Dust flared into the air. The ball made a deafening thud as it slammed against the wall and bounced across the yard.
Children cheered, laughter echoing like summer bells.
One of the boys made a wild clearance kick
And silence followed.
The ball soared... and landed just past the rusted fence line, deep into the shadows of the Forbidden City.
"Now you've done it, Mike!" one of the boys shouted.
"It was a mistake!" Mike snapped.
Another boy whispered, eyes wide,
"No one goes there. It's haunted."
Mike grinned.
"Don't worry. I'm the fastest one here."
Mike's feet crunched against dry gravel as he crept forward.
Every creak. Every gust of wind.
His spine twitched.
Then he saw it , through the shattered window of a crumbling, vine strangled building,
the ball.
"Found you," he muttered, stepping inside.
The air was thick. Muffled.
"Grrrrr…"
Mike froze.
"Dang… I'm starving," he whimpered, not realizing the growl wasn't from his own stomach.
A drop ,moist and cold ,hit his cheek.
He looked up.
A creature crouched on the roof, limbs too long, eyes like shattered glass. His heart sank, and his body froze in fright.
It leaped.
He screamed.
Mike felt air rushing past his ears.
Then crack! the ground rose up to meet him.
But he didn't die.
A hand gripped his collar.
He looked up into the eyes of a grinning man,
smiling like the whole thing was a game.
"Huh… so there is a monster.
Alright… this'll be fun."
I stepped into the room.
There she sat , a small figure in white, barely moving. Like a ceramic doll forgotten by time.
She didn't turn, but she spoke:
"That necklace you wear… Was it a gift? From someone you loved?"
I looked down at the small, heart-shaped pendant.
"Yeah," I said quietly.
"My mommy gave me this dress,"
she whispered.
"She said she'd come back for me."
Then, slowly, unnaturally, she turned her head
180 degrees.
"Do you know where our parents are?"
My breath caught.
I clenched my necklace.
"Mom," I thought. My thoughts trailed off to something else.
Earlier that morning…
The hallway lights buzzed overhead as I walked alone.
Today was my first mission.
But something about it felt… off.
Like excitement drowned in dread.
I passed two girls making out against the wall.
Didn't blink. Didn't care. Everyone here had their way of surviving.
Kaein met me by the door , and the same old smirk plastered on his face.
"Being a loser's guild, we don't get many missions.
Lucky day, kid.
You won't be saving a falling cat today ,something juicier."
He was still drunk, I thought.
"What's the mission?" I asked.
"Recover a child," he muttered, handing me a folded note.
"She's been missing three hours. Went looking for a ball."
He leaned closer, grinning.
"They say the area's haunted.
But kids like you love ghost stories.
Who knows… Maybe you'll even find a monster."
I opened the file.
Code: W-231
Alias: Mike
Location: Sector 7 — Off-grid. Forbidden zone.
"Alone?" I asked.
"Of course not."
A voice cut in from behind , confident, gravelly.
He grabbed my head like an older brother who'd seen too much.
"The name's Blaze.Don't worry, kid. I'll protect you."
"Do I really need babysitting for this?"
Bitterness crept into my tone.
"Protocol," he smiled wider.
Yeah… as if a guy like him followed protocol.
"Hey, am I interrupting a Canon event?"
Melissa chimed in, practically skipping toward us.
She looked like a cosplay of Albert Einstein in goggles and a lab coat if Einstein drank three energy drinks and hadn't slept in days.
"Had to steal some of your blood yesterday," she beamed.
"It's… fascinating."
She handed me my dagger.
Sharper. Cleaner. Elegant.
I gave it a few test swings.
"I'll let the blood thing slide. Thanks."
"Come back with a monster's head, okay?"
She waved like we were off to a picnic.
"Don't forget the rules I taught you."
Kaein tapped my shoulder.
"Of course not," I replied , voice firm, a little too firm.
I clenched my fist.
This time will be different.
I hope.
We stood before the old gate.
Rust peeled off it like dried blood.
No one was supposed to go in there.
But the system had its ghosts ,
And now I was being sent to Chase one.
The scanners picked up three signals inside a tall, crumbling building.
"You look down. I'll go up."
I leaped before he could argue.
"Don't go dying on me," he called after.
I could say the same for you, I thought.
I landed on the rooftop , dagger in hand.
The pale figure stood before me, still as death.
Snowflake-like particles floated through the air.
I exhaled.
"Let's look for your parents."
"I promised Mommy I wouldn't let any rats enter our home."
"Well… that's a shame."
Flames lit the room as Blaze deflected the attacks and struck back.
The monster's limbs tore through anything within a ten-meter radius.
He evaded the slashes as he closed in.
A sharp edge grazed his face.
Blood dripped.
Before the final blow landed, he summoned a flame barrier ,just in time.
Then, he brought his fists together and slowly pulled them apart,
forming a thin thread of lava between his palms.
"Guess I'll have to take this seriously,"
his orange eyes glowed like embers.
Behind him, the child curled tighter into a ball, trembling.
Snowflakes hung in the air.
They paused for a breath…
Then shot forward swift, cold, and surgical.
I moved.
I deflected what I could, but they only got faster.
Each one cut deeper than the last.
She was trying to pressure me ,slice by slice until I collapsed.
"Twinkle, twinkle, little star…
How I wonder what you are…"
She sang it like a lullaby of death.
I winced. My blood painted the floor.
Find the weakness. Think. Focus. Or you'll be ice cubs.
"Magma Sword."
His katana materialized , glowing, hissing, magma licking its edge.
He cut through the limbs with fluid, elegant strikes
like dancing with an orange phoenix.
The monster screeched, flailing in rage.
The floor beneath Blaze melted into lava.
He vanished. Speed-blitzed.
But the creature moved too , attacking from behind.
The child turned just in time ,
Mike's eye nearly pierced by a stray blade.
Blaze glanced back.
The katana's afterglow still shimmered in his gaze.
He didn't blink.
The monster's scythe touched the moisture in his eye ,
and disintegrated.
Ahead of him , the reborn glow danced across the monster's head.
One clean cut.
Decapitated.
He sheathed his blade. The child collapsed into his arms.
"I wonder if that kid's still ali—"
Red drops fell.
A slow rainfall of blood.
It passed through the child's wide eyes.
Blaze staggered ,
Impaled clean through the right shoulder.
He looked up.
An eye stared down from the ceiling.
It twitched.
Then sprouted limbs ,grasshopper-like ,and dropped to the floor.
"MUST PROTECT HOME!" it screeched.
"Oh sh—"
I was bleeding out.
Focus. Focus. Focus.
I crouched. Blinked.
There its core.
A massive snowflake swung toward my neck.
I caught it with my teeth , and shattered it.
I charged forward, cutting through waves of snowflakes.
One hovered at eye level , I leapt off it with one foot.
Time slowed…
Everything turned white.
I was face-to-face with the child , no longer monstrous.
Just a little girl.
She cried,
"I couldn't protect our home…"
I knelt.
Patted her head.
"You did great.
Your parents would be proud.
Don't cry ,be proud."
Snowflakes spun wildly.
I hopped across them as if they were stone paths.
I was now at eye level with the girl.
She smiled.
She turned , and ran toward two glowing figures.
Her parents embraced her.
They cried.
"You are free at last, my children,"
the mother said through her tears.
A black katana rose from the ground, sparking with shadows.
"Take this," the mother whispered.
"For bringing our daughter home. Thank you."
I reached out , both hands on the blade.
And in that moment, I sliced through the child.
The force split the world.
The slash didn't stop.
It ripped through the house , and through the monster above Blaze.
They cried as a fourth child ,a deaf boy ,joined the group.
The house crumbled.
Blaze threw himself over the child, shielding him from the collapse.
Everything glitched.
Suddenly ,
I was standing again.
Gripping the black katana.
Blood rained from the sky.
Everything was destroyed.
The sun began to rise
Blaze clawed his way through rubble, alive but barely.
He looked at me.
I looked at my hands.
Again, I had acted without free will.
Again, something else pulled the strings.
What was that?
Who am I?
Am I truly a pawn?