Chapter 2 The Wild Chase

Mason laid on the bed with his face facing the ceiling. It has been a few hours since everyone had finished eating and have gone to sleep. And now as he laid on the bed trying to get some sleep, Mason could not help but think about his life and how he had ended up here.

According to Mrs Harper, they had found him laying on a basket in front of the orphanage seventeen years ago. It seems whoever his parents were had given up on him and had decided it was better for the orphanage to raise him instead. The only thing they had left him was a pendant and a note that revealed his name. And now as the years went by, Mason could not help but wonder who his real parents were and why they had abandon him. He wondered if they were neohumans or ordinary humans like he was. But the one thing he'd always wish for was a chance to meet them and ask them all this questions in person.

As Mason laid on the bed, thinking. He couldn't help but hear strange noises coming out from all through the building. Immediately, he got up on his feet and moved closer to the open window, wondering who it was.

His room was located on the second floor and so it was easy for him to see everything clearly from up here. There was a group of six men standing outside the building with torches in their hands. At first, Mason had thought they were friends of Mrs Harper as she often invited her friends over, but the moment he saw the strange masks covering their faces, Mason immediately recognized who they were.

Neo-thieves, a term used to describe neohumans who used their ability to break into people's home and steal their goods. But what were they doing this far down in Beverly town? Mason wondered and slowly went close to the door. He opened the door and gasped as he noticed something. It seems another few neo-thieves were already in the building and had already began to steal their goods.

"I'm the oldest here, I have to stop them somehow." Mason mumbled under his breathe as he tiptoed to the staircase to find Mrs Harper standing there while holding her crutches. It seems the noise have woken her up.

"Mason, what the hell are you doing here? Go back to your room now." Mrs Harper whispered immediately she saw Mason.

"I couldn't sleep, the noises woke me up too." Mason replied as he approached her. "They are neo-thieves aren't they? We have to stop them before they take everything."

"I know." Mrs Harper replied curtly with a downhearted look on her face. Even if she wanted to stop them, there was nothing she could do against a large group of neo-thieves in her condition. She had to choose between letting them have their way or risk losing the children and she chose the former.

"I'm sorry Mason. But we will have to let them have their way. I'm afraid I won't be able to stop them." Mrs Harper said with tears in her eyes while Mason clenched his fist. There was no way he was going to let them have their way. The rations was something Mrs Harper had spent her entire life savings trying to get and it was enough to last them for three years at most. Allowing them to take everything meant the rest of them were going to starve to death and there was no way he was going to let that happened.

Immediately, Mason took a deep breathe and held his pendant for three seconds before rushing down the stairs.

"Leave them alone Mason, you won't be able to stop them." Mrs Harper said with tears, trying to stop Mason but it was too late. Mason slowly picked up two iron rod and tiptoed towards the back of one of the neo-thieves before smashing it on the back of his head with every fiber of strength he had left his body. The force was so strong that the neo-thieve collapse on the ground, thereby alerting the ones outside and the one inside.

Immediately, they all rushed inside to find their fellow man lying on the ground with blood oozing from his head while a teenage boy stood next to him.

"Come get me you filthy bastards!" Mason yelled and threw the other rod at them before bolting out through the open window.

The rod landed on the head of one of the neo-thieves, injuring him on the spot and drawing blood. The man groan and clenched his fist, his face boiling with anger. He was bigger than the rest and seemed to be the leader of the gang. And Immediately the rod landed on his head, he yelled with a voice that seem to scare even his men themselves before rushing out through the window himself with his men following behind him.

"Stop there you little bastard!" The man yelled and threw a green orb at the back of Mason who was now running down towards the woods. The orb missed his head by a few inches and landed on a tree ahead of him, shattering it on the spot.

Mason gasped as he witness this and quickly held onto his pendant as he continued running.

Another neo-thieve threw a ball of wind at him and this time around it landed on Mason, throwing him several meters ahead. Mason groaned in pain as he landed on the ground with several cuts on his face.

But the moment he saw that they were getting closer, he stood up and continued to run, heading deep into the woods.

Despite the pain and cut he got from the fall, Mason knew he had to keep running so he could get them far away from the orphanage and long enough for Mrs Harper to get the authorities. It was the only way he could save the orphanage and the goods.

With that thought in mind, Mason continued running and was lucky enough to dodge the attacks that were being thrown at him. But his luck soon ran out when he got to a cliff with no way to go. He looked around trying to find a way out but saw none. Clearly, it was a dead end with nothing but death for those who dared to jump as it was several meters deep.

Eventually, the neo-thieves caught up to him and Mason could see the rage and hatred on their faces. He quickly scanned them and noticed they were about seven in number and each one with an ability that was between the range of level 2.5 and 3. And Mason knew they was no way he could fight them all by himself.

"You little bastard, how dare you try to play hero!" The man said with venom in his voice while Mason felt his pulse quicken. But he quickly compose himself and held his pendant as he said in all seriousness, "I bet you don't even know what that word means."

Hearing this, the man clenched his fist and threw a green orb at him. The orb flew so fast that Mason could not even follow it and eventually, it landed on his chest, leading to aggressive release of air that threw him down the cliff.

For a few agonizing seconds, he was suspended in midair, flailing his arms and legs as he hoped for someone to save him. But it was of no use as he felt himself falling and falling until he hit the ground with a bone - jarring thud that knocked the breathe out from his lungs and shattered his entire body.

"Ahhhh!" Mason screamed as he felt his entire bones broken and the world slipping out from under him. He felt disoriented and in a matter of seconds, his blood had covered the entire horizon.

Just then, the sky thundered and a heavy rain began to fall, soaking his entire body and mixing with his blood. And as the blood flowed towards the pendant, something strange happened. The pendant reacted and glowed brightly, illuminating the entire horizon. But Mason was too weak to notice it as he was slowly dying. But just before he lost consciousness, he saw something, a flicker in his eyes. It was the blurred image of a blue screen floating in front of him.

But before he could figure out what it was, he saw a world of blackness coming to meet him and blacked out, but not before the blue screen could display a message.

[Alert]

[You have met the requirements to complete the hidden quest: Fulfillment of the pendant]

[You have unlocked the demon system]

///Tbc////