Mana;a supernatural force or power that may be ascribed to persons, spirits, or inanimate objects. Mana may be either good or evil, beneficial or dangerous. Core; small, golden orb crystallized from the condensation of mana, it is the source of that supernatural force in a mage or shifter. Where their ability manifest from. Example; Mana/soul core and beast core. Holy weapon; is a type of weapon forged by a god. Demons; there are several types and hierarchy of demons, that are categorized into two. The normal demons without vessels and the ones that merged their souls with a person, mostly mages(necromancers). The latter are more powerful than the former.

 

 

In the beginning, the universe began, stars, planets, all the visible objects in the universe came to be with a single purpose– prepare the way for the grandest creations of all, the birth of great mages.  Thousands of years ago the world was divided into four continents. Samhan was one of those, it was the greatest of all, rich in elements. The continent– Samhan consisted of five respective Kingdoms, East, West South, North and Middlesea – as its name, it was a place in the middle of a sea. Each kingdom was ruled by a powerful mage. Each Mage ruler specialized in a specific type of magic running through a range of types and affiliations, from various kinds of elemental magic to the more sinister calling of necromancy. The North were know for their ability of water element, the South fire, the East air, and the West earth.  The middlesea was a collection of mages with different attributes, that turned to the dark side–the practitioners of dark magic– and chose an Island as their territory. Below that island was the netherworld, only separated by a thin veil. They were also know as necromancy, more powerful than the other mages. Neighboring the netherworld, they were able to tap into the energy of the internal domain, using lost souls to accumulate great power, until one day a black magic backfired, tearing the already fragile veil even more. A lot of various dark creatures– demons surfaced– each more sinister than the last– before the veil could repair itself, merging their rotten souls with necromancers, which turned them even more vicious, bringing hell on earth that dominated the middlesea. Only a few necromancers were able escape with their lives and delved into the world. The middlesea became a place no man or mage dared to step a foot in, it was everyone's nightmare because no one that had ever stepped a foot came out to tell the tale.  When the demon lord decided to expand his territory, he began wiping out villages and towns that bordered the middlesea, creating more vessels for the lost demons. Naturally the four ruling mages wouldn't sit by and watch their people perishing. But since they couldn't take out the demon lord individually, they decided to choose the most powerful amongst them and made a contract to lend– transfer their Elemental Mana for a short period of time. Thus the South Mage– one that owned a powerful holy weapon (A Flaming saber)– was chosen and given the powers of all the four Mages, to fight the demon lord alone.  It was more than that, the three monarchs had other motives. First; They were genuinely afraid, that even with joined hands they might not be able to defeat the demon lord, and to lose one live, was better than to lose four great lives. They believed even if the south monarch failed and died, their Mana would find its way back to them and then they would find another way or probably just make an escape. The other three tactically had an understanding. Only the south ruler didn't, he had no idea what his peers had planned, he had no idea that the selection was intentional, it was more than it seemed. Second and most importantly; Those monarchs saw it as an opportunity to discard the south mage, desiring the power of his holy weapon for themselves. With clear intentions, the south monarch went to rid the world of its evil. And It worked. With the power of his holy weapon and the mana that ran through his veins, the south Mage succeeded in eliminating the demon lord and erecting a powerful barrier, trapping the demons for eternity. The demons were left with two choices: either to crack the veil and go back to the internal domain or continue to stay in the middlesea, trapped. But the south mage hard work didn't come without a price. Welding such weapon required great amount of energy, causing his Mana core to implode, sufficiently merging the other elements into one, making it impossible to return those borrowed elements. The three monarchs were outraged, thinking the South Mage did so out of greediness for more power. Hence they hunted him down while he was at his weakest. Gravely injured, the South Mage barely escaped with his life. In the midst of it all, an intelligent animal, a black Jaguar that was more humane that his kind appeared, saving his life. The black Jaguar with great bravely fended off his hunters, even at the cause of being hurt in the process. It didn't only stop at just saving him, but it also nursed him back to health. Time passed, and eventually the south Mage restored his Mana core, but by then those other elements had truly, already became a part of him, and couldn't sperate them no matter how much he wanted to prove himself not guilty.  Helpless with no other choice, he accepted those elements, mastered them, becoming the most powerful mage to walk the earth. In other to repay the Jaguar's kindness, the great Mage prayed to the gods, seeking a special ability he didn't possess. After a decade of prayer, he was granted his wish. Hence the south mage was able to bestow upon the Jaguar an ability to change thru and fro human and animal form, coupled with the ability to carry a child despite being a male. Thus the first shifter came to be. And the south Mage named him YAGUAR. The one who kill with one leap. Yaguar was know as the father of all shifters, without him, no shifter would come to be.  The saying goes; the heart is weak to what showers it with affection. Thus, said heart fell for the beautiful shifter, promoting the south Mage to take the shifter as a mate.  With no one daring to oppose him, the south Mage crowned himself emperor of Samhan, and became the most powerful monarch, that ruled the world alongside his mate. As for the other so-called three great mages, no one spoke about them anymore. The world needed power, and the real great Mage was the one to provide that. After many years with two Jaguar cubs, that had affinity of all four elements, Yaguar surprisingly gave birth to a different species that had no magic running through its veins, a white lion.  Perhaps it was because Yaguar didn't want himself and cubs to be the only shifters in the world , or perhaps he was lonely and wanted to see more of his kind walking the earth, he had asked his mate to make more shifters from various species. To fulfil his mate's wish and seeing him birthing other species with no magic, also not wanting his lineage to be diluted, the great Mage, gathered a thousand and seven types of animals. And with the powers bestowed upon him by the heaven, he created more shifters. It was the first and only recorded instances of magically created biological introduced into society. Shifters didn’t have easy lives. At first the shifters were feared and looked down upon, but gradually wandered through the lands, their abilities known and were eventually accepted. From there it was peaceful time, humans, mages and shifters coexisting harmoniously .  Shifters had longer lifespans than humans and mages. But a mage could cultivate his/her Mana to stay younger. It was something the human didn't have unless mated to a shifter, which could add fifty to a hundred years to a human's lifespan. Due to that, many humans and even mages chose shifters as their spouse. Shifters became highly respected and sought after. And because of interspecies marriages, the humans and mages evolved, gaining a secondary gender apart of the two primary genders. So subgenders came to be.  After living and cultivating his soul power for a thousand years, the great Mage gained immortality which he naturally shared with Yaguar. At that time his Mana core became even stronger, too strong to remain in the mortal realm or else it would cause unpredictable catastrophe, that would wipe out all of humanity, shifters and mages alike. Not wanting to be the cause of the earth destruction, the great Mage ascended to the ninth heaven, along with his mate and became gods, leaving behind the mortal realm and their descendants. With the ascension of the great mage, a lot of things changed forever. But even after a group of black magic users re-emerged, the world continued to respect shifters. The great mage and his mate were worshipped as gods over thousands of years and even temples were built in their names. Yaguar was known as the one and only Shifters' deity, while the great Mage became one of the many Mage deities.  Their story was written down as history before fading into legend and finally turning into myth when their followers died out and the world changed, while the world forgot about them and their temples fell to ruin.  That was how it had been for centuries, Shifters, Mages and humans living in harmony, until the early 1960s when the development of a new technology made humans learnt that they could also have the longevity, still maintain their youthful appearance, and have animal reflexes without needing to mate with a shifter. And that was possible due to a shifter's (beast) core. It was the greatest gift being served to them on a silver platter. The human nature was greedy and many things came to be. At that point, shifters didn't have much right like they used to in the old days, and human once again began to look down upon them, killing them and harvesting their beast cores for personal and business gains.  When the government noticed the drastic diminution of shifters, and feared they might go extinct– which would definitely affect the balance of life– a new law was issued against beasts core harvest in the 1980s. Those humans were outraged, thinking themselves superior they came together and formed a group, called themselves humans for dominance that started carrying out all sort of despicable act on shifters. Fight houses–where dirty fights take place– breeding houses and slavery facilities were formed. And once again shifters were forced into a corner. All the trouble to cleanse the country of its depravity and heathen ways, and instead, the line between law-abiding respectability and delinquency had become blurred to the point of near extinction. Stealing shifters children or down right taking them by force became a norm. If the child were an alpha, it would be taken or sold into a fight house, while Omegas would be forced to become birthing machines, not even allowed to look at their child before it was taken away to be sold as well. That was how it continued for years, until in the late 1990s when the shifters decided to retaliate because they were also humans after all. Not many knew it but Shifters maintained their humanity while in their animal form. It was also confirmed that in their animal form, Human characteristics remained. Many Shifters saw it that way. They believed their animal form mirrored the soul of the Human side. Which was why they decided to take action since the government wouldn't. In early year 2000 the uprising began, causing a chaotic situation and many Shifters and humans alike to lose their lives. It was at that moment that Sehun at the age of six also lost his parents and little sister. He was the sole survivor, and was fortunately adopted by his dad's closest friend.  When things got out of hand between humans and shifters, citizens demanded a law enforcement agency that could not only handle shifters threats, but that could do so fairly. Thus highly skilled people were gathered from all around the nation, because things had gone beyond what the government cloud handle, and the NIS and magic task force were formed. The NIS was created and set up so every team had both a Human and Shifter element, whether they were agents, secretaries, or bureaucrats. High ranking officers were paired with other high ranking officers, but not necessarily of their own rank, but a human must be paired up with a Shifter. Unlike NIS, mage corps– also known as magic task force, consisted only of mages. Mages were highly respected. In the present time, roughly a quarter of the world’s population could cultivate their soul’s energy into magic. Children were tested young. Magic was only as strong as a person’s soul, and a soul still needed to keep a body alive. Evading magical burnout was impossible some days, but the risk for Fire, Earth and some water mages was lower compared to other magic users.  Fire and Earth Mages were the only ones on record who could open up their souls to the rivers and lakes of metaphysical energy running through the earth in the form of ley lines. That external, wild magic acted as a booster, giving them a reach most magic users could never attain on the basis of their soul alone.  They were highly sought after by governments and militaries alike the world over for their ability to tap into ley ines, though in some countries they were little more than slaves. They were rare, and even more rarer was a shifter with the affinity for elemental magic. It took years, but with the help of the mage corps and NIS, the nation regained its peace once again, the Anti-shifters were scattered, and didn't dare operate openly.  And most of the fight houses, breeding houses and slavery facilities were infiltrated. Only a few, belonging to the most powerful remained. But still Shifters began to hide their identities, by concealing their eyes, since most could be recognized by their unique eye color.  All one had to do was look for the telltale sign, the clear presence of tapetum lucidum, the layer of tissue behind the retina that reflected visible light, released it back, and increased the light available to the photoreceptors. Or in other words, what helped animals see at night. When the light hit their eyes a certain way.
**** Chapter one.
Sehun checked his watch and quickly pulled his clothes from the closet. After strapping on his holster, he unlocked his Sig Sauer pistol from its metal box and gave it a quick function check. Then he attached his badge to his belt, along with his handcuffs. He could smell the coffee brewing in the narrow kitchen, and went to pour a cup. He flipped on the TV to distract himself while he choked down a toasted bagel. The furnished apartment had come with the wall-mounted flat-screen TV, which had sold him on it. The paintings framed on the walls were hotel-room style scene of pastoral life. It wasn’t Sehun's taste, nor his brother's. There was no point in decorating or putting down roots when they could be transferred anywhere tomorrow. His gaze flicked to the one decoration that was his, sitting on a side table beside the floral couch. The frame was silver, and as Sehun picked it up and ran his fingertips over the edges, he saw it needed polishing.  In the photo, he stood between Mr. Wu and Kris during his high school graduation. His adoptive dad had just snatched the black mortar off his head and put it on, the tassel hanging over Mr. Wu's face. All three of them laughed. Mr. Wu wore a new suit he’d bought just for the occasion, even though Sehun had assured him it wasn’t a big deal.  “Like heck it isn’t. My youngest child is graduating from high school. Deals don’t get much