(I know I've been gone a while, I will get back to the stories I was writing before but this is the one currently in my head.)
Alexandria, Egypt 323 BC
A gathering of the thirteen most powerful sorcerers in the known world of the time sat in a hut having a discussion as a woman gave birth in a hut next to their's. The most powerful among them, an immortal called Ezra spoke, "The spell works a bit like a family curse, when he dies he will pass his power and knowledge along to a successor but to keep the next in line hidden it will be passed randomly throughout humanity."
A Canaanite mystic named Mawat gave an annoyed look, "So we spend life times tracking them down?"
Ezra shrugged, "Basic logic, if we can find them easily so can the enemies we're trying to fight. Its curse enough being born a weapon, at least give them a chance to be a child."
A nurse maid then enters holding the new born child, "He's a strong boy. He gripped the midwife's finger hard enough to break it."
Ezra walked over and took the child, "What name did his mother give him?"
The nurse looked upset, "She died before she saw him."
Ezra sighed as he looked down on the boy, "I hope her sacrifice was worth it."
He looked back to the gathering, "We have our demon slayer."
***
Aurora, Illinois now
Jared Maxwell wakes up to a blaring alarm. He pulled himself up as he tried to clear his head from his recurring dreams of men from the past fighting monsters. He walks out and goes to the kitchen where is father has his face in the paper. He doesn't look at his son, "Hey pizza boy, be somewhere else after work. I got a date and broke live at home kids are a bit of a turn off."
Jared dropped down in a chair, "Can you at least wait till summer's over before declaring me a loser for life?"
His dad chuckled, "I was kidding, but seriously, find something to do tonight. Relax about the college thing, you can always transfer from the Junior college to a decent one."
The phone started ringing and Jared went to get it but his dad stopped him, "Ignore it, some weird guy has been calling all morning. Keeps talking about demons or something."
Jared eased up before noticing the clock, "S**t, I'm gonna be late."
His dad chuckled again, "May have just figured out why you got so many rejection letters."
Jared rolled his eyes as he grabbed his keys, "Ha, ha. You're a comedy genius."
***
A few hours later Jared watched his manager complain at him about his life as he tried to look like he was listening. He gave a customary, "Yup" to his boss and hoped it was an appropriate response as he pulled a pizza from the oven. He was just glad they didn't have him lugging things from the freezer today. He'd always been unusually strong and his boss took this to mean he could use him like a miniature fork lift.
Unknown to Jared he was being watched by a woman just slightly older than him that sat at a table off in the corner. The waitress was annoyed with her since she'd sat for over an hour sipping a soda while texting with someone. The manager was convinced she was an inspector of some kind so the waitress was forced to take the loss of tips with a fake grin.
Jared suddenly had an odd feeling in his gut as a large man in a trench coat entered, his face hidden by a hood that hung low over his head. The red haired woman seemed to become nervous as he passed and the manager asked Jared to go over to the counter and keep an eye on the suspicious looking man.
The man turned and looked at Jared as he approached. He rounded the counter. The cashier moved to stop him but was hurled away as the man went for Jared. As he grabbed him by the neck Jared noticed his claws and almost reptilian skin.
Without thinking Jared grabbed the creature's arm and twisted it away from his throat and heard bones snap. He then pushed the creature away with enough force to drive it through the nearest wall. The creature stood just outside the wall. Jared noticed its hideous head before it pulled the hood back over. It moved to attack again but stopped as if by command and ran off.
The red haired woman texted to her boss, 'Yup, its him. But they found him too.'
***
The restaurant was closed early and after Jared gave the police a statement, omitting the part he was sure they wouldn't believe, he left to find something to do. He found himself in the food court of the local mall when an old man sat at his table. He looked up, "This table is taken if you didn't notice."
The old man shook his head, "In my day we were more polite when an old man needed a seat."
Jared waved a hand toward the several empty tables, "Take your pick."
The old man shrugged, "But I choose to sit here and discuss the creature you fought earlier today."
Jared looked curious, "I didn't fight any creatures, just some crazy bum."
The old man chuckled, "Do the bums around here tend to have talons and fangs?"
Jared's eyes went wide as the old man spoke, "The creature was a demon, specifically an Oni."
Jared gave a wary look, "You're that weird guy who keeps calling my dad, aren't you?"
The man nodded, "My name is Ezra, and I can prove what I say."
Jared got up and turned to walk away but suddenly found himself in an abandoned warehouse. He recognized it from his dreams. Ezra stepped up behind him, "You are the latest in a line of people born specifically to hunt and fight demons. This is the place where your predecessor died."
Jared looked passed a hole in a wall to see signs written in a language he'd never seen before but could somehow read, "Where the hell are we?"
"Ukraine."
Jared felt a bit of panic beginning as Ezra spoke, "Last year you broke a world record running your mile in gym class despite no training or any real effort at all, I'm willing to bet you've never once strained while attempting to lift something in your life. Never been sick, never had a severe injury or if you did you healed too fast to notice, am I right?"
Jared was still nervous as he answered, "How do you know all this? And how did we get here?"
They suddenly found themselves in front of a large castle like building, "We need to have a talk about your future."
Jared followed Ezra into the building and noticed people wandering around. He noticed a man alone in a large nearly empty room off to the side of the hall practicing with a wooden sword. The man gave him a nod as he noticed them walking by.
Jared then noticed the red haired woman from the restaurant sitting at a table talking to some other people. He turned to Ezra, "So how long have you been having me watched?"
"A couple months, had to be sure you were who we thought you were. This is the home office of an organization called Grigorri. We were founded originally to keep track of your kind and make sure you survived long enough to learn your job. We've since branched out a bit, we're now the primary source of research on and defense against the super natural and paranormal."
Ezra aimed him toward a table where Jared nearly fell into a chair, "This is a lot to take in, but I need you to bare with me for a bit longer. That thing you tussled with today is just the tip of the ice berg, you'll have much worse heading your way and you need to be ready."
(To be continued)
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