Maya was puzzled.
'Hunters?'
She heard this word being tossed around but did not fully understand what it stood for, except that they were a force that existed… somewhere. What does it mean by them being gone? She couldn't grasp the weight these words carried but knew she was supposed to know what it meant.
She opened up the papers to search for the article, in an attempt to figure out what it meant, only to discover that every piece revolved around the same topic.
Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Elena descending the stairs, her face mirroring the confusion Maya herself felt. As Elena approached, she cautiously observed their surroundings. Spotting the headline, she snatched the paper from Maya's hands. Maya watched as Elena's expression morphed from shock and disbelief into absolute dread.
'Elena?'
🜺🜺🜺🜺
It was a sunny and warm September day. On their walk toward the Academy, Maya felt worried for Elena. This morning she felt her acceptance, or at least deciding to tolerate Maya and her persistence for friendship. But ever since the news they received downstairs, Elena has cut herself off from the world.
First, she tried to go back upstairs. But after Maya had stopped her, she had been walking beside her like an undead, not responding to any stimulus. Even ignoring Keith when they met him, and just continuing straight on, like on an autopilot.
"She heard about it, right?" Keith walked alongside Maya, watching Elena's back as she walked ahead.
"Yes…" Maya was surprised at how accepting he was of her behaviour. "Keith? Can I ask you a possibly stupid question?"
"Ask ahead."
"What exactly are Hunters?"
He stopped surprised by her question.
Maya heard Elena mention them. Lady Kiana also said General of Hunters was one of the triumvirate responsible for the Military. But what purpose does the Military have in a supposedly peaceful world?
Keith organized his thoughts before explaining. "They are a class of elite warriors, specialized for vampire hunting."
"Oh…" Maya understood their connection to vampires, but her curiosity delved deeper.
If they were synonymous with the Military, how could they simply vanish? It was akin to declaring the Government or Academia had ceased to exist. Such institutions might evolve or transform, but they're rarely obliterated entirely.
And to add to confusion…
"Did people really care about them so much?" Maya understood patriotism, but for people to feel deeply for one institution more so than another was vexing.
"They care about what happened to them. They all got slaughtered by vampires. A whole secret city had been attacked and destroyed. The entire order was disrupted. They were supposed to protect us from vampires, and now they are all gone."
It dawned on her that 'gone' meant dead. People weren't mourning an institution, but the loss of individuals who had stood as their protectors.
"That's horrible."
She looked at Elena's back walking in front of them.
'A Class of warriors…?'
It was now obvious the whole school was disrupted. On every corner, Maya could hear people talking about Hunters. About theories how did it happen, and about the consequences. She heard questions being asked: "Who's going to protect us now?", "How did they do it?" Rumours began to spread. She stopped herself in front of one segment of a wall taped with fliers, news articles and clippings.
COORDINATED VAMPIRE ATTACK ON CASTRA: ESTABLISHMENT LOCATION - BEST KEPT SECRET IN MELLGRAH—not so well kept as it turns out
OUR GREAT PROTECTORS HUNTERS EXTERMINATED
HOW IN DANGER ARE WE NOW?
SECRET ORDER OF WARRIORS
LEGENDARY GENERAL OF HUNTERS HAS FALLEN
CASTRA IN A COMPLETE RUIN
WHO WILL PROTECT US FROM THE DARKNESS?
NIGHT IS DARK AND WE ARE ALL ALONE
She examined the headlines, accompanied by chilling photographs of an ancient-looking city in ruins. Collapsed city walls and billowing smoke from piles of rubble dominated the scene. The low-quality black and white images gave the illusion of historical photographs, but Maya reminded herself—this devastation was frighteningly recent.
"That place was heavily glamoured. You couldn't see it even if you walked right by it."
Maya overheard students say.
"Did the whole city fall, just like that?"
"How can a city full of people who live to kill vampires get taken by a surprise by… a vampire attack?!"
"...And they were all there? What, they left us all unprotected so they could have their gathering?"
"How did they know where it was? Nobody but hunters knows the location…"
"Do vampires have bombs? How did they destroy the walls?"
Those were all the questions Maya wondered as well. Students were assembling in the school courtyard, seemingly oblivious to the fact that class had already begun. It was like everyone had forgotten their heads.
The beautiful, sunny day seemed at odds with this grim news. To Maya, it felt inappropriate for the terror that was consuming them, as if the gods were mocking their misfortune.
'…All gods are cruel.'
She remembered what Elena said earlier. Having decided to largely ignore the story about gods from the priestess yesterday, this made her believe that she could be right.
'What am I thinking? Am I going to blame the weather for this? The weather doesn't know today should be sad, nor the birds singing in the trees. The Earth keeps spinning despite their sorrows. It can't afford to stop for humans' pain.'
Professors got out to call students to classes. They weren't upset at everyone's disobedience. Just like the Earth, they had to continue doing their jobs despite what they may wanted.
It wasn't just their minds that felt haunted by this tragedy, so were the dead. The entire courtyard felt haunted; living and the dead. Haunted by something sinister, obscene, something not even Maya could see, but could only feel. Nothing looked different, dead were still standing still, idling expressionless, but felt nightmarishly violent.
During one of their morning periods, a priestess in a beautiful pastel green gown visited the class.
Maya wondered what they thought of the will of gods in the face of such events. True gods were seen as much different than the lesson she received yesterday. But perhaps on a day like today, the God of Light wasn't too unlike the Goddess of Death.
They announced a Memorial Ceremony being held for the fallen hunters in the evening. In the Requiem, they will release their souls to havens and all students will be participating. She went further on to explain that the dress code was formal/ceremonial white, as white was the colour of mourning in witches' culture.
Maya glanced over at Elena. She had laid her head on her arms, resting on the desk. Contrary to Maya's expectations, Elena wasn't sleeping. As Maya looked at her, Elena met her gaze, her expression… empty.
It wasn't the purposeful emptiness of defiance. Instead, it was dangerously vacant, as if all meaning had been lost. Elena seemed to have lost something crucial to her identity.
Eventually, Elena looked away and took a sip from her Thermos bottle. Without a word or asking for permission, she simply stood up and walked out of class.