For someone who loved the world as much as I did, it was amazing how often it failed me.
Not the world itself—not as a planet, not as a collection of its natural wonders. No, I mean people. Societies. The systems humans built for themselves, ones I once believed could be perfected.
Not anymore.
Richard Blackwood, known by his hunter name Astralis, was a young man—barely twenty years old—when his world suddenly began revolving on a different axis, or to put it crudely: his life went to shit.
[Paphos, Cyprus — January 2004]
Rain hammered against the skeletal remains of buildings, transforming the streets into veins of mud and debris. The storm howled through the alleys, but it wasn't enough to drown out the distant gunfire—or the unearthly shrieks that followed.
Richard crouched behind a rusted vehicle, his breath measured despite the chaos unraveling around him. His grip tightened around his twin daggers, the silver edges catching a faint glimmer from the flickering streetlights. The air was thick with damp earth, laced with something fouler—something metallic and rotting.
They're close.
The mission was supposed to be routine: infiltrate the town, confirm the presence of A-Rank monsters, and neutralise the threat before it could spread to the mainland.
A job well within his expertise.
But something had gone terribly wrong.
A burst of static crackled in his earpiece. "Astralis, do you read?"
"Loud and clear," Richard murmured, eyes scanning the shifting shadows. "Status?"
"Not good. The Bravo team's been dark for five minutes. Scanners just picked up an energy spike near the town square. Orders are to hold position until further notice."
He exhaled sharply. So much for a simple recon mission.
Richard's gaze flickered to the bodies littering the alley—some in military fatigues, others in civilian garb.
What the hell? The town had been evacuated days ago. There shouldn't have been civilians left.
And yet, here they were.
Or rather, what was left of them.
But that wasn't all…
Something gnawed at the edge of his thoughts, a cold certainty that settled in his gut. The corpses—they weren't normal.
Something was amiss.
A flicker of movement at the edge of his vision made him tighten his grip on the daggers.
Sickly amber eyes snapped open, locking onto him with unnatural hunger.
A Reaper.
He didn't hesitate.
The creature lunged, claws tearing through the rain-drenched air, but Richard was already moving. He twisted, rolling across the slick pavement as the attack sliced through empty space. In one smooth motion, he pivoted, slashing upward.
Steel met flesh—or whatever counted as flesh for these things. His blade carved through its midsection, thick black ichor oozing from the wound.
The Reaper shrieked, the sound sharp enough to make his ears ring.
"Tch. Annoying bastard."
Richard didn't give it time to recover. His fingers traced a glyph in the air, activating a burst of energy beneath his feet. He shot forward, his second dagger driving clean through the creature's throat.
A final convulsion, then nothing. Its body collapsed inward, dissolving into black mist.
He straightened, exhaling as he wiped his blade clean. One down. Too many to go.
The earpiece crackled. "Astralis, we've confirmed your position. Extraction's delayed. You'll need to hold out a little longer."
Richard tilted his head toward the horizon. The storm clouds thinned just enough to let through the faintest trace of dawn.
The town was crawling.
And not just with Reapers.
Reapers are high A-class anomalies, he thought, a cold chill creeping down his spine. So how the fuck was this mission classified as merely A?
A grim smirk tugged at his lips. "King, should I just move to your position instead?"
Silence.
Then, through the static, a short, humorless laugh. "Negative, Astralis. You've got bigger problems. Three signatures incoming from the east. Definitely not human."
Richard stilled. He closed his eyes for half a second, letting his senses expand. There—he felt it. The faint tremors beneath his feet. The weight of something massive moving toward him.
Big. Fast.
Tonight was far from over.