1 The First Day At The Job

I was staring at the sky, excited, wondering about the future, as I had nothing to do even though it was my first day on my job. I had decided to become something like a cop, you might say, but regardless, there weren't many things happening around, so I had nothing to do. I was all alone with nothing but my thoughts: "How boring can this get?" I asked myself, tired of waiting. I got up and decided to head towards the town, hoping to find something to entertain myself.

"Hey, Kid!" I turn around, and it's the old man from a small, beat-up snack store. He looked a bit fishy, but regardless, as a cop, I have to listen to the people; they might have some problems after all, and I just wanted a job, even if it was small.

"You called me, sir?" I said in realization that, from now on, I'm officially an investigator, so I can't go around calling people with whatever name comes to mind.

"Hey now, no need to be so formal with me; you can call me by whatever name seems fit, as long as it's nothing disrespectful," said the old man while laughing joyously for some reason.

"Oh alright... Soooooo, what did you need me for, pops?" I asked out of curiosity as to why he called me out of nowhere.

"Oh, it's nothing too important; I saw you were all alone and it seemed like you had nothing to do, so I thought maybe you would enjoy some of these; no one buys 'em anyway; eat however much you want." He said that as he put plates full of snacks and desserts on the table, they looked fine, so I had a taste.

As soon as it entered my mouth, it immediately melted. The combination of so many flavors exploded inside my mouth. "Amazing!" I said, as I was astonished by how good the cuisine tasted, that it really must be a cuisine because of its amazing taste, despite being served in such a small shop.

"Slow down, boy. The food ain't going to run away; take your time." Said the man, bursting out laughing.

Curiously, I asked him, "Man, this is some amazing stuff; I don't know why it's not selling because even in many 5-star hotels, you don't get food this amazing!" As soon as I said this, the man stopped laughing and remained silent for some reason. It was oddly suspicious, but I paid it no mind since the food seemed fine. It could've been some traumatic experience, so I didn't bother asking again. "Anyways, I apologize for being rude and not asking who you were; please forgive me."

"Don't worry about it, Alan. And as for me, I'm... Suddenly, the man was interrupted by a chain of signals that went through the watch I got recently from my workplace. It's more than a watch; it's more like a tracker and a communication device.

"Sorry, pops! But I gotta go; let's continue this conversation some other time, alright?" I took out some money from my wallet and slammed it on the table right before I busted out of the shop without even looking back. It may have been rude, but I planned to compensate for the old man after I was done with the emergency at hand. "How did he know my name? I don't remember telling him," I muttered to myself, "oh well, I'll think about that later; I've got to get to work."

I looked at my watch for the location of the incident taking place, and it's right behind the workshop where some weapons of the force are created, even though it's a bit far from the department. Locking the location, I went further into the back of the workshop until I eventually reached the point, and it was a dark alley with lights flickering and signs and banners hanging above the shop.

As I went further in, I started to smell the stench of blood. The further I walked, the stronger the smell got. I covered my nose as I almost threw up from such a ragged scent of dead bodies. I don't know what caused it, but I could only find out by reaching there.

"Wha-" I gasped looking at such an ugly site, dead bodies everywhere I looked, all covered in blood, body parts torn and laying on the ground, blood still spilling from the bodies, and standing there was one singular man, to ask him just what happened here, I ran towards the man while I stepped on limbs that were torn on the ground, I looked back to them, feeling regretful for not having arrived sooner, I reached towards the man and who I saw flabbergasted me, it was no other than my own brother, completely blacked out, barely standing, blood all over his body, blood still spilling from parts of his body, as soon as I touched him, he started falling so I caught him and held him in my arms, shaking his head, I said "Hey... Elijah... Just what happened here, wake up!" My breathing got heavier and heavier the more I looked at him. Just what caused my brother, whom I never saw lose a single battle, to get this bad? "Wake up! Bro! Wake up, damnit!" I shouted out of frustration and anger at myself for slacking off while my brother experienced something so horrific.

"Cough, cough," my brother coughed up huge amounts of blood. Realizing he was still alive, I started using my healing Rukh; I took off my coat and cut it with the blade I carry around with myself and tend to his wounds. Immediately after, I put him down and alerted the department for backup.

As I waited for them to get here, my eyes were gazed upon footsteps that are marked by blood, possibly someone that walked through here, out of curiosity and thinking it might be someone injured who needs help, I followed those footsteps until I saw much larger footsteps, covered with blood as well, as I went further and further, I was met with a horrific sight, a huge humanoid man chomping on what looked like a human, I was shocked, scared and so many other emotions went through me in the same time, instinctively my body started moving backwards on its own, as I went further and further back I accidentally made a sound while I stepped on the blood flooding from the alley from before, the creature looked back but I immediately hid behind a wall, breathing heavily but still trying my hardest not to make a sound...

It had been a moment since I hid there, and all I heard was silence, the sound of munching had stopped so I decided to take a look and as soon as I was about to peek, a huge fist came in my direction, my head to be specific, thanks to my instincts I was able to duck and dodge it without receiving any damage at all, quickly I stepped back and looked upon the overgrown man, from what he looked like and snapped out of any fear or something related that could've held me back, I started strengthening my body as fast as I could, halfway through it, I was met with another rapid speed blow that could've ended me if it landed, but this time I had been concentrated on him so it was no problem dodging the blow, I kept dodging one blow after another, it was using both hands, in desperation to kill me or even eat me for that matter.

After a series of dodging, I finally decided to strike him back. I took out one of the knives I had been carrying and transferred some of my Rukh through it and extended its height and size. Again, I transferred more of my Rukh to strengthen the blade, should I call it, and gripped it to my hand as I waited for the thing to strike again. Not having to wait very long, the man-beast threw another punch towards me, but this time I was more than ready. I swiftly dodged its attack and completely pinned his hand to the ground. I started running on it until I got to its head. Don't pay me back for this, alright?" I shouted as I was about to strike the thing down with the back of my feet, already strengthened with Rukh. I hit it as hard as I could, and eventually I landed on the ground. Quickly I looked up and saw it completely blacked out. For now at least, taking this chance, I took out my knives and strengthened them logically and threw one that I had made longer to his chest. Using it as a climbing stick, I jumped towards it, grabbed it, and made a flip to stand on it.

I took out the blade as I jumped higher above on its shoulder and stabbed him directly in the neck, but still, there was no reaction from it. I kept looking at it as a good opportunity and started throwing a bunch of iron-hard punches at him, but somehow there was no reaction. It didn't seem like it was suffering or even dying, but it all lasted until I finally pierced the back of its head. That's when it gave a reaction. It woke up from pain, screaming so hard that it was shaking things around us, and soon after I was grabbed by the leg and thrown hard on the wall. "GAH!" A fair amount of blood came out of my mouth from the impact caused by the throw.

However, even after such a blow, I still had consciousness, applying a healing Rukh cloak around myself while still trying to harden my body. In case I get hit by another one of its monstrous fists, I look around and see nothing that could help me during this battle. However, I realize that I might still have a chance because of its weakness. Though my body felt weak, I just couldn't afford to give up and die in this fight. "Ruining my very first day as an investigator... You worthless beast" I said with a lot of pain and heavy breathing in my voice, I quickly ran towards his left and climbed a bit on the wall till I could get my hands on one of the lamps, I quickly took it and channeled some of my Rukh to light it so bright it could blind a person, obviously I moved my head to avoid getting blinded, as I looked away, the light got brighter and brighter, so bright I could feel the impact in my eyes even though it was closed but eventually the light got to its maximum point and it broke as the thing screamed from agony, I looked back at him and he was covering his eyes, knowing his weak spot I went towards his back and took 2 knives in both of my hands, strengthening both of them at the same time, I landed on the back side of his shoulder, barely able to stand there, I pulled myself together and started slicing with both, though I got off balance because the thing was moving from the feeling of pain, and it got worse because it was probably the only place in his body where he felt any pain at all.

The thing started crying and screaming from agony, and soon after I was grabbed again, but this time with my whole body. He grabbed me with his giant arm and started squeezing the life out of me. I couldn't even shout or anything; I started falling unconscious from the amount of pain I was feeling. "Dammit, not again," I muttered as tears fell down from my cheeks and my vision started to get blurry as I almost fell unconscious.

Through my blurred vision, I saw a round of flame coming towards the thing at a rapid speed and setting its head ablaze. The man threw me again, in a much worse state; I didn't even know how I was still conscious. Blood started to spill from parts of my body due to the extensive injuries.

"Hurry! Arza!" I heard a familiar voice of a man speak those words, and suddenly flames covered my body—green flames at that—and although it was fire, my body didn't feel like burning at all. "Hey! Stay with us, Alan!" I heard yet another familiar voice speak to me, but this time it was a female. Soon after, through the effects of the flames that covered my entire body, I started to barely regain my vision, and the two between them were my childhood friends, Noah and Arza.

"You guys..." I muttered as I almost fell unconscious again. Arza and Noah started speaking to me, trying to keep me from falling unconscious, but it was no help; their voices got more and more distorted every second until I was completely in a sleep state.