8 The Beginning ~part 01~
"What's happening! Some shit again!!" yelled Danny. The words were echoing in his mind. "The Witch Hunt has begun, the Witch Hunt has begun.."
A set of howls were echoing throughout Parker's Lane. It was so loud, even louder than the howls of the wolves. Danny knew that there was something wrong.
Suddenly his eyes started to emit a light, it blurred Danny's whole vision.
< The Witch Hunt has begun.. >
[ Until 60 moons pass on, the Witch Hunt will go on. Each player will gain more experience, more power and more skills in this period. Even immortals can gain new skills in the Witch Hunt. Good luck Hunter, gain the power of the immortality you wished for... ]
The words echoed inside Danny's head. The light emitting from his eyes slowly got dimmer and dimmer and his vision came back. The howling was getting louder and louder.
Danny quickly sat down in his bed. "It must be something normal." he thought as he laid back in his bed. He covered his ears with the two pillows and tried to sleep. Still the howls didn't let him.
After about 10 minutes the howls gradually stopped. Danny didn't know what just happened, but he thought the others might. So, he just went to sleep.
~The next day morning~
As usual, Danny took his breakfast and got his morning wash. He was doing some blogs early in the morning, because he had to meet up with the team at 10am.
The frequent howling of the wolves ruined his sleep the day before. Even though he had no sleep, he couldn't stop blogging. It was the only way he made money.
As the hours passed by, the clock hit 10am. Danny quickly got dressed and took off from the house. It was a Sunday, so there was no school. As usual, Danny met Hannah in the street.
"Danny, did you hear the wolves yesterday?" asked Hannah from the boy. "Yeah.. What were they doing? I couldn't even sleep!" said Danny.
"Well.. those weren't wolves Danny. Those were Werewolves!" said the girl in a worried tone. Danny was utterly shocked. He had no idea that werewolves existed.
"What the hell! It's another system??"
The girl nodded. "What were they doing?" asked Danny who was now going crazy. "They were hunting Danny. There's a whole pack. Humans who achieved the werewolf system forms in packs to hunt and murder people to level up." said Hannah.
"What the hell! We're going against werewolves!!" screamed out Danny. "Yes.. We are. And did you see the Witch Hunt Danny?" asked Hannah from the confused boy.
"Yes.. What's that about??" questioned Danny again. "That's where things actually got worse Danny. This is the place where the newly born gets dominated by the legends." said Hannah looking at Danny. "This is the Witch Hunt Danny. The place where the real monsters are born. Each life we take within the period of the Witch Hunt will be awarded with more XP than ever. And everyone finds unique powers within them, during the Witch Hunt. And the werewolves yesterday were howling to show that they are coming."
Danny looked at the girl, with a frightened look. "Oh fuck! The killing will increase in numbers!!" yelled Danny. "How many more systems are there??"
"Currently, there are 8 systems known to us. The vampires, demons, mages, werewolves, hunters, goblins, angels and dragons. Each system is unique. Moreover, each human who achieves it is unique, with the mutations in their genes." answered Hannah.
"Wow.. Sounds interesting.. Now how do we survive all of these?" asked Danny who suddenly made it look like he just lost all his hopes. "Well it's not easy! We need to gain skills, master them and train to hunt." said Hannah thinking about the ambitious guy.
"Hehehe... Let's kill some people and gain these skills then.." said Danny giving off a weird smile. With their discussion, they reached Conor's house in no time.
Danny stepped into the lawn and walked through the pebbled walkway to the doorway.
*Knock* *Knock*
Danny knocked on his door. Hannah was right behind him. "COMING!!!" came a scream from within the house. A sound of footsteps came from within the house.
Then Conor opened the door and let Danny and Hannah in. "As usual, upstairs.." said Conor walking up the stairs. Danny and Hannah followed him to his room.
Conor sat on his bed and Danny and Hannah took a seat on the two tall stools, next to the table. Conor was wearing a long sleeved t-shirt with a purple. His hair was messy as always. His room was big, so he never really wanted to go out of his room.
"So, heard the werewolves yesterday?" asked Conor from the other two. "Yes," both of them answered. "Yep.. The Witch Hunt has started.. One of the things I decided to make this pact." said Conor finally revealing the truth about the pact.
"Huh.. Using us as bait huh?" said Danny confirming his suspicions about him. "But.. I didn't mean to do you guys any harm. You can even say it was for the best. With this team, we have a slight chance of surviving the Witch Hunt. Otherwise we'll be hunted by the wolf packs and the other teams who have joined together for the hunt."
"Actually it's true. I'm relieved because we made this team. People mostly join in groups for the Witch Hunt anyway. My grandfather told me to find a team, or else we'll have to die." said Hannah who had a secret of her own.
It turned out that Danny was the only clueless person there, since he was a starter. "Now.. the reason you brought us here today?" asked Danny from the sneaky mage.
"Oh... We're going for a little training. Or we can die in battle without knowing any tactics. So we're going off to the woods for a little training. And we can even hunt one or two ghouls." stated Conor as he got the jacket hanging on his chair.
{ New character unlocked: Conor Rays }
Conor Rays was another 16 year old. He was a fair, a bit lean boy with white hair. His class was mage and he had already found a team to play the game with. After a strange week in his life, he was addicted to the supernatural powers and the game. He couldn't let go of the hunger.
"So.. let's start moving. As a team of players, either we play or we die." said Conor as he exited the room. "Let's go.." said Hannah, grabbing Danny by the hand and dragging him out.
Danny couldn't breathe. The girl touched him. Danny couldn't stop grinning. All three of them went out of the house. Conor took his phone and called a taxi.
In about 10 minutes, the taxi came to pick up the three. All of them got in. "Drop us off near the woods.." said Conor to the driver. Danny and Hannah were sitting on the back.
The ride took about 18 minutes. The woods were known as "The Whispering Pines," among the people in Parker's Lane and Calliberone. A lot of pine trees filled the forest cover.
Most teens came there to play around, on the weekends and holidays. Danny and the other two stepped out of the car and Conor played the taxi. "Rich guy," thought Danny feeling a bit jealous.
Danny, Hannah and Conor walked into the forest as the taxi drove away. "So.. Where do we train?" asked Hannah from Conor, who was now walking further and further into the woods. The woods covered a large land area from Mandorin.
"A little further.. I'll tell you when we reach there." said Conor kicking away some sticks that blocked the path. "As a guy who's just level, how did you get to know this much?" asked Hannah from Conor.
"Like I said, a mage is a special class. We are rewarded with knowledge and spiritual books that we can summon. I like to read. So I read.." said Conor smiling at the girl. As they went further in, the forest got darker.
"I think I don't need the umbrella now." said Hannah as she folded the umbrella and put it back into her bag. She was wearing another long sleeved sweatshirt. It looked like she loved sweatshirts.
The tall pine trees provided enough shade, but didn't provide much light. So the forest was gloomy. Finally they reached a place where there was enough space for them to train.
"We can train here. Are you guys good with this place?" asked Conor for the opinion of the others. "Yes," they answered. "I mostly came out to see how much skills you guys have. I came to the forest to train the week before. It was nice, calm and quiet. Good for my spells."
"Now Danny. Show is what you got." said Conor, asking Danny to show his skills. "I only know how to summon the sword," said Danny, embarrassed.
"You gain a skill when you reach level one idiot! Check your stats.."
Danny closed his eyes. He could see [ skills ] category in his head. He thought to open it and it opened.
< Skills >
[ Dash : Allows you to move faster within a matter of seconds ]
There was one skill. "There is a skill! It's called dash! Wait can I dash?" asked Danny from Conor. "Of course you can.. Try focusing on an empty and think to Dash." said Conor teaching Danny the tricks.
Danny looked at an empty space and got in post to run. Danny focused and slowly said "Dash".
Absolutely nothing happened. "Idiot! You don't say it! Just think and imagine you dashing and running a little. Otherwise your mana cannot be used." said Conor to the boy.
Hannah was standing in the back observing those two. "Now try!"
Danny slowly bent a little and got in the post to run, once again. Then he imagined a dash in his mind and focused. He took a fast step and suddenly dashed at a great speed. It only took a second to seconds to run the seven metres.
Danny suddenly stopped and fell to the ground. He was feeling a little dizzy, since it was his first try. "Hahaha.. well done Danny. A good dash for the first time." chuckled out Hannah. "Thanks.." said Danny as he got up from the ground.
[ Mana : 80/100 ]
Danny could see that his mana bar had gone down from 20 units. "That's harsh.." thought Danny looking at the mana bar. The points slowly increased per 1 unit for 5 seconds each.
"That's a nice dash. Now try doing that once or twice." said Conor observing him more. Danny did it once again and he dashed more merres than the last time. Another 20 mana units went down.
Then he did it again. He was getting the hang of it bit by bit. Now he was almost out of mana. He couldn't even catch a breath. He slowly sat down.
"Well done.. As you level up, you'll get all the mana you need. Don't worry. Only thing that you can't easily regenerate is your health." said Conor patting Danny on the back.
"What about you girl? What are your skills?"
"I don't have much. Only some abilities. Skills are hard to earn for vampires. So we have some powerful abilities.." answered Hannah.
"So.. Can you show us some of your.. abilities?" asked Conor raising one of his eyebrows. The girl gave an annoyed look. "Watch and learn.."
The girl quickly got into a runner's stance. Then he suddenly dashed more than ten times around Conor. They couldn't even see her movements.
Conor was surprised. "Mhmmmm.. You don't need mana to dash.." said Conor quickly figuring out what was going on. It was one ability the vampires were gifted with.
"Yes, smart you are.." said the girl impressed by the boy. "Thank you.. And now.. watch me.." said Conor as he walked up to the middle.
"Summon" he said as he thought to summon his spirit staff. A long wooden stick decorated with a leafy pattern appeared in his hands.
Then he held up his staff and closed his eyes. "Lighting Bolt!!!" yelled out the mage.
A black smoke emitting a purple light surrounded the boy. Suddenly all the smoke got sucked into it. The boy held his staff higher and a purple electric bolt shot to the far sky.
It was fabulous. The power of the mage was unbelievable. "Mhmmmm.. Impressive.." said Hannah as she backed away from the black smoke.
"Hehe.. very nice" said Danny as he observed the incredible magic. "Thank you.. thank you.." crowed the mage. "And Danny.. Show us your sword skills.."
"Ohhh.. Ok.." said Danny stepping up. He summoned his sword into his hands. The sword looked heavy but Danny seemed to easily lift it. "Now?" asked Danny from Conor.
"Wait I'll come.." said Conor and went to Danny. Conor lifted up his wand and stood in front of Danny. "Ok.. Show me what you got.."
Danny lifted the sword up and jumped and attacked Conor. Conor defended it by his staff. Even though the staff was wooden, it didn't even crack for the sword's slash.
Conor suddenly jumped back and the tip of his staff lit up with a purple fire. He took a quick hit at Danny with the staff, but Danny parried by his sword.
Then Danny quickly delivered another side slash and as he waved the sword, the sword lit up with a dark fire. Conor managed to block it again with his staff but to the power of the sword, Conor lost grip of his staff.
Conor's staff went flying into the ground. "Hahaha.. You're skilled with the sword." said Conor, surprised by the boy's tricks. "Yeah.. I was in a sword fighting club.. haha.."
"Well good to have a team full of surprises." said Hannah as she clapped for Danny's victory. Suddenly, Danny's phone started to ring.
Danny quickly took his phone from his pocket and checked. It was Mrs. Houseman. Danny quickly answered the phone.
"Mrs. Houseman! Do you need anything?" asked Danny. "Danny! Child! Have you seen Linda? She's a missing child! My Linda is missing!!" cried Mrs. Houseman over the phone.
"What!!! Linda is missing!!"
