All Chapters of The Murklin System: Rise of the Dark Hero: Chapter 1 - Chapter 10
23 chapters
Chapter 1
SHE RAN AS FAR AS her feet could drag her. Twigs were slapping, whacking, and hitting her face, and stones were digging her skin underneath her feet. But no matter how painful it was or how tired she felt, she continued to run.The unknown creature followed suit, but unlike her, it was chuckling while it pursued her. It didn't even feel tired or exhausted. Instead of feeling all those things, it was relishing every moment. Like its prey's anguish was what's making it more eager to continue the chase."Ah!" The young girl groaned. The pain from her knee to the shin crawled like a giant needle pricked her. But instead of giving it her attention, she focused on crawling away from her pursuer.Using a tree as a support, she tried to stand up. But she slumped back to the ground due to exhaustion, pain, and most especially fear. When her efforts to escape were made futile, all she could do was cry and wait for her end. She closed her eyes tightly, hoping that it would end quickly and painle
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Chapter 2
"What can you say about the corpse, Private Corpus?" Commander Gideon Sfaira asked, staring at the woman's body lying beside a tree trunk.The katona trainee stiffened, and his eyebrows creased a little. "What do I think?” You're the commander. Why are you asking me? he wanted to ask, but instead, he answered, "It's most likely an attack from a murklin, Commander. Our team searched the area and there are no signs of a wild animal roaming around. And the corpse doesn't have any animal bite attack."The commander chuckled. "Good answer. And yes, it's an attack from a stupid murklin, who can't hide its footprints." He ambled near the corpse and inspected it a little more. "If you look closely at her rolled eyes, her pale and wrinkled skin, and her dry lips, you'll think that it's an attack from a cerise."The trainee squinted in its direction and nodded. "I only know that a murklin did that because there's been news about them killing here in Fract and cerise doesn't go here since they h
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Chapter 3
Finn busied himself with the household chores. He fetched some water, and picked fruits they would need for the whole day. Sometimes it was enough, most of the time it wasn’t. He had to work twice, even thrice, to feed the family.He chopped wood and made charcoal to sell in the market that afternoon, and he chopped some more wood until he was satisfied. And he wasn’t content all the time. He never was.Another person wasn’t content with him, in fact, in everything he does. His mother always sees the worst in him. Mandy was his archenemy.“How long are you chopping that wood?” And here was her mother, again, criticizing his work. “It’s already two in the afternoon. You won’t sell anything if you’re late.”“Give me a minute. I’m almost done.” After chopping the last piece of wood, he turned to the finished charcoal and secured it with a rope.“You should’ve left earlier when you’re done with the charcoal, then just finish the remaining wood when you get back. Is your brain for decorati
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Chapter 4
“Did you hear that?” Commander Gideon asked. No one spoke. Gideon and Kento listened to the quiet night and heard crickets chirping.“Nothing,” answered Kento. “It must be your imagination. You should try to sleep sometimes, commander.”“Should I?” He chuckled.The small town of Fract was quiet as the dead. It only had approximately five hundred people, and was declining. No one dared to come here aside from its residence, and no one could leave even if they wanted to.It looked like a ghost town at this time of the day. Even the people living here were afraid to go out after dusk. No one dared to seduce the lurkers of the night.The commander and his sergeant couldn’t sleep that night. They wanted to investigate more about the so-called animal attacks happening in Fract. They were at a dead-end. Even the other squad declined to take the case.But according to Gideon, there was still something they hadn’t done yet. Something no mortal would dare.And yet, they did.The recent attack
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Chapter 5
A long gasp escaped Edward Elliot’s lips in the middle of eating his dinner. His fingers curled for a second before it moved, like someone else was controlling them. This only meant one thing, another murklin sharing the wrath blood was born.His daughter, Efrelyn Elliot, rushed on his side until it subsided, and then his father said, “Another murklin of wrath is born.”Efrelyn nodded and sighed. “Another headache?” She couldn’t help remembering their last encounter with a murklin, who ended up annihilating almost every mortal in Flexure. If this one was another headache, this meant another workload for her father.When Edward shook his head, Efrelyn said, “Shouldn’t you be happy? As the Lord of Wrath, this will surely be excluded in your work.”“It’s weird.” He motioned his daughter to go back to her seat and continue eating, but he couldn’t eat anymore after what happened. “And strange.”“Weird how?” she asked while cutting the meat on her plate.Edward stared at her daughter. “He’s
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Chapter 6
“Is that important?” the woman asked before sitting beside him. She looked at the three graves in front of her and played with the flowers on top of them.Finn sat back up again and looked at her. “Well, to answer your question, I’m Finn Erskin from Vad Tribe. At least I still believe I am.”“Vad tribe, huh?” Efrelyn stopped from what she was doing before looking back at him. “What if I tell you that you're not from the Vad tribe?”Finn blinked several times. “Not from the Vad tribe? Then, what? From the Lorn tribe? Verendous? Bestick?” For every tribe he mentioned, he couldn’t hide his anticipation, and most especially, hope. He was hoping to belong to the higher tribes, and not to this isolated and most hated one. He could accept anything aside from Vad.The woman giggled. “Is it so good to belong to those tribes?”“Of course!” he exclaimed. “Who wouldn’t want to belong to the Lorn tribe? Even though they’re the lowest before us, they’re still accepted by everyone. If I can go ther
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Chapter 7
“Where are we, really?” Finn asked as he roamed around the huge castle where Efrelyn brought him. He didn’t know where he was, and this woman wasn’t saying anything either.Everything was made with gold. The statue carved into a huge abstract was made with gold. It looked like ropes knotted together. All the vases placed on top of the rails of the stairway were made with gold. Other abstract forms were carved into them.Even the frames hanging by the wall were gold. The lights were golden, the lamps, the guard’s armor, and even the ceiling. Although in contrast, the curtains and carpet were all red. And the walls and the stairs were made of adobe.“Is this the royal family’s castle?” asked Finn for the nth time.Efrelyn stopped walking abruptly. “Can you please stop asking questions?”“But you're not even answering any of them.”“Because I told you, I don’t have the answer to all your questions, so we’re going to Lord Edward and ask for his help”“You don’t even know who lives here?”
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Chapter 8
“Why don’t you just k-ll me now?” Finn asked as they walked on the long hallway towards his new room. “You don’t have to keep me here.”“Why are you so eager to d.ie? Are you in a hurry?” She shook her head. “Don’t worry. Once Lord Edward is done with you, I’ll ask him if I can k-ll you myself. I’ll make it quick and painless.”Finn didn’t argue back. “Is that a promise?”“Yeah. Yeah,” she answered with a yawn.After a while, they finally reached the room where Finn was staying. But Finn still had a lot of questions. “Do you also have that black smoke?”Efrelyn sighed before showing her smoke. “All murklins have something in common, no matter how much I hate it. We all possess this black smoke. It’s like a medium we use in order to eat.”“What do you eat exactly?”“Emotions. Mortal’s emotion, to be exact. But there’s a catch. We can only feed on a specific emotion, and that is wrath. That’s why we’re called murklins of wrath.”Finn nodded. “You mean, you can’t eat other emotions?”Efr
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Chapter 9
Finn blinked his eyes several times while looking around, and then his eyes went back to Efrelyn who was about to leave. “What am I doing here?” he asked before gaping at the whole place. “This isn’t Fract. I thought you’re sending me back.” “I did. I also said I’m sending you back to where you belong.” Before Finn could ask more questions, she raised her hand in the air to stop him. “Please. Can you stop asking questions I can’t answer, and try to find the answers on your own?” He nodded. He watched as Efrelyn’s titan kicked the back of the horse, and the chaise started to move. When they were out of his sight, that was when Finn went back to gazing around in awe. This was definitely not the Fract he knew. It was brighter, and everything was glowing. There were houses twice as big as their house, and the street was busy and bustling. He hid behind an alleyway, and sat in the corner, away from the people, away from the light. He was so used to the dark and gloomy streets of Fract,
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Chapter 10
Finn stared at the tunnel leading to the Night Hunters' headquarters or hideout, whatever they called it. He had decided to become a Night Hunter after hearing about them at the restaurant. He didn’t have a choice but this one. The higher ups don’t just randomly pick people from the road to become a katona. Of course, they had a training program or some sort to test candidates.If he wanted to climb the ladder, he had to take that one important step. He knew it wouldn’t be easy, and he had already prepared himself for the worse. He would overcome anything that he would have to face here, no questions asked.At the end of the tunnel, everything was dark, the way he liked it. He was expecting to see a lot of people who aspire to become a katona like him, but he only saw a single house resting in the middle of the woods. He thought they were just resting since it was already eight in the evening.When he discovered that the Night Hunters were getting paid, he knew he didn’t have to go b
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