That day...

"Something is not alright…it seems like…no…rather it smells like…smoke" he tried to get up, but he couldn't "Ahhhh! My head…it hurts a lot…what is happening here? Where am I? I can't see much, everything is dark…" while saying this, he noticed a light coming from distant "What is this? Could that be…? That light?" he wondered "Could I finally meet you again guys…?"

He tried to get up again, but something stopped him, something that seemed to be above him, something like debris.

"I don't remember anything, how did I end up in this situation?" As he said that, that light started to take its shape and it turned out to be just a fire.

"Ah…fire…hmph…ha…hahahahaha" he started laughing uncontrollably. "So it's still too early for me…"

He gathered all of his strength and set aside all the debris that was above him. "What happened here?" Everything seems to be destroyed…" he wondered but suddenly his thoughts were interrupted by a very loud noise. The wall next to him started to crack letting more light penetrate the dark and the gloomy place where he was. After that a hand had passed through the walls, making it seem like a scene from a horror movie.

Then a figure similar to a person appeared. It was slightly taller than he was but much more in shape, it was more muscular, and it held a sword in its hand ,similar to a katana, that was surrounded by a mysterious purple aura. Its face couldn't be seen, but one thing was clear...it was...menacing... too menacing for anyone else to resist.

"Did you think you could hide?" a terrifying, masculine voice said "I had higher expectations of you Zeke...but you disappointed me..."

The stranger rushed toward Zeke, and with his sword he stabbed him in the chest causing him an unimaginable pain. A lot of Zeke's blood started spilling on the stranger's sword. As the seconds passed, the pain Zeke felt grew higher and higher as he began to scream in pain.

As the blood flowed from his wounds and mouth everything became clearer in Zeke's mind...he was in danger, and he needed to survive. But the situation he was in wasn't in his favor. Zeke's vision started to fade away little by little, the blood that he lost has already crossed the critical point. Zeke felt his body become colder and colder, he felt like he couldn't move anymore, and like he was very tired, and the only thing he would want to do is to sleep.

"Is this...what is called...death?" he thoughted "How...how did I end up here...? What did I do wrong...? When everything started to go wrong?"

After a little pause, a memory arose from the depths of his mind, causing him to smile.

"Oh...I remember now, it was that day...the day...when I met her…"

It is said that in the last moments of life, "all life passes before your eyes". In all that chaos, Zeke began to remember everything, how it all began, and the only thing he could do was to smile.

It was 8 a.m., and despite the early hour, a pleasant, warm breeze could be felt outside; you guessed it, summer was just getting started. Zeke had just gotten out of bed and was going through his morning routine before heading to university.

Zeke was a tall man, standing around 180 cm tall, with a well-built body, dark hair, and eyes that mirrored the darkness of the night. Zeke was also a highly punctual person, therefore he stood in front of the university every morning at 7:56 a.m.

Once in front of the university, Zeke was getting ready to enter the gate, when suddenly he heard a familiar voice shouting at him.

"Good morning Zeke! How are you buddy?"

The voice belonged to an elderly gentleman with white hair, eyes that shone in the sunlight, an orange so pure that you could not resist its beauty, with a tall, steel-like and strong body.

"Not as good as you seem to do Mr.Herrler!

"Hahahaha, why do you say that? What makes you unhappy?"

"I'm not unhappy, I just have a lot to do today, and I'll be home late again"

"You're working again?"

"Yes…Mrs. Hawkins asked me if I could fix the movie projector in the movie theater, it broke down a few days ago, and no one had taken care of it yet. And I can only start working after I finish today's classes…"

"It really looks like you're going to have a long day"

"Something normal at this point…Anyway this is not that important, what do you think of the improvements I've made to the electricity generator? Consumption should be much lower now"

"Yes, I saw that. It was indeed a very helpful improvement that you've made"

"I'm glad I was able to help," Zeke replied with a big smile on his face, but Herrler didn't seem to share the same feeling.

"Zeke, I've been a professor at this university for about ten years, and I've never met anyone like you in that time"

"Mr.Herrler, you make me blush"

"Take it with a grain of salt; it's not always a good thing"

"What do you mean?"

Herrler made a small pause, before answering

"Zeke…you always work so hard to help everyone, yet you still don't help yourself, why are you doing this? Why don't you think a little more about yourself?"

As Herrler was talking, Zeke remained silent, listening carefully.

"I've never seen you out with other young people your age or at parties; given your charisma and intelligence, you could even find a girlfriend; and instead of doing all of this and living your youth, you waste your time helping an old man like me"

But Zeke was rather a bit upset hearing Mr. Herrler's words, it didn't really annoy him, but rather piss him off.

"Stop talking nonsense Mr.Herrler" he said with a serious tone "I do what I do because I want to do it, I'm glad that you and many other teachers recognize my work, it's enough for me, as for the party phase and a girlfriend... I don't have time for that now, I have a little more work to do until I can find a more stable job and only after that will I start thinking about finding a life partner or going out, until then, work and study are my priorities''``

Herrler stared at Zeke, smiling. "You are a strong man Zeke'' he said putting his hand on Zeke's shoulder "You're a boy who went through life alone, the path you chose is a more difficult one, not everybody have the power or the courage to chose this path, because on this path you'll walk alone, most of the time, but remember Zeke, even if you start your journey alone, that doesn't mean you have to end it the same way"

"I will consider this" he replied smiling "Thank you for your advice Mr.Herrler"

"Anytime young man, anytime"

After the discussion, the two said "goodbye" to one another and walked into the classroom. The day went on as usual for Zeke; nothing had changed, the courses were as monotonous as usual, it was extremely hot outside, as it is on most summer days, and the fact that there were two weeks before the end of the school year made things even worse. But, by the end of the day, everything was as usual.

After finishing the classes, Zeke goes to the locker room, changes his clothes, after which he starts working in the laboratories. Zeke worked on a lot of places throughout time, and one of them is at the university where he studies, as a plumber, that's why Herrler and the other teachers respect Zeke so much.

Zeke was working and had no idea how quickly time had passed, that it was already evening and time to go home. Zeke's job at school wasn't difficult; he had to replace some cut cables, check that the computers were working properly, and make sure that all of the video projectors were working properly. It was not a difficult task, but it was a very time consuming one.

"It's getting dark outside, I should hurry up and go home"

As he changed in the locker room, Zeke began to hear a strange sound coming from the upper floors, but he didn't pay much attention to it, thinking it was probably the rusty pipes that made that noise.

"It seems like the pipes also need to be replaced; most likely I will do it over the summer break"

After taking all his things, he headed for the exit, but something felt odd, as he walked down the main corridor, the strange sounds persisted, and began to be heard louder and more aggressive, as if... these sounds were closer to him.

Zeke panicked a little, believing that a thief had entered the school, even so, it was his duty to notify the police as soon as possible about this case. As he took his phone out of his pocket, a fierce roar, unheard of Zeke till that moment, was heard from the floor above him.

Even though Zeke was trembling with fear at what he heard, the sound that made him run out as long as his feet held him ,was not that strange roar, but rather the voice of a girl screaming "I CATCHED YOU, YOU"RE DEAD NOW"

As Zeke ran away scared and more confused by what was happening, on the way out he heard several loud noises from the upper floor, in addition to those that had already frightened him. Even so, Zeke's escape to freedom was interrupted when the ceiling began to crumble.

A girl falls in front of him. Her appearance was something Zeke had never seen before. Her hair was a wonderful color, a purple with a dark tint, but in which one could still see a ray of light provided by the light bulbs in the school hall. She wore a kind of knee-length dress, the color of which matched the color of her hair. The dress wasn't a simplistic one, it had different models with some kind of stars on it, but they weren't the normal stars we all know, they were something... like they came from another world. They had many corners and were perfectly symmetrical, resembling the symbols in alchemy books. But the clothes were not the only strange things about her, her appearance was different from that of a normal person.

Two sharp horns came out of her head, very dark in color, with a hint of purple at the ends, and with some very sharp teeth like a vampire from a science fiction book. She seemed injured. Blood flowed from her head and her right hand seemed dislocated.

Zeke was now even more confused, but by the time he realized what was happening, the girl was already attacking him, she grabbed him by the collar with her left hand and slammed him against a wall.

"Who are you?! I thought nobody was at school at this time!" the girl said in an aggressive and menacing tone.

"Who am I? Who are you? What are you? And what are you doing here?" he asked, more confused than before.

"It doesn't matter what I do here, run away and forget what you saw today"

But before they could say anything further, the roar of a beast that came down through the hole in the ceiling interrupted them both. The thing was enormous. It looked like it had the power of a bear, but at the same time it looked like something out of a fairy tale, or rather...a nightmare; it was a wolf-like beast with big and sharp teeth capable of tearing any living creature apart and leaving it breathless in a matter of seconds. Its size was enormous, similar to that of an automobile. Anyone in close contact with the beast might sense its predator intent. For Zeke, the situation has gotten dangerous... too dangerous to stay in.

"What... what is that thing?" Zeke asked half-mouthed.

"An Hals"

"An what?"

"Listen boy, there are things in this world you shouldn't know about" she replied in a very serious and menacing tone.

The two's conversation was again interrupted by the creature rushing to attack them. Taking all the remaining power, the girl drops Zeke and draws her sword to block Hals" blow. However, this was not strong enough to stop the attack, instead the girl was thrown with a crushing force directly into Zeke, and both were thrown out of school, on the main exit.

Zeke struggled to get up after that strong hit, but the strange girl was on top of him, seemingly unconscious, with her blood slowly dripping over him.

"Hey, your blood is dripping over my face, get up, get auwpvx" Zeke was interrupted by some of the girl's blood that got into his mouth, which he was on the verge of drowning, but which he eventually swallowed.

The girl regained consciousness and saw Zeke drowning, after which she quickly got off him.

"What did you do?" she asked, but Zeke couldn't answer. He started coughing harder and harder, so he started punching his chest.

"My…body…is...burning" he struggled to say.

"DON"T TELL ME YOU SWALLOWED MY BLOOD!" said the girl, grabbing Zeke by the neck with her left hand.

"I…can't…breathe…"

The girl let Zeke fall to the ground while placing her hand on her head and repeating.

"This is bad, this is bad, this is bad" As she said this, the creature began to leave the school, looking even more menacing than before. Meanwhile, Zeke's coughing began to recover.

My body…is still burning"

After looking up, Zeke saw it, that creature was looking at him, with its blood-colored eyes, directly in his eyes. All Zeke heard was a loud "RUN" coming from his left, before he was struck by the creature's tail. He was thrown into a wall of the school, passing through it and part of the wall collapsing on him.

"He's 100% dead" the girl said "How unlucky can you be?" she sighed and continued what she had to do "Now I have to do something about you. I can't let you murder any more people"

But something made her lose her focus.

"Ahh, my head hurts" a loud sound came from where Zeke had been thrown.

When the girl returned to check what it was, she couldn't believe what she saw: Zeke had just risen from the pile of stones, seemingly unharmed.

"How am I still alive?" Zeke asked himself, confused.

"Impossible…" the girl said, but before she realized, it was too late, and that creature hit her again , throwing her to the ground, and immobilizing her.

"Can 't believe it, am I really going to die like this?"

The creature was about to split the girl in half when, at the last moment, something struck it in the head with such force that it made it fall to the ground and became dazed.

"What?" the girl asked, confused. She looked around and saw Zeke, who had just thrown a stone at that creature.

"What was that?" he also asked, confused.

"No…it can't be possible" she said, staring at Zeke "WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?!"

"I was just trying to help you"

"No, not this, what have you done?"

Zeke was first confused, but only for a little moment. The beast had risen from its dizziness, far more angry and vicious than before. The girl seemed unconcerned. As she prepared for the fight, she took what looked to be an attack position. Despite this, the girl looked to throw something invisible at the beast, but something wasn't quite right, as her face turned white as milk.

"For real…?" she wondered before she was brutally attacked by the beast being thrown in the wall next to Zeke.

"Hey! are you ok?!" he asked.

"Damn…I didn't think that from all moments, now it will happen…"

"Happen what?"

"It's not your business!" she replied, irritated, as she struggled to get up. Zeke offered to help the girl get up, but she turned it down.

"I don't need your help! I can do this alone!"

The girl stood up on her own and gave Zeke an odd look.

"Okay, maybe I'll need your help…" she said, clearly irritated

"Okay, how can I help you?"

The girl sighed loudly "I want you to kill that thing"

"Do what?"

"You heard it right, I want you to kill that Hals"

"You're joking, aren't you?"

"I wished to be just a joke…" She said in a low voice "You don't really understand in which situation we are now" she continued with a serious look on her face.

Zeke swallowed "And how should I defeat this thing?"

"That's the funny part, normally you wouldn't"

"HUH?! And then what should I do?"

"If my theory is correct…you should be able to summon it now"

"Summon what?"

The girl remained silent for a couple of seconds.

"Is everything alright?"

"NO! keep quiet, I'm trying to think of a solution"

It was too late by the time the girl came up with a solution to their problem; the creature attacked them again, separating them; however, none of them were hurt.

"Looks like I'm going to have to stick to the old ways…"

Zeke had just gotten off the ground, and when he looked at the girl, he was amazed. The girl appeared to be surrounded by purple lightning, which began to take the shape of a dagger in her left hand.

"What is this…" Zeke asked himself speechless.

"I hope that little one is enough to bring you down…"

The beast turned around and stared her in the eyes. The girl started running towards the creature, and the creature towards her. When they arrived in front of each other, a strong wave was created by the impact of the creature's claws and the girl's dagger. Besides, purple lightning began to come out of the dagger, hurting the creature even harder.

But what seemed like a victory for the girl did not last long, the creature's power was much higher than the girl's, so the girl's dagger was destroyed due to the pressure of the creature's power, and the girl was thrown out again into a nearby wall, which collapsed on her.

Zeke rushed to the girl's location, attempting to remove the wall pieces from her. He was able to liberate her face from the rubble, but she appeared to be in terrible condition.

"Hey, are you ok?!"

The girl did not respond; she appeared to be on the edge of passing out and staying awake.

"I…hate…this…"she said in a low voice.

"Hey, do not give up now; if you are eliminated from the fight, we will both die"

The girl seemed to be trying to say something, but Zeke couldn't hear her, so he approached her.

"Try…to…summon…it"

"You've said this before, summon what? What do you want me to do?"

The two's conversation was interrupted at the last moment by a loud roar from behind Zeke, and when he turned, he saw the creature, only a few meters away, striking him with its massive claws. Zeke was speechless, as if his whole life had passed before his eyes.

"Impossible, don't tell me I'm going to die like this, I need to be able to do something, think Zeke, think, what does this girl want from you, what does she mean by "summon it"? What should I do?"

Zeke instinctively raised a hand in the air and closed his eyes, attempting to defend himself, preparing to be torn apart by the creature. His heart appeared to stop at that point, and when he opened his eyes again, the creature's claws were inches from him, halted by something surrounded by purple lightning that looked like a sword.

"What's this?!" he asked himself"

"Impossible…" he heard the girl saying "That should not be possible…"

"Is that what you meant when you said "summon it"?"

The girl hasn't said anything since then, Zeke, on the other hand, gripped the sword with both hands, putting all of his strength into his arms, and pushed the creature away. He stood up, surrounded by a mysterious purple aura, and felt the power rush through his veins.

"I think I know what to do," he said in a trembling voice. He took an attacking stance as he prepared to fight. His legs and hands continued to tremble, and his breathing became increasingly rapid. He stared at the creature in the eyes, and the creature stared back at him, but before they're battle began, a faint voice told Zeke from behind.

"Be careful…you don't understand what you've just done…" The beast began to rush at Zeke as soon as the girl whispered this to him "BE CARE…!" she screamed again, when she saw that the creature was coming, but at that moment, something happened.

Neither she nor Zeke understood what was happening, but the creature's head fell to the ground a split second after the girl screamed, being slashed by Zeke's sword, which seemed to teleport behind the beast.

"...ful…" the girl finished her sentence, being left completely speechless.

"HUH?! What?! What just happened? Am I the one who did that? How?!" Zeke kept asking himself, amazed. He then turned to the girl and said "Did you saw that?"

The girl, on the other hand, remained dumbfounded, staring at Zeke, his sword, which was slowly vanishing from his grip, and the creature's body, which was dissolving into tiny particles and ascending into the sky.

"What is happening?" Zeke asked, confused.

"...name…"

"Excuse me?"

"I asked you about your name…!" The girl shouted, her face pressed on the ground and nearly flushed.

"Oh, you should have said so, Zeke, my name's Zeke"

The girl remained silent, before saying anything.

"Yuki…"

"What?"

"Yuki…my name..is Yuki"