Cap 6 - Past Traumas

One quiet day, this was how it all began, in the midst of a quiet and common orphanage, although large, housed a median number of staff and orphans, among all the children and adotakeers who lived in that place, there was a boy who used to spend a lot of time alone.

"Hey Jean, why don't you go play with the other kids? " Asked one of the employees for the boy."

"I don't really like to fit in..."

"Always like this right? At least try to talk to them a little bit."

"Maybe later."

Despite saying that, Jean had no interest in fulfilling what he had said, the boy did not like to talk to people very much, after the barriers were destroyed, Jean ended up witnessing several very traumatic moments that led the boy to move away from people, there was not much time that the boy had arrived in that orphanage, initially some children tried to call him to play, but the boy always gave the same response, after denying so much, the children and adolescents began to ignore him, although the boy did not seem to care.

The days at the orphanage passed quickly, the boy was now 10 years old, had just turned 5 years old that the boy lived in that place, it was exactly on the anniversary of his arrival, that everything changed.

That night, something caught the boy's attention, a strange bad feeling, it was late at night, yet the boy got up and began to walk through the corridors of the orphanage, something was wrong, a strange icy breeze covered the place.

After heading to the first floor, the boy saw what was bothering him so much, a black-haired, pale woman in a black dress with white details, she held one of the employees by the neck with only one hand, at the same moment the boy saw that creature, he hid in the hallway he had just come from.

"What's that doing here? "The boy thought as he walked slowly along the path which he had come."

A loud noise caught his eye, it was like something breaking, soon after a much bigger noise frightened the boy, the creature had broken the woman's neck and flung her into one of the closets, the wise boy who if exposed would end up being seen by the creature, without wasting time he opened a cleaning closet and entered the door quietly.

What came after that, because of its size, made Jean had been deprived to see, the noise had alerted the other employees who did not waste time to search for their origin, the movement of the employees ended up also attracting the attention of the orphans, however, that was their biggest mistake, deprived of being able to see, Jean could only hide the cries of dread, fear and pain of those people, the creature killed each of the people mercilessly.

Even with fear Jean waited, it seemed to last forever what it was a few minutes, after everything was silent, the boy finally created courage to be able to leave that place, the ground once cleaned, was now stained by blood and bodies, that terrible vision was something that the boy had witnessed before, he wise that standing there could cost his life.

Putting his hands in front of his mouth, slowly the boy began to walk towards the front door, he tried not to focus on that horrible sight that was around him, when the boy was finally coming to the door, he felt a cold that went up his spine and froze him at the same moment.

"Waiting for you to come out of that closet was distressing little boy, if you had waited a little longer, I would have ripped you out of the force and broken your legs."

Suddenly the boy looked back at the creature now full of blood marks, in that situation fear dominated the boy's mind, he did not know what to do, meanwhile that woman began to walk towards the boy.

"Aren't you going to try to run? Maybe you can still escape, but not through that door."

The creature wanted to play with the boy, the woman slowly got out of front of the boy, he soon understood that she had opened passage so that the same could run and amuse the creature even more, even knowing that his chances of escape were minimal the boy still did not give up, without waiting too much the boy began to run towards the corridors, in the other part the creature did not move.

As he ran down the halls Jean had in mind that hiding would not be possible, he just sought a way to escape the building, the place had only two ways out, the entrance door to which the boy could not return and an exit at the back of the building, the corridors before bustling were now quiet and gloomy, the boy had no idea where that creature might be, but he kept running toward the back of the building.

"Humans... How slow you were..."

At that moment the creature suddenly appeared in front of the boy, Jean could not even move, he froze at that moment.

"You have become weak... Human children were once stronger, what happened to your magical powers? Even adults didn't use them. Wait... Don't tell me you can't use magic skills anymore?"

"..."

"How disappointing, if they can't even defend themselves anymore... So even your existence isn't any good."

The creature then began to walk towards the boy, terrified the boy could not move, as he approached the boy, the woman raised his arm and prepared to kill the boy.

"So you were here..."

A male voice echoed down the aisle, at the same time the boy and the creature looked at where the voice originated, suddenly lightning came toward the creature that quickly swerved from the attack.

"Magic? You're a different human than that..."

"And you're the worm that killed everyone here but this brat."

"So not all humans have lost their magical powers, that's great..."

"The brat, if you don't want to die then get out of there."

After hearing those words Jean did not think twice, he ran toward that man, however, he realized that the creature did not try to interfere, much less moved, the creature just stared at the man with a dark look.

"It's been a long time since I've fought against a human, I've begun to think that you've become weak after killing everyone here."

"..."

"Let's start then, do your best to entertain me..."

Before the creature even had time to think, the man went through his chest with lightning.

"Don't think that just because you deviated from the first... You'd have some kind of chance."

The creature could not even see what had just happened, when her consciousness returned she rose slowly.

"How surprising..."

"It would be prudent if you had stayed on the ground."

"You're interesting, I'm going to love killing you."

At that moment the atmosphere surrounding that creature changed sharply, the boy could feel immense pressure.

"The brat, you better get out of here, I don't mean to defend you from that thing."

The boy did not think much, he turned and began to run, while he moved away could hide many bangs and noises, the fight between the two had already begun, however, Jean just wanted to get out of that place.

When the boy finally managed to leave the building, he imagined finally being saved, but that sensation did not last long, the creature at the same time was flung through the window of the building after being hit by one of that man's attacks, falling on the boy's side.

"So you're still here? "The creature said rising slowly."

Being in the presence of that woman froze the boy, the creature then turned in the direction of the boy, coming face to face with it.

"Your friend is very strong... But I'm going to kill him sooner or later, so why don't I kill you now? So I'll save you the trouble of coming after you later."

After hearing those words, Jean was seized by the thoughts of what it was like to be incapable, the wise boy that that would be his end, before it was all over, the boy felt something abnormal, an energy emanated from his hands, even being imperceptible, the boy could feel his power, at the same moment the boy raised his two open hands toward the creature, at the time she did not notice, for the creature the boy was just deferring the inevitable, then suddenly the boy managed to deliver lightning from both hands in the direction of the creature.

After receiving the boy's attack the woman was thrown back, at that moment Jean could not understand what had just happened.

"So you're a brat user? "The man who suddenly appeared behind the boy said."

"..."

The boy didn't wise what to answer, he was still trying to absorb what had just happened.

"So the boy can also use magic, apparently my time has not been totally lost here..."

"You're not dead yet? "The man said as he raised his arm and pointed his finger at the creature."

"A mere human cannot..."

Before she finished speaking, the man struck a lightning bolt that crossed the creature's head, after receiving the blow she only fell to the ground, after realizing that the danger had passed, only one thing passed through the boy's head.

"How did you get here?"

"So you talk brat? Someone here contacted the ACP and called for help."

"Why did you take so long to get here?! All of them..."

"If you cared so much for them then you should have used your powers before."

"..."

" Tsc, insolent brat, soon the ACP will be here to see if there is still someone alive and clean the place, if you want to stop being useless come with me, I'll teach you how to master that power of yours."

"What's your name?"

"...Carlos"

There was nothing else in that place for the boy and he wisely, reluctant Jean agreed to follow Carlos, the boy had no idea what to expect, but still continued following that man.

After a few years of going through the training imposed by Carlos, Jean had become one of the hunter's best students, he surpassed the other students at an amazing speed, Calos then thought of an exclusive training for the boy, something to make the boy get an idea of what a real fight would be.

One day without much explanation, Carlos took Jean into the world of spirit, the environment that the hunter chose was like a medieval village.

"What exactly did we come here to do?"

"Your training will be lasting a week here, I chose this place exactly because it has level threats about human, so you should have no problem dealing with them."

"..."

"Apparently you understand, then do your best to survive."

Carlos then returned through the portal leaving the boy alone, only with his own luck and his spear, Jean was now 18 years old, but his experience in combat had never been put to the test, the boy had spent most of his time training alone, focusing only on controlling his ray magic.

Mastering that magic was difficult, many of her users gave up the idea of being hunters because of how difficult it was to develop and control that ability, Jean had gone through the same thing, it took him long years to manipulate and control it, but he never gave up, after a long time he had finally managed to control his magic.

Now he was being put in a real combat situation, although the place appeared to be quiet, Jean had in mind how dangerous that environment was.

"The spirit world... The same place that brought the end to my world..."

His first two days in that environment were quiet, the boy first found a place to take shelter in one of the houses and tried to be silent, to form that did not draw attention, during those two days he witnessed the anomalies of the spiritual world, despite being quiet from morning to night he became a disturbing place, it was difficult to sleep and the thought of being attacked mantia the boy on alert all the time.

After the third day the boy began had the misfortune to be found by the pods, they were spirits that could be considered below the class over human, could not attack or be attacked, but they appeared randomly and when they came into contact with someone it was difficult to get rid of them, the vagantes are evil beings that absorb any and all kind of good thoughts of people, they usually leave when they realize that the victim they have chosen has a strong mind, but when they find a victim who is already mentally impaired, they absorb happy thoughts and begin to force the person to sink deeper and deeper into sadness, until the person can't take it anymore.

The boy could not get rid of those creatures, the wanderings stunned the boy for hours, showing him his past and the day he discovered his powers, forcing the boy to remember all the evil that went against his will, Jean then began to see a version of himself only when he was younger.

"You're still weak."

"..."

"You've never been able to save anyone... That night you were a coward, it didn't change a bit from when snakes killed our parents, you continued a child hiding and crying."

"I know that, but I also know that I didn't have the strength to change those situations, now that's changed..."

The boy, though traumatized by his past, managed to stand firm even with the wanderings by his side, when he finally arrived on the fifth day, noticed a peculiar figure, it was like a white fox with red stripes by the body, that figure stared at the boy from afar inside a black forest, after some time she disappeared, Jean wise that that creature was not reliable, there were few beings who inhabited the world of spirits who could be considered good.

When he arrived on his sixth day Jean was exhausted, it had been a while since he had not ate and had not been able to rest either, yet he was still firm, but on that day that strange figure appeared again, this time she was closer, a few steps from the boy, it was as if she was always there lurking, more than only now had the interest to reveal his presence.

That figure blindly stared at the boy, little by little she began to approach while his face that once looked smooth opened showing a mouth full of teeth, even exhausted the wise boy that that creature had no good intentions, so he entered his combat position waited for the creature to approach.

After a long time staring at each other, the strange fox figure advanced toward the boy, using the few forces he had, Jean began to dodge the fox's attacks while looking for the right time to attack, Jean wise that in his current situation, if he did not kill the creature in a single blow she would kill him, then he waited, his enemy was not so strong, but it was fast, while the fox prepared to attack the boy again, Jean finally found the opening he needed, dodging the fox's swift attack, Jean electrified his spear and nailed it to the creature's neck, after which he used his remaining magic to carry his spear electrifying the creature and finally killing it.

After being defeated, the fox began to disappear giving way to a white mask with red details shaped like a fox face, Jean then took the mask and began wearing it on his face.

The next day Carlos finally arrived, after walking a little through the village, Carlos found Jean sitting with his back to a well while looking at the ground.

"What a ridiculous mask is that?"

"..."

"Apparently you really survived brat, my congratulations... " said Carlos as he turned his back and went back to the portal."

Without waiting too long Jean got up and followed his master back to the human world, after passing through the portal, Charles stopped Jean before he left.

"The brat, now you are no longer a beginner, the elders have observed your experience in the spirit world, now you are an apprentice rank hunter."

"..."

After learning of that news Jean did not show much interest and began to withdraw from the room, after getting ready he began to prepare to return home, on the way out he noticed a certain splendour, curiosity soon took his mind, approaching a room he can see the trial of a girl who was going through the apprentice's test, he then watched the girl's fight and his approval, but something else caught his attention, that girl as he left the room had a negative aura, an aura he had already witnessed when he was younger.

"Did you take an interested in that brat? "Carlos said while he was going against the boy."

"Who is she?"

"Her name is Haruka, she is a user of the soul."

"User of the soul? I've never heard of that magic."

"It's a very old magic, she was discovered after a fight with an ancient demon, then she had another user who was also apprenticed to the same idiot who is training that brat."

"Have you ever met him?"

After the boy's question, Carlos was troubled, his anger was more than apparent.

"That asshole killed six hunters who used to be his friends, I tried to stop him but I couldn't either."

"I understand... I'm going home."

At that moment Jean had recalled his past, the presence of that girl made him remember the moments of despair that he had spent as a child, the girl had a negative and frightening aura, something that he had witnessed closely as a child, it bothered the hunter.

After a few days the boy finally received his first mission, it was an infestation of youkais that had taken over a small town.

"Are you excited for your brat mission?"

"No, i'm not... Why do they take so long to send the hunters on these missions?"

"It's pretty simple, youkais are threats that don't usually leave the area where they appear, so the army closes the city and tries to calculate the number of threats on the spot and then send the hunters."

"And how many threats have they been able to calculate?"

"They did not get much information, only that among those pests has a prime class."

"It didn't help much then..."

"The hunter's life is so brat, if it were easy anyone would be a hunter, try not to kill himself like an idiot."

"Comforting your motivation..."

After that brief conversation with Carlos, Jean took his things and prepared for his mission, after arriving at the organization he waited patiently for the other hunters, however, he noticed that there was a hunter who had not yet arrived, at first he did not care so much, until the missing hunter finally arrived.

"There bunch! I sprouted, is everyone ready already?"

That voice echoed through the boy's ears, he quickly turned his gaze to the girl, while she talked to her master, Jean realized that she was the same girl he had seen in the apprentice test, however, this time the girl no longer had that negative aura, now he was close enough to the girl who had reminded him of his troubled past.