Years have passed now. To be precise, it's been sixteen years since the massacre of my entire village. Time flew, but not the pain. That day still burns in my memory like a fresh wound that refuses to heal. I remember the screams, the smoke, the blood, and the silence that followed. The silence was the worst part.
Now, I am a rookie hunter in the Hunter Organization, a group made up of warriors from all four nations. Kaze, the Wind nation. Shizen, the Earth nation. Kaji, the Fire nation. And Kanji, the Water nation. We were brought together not because we wanted to be, but because something greater needed us. The demons. The real threat.
How I ended up here? Well, let's just say I didn't plan this. I never dreamed of being a warrior or a hero. I just wanted to survive. I didn't want to end up as a lab rat for the higher-ups, being poked and studied for what they called "hidden potential." No thanks.
Right now, I'm stuck with cleaning duty. Wiping down the gear, checking the weapons, polishing the blades. That's my life at the moment. Not exactly the glory I imagined. You'd think that after surviving a massacre, I'd be chilling at home, living a peaceful life. But nah. Life had other plans.
In the Shizen category, where I was placed because of my earth-born origin, we are trained in the basics. These are the core skills every rookie must learn before graduating and being allowed to join real hunts. Like General Clark always says, "You gotta earn your place in the action."
So, what are these basic skills?
Soil manipulation. Nature manipulation. Echo location. Enhanced reflexes. Night vision. Enhanced strength. Enhanced speed.
Each one sounds cooler than it actually is. Especially when you're the one training and getting beat up day after day. For example, I'm still struggling with night vision. Seeing in the dark isn't as easy as it sounds. At first, all I saw were blurry shapes and weird flashes of light. But I'm improving. Slowly.
On the bright side, I finally mastered enhanced strength. That was brutal. We had to break massive falling rocks with our bare fists. The first time I saw the size of those boulders, I almost turned around and quit. No joke. But I kept pushing. Day after day. Bleeding knuckles. Sore arms. But I got there. Now, I can smash a huge rock into pieces with one hit. It feels good. Really good.
Then there's enhanced speed. That one was tricky. It involves manipulating the earth's crust beneath your feet to push you forward faster. The first time I tried it, I tripped and hit the ground so hard I thought I broke a tooth. My fellow trainee, Jack, laughed and said, "That's the fastest I've ever seen you run... when you're escaping strength training."
Yeah, funny guy.
Echo location is still a mystery to me. It's the ability to sense your surroundings through vibrations in the earth, even in total darkness. I've seen it done. It's amazing. But I can't get it right yet. Every time I try, all I hear is noise. I can't tell if it's the wind, the birds, or just my stomach growling.
Soil manipulation, though? That one came naturally. I practiced it back home, even before I knew what it was. I could make plants grow faster, control the soil's hardness, and even create little spikes for defense. That felt like my real connection. My roots, literally.
Nature manipulation is kind of like earthbending, but more... alive. You control rocks, vines, roots, and even animals to some extent. I like calling it the ability to move nature. My favorite move? Lifting a rock and spinning it at high speed like a buzzsaw. With enough speed and strength, it can slice through a thick tree. Dangerous, but powerful.
We Shizen types also have a bond with nature. We can communicate with it. Feel it. Sometimes, it speaks to us in ways others don't understand. The wind whispering warnings. The ground humming when danger is near. It sounds crazy, but it's real.
As for night vision and enhanced reflexes, those are still on my list to improve. My reaction speed is decent, but not where it needs to be. In a fight against a demon, hesitation means death. That's what our instructor keeps telling us.
My life has changed so much. I used to be a data clerk. A nobody. Typing boring numbers into boring systems for boring people. I hated it. Every morning, I'd wake up, drag myself to the office, sit in my cubicle, and stare at the clock. Waiting for the day to end. Wondering if this was all life had to offer.
Now, I train to kill demons.
Weird how life works, right?
But even now, with all this power and training, I still feel that empty space inside. The part of me that wants more. Not just strength or recognition, but something deeper. Maybe it's peace. Maybe it's love. Maybe it's a second chance at the life I lost.
I don't talk about the massacre much. Most of my fellow rookies don't know what happened to my village. I keep it to myself. But sometimes, in the middle of the night, when the training field is quiet, I look up at the stars and remember their faces. My family. My friends. My home.
They're gone. And I'm still here.
Maybe that's the reason I fight.
Graduation is just around the corner. We're being pushed harder than ever. More drills. More sparring. Less sleep. But I won't stop. I can't. Not until I become a real hunter. Not until I find out the truth behind what happened that day. There's something I need to uncover. Something they're hiding.
But for now, I'll keep cleaning these weapons. I'll keep training. I'll keep fighting.