary. One day, he was told he was ready to leave for a mission.

A.N. English is not my native language, please if you found some mistakes let me know and i will correct them.