As the sun set and sky darkened, nature seemed to slow down, birds returned to their nests, people working outside closed their shops and returned to their houses.
In the imperial palace of 'Aegis' kingdom, an old man ran through the hallways and his destination was a certain room in the palace.
Two knights were guarding the majestic door of that room. Their right hands were placed on the hilt of their sheathed swords, hanging on their waist.
Seeing the old man running towards them, they became alert. But as soon as that man's face became clear, they relaxed.
"Oh, It's prime minister Oland!" One of the knights commented.
Few moments later, Oland reached them and stopped his advance.
*Huff* *Huff* *Huff*
Oland rested his hands on his knees and breathed heavily. He already had a weak body because of old age, and despite that he came running like that, it's good enough that he didn't just faint out of exhaustion.
"Let me pass!... Huff... I-I need to inform his majesty Something important." Oland said looking at the knights with serious expression.
Seeing the seriousness on his face, knights looked at each other and with silent understanding, they nodded.
"Wait for a moment, first i need to inform his majesty." The knight in left said as he entered the room.
One minute later, he came out and pointed at the door while looking at Oland. Oland understood the meaning and went inside the room.
The room was bigger than a commoner's entire house and was filled with luxurious decorations. Even the carpet and furniture was made of highest quality materials.
A man in his forties sat at the chair near his bed, looking towards the man entering his room.
Oland bowed his head slightly and placed his right hand on his chest.
"Greetings your majesty, the king of 'Aegis'. Pardon my late night visit."
King looked at the old man, who was still drenched in sweat and his breathing was still uneven.
"Something that made you visit me at this hour, it must be something serious. Tell me, what happened?" King ordered him with an emotionless voice.
Oland was silent for a moment, then he looked at the king and opened his mouth.
"It's about second prince, Leon. He... He has disappeared from the palace!" Oland said with a grave tone.
After hearing the prime minister, king couldn't sit at his chair anymore and sprang up.
"How can this happen? There might be some kind of mistake. Have you confirmed it yourself?" King's voice was still cold, but his expression was showing that he was clearly panicking.
"There is no mistake your majesty, i have confirmed it myself with my ability [ Sense ]. He really has disappeared from the palace."
Some people in this world possessed special abilities, ranked from S to E ( S, A, B, C, D, E ). These abilities could awaken at different points of their lives, but most of the awakened individuals were born with their powers.
Oland was one such individual, who was born with his [ D-Rank ] special ability. Although, he acquired his position of prime minister because of his intelligence, not because of his special ability.
Hearing his confirmation, king's head started to hurt. He couldn't understand how it happened.
"Leon, that lazy, unmotivated, trash who couldn't awaken even a [ E-Rank ] ability for sixteenth years, has now suddenly disappeared!"
Imperial palace was filled with knights, including both awakened and unawakened knights, and everyone was checked properly before entering and exiting the palace.
Simply speaking, it was impossible for someone weak like Leon to disappear.
"If nobles catch the wind of this information, they are going to use it against me. Make sure that nobody finds out about his disappearance." King said while massaging his temples.
"And start searching for Leon... secretly."
...
Inside a forest, a 16 years old boy with waist long inky black hair was laying unconscious on the ground.
His height was around 180cm, and he was wearing a white shirt made of silk and black pant, a long sword on his waist.
Trees around him so big that they looked like mountains, only a little moonlight manged to enter through their branches and fell on the boy's face, revealing his pale white skin.
The dry leaves fallen on the forest ground rustled with cold passing breeze.
Crunch...
A sound of dry leaves being crushed under someone's feet echoed in the soundless night.
Crunch...
Footsteps of the unknown creature, hidden in the darkness, started getting closer to the unconscious boy.
Crunch... Crunch... Crunch...
Seeing that the boy's body was not moving, creature slowly started to increase it's pace, and no longer bothered to take careful steps.
...
Somewhere on the continent,
In a dark room, Seven people sat around a big table. There face and bodies were covered in shadows.
"It's about time to start our plan, what do you guys think?" One of them spoke, he seemed to be a male from his voice.
"I was ready centuries ago. It were six of you who were not ready!" A woman's voice said with a hint of mockery.
"Alright! Since no one has any objections, Plan [ Darkest Hour ] will start right from this moment." announced the same man, who spoke previously.
All seven of them stood up from their seats and placed their hands at the white orb, placed at the table.
*Clatter* *Clatter*
Table started to vibrate intensely, as different kinds of ominous energies started to to flow out of their hands and gathered in the white orb.
Soon, all those energies started to mix together, creating a beautiful mix of red, black and purple. Then...
Boooom!
With a loud blast, the mixture of those energies started to spread in all the directions, covering everything in a bright, Violet light. Then it completely disappeared, like it never even existed.
"How was it, did we succeed?" Another man's voice sounded in the room.
Hearing his question, a frown appeared on the women's darkness covered face.
"Something interfered with the spell. Even I don't know how it happened, since we made it undetectable. But it felt more like a subconscious action rather than something intentional." The woman said, a little annoyed.
"But don't worry, although not on the whole continent, our spell has been casted on half of the continent. The [ Darkest Hour ] will soon arrive! Hahahaha..."
The woman's laughter echoed in the dark room.
...
In the forest,
Crunch... Crunch... Crunch...
Sound of the creatures footsteps was quickly getting closer and closer. Black haired boy, was still laying unconscious on the ground.
Suddenly, a little movement happened in his body and his eyelids slowly opened, revealing his beautiful crimson eyes. He looked up and saw the mountain like trees covering his view.
But soon this view changed, as the cold and sticky saliva of some creature fell on his left hand.
He turned his head to the left and saw a wide opened mouth and big sharp teeths of some creature, about to bit his head off.