Chapter 8 The Originals

The evening was dry and warm as Mason walked down Saint Louis Street with Caleb walking down alongside him. Apparently they were headed towards Caleb home after Jasper had invited him over.

The two have bonded really well in school and Mason had learned that Caleb was truly a nice guy like he had guessed him to be. He came from the Fae family and lived on the eastern side of Beverly town after having transferred from his old school two months ago. And now he was just trying to settle in.

"We are here!" Caleb announced as they came across a huge mansion that was surrounded by peach trees and overlooked a small garden.

Mason turned to look at the mansion and the moment his eyes landed on them, he couldn't help but keep them widely opened.

"No fucking way! You live here?" He beamed as he stared at the huge mansion before him.

"Yes I do. That's my home." Caleb replied with a smile as he kept staring at Mason who was at a lost for words. "But why the reaction bro? I mean it's just a house."

"Are you kidding me? That's like a hundred times bigger than mine."

"Calm down Mason. I'm sure you're just exaggerating." Caleb queried as he walked into the huge mansion with Mason following behind him.

Immediately they got inside, Mason could see that the interior was very different from the outside. It was more beautiful and vastly surrounded by beautiful portraits that hung on the walls. There was a fire pit a few meters from where he stood while the chandeliers in the ceiling shone brightly.

"Come on up. Let me show you to my room." Caleb said as they climbed up the stairs. And as they did, Mason couldn't help but stare at everything his eyes laid on.

"You live here alone?" He asked as they got to a narrow passage with rooms on all sides. He had not noticed it before because he was overwhelmed by the beauty of the mansion, but now that they were walking down the passage, Mason realized he has not seen anyone since they arrived.

"I live with my uncle Sebastian but he's usually not around until midnight." Caleb replied as he rounded a bend.

"What about your parents?"

"My mom is late, she died three years ago on a mission with the neohuman Force. As for my Dad, he's been missing since I was born. I don't even remember his face aside from the picture I have of him." Caleb explained in one breathe as they kept walking.

"I'm so sorry about that. I didn't know." Mason apologized. He had no idea Caleb had gone through all that at such a young age. And it made him realize that they were both similar in some way. Him having not seen his parents since he was born and wondering if they were still alive or not. Caleb on the other hand losing both parents and making him an orphan like he was. Either way they had both been through a lot.

"It's nothing. Don't think too much about that." Caleb replied as they rounded another bend and stopped before a door.

"We are here!" He announced and walked inside with Mason following behind him. As he did, Mason realized the room was several times bigger than his room at the orphanage with several wallpapers of neohumans hanging all over the walls.

"Cool! Is your dream to become a neohuman too? You have so many wallpapers of them in your room." He asked as he ran his finger over the wallpaper.

"Yes." Caleb replied curtly. "I want to become a neohuman like my mom and fight against evil. What about you?"

"Me too!" Mason replied." I want to become as strong as the crimson hunter. He's my favorite one among the neohumans"

"Oh yeah. Wait until you know who my mom was. She was known as the monster slayer during her time." Jasper retorted and they both bursted out laughing.

After a short while, Mason decided to ask something that have been bothering him for a while.

"I have been wondering though, why did you suddenly transfer to Beverly town? You said you lived in Pearls city right and last I checked, it's dope there."

Caleb didn't reply for a while as he wasn't expecting the question. But after a while, he smiled as he said in all seriousness, "Life in pearls city wasn't the same after I lost my mom. She made everything special and i lost all of that when she died. I tried to move on like everyone expected me to, hoping things would eventually go back to the way they were but I was wrong because it only got worse. And that's when I thought of coming to Beverly town since she originated from here. I thought I could somehow connect with her if I came here but I'm afraid things didn't turn out the way I expected them to."

"Really? Why do you say that?"

"Are you kidding me Mason, it's worst here." Caleb said almost immediately. "Don't get me wrong It's really nice here and everything but with the neo-thieves forming gangs and taking lives and destroying homes it's... Just really bad." Caleb replied with knowing and Mason couldn't help but agree with his words.

Beverly town wasn't always like this, back then when he was a little boy it was filled with peace and had a quite ambience. A home to many. But all that changed five years ago when neohumans began moving into the town and People properties started going missing. A few months later, many people began dying as different factions were created. And because there weren't that many neohumans in the police force here in Beverly town, there was nothing anyone could do to stop them. And so the killings grew and so did the neo-thieves factions. And now there were nothing but a huge force to be reckon with.

"I understand what you mean Caleb, we've also been attacked by the neo-thieves at the orphanage." Mason replied and sighed as he remembered what happened the night the neo-thieves raided their home. It was an event he could not forget as he had gotten the system that same night.

"No fucking way, I hope it all went well?" Caleb inquired looking concern and Mason just nodded.

"Yeah, nothing big happened. We got lucky as the cops happened to be patrolling around." He lied, knowing he could not tell the boy the truth at the moment.

"That's a lot of luck you've got surrounding you." Caleb teased and they both laughed. And just like that, the two new friends spend the day talking and gisting about school life and Beverly town as a whole.

And when the time clocked seven in the evening, Mason decided it was time to head home, knowing Aunt Harper will have his head for dinner if he were to get home late.

"Let me see you out." Caleb offered as the two walked out of the mansion and headed down towards the orphanage.

On their way there, Mason sighted a fire coming from a building that was across the woods opposite them and immediately turn to face it.

"Look, it's a fire." Mason said as he pointed towards the fire. Caleb turned to look at where he was pointing at and immediately he saw it, he broke into a sprint heading towards that direction.

"Come on Mason, we need to check it out." He yelled as he kept running and soon, Mason was running alongside him.

They both got to the woods on time and after getting to the other side of the woods, they noticed a building burning in front of them. They were two adults and a girl of their age lying on the ground as five men towered above them.

"You two go get every valuables you can find in the house. I want every nook and corner searched. Do not live a stone unchecked"

"Yes boss."

There was chattering amongst the men as they seemed to be conversing. Mason and Caleb quickly hid behind a car as they watched what transpire before them.

As they did, Mason decided to use his skill The Golden Eye and discovered they were all neo-thieves.

[Name - Rowan Hale]

[Race - Human]

[Ability - steel skin]

[Able to transform any part of the host body to steel and withstand any force below the host level]

[Level - 3]

[Occupation - Neo-thieve]

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[Name - Beckett James]

[Race - Human]

[Ability - Elemental fire]

[Can manipulate fire or create them]

[Level - 2]

[Occupation - Neo-thieve]

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[Name - Maverick Jones]

[Race - Human]

[Ability - Super strength]

[Able to enhance the physical body of the host making the host three times stronger than normal humans]

[Level - 2]

[Occupation - Neo-thieve]

"We need to help them or they're gonna get killed." Caleb said as he kept watching.

"What?" Mason retorted. "Are you out of your mind? They are all neo-thieves."

"You think I didn't notice that?" Caleb replied taking off his head warmer.

"We are gonna die if we try to stop them. So let's just call the cops instead." Mason yelled back.

"If we don't do anything on time, they are all gonna die. And that's something I can't live with." Caleb said with knowing and the next moment, he came out of hiding and charged towards the neo-thieves.

"Fuck!" Mason cussed as he watched him run. The neo-thieves on the other hand didn't expect an attack all of a sudden so they didn't see him coming. By the time they eventually did, Jasper's hand transformed into pure steel as he punched the fire ability user in the face, throwing him a few meters to the wall and knocking him out cold.

Immediately Mason saw this, he decided to use his golden eye skill on Caleb and couldn't believe what his eyes were seeing.

[Name - Jasper Vaughn]

[Race - Human]

[Ability - Aura Manipulation]

[Able to sense and manipulate the flow of aura of others, allowing him to use their powers for a limited period of time]

[Level - 4.5]

'No fucking way!' Mason screamed in his head as he looked at the skill. He had heard of it before. Infact, he could not forget it even if he wanted to because it was a skill that solely belongs to the originals, a term used to describe the five big families on earth.

The originals were the first few people to ever develop abilities during the war with the dragon bloods. People revered to them as originals because their abilities could only be used by them and those in their house hold. Aura Manipulation was among them and was considered one of the most powerful skill amongst the five big families. What Mason didn't expect was to find an original in Beverly town. And one not other than Caleb no less. Asides that, he was a level 4.5 ability user which meant he was higher than those neo-thieves in front of them.

'With him around then maybe... Just maybe we might have a chance.' Mason thought in his head as he also stood and ran towards the neo-thieves. Knowing very well that he might not return alive.

//////Tbc////////