Chapter 1: Remembrance
The streets of New York City were buzzing with excitement. People of various ages, sizes, and ethnicity explored the shops and various places of interest, which continued onward for miles. Several cranes could be seen in the skyline, surrounding the large buildings surrounded by scaffolding. If one were flying over the city, they could see people buzzing about their day, and most importantly viewing the wonderful tourist attractions the city had to offer, the most popular of which being the ruins of the Empire State building, or the Transformation memorial center, which bore the names of all who lost their lives during the crisis.
The most noticeable of locations was a large, almost crystalline skyscraper that dominated the skyline. Made of a metal akin to marble, it provided a sense of order and hope throughout the city. This building was known as the Newman building, which stood as headquarters for the International Hunters Association. For years, it had stood as a beacon of hope and strength for both the American people, and the people of the world. Although each individual country had their own Hunter’s HQ, which served as a branch of government, the US HQ was easily the largest and most profound.
Robert Newman walked the halls of the building, his hand touching the posters that lined the halls. Each one stood for an individual who remained missing since the Transformation. His hazel eyes wandered to the names he had long since memorized: Jordan Holiday, Michael Locke, Kate Huffman, Nick Jag- The names don’t matter, he thought to himself. The names stood as a memory of what the world was, what the world could be without the horrors brought on by the Transformation. He had made it his goal in the last 25 years to find as many of the missing people as he could, and bring them home safely. That priority however, had been shoved to the side in recent years. 30 years is a long time to go missing, after all.
He stared at the hall of posters for roughly five minutes in solemn silence, paying his respects to those who lost their lives before turning away and walking down the hall. He placed his hand upon a golden handle, twisting it and swinging open the door. His feet squeaked across the tile floor as he stepped through the doorway, his face suddenly illuminated by a blue glow. The light originated from a large holographic globe floating in the center of the room, specked with small, but bright yellow dots. After receiving a few salutes, he sat in a large chair. His desk was fairly clean, save for a few bits of paperwork, and a laptop. To both his right and left sat two smaller desks, similar to his.
“Connor, I’m going to need a summary of the latest activity within the US, specifically the rate of emerging portals, and their class. Also, give me anything that might be abnormal” said Robert after straightening his paper. His glance went to the receiver of his question, the man sitting to his direct right, who happened to be his assistant. He said it more as routine, rather than an order. Connor had been his assistant for far too long to come unprepared, and the stack of papers on his desk showed it.
“Sir, in the past week there has been 217 cases of portal materialization. This differs none from the average amount of portals from the previous 20 years.” He adjusted his glasses, pointing towards a few charts he had posted on the wall. “As for deaths or cases involving a missing person, there have been five, all being low rank hunters with little magical power, either being first year returnees or new hunters with little to no experience in the field.”
Robert rubbed his chin, his hand feeling along the beard that lined his jaw, his hand stopping where he noticed the change from a dark brown to a light gray. “It’s unfortunate that we lost more people, but this is a normal occurrence. Poor fellows think too much of themselves, say they can take on the world, then end up meeting their doom to the likes of a Kobold. If any of them had taken their time to attend a magical academy, or at least gain proper training, they most likely wouldn’t have died.” He hung his head, grabbing files that included their personal information. “I will handle delivering the news to their families, but for now you should add their information to the obituary. Publish it in the newspaper so we can remember them.”
“Yes sir, I’ll do it right away.” Connor said dejectedly. Handling hunter deaths was rough business, and it happened so often that he could never really get away from it. Thinking back, he had taken several expeditions to investigate hunter deaths before, and those memories stayed with him for the rest of his life. Still though, a job was a job, and the job had to be done. He stood to walk away, but turned back, his eyes raising to the man who was his boss. “Oh by the way, Happy New Year, Robert.” He said softly, before waving his hand slightly and walking through the door.
Robert didn’t move or talk, not bothering to react to his celebration. He was focused on the day however, as this was the day from which returnees would appear, all those years ago. He had hope that there was more returnees remaining, but after twenty years without a new returnee, the chances of it were extremely low. Still though, it was his job and his duty to the returnees to scout for more of their kind, and he would not let them down. They were the reason the rest of humanity was still alive, after all, and his he disres-
*Ding!*
A text from his phone interrupted his thoughts. Curious, he checked it, seeing a message from the IHA operators a few floors below. That’s weird, they only message me when it’s an emergency, he thought, his mind jumping to several dozen conclusions. He called back, hearing a woman pick up on the other line.
“Hello Director, it’s me, Martha from downstairs. I’ve recently gotten a call that might be of interest to you. It’s something involving the area around UZ 143, in Wyoming. You might want to check it out.” He didn’t bother letting him speak, knowing he had many questions roaming through his head. “I think you might have to reprimand one of the hunters or something, I don’t really know what they’re blabbering about.”
Taken aback, he quickly made his way for the elevator, and after a few minutes, the 3rd floor of the tower. It seems this might be an issue about one of the hunters making dumb decisions, he concluded. Seeing Martha nearby, he began to play the recording of the call that transpired.
“Yew Hunter people are shady! All of yer government schemes and plots can’t fool me! I seen one of yer hunter peoples and yew fellers turned my daugh-“ He cut the phone call off there, his face burrowed in a frown. “What’s he saying Martha? I can’t understand a single word.”
“Well, after listening to it a few times, I can get a small idea of what’s going on. It seems that a hunter emerged out of UZ 143, with wings, and the caller is mad that it got his daughter’s attention. She wants to go away from home, yada yada. Essentially he’s mad that a hunter arrived and made his daughter interested in magic, that’s it. What makes it important though, is the small amount of detail he gave us.” She said calmly, in an intuitive manner. “He said the hunter had Electric Blue Wings or something of the sort, which means whoever he ran into was definitely a high ranking hunter or returnee. Do You know of anyone with wings like that?” She asked him, curious.
Robert merely shook his head in dissatisfaction. “I don’t know anyone of the sort, spouting blue wings. I’d say they could be a hunter from another country but I don’t know of them either. Perhaps someone managed to get a hold on some wings and is using them freely? Or maybe the man is crazy and overexaggerating the story.” He stroked his beard, thinking. “What does the hunter look like? Do we have any descriptions?”
Martha replied with a firm “no sir,” rewinding the call back, so she could listen for any possible details. “He didn’t say anything, but it sounds pretty genuine to me. I mean, we get calls all the time from people claiming to see an unidentified hunter, but most of those are fake. This one seems… genuine, in a way.”
“Well,” Robert continued. “Some hunters purposely hide their abilities, choose to live a better life instead. Being a hunter is an amazing deal, fighting monsters to become a hero for our country, and humanity as a whole, gaining magic and powers, all of it is a fantasy that comes at the price of danger, but still one most people choose to live. They could be a hunter who chose to live a comfortable life, but got bored of the whole “immortality” perk that comes with being a returnee, and is now choosing to reveal themselves.” He shrugged as he listed off possibilities.
“If he is a new up and coming hunter, and a late returnee, nonetheless, he will be sought out by most of the dominant guilds in New York. It seems that our lives are about to get busier, especially since we’ll probably be hearing from them soon. “
“Wait… what?!” Martha exclaimed in surprise, wondering how Robert could’ve come to that conclusion. Her face portrayed a mixture of curiosity, bewilderment, and excitement, all of which being normal when hearing about a possible new hunter.
“Yes, I think that they’ll arrive here. If they’re in the US, and want to finally start working as a hunter, then they will come to the hub of hunter activity throughout the world! It’s a no brainer really!” He rubbed his hands together in excitement, wondering what stories would emerge out of this. “If he doesn’t come, then he’s the dumbest person in the world!”
This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
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I am the dumbest person in the world Nick thought, speeding towards Dallas, Texas. He had forgotten to eat the food from the campfire, and he was already starving, just an hour into his flight. His stomach rumbled, and he held it with the palm of his hand, groaning to himself.
He wanted to stop, to go get a snack or something, but he wanted to get home first. His parents were probably worried sick after not seeing him in thirty years, or had given up hope by now. He may look 18, but he was at least 48 years old.
Something was off, however. Aren’t I supposed to see Dallas by now? As far as the eye could see, there was a black, smoldering landscape, as if it was on fire. He flew on for a few more minutes, before he saw something in the distance. “Ah! That’s gotta be it!” He exclaimed, and quickly sped up, hearing several booms! Behind him as he broke the sound barrier once more.
He landed in the center of the city, a smile plastered his face. He was finally home, after all this time! His eyes were closed, eager to surprise himself as he entered the city again, and he slowly opened them. He wondered how many places he would recognize, it’s been so lo-
There was nothing.
Blackened ruins of buildings covered the skyline. Broken skyscrapers towered over the high rise buildings, large sections of them crushing the buildings below. There was no form of life in the immediate area, no sounds, no movement, just an empty, heat-filled hellscape. “o-oh…” Nick said, staring into the place that was once his home.
“What… what the hell happened here?!” He screamed into the open air, asking no one in particular. He couldn’t even see a plant, cactus, anything! He flew into one of the buildings, seeing a ash-covered computer, laying in the broken remains of a desk. Half of it was melted, clearly dripping off the side, into a pile of muck. In the corner lay a silhouetted figure, which Nick soon discovered to be the charred remains of a body, with half of its limbs missing.
Nick didn’t move, didn’t speak, didn’t scream. His emotions were running wild, but if there was one thing he felt the most, it was anger. Overwhelming, seething anger that took control of his mind. His fists clenched, his fingernails drawing blood as he seethed, grinding his teeth together. It wasn’t the actions that made him so angry, it was the fact that it had happened to his home. He had seen countless atrocities again and again. He had seen nearly 50 millions people slaughtered by the monsters of the otherworld, but this hit him harder than any of those senseless atrocities.
The corner of his vision showed a pool of lava in the distance. Nearby, he could sense a few figured moving. They had to be the ones responsible for this! In the blink of an eye, he moved towards the creature, stopping right in front of it. The monster was an abomination, a living sludge made from pure lava and fire. Inside the sludge, he could barely made out a small rock, with twenty or so small red crystals sticking out of it.
A lava slime, a creature of pure heat and fire, made to be the gatekeepers of hell and its master. They mercilessly attacked and murdered any living creatures, and stored their souls for eternal torture. Those in the otherworld were lucky that their souls moved on, but the people in this world certainly did not. Each crystal signified a human soul, and it only increased their abilities, making them stronger as they kill their prey. He had fought a plethora of these fiends, losing many comrades to their magma. They were susceptible to mass amounts of cold water or ice, their heat causing most liquids to evaporate before reaching their bodies.
Nick, however, was unperturbed. He raised his hand forwards, opening his palm at the creature. The words: “Frost Bolt” emerged from his lips as a large spear made of ice the size of an arm shot out of his palm. Without time to react, the creature’s body was penetrated, the icicle successfully piercing the molten body, and its core at the same time. The creature shrieked and convulsed, writhing in pain as its body slowly began to shrink. Nick watched, his face devoid of emotion as it dissolved into a bright orange energy. This was common for slimes, as they were made from the core elements of magic. Upon death, their magic releases back into the world, affecting the environment around it. It’s most likely what caused this place to be more uninhabitable than it once was, further causing destruction.
Nick didn’t care though. These monsters had destroyed his home, his family, and every memory he had of this world. They deserved his wrath, if nothing else. Noticing large group of slimes further ahead, he jumped towards them, another fifty slimes quickly meeting their deaths to his icicles. Slime after Slime fell before his feet, unable to defend themselves. If they were pathetic enough to die from such a low level spell, then they could fall under his boot.
It wasn’t long until he encountered a stronger monster. A beast, similar enough to a large bear, but engraved with flames which spread across its entire body. The hulking mass reared itself up at nick, roaring into the ashy sky. The sheer power behind the roar sent the earth shaking, throwing Nick to the ground. Luckily I caught myself! My clothes could’ve gotten dirty! He thought, quickly standing up. He pointed towards the bear, still rather angry at the events transpiring. “Listen here, you stupid bear! I’m going to test how strong you are, so don’t hold back!” With that, he lunged towards the bear, a Frost Bolt forming in his palm as he moved.
Just when he was about to reach the bear, he leaped up, soaring over the creature and releasing the Frost Bolt straight into its skull. The projectile embedded itself through its head, piercing one side out to the other. The bear however, did not stagger. It merely shrugged it off and charged towards Nick, its feet creating a pounding noise with each step.
“You’re immune to damage, huh? A fire construct then. That’s simple enough, but I am curious… who made you?” Fire constructs are essentially minions that are completely immune to pain. You can cut off an arm, a head, almost any body part, but it would continue on as if nothing happened. Similar to a lava slime, the only way to defeat a fire construct, or a construct in general, was to kill its core. Unfortunately for Nick, the core almost constantly moves, so he needed to discover where it was and destroy it immediately, or else he would have to find it again.
Instead of jumping over or dodging the bear, he dove underneath it, small cries of “Frost Bolt!” ringing out from his person as he unleashed a torrent of icicles into its soft underbelly. Still though, the bear remained unperturbed. He had missed. No bother, I’ll just try again! He thought to himself, sliding back to his feet as the bear reared around. Instead of charging him, it chose to swipe at him with its flaming claws, which Nick easily dodged. Each movement gave Nick a blast of hot air, showing the true power of the construct, but he brushed it to the side. Over and over again, the cycle repeated. Nick jumped back, dodging the claw swipe, only to be faced with another, and being forced to dodge back again. Suddenly, Nick felt his back on a wall, and he quickly flattened himself against it, narrowly dodging the next strike. Nick looked up in surprise, seeing the bear ready up its next strike, its prey pinned against the wall and unable to run or hide. It sneered, or what could only be interpreted as a sneer, as it imagined the crunch of his bones as his flesh was slowly burned away. The flames crept closer and closer, until finally…
“Wait, is that the boss?” Nick suddenly shouted, his hand coming forwards and slapping the bear across the face, sending the head flying of its body. The rest of the body came next, as he ran in the direction of whatever it was he saw, his knee bumping into the body, which disintegrated. His bright blue wings sprouted from his back, and he took off into the air, creating a cloud of dust where he just stood. His eyes were locked on something in the distance.
When he got closer, he could see a massive fire tornado, swirling around uncontrollably. Large fireballs spewed from the disaster at a constant rate, each one creating a massive crater in the landscape as it moved. Most people would assume that the cause of this destruction was the tornado itself, but Nick could sense a massive form of energy reining inside, and he sped into the tornado to confront it. The tornado contained a massive floating being of pure, white hot lava, with armor made of molten rock. It floated above the ground, with whatever remaining beneath it so burned that it turned to glass.
Sensing Nick’s arrival, the giant spun itself to face him, its voice bellowing through Nick’s eardrums.
“FOOLISH HUMAN, WHO DARES TO ENTER THE DOMAIN OF THE RULER OF FIRE?” Nick covered his ears at the annoying loud sound, glaring back up at the creature.
“The name’s Nick! But you don’t need to know any more than that!” He screamed back at the supposed “Ruler of Fire”
“SILLY HUMAN, YOU MUST BE STRONG TO ENTER MY DOMAIN. NEVERTHELESS, I SHALL MELT YOUR FLESH AND TURN YOU INTO ONE OF MY MINIONS. BOW YOUR HEAD IN GRATITUDE AS YOU ENTER MY RULE, AND WITH IT, MY KINGDOM! THE WORLD CANNOT STAND BEFORE ME, THE DOMINATOR OF THE WORLD, THE FIERY STORM THAT CONSUMES ALL! I- MALDR-“
“Yea enough of that. I hate it when people monologue.” He pointed towards the creature. “Listen up! You’re nothing more than a pile of flames on a hot day. You’re mighty full of yourself, for being such a weakling. Let this be a lesson to you! One where you pay with your pathetic little life! Tempest!” Nick shouted at the creature, the last word causing his hand to release an intense amount of mana. Instantly, the tornado of fire dissipated, leaving a very confused fire monster open to the exposed air. “WHA- WHAT DID YOU DO?! HUMAN!” It bellowed, but Nick’s spell wasn’t done quite yet.
Clouds gathered over the creature, quickly darkening into storm clouds. They began to secrete water, pouring down rain on the immediate area. This water was different, however. Usually, water would evaporate before it could reach the creature, but this time, the water was intensely cold. This water never froze, despite the below zero temperatures it contained.
“WHAT IS THIS?! MY BODY! IT’S M-MELTING?! HOW CAN THIS BE, HUMAN? HOW ARE YOU ABLE TO DO THIS! I AM THE RULER OF FIRE! TRUE DEATH! HOW DOES SOMETHING LIKE THIS HAPP-“ Its words were cut off by a tornado, different this time, from the fiery one he once controlled. The center of this tornado was not an empty shell of air. Instead, it contained a mass of freezing water, halting its words in place. The creature couldn’t withstand the cold, and its lava-filled body molded itself into a hard, tough obsidian sculpture.
Nick shrugged in annoyance. He wasn’t usually angry enough to use a medium level spell on such a weak creature. He took off into the sky, grasping a view of the land that he used to call his home. Any fires were completely gone, and all lava based creatures were defeated. Even though, the place was still uninhabitable, but perhaps people in need of glass would visit?
He thought to himself for a while, remembering the times he spent with his family. He did not shed a tear at their loss, for he had accepted it long ago. “Where should I go now?” He said aloud. He had no real goal or home, and he wanted to find other humans. “The world has changed a lot since I was last here, so I best make the most of my time. I did always want to go to New York… Yea, I might as well” He turned north-east, and with a few more booms, he sped off into the distance.
It’s time to make a new life