Mana Tapu

Prologue

Run. That's all I could think as the leaves whipped past me. Run. I felt twigs and thorns snagging on my shirt. Scratches of blood were quickly being combined with droplets of sweat but I needed to get away. I needed to run faster than they could. I couldn't afford to lose this race. I needed to run.

Two hours earlier

"CAPTAIN!!!"

"What is it?" Snapped Captain Arlo as he looked up from the pile of papers, carefully strewn across his desk.

The door had burst open and his new intern was panting in the doorway - every piece of his manicured hair falling into a mess of panic. With a moment of indecision the intern gasped.

"He ran... Callum ran"

Hearing this, the hair along Captain James Arlo's arms stood on end. He was usually an abnormally calm person. After all, that was how he had secured the position as Captain of the Guard. He hadn't been training this long just to let some puny intern see his shock. With a grunt he thrust back his chair. His tall form bleeding a shadow over the intern.

"Call in a Hunt. We need to find this rascal before he gets too far."

"Sir, a Hunt?"

"Yes." Mumbling under his breath Captain continued, "I thought I had knocked some sense into that Beast."

"Umm, sorry Sir, I didn't catch that last part."

Snapping out of his revery Captain Arlo let out a low growl. "Start the Hunt."

The intern scurried out the door - slithering over to the glass case suspended below the portrait of the royal family. Flicking the small hammer into its polished sheen he felt the glass cascade onto his shoes. Hesitating, he brushed off a few remaining shards with his sleeve before smacking the small, black button hidden beneath. The alarm system erupted into chaos as every squadron reacted to the same eerie call: the call to a Hunt.