The Beginning

"It all started one day in the summer of 2012, Fanatics were losing their minds all the while spouting off at every street corner about the end of the world. Me and my mom and dad were going to the movies and to spend the day together since my dad finally had a day off after a week of working and being called in. I forget what movie we were going to see.... Not like it mattered anymore after what happened."

A man said while sitting in a semi comfortable chair that had been sat on by a few too many people to really be tip top. His brown hair short but not too short and combed back, his beard braided with what look like beads and seperated into three strands. He sat in the chair for a few seconds in silence as the memories of what happened 10 years ago pass through his mind like a shattered mirror.

"And what happened exactly Mr. James .... Frough? Anyways just to remind you we need this information to continue your processing." Said a woman in a white lab coat as she sat across from the man, now known as James, with her legs crossed and a pen tapping impatiently against a clipboard in her hands. She kept her eyes trained on James but her eyes held a look of boredom as this was not the last participant she had to interview today and she was just wanting to finish this and take her break.

"We never made it to the movies.... I was playing a game in the backseat and wasn't paying attention to what was going on outside but it sounded like glass breaking almost, That's what made me look infront of us and out towards a weird looking hole that was just in mid-air. It wasn't attached to anything, just... Just floating there. Mom slammed on the brakes and we came to a screeching hault right in front of the thing. I heard the same screeching sound all around us as the other cars on the road did the same."

"Dad told my mom to back up and turn around because he had a bad feeling but we were blocked in by the cars around us. He had us leave the car and start running away from it but when we got a few feet away that's when IT came out....."

"IT? Mr. Frough the reports from that city listed a class 1 at best that appeared on D-Day. The strongest Monster that appeared was an Ogre General in the heart of L.A., Your cities government only reported a few class 1 'IDP' that appeared. With those only spawning at most a few hordes of Goblins and Trolls, So what exactly was IT Mr. Frough?" The woman's tapping became even more rapid as her patience was running thin.

"Well I don't know about anywhere else but what came out of that 'IDP' as you call it, was a nightmare! I started to hear screaming and turned around only to see a huge red eyed that looked like a lizards looking through the damn portal! Then a giant clawed hand came through and with a swipe it destroyed everything within a dozen feet of the portal with ease. Like-Like it was fucking paper!!"

"Calm down sir or I will call security."

The man instantly started to try and breathe and calm down as he placed his hand to his chest and felt his heart beating just remembering that dreadful experience.

"I'm sorry, Ahem, My mom screamed and my dad picked me up and threw me over his shoulder as they started running faster away from the thing. But my dad threw me so that I was watching the portal the whole time. I know he wasn't thinking about it but I saw as people died bloddy and screaming.... Cars were sent flying with every swipe..... Then smaller things started to appear from the portal. They looked like red bipedal lizards and... and they were laughing as they appeared..."

"Laughing? You mean you saw Lizardmen? But they only come in Blues and Greens... I've never heard of a red species before." This time the woman spoke with a subtle tone of excitement as she jotted this down.

"Continue."

"Like I said they were laughing as they appeared. they were even pointing at the people who were smashed or the cars that were torn apart. They were laughing up until some kind of rumble came through the portal and it was like a switch for the things. They went from laughing to serious and started to search what cars weren't destroyed or out of reach of the massive hand with weapons like spears and swords that glowed different colors. Anytime they found a person still alive they would kill it and then throw the body back into the portal... Most of them anyways.... Some of them they would devour in a group like some kind of afternoon snack before resuming the search."

"We never stopped running but that only brought the attention of the creatures to us and I watched as the monsters started running after us. We got to a convenience store with people running inside and we got inside just as the doors were being shut and locked and the people that worked inside closed the security gates aswell. The Lizardmen stopped and looked at the glass doors and the iron security gate for a few seconds before they started laughing again...."

"All it took was for one of the Lizardmen to punch the glass and it shattered, then a slash of a sword later and the iron gate melted away into a pool of hot metal on the floor. Then a ear piercing sound rang out as a couple of the people apparently had guns and they shot at the monsters."

"If it was the blue or green variants than that would only piss them off while dealing minimal damage at most."

"That's exactly what happened, the monsters yelled and started killing everyone infront of them in a frenzy. By this time me and my family had made our way into the back of the store while my dad, mom and me were all gathering some supplies and throwing it into a hand baskets. The building had a secondary exit and we left through there just as the killing started. We were able to get away from the monsters and made it a few blocks away before we ran into trouble again."

The woman only looked at the man with a look that said to keep talking. She was interested but her interest was starting to dwindle again.

"This time we ran into Goblins. They were fighting against a squad of soldiers. Thankfully the guns were effective against the little green bastards, We hid in a nearby car as the soldiers killed every last one before we got out and went up to them. My dad had us stay behind and he went up to talk to a man that met him as the others started looking around for more monsters. After a few minutes of talking he waved us over and they let us stay with them in exchange for sharing some of the supplies we got from the store. We stayed with them for a few months after that, hiding from the monsters and taking our chances with supply runs when we could. It wasn't until after a few of the soldiers died that a we heard of people fighting back with strange powers when we were trading with a passing group one day."

"Ah, the 'Gifted', reports shown that the earliest Gifted appeared the very same day. I wonder how you or anyone in your group lasted so long without one of you developing powers? Did none of you come into contact with one of the corpses that was killed? During the early days that was the only way that a person could have gained a power and become a Gifted."

"There were some of the soldiers that wanted to, but the head guy called Hector forbid it, stating that they couldn't know if it was toxic or not. But that lasted only so long especially after hearing about people fighting with powers, My dad sneaked off one night with a machete he found and he was able to kill a lone goblin... He didn't win without injuries and came back without his left arm... He got into a fight with Hector after he was dressed up and had a chance to rest but Hector stopped when dad pulled out a small white stone from his pocket. By then they had completely run out of ammo and were fighting with whatever they could find, so to find something like this made Hector nervous but at the same time he wanted to find more to strengthen his men."

"So he was able to get a Magic stone on his first kill? That is some luck your father has."

"Had...."

"Oh.... I'm sorry."

"It's fine. He gained the power to control a small flame almost overnight and that helped for a few more weeks and we started to gather more and more supplies but nobody was encountering anymore monsters. It was like they invaded us for a few months and then suddenly disappeared, If only we could have known that they were just biding their time to make sure the portals were stabilized....."

James leaned his head down and covered his eyes with his hands as a silent sob wracked his body. After a minute he gathered his wits and breathed out shakily.

"We were out on a supply run when it happened. We were running out of places to find food and were searching damn near any building that seemed like it would have supplies by this point, and while crossing a street a rumble shook the ground and we ran to hide and waited to see what it was. Later I found out that a goblin portal had stabilized in the basement of the building we had decided to hide in and in our hurry to hide nobody thought to look around or make sure the building was safe.... We didn't realize how screwed we were until one of the soldiers were stabbed through the back with a knife and another was shot in the neck with some kind of needle. The basement door was close to where we hunkered down and we didn't even see it coming until it was too late."

"My mom and me were shoved into a supply closet by dad as they fought the goblins but soon it got quiet. Mom opened the door slowly and gasped with her hands covering her mouth, She didn't stop me as I looked out but I wish I hadn't..... The soldiers were all dead except Hector and my dad. There had to be atleast 10 goblins all gathered around Dad and Hector on their knees bleeding heavily. A larger goblin appeared from the basement and the smaller ones knelt down like an important figure just arrived. That goblin walked up to the two of them and started speaking in some weird language before chuckling and stabbing my dad in the shoulder with some kind of jagged knife out of knowhere, He did the same to Hector as my dad was yelling in pain and then it tasted their blood.... Me and mom were both so scared that we couldn't move or do anything, I tried to move, tried to do anything to help my dad but my body just wouldn't listen to me....."

"M-my.... my mom was the one to move, and she ran towards the goblins with a broken broom stick... Haha, she even managed to stab one in the back of the neck. But that was it before the big one grabbed her and threw her down at my dad..... This time it didn't stab the shoulder, but instead I watched as this FUCKING THING StABBED MY MOM IN THE HEART!... After that I just remember a bright red flash as I was thrown back into the room and and slammed against the back wall and passed out. I woke up some time later and left the room only to find remains left of the goblins, and my parents..."

"What about Hector? Did he survive?" The woman was now enthralled by this story and was leaning forward as she was sucked into the story.

"He did, my dad had pushed him out of the way and he had actually fallen down the stairs to the basement before I guess my dad blew himself up and everything else with him. Hector found me in the center of ashes holding onto a piece of fabric I recognized as my moms... I don't know how it survived the fire but I held onto that piece for dear life.... Ahem.... After Hector bandaged himself up I helped him limp along till we were far away from that place, and that's when we were picked up by a roving military group that had orders to rescue any possible survivors while on supply runs. Since then Me and Hector have traveled together for 5 years then he found a wife and had a baby, She should be actually be turning 5 sometime today and I was hoping to surprise them with my Hunters certification at the party."

James wiped away the tears in his eyes and his cheeks as he stared at the woman. For a moment all she did was stare back before she too wiped away a tear that had gotten loose.

"Thank you for telling your story, and I'm sorry for your loss. However I would consider this part of the procedure a success on your part and now we can move onto the next part. If you will follow me to the next room, we will get you setup on the machine that will stimulate your energy pathways and grant you the power to hunt."

In the next room James laid down on a medical bed that was attached to a circular chamber with a large glowing blue stone in the center of it. After a few moments of making sure everything was good and connected, the woman left the room and appeared behind a glass window and after pressing a few keys on a keyboard the machine came to life and James was enclosed while the power radiating from the stone was absorbed by his body.

At first it was fine and he didn't feel anything but a slight tingle. But as seconds turned to minutes that tingle worsened and became an excruciating stab into every nerve in his body. Inside the room, the woman was rushing to stop the procedure as blaring sound rang out and on the screen was a big Exclamation mark and the vital signs of James was reaching a critical point! She stopped it in time and with the help of a few people that came rushing into the procedure room, they pulled James out and wheeled him into a recovery room nearby.

"This is horrible! This man gave me a story that sounded like the makings of a hero.... but come to find out he can barely pass as a porter for low class IDP.... Such a dissapointment, go ahead and print out his registration card... He atleast passed with enough power to classify as a Gifted from now on..." The woman sighed before walking out and back to trudging through her long list of applicants for the day.