Noir Hunters

[[Feel free to jump in anywhere, folks. I'll handle all questions via PM.]]

Alteria was once thought to be a great land. A utopia on a grand scale. It stretched for miles in all directions and knew no war, nor suffering, nor hatred, nor strife. The land was supposed to be perfect. However, there was one man who sought to ruin it all. One man who sought to bring misery upon in its inhabitants. And so he brought forth terrible beasts called Animae. The Animae wreaked havoc upon all the people of Alteria. But the evil man had not anticipated Alteria itself to fight back. The land invoked a strange power into a select few of those who called it home. They gained the ability to materialize mystical weapons called the Tuterae with the power to strike down the Animae. The wielders of Tuterae, nicknamed 'Hunters,' began the counter attack against the Animae and their evil master. After a long and grueling battle, the Hunters repelled the wicked Animae and slayed the twisted being that had summoned them. That was a thousand years ago. Since then, Alteria had slowly shrunk into nothingness, but the power that had first forged the Tuterae remained. And now, after a millenium of peace, the Animae have once again begun to appear. But will the Tuterae return as well?

Adam closed the book. He loved the story of the Hunters and the Animae. He'd always been inclined to the more esoteric side of life, even if it was all just stories. His latest read had come out only a couple years ago and had met all kinds of reviews thanks to the harbingers of misfortune it had prophesized. It was a truly love it or hate it kind of book, but Adam didn't care. So long as the story is good, he could care less if it were fact or fiction. He stuffed the book back into his bag as he stood up. It was time he headed home.

He abandoned his seat on the bench in the park and melted into the crowd. He'd spent many evenings idling his time in the park near campus; anything was better than in his dorm with his moronic, playboy room-mate. What those dumb bimbos he dated saw in him, Adam would never know. He let out a sigh as he walked. No point worrying about the escapades of one dumb college-kid, he'd have the last laugh when he graduated valedictorian and his room-mate was a flunk-out. Adam let out a laugh before the explosion.

The eruption echoed across the University grounds. A cloud of dust and smoke billowed into the air. Adam felt himself be tossed aside by the force as if he were little more than a rag-doll. There was a deafening silence as the dumbstruck students tried to work out what had just happened. Suddenly a scream split the quiet as the smoke began to clear. The figure was tall. Far taller than any man. It looked thin and skeletal, as though it had never before heard the word 'food.' It stood hunched over with clawed hands and feet supporting it. A wolf like head sniffed the air as its mottled grey fur stiffened in the crisp cold breeze. It turned and took in its surroundings, it stared at the panicking scholars, it surveyed the teachers hastily tried to keep peace. Yet, more than anything, it glared hungrily at Adam who had fallen not ten feet away from it.

"A-animae..." Adam choked weakly as it approached him.

Daniel saw the thing looking at Adam. Picking up a nearby chunk of asphault, he hurled it at the thing. It hit the beast and glanced at Daniel with hungry eyes.

"ADAM! RUN!"

Daniel used his legs to out-run the beast. Tripping, Daniel watched as the thing came over him to try to destroy him. There, Daniel waited for his doom.

Adam scrambled to his feet as the behemoth's attention was stolen. He made a mad dash to find cover and get away from the disturbing canine monster. He stopped mid run when he realized what his running meant. If he ran, then someone else got eaten so he could run. "Conscience, I hate you," he muttered as he reluctantly turned around to face the rampaging Animae. He swept up a nearby large stick as he ran back at the furry beast. Adam screamed like a mad man as he brought down the branch on the back of the grey monstrosity. There was a loud snap as the stick broke in half across the monster's back. He looked over it's shoulder at him. Adam smiled at it weakly. He had just done something immensely stupid.

"I TOLD YOU TO RUN!" Daniel ran at Adam and lifted him off of his feet with his shoulder.

Running as far and as hard as he could, Daniel put Adam back on his feet.

"Look, we've got to get out of here. The military will do something soon enough. Let's go!"

Adam blinked as Daniel yelled orders at him. Being yelled was something rather foreign to him. After struggling to find some words, he eventually stuttered out, "r-right. Yeah let's go. Although, some how I doubt the military has a protocol for this..." He quickly looked around for the nearest shelter. "Over there," he pointed over at one of the campus offices, "We should over there." He hurried over to the building as he chanced a glance back at the rampaging beast. No mistaking it. It was certainly one of the Animae from his book. And if it wasn't an Animae, something had begun to go very wrong in the world and no level esoteric book-wormism would save them.