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Posts: 1673
Join Date: Jan 2008
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Not to be confused with the previous story title Rovers that I had written using the old incantations of my characters. I decided this would be a good title for my monster hunters and that the group itself would have no name. So this takes up where Monster Hunters # 1 left off...
A castle in Western Europe…
Waking the next morning Ethan McKnight rose from the large bed and slipped on a pair of house shoes. Then he grabbed the blueprint from the nightstand and a candle and went back into the hallway. He would find the secret room today. It was as if the secrets of this castle were calling to him. Pulling him toward the secret room, demanding he find it.
“What lies in store for me?” he wonders as he turns left toward the staircase that would take him deeper into the bowels of the castle.
At the bottom of the stairs he finds a wooden door with a large iron padlock “this must be it” he thought excitedly looking at the blueprints. Then he used one of the iron keys from the large ring attached to his belt. At first nothing seemed to happen. But then the lock gave a rusty screech and opened.
He pushed the door inward and thrust his candle before him to illuminate the dark recesses within. The light bounced off a shiny suit of polished armor that hung on a stand. He saw candles situated at even intervals throughout the room and lit each one as he came to them throwing light over the entire area.
Ethan was amazed at what lay before him. Not only was there a suit of crusader’s armor but also swords of varying lengths, shields ranging from small wooden bucklers to large steel tower shields, and three shelves containing ancient papyrus scrolls and leather bound books.
Unrolled on a long square table in the center of the room was a piece of parchment. He bent down closer to see what was on the scroll and found a map of medieval Europe. This seemed to be the ready room for a small contingent of knights.
Boreas City…
Seamus Flannigan made his way across town to the apartment building of his new client. He rang the doorbell and a small elderly lady with a hunched back and overly large spectacles cracked open the door. After staring at him for several seconds she removed the chain and opened the door wide enough for him to enter.
“Thank you ma’am” Seamus said upon entering “so where is this nasty critter you mentioned on the phone?”
“I trapped him in the bedroom” she replied proudly “he’s not very bright. I hit him with my broom and slammed the door on him.”
“He hasn’t been able to breakout?” this didn’t seem right at all; even the minutest of demons should have been able to plow through a door.
The old lady led him to the bedroom and cautiously opened the door. Inside the room was empty but it didn’t take long to realize what had happened. The critter, whatever it was, simply crashed through the window and took off. Seamus peered out the broken glass and using the amulet around his neck was able to detect trace amounts of spiritual energy trailing off down the street.
Without explaining to the old woman he climbed through the window onto the fire escape. Then he hurriedly made his way down to the street. The energy acted like glowing footprints but Seamus knew they wouldn’t remain for much longer. He ran as fast as his legs would carry him until he reached the end of the trail. It appeared his prey had simply vanished. But then he waved his hand out in front of him and chanted a minor spell of detection.
A purple aura blazed for a moment and then disappeared once more “the slippery @#$%^&*! opened a portal” he swore under his breath.
Only certain creatures could open portals, most notably any demon of the sixth order or higher, or some creatures of the spiritual persuasion like phantoms and ghouls. A demon wouldn’t have been knocked down so easily and wouldn’t have left a spiritual trail. But the phantoms and ghouls shouldn’t have been hurt at all by the broomstick. That left only one creature that came to mind, the bodach.
Though not as deadly as higher demons, at least not directly so, the appearance of this mischievous spirit meant big trouble. Bodachs only appear before major disasters are to occur. As if the impending doom stirs them from their resting places at times of great peril. These ink-black fluid form creatures like to stir up trouble in order to get the local populace on guard before the upcoming catastrophe.
“Not only do I need to stop this Bodach but I need to find out what else is coming this way” Seamus said to no one in particular.
Elsewhere in Boreas City…
Gabriel Jones strapped this newfound blade to his leg and took flight the moment his feathery wings took form. His insight into the plight of mankind had just become clearer. Something was going to happen here in Boreas. And it was going to happen within the week. His uncanny foresight pointed him in the direction of a spiritual investigator who was also on the trail of something dangerous.
He flapped his wings hastily trying to pick up speed. This newfound urge to prevent disaster almost overwhelmed him. Though as the street he was looking for loomed into view he could see nothing remotely threatening. At first he thought he might be in the wrong place but then noticed a man in a long coat waving his hand in front of him.
Then he saw a purplish aura appear briefly before settling down. Gabriel watched with mild curiosity and waited until the man had finished talking to himself. Then he approached him. Landing on the street and folding his wings close to his back he took a few steps towards the stranger.
His sudden appearance seemed to startle the other man and so he spoke trying to set him at ease “do not be alarmed. I have been sent here by the Almighty himself. I am a warrior of God. And I have felt this impending doom in my soul.”
Seamus couldn’t believe his eyes, first a Bodach and now an angel has appeared in his city. Something big was about to happen. And the thought terrified him. But he wouldn’t let it show on his face, he buried the thought deep down and simply looked at the blond haired man as if studying some majestic painting.
“So you are an angel of the Lord?” Seamus asked at length.
“Something like that” Gabriel replied and then added “I have been chosen to hunt down demons and other creatures threatening harm to the human race.”
Seamus nodded in approval “good thing you’re here then. I could use some help rounding up a slippery Bodach. I need to interrogate it to find out what else is coming.”
The scene switches back to the castle in Europe…
After several hours pouring over the scrolls and through the books Ethan made a great discovery. His ancestors had been charged with protecting humanity ever since the crusades. The eldest male heir would take up the crusader’s armor and don the mantle of the “Rook” when the need arose. The castle itself was called the “Rookery” in the writings and it was said it would become the Rook’s stronghold against his enemies, his refuge from detection whenever he so needed it, that invisible servants would ready the Rookery prior to the new Rook’s arrival.
He remembered yesterday clearly, of the freshly stocked cupboards, the new wax candles in every candlestick and candelabra. Of the fresh smelling sheets on the bed and the new unworn slippers he now wore upon his feet. Ethan wasn’t sure how much he liked having ghosts waiting on him. But what was even more eerie was how everything pointed to him being the new Rook.
He continued to read through the documents. It was foretold by the ancients that the day would come where the Rook was needed in the Western world. And they did not mean Europe but another land across the ocean. This was mentioned long before anyone had ventured forth across the ocean to America and knew of the continent’s existence. If the dates on the parchment were to be believed that is.
As he continued reading he found that the ancients had even mentioned the year it would happen “nine and two thousand years after the death of our savior the world will be plunged into darkness by creatures of unknown origin. The Rook will need to take up his golden sword and defend the people of the Western World” as Ethan read this he realized this was the year implicated by the prophecy.
He looked around the room and found one of the swords to have a golden blade and strange etchings on its hilt. As Ethan picked it up he could feel the power it possessed course up and down the length of the blade as if it had a pulse.
“Looks like I’ll be returning home to Boreas City sooner than planned” he told himself as he began fitting crusader armor in place on his body to test out its fit.
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