"Okay, okay... I know what you're thinking: the usual boring story with strange and characterless characters!

But that's not why I'm here, first of all let me say that it's a great pleasure to meet you, I'm a narrator and my name is ■... well, I guess I can't tell you my name yet, at least not yet. In any case, in the end, it doesn't matter at the moment. Now let's continue... This is a bit of a long story I'm about to tell you, so make yourselves comfortable and follow it carefully. I'm counting on it!"

And there he is, our secondary character, with his head on the desk as usual. This boy's name is ■... mmm... it seems like it's not time to reveal his name yet, so for now we'll just call him D. D is a seventeen-year-old boy and is in his second year of high school because he failed twice. He is one hundred and eighty-one centimeters tall, has medium-length black hair that is worn casually and without the slightest bit of style. We'll just say that it had something too personal to be catalogued. He usually wore black Adidas shoes except for the white sole, black baggy jeans with six pockets and a blue sweatshirt with no hood or writing.

"Hey D, wake up! Come on, we have to go out, school's over!"

"Oh... thanks, I'll get ready right away."

I grabbed my things and threw them in my backpack to hurry up, leaving the classroom I realized that the corridors were very crowded, since the whole school was leaving, so I opted for a different solution. The best solution in these cases to leave early without having to wait for the crowd to disperse was definitely the fire escapes.

Once outside it was always the same story, I rolled a cigarette and lit it with my zip: a lighter that my father left me. After completing the cigarette lighting ritual I waved goodbye to my friends and walked towards the station to take the bus home.

"a ticket to Settime."

"it's €3.30."

Every time it's the same story, I take the bus to go to school and back, I go out very little, and I spend a lot of time reading, playing or listening to music

'I'm really fed up with always doing the same things, but unfortunately I don't think I have much choice. No matter how hard I try, I do badly at school and girls don't like me. What's left for me if not my family and my passions?'

These thoughts wandered in my head while I listened with small bluetooth headphones: A Thousand Years by James Arthur on loop in my ears. I was so absorbed that I didn't even notice I had entered the house.

"I'm home"

"Go change and come down to eat, do you remember what day it is!? Yes?"

"Yes, I remember. How could I not remember, damn it! We have to go to the cemetery."

"Exactly, so hurry up!"

"Yes, yes!"

I went up to my room and changed into a blue zip-up shirt and black sweatpants, both of the same brand, then I went downstairs and sat down. For lunch we had some pasta alla carbonara to celebrate today in a way.

After we finished eating we got in the car and went to the Settime cemetery, for this day... how can I say... very sad!

On February 10, 2022, my sister, mother and I went to visit Dad, since it had already been a year since he passed away.

"Hey old man, how are you?"

I know it makes no sense to talk to a block of cement, but somehow it comforted me and maybe I was also hoping for some kind of answer that unfortunately I won't be able to hear.

I was there looking at that cold tombstone made of gray marble, without saying anything. I was there staring at it without being able to think or say anything, unlike my sister and mother who instead talked both to each other and to him.

After a while we went back home and everyone went back to doing their own thing. I started reading some manga waiting for that sad day to end.

I hear the alarm clock ringing, I open my eyes and think:

'Here we are, another beautiful shitty day is starting.'

I've always been quick to get dressed and get ready, in fact I usually stayed home to waste time but I don't know why today, February 11, 2022, I got ready and left the house right away. I stood in front of the bus stop 20 minutes early and waited for the bus to arrive.

'But what got into me today to be in such a hurry? It's strange, I usually take it easy precisely because, even if I missed the bus, I wouldn't care much, but today I left much earlier for no specific reason. Could this be one of those days? One of those days that even if they seem the same as the others, something will happen that will really bother me!?'

After more than 30 minutes, the bus finally arrives, I get on and sit next to a girl, let's be clear, I would never have done it if there had been another seat, just to give you an idea of my level of shyness.

Anyway, we arrived and after getting off the bus I walked to school, went in and sat at my usual desk, took out a notebook and a pencil case and waited for class to start.

"Hey D, how did it go yesterday?"

"Oh hey Michi, everything is fine, nothing extraordinary happened."

"Hey D, do you have a piece of paper that I want to scribble on?"

"Sure, here you go."

"Thank you, thank you."

After that I was taking notes and that idiot was drawing all sorts of stupid things on that paper... and he was drawing really badly, too.

'Run.'

A word I heard in my head all of a sudden and yet I couldn't understand one thing, why would I think: run? It didn't make any sense... until shortly after I heard it again.

'RUN!'

Compared to the one before, this time it was like someone had shouted in my head.

I turned around a little but none of those next to me could have shouted inside my own thoughts.

In the end I ignored that thought and continued taking notes until... I don't know how long it was but I think exactly 7 minutes after that thought people in the corridor started screaming, I could clearly hear the footsteps of people running out of the classroom door, and I was right, when the teacher opened the door we saw all the other students running in panic to get out of the school and run away as far as possible, after a while my class also came out and what we saw was terrifying.

20... no, at least 30 corpses of kids who came to my same school, lying on the ground in pools of blood, some with holes in their bodies, some with bite marks, some with pieces of their bodies missing and then I saw an even more revolting scene: a mountain at least two meters high of flesh, obviously flesh in a manner of speaking, it was a pile of people completely destroyed and mixed together as if they were bags of flour.

'Shit'

Yes, shit may be a bit banal but I swear it was the first thing and maybe the only thing that came to mind when I managed to focus on that thing, that disgusting being, over 2 meters tall, greenish in color, with a body covered in mouths with sharp teeth, both small and large eyes and as if that wasn't enough, pointed tentacles, looking at how the bodies were arranged I thought they were very dangerous but at that moment I was only thinking about a few things.

'I have to go the fuck away. I have to go the fuck away. I have to go the fuck away. I have to go the fuck away. I have to go the fuck away. I have to go the fuck away. I have to go the fuck away. I have to go the fuck away. I have to go the fuck away.'

I couldn't think of anything else but my body didn't want to know, it was so terrified of that scene that I was completely blocked, I couldn't look away but it disgusted me so much that I didn't want to look... but then...

'I told you to run away'

That thing in my head... had its own voice, how should I have reacted if not that way.

'wha... who the fuck is in my head come out I'm already in enough trouble'

'Well I warned you, I told you that you had to run away'

'You would have listened to an unknown voice in your head?'

'...'

'Here it is.'

'Listen you can't waste time now and it's late, you have to fight that demon'

'okay, okay. Hold on for a second, I what? Fight that abomination? And then how do you know that it's a demon?'

'See you after the explanations, you have to find a way to kill it.'

'Why? Why should I do it?'

'...'

'Because the reason that demon is here... well, there's no other way to put it... you're its target.'

'I don't like the direction this thing is going at all...'

'You can't help it, just pluck up some courage and face it!'

'But have you seen how weak I am? How could I beat that thing?

'That in front of you is a level 10 demon, the lowest level, its strength is just above that of a normal human, the problem is how its body is made... I will lend you my strength at the right time, I can only give you 10% of my strength and only for 1 minute after that time is up... you will die, so I will only give you my strength at the right time.'

'...I don't want to do it, I don't want to die at 17 and I have to survive for my family'

'Then kill him, or he will kill all living beings within 20 kilometers.'

'What a shitty situation... okay, let's see what I can do about it.'

"Hmm... so a weak and frail human like you would be... I don't understand it"

After that sentence I raised my head suddenly, seeing that monster in front of me at a maximum of 1 meter away, 'I'm fucked' and all I thought, I thought I was dead but that monster continued to speak.

"I'm here for you, you strong human but you seem weak, why?"

'Um...'

'Level 10 demons can't speak well, he's trying very hard I assure you.'

"Ah... what do you want?"

"You strongest human in the world, you fight me?"

"Me? The strongest? I think you have the wrong person."

"No, I came here for you, you fight me."

"I repeat, you are wrong-"

A sharp blow with one of those tentacles, straight to the right shoulder, pierced through and through.

"AH, sh...t"

"You very weak... me to kill you now? You disappointing."

"I know... I have disappointed many people but... I can't die like this"

Despite the coughing fits in which I spat out blood and the pain of being impaled, you felt a sensation, like a discharge of energy in your body.

'Now, you have 1 minute.'

'...thank you'

I grabbed the tentacle in my shoulder with my left hand and squeezed it so hard that it tore in two.

"You hide ability for surprise attack... you die"

After that phase, his central mouth not that much bigger and moved forming a smile, I knew I had no hope but taken by the moment I did not hesitate and ran at him, after dodging that blow of his tentacles I managed to get close enough to grab one of his eyes with my hand and make it pop out holding it in my hand.

"YOU BASTARD, I KILL YOU!"

There they were, two of the tentacles of that monster pierce my abdomen and come out of my back, the pain was indescribable, and if it hadn't been for him... I would have died there.

'10 seconds, you still have time... give it your all!'

After that sentence, maybe because of the adrenaline, I didn't feel the slightest pain in my right shoulder, almost as if it had healed. I raised both my arms and stuck my hands with the teeth of that monster in its main mouth, after reaching both bases I started to push...

'5 seconds...'

I pushed so hard that I felt like my arms could break at any moment...

'4 seconds'

But now I only weighed on pushing and I didn't pay attention to what was happening to me...

'3 seconds'

I put all the strength I had in my body until the last drop I had to push the mouth of that monster... and I succeeded, I managed to tear the body of that monster in two with my bare hands, but I was so tired that I didn't even notice, I continued to pant until I fell to the ground, the last thing I felt before passing out was...

'Good job boy, you passed the test...'