Hunter policy #24031 (Redacted):
It is permissible to execute operations against civilians should they be tied to active investigations involving matters of city and national safety. We recommend executing said operations with the utmost discretion.
“Stop messing around and put this on before they get here!” Kaelin frantically whispered. He held out a strange amulet that glowed faintly with some enchantment I wasn’t familiar with. The tear-drop gem in its center was filled with an amber light so rich and vibrant it was nearly gold. Outside, the howling winds and rains of the surge started to pick up.
The ancient storm of twisted magics kicked against the shutters of our once-shared room. The force of it smacked Kaelin from where he was perched on our window sill and I laughed as he tumbled onto the creaky floorboards. My evil delight at his discomfort redoubled as he fell straight into the shattered glass, proof of his forced entry. If that wasn’t criminal enough, he had the gall to wake me up during a hells-cursed surge.
Serves him right. Just use the gods’ cursed door next time, I argued silently as he quickly dusted off his black cadet uniform. He yelped in pain as an errant shard of enchanted glass dug into the thick leather sole of his boot, but he eventually got his muscular form clear of the debris he’d imposed on my domain.
Stains darkened his suit and I squinted, some of the hubris bled from my cheeky grin. The Everglow lamps I neglected earlier cast his weathered physique in a warm tone that usually made him look dignified—noble, even. Today, it made him appear gaunt, like the surge reaped his vitality along with the moisture from his cloak.
I choked on my breath, noticing the blood and sweat stains that clung to his chest and arms between ripped seams. Those were definitely a violation of military protocol, but he didn’t seem to care.
He seems okay. Maybe it was just from training.
“I’m sorry, what?” I asked playfully, too happy and confused to see my idiot older brother to fully pay attention to his demands.
“Put this on, Thea. Now!” Kaelin hissed, and the frantic sheen to his eyes soured some of the excitement that bubbled up from seeing him alive.
“Gods, Kael. It’s been what, six months since your last break? No letters. Not even a damned postcard from that kill-school, and the first time I see you, you're surrounded by broken glass and bleeding half to death. And during a freaking surge?! What were you thinking?” I demanded, both hands firmly clutching the nightgown that barely hid the curve of my hips. My argument lost some of its ground thanks to the fact that I was still partially cocooned in thick wool blankets.
He stared at me, frustration knitting his brow and accenting the thin scar across his left eyebrow. He’d received it as paltry evidence he survived a crazed Zengo during his first year. After a moment of consideration, he merely shook his head.
“There’s no time for this, Thea. Just put this on. Please! The hunters are going to be here any second!” His words were as rushed as the pulse I felt thrum in my ears and heart. The blood drained from my cheeks at his somber omen. He kept looking through the broken window as if he expected to see shapes out there in the surge’s violent rampage. I now imagined black uniforms marching down our cobblestone road to the beat of the unnatural rain.
Something wasn’t right. He never acted like this.
“Wait, why would they be coming? Kael, is everything alright?” When he didn’t answer, I accepted the amulet he still held out to me like it was a basilisk or rotting meadow goblin. I glanced at him one last time, and with his quick nod of approval, I grabbed it by the thin silver chain. Hesitantly, I tucked the unwieldy mane of my curly platinum hair over one shoulder. Then, with a healthy dosage of curses, I gingerly slid the heavy metal amulet around my neck and pulled my hair back out from the chain. I ignored my unruly locks and stared flatly at my brother.
“Thay, it’s still visible. Can you tuck it into your nightgown or something? No matter what happens, don’t let them see that,” Kaelin warned. My head shot up from where I studied the strange amulet covered in unfamiliar runes to see my brother once again straddling the edge of the window. The inverted rain of the surge crawled along his jacket, but he paid it no mind as he pinned me with one final stare.
“Whatever you do, pretend like you’ve forgotten me. I know this doesn’t make any sense, but you have to make them believe you can’t remember me at all, okay? I have to go. Please, watch over mum and dad, yeah?” He gave me one of his reassuring smiles that normally calmed my anxious mind, but not today. Today, it rotted in my chest.
The sturdy house we had called home for nearly six years groaned as the second stage of the surge began. The wood and stone foundations shouted their protest as the wind buffeted our warded house with renewed vigor.
“Freaking magic storms,” I heard Kaelin whisper as he gathered his courage to take the leap into the stormy alley below. “We won’t have long now.” He hesitated for a moment before he turned to me over his shoulder. “Survive out there, Thea. The surge is just the beginning.”
I watched, dumbstruck, as he disappeared into the unceasing gales that threatened to shatter our house. I rushed to the window sill and scanned the darkness for any signs of my brother, but none revealed themselves.
I stayed there for several more seconds, but the surge was too strong. Movement caught my attention, and I practically jumped out of my skin when whatever it was crept into the dim light emanating from my room. There, on the window sill, was a Pufflemur. Its blue and white fur were doused with rain, and its giant amber eyes practically glowed with innocence. I groaned.
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“How in the seven hells did you get out there, you little furball?” Despite my angry tone, I gingerly picked up the wet sphere of cuteness and brought it inside. The little rodents were one of the most common monsters in existence, repopulating faster than jackrabbits and died twice as quickly.
The tiny creature purred softly in a low and melodic rumble. It sounded like rocks tumbling through a small creek. My breath slowed and I felt a new weight to my eyelids. I knew some of its magic was leaking, but I didn’t care. I needed some supernatural antidepressants right now.
Reluctantly, I stepped back and tapped a rune on the wood frame, and a thin sheen of golden energy coalesced into place. It would drain the house’s store of magic, but that’s what it was there for.
I lingered there, frustrated and furious at my brother while the Pufflemur tried in vain to soothe my frayed nerves.
Why would he scare me halfway to death by shattering my window and then ditch like some wraith in the night? And why would he say that hunters were coming to the house? We were not only out of their jurisdiction, but Kaelin seemed to forget the tiny fact that most people aren’t so foolhardy as to brave the streets during a surge. My brother often acted like he had a death wish, but this crossed a line.
I sat down on my bed and pulled out the amulet, setting down my small blue and white companion on the bed beside me. It immediately jumped off and wandered about my room. The amulet hummed slightly with an unfamiliar magic. Given the coloration and expert etching, I guessed it was somewhere between a journeyman and master-classed enchantment.
But how would my piss-poor brother get his hands on something like this?
Sounds from outside my room drew me like poison out of my dark reverie. I tilted my head in concentration, but it was difficult to discern through the barrage of wind and rain the storm outside put up.
Then I heard it.
Downstairs, raised voices carried through the door and hallway. The same staircase that gave me so much grief when I tried to sneak down it now came to my aid as it loudly declared the approach of several heavy footsteps.
A scream pierced the night. It took me a moment to place the voice, but when I did, sweat beaded across the back of my neck and down my spine. It was my mother’s voice. I had never heard her scream like that. Ever.
Furniture splintered.
My father yelled.
Men’s voices bellowed somewhere on the first floor.
I crept closer, but the sturdy thud of metal boots against the crickety wood of our hallway made me hesitate. I backed away, but the footsteps only grew louder. I frantically hid my brother’s gift beneath the hem of my nightgown’s skirt.
A faint glow of purple around the frame of my door was the only warning I received before the heavy oak shattered into a million splinters. I was rained with shrapnel. I raised my hands to protect my face and screamed in pain as thin needles pierced my skin in a dozen different places. My nightgown offered no real protection and I backed away from the jagged entrance to my room.
I had nowhere to run.
I couldn’t flee through the window, as the deactivation of the ward I’d just put up would take too long. I backed up, a whimper escaping unbidden from my throat. I wanted to be anywhere but right here. I looked down and saw the tiny Pufflemur riddled with splinters, green blood pouring from over a dozen wounds. Its giant amber eyes were locked onto me. Bile rose in my chest.
It didn’t need to die.
Before I could react, hands grabbed me by the shoulders and waist. A cloth that tasted like rain and sewage was tied across my mouth. I kicked and screamed, terror and adrenaline coursing through my body like an apocalyptic fire. I twisted my hips and slammed down with both heels. Bones crunched under the force of my blow as I managed to hit one of my assailants. Thunder boomed far above as I was dropped by the thickly gloved man who held my waist. I used the momentum to tuck and roll through the lingering grasp of the second man.
I scrambled away and felt my frayed nightgown snag on a floorboard. It ripped heavily down the central seam, but I didn’t care. All I wanted—needed—was to get out of there.
I spared a glance behind me as I made for the only viable exit and noticed the pristine black uniforms of the hunters. Both men wore half-masks across the bottom portions of their faces, which left their irate eyes to haunt me as I clambered for the stairs on all fours like some beast.
I ignored the pain from the countless tiny wounds that bled through what remained of my nightgown as I took the descent three steps at a time. I saw my parents as I got to the base of the staircase, and three men were actively tying them to chairs in our living room. My mother sobbed through her own gag while my father tried to reach for her in vain. He was a mountain of a man, but that just accentuated how freakishly strong the intruders were. He managed to shove two of the assailants off, one with a kick to their chest and the other by throwing them over his shoulder. A third hunter joined the fight, and I could feel my heart sink at the sight of him.
The newcomer had to duck his head just to make it inside our humble abode. He was the tallest of the black garbed warriors, looming even above my father in his defensive position. With a rush, the brute extended his arms and two giant chains tipped with shackles snaked out from around his shoulders and forearms. The sinnewy metal encased my capable father in moments, runes of red glowing along their length like windswept embers. The shackles clamped around my dad’s wrists and yanked him to the ground like a dog forced to heel. The veins across my dad’s neck bulged as the remaining chains tightened around his neck. His legs collapsed under the weight and lack of oxygen.
Fear and rage combined in my veins to make a truly ominous cocktail. My mind cleared. A second thunderclap shook our house as I reached them. I shoved the one who stood over my mother and punched the next invader just below his rib cage, just like Kaelin had taught me. They stumbled back, but it was like I collided with stone. My wrists screamed in protest, but I didn’t slow down, nor did the panic in my blood allow me to feel any of it.
My mum’s eyes screamed at me in terror. Between the cloth that bit into her cheeks, I saw her mouth one word.
“RUN!”
My vision swerved to our front door, but another figure stood guard in front of it. Our windows were all locked. There was no other way out.
I shook my head through the panic and fear and returned my attention to the fight. With a scream, I kicked the next man behind the knees and he dropped hard to the stony ground below. The second man doubled over as he gasped for air from where I punched him. Satisfied, I moved to attack the raider in front of my dad when a searing pain flashed from behind my eyes before everything went black.