That day...

It smells like smoke. You can't see much...but one thing is certain, everything is surrounded by flames. It looks like all this happens in an underground room, because you can't see the sky, and there's nothing on top of him that would make him think there's a roof over there. In one corner of the room stood Zeke, wounded, unconscious and under a pile of burning wood. At one point he woke up but he couldn't realize what was happening, everything seemed so confusing to him.

"Whe...Where am I? *cought*\, *cought* there's fire everywhere...what is happening?... Ahh! My head hurts...where am I?"

But Zeke's thoughts were interrupted by a loud sound. A hand had passed through one of the walls of the room, then a figure that looked like a tall, strong man passed through the wall, destroying it.

A deep voice uttered the following words:

"Did you think you could hide? I had higher expectations of you Zeke...but you disappointed me... get ready to die now!."

Then the stranger pounced on 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 greater as he began to scream in pain.

"AHHHHHH! *cought* *cought*".

As the blood flowed from his wounds and mouth, the following thoughts crossed Zeke's mind:

"How...how did I end up here?...what did I do wrong?...when everything started to go wrong?" then he made a small pause, a memory rose from the darkness of his mind and made him smile:

"Oh...I remember now, it was that day..." that was what Zeke had thought.

And this is where the story begins. It's 8 am and the pleasant, warm breeze could be felt outside even if it was an hour so early, you guessed it, summer was just beginning. Zeke just woke up and going through his morning routine, he prepares to go to university.

"My name's Zeke, I'm an 19 years old student and my life is not that interesting to be honest...I finished high school last year and now I started university, and like I said, nothing interesting happens. I don't have any friends but that's not a problem, I enjoy my time alone. I'm that type of person that likes to be alone most of the time. It's not that I'm anti-social, I don't have any problems talking with peoples, but I don't see any enjoyment in that, so I prefer being alone than with other peoples. Right now I'm going to the university where I'm a student, but where I also work part-time. I have been living alone since I was 14, the high school and the apartment where I live have been paid from the money I earned over time. I worked for a long time as an assistant plumber, and I was always attracted to the technical branch of things, I always liked to learn and understand things, I met many people with whom I can say that I did not dislike I spend my time. One of them was my former boss, whose name I can barely remember, but that's not important, it's important that he put me in touch with the director of the technical university in the city where I currently live. A very good university with very nice teachers. My schedule is quite full, during the school year, which starts in September and lasts until mid-June. I am a student and an employee, from 8 am to 2 pm I usually have classes, then in the afternoon from around 5 o'clock until 9 pm I'm at school repairing various things that break down in laboratories. And during the summer, I usually only go to work from 8 to 12, only this time I approach the final exams, and the teachers often take classes during the summer vacation, courses that I also enrolled in. , so yeah... my schedule is pretty busy. I am a pretty resourceful person, given the fact that I have been living alone for so long, I have learned to handle almost any situation, and I know how to do anything. The money I earn is not very much, but it is enough to cover my monthly expenses, and I have quite a few advantages as a plumber at the university. All the teachers know me, and most of them behave very nicely and respectfully with me, because I in turn treat them the same. I am a very hardworking person, during school I struggle to be a top student and graduate from university, I will find some work in a bigger city, and as an employee, I try to do my job as well as possible. and learn as many practical things as possible that will help me in life"

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

"Ohoho, Good morning Zeke! How are you buddy?"

"This person is Mr.Herrler, the physics professor at my university, he's a very nice man. His white hair began to make its mark on his image. Even though his hair began to turn white, his baldness was the aspect that stood out the most. He might seems old, but he's not, he's almost 50 he could have been my father, in fact he is like one to me. Mr.Herrler is a very nice person, his gentle face and the way he talks to people are 2 qualities that differentiate him a lot from other people. Whenever he shows up at school, he wears an elegant suit with a black tie and a rather expensive watch, which made him look like a successful businessman. But the most important aspect was the unmistakable smile on his face, every time I saw him he smiled, he was always happy, and he always instigated others to be the same."

"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."

"Well how so?"

"Well, 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 work after I finish today's classes..."

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

"I know... Anyway what do you think of the improvements I've made to the electricity generator? Consumption should be much lower now"

"Yes, indeed this was a very helpful improvement that you've made."

But after saying that, Mr. Herrler stopped for a few seconds and said to Zeke with a serious face.

"Zeke.., you always work so hard and help everyone, and yet you don't want your merits to be recognized, why so? I never see you going out with other young people of your age or at parties, you could even make a girlfriend given the fact that you are a very charismatic and smart guy, and look instead of doing all this you waste your time helping an old man like me."

"Stop talking nonsense Mr.Herrler, 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 job, more stable job and only after that will I start thinking about finding a life partner."

"As you wish, however do not forget that the years of youth are fleeting, you do not want to waste your precious time later complaining that you did nothing during this time."

"I will consider what you said, Mr.Herrler, thanks for the advice!"

"Anytime young man"

After this discussion ended the two had said "good bye" to each other and headed towards classroom. The day went normally for Zeke, nothing had changed, the classes were as boring as usual, it was very hot outside, as on most summer days, everything was normal, as usual.

After finishing the classes, Zeke goes to the locker room, changes his clothes, after which he starts working in the laboratories. Zeke was working and he didn't realize how time had passed, that it was already evening and it was time to go home.

"It's getting dark outside, I should hurry up and go home" that was what Zeke thought.

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. After taking all his things, he heads for the exit.

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 by Zeke, was heard from the floor above Zeke.

Then the sound that made Zeke run as long as his legs held him to the exit was the following, a girl's voice shouting:

"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 sounds 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 and a girl with dark purple hair, an unimaginably beautiful dark purple color, with a matching dress with a wonderful pattern of stars on it, with two sharp horns, and two black winks falls in front of him. She seems injured.

Zeke was now even more confused, but by the time he realized what was happening, the girl was already attacking, she grabbed him by the collar and slammed him against a wall, then asked him:

"Who are you!? I thought nobody was at school at this hour!"

"Who am I ? Who are you? What are you? And what are you doing here?"

"It doesn't matter what I do here, if you don't get out of here fast you'll die"

But before either of them could say anything else , they were interrupted by the roar of a creature that came down through the hole in the ceiling.

The creature was very large. It had the strength of a wolf, but something like that seemed torn from a fairy tale, or rather... from a nightmare, it was a creature in the shape of a wolf, with large and sharp fangs, which could have been pierce any living being and leave it breathless in just a few seconds. The criminal intent could be felt by anyone in the vicinity of the creature. The situation has become dangerous for Zeke... too dangerous to stay there.

Frightened, but with a shred of courage left in him, Zeke asks the mysterious girl:

"Wha... what is that?"

"An Hals" (=Hallow) the girl answers.

"Hals? What is that?"

But the girl did not answer, rather she told him in a very serious and menacing tone:

"There are things in this world you shouldn't know about, human."

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

After a hard blow, Zeke gets up rubbing his head and says:

"Ah!... that hurts" but fortunately there was no serious wound.

The mysterious girl also stood up, she was in a much worse state than Zeke was, she was holding a sword that emanated a strange energy, it looked like an authentic katana from Japan.

Zeke cared little for her so he asked her:

"Hey, are you alright?"

But the girl did not answer in a very pleasant tone:

"Tch! take care of your business, and get out of here until I think of killing you before Hals does it"

"Hey, hey, don't be so rude, I'm already in this, even if I will try to run, this creature will probably follow me, you don't look like you are in a good condition"

That was one of the talents that Zeke had, since childhood Zeke was always very good at strategy games, he always managed to read the field, the opponent, and he managed to make an attack plan to win, only this time the stake was his life itself, so he couldn't afford to make mistakes.

"So? How can we stop it?

"There's no 'us', I can handle this, now run away if you don't want to die"

"Hm, after the blow you just got, I don't think you're able to say that."

Then the girl rushed over Zeke, approaching his face, looking him in the eye and saying:

"Do you want to die human?!"

But Zeke is not intimidated by the girl's words, and responds in a calm manner.

"No, I don't, that's why I asked what's the plan"

"..."

Then Zeke grabs her hand and tells her:

"Hurry up! I don't think we have much time left."

Then the girl gave in to Zeke's requests and pleased him.

"Ok fine, I'll regret it later, but who cares. We have to say an incantation now, after I say my part repeat what I will tell you, understand ?"

"Understand"

The girl grabs Zeke's hands and after that she began to say some words that sounded very strange, they seemed as if they came from an ancient language or something. Zeke starts repeating after the face, and after about 20 seconds the two finish.

This was the triggering moment.  Something inside Zeke was beginning to feel different. A great heat began to come out of his body, Zeke felt that he could move much easier but an unimaginable pain began to take over his body. Zeke begins to sweat, breathe harder and eventually fall to the ground in pain.

"AH, ha, ha, ha"

He begins to breathe harder and harder.

"Wha...what have you done to me? It burns me inside"

But the girl was much more shocked than Zeke was, fear and amazement could be read on her face.

"I can't believe it worked, I could swear you would die"

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU COULD SWEAR THAT I WILL DIE? What have you done to me?!"

Even so, a smile began to appear on her face

"Hm! Let's say you were lucky this time."

But despite what she said, that was actually what she was really thinking:

"I can't believe this works, he should be dead now!"

"Anyway we'll talk about that later, we have more important things to do now"

Then he tells Zeke the following:

"Anyway we'll talk about that later, we have more important things to do now"

After that the Hals comes out from school. It looks as menacing as before.

"Holy...it's much bigger then I thought" said Zeke.

"I've told you there are things in this world you shouldn't know about"

And rightly so, Hals was really huge, his bloodshot eyes now looking at the two of them, ready to tear them apart.

"Do you know what you have to do?" asks the girl.

"Theoretically yes, practically I hope I'm wrong. How am I supposed to defend this thing?"

The Hals began to run towards the two, the intention to kill could be read in the creature's eyes. Zeke's feet trembled with fear. He knew what was going to happen if he didn't win the fight. But what could he do? from an ordinary day in the life of a young man Zeke now stands in front of a demonic creature who wants to kill him. He is afraid... but he knows he can't let fear end his days now.

The girl approaches Zeke and whispers in his ear:

"Feel the power, let it to take the shape of a weapon, feel it... feel how it flows inside you, imagine your energy taking the form of a weapon...and unleash the power!"

After that, something unbelievable happened, a sword takes shape in Zeke's hands. It's a katana, similar to the girl's, a katana so sharp that it could cut even the souls of those who look at it. So majestic and elegant...yet so deadly. Zeke's feet stopped trembling at the sight of the sword in his hand. Zeke took a deep breath, took an attacking position, and said:

"I'm ready"

"I'm counting on you" said the girl.

Zeke starts rushing toward the Hals with so much confidence this time. The Hals raised his claws and launched a powerful attack on Zeke, but Zeke stops it with a counter attack. Zeke's katana and Hals's crawl hits each others in a powerful impact that creates a wave around them. Both exert a lot of power to push the other but their power levels seem to be equal. Zeke begins to lose power by being pushed down and falling to his knees, but his willpower is too strong to be defeated here.

In his mind, Zeke was thinking the same thing:

"I can't lose here!"

With a rage power Zeke pushes back the Hals going to pounce on it. Gathering all the power flowing through him, Zeke manages to launch one last powerful attack by beheading the creature. After that Zeke falls to the ground relieved that the fight is over. The girl start to approach him and said:

"You're quite an interesting human, aren't you ?"

"The name's Zeke, nice to meet you"

"I'm Yuki"

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