章 11: Four Huntsman
Talon woke up in pain, this time it wasn't his whole body, only his head.
The pain was only comparable to when Zachary crushed his head. 'Maybe I shouldn't mess with the old fart too much…'
His broken bones were almost all healed up, one of the scariest differences between the gifted and the normal humans, but his natural healing speed shouldn't be this fast, someone probably fixed him up.
As he looked around to survey his surroundings, he was shocked to find out that he was in the barracks.
The place was still mostly in shreds, as he and Rokara did quite a number on the room when they lost control of their gifts.
'Now that I think about it, they fixed most of the floor.' Chuckled Talon to himself, when he suddenly heard heavy snoring from the bed above him.
He leaned out of the bunk bed to try and see who was snoring this loudly. 'Of course, it's her…'
Talon could see that Rokara was the one above him. As he looked around the barracks, he could see that the others were there too, every single one of them was still sound asleep, only he was wide awake while it was barely dawn.
'Maybe I should get some shut-eye if I can.' Before he could close his eye and try to sleep, Damien suddenly appeared beside him.
"Talon, get up right now! I know that you are not sleeping. You have to meet some people!" Damien's usual carefree and nonchalant attitude was nowhere to be found, he seemed to be in a hurry.
"Can you tell me exactly who are the people that I'm going to meet or do you plan to hold me in the dark until then?"
"If you want to know… They are called the four huntsman. They are elders among the hunters. They are not strong so to speak, but they hold the most power here, even I don't like to mess with them because that would just complicate things. Please, try to not offend them, Paul has enough problems thanks to you and Rokara."
Talon just stared at Damien, with a dumbfounded expression.
"Didn't you freeze those higher-ups?" Barked back Talon, as he got up from his bed.
"That's unimportant, let us just go meet those annoying bastards." Said Damien, trying to change the topic at all costs.
As the two walked in the hallways, Talon had to ask, "Did you talk with Paul yesterday? The old fart was searching for you!"
"Don't you dare disrespect Paul like that!" Damien shouted at Talon with a stern expression, before almost breaking down into laughter.
He looked around, just to survey the area. "That crypt survivor deserves respect— " He couldn't hold himself back as he broke down laughing, stopping in his tracks, forcing Talon to stop with him.
Leaning against the wall, Talon patiently waited for Damien's laughter to subside.
He almost succumbed to joining in, but the sight of Paul's typical furious expression and clenched fist heading their way held him back.
'Not risking that' Talon instantly sown his mouth shut, holding himself back.
"Hi old- Paul."
Damien's laughter died down instantly, as he slowly looked behind him. "Morning, Paul!"
"Damien, if you do this again, I swear to the mother and father that I will kill you! Now, the three of us casually walk in, try not to anger those three assholes, and neither of you dumb fucks do anything stupid!"
Roared Paul at the two with almost popping veins on his forehead. He took a deep breath before asking the two,
"Now, can we go and meet those animals?" Damien and Talon just rapidly nodded at Paul who finally took a deep breath and calmed himself down.
While the three of them walked towards the meeting room to meet the four huntsman, Talon whispered to Damien,
"Does Paul have anger management issues?" Yet again, for Talon's misfortune, Paul's hearing was exceptional, even more for someone as ancient as him.
"Should I smack you again, brat? Because at this moment, I want nothing more than to beat the everliving shit out of one of you." Said Paul, through his gritted teeth.
"Not just that, it's paired up with superhuman hearing, so that he can hear everyone talking smack about him," Damien whispered back to Talon.
"Damien, I swear if you say another world from the two of you until the meeting, I will kill you."
Paul roared at the two, but the two just shrugged back to him as an answer. After this, Paul almost attacked the two, he was at the end of his rope.
He punched the wooden wall, completely breaking it and cracking the concrete behind the wall. None of the two said a word after Paul's outburst.
Thankfully for Paul's blood pressure, the rest of their walk was deathly silent.
The three arrived at the meeting place, and before them stood guard of two elite hunters, their hands reached to their sword, ready to draw it out of their scabbards.
"Just try to pull out that sword, it will be the last thing you do in your miserable life!" As Damien threatened the two guards, the hallway became chilly as Damien wanted nothing else than an excuse to lash out at the two and freeze them entirely.
"Stop this instant, all of you!" Paul stopped them before they could have clashed. "We have a meeting with the four huntsmen, let us in!"
The two released their grip on their sword and opened the door for the three.
As the three walked into the meeting room, they found themselves standing face to face with the four huntsman.
The four of them wore the same military uniform, a black coat with the symbol of the hunters sown into the uniform just where the heart was.
"You have quite the nerve for arriving late, do you even understand the position that you are in, Paul?" Spat a man with cleanly shaved hair and a thick brown beard with hazel-colored eyes looked down on Paul with a stern expression.
"Watch it!" Spat back Damien, as the room became several degrees colder.
"Stop it Aegis! Paul, you should hold back your dog too, if you don't want to complicate this situation even further!"
Calmly advising, a long blond-haired elf stood before them, her cascading locks brushing against her shoulders. Her golden eyes held a depth that seemed to peer into the very essence of one's soul.
Despite the presence of a quiver adorned with several arrows on her back, there was no bow to be seen nearby.
"Don't worry archer, Damien won't do anything drastic if all of us act in a civilized manner. Now, shall we sit down, or are we just staring at each other?"
Said Paul, his usual angry expression that he showed everyone was replaced with a much calmer one.
Not planning to show any frustration or weakness in front of the huntsman.
They made their way towards a round table positioned in the middle of the meeting room.
The table had exactly 12 seats. The four huntsman sat down beside each other, facing the three. Before Talon could even sit down, someone stopped him.
"That walking catastrophe won't be sitting down!"
The one who stopped him was an old man with long white hair and grey eyes that indicated his blindness.
His gaze was just like that of Archer, felt like he could see even better than someone with both of his eyes intact. Unlike the others, the old man had no weapon around him.
"No, he WILL sit down!" Damien and Paul declared, almost in unison. Their expression and tone showed that the two were not planning to change their mind.
Before the old man could say a word, a tall man with a spear on his back casually chuckled at the whole situation.
"Are you planning to stop a kid from sitting down on a chair? You don't have to be this sour, old man."
The man who took Talon's side was someone with strange bright red hair and just as strange violet eyes. The man barely looked older than Damien, so he was even younger than him.
"I would shut my mouth in your stead, Lance, it doesn't do you any good!" Said the old man through gritted teeth.
"Then try shutting me up Striker, try it." Lance spat back at him while grasping the spear on his back.
"STOP BOTH OF YOU!" Roared Archer at both of them as she slammed both of her hands on the round table, breaking the part she slammed.
"Tsk" Striker clicked his tongue in frustration.
Unsure whether to sit down or not, Talon just continued to stand before Paul tapped his shoulder, and pointed at the chair between him and Damien.
"Now that everyone calmed down, you have a lot to explain Paul! Why are you defending one of the four catastrophes?" Asked Archer, her tone was polite, but everyone knew that she demanded the answer from Paul.
Talon did not know what to think in the situation, a mixture of emotions washed over him, he felt shocked and confused, and mostly, he felt scared.
He feared what the answer might be, but he couldn't help but ask.
"Wh-what do you mean when you refer to me as a catastrophe?"
Striker, the old man answered him honestly with a half smile on his face,
"One of the first four Black-rated gifted, individuals who will cause nothing but destruction. MILLIONS OF LIVES WILL BE FORFEIT BY YOUR HANDS!!!"
Roared Striker, as he jumped from his seat towards Talon, ready to kill the boy before he could do anything.
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