The Hunters Volume Two: War   Chapter Twenty: The Arcane Circle

The Arcane Circle was the main governing body that oversaw all matters concerning arcane magic and witchcraft in the mortal realm. The organization was extremely widespread to includea vast majority of all magic users worldwide. It provided for its members a place to commune together, a safe haven to practice and further their mystical arts under the tutelage of other older and far more experienced mages. In return, its members were assigned different positions and tasks that were either aimed at furthering the faction's strength, gathering resources or defending their territory and all that was theirs. Unlike the spells they used, ranks are divided into Classes in the Arcane Circle. The divisions were done based on some military titles. Starting from the lowest, the ranking went from Private-Class, Lieutenant-Class, Captain-Class, Commander-Class, Colonel-Class and the highest class obtainable by any normal mage, the General-Class. Above even that was the Elder-Class but that was

The Hunters Volume Two: War   Chapter Twenty One: Elder Rowan

The Salem headquarters was one of the three Arcane Circle HQs that had been built with an academy for educating young and amateur mages. The headquarters itself was hidden from the world by an extremely complex multilayered spell that drew from the principles of the fairly common Variant Magic: Reality Displacement. The only difference was that where the latter created a vacant space by forcefully expanding the space within an object that already had some amount of interior vacancy within, the magic used to conceal the headquarters was designed to the space in the entire area with the landscape of the HQ itself. That had been implemented as a safety measure back when the Hunters were still viciously fervent in their eradication of witchkind. With that kind of magical set up, it had become possible, in the event of such a catastrophic level of danger, to straight up teleport the entire headquarters to an completely new location. Of course such a thing could only be done by the most p

The Hunters Volume Two: War   Chapter Twenty Two: The Meeting

Time: Midnight Location:??? A landscape that was dimly illuminated by a cloudy sky that had no sun. The trees grew in unbridled abundance, filling the hilly terrain as well as the grassy plains. There were rivers that ran in patterns through the forests and down away from the hills. Throughout the whole land, there were no animals, or birds or even an insect. No single sign of intelligent life, save for the massive castle that sat on the plateau of the tallest hill. Surrounded by an ever present cover of ash colored fog, the castle extended to cover over half the length of the natural structure itself. With its tall walls and mode of construction, it was less a castle and more like a fortress. There was no sign of human activity around the structure. Flags flew from the parapets, bearing the symbol of a pentagram encircled by a magic circle with an hourglass within. In one of the corridors that overlooked the interior of the castle, a bluish white portal appeared and a brunett

The Hunters Volume Two: War   Chapter Twenty Three: The Celestial Eyes

"What is that supposed to mean?" The alpha frowned questioningly. "Vastly improved physical capabilities, peak supernatural sensory enhancements, a very powerful healing factor, immunity to illusions and all forms of mine control, preternatural precognition and hypnosis, literally any power up you can give a mortal," Vincent explained. "Even till date, there hadn't been a specific list of all the abilities of the Celestial Eyes. But what is perhaps its most impressive advantage is the fact that it allows whomever possesses it to learn, master and perform with ease, any and all forms of magic, no matter how complicated it may be." Jade's sharp inhale drew attention to her as she looked down at the laptop with a disbelieving impression. "Impossible..." "Why do you think it was given the title, the Eyes of The Creator? For all intents and purposes, given enough time to master their abilities, there is virtually nothing impossible for one with such eyes," Diana said with absolute

The Hunters Volume Two: War   Chapter Twenty Four: The Zoo

The Hunters Volume Two: War   Chapter Twenty Five: The Fallen Knight's Question

Anna giggled again with glee as she watched the snake move its head around in a circular motion, in sync with her own hand's movements. The snake was an Australian Diamond back rattlesnake, as indicated by the sign nearby the glass cage. Unlike most children her age, Anna had no deeply rooted fear of serpents. She had always found the creatures strangely fascinating, from the way they moved and behaved right down to their varied feeding methods. Which was why she had only spent a few minutes with the other reptiles before focusing all her attention on this one. At first the rattlesnake had paid her little attention, obviously used to being stared at by visitors to the reserve. Then she managed to make eye contact with it, or at least she thought she did. Those slitted glassy amber eyes were a different kind of weird even for her. That was when things got strange. When she had attempted to move to another snake, the diamond patterned creature had

The Hunters Volume Two: War   Chapter Twenty Six: The Princess's Answer

"No." "Why?" "Because I don't believe that any one is ever truly born evil." Her answer hit him with the force of a sledgehammer to the gut. Was this it? The question that had plagued him for so long, had it really possessed such a simple answer? He remembered the last person he had asked that question and what had been her answer. Back then, his soul had rejected it firmly and so had he. But now, deep within him he could feel this little girl's words resonating with his soul. There was no mistaking it. Her answer was the one he had been searching for... but still... No. That couldn't be everything. He would have to hear her out more. To satisfy his own curiosity if nothing else. "And what do you mean by that?" Arthur asked, his face set in a thoughtful expression. "Do you mean to say that all the criminals and evil doers in this world are not to blame?" "No that's not what I mean," Anna shook her head

The Hunters Volume Two: War   Chapter Twenty Seven: Threat Designation

After last week's game, school had been abuzz with various comments and thoughts on the event. Students discussed the game's statistics in groups and cliques in the hallways and courtyards, with the more knowledgeable ones offering their take on the matter. As had been expected, the Starlight Comets had trumped the visitors to take the first win of the new season. The whole team had spent the first few periods of the past few days stampeding through the school hallways in loud cheer. As the rowdy bunch crashed their way through the second hallway of the Department of Theater and Arts, the students parted to make way for the team with some of them even joining momentarily in the cheer. One of the students, a slightly tall girl with a slender build and dull red hair leaned into the white wall to avoid the crowds. Dressed in a form fitting dark blue blouse and pants combo, she looked just as desirable as any of the top diva