Chapter 2: From Hunter to Hunted

2174- Present Day

Elias shifted in his sleep his face being assaulted by the rays of light shining through the glass of his window. "Ugh 5 more minutes," he mumbled turning the opposite direction to avoid the sun.

The windows opened letting the fresh morning breeze through, Elias shivered and clutched his blankets tighter. "Elias it's time for you to wake up," the robotic voice called to him.

"Just let me sleep in today ORION ," he covered his face with the pillow hoping to drown out ORION's voice. "Elias," ORION droned again, its voice coming from the ceiling panel that doubled as a sleep-cycle monitor. "Your pulse suggests you are awake. The raid briefing begins in 47 minutes. Probability of tardiness: 92%." Elias jumped out of bed and rushed to the shower, "You should have lead with that ORION."

As he stumbled toward the shower, a hologram of ORION's interface (a floating orb of golden light) materialized in his periphery.

"Shall I notify your squad of your imminent lateness?" it asked, a hint of synthetic smugness in its tone.

"Don't you dare," Elias said, yanking open the shower door. The water activated on voice command. "Ice-cold. Wake-up mode."

The spray hit him like a bucket of liquid adrenaline. He yelped, then laughed—a nervous habit he'd had since childhood. Today was the day. His first real raid. No more simulations. No more Lyra rolling her eyes as he botched fireball incantations. Just him, his squad, and a D-Rank Gate that had sprouted last week in the abandoned mall downtown.

"Your sister left a message," ORION said as Elias toweled off. The orb pulsed gently, projecting Lyra's face into the steam.

"Hey, Elly. Don't you dare die out there. And for once, listen to your AI. ORION's smarter than you."

The hologram winked out. Elias scowled, throwing on his gear. The armor was simple white pants, a black hoodie and matching fingerless gloves. Lyra had wanted to buy a super expensive flashy one but Elias had refused saying it didn't match his vibe. She had however enchanted it with a basic shielding rune. It hummed faintly against his skin, a reminder that she'd always have his back, even if she'd never admit it.

The poster of his sister which was in his room, showed her mid-leap with her plasma glaive crackling. "S-Rank Hunter of the Year," the caption read. He'd drawn a frowny face on it in digital ink last month.

"Your squad will be assembling at the Gate site in 20 minutes," ORION said. "Shall I order transportation?"

Elias hesitated, staring at the mirror. His reflection looked… small. He squared his shoulders. Today's the day I prove I'm not just Lyra's deadweight.

"Nah I can make it," he said, grabbing his staff a relic that he got for his sixteen birthday. "Let's go."

He rushed out the door taking the elevator to the first floor. As soon as the doors opened he dropped his staff on the ground and in the blink of an eye it tranformed into a hoverboard.

Riding it he zoomed past the people on the streets turning sharp corners and dodging obstacles in the way. Eventually he reached the site of the Gate with a few , minutes to spare. The leader of the raid had yet to begin the briefing.

The Gate loomed ahead, its edges bleeding violet light into the sky. Elias skidded to a halt, his hoverboard dissolving back into a staff. The raid team was already there, 20 Hunters in mismatched gear, talking amongst themselves. A rookie squad, just like him.

The raid leader, a broad-shouldered woman with a scar bisecting her eyebrow, glared at his approach. "Cutting it close, rookie."

"Sorry, Captain Veyra," Elias muttered, joining the others.

She snorted. "Save the apologies for when your ass gets chomped by a Slime."

The squad chuckled nervously. Elias recognized a few faces from training: Mira, a wiry archer with a quiver of glowing arrows; Jax, a hulking tank whose shield doubled as a battering ram; and Ren, a mage whose fire spells always smelled faintly of burnt toast of some reason.

He thought about his class; Sage. Sages are a rare find even with how many people become hunters. Sages specialise in both melee and long ranged combat they also have the benefit of learning a multitude of skills.

Even with all this Elias was considered below average for a Sage and wasn't much of a physical fighter he preferred stealth and ambush tactics to the traditional frontline battles. He'd much rather attack from the shadows with magic then charge forward with his staff.

Cowardly? Yes but he was damn good at it. Some say he had awakened a stealth related class he would be a prodigy of the shadows.

Soon Captain Veyra activated a holographic map beginning her briefing of the raid. "Standard D-Rank Gate. Intel says it's a 'Forest Biome' with low-tier plant monsters. Stick to formation, watch for ambush spawns, and for fuck sake, don't touch the damned flora. Last week, some idiot ate a mushroom, got high and hallucinated his way into a bear trap."

Elias's grip tightened on his staff. Standard. Easy. Just like the countless simulations he did in the training facility.

"Alright move out!"

The Gate's light swallowed them whole.

The air inside tasted wrong, sweet and cloying, like rotting fruit. Towering trees choked the sky, their bark streaked with bioluminescent veins. Elias's boots sank into moss that squirmed faintly beneath his feet.

"Stay sharp," Veyra barked. "Eyes on the—"

A vine lashed out from the shadows, wrapping around Ren's ankle. He yelped, firing a wild fireball that ignited the canopy.

"Idiot!" Veyra sliced the vine with a dagger. "You'll bring the whole damn forest down on us!"

Elias's heart hammered in his chest. This isn't like the sims. The trees seemed to lean closer, their roots coiling like serpents.

They pressed on, battling through waves of carnivorous ivy and spore-spewing fungi. Elias's staff trembled in his hands, his spells fizzling half-formed.

"Get it together, Elly!" Mira hissed firing arrows as a vine nearly took his head off.

By the time they reached the dungeon core, a pulsing orb nestled in a clearing, the squad was battered, but intact.

Veyra grinned. "See? Nothing to—"

The ground erupted and a creature clawed its way from the earth, it was a gnarled monstrosity of bark and bone, its hollow eyes fixed on the group.

<< ERROR: ENTITY CLASSIFICATION UNKNOWN >> ORION's voice blared in his skull. << THREAT LEVEL: A-RANK. >>

"Fall back!" Veyra screamed.

The monster moved like a storm. Veyra tried to strike the monster with heer dagger however it shattered against its hide. Jax's shield crumpled under the force of its blow. Ren's fire did nothing to deter the beast only further agitate it. Mira's arrows bounced off as if made of rubber.

Elias froze in fear. He knew there was nothing they could do against an A-Rank beast. They were going to die in that dungeon unless something was done.

He lunged, staff aimed at the core. The creature swatted him aside like a fly. Pain exploded in his ribs.

"Elias, run!" Mira's scream cut off mid-word as a root impaled her throat and stomach large amounts of blood steaked down her body. Mira's body went limp and more vines appeared and ripped her limbs off exposing bone and red flesh. She was gone.

The beast aimed for Ren next throwing him into a nearby tree snapping and cracking sounds could be heard as he collided with tree. Broken bone protruded from his body as it fell to the ground lifeless.

The creature then turned to Elias it's fist aimed at him. Elias tried to use magic to restrain it's arms however it broke free easily. It swung it's arms down repeatedly with no mercy turning Elias into a bloody pulp.

The last thing Elias saw was the creature's maw, a yawning chasm of thorns, before it struck a final time.

<< VITAL SIGNS CRITICAL. INITIATING EMERGENCY PROTOCOL. >>

ORION's voice faded. Darkness swallowed him.

Elias had been floating in an endless void for what Felt like an eternity. He didn't know where he was, he was pretty sure he died back there so what fresh hell awaited him now?

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What? Whose there?

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What's happening? Where are you taking-?

Before he could finish his question the endless void around him shifted into a room it was blurry as if space had been distorted. He looked at his body only to find nothing he didn't know what was going on but he didn't have a good feeling.

His suspicions were soon confirmed as he felt immense pain surge through his... whatever he had. This continued a few more times each time the pain worse then the last.

It finally stopped and that voice spoke again.

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Wait! Selection what?

The room around him shifted again now he was in another room but this one had a dark foreboding feeling to it. He looked around seeing floating balls of light there were a only 14 of them in total. He was about to look around before black flames illuminated the space.

Elias could finally see where he was it looked to be a a stage. There were seats looking towards the stage and he was. Figures soon appeared in the seats their faces blurry and fuzzy. Two figures also appeared on the stage. Elias was able to see them, both looked female and they were wearing what could only be described as the most over the top gothic maid outfits.

"Greetings followers of The Darkest Star, we have quite the roster of souls lined up for you on this most fabulous evening," the first one spoke they had purple hair and yellow snake eyes.

The other maid who had green hair and blue goat eyes didn't speak they simply pointed towards the direction of Elias and the other floating balls.

"Now let's begin the Selection process shall we," the goat eyes maid snapped her fingers and the 15 souls all floated into a line and a number appeared above them. Elias was confused and scared whatever was happening right now he didn't want it but it seemed he had no choice in the matter.

He received the number 15. He tried screaming for help but no words came out he was truly dead he was a soul now. He saw the first soul being presented like how one would present a car listing everything about them from past life to their abilities and how they died.

Next the figures in the seats would fight over them if there were a lot of them that wanted that soul they would bid for it. There were some cases the figures in the higher seats would choose making all the ones in the lower seats back off. Elias guessed that the ones in the higher seats were of higher authority or power than the ones in the lower ones.

After all 14 souls had been chosen he was the last one. "Now for the best soul for last and this one is extra special because ladies, gentleman, and others we present to you a Myth grade soul!" The figures gasped the were saying things like "It's the first time we're receiving a Myth grade," and"The higher ups are probably going to get that one, who wouldn't want a Myth grade souls as their incarnation?"

Elias was getting more nervous as they continued to talk about him. He didn't want any of this he just wanted to die in peace.

"This souls was from planet 4927394 and was considered average on his planet. He lost his dear parents at only 5 years of age and was taken care of by his older sister. Feeling obligated to [ay her for all she had done for him he wanted to be just like her but his scores were average and he felt that he would never live up to her. Feeling like the shadow of his sister, he worked harder and harder still nothing but average scores. He finally died at the young age of 20 due to encountering a beast too strong for him"

She read Elias like a book everything said was true even his feeling of inadequacy compared to his sister. The figures started their biding only the ones at the bottom didn't even try. The starting bid was 1 million. Was he really that special? Elias thought to him self.

"2 million." "2 million form the Lord of Shifting Shadows!" The maid said "Do I hear a 3 million anywhere?"

"6 million!" "6 million from the Queen of Ever Fading Light!"

"20 million!" "20 million from the Beast of Nightmares folks thats the first bid from a top tier It's getting heated!"

"30 million!" "30 million from the Empress of The Night!"

"50 million!" "50 million from the Ruler of the Underworld!"

"100 million!" "100 million from the Fallen Archangel of Pride!"

The bids kept going higher and higher Elias didn't think they were going to stop anytime soon. They had reached 500 million at this point.

"100 billion." "100 billion from The Sage of Lunar Eclipses he's part of the highest order around here is anyone going to beat his bid?" The lower and middle tiers didn't even bother they new they were out matched when it came to him.

"200 billion!" "200 billion from the Goddess of Death herself another one of the highest order!"

"400 billion!" "400 billion from The Sage of Lunar Eclipses seems he won't give up on this soul!"

The 2 figures looked at each other. They continued to bid the other highest order didn't bother bidding they new these 2 never gave up until the very bitter end. Their biding continued until.

"700 trillion!" "700 trillion for The Sage of Lunar Eclipses!"

It seemed the Goddess of death finally gave up and stopped biding.

"Followers of The Darkest Star it seems we have a winner The Sage of Lunar Eclipses! With that the final bid of the night has concluded we shall see you all next time." The 2 maids bowed down and disappeared.

The other figures also started to disappear. When The Sage of Lunar Eclipses disappeared he took Elias with him. Now they were in some kind of temple The Sage of Lunar Eclipses sat on a throne looking down on Elias.

"Hello," he greeted.