Kazuki HargraveOn the night of his father's murder, two of the King's bodyguards were escorting a young male out of the castle. Word had yet to reach outside the castle's walls, yet the royal family members were all starting to react in negative ways. Most of the soldiers who were personally close with the King had already turned up dead. Whether the royal family members doing or people who served under them was unclear, and would probably remain unclear until one of them confessed. Out of all the members of the family, only one remained sane in the heat of the moment. His name is Kazuki Hargrave, and in a single night, his entire life had been destroyed.
Kazuki had actually been the first to discover the body of his father, having come to see him in order to ask him a question. Upon the throne the king's blood had been split across his body, on the throne and upon the floor. A terrible cut had been sliced across his body, it would later be revealed that it only took one attack to end the king's life in an instant. At the very least, he did not suffer. The terrible sight left Kazuki paralyzed with fear, a horrifying scream escaping his mouth as he collapsed immediately after. Luckily, the first to reach him were the two guards who would escort him, seeing the boy horrified and the body of the king before them. They could hear others quickly coming, taking Kazuki away immediately before anyone else could get there to find them.
"This is terrible, I can't believe the boy was the first to find out about this." The guard on the left spoke up to the guard on the right. They were taking an old trail that no one used anymore to get from the castle to one of the many districts surrounding it. "Who would do such a terrible thing, and at such a time as well? I thought we had enough problems as is, now we're sure to face dark times."
"You know exactly who did this, don't lie to yourself." The guard on the right responded. "You heard the noises before we left. The entire family is going into chaos now, they got exactly what they wanted. No one has to play nice around each other now, we're going to see bloodshed within four days I imagine. The king was the only one keeping the peace in tact in our city." The guard looked over to Kazuki before his eyes returned to the other guard. "At the very least, let us save one life."
Upon reaching the District of Hope, the last remnant of when the city was known as the City of Hope, the two body guards dropped off Kazuki in front of a small house. "You must not return to the castle for any reason, Kazuki. We have sent out a letter concerning you, for tonight you shall rest here. Please, do not do anything reckless." The two guards left without another word or look back at him. Kazuki was alone now, stuck in an old house that not even the lowest of thieves would dare to sneak in. Kazuki did not sleep comfortably that night, for he heard constant yelling and multiple times he heard the sounds of people riding back and forth, probably searching to find him and end his life. When at last morning broke, Kazuki was finally able to pass out and rest without fear for his life.
~~~When Kazuki awoke, he already knew in his heart that the guards would not be returning for him. They returned back to the castle knowing that if they stayed with him, they would only be putting his life in danger. But the fate of going back was all too certain, and by the time word had reached his ears, his worst fears were confirmed. Among those who had been murdered in response to the king's death, two guards who had served him faithfully were found dead while having tried to maintain peace and order within the castle's walls. Kazuki could only silently thank them in his heart, hoping that they had found peace in death. Instead, those of a higher order came before Kazuki and took him away in order to carry out a plan. He had been told that the Five Kings of Aura themselves had constructed a plan for him in order to ensure his survival and safety above all else. Even if he was not to become the next ruler, they must ensure at least one member of the royal family survived in some shape or form. Kazuki was not told why, so he was only left to assume.
On the day that news of the King's death spread like a virus throughout the city, Kazuki was meeting with one of the fabled Aura users. He did not get to know her name or her position, but she told him that he would be enlisted as a Rookie Hunter from this day forward. He was also from this day forward, he would be under the eyes of the Head Hunter: Anselm Ermengilde. Even Kazuki had heard of the infamous reputation the Head Hunter held. In order to even become a Head Hunter, one must meet five of the most insane requirements. To be the Head Hunter was to be the best the city could offer, and Anselm had surpassed all expectations upon his return to the city. He had never seen Anselm in person before, but he only heard fearful words come out of anyone whenever they were asked about him. Kazuki was informed that the Head Hunter had been informed of his situation, and about the situation with the royal family at present. While Anselm had been told not to kill him, that did not mean Anselm was forbidden from doing anything else. If he should strike Kazuki, that was his choice to make. His word held more power than the king's ever did, whether people chose to believe this or not was upon them.
All Rookie Hunters were to stay within buildings that Anselm owned. The District of Hunters, the second most popular part of the city was where he would now live, the only part more popular was the District of Aura. He would be given his own hut to himself, that is where he shall remain until he proves himself to his superiors. If he ever proved himself worthy. Kazuki didn't know much about the inner workings of the Hunter's or their system, but he was told the top Hunters buildings could be as big as a mansion! When Kazuki got there, he found it to be one of the smallest buildings within the entire district. Only fools would dare to attack within this district recklessly. As Kazuki was brought in to the district, he saw many Rookie Hunters, male or female, moving about or talking to each other. The first thing he learned was not many usually lived long enough to be given a chance to go higher than Rookie. This is where Kazuki's new life has started, and where his new struggles would begin.
~~~Four days had passed since the king's death. Tomorrow, Kazuki and a bunch of other Rookie's were to meet Anselm himself in person. Whatever he was going to do, it probably wasn't going to be pleasant. Kazuki found himself outside the city, though not far away enough that he would be in danger. His journey outside the walls stopped before his destination, a small house with smoke escaping outside any opening within it. A man with incredible looking armor looked over to Kazuki and gave a low groan. He managed to push himself up to his feet, standing at roughly seven feet in height and looking down at Kazuki with an annoyed look in his eyes.
"Well lookie here, a little brat coming to visit the old man. Always the young ones that come here to start up trouble." The man's rough and deep voice would probably intimidate any normal citizen foolish enough to disturb him. Kazuki just continued to stare up at him in silence. "I'm the old man's guard, his only guard. I see to it that fools don't come in and try to start trouble. If you know what's good for you, kid, you'll walk away and go back to being safe within that city of yours. If you rub me the wrong way..." The guard stopped to tense up his right hand, Kazuki clearly hearing the cracking of his knuckles as he did so. "You might end up broken."
"That's enough." A raspy voice came out from within the house. The man's hand loosing all tension within it as his eyes widened and he turned to look in the direction of the house. "Let him in. I sent for him." The armored man staggered a little upon hearing these words, looking quite flustered as his eyes darted back and forth between the house and the boy. Letting out a low growl, the armored man lowered himself back into a sitting position next to the door, his eyes fixed upon Kazuki as the boy walked calmly into the house. Kazuki moved his hand up around his face to clear any smoke around him before his eyes set upon the old man before him.
Before him sat an elderly figure who sat within the darkest part of the house. There really wasn't much to the house, in fact, Kazuki would dare say it was rather barren. From what he could make out of the elder, he would dare say this was the oldest person he had ever seen. Long gray hair glowed out wildly behind him, almost filling up half the house with how much gray hair he had going at this point. His body had long since wrinkled and dried up to make him look inhumanely thin, almost as if he was nothing but skin and bones at this point. His skin had wrinkled up to an almost unnatural point, his eyes could barely be made out and the robe he wore looked just a little too big for him. Despite all of these, the old man sat perfectly still and held a long pipe within his right hand, bringing it up to his mouth occasionally to inhale and then slowly release out the smoke that constantly came from the house. Kazuki sat down and crossed his legs some feet away from the old man, waiting to hear him speak again.
"Thank you for coming." The old man spoke out to Kazuki. "I know of the situation you have been cast into. You found your father's body, you were immediately taken away from the castle and now you are to live as a Rookie Hunter from this day forth." The old man took a moment to breathe in from his pipe before releasing more smoke. "I wish I could help out, but I have been long since lost the ability to move my legs. I believe I can offer up some advice for you. You should leave the city, while you still can." Kazuki found himself caught off guard by these words. "This city's future is grim. I do not know if it will survive what is to come or not, but you should leave as soon as you can." The old man took another moment to blow more smoke out. "If you wish to live, that is. Stay if you think you can, or if you just don't care. It doesn't matter to me."
As the old man talked with Kazuki, Kazuki felt an intense pressure hit him out of nowhere. How had he been unable to feel it before? This old man was producing Aura, there was no doubt about that! Aura could be felt by just about anyone, you didn't need it to feel when someone was intentionally giving it off from themselves. But this old man's Aura was the most incredible he had ever felt in his entire life! It wasn't just the house, the entire area around the house was producing this intense Aura! How could that guard outside just sit there within it every day, had Kazuki felt this earlier, he would of definitely ran. Once the intense feeling died down, Kazuki rose up to his feet and bowed from his waist to the old man before leaving. As he walked past the guard, he heard a low huff being given out as he left. Once Kazuki was far away enough, he felt himself able to breathe again properly. He would have to return here before it got dark, he had to ask the old man about his Aura and why it was so intense for his old age!
Kazuki found himself alone for most of the day, no one bothered to try to talk to him or find out who he was. He was fine with that, he didn't need the attention or approval of others anyway. He ate an apple calmly by himself while sitting outside, when he noticed a peculiar creature watching him. His eyes shifted over cautiously to it, but the creature did not move to attack him. It was some kind of reptile, though it was quite large for one to just be wondering about. Maybe someone had abandoned their pet, it wasn't uncommon to see wild animals sneaking about either. As it approached him, he could see it eyeing the other few apples he had with him. Kazuki took one and tossed it over to the creature, watching it quickly eat and devour it without a second thought. It must of been hungry for some time now. The creature stared at him for a while as he calmly ate his apple before the creature departed, probably satisfied with analyzing him or something. Who knows? It didn't really matter to him anyway, as long as no one bothered him he was cool with practically almost anything.
~~~As the sun began to settle down, the two moons would soon rise up and rule over the night. Before the night would settle, this was the only time Kazuki could go and visit that old man again. He had to know about that old man's Aura and why it was so powerful. As Kazuki headed outside the city's gates, he saw smoke rising up in the distance. At first he thought it was the old man's smoke, but he never saw the old man's pipe smoke until he got right there at the house. The smoke was far too dark to be simply the pipe's smoke. Kazuki's eyes widened as he felt his body become intense all of a sudden. That smoke looked to be coming from fire! Kazuki moved as fast as he could towards the old man's house, hoping the worst had not befallen it. Yet when he got there, his worst fears were again realized. The old man's house had been set ablaze, and there was no sign that the old man had escaped from it either. In one fell swoop, Kazuki's questions had all been shattered from receiving the answers he sought. That's when he heard a loud scream coming his way.
The old man's guard came crashing through and hitting a tree hard. His armor looked cracked and damaged, it wouldn't be long before it soon fell apart. Blood had escaped the side of the armored man's mouth, this intense individual he met earlier had suddenly been tossed around like he was light as a feather! But who could of done it so easily? Just as he asked himself that questioned, another armored individual came walking into sight towards the guard. He had a large axe held in his left hand, spikes could be seen all over the upper half of the armor. The individual behind the armor looked rather sinister, he had dark markings all over his face and the noticeable skin that could be seen within the armor. Even though he only stood at roughly around six feet, every step he made released a loud stomp that shook the ground underneath them. The spiked armored individual stopped before the guard, grabbing him by his head and raising him up before slamming him down with ease and letting out a wicked, hazy laughter.
"So you were supposed to be guarding that old man? Ridiculous. I heard whispers that the grandson of the first Aura user could be found just outside the city's walls! He was said to have been over three hundred years old, and he helped shape Aura to be the way it is today! What nonsense!" The wicked man bellowed out another laugh. "He refused to help me? What an idiot! Refusing to help me is a mistake he won't soon forget, now that he's nothing but ashes." The wicked man smirked. "They've taken to calling me Thorns! Remember that name well!" Thorns sent in a rough kick into the wounded armored man's chest, causing him to howl out in pain as Thorns chuckled with glee.
"You are just like most, you only came to visit the old man so you could get stronger and beat people down!" The armored man coughed before continuing. "He will never seek out people who only wish to harm others, that was never his interest. When you came stomping in the way you did, he immediately warned me not to trust you. And now look what you've done, acting out of self interest so that you can ensure no one will seek his help ever again. You disgust me!" This earned another kick to his chest from Thorns.
"Say whatever you like, it doesn't change the fact he's dead now. I've heard about that silly Star System this city uses to determine threats and the value of something. I don't know how that system fully works, but I heard five Stars equals an average citizen. Ten Stars equals an average soldiers. So I must be worth Twenty Stars to be able to take you down so easily." Thorns gave a wicked smirk as he raised up his axe. "But I've had my fun beating you around. Time to chop you into pieces and feed you to the damned Cannibal Tribe!" Letting out a furious roar, Thorns slammed his axe down for the armored man when he felt his arm stop, unable to reach his target. "What?!" He pulled his arm back, stepping away to find Kazuki standing between the two now, holding a sheathed sword in his hand as Kazuki glared at Thorns.
"Well now, I didn't expect some little brat to come stepping forth into my battle tonight." Thorns cracks his neck to the left first and then to the right before settling it back into place. "I don't care who you are or why you want to intervene. But I'm going to kill you now either way." Thorns bellowed out a wicked laugh as a dark colored Aura began to emit from his body, a howl like noise emitting from the Aura he was producing.
"That sound, it can't be! He's already learned how to use the technique Growl?!" The armored man spoke up behind Kazuki. "It's usually the first technique any Aura user learns, but you either are trained to use it or you must have been in a pretty bad situation to have brought it out. But this guy doesn't seem like the type to have done either, what the heck is going on?!" Kazuki kept his guard up as he heard Thorns use Growl on them. Growl is an Aura technique that allowed it's user to use their Aura to intimidate others. It has been described as being similar to when an animal bares it's fangs, or when a person gives off a glare.
Thorns prepared to attack when the lizard creature Kazuki had given an apple to earlier comes leaping in and begins to viciously bite Thorns' left arm. Thorns shakes his body around trying to shake off the creature as it continues to attack, unable to hit it with his axe before the lizard creature leaped away and growls at him. Thorns drops his axe down as he holds his bloody shaking arm, letting out a howl in pain as his Aura began to weaken and retreat. "You rotten thing!" Thorns growled out from behind his teeth. "I'll tear you apart for that!" Kazuki saw his chance, stepping in quickly and slicing his sword in for an attack. Thorns' eyes widen as the chest plate for his armor shatters and a cut going from his left shoulder down to his right side splits open suddenly. Thorns collapses to his knees as he holds his wounded chest tightly in his right hand. "You brat! How dare you! Do you know who I am?! I am Thorns! I have stepped on far greater than any of you!" Thorns began to rise up to his feet again, his Aura beginning to return full force as he glared at Kazuki.
That's when the armored man came charging in and knocked himself full force into Thorns, sending him flying into a nearby tree as Thorns let out a howl in pain. "I don't know why you came back, but you should take that thing and leave! His strength is unusual, his Aura must of been forced out from a Taboo user! Send some help, just get out of here alive!" The armored man raised up Thorns' own axe and threw it at him, but Thorns' left arm rose too quickly for the armored man to react to in time and could only watch as Thorns perfectly catches the handle of his weapon. "Even his speed is becoming unnatural. This may cost me my life." The armored man prepared himself as Thorns rose again, glaring down the armored man. Rushing in despite his wounds, Thorns gave a bloody howl as he and the armored man clashed in a single moment. The armored man's right arm is sent flying away and crashes down nearby, while Thorns found the rest of his armor shattering completely, his left hand crashing down beside him while still tightly gripping his axe. Thorns turned to unleash another attack when three individuals landed down from above, catching Thorns off guard.
The three each produced a Growl that, on their own, far outclassed Thorns' own growl. Too scared and injured to properly fend them off, all three struck in with rapid blows of attacks that left Thorns paralyzed and knocked him out with little to no effort. All three back away as they watch Thorns collapse down as his eyes rolled into the back of his head. Seeing Thorns go unconscious, the armored man falls down to a knee as the three rush over to him. "I know who you are!" One of the three Aura users called out to the armored man. "You're Irongrip! You used to work pretty close with the Five Aura Kings!" The Aura user realized all too well what this meant as he looked to the burning house. "No, it can't be! He's dead?!"
"Afraid so. After all these years, I've failed the one true mission I was given in life." Irongrip huffs out, looking over to the Aura user. "Listen to me. That man called Thorns, he is tainted somehow. Take my severed arm and his severed hand and throw them into that burning house without a second thought. Whatever was done to him somehow spread to my arm when he chopped it off. He must be kept alive, we must find out what was done to him." Irongrip flinched as he barely managed to get a chuckle out. "I haven't heard that name in a long time. I must really be getting old to let this hurt me so badly."
~~~The death of the old man wasn't brought up to the public. Kazuki had been told by Irongrip himself to keep what happened tonight a secret. Irongrip soon passed out and was carried off by the three Aura users to receive immediate medical attention. Thorns had been taken by two Hunters who arrived to take him away. Thorns would never be in top fighting shape again, his left hand forever gone had crippled his ability to ever wield a weapon again. Irongrip wasn't in a better position, his entire right arm was now gone and he may never be able to take another risky mission ever again. Even though Kazuki had only met the old man once, he almost felt like he knew him in an instant. The old man knew he was going to die soon and wanted to pass on a message to Kazuki. But why him, what did the old man see in him to want to call him and see him so suddenly? The strangest question of all though was the reptile creature now sleeping in Kazuki's home. Why did it come to help him and how could it take on an Aura user like that? Perhaps the reptile creature also had Aura. Or, something close to it. It wanted to stay, so he let it stay. That night, Kazuki managed to get a good night's sleep for the first time since the night his father had been found dead.
Five days now it had been since the death of the king. When Kazuki awoke, he knew what today was. It was time to get ready to see the infamous Anselm himself and prepare for possibly the worst. Feeding the reptile something it may actually like besides the apple, he let it stay inside the house as he headed out to the area all the Rookie Hunters were suppose to gather up at. He left his sword at him today, he wasn't even suppose to have one yet so if he brought it, it would make him look suspicious. He didn't know what exactly was going on, but it seemed like he had just been thrown into the middle of something bigger than he could ever hope to realize.