Runes

It was easy to find the Ice cream man, just follow the stupid songs. I allowed him to serve everyone in the area, it would make my job of taking him much easier if no one remembered it. After everyone had their ice cream, I lined up myself.

He attempted to serve me, but instead, I reached into the truck and injected him with a tranquillizer. He may only be a shell of a person now, but he's not immune to good old fashioned medication. I tied him up and hitched his truck to my vehicle.

Dad followed me from behind, in his car. While this was an easy mission; this was also my first mission. We took the truck to a secluded area, where a man from the DE took care of the rest. After the man left, dad has something to say.

It was getting dark and we both sat on our car's hood.

Dad: "Damien, I want to know. I never wanted this life you."

Me: "What?... To not become a part of DE?"

Dad: "You are still not a part of the DE. You are training under my jurisdiction. Understand this, a hunters life is highly uncertain. Most of us die before reaching their thirties."

"Uncertain...." I laughed, "My eyes could tell people's death. I still don't know what these eyes are."

Dad: "You will find out soon enough."

Me: "WHEN?!"

Dad: "Time is near, Damien. Trust me."

Me: *sigh* "Okay, I'll trust you on this."

Dad: "There is one more thing."

Me: "What?"

Dad: "You are going back to school."

'No! Anything but that!'

Me: "Why? What am I going to learn there?"

Dad: "It's just for maintaining your cover. Duskwood Academy offers one of the best photography programs in the country. What do you say?

Me: "Me. Photography. What the hell are you thinking?"

Dad: "Come on, it's just taking photos and memorizing books. You can do it."

Me: "How the hell am I going to get in there?"

Dad: "Don't forget, who your dad is?"

Me: "Bullshit!"

We shared a laugh and went back home. All I know is, my life is going to get stranger and stranger.

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-Timeskip-

I feel like I six again. Small, mom carrying me. Going to the beach, collecting seashells. Then everything got blurry. I can't see anything, it's just darkness. I was alone, then he appeared.

I can't see. Everything is blurry. I remember; I had Glaucoma. The nerve which connected my eye and brain was damaged. What happened?

𝗜𝘁'𝘀 𝗵𝗮𝗿𝗱 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝘆𝗼𝘂. 𝗜𝘀𝗻'𝘁 𝗶𝘁?

Who are you?

𝗡𝗼 𝗼𝗻𝗲 𝘁𝗮𝗹𝗸𝘀 𝘁𝗼 𝘆𝗼𝘂.

WHO ARE YOU?!

𝗘𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘆𝗼𝗻𝗲 𝗰𝗮𝗹𝗹𝘀 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗮 𝗳𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗸.

Surrounded by nothing but eternal darkness, a creature grabbed me. I could see my reflection in his eyes. He is pure dark mass, I cannot fathom his size.

My eyes turned pitch black. Where is this? Where am I? I am want to go home?

𝗟𝗲𝘁 𝗺𝗲 𝗯𝗲𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗲 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗲𝘆𝗲𝘀

𝗟𝗲𝘁 𝗺𝗲 𝗯𝗲𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗲 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝘀𝘁𝗿𝗲𝗻𝗴𝘁𝗵

𝗟𝗲𝘁 𝗺𝗲 𝗯𝗲𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗲 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗱𝗮𝗿𝗸𝗻𝗲𝘀𝘀

𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗠𝗢𝗢𝗡 𝗛𝗔𝗦 𝗔𝗪𝗢𝗞𝗘𝗡

𝗪𝗜𝗧𝗛 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗦𝗟𝗘𝗘𝗣 𝗢𝗙 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗦𝗨𝗡

𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗟𝗜𝗚𝗛𝗧 𝗛𝗔𝗦 𝗕𝗘𝗘𝗡 𝗕𝗥𝗢𝗞𝗘𝗡

𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗦𝗣𝗘𝗟𝗟 𝗛𝗔𝗦 𝗕𝗘𝗚𝗨𝗡

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*Haaaaa*

I got up to find my self on my bed. What was that? A scary a nightmare. Hmmm, I don't think I could sleep now.

*Knock*

*Knock*

I heard sound knocking coming from the door. It is 4 am, It could only be dad. I opened the door to let him, he just stood there with a metal stylus in his hands.

Me: "It's 4 am. What the hell now?"

Dad: "You did well in the mission, tomorrow is your first in school."

Me: "So?"

Dad: "It's time to get your first rune."

My first rune? Runes, also known as Marks, are symbols that grant beings various supernatural abilities. For Hunters, runes are a complex runic language created by magi, which grants them powers beyond those of mundanes. Runes are burned into hunters' skin using a stylus; and are the most common tool in their fight against monsters.

Dad: "Pick one of them, " he said handing me a book.

I opened the book. It listed runes and their effects.

The Voyance rune is the most basic and permanent rune given to hunters at a young age, typically placed on the back of the person's dominant hand. This serves to enhance and focus the Sight, giving the wearer extrasensory perception, allowing the hunter to see contemporary events beyond their sight, past concealment, such as illusion, and, with training and practice, to identify Other siders at sight.

Dad: "You don't need it. You can charge your eyes to use the same effect."

Dad took notice of my interested look. The charge is a simple ability, all I need to do is focus my prana on different parts of the body, whichever I want to enhance. Charging my eyes also gives me abilities of different runes like night vision and far sight. This is all because of my eyes. Normal people can't use magic, it depends on the person's blood lineage and soul. Luckily, I am have both. I come from a lieange of hunters with a great soul. The amount of prana I have is 1000, way higher than average. I always hate this power. When dad helped me awaken it, I felt like jolt of electricity ran through my body.

Fortis: This rune enhanced Strength of the user.

Me: "I choose fortis."

Dad smiled and said, "It gonna hurt."

Me: "How much?"

Dad: "I am going to long-term prison for child abuse; hurt."

The stylus lit up like it's on flames. He drew the rune on air. Then pushed the rune towards my chest. The mark burned through my shirt, engraved itself into my skin.

I crouched in pain, felt like my body is burning. The pain lasted only a few moments. I felt the newfound strength, I stood up as my body felt light.

There are more runes. Grave wounds can be temporarily remedied with other healing runes such as the mendelin rune, which looks like three overlapping circles that serves to strengthen the victim's constitution, or amissio rune; which slows blood loss and speeds natural blood replacement. The mendelin rune also grants partial and temporary invisibility by casting a glamour over the wearer, allowing them to hide from mundane.