Chapter Three - Yesterday

Cough. Cough.

"Ugh. Turn off the alarm." Slowly I came back to my senses. "Turn off the ring—" Cough. Cough.

I noticed that I was leaning against a hard wall. And the dust I was inhaling made it hard to breathe. It wasn't cold, despite the deep purple air.

"Huh?" I blinked, rubbing my eyes to get the dust out of them. I looked up; there it was. The building of the hunter association was standing tall, the streets had some cracks left but the rift had completely vanished and the purple air thinned with each second. All the hunters were gathered at the entrance, kilometers in front of me.

"Right—The troll. It must have been defeated." It must be safe again. Everything was cleared and so the daily life resumed. It had always been like that. Never any different.

"Ok." Then it also was time for me to—Suddenly, it all came back to me. My awakening.

"Right." I felt a thrill and sprung to my feet, confusing me because I wasn't hurt. "Didn't I just fall out of the third floor's window?"

I was genuinely confused and looked around. It was almost as if nothing had happened. "The sun is standing high in the sky; it must be around twelve o'clock."

I closed my blinded eyes. "HUH?!"

"Wait. It's lunch time?" The confusion grew. Then I decided to look at my clock.

"The 3rd of May?!" I could have fainted. "Why is it yesterday?"

"And if it's yesterday… how am I here?"

I clenched my fists and tried to sort out my thoughts. My mind wandered to my awakening ceremony. I was sure I had undergone it.

"It should have worked right?"

"Right?" With each step, I became more nervous and on a whim decided to just run into the next alleyway to check my status window.

"Status open!" Suddenly, a translucent window appeared before me.

My jaw dropped. I blinked. The window was half red, half green. It looked nothing like the ones I had seen on sketches.

Usually, it would be light green or blue and show your rank. So…

"What is this? Why is it red?"

The window displayed only one sentence.

[Will you accept your awakening?]

[{Yes.}/{No.}]

"Uhm. Am I supposed to decide?" As every sane person, I clicked yes. And the text vanished. Now a different sentence appeared.

[Hunter Elijah Grey, welcome.]

[Power needed for activation: 5000]

[Current power: 3 500 / 5000]

[Please raise the absorbed energy to awaken the system within your blood.]

"I am supposed to do what?" I absolutely had no clue what to do. How was anyone supposed to raise the energy? Suddenly I heard a scratching. I looked up, finally snapping out of it. Noticing where I was. This was one of the dark alleys. Usually filled with hunters of the underworld.

The scratching coming from where I had entered made everything worse. I was trapped; if an assassin were to come now, I would be trapped. Hunted down like a mouse by a cat.