CHAPTER 5: Shadows of the night

"HUNTER!"

I stepped back in fear and was shocked at what I saw. Hunter, a man I saw die, stood in front of me, his entire body now multiple shades darker, a wicked grin plastered across his face.

"Hunter!. you're supposed To be dead I say you die... how are you here"

Hunter steps forward towards me and I instinctively take a step back

"Oh child you don't know many things but you are correct i did die but I was reborn in the shadows"

"R-Reborn what the hell are you talking about"

Hunter laughed to himself as he walked closer

"Oh child there's much for you to learn but sadly this is where you meet your END"

Hunter shoots his fist toward my stomach but I shifted to the side and dodge the attack

"Well well, it seems you've picked up some new tricks, very impressive. I congratulate you, Nate. But you're still going to have to try harder than that if you wish to win this fight"

Before I could even react Hunter zipped behind me and kicked me forward into the wall. I smashed straight through and landed on the grass on the other side, I stood up and turned just in time to see Hunter launch his foot towards me I threw my arms up in a defensive position and blocked the attack but the force still sent me skidding back, this was bad I have little to no energy to use after my fight against Frederick and none I'm face to face with someone stronger then Frederick. Hunter lifted his hand towards me and a purple light began to shine from it then in a flash a beam of pure Energy shot from his hand towards me I ducked down a part of my hair being burned completely off. The beam Dissipated and I stood up but when I looked at Hunter I was surprised and scared to see Hunter walking over to me. Not a bother on him I stepped back. I can barely use a small ball of energy before being too weak to move yet Hunter could shoot a pure beam of it for half a minute without even a bother on him. Hunter stepped forward and I stepped back.

"Hunter please don't do this, I thought you were a hero".

"hero... hero is just a title meant to fool the less fortunate that there's hope in their lives. I intend to crush that hope once my master has returned"

"Master... who?"

Hunter laughed putting his hand over his face

"why Lucius of course a man I once considered nothing more than a killer but he's shown me the way to true power he brought me back from the brink of death and gave me new powers and a new sense of self a new view on life and now I know what I must do I must fix my mistake"

Hunter points his finger at me.

"Giving you my power"

Suddenly a small sharp beam of energy shot from Hunter's finger and pierced my shoulder. Grabbing my shoulder I turned and ran I heard heavy footsteps behind me as I ducked and weaved as Hunter sent more and more blasts of energy at me each blast creating holes in the ground as I ran I saw a tall black spiked fence in the way thinking fast I forced what little energy into my legs and leaped into the air I landed and rolled then quickly started to run again when I heard a loud crash I turned my head and saw that Hunter somehow ripped the fence from the ground and threw it at me I ducked down as the face zipped past me crashing into the ground. Hunter launched another blast which sent me tumbling to the ground I landed just in front of the broken fence and got one last desperate idea i stood up and grabbed the fence thinking back to what Frederick said I needed more strength so using the very last of my energy I picked up the fence and threw it behind me. Hunter didn't have time to react and was pierced in the chest and pinned to the wall. Panting I held myself up as I looked at Hunter who was staring at me. I looked down and saw purple ooze pour out of the wounds in Hunter's chest.

"You're a dead man Nate. A dead man".

Before I could respond Hunter phased into the wall and disappeared. I slowly made my way to my apartment since it was closer than the mansion. I walked up to my door which was slightly open, I knew for a fact that it was locked when I left and I know James didn't come here since he hasn't left the mansion for a while. I grabbed my sword and walked in, I slowly checked each room not really knowing what I was going to do, if I found an intruder since I was essentially Powerless to stop them, after checking each room there was only one left, my room I slowly opened the door and was surprised to find it empty but something was different on my bed was a note which read

"Shit Head meet me behind Duvlin Academy, thursday, 7pm we need to talk"

Who on earth broke into my house to leave me this aggressive letter. It must be someone from the academy but why did they feel the need to break into my apartment just to leave the letter. thought ran through my head was it something about Hunter or Lucius maybe it was nothing but someone simply concerned about me being absent the past 3 weeks. I wanted to know more but once my mind stopped racing I remember that I was completely exhausted and just then my legs decided to give out and I fell on top of my bed and passed out immediately. The sun shined through my window forcing me to wake up, opening my eyes. I was temporarily confused on why I was back in my apartment but I soon remembered the previous night's events. Sitting up I realised that I needed to get home as everyone back at the mansion didn't know where I was, and as I checked my pocket I realised my phone had been smashed to bits during my fight against Hunter so I had no way of contacting them. standing up I put the note in my pocket, grabbed a handful of clothes and put them in a suitcase. As I walked back to the mansion I made sure to avoid the spot where Hunter disappeared. I reached the mansion and just as I knew to knock on the door a saw a flash in the corner of my eye turning my head I shot my hands up and just barley blocked a punch from Frederick I skidded back but caught myself

"Dammit Frederick what the hell was that"

Frederick patted the dirt of himself

"Well it seems you didn't lose your edge over these past few days"

"Yeah sorry I was out when... DID YOU SAY DAYS"

Frederick Raised his eyebrow

"You been missing for 4 days young Nathen"

"FOUR DAYS WHAT HOW ITS BEEN BARLEY 12 HOURS RIGHT?"

How long did I sleep for? I assumed it was only till morning. Did I use that much energy that my body needed 4 whole days of sleep? It's possible but a problem if true.

"Now Nate I believe it's time for you to explain where you've been".

Walking into the mansion I was met with James Liam and Noah all waiting at the door to the courtroom. It felt like I was about to be scolded but I still went up to them.

"Where the hell have you been"

I looked at Liam with a serious face.

"We need to talk we've got a big problem"

Leading them into a more private room told them what happened with Hunter and they were shocked and scared to say the least. There was a tense silence which was broken by James who asked the burning question

"So what do we do if he comes back"

No-one answered, no-one knew how to answer, or what to answer with. We've been training to fight Lucius but me actually fighting a product of his power made it feel all to real it proved that we need to get stronger much much stronger if we wanted even an iota of a chance to beat Hunter let alone Lucius. But I noticed something in my chest. I felt something I had noticed before but after I woke up from fighting up Hunter it felt bigger testing out my idea I lifted my hand and shot out a small bit of energy the energy dissipated before it hit the wall. Noah James and Liam all looked at me in confusion. I turned to face them

"I think I have a way to increase our energy even faster than before"

I told them about my discovery and we began to train accordingly. We decided to name what I had found as an energy pool. I noticed after I had woken up that something inside of me had grown and when I used my energy it felt lighter. When I concentrated it felt like a liquid. I could feel it slosh around, obviously there wasn't a physical pool of energy inside of me but I could still feel it. But what I had noticed was that it seems to have grown after my fight against Hunter. I deduced that using most if not all of your available energy while fighting and then resting seems to let the pool grown, expand in a way. So that's what we decided to do, we first told Frederick we were going to handle our training by ourselves for the near future which he accepted. For the next 3 days we trained relentlessly until we could barely breathe then after the 4th day of training it was almost time. I sat up in the bed Liam had let me and James use while we slept in the mansion sitting on the ned i put my clothes on I looked at the other side of the room where James was sleeping and I debated telling him where I was going but decided against it whoever this person was they wanted to meet me I didn't know if I lt would be a good idea to bring other people putting my shoes on I grabbed my sword and left the mansion. Walking I'd put my hood up not wanting to be seen. I was afraid I would get recognised since I was so close to the academy. Walking up the closed gates I began to walk along the wall. As I walked I heard a sound as I turned a hand grabbed me and pulled me behind the wall. I instinctively punched the person but they were able to block. The person let go of me and I stepped back

"Who the hell are you why did you leave that letter"

The man sighed and stepped forward

"STAN?"

"Yeah it's me you need to give me some answers.

"Answer? What the hell are you on about?. why did you break into my house to leave this letter"

Stan stepped forward and lifted his hand out. I watched in confusion and then I pure shock as Stan shot out large ball of energy at the wall next to us

"I picked up some orange ball that you dropped and it exploded with some purple shit and now I can do this. You're the one who dropped that shit so I bet you can explain what the hell is going on"

It all clicked at once the marble that went missing Stan found it. But out of all the people why stan.

"Okay okay just give me a sec it's kinda complicated"

I thought what should I tell him knowing Stan I was afraid he might want to Join Lucius or even Hunter but just as I was about to speak when Stan suddenly shot forward

"MOVE SHIT HEAD"

Stan grabbed my shoulder and threw me to the side. I was worried he was going to try fight but sadly that wasn't the case as I looked past Stan I saw Hunter emerge from the wall. Stan stepped back and right next to me

"Hey shit head you know this guy"

"Yeah I do he's the one who gave me those orange Crystal but he's gone evil ill explain later. How good are you at fighting"

Stan smirked punching his fist together

"I didn't do 8 years of boxing for nothing"

Hunter stepped forward. He lifted his hand just as before an flight began to emit form the palm

"STAN DUCK"

Stand and I jumped to opposite sides as Hunter launched a beam of purple energy. Rushing in I grabbed my sword and swung at Hunter who lifted his hand and a shield of energy blocking the attack. Just as my Hunter blocked my attack Stan ran towards his opened side and punched Hunter in the chest causing him to go skidding back. Composing myself I ran forward using a small bit of energy I shot towards Hunter Hunter launched a punch at me but I shifted to the side keeping my momentum. Stan rushed in next to me and we both went to punch Hunter but he fell straight through the floor dodging our attack. Hunter emerged behind me and kicked me forward grabbing me Hunter threw me into the wall I crashed through and landed in a classroom I watched as Hunter walked towards the hole I crashed through. Standing up I used the wall as support. Hunter reached his hand towards me just as my hand accidentally hit the light switch turning on the lights. The lights flashed over Hunter's hand which vanished Hunter stepped back out of the light and his hand reappeared thinking fast I shouted

"STAN THE LIGHTS HIS WEAKNESS IS LIGHT"

Suddenly Stan shot forward and kicked Hunter into the light causing him to disappear entirely. Sitting down I tried to calm myself as Stan just looked down confused. I stood up walking over to stan

"Look I know your confused come with me to Liams mansion and I'll explain-" suddenly the floor began to shake we looked around and saw that the wall we smashed through seemed to support a lot as the wall and roof shook the light began to flicker we saw Hunter appear disappear over and over then the lights turned off completely Hunter looked to us in pure anger and shot towards us before we could reacted he kicked Stan and ran towards me I reached for my sword but he punched me in the gut before I could and sent me tumbling to the ground stand up I backed up into the wall I made a ball of energy which i threw at Hunter. Hunter dodge to the side and seeped into the ground I looked around ready for where he appeared next but suddenly a hand wrapped around me from behind as Hunter emerged from the wall he began to pull me back and to my shock I too began to be pulled into the wall

"I'm going to make you suffer Nate"

I tried to fight him but he was too strong.

"STAN RUN, GO TO LIAMS. WARN THE OTHERS"

Stan looked at me and he seemed genuinely concerned for me. In front of me no longer stood my bully but a scared teenager like myself but when we locked eyes he nodded and ran off. The harder I fought the deeper I was pulled and my vision began to blur as everything went black.