2.
The professors entered and began gathering students, leading the pack of youngsters through the cavern to the front of the great hall. These so-called professors weren’t teachers in the tradition sense, they were themselves some of the greatest Demon Hunters in all the world. They had been handpicked by the Hunter Order’s Senior alliance members to lend their skills to the next generation, to see to it that tomorrow’s wars would have their soldiers.
Many of the new students were all abustle with each other, pointing out Elron Marcus, the top hunter from the Rocky Mountains, or Douglas Jyphid, the foremost expert on Demon physiology and tonic formulation. Above all, there was a good deal of male students who were getting an eyeful of Jessica Malsauve. A woman so beautiful she could turn the Demon’s games of desperation and temptation around on them and seduce them herself. Her claim to fame was that in her first year out of the academy, she summoned and successfully seduced an Archfiend, he brought her behind a gate of the underworld and she held it open from the inside so an army of hunters, Cole’s oldest brother Cecil included, could storm the gates of hell in what would be called the sixth successful raid of the underworld. Countless demonic wares, tools, and tchotchkes alike were brought back to the University for study by the high hunter order. Her simple act of seduction was said to put modern Demonology studies at least five decades forward.
The sound of an iron leg stepping forward, followed by the sound of a cane echoing through the great subterranean turned everyone forward and brought the murmurs to an end.
Toris Haymack, the oldest living Demon Hunter, not counting those of angelic birth, and the longest-serving headmaster in the Academy’s history. Some thought him to be a hundred years old, in actuality he was only seventy, but he looked about fifty. Rumors about him swirled all through the secret world of the Demon Hunters, that world hidden from the mortals that lucky Masses didn’t realize was just under their noses.
The Hunter Order had spent hundreds of years establishing themselves in the ever-growing, ever-expanding world of the Americas.
In the seventeenth century, an incident known to the mortal world as the Salem Witch trials, while horrifying did have at least a kernel of truth to them. There was a demon in Salem, just not where the foolish zealots were looking. That incident was what pushed what would become the American Hunter’s Order underground. If people in the mortal world knew there was a millennial-year-old war between the forces of good and evil they would panic. So, the Order has several agents, some graduates of this very academy, dispersed from sea to shining sea. They worked to keep the secretive world of Demons just that, a secret. Thanks to a combination of memory-wiping drugs and agents of the order convincing people that there was nothing investigate when a demon ripped through a convenience store, the secret of the Below’s presence in this word had somehow been able to stay hidden. Cole had heard his father talking with the other members of the high order, the day may come when the Below won’t be able to be hidden anymore, and the day may come when the never-ending battle of good versus evil becomes public knowledge. In all honesty, it sounded like they were preparing for it like it was more an inevitability than a possible worst-case scenario.
Toris brought his cane to the podium as the professors gathered on either side of him. Three hard whacks against the inbuilt stone of the hall, echoing out through the massive cavern, and anyone who wasn’t paying attention certainly was now.
“Gather now, ye hunters,” his voice was so commanding it probably would have boomed even without the cavern’s echo giving it a hand, “Take your blades and shields, fight against the night, the corruption, the below,” he looked over the crowd, it was as if he was making eye contact with each and every student in attendance.
“You are the one-hundred-and-seventh class of the East Coast Demon Hunter University,” He looked to the youngsters below him. “Before me, I see the next generation of heroes, and I pray you don’t disappoint, some of you are from the older families, families that have guarded the mortal world against the forces of the below, from the forces of evil, a bulwark of protection from the Morning Star,” Toris looked upon the group of students over a hundred strong, a small addition to fighting against the endless encroachment of the below. The class was small but welcome and much needed none the less.
“Over the next six months, you will begin your preparations for a life in service of the mortal world, some of you are fighters, some agents, others with talents for healing and other means of support, but know that all of you whether you be a Scholar and seeker of knowledge or a Hunter of the highest caliber,” Toris seemed to shoot a look to Cole, picking him right out of the crowd, “Or a humble healer or smith, know that your education at this fine academy will prepare the next generation to face the coming swarms of evil the below will threaten this world with. If you all would join me know, as we induct these Ceremonies with the oath,” he raised his cain up, and spoke aloud, his voice reverberating through the cavernous great hall, “The war may not be over in our lifetime, but that is no reason to give up the fight,” he said. Those words were known by every hunter family and spoken every generation. It was known that this war may never end, that the scourge of the below was relentless, ever coming. No amount of good in the mortal world could overcome it in one mere lifetime. The end of this great war would come only from the hand of the highest, from the divine will of the creator striking down the darkness of this world in all his infinite glory.
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Though, until that blessed day, it was the hunters who needed to bar the below from the door. They would fight in the Divine’s name and try to keep the tide turned to humanity’s favor long enough for that blessed day to finally come if it ever would.
Cole looked to his left, searched through the crowd, and he found that Tav girl, leaning against the wall, barely paying attention if she was at all. He saw her roll her eyes at the mention of the great never-ending war between the above and below.
She was so cool, so real. It was almost ironic, the girl he was most interested in was probably the only girl in this school who wouldn’t bend over backward when she heard about his family and status.
“With the formalities done, let us get on with the business of your education,” Headmaster Toris said, “Know that these sacred halls are not just for your education, but a place of study and research for the finest of our profession. All students are forbidden from the lower basements unless on a scheduled hunt, or with permission for independent study from a professor. It is recommended if a student wishes to explore the lower basement and receive said permission, they do so with a team of hunters. The allies you make here will be your allies for life, take care in who you select to fight by your side,” he said.
Cole looked over to Benny and Gregor, Benny gave him a smile, and Gregor kept his face straight, just nodding his head. Cole thought about what a threesome like theirs could get done. With the right friends, he may be able to earn his own honor while he was here, and finally, earn his own reputation outside the shadow of his legendary family.
Dad always said that the men a Hunter fights with are more important than any great weapon they could wield. You make your best friends on the hunt, and nothing will teach you more about a man than how he acts when he’s back-to-back with you fighting the forces of darkness.
“Do not let the circumstances of your birth cause you to rest on your laurels, be you a child of prophecy, a destined hero, or even of angelic birth,” Cole spotted Angelica and watched and smiled, holding her shoulders high at the shout out from the headmaster, “When you’re facing a demon head on, nothing about your blood or birth has any bearings on how the fight will go. It’s just you, your weapon, and the other hunters to your side,” he said, “Do not judge one by only their birth,” Cole looked back to Tav.
“The war we fight has been a secret for near a thousand years, since the great war and the fall of the first hunters,” he said. “While the war is still hidden from the eyes of the mortal world, know that the oaths your families, and you have taken to keep this world of monsters and heroes hidden is the most sacrosanct bond you will ever know, while you will be allowed off campus for your own purposes and enjoyment, any student found breaking the Mortal Oath and exposing this academy will face a heavy penalty, up to and including expulsion, and a shame that will follow your family for generations to come. We keep our secrets for the good of the mortal world, take this trust we give you very seriously,” Toris said, a grim look on his face.
The Mortal Oath, with Demons infesting the world the Order couldn’t hope to keep the war between good and evil secret from anyone. In cases like Benny’s family, it was understood that some people would eventually discover the secret. In exchange for help with the Demons infesting their lives people, like Benny’s Family, would swear to the Mortal Oath, to keep the secret war just that, a secret. Of course, there were rumors spread about, a Chupacabra sighting in Mexico, a Sasquatch siting in a national state park, the Hunter’s Order was entrenched in near every channel that rumors of monsters could be discussed in, and the Order spent a good deal of resources debunking such claims. You would be surprised at the lengths the Order has gone too to keep the threat of Demons at a happy medium between rumor and superstition. That’s why legends exist, the existence of Demons could never be fully hidden, so the Order saw that keeping them relegated to legends and sightings made by crazy people was the best way to hide the fact that there were demons all throughout not just America, and the world.
Toris continued his commencement speech, “As you learn the ways of the hunt, you will be challenged, even endangered, but do not fear. For before me I see children of great potential, children who will make these hallowed halls proud for having taught them. Take your time in class, learn from the greats we’ve assembled to teach you, learn to fight the darkness, and learn to defend the light, if you commit yourselves to those two actions, I promise you that you will be able to kill even the mightiest of demons,” he said.
Cole took a deep breath and held his head high. He was Cole Longdren, the Seventh Son of a Seventh Son, the heir to the Longdren name, and he was ready to accept all responsibility that came with that. “I’ll make you proud, dad,” he said to himself, “Dad, Brothers, Mom, I’ll make you all proud.”
