"Monster porn."

Allen looked up at his friend with a slightly annoyed expression. "What are you on about?"

"Your 'nightmare' symbol? It looks like two wendigos screwing," Ben said, tapping Allen's notebook. "Didn't know you were into that kinda thing, man."

Allen stared down at the odd symbol, trying to see what his friend was seeing. "What the hell is a wendigo?"

"A mythical beast from—"

Just then the teacher walked through the door. "Okay everyone, settle down."

"Hottie 12 o'clock," Ben commented before heading to his desk.

Trailing behind the teacher was a girl with silver hair pulled into a bun. Thin-framed glasses rested on her nose, and her purplish eyes—likely contact lenses, Allen thought—seemed to glow faintly beneath them.

"Today, we have a new student joining us," the teacher announced.

'Kind of late to be joining a new class, isn't it?' Allen thought, giving her a once-over. Her features were sharp and striking—Slavic, maybe, if every Slav looked like a model.

"Miss Smoke, please introduce yourself."

"Pfft. What kind of name is Smoke?" Allen muttered under his breath, trying and failing to hold in a short chuckle.

The girl's eyes scanned the room briefly before locking onto him.

'Wait, is she looking at me?' He looked back to see if it was someone behind him, but her gaze tracked his every move. The class noticed, their stares bouncing between the two of them.

"My name is Diana Smoke. My parents recently moved here for work, which is why I'm joining so late," she said in a flat, mechanical tone, as if reciting from a script.

"Oh, and my eyes aren't actually purple. These are just contact lenses," she added casually.

'She sounds like she's making it up,' Allen thought to himself, all the while they hadn't broken eye contact.

"Ms. Smoke, you can take the seat at the corner of the class. Gregory called in sick, we'll deal with your permanent sitting position tomorrow..."

The rest of the class went on as usual, but Allen couldn't shake the feeling of being watched. Each time he turned to glance back, he met her gaze—sharp, unblinking, and curiously intent.

*

"Hey man, so you and the new girl, huh?"

"As if. She's probably just pissed I laughed at her name."

It was late afternoon, and Allen and Ben were taking their usual route home from track-and-field.

"Yeah, Smoke is an odd name. But damn, I want more of whatever the Smoke family is making."

Allen raised an eyebrow. "Smoke family?"

"Yeah, man. If she's that hot, just imagine what kind of gigahottie her mom must be. For the love of MILFs, you have to start talking to her. Trust me, that look she gave you wasn't a 'pissed you laughed at my name' look."

Allen sighed in exhaustion. Ben always acted like he was some kind of expert on women, but the guy could barely hold a conversation with one without tripping over his words.

"Never mind that. The symbol—you said it looks like two wendigos?"

"Yeah, two wendigos fucki—"

"I looked it up," Allen interrupted. "You're right, they are wendigos. But why the hell would I be dreaming about wendigos mating?"

He glanced down at the symbol sketched in his notebook, frowning. He'd been dreaming about it for two months at this point, exactly two months since his eighteenth birthday.

At first, he had thought nothing of it, but lately the symbol had started to appear every time he closed his eyes.

"If it's bugging you that much, talk to a shrink," Ben said with a smug grin. "Probably something to do with your ciradian cycle or whatever."

Allen chuckled. "It's circadian rhythm, genius. And unlike you, my sleep schedule isn't a complete disaster."

"Just saying, man. Could be worth checking out." Ben tapped his shoulder. "Anyway, I'll catch you later. Gotta swing by my uncle's place."

Allen gave him a knowing look. "He drinking again?"

Ben nodded silently, his usual grin nowhere to be seen. "Yeah. Someone's gotta check on him," he said quietly before turning down the road to the left.

...

Allen decided to stop by the convenience store on the corner of his street. He headed straight for the energy drinks section and grabbed a Zero Sugar Monster from the refrigerator.

"Zero sugar. I hope you don't think that makes it any healthier," a voice said behind him.

Startled, Allen turned to find a boy, wearing his school's uniform, grabbing another Zero Sugar Monster from the fridge. He had silver hair and purple eyes—just like Diana's. 'A sibling?'

"So, you're the one, huh?" the boy said, looking Allen up and down with a faint smirk. "Can't lie, I was expecting more. Hard to believe they sent so many of us out just for this."

"What? What are you on about?" The boy barely came up to his shoulder, and his round, babyish face made Allen wonder if he was even old enough for high school.

"Anyway, I just came to give you a bit of advice: don't go down the red corridor," the boy said nonchalantly, popping open the Monster. "Tastes like shite," he muttered before stepping away. "Be seeing you, Allen McCown."

Allen blinked. "What? Wait, how do you— How do you know my name!" he shouted.

The boy turned around just as he was about to walk out of the convenience store. He placed a finger over his mouth, before pushing through the doors.

Allen rushed after him, but the street was empty—no sign of the boy, not a single soul in sight.

"Hey! You can't leave without paying! Don't think I didn't see you!" an angry voice yelled behind him. Allen turned to see the store clerk storming out. "And that drink you took a sip of and put back in the fridge? You're paying for that too!"

"What? I didn't—"

"You want me to call the police, kid? Just hand over the money and get out!"

The store clerk couldn't be reasoned with. Frustrated, Allen handed over cash for both drinks and left.

He began drawing a sketch of the boy who had fucked him over. 'Just you fucking wait, kid.' He usually wasn't one to bully, but this freshman was asking for it.

At he was sketching, his vision went completely white for a moment, and a wave of weakness travelled from his head, all the way to his knees, causing him to collapse.

'What the hell was that?' he thought, clutching the side of his head.

Before he could recover, another flash hit—this one sharper, accompanied by a burning pain in his stomach.

 His hands trembled as he fumbled for his phone, trying to dial emergency services.

'What the hell are they putting in these drinks.'

The flashes kept coming, each one more aggressive than the last. His vision blurred, his breaths turned ragged, each inhale searing his lungs like acid. All he could do was hold on, struggling to stay conscious as the world around him spiraled into chaos.

[Initiating system trial...]

[You have been selected by the Andora System.]

[A trial has been issued based on the potential of your latent power.]

Blood poured from Allen's mouth, his breaths shallow and labored. His chest felt like it was being torn apart, like somethign deep inside him were clawing at his insides trying to escape.

"Time to see what all the fuss was about," a familiar voice called out from out view. It was the boy, but Allen barely noticed.

[Initialization complete.]

And then flashing stopped. His vision had completely left him he stood in a white void, empty— except for a single image... the symbol he had been seeing in his dreams for months.

[The trial will now begin.]