Going back in time in June of a certain year. When the people of Aderfel had begun to adjust to a life shaped by fear, disguise, bravery, wisdom, and uncertain blessings. Everything changed.
It followed the great attack sixteen years ago. An invasion by creatures known as Malgeds that were once thought to only exist in legends. People believed they came from unknown dimensions. Since then, birth rates surged but so did the fear of the unknown.
Behind the sealed doors of council chambers and silent government courts, Aderfel quietly transformed. A facility was secretly established to ensure the safety of its people, and to quietly exile those labeled as outsiders.
In the city of Elaria, one such response took form; an academy known as Wilson Castalis, a prestigious institution for elite Hunters [dungeon runners] and Exo-hunters [exorcists and slayers].
The academy operates under a strange yet refined structure. Students may enroll after completing secondary education whether at standard or intermediate level.
Hunters are trained to master their abilities, refine their swordsmanship, and confront the threats lurking within dungeons [Malgeds]
Exo-hunters on the other hand learn to banish evil-spirits, ghosts and slay demons [Netherkins] often by trading their natural powers for spiritual ones through forming a pact with powerful spirits.
But some don't survive these pacts, either the spirit rejects them, proves too wild to tame, or overwhelms their will entirely.
The generation-abilities [Water, Fire, Wind, Sand, Sound] are almost useless against Netherkins except for a rare few exceptions.
These spirits are remnants of the great attack sixteen years ago. They can either be Malgeds, humans or hounds.
Some of these Netherkins are angry, restless, and capable of spreading chaos throughout the cities.
While hunters pursue the creatures responsible for the devastation. These entities are found deep within the dungeons scattered throughout Adafio Woods, labyrinths that first appeared sixteen years ago and continue to grow, as if summoned by unseen hands.
These dungeons rarely shift once they appear but some are alive with traps, mobs, and dungeon bosses.
Some Malgeds can mimic human forms and enter the city for various reasons. Many have even married humans and had children with them.
Although most people can't distinguish them from real humans, I, on the other hand, can easily tell them apart.
Hunters collect Essencia crystals that are found deep within these dungeons, using them for various purposes and in many forms.
Among them, people call me a Dustborn. A name spat like dirt, a label meant for those with no power to speak of. Yet they fear what I carry.
Unlike everyone else, I have a single, massive mark carved into my back. A mark that burns like it remembers something I've forgotten.
The government claims that my existence is tied to the arrival of the Malgeds.
They say I disrupted the balance between our worlds and wherever I go creatures follow. Some say I was marked by the very force that summoned the dungeons, and others call me a demon because I have one inside me.
I barely know the truth myself, but I remember the reason I was cast out..
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When I left a facility called the White Unit, I went to live with my Grandma. She was the only one among my family that I was allowed to talk to the rest I wasn't, not even on the phone.
I had just turned thirteen and I had to attend normal school but it was as hell as it sounds.
The students and the teachers hated me for what's inside me, and for being the reason the world is as it is. They all called me names and gave me a disgusted stare. Even as hard as I tried I never got on their good side. And so I started skipping classes altogether
One day, I decided to leave school and wandered off into Adafio woods fearlessly, hands in my pockets. Whatever the reason, I couldn't remember.
I veered further into the woods but no creature dared approached me. They hid but I felt their eyes watching like I was a walking myth they didn't understand.
As I walked deeper I ran into five hunters. They stopped and stared unsure where to begin their questions.
I stared back wide-eyed but furious, I had noticed something. One of them wasn't human, he was a Malged, disguised as one.
The way I stared made him nervous and panicked. One of the hunters asked if I'd come alone but I couldn't take my eyes off the fake human.
Out of fear I'd figured him out that I might expose him, he pulled an axe from his back and aimed for my head. The axe struck but not too deep but it was enough to send blood flowing to my face.
The hunters' faces twisted in horror. A hunter had just attacked a child and that child was still standing, bleeding silently. Blood trickled from my forehead down my cheeks to the ground but I didn't flinch.
I raised my head to meet his eyes when suddenly, a blast of shockwaves erupted from within me shattering the silence across Aderfel, and even those underground ground felt it.
Then came a monstrous scream, something deep, horrific, and unbearable. But I wasn't the one screaming. It came from within me something else.
The scream wasn't just a sound it left a mark. Trees bent away, the sky dimmed, the ground convulsed.
And on my back the mark burned, so hot it scorched off half my shirt. Whatever screamed through my back, the fury was visible in my eyes.
The forest went wild. Creatures scattered, sprinting past the hunters who'd fallen to the ground, torn between watching me and watching the woods.
And I just stood there with an axe still lodged in my head, staring with fury.
But since that day nothing has been the same.
When the government heard about that incident, they decided I was a dangerous being that should not be around the rest, so with no other option they cast me out of the city.
Locking me up was never an option and so was killing me.
From that moment on, the world feared me even more.