Stunned and Stupefied

“The thrill of divine surprise exceeds the human minds, they are stunned when history is made and they are stupefied when a legend is born”

The cock crowed loudly as a symbol of the breaking dawn, the sweet melodies of birds filled the air as they flew out of their nests seeking to make the best of this new day. The sun glowed warmly and the Hunter kingdom gave off an ancient feeling of the medieval era, even though so much time has passed and the rest of the world has improved in terms of civilization, the kingdom remained unaffected by the passage of time.

Atop a small his were several houses but there wasn’t anything special about them as there were several of such houses along the hill and everywhere else across the kingdom but one thing did seem peculiar in one of the houses as a seven year old boy could be seen running around the house in glee, his hair was in a mess and he was still clad in his pajamas showing that he just got out of bed. A young woman walked out of a room that seemed to be the kitchen as a heat wave accompanied by several delicious aroma spread out the moment she opened the door, she had an apron hanging from her neck and tied to her waist, her brown auburn hair danced on her shoulder like waves, her emerald green eyes twinkled as she smiled at the overexcited kid.

“Marcus stop running around or you might get injured.” Genevieve said with a smile but Marcus didn’t stop instead he began to shout and jump around more wildly

“Yay, I’m finally seven!” he kept yelling as he ran, he then ran towards his mom and jumped into her arms

“Mom, I can finally receive the Hunter god’s blessing and move through the shadows like you or become strong like dad or maybe I’ll be fast like uncle Luke.” He chattered on restlessly

“okay calm down honey, we’ll head to the temple after breakfast, so go take a wash and I’ll be done in a few moments.” Genevieve said as she straightened his hair, she then stared at his eyes, instead of it being green like hers or that of any other Hunter they were blue but the shade was so faint it almost looked like white, it looked extremely beautiful and captivating but it was for this very reason several people wanted him dead, he was different from everyone else and they were scared of it.

“Mom, you’ve been staring at me all day.” Marcus said slowly and his mother chuckled softly before letting go of him and he ran to take his bath. Not long after he came out all dressed with his hair meticulously combed, he then joined his parents at the dinning, he greeted his father before he started to gobble up his meal with the ferocity of a wolf.

“I see someone is excited.” Eric said with a chuckle and Genevieve smiled

“Honey, eat slowly or you’ll have an indigestion.” She said as she rubbed his head lovingly but he shook his head in protest

“Stop it, you’ll ruffle my hair.” Marcus complained with a mouth full of food and his parents burst into laughter as they watched him try to smoothen his jet black hair which was very similar to his fathers’.

They ate the rest of their breakfast in silence and once they were done Marcus couldn’t hold himself anymore as he dashed out of the house to one of the neighbouring buildings to fetch his best friend Jasmine, knowing their relationship and being friends with Marcus’ father, her father whom Marcus often referred to as uncle Luke didn’t hold Jasmine back and allowed her to follow him to the temple. Jasmine was a girl two years younger than Marcus, she had a blonde hair and jade green eyes, even though she was still young, it was obvious that she was a promising beauty. The duo ran back to where Marcus’ parents were waiting with their horses, Marcus stayed on the same horse as his father while Jasmine stayed with Genevieve, they urged their horses and galloped down the hill with Marcus yelling that he was going to receive his blessings to whoever cared to listen, many just wished him luck as they had seen this scene so many times that they were now numb to it but there were few that followed after them.

The temple was located in the center of the kingdom and only second to the palace in terms of grandeur. They arrived at the temple with a sizable crowd on their tail as they all came to join in on the excitement after all Eric and Genevieve had quite a renowned reputation as talented individuals in the kingdom.

They entered the temple and the attendants received them after hearing their plight, they were taken to the main hall, after turning and twisting through so many entrances and hallways they arrived at a large hall, there were intricate but beautiful patterns on the walls which converged in a dome, the hall was devoid of anything safe for an elevated circular platform which served as the altar.

The altar was about two metres wide and crimson in colour, its surface was covered with many intricate lines that gave a sense of vertigo if been stared at for long, along the circumference were twelve profound and mysterious runes.

The alter served many purposes but in this instance it was used to test the bloodline of the child, if he wasn’t a pure Hunter then the alter wouldn’t even make the slightest reaction no matter what was done, apart from that it was used in testing one’s talent, after the person’s blood has been dropped at it’s very center the lines will light up with crimson light followed by the runes, the number of runes one was able to light up will correspond ones’ talent, lightening up three or less runes symbolizes poor aptitude, four to six runes symbolizes an average or normal aptitude, seven to nine runes symbolizes superb talents, ten runes symbolizes a genius, eleven talent runes symbolizes a rarely seen demon level genius, this rune has only been lit up less than  seven times in history and the twelfth rune symbolizes transcendent aptitude and there has never been any record of this rune ever lighting up.

After the runes were lit up then their projection will appear in the air and surround the person before entering his body and bestowing upon them their gifts and abilities, sometimes the kind of ability is known instantly and sometimes the child will have to go through several test to determine the ability he has.

During his time Eric was able to light up eight runes while Genevieve lit up nine runes making them rank at the top of talent lists, his grandfather Sword-saint Predator was able to light up ten runes making him a rarely seen genius, taking these factor into consideration many of the people present believed he will be able to light up eight runes, some believed he should be able to light up nine while some daring ones dared to think he might be able to light up ten runes like his grandfather so they all waited eagerly.

The chief priest suddenly appeared on the altar, he was an old man clad in red robes, his silver hair reached his waist and they danced around softly even without the wind he produced a ceremonial dagger and beckoned for Marcus to come up the alter, seeing this everyone wished him luck and he climbed up with a nervous heart, with the dagger the chief priest made a light cut on Marcus’ hand and let the blood drop on the alter, almost immediately the patterns began to light up and everyone began chatter in hushed tones, then the runes at the edge began to light up one after the other only to stop after reaching the eight rune, everyone held their breaths in suspense and after a few moments the night rune lit up brightly causing many people to gaze in admiration, just when they thought that will be all the tenth rune suddenly lit up causing people to go wild with excitement, then the eleventh rune lit up and their breaths got stuck in their throats and just when they thought they’ve seen it all the legendary twelfth rune lit up leaving everyone stunned and stupefied.