2 Chapter 1 - Introduction

Like any normal teenager, I hated school. It's not that I didn't find it useful; it's just that school was another thing I had to balance on top of everything else.

Now, in the hall of such a school, people were rushing to leave. Football players, led by Jack Turryman, were bumping each other's fists and wishing a nice vacation to each other. The cheerleaders, led by Lily Manda, were bailing their eyes out and hugging each other. And last but not least, magicians, led by my twin, Norman Hunter.

Even though we were twins, we were nothing alike appearance-wise. Norman was a tall, blonde, with long wavy hair, a courtesy from our mother, and had a bulky figure. I, on the other hand, was tall and lean, a little taller than my brother, with raven-black short hair.

But the most notable difference was that Norman was a magician, a fire one, and I wasn't. Well, not officially, at least.

Soon, my brother separated from his group and started walking towards me without saying any goodbyes or good wishes to his friends. They were going to see each other soon again.

He caught up to me around the school exit, gave me his signature smile, and spoke. "It is finally over; summer is finally here."

He did this intentionally. He knew that I hated summer, and anything hot in general.

So naturally, I struck back. "I will survive it, little brother. And didn't you get a D in Foreign Languages as a final note? I am sure that mum will love it." My mind was already forming an image of my friend Northe saying to me 'What got in your pants today?'.

Norman hated it when I called him little brother and he hated the foreign languages too. He seemed irritated, but knew better than to continue our little banter. "Geez, someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed."

I sighed after giving him a sharp look. I just got off of a month-long solo mission a week ago.

'You should try not to be short-tempered when you chase a group of undead around the Balkans for a whole month.' I thought.

The mission was not even the hardest part. Explaining to my parents what I was exactly doing the whole month and catching up on school material was definitely as hard, if not harder.

"Anyway, our ride has arrived." Norman said cheerfully as he pointed to a modern black car that was approaching the school entrance. I nodded and followed him as he entered the car.

After exchanging pleasantries with our driver, he started driving us towards our home in the west of the London. The further west we went, the better looking and more exquisite houses were. That is because all the rich families, like ours, reside there.

After a few minutes of driving, we arrived at our house.

Objectively, it was a very beautiful white house built with more than ten floors. Of course, we, the Rangers, were one of the richest families in Great Britain, so of course we needed a house to show it off. Subjectively? I despised it. Posh parties, mana detection systems, and near constant guests in our house are just a few of the downsides of this house.

"Here you go lads." Our driver finished the ride. We said our thanks and entered the house.

The first floor was basically a big reception with nothing more than a few butlers welcoming our guests. The butlers, recognizing who we are, quickly came and took our school bags and let us continue. Soon, the elevator let us enter the second floor, which was basically a living room.

A bunch of computers, TVs, and other things occupied this room with a table in the center. Our parents were sitting on the sofa watching TV. When they heard that we had arrived, they quickly greeted us and asked us about the school.

My father, Holand Hunter, was a tall man, as tall as my brother, and with hair identical to mine. My mother, Tanina Hunter, was a tall-for-a-woman sort of tall with the same blonde wavy hair my brother had. Both of my parents were fire Awakened, which was not bad considering that both their occupations were not related to magic.

And of course, all that makes it impossible to deny them when they could overpower you with a single spell.

"Don't forget that we have a celebration with Mandas to attend to at 19:00." My mother said cheerfully. I opened my mouth to complain, but she was quicker. "And no, you are not staying here. I am not going to tolerate your fits once again."

My mother had as fiery a mouth as I did, so naturally, I felt compelled to defend our family trait.

"Have you ever seen my desperation. Their youngest is the most annoying being on this planet. She thinks that I am her personal teddy bear and Lily... Don't even let me start on her. She just wants to jump Norman's bones all the time." At that, my brother and my father smirked.

"Alexander! You will not speak that way about our friends. And yes, you are definitely going. The Mandas love you and would be deeply hurt if you were not to attend." My mother spoke outrageously.

I just snorted at her and went a floor above to my room. I could hear my mother threatening to not buy a car for my eighteenth birthday if I did not attend the celebration.

"Damn it!" I muttered under my breath as I entered my room.

My room was big, bigger than any teenager's room should be. With white walls and a few posters, some would say that it is basic and boring, but it is perfect for me. It had three beds, one for me and two for my friends when they want to have a sleepover. Right beside each bed was a PC setup. The last thing in my room was a small table for drinks and food in the middle of it.

I laid on my bed and started dozing off. I was too tired to think of anything complex. A month of hunting zombies and skeletons does that to a man.

'Fucking shit. Why have they chosen me to hunt those wretched fucks?'

The undead, as their name says, couldn't die because they were already dead. The only way to get rid of them was to burn them or to cut them into so many pieces that they couldn't reconnect anymore. A perfect job for fire or space magicians.

Certainly not for the icy me.

At least there were no undead here, my bracelet was not warming up.

I knew that if I were to fall asleep now, there was a zero percent chance that I would be woken up for celebration, so I took out my phone and wrote a message in a chat group for my friends and me.

Alexander 'AR': sup guys, school just finished

Northern Northe: Nicee, pity that I was sick

Sof(i)a: 'sick'

Northern Northe: I was actually sick. Where were you tho

Sof(i)a: I was actually sick. You just wanted to play your new console.

Northern Northe: sure sure

Sof(i)a: You are insufferable.

Northern Northe: and you love me because of it

Sof(i)a: You are delusional too.

Northern Northe: and you are in denial

Sof(i)a: Ugh, I hate you.

Northern Northe is currently typing...

Seeing that my friends were deep into their whatever it was, I quietly left the chat. As my friends were wholly useless in making time pass faster, I went online to see the latest articles related to monsters and magic.

The first article that caught my attention was about unrest in South America, Brazil this time. But it was nothing to be concerned about since similar incidents occurred every few years and were quickly resolved. It was hard to have a working habitat with both beasts and humans living in it.

My father worked there as a zoologist during the war. He would, in my childhood, tell me stories about how man and beast warred against each other until they found peace. He would tell me how in South American countries, humans and beasts living together or working together was an everyday thing.

But I learned soon after that eternal peace is impossible.

Second article that I was interested in was about the undead. I stopped for a second to read the article's title.

The undead are getting restless. 'Haha, very funny and original joke.' I thought sarcastically before I continued reading the article.

The undead, a type of monster that is impossible to kill but only to destroy, are being sighted more and more. For unknown reasons, the undead are appearing exponentially more than before. In Egypt, United Slavic Countries and more seemingly random parts of world, mummies are attacking innocent people on sight without explanation.

In just the last month, more than 4500 undead were disposed of, but more than 10,000 civilians were killed. This pandemic is spreading rapidly without any explanation or actions taken against it.

'Without any actions taken? You piece of shit!' I knew that I was getting irrationally angry since they couldn't possibly know what I did, but I didn't care at the moment.

Without the death count constantly increasing, we are forced to ask, what is going to happen from now on? Are the three Magi going to stop this madness? Is the Elder Dragon going to react? What are the world's other mega-powers going to do?

by: Julia Specterman

'Oh yeah, the three Magi, the strongest wizards alive, doing absolutely nothing all the time. How new. How is it possible for someone to be so old and powerful but so incompetent?'

I thought sarcastically and continued my train of thoughts. 'And yeah, Elder Dragon is going to fly all the way from America just to save all of our asses.'

I then shook my head and stopped myself. 'This much pessimism surely can't be healthy.'

I decided to take a bath and clean myself up after seeing that it was already 17:00.

It all took nearly an hour. I loved every once in a while, to take my time and relax in cold water, especially after a mission.

I chose a simple black shirt, simple black pants, and a long black trench coat for a celebration. Yes, I liked black. It complemented my black hair.

Satisfied with my choice of clothes, I went down to the living room, where I found my parents and my brother. I quickly inspected their clothes and nodded at my father.

He obviously made the best choice. He wore a simple black shirt with simple black pants and a long black trench coat. He too inspected my clothes and returned the nod.

My mom and brother, on the other hand... Mom wore an extravagant white dress with flower patterns.

"How do I look?" She asked me.

I gave her a fake smile while I reconsidered my options. Deciding that the best course of action was to not anger mom any more, I spoke. "You look beautiful, mom." She happily nodded at that.

My brother was even more horrendous than my mother. He wore some sort of a blue suit with red markings that screamed expensive.

"You too look great, brother." I said, too formal for my taste, but I didn't really care so I left it at that.

"Okay, we are ready to go then." Mom said with finality.

Outside of our house, there was a limo waiting. There was really no need for it since the distance between Ranger's house and Manda's house was two minutes by foot, but I guess that we were supposed to flex our wealth.

We greeted the driver and entered. As we were driving towards Mandas', mom had a few last words.

"Remember boys, handshake with men, kiss on the hand with women. During lunch, you will talk with people of your own age group and will not interrupt others when they are taking." We both nodded at that.

Our driver delivered us to Manda's around the time mom finished our speech. Their house was on many floors, similar to ours, but it had more of a vintage feel to it.

We entered, and what was supposed to be an empty reception floor, similar to ours, was now decorated with a big table in the middle. It had enough space for around twenty people. 'Still the same four families, isn't it?'

As we entered, Mandas came to greet us. Amana Manda was followed by her husband, Garo Manda, and their two children, Lily Manda and Natha Manda.

They were a weird family. Aside from the fact that absolutely everyone in their family was blonde, they did weird things. Today, for example, all of them wore red clothes with some weird patterns.

And of course, before we could even greet our hosts, that little shit came hurling at me.

"SANDAR!" She may have been only six years old, but she was like a thunderbolt. Must be a family thing.

I quickly caught Natha and laid her down on the ground. I got annoyed with her, but remembering where I was, I smiled, went down on my knees and kissed her hand.

She suddenly found the wall very interesting, and I said to her. "I will first greet your parents, and then we will play, okay?" She nodded, still looking at the wall.

Both pairs of parents were looking amusedly at me. I just gave a fake cough and that was enough to set things into motion. My parents were greeting Amana and Garo, my brother went to greet Natha, and I went to greet Lily.

I admitted to myself that she looked stunning even though she was dressed in a red dress that did nothing to highlight her blonde hair or green eyes. She seemed exhausted. 'Nice, I am not the only one overworked here.'

I gave her a smirk, knowing just how exhausted she was, and she just glared evilly at me without saying anything. I kissed her hand and whispered. "Congratulations, I never thought that you could be worse dressed than my brother."

"I am not in the mood for you, Alexander. Leave me alone." She ordered, and I just shrugged and went to greet her parents.

'It is not like I want to be in your presence either.' I thought, but didn't say it out loud.

Amana is one of the most beautiful women I have ever seen. With her beautiful round face and long blonde hair, I could definitely see why Garo married her, and her body-fitting, horrendously colored dress did nothing to dismiss that.

I kissed her hand and maybe lingered there a little bit longer than acceptable. I gave her my most brilliant smile and spoke. "Your beauty grows exponentially each day, Amana."

She gave me a smile and said. "Aren't you a charmer? Thank you so much, Alexander.

Garo was an intimidating man. He was not physically intimidating or anything; it was just this look in his eyes each time I greeted his wife.

I shook his hand and congratulated him. "Happy Birthday, Garo. Best wishes." He just nodded.

After finishing greetings, I saw that Lily was blushing furiously and nearly hyperventilating. 'Heh, not so exhausted now, are you?'

"Well, we can now move to the table while we wait for the other guests to come." Amana led us to the table. My place was on the far end of the table, and my only neighbor was my brother.

"Could you please let her sit on your lap? She has been waiting for this for so long." Amana asked me as she pointed to Natha, who was right beside her.

I gave her my brightest smile and answered. "Of course!" In a matter of seconds, Natha went all the way from the other side of the table to directly into my lap.

At least I was not the most miserable one. On my brother's right was Lily, and she was fawning over him, not minding his bored demeanor.

Only God can help him now.

Soon, the last two families, the Asters and Turrymans, arrived. They each had their own children, but Norman and I were not really close to them. Norman was on friendly terms with Jack Turryman, but that was the extent of it.

After all the greetings, Garo raised his cup and said, "I want to thank you all for attending my birthday celebration. We, four families, have been friends for many centuries already, and I am deeply grateful to have such faithful friends and partners."

He cleared his throat before continuing. "In the past, we were connected by money and magic, and now, we are so much more. Many of mine have married some of yours and that makes us family now. I hope that we will still be that even in worst of situations.

Everyone clapped and congratulated Garo once more, and after that the food arrived. It was a classic soup and meat meal, but still tasty nonetheless.

The first wrong thing of the day happened just before the desert was served. The bracelet on my hand that was supposed to get warm only when in close proximity to the undead was getting warm. 'Oh fucking shit. Give me a rest for a few days at least.'

But I knew that Nero would be incredibly angry with me if I didn't do my job. "Excuse me, but I think I have a stomachache. Can someone show me the way to place where I can rest a little bit? "

Lily immediately jumped at the opportunity and said as she pointed to the elevator. "I will show you. Come here."

"Don't leave us waiting too long." Amana simply concluded before continuing her conversation with other guests.

Lily seemed as pissed as I was. "Oh my God, is it possible that I can't have even a day of peace?" I just shrugged and asked. "Do you know the way to an emergency exit?"

She nodded, and as we left the elevator, arriving on the second floor, she opened one of the windows there and said. "Jump."

"Very good emergency exit." I shook my head, but did as she said. She followed soon after.

"According to the warmth that the bracelet gives when turned east, I think that is where we would be heading, and according to the temperature of the warmth, we should be about four kilometers away from it." I informed her as we snuck out of her garden, trying not to make anyone notice us.

As we finally left the proximity of her house and entered a safe zone, she said condescendingly. "We should run, but be careful not to let anyone notice you. It would be hard to explain to your family why you are out running and not in the restroom."

We started running and I said back, as condescendingly as she did. "You should be worried about yourself."

Since we were both Awakened, we both got Blessings, which made our bodies much faster, stronger, and more resilient compared normal humans, and since there were no civilians on the road to notice us, it made our travel really simple.

We passed all the shops, cars and houses of varying colors and shapes and around six streets before stopping.

Lily and I arrived at the place where the monster was supposed to be, but there was no monster, only a portal. I opened my mouth to speak, but Lily was faster. "In the name of God! Is someone trying to mass teleport undead?"

I just shrugged and said. "There is only one way to find out."

I waited a few seconds before pointing to the portal and saying.

"Ladies first." Lily snorted but went inside.

As I entered the portal, I hoped that this would be just a quick monster subjugation and nothing more.

If only fate didn't like crushing my hopes so much.