Rise of the Omnimage

Kyrain and his cousins with Elijah over the next few days, took a few extermination jobs from zone 2 and 3.

In the last couple of years the beasts have gotten stronger. Training had been much more fierce. His family and the guild trainers had pushed him way harder.

Lately his uncle had been away from the guild on a few missions that even his mother didn't even know the details of. Apparently in the bigger cities there were people being murdered like crazy. It was always the same, women were being targeted, but it was happening simultaneously in New York, Chicago, LA, Detroit, and in Seattle. It was becoming a bigger and bigger problem and the guild was releasing little news except they were actively working on figuring out what was happening.

As a result, people had been training harder in their paths, moving in groups, and not doing it as much at night.

Kyrain and his team were walking in to cash in on their job. They separated to the screens and began to log their work.

Kyrain scanned his ID, but instead of the usual screen he got a message notification.

He immediately opened.

Mr. Ekart,

My name is Eclipse and I am the liason concerning your entry to the bounty hunter program. I have arrived in Clarksville to go over a few legal requirements and induction.

When you have arrived back at the guild, please call me using the enclosed number.

Respectfully,

Eclipse

Kyrain input the number into his phone then logged his job success seeing the reward transfered to his account. After logging off he pressed "call."

The phone rang twice on the other side before a woman's voice answered.

"Hello." Came the voice on the other side.

"This is Kyrain Ekart and I'm trying to get in touch with Eclipse." Kyrain said.

"Outstanding! Good to hear from you Mr. Ekart. If you are still at the guild we can meet and get straight to work." Eclipse said getting straight to business.

"Yes ma'am, I'm still here and am willing to get started immediately." Kyrain responded.

"Excellent!" Came the same voice that was on the phone, coming still out of the phone, but also behind him.

Kyrain turned. A woman in a white and black fox mask stood before him. She was approximately 5'6 athletic build, but carried herself with an extremely lethal poise.

Kyrain hung up and reached out a hand. "It's good to meet you miss Eclipse?" Kyrain said and asked.

She reached out and shook his hand. "Eclipse is good. It's my code name. If you are brought into the program you will recieve a code name and a mask to protect your identity. It is required as we hunt users that have broken the law."

Kyrain nodded as it all made sense to him. In the world they lived in now, people lived a long time, kept eternal grudges, and could do a lot of damage to a person, friends, and family.

"Come I have a conference room reserved where we can speak and go over a few things." She said walking toward the conference room.

Once they were in the room they were seated at a table with a few forms on it.

"These forms are the legalities before we can get you in the program. We have done the background check through the guild and saw your record is clean. This first form here is the Bounty Hunter program's official invitation with your written acceptance. Please read this form as it includes the risks associated with being a hunter. When you sign, you acknowledge the risks and accept them with the invitation." She explained pushing the form over to Kyrain.

It read similar to the message he recieved on the screens, with the addage of potential being injured or killed by targets one may be sent after.

Kyrain had done more research into the hunters and was going to work as hard as possible to get to Bronze rank and as high as tier as possible. He was currently at tier 5 as he was able to push himself up another tier in the 2 years and get another skill out of it that would help deal with dangerous criminals once and for all.

He signed his name on the bottom of the invitation.

"The next form is a non-disclosure agreement. Many of the things you will see, learn, and do will be confidential, sensitive, or instrumental in the success of the hunters. For example, the identity of other hunters. Not only must you protect yourself, but you must protect other hunters. This form is your understanding and agreement to remain silent about such things unless given written consent by appropriate authority." Eclipse said

Kyrain quickly read through the form that was devoid of lawyer speak that always was so confusing and hard to understand. Kyrain asked about it.

"The Grandmaster was the founder of this program. He isn't the type to play games or bullshit people. He is brutally honest and will tell you as it is. He insisted the contracts and forms to be simple like that as it dealt with people's lives." She answered as she pulled another form.

"This form is the consent of training. It has a list of the courses and training you will recieve. Some of these courses possess the risk of injury and will be harsh in some cases. This form outlines to you these courses are not done out of cruelty, but necessity."

Kyrain read over the form and saw classes such as Survival, Evasion, Resistance, Escape (SERE) as well as advanced water survival, counter surveillance, Behavioral prediction, criminal code, and use of lethal force. He signed it and handed it back.

"This is the last form. This is your agreement to obey all lawful orders given by your seniors in the program. This is your agreement to follow the orders of your appointed trainer and here at the bottom is your understanding and consent to become the assigned trainee of the programs appointed trainer." She explained sliding it over.

"When will I meet this trainer?" Kyrain asked as he started to look the form over.

"You already have. The guild assigned me as your trainer as it's the next step in my progression within the program." She answered.

"Stapled to the back of that form is my commitment to you as your trainer to prepare you for as many eventualities as I can and give you the tools to handle any that will pop up on rare or unique occasions."

Kyrain read the form and looked at the back. It was as she said. He looked down at her signature expecting to see her code name, but it appeared to be her real name. Emma Robinson.

Kyrain flipped back to the front and signed.

"Excellent! You have the rest of today and tonight to set your affairs in order and say goodbye to friends and family for a time. Once you have completed the training program, you will be able to return to this area, should you desire, and make it your home base of operations as a hunter.

From here on out you will not address me or another hunter as anything but Sir or Ma'am. You will use code names to get their attention, then continue to use Sir or Ma'am. Hunters are recognized by the symbol over their heart of the hawk. Trainees do not have the hawk. All orders and tasks will come from me. Failure to follow all lawful commands from me will result in punishment or dismissal from the program."

She opened a bag on the floor by her side and took out a white mask that had the look a mutated sharp angular skull and pushed it toward him.

"Whenever you are on official business of the program you will wear this mask to conceal your identity. At no time will you take it off unless ordered by appropriate authority in secrecy. In other words. You will arrive to the guild tomorrow wearing the mask. It's been specially crafted to attach to the face and cannot be removed unless you deliberately want it off or is broken. Do you have any questions?" She asked.

"Yes ma'am, do I have a name I go by and what time should I arrive tomorrow?" He asked.

"She nodded. Good you learn quick. The program had given you the codename of Erebus. You are shadow, darkness, nothingness. Your path removes all that people know and you will be here no later than 0600." She replied.

"Yes ma'am. Is there anything else?" Kyrain asked.

"No. I will see you in the morning. " Eclipse said putting the forms in a case that locked and put them into her bag.

Kyrain left the room and went to the hospital to see his mom. He was uneasy. This was the first time he was truly being taken from home and her. He could use the reassurance she always provided.

- Eclipse -

"Hello."

"Grandmaster, he has been inducted into the program. There were no issues." Eclipse said.

"Good. That one will be an extremely good addition to the program and can stop a lot of high powered individuals if we train him right." Tod Robinson said.

"I plan to do my best. He seems sharp and is eager." Eclipse said.

"Good. Be careful out there Emma. Let us know when you are back in the area and can break away. Jess has been training Mads, but i don't think she wants in the program. She spends all of her time in the ocean exploring the shallows and messing with the different fish and beasts. She might just remain an adventurer when she gets there." He said.

"That sounds like her. Alright, I'll keep you posted. Love you dad."

"Love you too." Came the response and then the call ended.

She took of her mask and laid down on the bed in her guild provided room to rest up for the hard task in front of her.