Chapter 5 - The Night of Departure

As always Hikari woke up early in the morning and cleaned himself up. After this, he goes downstairs and has a small breakfast with his mother. "So mom, today's the day. Time for me to become a hunter." Hikari says while staring down at his eggs and toast. When Hikari looks up from his plate his mom has one tear in her eye. Slowly she says "Ya know, you don't gotta do this. You can stay here and work on the farm with me." It is clear to Hikari that his mother is making excuses. Calmly Hikari says "Mom, I understand that you don't want me to go but, this is what I trained for. I can't just abandon my country." The room goes quiet and if a pin fell you would hear it with crystal clear clarity. Hikari finishes his meal and goes to leave the house when Sylvia makes one last plea to change her son's mind. "Hikari, if you leave then I'll be all alone. Your brother is already a hunter and it has been years since he last contacted us. Your father is out there-there fighting a one-sided war, and now you're gonna leave me too. To make things worse, you are leaving earlier than originally planned." Sylvia is now crying and starts to slur her words. The only thing that can be fully understood is the words "Please don't leave me!". Hikari walks over to Sylvia and holds her tightly to his chest. Sylvia looks up at her son's face to see a teary eye. "Mom. I will never abandon you. As long as I'm still alive, you'll never, EVER, be alone. This is just something I have to do." Before they part ways, Sylvia gives Hikari one last squeeze and lets him go. Hikari gives a smile and a wave of his hand before leaving for the arena. As he arrives, Rona happens to show up at the same time. Rona walks over to Hikari and says "Hey Hikari, today's the big day. Ya ready buddy?" Hikari smiles a little and gives a simple yeah. Rona gets a little closer to his face and Hikari instinctively moves back a little. "Hikari were you...crying? What in the world would make you cry?" Hikari wipes his eye and with a small sniffle he says "I just had an emotional morning that's all." Other kids start to show up at the arena. Including Maria and Marco. A smiling Maria skips over to Hikari and says good morning to both of them. Stretching Maria sweetly says "Today's the big day. I'm finally gonna be a full-fledged Huntress and then afterward we finally get to pick our groups. Do you have any specific people in mind?" Hikari gives a little smirk and thinks a little before saying "Well if I'm being honest, the only person guaranteed to be on my squad is Rona. The rest is up to how I feel after the end of class." Maria gives a big smile and puts out her hand. "Hopefully we get to be on the same team." A blushing Rona interjects saying "Well, the team only needs one swordsman, two is just too many." Maria looks to Hikari to defend her, but he looks away, pretending not to notice. Maria blushes bright red and quickly retorts "W-well, in the end, it is all up to Berlin." Marco gives a slight grunt and points his head in the arena. Maria and Marco head inside and the others soon follow. Berlin is standing on the sands while the students fill in the bleachers. After all the students are seated, Berlin finally begins to speak. "Today is the final day of your training. After this, you all will be Hunters and Huntresses. It is my job to send you into the war fully prepared for battle. That is why our final lesson will be taught by someone else." Confused whispers come up from the crowd of students. Just then, a man with a giant sword on his back enters the arena from the other side. This man stands at six foot two and has a scar over his left eye. He has silver spiky hair that goes to the base of his neck and wears a black robe on his left arm and waist. He has on black pants and a pair of boots. He is wearing a sleeveless, black, cotton turtle neck under the robe. As the man walks closer to the bleachers, Hikari's heartbeat begins to rise. That devilish grin, that jawline, that sword. It was his father, the local town hero, and most importantly, Hikari's role model. "Today, Alduin will be giving you a lesson in the most crucial asset a hunter has. The Mana Cloak." Berlin looks at Alduin and they both nod to each other. "I'll let you take it from here on out, buddy." Berlin walks off to the side and Alduin begins to speak. "As a hunter, it is your job to kill beasts and things that threaten mankind." Alduin pauses before saying "However, there are two things that even the hunters have trouble fighting. Umbras and Demons." Alduin looks toward the students and his smile is gone. "They are all creatures of immense power that purely outshine humans in every physical way." With a small pause, Alduin begins saying, "Umbras are manifestations of extreme hate and death, they are pure evil incarnate. They are blindingly fast, unbelievably strong, and most importantly they are surprisingly cunning. Demons are powerhouses that can kill a man in an instant. Normally, the power gap is too big, so then how do we fight these things." Smirking, Alduin closed his eyes, and suddenly a blue light surrounds his body. "This is what we call a Mana Cloak. By drawing energy from the Earth and sky, you can make a layer of Mana cover your body. Just a basic Mana Cloak will boost magic and strength by five to ten times. An advanced Mana Cloak will boost magic, strength, and intelligence by hundreds of times." To demonstrate his power, Alduin goes and taps everyone's shoulder without them even seeing him move. "This technique is how we close the power gap. Everything I just did was only using a basic Mana Cloak." Alduin looks at the students and with a steady voice, he says "However, don't get cocky, if you slip up, and make even one mistake, you can and will lose your life. Demons can move like what I just demonstrated without a Mana Cloak. So always be on guard in your fights against the enemy." The arena was silent as they pondered that thought. Demons were that fast without a cloak? Alduin sensing the mood of the arena decides to smile before saying, "Now on to the fun part of the lesson! You all will be trying to create a mana cloak. Don't be upset if it doesn't work, it can take a long time to make mana cloaks. Now, begin!" After telling the students to begin training, the next eight hours were dedicated only to forming a mana cloak. However, in that eight-hour period, not a single person was able to make a Mana Cloak. The closest anyone got to making a Mana Cloak is pulling Mana from their surroundings. Everyone else either got no reaction from their surroundings or began to feel the mana around them. At six o'clock Alduin made everyone stop and was saying some final words before letting them go pack their things for the night. "This technique isn't easy and on average takes a year to learn and ten to master. So don't beat yourself up over it. You will learn about your teams tonight at the departure. So, keep practicing and getting stronger. Our country needs strong new warriors to fight and preserve our ways. And congratulations, you're all officially Hunters now." The students slowly start to clap and get excited. Celebrating with each other the first step of their new lives. With one more wave of his hand, he says "You are all now dismissed." As the new hunters head home, Alduin asks for Hikari to come to him. Hikari walks up to his father, and both of them stare at each other, unwavering in their stares. This goes on for two minutes straight but Hikari blinks and both father and son begin to laugh. "Looks like you still can't beat your old man in a staring contest. What happened to each generation being better than the last?" Hikari chuckles a little before replying "You just got lucky that's all." Both of them walk back to the house, talking about the things that had happened in the past ten years. "Ya know, mom is gonna be so happy to see you when we get to the house. Who knows, you might get a heavenly reward?" Hikari remarks jokingly. "Now listen here boy, I already know I will. Your mom is like a book and I've read her many times. To be honest she's my favorite book. She's so good I haven't touched another book since we first got together." This talk went on for some time and as soon as Alduin is finished traumatizing Hikari, they arrive at the house. Hikari wanting to get away from the conversation as quickly as possible runs inside the house to fetch his mother. After a minute Sylvia runs outside and hugs Alduin in a tight embrace. "I thought you may have been dead. Write to me once in a while jackass!" With saying that Sylvia slaps Alduin in the face only to make out with him pushing into the house. Before being pushed into "heaven's gates" he gives a thumbs up and disappears into the shadows called home. Hikari laughs while slowly shaking his head as he walks around the block. After about an hour, Alduin comes to get Hikari for dinner and to help him pack up. As the night goes on everything is perfect, there is food and laughter at the table. Everything is packed up for his departure to Hunter HQ in the capital. That is when everything goes wrong and tragedy strikes. Alduin looks out of the window by chance only to notice the sunset. It was 11 o'clock at night, why was the sun up when it should be pitch black outside? "What the hell?" Alduin whispers. Hikari can see his father's muscles tense up a little. Hikari's laughter trails off as Alduin leaves the table. That is when Alduin feels it. A pressure and heat that can only be caused by one person. "Shit!" Alduin turns to his wife and son and shouts "Everyone, it's time to get the hell out of here!" Alduin looks at Hikari and at that moment Hikari nearly pissed his pants. What he saw plastered on his father's face was fear, the one expression he never, ever wore. Moments later the loud howl of a beast and the scream of a woman is heard echoing through the village. An inferno had arrived, and with it was death.