I was sitting in front of my bedroom desk, thinking about what was happening and how I came to be alone.
"How did it happen again?..." I sighed, tapping my pencil on the table.
"Also... Somehow, I'm getting the feeling that this is something like a major deja vu." I ran my fingers through my hair, combing them to the back.
I read the story of Orpheus on my mythology book, thinking of it as the last "chore" I'll do before sleeping.
Yet, I was feeling uneasy the whole time and I wasn't able to focus on reading the pages.
I went to bed with a small headache and I looked up the ceiling, thinking about what happened three years ago.
"My family died in a weird tornado..."
I chuckled to myself, "It won't be a stretch if the 'gods' were the ones that made it happen... But, why? Why my family?..."
"For some reason, I think this already happened, yet something also changed..."
I closed my eyes and went to sleep.
"What will happen later? I wonder."
Inhuman screams.
I woke up in cold sweat.
It was the middle of the night and my room was dimly lit by the moonlight coming in from the windows... and something else.
I felt weirdly light and energized. The way one would feel after drinking five cups of coffee after just waking up.
"This has already happened..." I covered my face with my palm and shook my head.
"Didn't it?"
There was a yellowish tint that wouldn't fade away from my vision, so, I stood up in curiosity and made my way towards my mirror.
Then, I saw two golden crests on both of my eyes, glowing brightly.
At first, I thought that I was still dreaming. I blinked. I pinched myself. I slapped myself. I stepped on myself.
Yet, the golden crests didn't go away and a kind female voice suddenly popped up in the back of my head.
"Congratulations, you are now a protector of mankind, chosen by the goddess Setoria as one of the brave warriors who will purge the world of the demons who run rampant during the Walpurgis Night."
"Protector? Setoria? Demons? Walpurgis Night? What?"
I've already asked this questions, didn't I? Yet, it feels like it's the first time.
"There's no need for confusion, I shall give you a full demonstration of what you'll be encountering and going through for a year."
"Wait, what?-"
Before I can say anything else, my vision dimmed and after a few moments, I found myself in front of the door of Milshyre's library.
"Why am I here?"
This has already happened, hasn't it?
Wait...
There's something wrong... This feels different now.
"This will serve as experience to base on for your further endeavours. Please be careful not to die now. What weapon would you like?"
"A pure black scythe." I immediately sought for something that would look very suitable as a god-slaying weapon, only after did I say what was on my mind did I get to take in everything the voice said, "Wait- what?-"
"Your request has been accepted. Your preferred weapon is now in your hands. Please take care."
The voice then disappeared and the night wind gently blew on my face, as if there was nothing or no one talking to me in the first place. But, there were two things that served as proof that something did happen to me.
First, a jet black, long handled scythe with a golden light blade, which, I don't know if whether it was made out of metal or just "energy".
Second, I really am in the Milshyre Library and as to a few tests I made on my arm, I have already concluded that it wasn't a dream.
"What do you me-" I knew it was already useless. There was no weird feeling anymore and the atmosphere became deadly still...
Until I heard the sounds of broken glass fall down the floor, followed by a shriek, come from inside the room that I was in front of.
My eyes widened and I quickly went to turn the doorknob and pulled and pushed on it, hoping that the door was unlocked, but who am I kidding?
People tend to secure stuff with locks and passwords, especially building rooms, and just as how I predicted, the doorknob didn't turn and the door didn't budge.
"Senpai!!!" A girl's voice cried out from far inside.
"Just stay besides me! Don't run away!" A masculine voice replied.
My eyes widened and my grip on my scythe's handle reflexively tightened.
"Somebody needs help!"
Just as I was about to start thinking of other ways on how to open the door, or to be more accurate, just as when I was about to look at my scythe's blade, a voice different from the female voice earlier popped out in my mind.
It was younger and it sounded very familiar, as if I already knew the one who was speaking to me.
"Hello there, Tetsuya."
It sounded so familiar, yet I wasn't able to get a grasp on the name of the one speaking.
"You're-"
A child's chuckle.
"What's the matter? Cat got your tongue?"
"No- I know you, don't I?"
"Yes, you do, but enough talking, I just came to check up on you."
"Huh?"
Golden light formed around my scythe's blade, which suddenly turned into a golden crest, just like the crests on my eyes, on the blade's base and my hand, as soon as the crest formed, moved on its own and suddenly slashed at the door.
"Somehow, I feel like I just avoided something really embarrassing."
I dashed inside the library with gritted teeth and hurried steps, and three figures came into sight, one a few meters apart from the two who seemed to be pretty close to each other.
As my eyes haven't adjusted to the dimness yet, I only saw semi-silhouttes of the figures inside the room and I wasn't able to identify them.
But, I was able to see a huge, hulking humanoid something, a boy slightly taller than me and a girl, who happens to be my classmate.
But, as soon as I saw her face get revealed by the dim light, everything that happened on that day that has been lost in time, including the memories of seeing her being devoured morbidly, came rushing back into my mind.