Hanging outside the school window sill wasn’t exactly a normal thing that students did these days, yet Blake had done exactly that. The high schooler had done so out of great concern for his fel- …No, he had done so because it was his duty as an Altered Hunter who was worried about an Altered possibly being at his school!
Seeing White Rose agents at their school meant that there could be even worse things roaming around the school than Gary. Which was why he needed to act fast. However, after listening in to their entire investigation, the only thing the young Altered Hunter had learned was that Gary was not an Altered…It was a head scratching moment for Blake.
For the rest of the day, Blake had been very absent-minded. Hurrying home after rugby practice, the teenager felt strangely relieved. His heart was no longer beating fast, but he had a lot on his mind.
‘I definitely saw him transform from a dog-like beast back into a human. Human to beast transformation should be something that only Altered can do?’ Blake thought to himself.
‘But then why did that test fail? Even if they are faulty, it usually comes down to human error of not conducting the test properly, otherwise White Rose and us wouldn’t use them for verification. However, it’s impossible for two experienced agents to make such a rookie mistake. But then, how’s that possible?’ It was clear that it was something that was beyond what Blake could figure out on his own, so he was hoping that a certain someone might help. Someone that could give him answers.
Right now, he had finally arrived home. On the side, there was their clinic. It wasn’t a large hospital, just a small place that treated the locals, typically for small wounds here and there, also selling medicine at their pharmacy and rarely helping out the local hospital.
The clinic was owned by the Hunt family, but next to it, was where Blake and his family lived. There was a large wall that blocked off the outside, so onlookers would be unable to see inside.
On the wall itself there was a wooden gate that could be slid open, once a passcode was entered, and Blake did just that. On the other side, they had a garden, and towards the back of this garden was a traditional Asian style inspired house made out of wood, with only a single floor. It was quite the large house but it was hard to tell whether this family was wealthy or not as the building was a bit rundown.
Walking up, Blake took off his shoes as he slid the door open, and in an instant, he could hear something striking the air. Blake immediately jumped to the side, rolling, and here he could see his father holding a baton.
“Although you avoided the blow, you were slower than usual.” The father chastised his son as he stood there in his white robe. It looked like he himself had just gotten off work at the clinic. “If I was an Altered based on some speed type beast, you might have been now. You should always remain vigilant and do your best to be active rather than reactive.”
His father walked back in, before pausing just before his whole body was inside. “I’m guessing something’s on your mind, for you to slack off. Come in, let’s talk.”
Heading inside, there was what looked like a normal, standard training room, similar to that of traditional dojos. He and his father would regularly train with special weapons, but of course these special weapons were illegal under the No Lethal Weapons Act, hence why they had made sure that nobody could see inside.
The adult walked towards one of the walls and on a table at the back there were three monkey statues. The left one was covering its eyes, the middle one was covering its ears and the one to the right was covering its mouth. After touching them in a particular order, a click sound could be heard.
A mechanism had been activated and the wall to the far right started to spin around, until it stopped halfway, revealing a staircase that led downstairs. The two of them walked down, small lights by the side illuminating their path.
Eventually, Blake and his father reached the bottom of the secret Altered Hunter room. There were shelves filled with old books. Blake warily stared at them. He still remembered the countless times that he had been told to read them over and over again as a child.
They contained a lot of the information regarding their family history, and why they did what they did. Aside from that, they had information of all the different beasts of old their ancestors had hunted, knowledge that proved invaluable when going up against any Altered.
Then, further along, there was a type of work bench as well as an experimental table next to it. On the other sides there were also the weapons and sets of armour their predecessors had used. Each one was different and unique, and it was the same with the armour sets, there were different ones that looked to have been made centuries ago, although each subsequent generation had improved on them.
“I thought you might feel more comfortable discussing what’s on your mind here.” His father began. “Are you still hung up about what happened? You know, if you really want to hurry up and become a one-star Altered Hunter, we could move to one of the higher tier cities once we’ve taken care of Slough’s Altered.
“After that we’ll be able to meet the others, and you won’t feel so… left out.”
Hearing this, just reminded Blake of who he was again. His father, Ozacas Hunt, was a three-star Altered Hunter, which meant he had killed more than fifteen Altered, while he hadn’t even killed a single one yet. In fact, he had actually let, what would have been his first kill, go.
His father would often talk about meeting others, but so far Ozacas had been the only Altered Hunter he had ever met. The reason for that was that his father didn’t want to introduce him to the others until he had at least earned his first star.
Blake loved his father, but he hated that side about him. He had read that the past generations of the Hunt family had enjoyed a lot of prestige among their own kind, yet Ozacas ‘hiding’ his son, made Blake feel as if his father was ashamed of him.
“It might be slightly related to that matter…” Blake confessed. “I was just wondering, the books talk of beasts that used to roam earth long ago… and I know that their fossils are what is being used to create the Altered, but… is it possible that those beasts still exist today?”
“That is actually a popular topic among Altered Hunters.” Ozacas replied, scratching his chin. “While there has yet to be a definitive answer to that question, I personally believe there are. Although I have never met one, there are rumours of certain special ‘Altered’ being out there.
“Do you remember reading that there were beasts that had attained a humanoid form? These were the most dangerous during their time, since they were said to display clear signs of intelligence. I suspect that some of those special ‘Altered’ are exactly that, hiding among us today. ”
Was that the answer? Was Gary actually some type of Humanoid Beast who had taken on the appearance of the naked teenager to invoke some sort of sympathy from Blake? However, if that was the case, his blood should have been black… yet the teenager was certain it had been red. He was quite sure of it, after all, he had been the one who had to wash it off his outfit.
His father went ahead to place the baton away. While it was a good tool to prepare his son for surprise attacks, if the police caught him with such a thing, it would lead to a very bad outcome.
“Then… have you ever heard about a beast not bleeding black blood?” Blake asked.
Just as he had reached the top, his father froze when he heard this question. His fingers still clinging onto to the baton.
“Why does it sound as if this isn’t a hypothetical question?” His father questioned him, slowly turning his head around, making Blake gulp down hard.
******
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