Shadowplayer

Prologue

Once upon a time, many centuries ago, there lived a species of people so rare, so special, they were hunted for their abilities.

Rumor spread throughout the countries that these people were cursed with magic. They were evil, the Devils own creations. They could perform tasks impossible to man. Word of one woman setting an entire village ablaze with just a flick of her wrist, of a man floating in midair attacking those who came near, of children with eyes as dark as the hell in which they came.

There was nothing stopping the destruction that came. Villages torn down, lives destroyed. People would go missing, never to be seen again. Orphaned children. Farms abandoned. Food shortages and drought engulfed all forms of life. No one knew how to stop it, to make it go away. These people, these things, would stop at nothing until the had rid the world of humans.

They were branded as Witches.

And once they were branded, they became all the more terrifying. They were once distinguishable with a devils mark cursed upon them, but they learnt to adapt, to hide themselves among the norm. There was no telling them from your neighbor, your friend, your family. It scared the population into hiding, into never seeing the light of day.

That was, until they stepped forward.

They had no name, a group of hooded figures with a means of tracking down the Witches. No one knew where they came from, but they stormed through the lands in constant search. The only way they knew to end these clever creatures was with fire. They tore through buildings, dragging those accused out into the cold night, before throwing them to the pyre they kept ever burning.

It lasted years, then decades, then centuries. The destruction never ceased, but offenders were always caught and sentenced to immediate death. It had become a daily task for the hooded figures, who had been branded by the villages as The Hunters. They passed this art down through generations of families, each one a little stronger. But as they evolved and grew, so did their enemies.

The Witches took post, fighting back as best they could, but when all else failed, they became something else.

Upon one raid, late into the 18th century, The Hunters cornered a particularly slippery Witch. Her eyes gleamed with darkness and a wicked smile unsettled the men. And then she was gone. Right before their eyes, the shadows cast around her like a winter cloak, blacking out The Hunter's vision, and when they seized forward she was gone. She had disappeared on the spot, proving her impossible nature plausible.

Shadowplayers.

As time went on they became all the more popular, escaping punishment by hiding in the shadows of which they were formed. The Hunters were at an end, not knowing how to defeat this new breed. They fought all they wanted, but more of their own fell than of theirs. They were outsmarted, outnumbered.

Then it stops.

All History textbooks fall short of what happened next. Old wives tales passed around fires will make up the gaps, but no one knows for certain what went down in those darkest of days.

The story skips to the Council; a group made up half of Witches, half of humans. They formed a law, an agreement, that Witches are allowed to practice their powers in secret, out of the eye of others, in exchange that any of those caught exposing themselves- or worse, reverting back to their old destructive natures- would be severely punished by The Hunters.

This Law was passed and continues to be in practice today. Witches hide away their powers from the masses, and shadows have not been played with in hundreds of years. But still The Hunters remain, dwindling in numbers, but always there. They watch over, they protect. They do what must be done by any means necessary. Waiting the out the day their power is needed in number once more.

A/N: Eh.

This was basically a big build up so like I hope you guys are intrigued.

Fun fact: I've never started a story with Once Upon A Time before (I think)

This is the story I started writing for NaNoWriMo this year. I haven't completed it but I got a few chapters in...like 4.5 or something chapters written.

And this is also the second story posted in two days...I may just go on an upload binge and you'll see a shit ton of stories from me that will never be updated XD

Thoughts? Predictions? Rude comments about my lack of updating?

Thanks for reading, please review (:

Love, ChloeRhiannonX