Awakening

Umass Memorial Medical Center |Worcester, MA| 2:38 PM

Dr. Mullins peeled back the sheet, revealing a corpse's slit throat John Doe #4-2024—a clean, cut that gaped like a second mouth. He prodded the jagged lacerations along the flank, the skin peeled back like rind from a fruit. Bullet wounds dotted the torso and forefront, but the blood around them was blackened, as if the tissue had rotted mid-bleed.

"Cause of death, Take your pick," Mullins muttered, half to himself, half to the sheriff who leaned against the doorframe, a grim shadow.. "Exsanguination from the throat wound. Shock from the flank dissection. Or"—he tapped a bullet hole—"cardiac perforation. But none of it makes sense."

Police Chief Grady stepped closer, his boots squeaking on the tile.

"So not an animal attack?, but some sicko with a hunting knife?"

Mullins snorted. "Animals don't leave bullet wounds, Chief. And they certainly don't leave wounds that defy all logic." He lifted the victim's arm, revealing puncture marks along the veins. "See this? Necrotic tissue. Cells died on contact. This alone should've killed him in minutes, but his bloodwork shows he bled out over hours. Hours."

Grady's jaw tightened. "Same shit as the others. Ten adult bodies in ten years. Same impossible wounds." His hand twitched toward his cross necklace beneath his shirt."I don't need a science lecture, Doc I need a suspect. Something I can slap on a report before this town implodes."

"What you need," Mullins snapped, "is to accept that whatever did this isn't playing by nature's rules."

The Police Chief ignored him, barking into his radio: "All units, sweep the district again. Check alleys, dumpsters—anywhere there could be ditched evidence. And secure the damn crime scene this time!"

As Grady stormed out, Mullins stared at the blackened wounds. The room hummed with the chill of the freezer, the silence broken only by the drip of fluid into the drain.

"No," he whispered. Not a killer. "A Hunter."

The silence thickened, heavy with unspoken dread.

**************************************

Blackwood University|Library

Two miles away, a gust of wind rattled the library's windows. I glanced up, pushing a dusty tome back onto the shelf. Campus service, a drawn-out torment, I sighed.

"This is so unfair," Mike complained, shelving another dusty tome in the library's special collections section. "Why do we get punished when all we did was try to help someone?"

I said nothing, diligently organizing books on the upper shelves. Unlike Mike, I worked with focused determination, methodically sorting and arranging the ancient volumes. The library was quiet, the silence broken only by the soft thud of books being placed on shelves and the occasional creak of the old wooden ladders.

"I need a bathroom break," Mike announced after another ten minutes of half-hearted work.

I nodded, knowing it was probably just an excuse to escape the monotony.

Then, he bolted out before I could say more.

After Mike left, I continued to work alone. The silence felt heavier now, almost oppressive. Then I felt it again—that familiar sensation, but this time it was stronger, tugging at my consciousness.

No— Not this again.

I rose slowly, following the sensation to its source.

Then, there it was—the same book from before, but now it seemed more active, almost vibrating with energy. Its presence was impossible to ignore.

Something unknown took hold of me, I stretched out my hand—trembling toward the book. When my skin made contact with the ancient cover, a shock jolted through my body.

I pulled back instinctively, but not before the book had drawn blood from my fingertips.

I watched in astonishment as my blood was absorbed into the book's cover. Golden lines began to pulse across its surface, like veins carrying his blood through an ancient organism that had just awakened. The book rose into the air, hovering before him for one breathtaking moment.

Then, it plunged forward, into my chest.

A searing pain unlike anything I've ever known tore through me. It was far worse than when my mark had first awakened.

I gritted my teeth hard, fighting hard to remain conscious as waves of agony washed over my body. My mind raced.

What was happening?

Was this the book's doing?

I tried to pull away, but the energy held him in a vice-like grip.

The mark between my shoulder blades burned,the old patterns spreading, twisting, and transforming. The edges of the mark extended, intertwining and forming new patterns across my back.

The hunter's mark that had been there before now became the centerpiece of what looked like an ornate book cover that spanned almost his entire back. Golden lines pulsed beneath his skin, following intricate patterns that whispered of ancient power.

As the transformation completed, my vision blurred. The last thing I saw before darkness claimed me was the faint glow emanating from my skin.

I hit the ground, the world fading into black. But the book's changes didn't stop.

**************************************

Campus Grounds|Moments Later

Lidia, who was just leaving her class, suddenly, the pendant spun wildly as if pulled by an unseen force.

Her heart raced.

"Could.....could it be what I've been searching for?"

The feeling was unmistakable, but then it vanished as quickly as it had appeared, leaving no trace as if it was just a fluke.

She rushed across the campus, her mind racing.

Students along the way looked with intrigue.

A blonde-haired girl saw her running, a sneer twisting her lips. "New girl's in a hurry.Trying to break a record for looking desperate?"

"Honestly, Anna," one of her friends replied, flipping her hair."Some people."

Lidia ignored them."The book—it has to be the book."The Magnus warning echoed in her mind.

"Find it".

"Why did it disappear? "

She couldn't afford to miss it. Not when it was so close.

She arrived at the library, the silence broken only by the distant campus sounds. Inside, she found Ethan, unconscious, slumped between the shelves.

"Ethan!" she hurried to his side, checking his pulse. Strong but erratic. She called out to some students passing by the open door. "Help! Someone help!"

As students carried him away, no one noticed the faint, golden threads flickering beneath his skin.

**************************************

Mount Vernon Cemetery|8:00 PM

The grave's epitaph was weathered, but the name was still legible:

Sebastian Crowly |D.1998| "Rest in Light."

The ground above trembled slightly, dirt shifting as if something beneath was struggling to break free. The air was thick with the scent of damp earth and decaying leaves, and the faint glow of the moon cast long shadows over a row of headstones.

With a final push, the earth cracked, and a small creature emerged—a fly, or some insect-like being,its wings too large, its body too segmented, with an eerie green light pulsing from its lower body. It hovered uncertainly, flying in tight circles as if orienting itself. Then, as if receiving silent instructions, it steadied and began flying with purpose, its path unerringly leading toward Blackwood University.

Something was coming.