Inside a library where many teenagers are engrossed in their activities, one man is sipping a freshly brewed coffee from a teacup.
"It's peaceful isn't it?" another man walked towards the desk while carrying 15 books.
His hair is cut in Edgar's cut. He's wearing a white shirt with the design of a small dark dog.
The man who's drinking coffee looks at him with calmness painted on his face. "Yeah. I mean, this is what we expected."
The other man puts down the books on the desk with a heavy sigh, and he wipes the sweat from his forehead using the back of his hand.
"Yeah, Nathaniel. The ambiance feels like I'm in my house," he chuckled while looking at the teenagers sitting at each table while being engaged in their books.
"Gian, are these the books that have been borrowed?" Nathaniel opened each book which was settled on the desk.
"Of course!" Gian confirmed.
He shoots Nathaniel a curious look. "Have you heard of those disappearances?"
Nathaniel raises his eyebrows. "Do you believe those rumors of devil horses roaming around and causing those disappearances?"
Gian looks up and hums. He looks down and sees the calm gaze of Nathaniel.
Gian smiles a bit. "Well, no. Who would believe those creatures exist? Masasabihan lang ako na baliw."
On top of the nearest building, a woman wearing green baggy clothing stares down at the library.
"I've reached it," she said in her mind.
Inside the library, Nathaniel remains standing behind the counter while reading a fantasy fictional book.
"I see." he nodded at the words he was reading.
As the minutes pass, the readers inside the library come out of the building and he takes a quick look at each one of them.
Then, he feels a sensation that crawls on his skin, it's as if a wind hugs him. He looks up only to see four individuals walking inside the library with their respective cloaks having different colors.
One wears a red cloak, the person behind him wears a blue cloak, the person behind him wears a brown cloak, and the last person wears a grey cloak.
Nathaniel watches them as they sit together on chairs surrounding the rectangular wooden table.
He shoots them a glance before one of them says, "Stay there."
The voice causes Nathaniel to feel an intense heat on his chest, his teeth grit while he holds his chest.
"What is this feeling!" Nathaniel coughed multiple times.
He turns his eyes at the one who spoke to him.
"W-Who are you?!" Nathaniel thrust his fist straight into the stranger's face
The man in the red cloak catches his fist, and he remains calm but his eyes narrow in amusement.
"Listen well, one of them might come here. If they do, don't trust them immediately but trust them based on their actions." he took off the part of the cloak from his head.
"Nathaniel, you are the warrior of elements. Today is the day you'll awaken the flames of your power," he pointed at Nathaniel's heart with his other hand, "now, if you don't want to die early, you better sharpen your senses."
He lets go of Nathaniel's fist, and says, "Watch out for either the good or bad that might come here."
He steps away from the desk but his eyes remain staring at Nathaniel. "If you trust easily, you will die."
Nathaniel is breathing heavily, and he witnesses them disappear but before all of them are gone: Nathaniel jumps across his desk and grabs the collar of the one who spoke to him.
"Tell me! I don't get it! Who are you?!"
Nathaniel shakes him a bit as his feet disappear like smoke.
He only replies, "I am the persona of the fire that is lingering in your heart."
"Yo! You alright?!" Gian held his shoulder.
Nathaniel slowly calms down, and he nods at Gian's question. "Ayos lang ako, I'm just seeing things."
The door swings gently, and a woman enters the store. She is wearing an oversized green wizard robe with its hem draping all over her green sandals.
"Hey, gentlemen, I'm here to read," she said.
"Hello! You come here to read?" Gian pointed at the vacant chairs, "You can sit there."
"T-Thank you!" she blushed after looking at Nathaniel.
Nathaniel receives a nudge from Gian, making him groan.
"What was that?" Nathaniel continued to groan.
Gian raises his eyebrows repeatedly in a playful manner. "I saw how she looked at you! She likes you."
Nathaniel shakes his head furiously while looking at Anna who's sitting on the chair while using the table to write in her notebook.
"Hey!" Nathaniel stopped walking in front of her.
She gulps as she remains looking at the pages of her notebook with her hand frozen from writing.
"Why did you slap me?" Nathaniel asked while rubbing his reddening cheek.
Anna takes a few minutes before she slowly stands up and looks straight into his eyes while sweating a bit.
"B-Because, Iâ why are you so close?!" she swung her hand again.
Her hand strikes Nathaniel's cheek, and a loud sound echoes in the entire library.
She jumps across the table and scrambles from Nathaniel's sight while Gian is staring at Nathaniel with wide eyes and an open mouth.
"She slaps you!" Gian laughed at him.
"It's not that funny!" Nathaniel yelled at him.
He steps toward the table and sees a notebook on it. He picks up the notebook and scans its pages, and his eyes narrow at every word written on each page.
"What is this?" Nathaniel said.
Gian steps closer to his side, and peeks on the notebook. "That language is 'Baybayin'."
"Really? You understand this?" Nathaniel pointed at the words.
Gian just shakes his head, and he walks toward the counter as Nathaniel turns his eyes back to the pages of the notebook.
Hours have passed, and the sun casts its light one last time before the moon arises to replace the sun in the sky.
Nathaniel is standing in front of the doors of the library while locking the doors with his keys.
Nathaniel brings out the notebook from his bag and opens it again. He flips each page until he stops on a certain page, and his eyes narrow a bit.
"Finally, a word that I can understand."
Nathaniel reads the page. "I know you will read this notebook... if you did, you are now a 'warrior'."
"Warrior? Nonsense," Nathaniel commented.
He continues reading the words he understands. "Right now, there are monsters everywhere who are observing every move you make. Nathaniel, go to Rizal Park, and I will meet you there. Hurry as long as they are not attacking you."
Later on, Nathaniel halts in front of the park. His body bends forward while his hands are on his knees; chasing his breath from running.
"That was tiring! That notebook made me scared!" Nathaniel stomped on the ground.
He looks around, and only sees the lamp posts illuminating light on the ground.
Therefore, Nathaniel walks calmly around the park until he sees a bench, and he sits on it.
"Where will I meet this person? I have many questions!" Nathaniel rubbed his hair in frustration.
The sound of objects crashing echoes in the park. Standing near a dirty woman is a tall humanoid creature with the head of a horse, and a body of a muscular man but with no private part but a tail protruding from above his ass.
He neighs and a puff of smoke comes out of his nose while his tail wags. The dirty woman cries while staring at the creature who's looking down at her.
"Please, don't hurt me!"
The creature or the horse devil raises its hand and thrusts it down on her but a trash can hits his body.
The horse devil looks aside, seeing Nathaniel standing a few steps away while frowning at him.
"Hey! Stay away from her!" Nathaniel yelled.
A fireball appears beside Nathaniel, taking the form of a man wearing a red long jacket.
He glances at Nathaniel. "It's me the bearer of fire. Use the power that has been passed down on you."
Nathaniel narrows his eyes, and he clicks his tongue before staring at the bearer of fire.
"What are you doing here?!" Nathaniel yelled.
A fireball occurs in front of Nathaniel, and it forms into a sword covered by a sheath with fireball patterns embedded in it.
"This sword?" Nathaniel reached for the sword.
His eyes widened after holding the handle of the sword, and he pulled it out from its sheath.
"It feels hot but in a comforting way... it seems the flames are embracing me."
The bearer of fire nods. "That sword is the channel of your power. It also connects to your flames, use it wisely."
The horse devil moves at full speed at Nathaniel. He runs toward the beast and moves his body from the punches coming from the horse devil.
He remains standing as the devil horse steps closer and throws another wave of punches and kicks at Nathaniel but he avoids all of them.
Nathaniel steps aside, evading the next kick but he swings his sword only to cut the
horse devil's left foot.
Flames appear from Nathaniel's hands, crawling onto the blade of his sword.
The blade glows bright red as flames cover it, and with one swing, Nathaniel cuts the horse devil's body in half.
The body of the horse devil slowly turns to ash, and the wind appears to carry its remains away.
A breath of wind hits Nathaniel's skin, and he jumps aside only to avoid the object coming from above.
It causes the ground below him to crack, bursting apart with the clouds of dust fading away.
Nathaniel lands on the ground with a few steps from the clouds of dust. He narrows his eyes at the sight of a man stepping forward.
He's only wearing pants, and his large muscular body is exposed. He waves his long brown hair and smiles; showing his white sharp teeth.
"Ah, at last! I've been waiting for you to grow."
A red aura is manifesting around his entire form while laughing loudly. His muscles are throbbing, and the muscles of his body begin to grow large.
Nathaniel narrows his eyes and inhales deeply. The beholder of fire appears beside him and he touches Nathaniel's back.
"Remember, you can run away faster than a human being," the bearer of fire said.
"Ah, shit!" Nathaniel jumped away from flying debris.
Nathaniel glanced beside him, meeting the fist of his enemy which sent Nathaniel flying to the lamppost.
"That was good! Oh, by the way, I am Fang. I will kill you right here!" Fang declared while running towards Nathaniel.
"Shit!" Nathaniel barely avoided the pounce from Fang.
Nathaniel remembers the words from the beholder of fire, and he shakes his head. "I'll run but it'll only prove that I'm a coward. I don't want to run!"
He steps closer to Fang, slashing him with his sword but Fang stops the blade by touching it with his index finger.
"You're improving! Which means a good meal for me!" Fang laughed.
Nathaniel jumps away with a scowl on his face. "You're strong!"
"Of course I am!" Fang raised his arms to yawn.
In the blink of an eye, Nathaniel looks around him and when he turns around, he gets slapped straight on his face.
The impact sends Nathaniel flying straight to the statue but before he crashes into it, he thrusts his sword onto the ground; preventing himself from crashing.
Near the fight, the bearer of fire and the bearer of earth are watching the fight.
"The young successor is acquiring Sage's fighting experience," the bearer of earth said.
The beholder of fire nods while watching the fight unfold. "He's a descendant of Sage, surely, he would have Sage's fighting experience and even the true power lying dormant in his body."
In the fight, Nathaniel gets punched straight to his face which sends him stumbling backwards.
Fang laughs and throws a punch once again but his hand gets held by Nathaniel.
His skin turns red while smoke is coming out of his skin. He throws a punch with his other hand, and Fang stumbles backward but he recovers quickly.
He laughs as he stares at Nathaniel whose eyes are turning red.
Fang smirks and walks toward Nathaniel.
"It seems that I am not the only monster here."