It was just one simple morning. But the events of the day that followed it couldn't have been more unexpected than they were.
Rolling onto his side as an alarm rang him awake, Chris hugged Ellie who was sleeping right beside him.
"Good morning," Ellie said as she felt her husband's warm embrace.
"Good morning," Chris responded. "Did you sleep well?"
"Yeah. And you?"
"Same. But I really would have preferred staying here with you instead of going to work," Chris gave Ellie a peck on the cheek.
Ellie giggled softly. "You sound like a child who doesn't want to go to school."
"Work is simply school ten times worse."
"Okay enough with the jokes now. I'll prepare breakfast while you get ready," said Ellie, giving Chris a kiss on the lips that motivated him.
"Yes ma'am," Chris replied with a soft expression as he then got out of bed.
As Chris went to the bathroom, Ellie also got out of bed and headed towards the kitchen where she started preparing breakfast.
The breakfast she prepared was traditional bacon with eggs accompanied by toasted bread and orange juice.
"Ellie!" Chris called out. "Did you see where I put my wallet?"
"It's in the drawer right beside the bed!" Ellie replied.
"Okay, thanks!"
Several dozens of minutes later, Chris had finished bathing and wearing clothes. Just as he entered the living room ready to sit at the dining table, Shaw suddenly jumped on him.
"Dad!"
"Wha?!" exclaimed Chris, taken by surprise by his son.
"Come on Shaw. How many times do I have to tell you it's dangerous to suddenly surprise people like that?" criticized Ellie.
"C'mon. There's no harm done, right?" nonchalantly said Chris with a smile.
"I swear Chris. It's because you spoil him that he never learns," Ellie put hands on her waist, letting out a sigh.
"True that," Chris confirmed.
"Don't sound so proud of it," Ellie retorted, a tinge of annoyance in her voice.
"Haha," Chris laughed, seemingly unbothered by his wife's words.
"In any case, breakfast is ready," Ellie invited the father-son duo to the table.
"Yay! Breakfast! I'm hungry," exclaimed Shaw as his stomach growled, making his parents chuckle.
"Thank you for the food!" the family said in unison.
After a peaceful and enjoyable breakfast, Chris took his coat and car keys, ready to head out.
"Have a good day at work, dear," said Ellie as she gave him a peck on the cheeks.
"You too have a good day," Chris returned the show of affection.
"See you later dad!" said Shaw as he hugged Chris who then patted his head.
"Yeah. Listen to mom and remember to do your homework, okay?"
"Okay!"
"Well, I'm heading out," said Chris as he opened the door.
"Have a safe trip!"
As the door closed, "Okay. Now Shaw, it's time to take a bathe," commanded Ellie.
"Yes ma'am."
---
---
---
While Chris was on his way to work, his phone rang.
Answering it, "Hello?"
"Chief Blakelord, it's me, Maria," a woman's voice came out.
"Maria?" Chris sighed.
"What does the Association Master want to relay to me now?" he asked, a tinge of worry and exasperation in his voice.
"I'm sorry to disturb you, but the Association Master has asked me to inform you about an incident that happened at the Therion Public Library."
"The library?"
"Yes. A Vanishing Point appeared inside the library."
"And what does that have to do with me? Surely a raid team has already been sent to deal with the situation, right? So why am I needed?" Chris inquired.
"This Vanishing Point wasn't detected by our sensors, nor did it form an Abyss when it appeared. Hence, it was only recently discovered when the library staff opened their doors."
"What?! How is that possible?" Chris was surprised by the news.
"We're not sure ourselves. Our sensors within the area didn't identify any spike in mana when it formed. We suspect that it's already been several hours since it formed."
"And no Abyss was formed?" Chris asked, still not believing what he was hearing.
"No sir," Maria's voice stood firm.
"I see. I'm on my way right now," he made a sharp turn, heading towards the library.
In just 25 minutes, Chris arrived at the library, and what he was welcomed with was something he wasn't expecting.
'They're all in pretty bad shape,' he thought, taking in the scene before him where most members of the team gathered there were heavily injured though it seemed none of them were in critical condition.
'Thanks to the healers' spells, they'll be able to survive. But just what the hell happened here?' Chris thought as he became more anxious about what kind of monster had come out of the Vanishing Point.
"Chief Blakelord!" someone called out.
"Oh! Maria."
It was Maria Williams, a young woman in her mid-20s with long purple hair and purple haze eyes. She was also a Realizer specializing in magic and the secretary of Jaegers Association Master.
"Good to see you," greeted Chris.
"Same here," Maria returned the greeting.
After their meetup, they went to a nearby tent that was set up to discuss the next step of the operations.
"Do you know what happened for things to end up like this?" asked Chris, sitting on the chair that was laid out for him.
"Yes," she replied before she started explaining what had happened.
"In the simplest terms, it was a single opponent that caused this."
"Only one?!" Chris' expression was full of surprise and disbelief.
"Yes," she answered with the same expression as someone trying to swallow a bitter pill.
"Now I understand why you called me," Chris clutched his hand together while a grave expression etched itself on his face.
"Yes. In total, there were five Level 3 and three Level 4 agents, but as you can see, the enemy is probably Grade A at least."
"And since I'm a Level 5 and the closest in the vicinity, I was the most optimal option."
"Exactly."
Scratching his head, "So what are we up against? An orc? An ogre?"
"Neither. From the reports, it's a human."
"What? A human?" Chris' eyes became widened in surprise.
"Yes," replied Maria with a resigned expression that didn't seem to believe what she was reading either.
"You're telling me that a human came out of a Vanishing Point?" Chris asked, still doubtful.
"Without a doubt. Additionally, the Vanishing Point disappeared after he came out?" she explained as she continued to read the report.
"He?" Chris was perplexed.
"Yes. It's been confirmed that the target has a young appearance. He's been estimated to be approximately 13 or 14 years old."
"Is it possible that it's a monster wearing human skin?" asked Chris, his expression grim.
"There's no way of confirming it, but here is the footage we got from the library's CCTV cameras," said Maria as she engaged a video footage on a wireless display screen.
"This is the footage of when the portal opened at 02:13 A.M. today."
On the screen, a Vanishing Point opened at the entrance of the library, and when it opened, a young boy with messy jet-black hair walked out of the portal wearing ragged clothes.
"We also tried to zoom in on his face to identify him, but he doesn't correspond with anyone in our database."
It was Ace on the screen, but of course, they had no idea about who it was at the time.