The morning started like any other.
Fluorescent lights hummed above the lecture hall, blending with the professor's droning voice and the soft scratch of notes being taken. The smell of old textbooks and weak coffee clung to the air. Outside the large, slanted windows, the campus moved in its usual rhythm—students crisscrossing the quad, bikes weaving through paths, the distant chime of the library bell.
It was so normal that everyone almost missed the first sign.
A flicker in the sky.
At first, Leon thought it was his tired eyes, strained from a late night. A shimmer, like sunlight caught on a stray piece of glass. But then the shimmer stretched, split, and opened into a jagged wound of darkness above the campus clocktower.
"What the hell is that?" a girl in the row ahead muttered, lowering her phone.
Heads turned. Conversations stuttered into silence. Outside, the wound widened, glowing like a fracture in the world's canvas. Then another appeared farther down the horizon, over the science building. And another.
The campus noise changed. The cheerful shouts from the quad gave way to distant, confused screams.
Leon's chest tightened as he pressed closer to the window. Shapes stirred within the rifts—shifting shadows with claws, wings, and teeth that caught the light. A chill ran down his spine.
The first crash came from the direction of the student union. A thunderous impact rattled the windowpanes, followed by the sound of shattering glass and a wave of terrified screams. People in the lecture hall jolted back.
"What was that?" a guy gasped, his voice trembling.
No one answered. Another crash echoed, this one louder, closer—the sound of something heavy colliding with concrete. The windows quivered in their frames. From the quad below came the blaring of a car alarm, the metallic screech of twisting steel, and more screaming.
The professor raised his hands, voice shaky but loud. "Alright, everyone—stay calm! We'll head for the exits, in an orderly fashion. Don't panic."
But panic was already spreading. Students snatched their backpacks, fumbling for their phones. Some pressed against the windows, desperate for a better look.
Leon couldn't pull his eyes away. Through the widening rift in the sky, a shape tumbled free—small compared to the hulking shadows still writhing above, but horrifyingly alive. It plummeted, twisting midair, and vanished behind the library.
A second later, another car alarm wailed.
The building shook with another boom.
And then it happened.
A jagged tear ripped open in the far wall of the lecture hall itself, reality splitting with a noise like shrieking metal. Light poured through the wound, blinding and sickly, as loose papers and backpacks spiraled into the air. The tear widened, stretching into an oval doorway that pulsed like a living thing.
People screamed and stumbled backward, tripping over stadium-style seating.
Something crawled through.
It was no taller than a man's waist, its body slick and glistening like oil. Its limbs were too thin, ending in claws that scraped against the linoleum floor. Its head lolled sideways, bulbous eyes glowing faintly red. When it opened its mouth, it didn't yawn—its jaw peeled wide and sideways, lined with jagged teeth.
For a moment, they all held their breath.
Then the thing shrieked and leapt.
The nearest student, a guy who'd been filming on his phone, barely managed to cry out before it was on him, slamming him to the floor. Blood sprayed as teeth sank into his neck. His scream cut short in a wet gurgle.
Chaos erupted. Backpacks were abandoned as students shoved toward the exits, their voices tangled in terror.
The creature lifted its head, crimson dripping from its sideways grin. It sniffed the air, its six eyes snapping toward Leon, who was frozen in place.
He staggered back, heart pounding, until his hand brushed cold metal—the fire extinguisher bolted to the wall between posters of campus safety. Without thinking, he ripped it free.
The beast screeched and lunged.
He swung with his eyes squeezed shut, hoping for anything.
The extinguisher connected with a crunch, the impact jolting up his arms. The monster shrieked, limbs flailing, but he struck again. And again. Fear drove him, raw and wild. On the fourth blow, bone gave way with a sickening crack. The creature twitched once, then stilled.
Silence fell, broken only by his ragged breathing and the retreating footsteps of his classmates.
He stared down at the thing's broken body, ichor pooling black across the floor. The fire extinguisher trembled in his grip, dented and dripping.
Then a sound rang inside his skull—clear, metallic, and undeniable.
[System Notice: First Blood Achieved.]
[Unique Achievement Unlocked: First Hunter.]
The words glowed before his eyes, impossible to ignore. His stomach lurched. His breath caught.
And before he could even whisper a question, the wall behind him cracked again. Something was coming, but Leon wasn't about to stay and find out.
He took to his heels, burst out of the lecture hall, and ran for the stairwell at full speed.
Back in the room, more creatures poured from the rift—first one, then two, then four. They flooded out, spreading in every direction.
As the last of them exited, the rift began to pulse violently. It grew bigger, as though making way for something else. Something worse.
A hand emerged, impossibly thin and covered in black veins. The creature stepped out. It resembled the earlier ones, except it was much larger.
It let out a loud screech that tore through the air like shattering glass—a warning for all those who might still be in range.
---
As ragged breaths escaped him, Leon continued his descent down the stairs.
What was going on? What were those monsters? The questions were fresh in his head, but he didn't have time to stop and think.
He had barely heard it—the oppressive screech that had probably come from the lecture hall. He had killed the first one by luck, but he was sure whatever was up there now was much stronger.
[SYSTEM NOTIFICATION]
As a result of your achievement, you have been granted an Early Awakening.
[Awakening Requirements: Met]
[Awakening Shall Commence Now]
His chest heaved. His blood felt as though it was being rewritten, every vein beginning to burn. He collapsed to one knee, clawing at the concrete steps, while phantom voices—thousands of them—whispered in a tongue that sounded like madness given shape.
His scream tore through the silence, the pain so unbearable he almost lost his mind.
[Awakening completed]
[Class Unlocked:[Mythic] Progenitor Of Blood And Scales]
After what felt like eternity, he staggered to his feet and continued to descend. Even as the pain began to subside walking was agony, but stopping wasn't an option.
He needed to get to safety and find out if she was safe.
---
He reached the main lobby of the humanities building with his bloodied weapon in hand. Dozens of people filled the space, unable to leave as campus security blocked the exit.
It would have been a solid plan—blocking the door so nothing could get in—if there weren't monsters already running around the building. Right now, heading outside felt safer. But first, he needed to find her.
His eyes darted across the lobby, over the press of bodies. Students shoved, screamed, and clawed for the exit, their faces pale masks of terror. But they were kept at bay by the security personnel.
He spotted her—Lara, a girl with silver hair and purple eyes , frozen near the information desk. Her hands trembled over her phone, her thumb jabbing the dead screen again and again as tears streaked her face.
"Lara!" he called out.
Her head snapped up, eyes locking on him through the chaos. Relief washed over her face, and a small smile appeared before vanishing completely.
She pushed through the panicked crowd until she reached him. She literally jumped onto him, her arms tightening around his waist in the tightest hug she could muster.
For a second, all she did was bury her face against his chest and inhale, shuddering. She took in his scent like it was the only thing keeping her sane.
"You came for me," she whispered, her voice muffled but trembling with emotion.
He froze, caught off guard, but then pulled back just enough to look at her face. Her eyes shimmered with tears, wide and desperate, locked entirely on him.
She wasn't just a friend, she was his sister, well sort of.
(A/N: Hehehe)
"Of course I did," he said quickly, tightening his grip on her arm. "But we need to move. Now."
But the monsters had other ideas.
The ceiling vent tore open, metal shrieking as claws scraped against steel. Something black and twisted dropped down, landing hard on the tiled floor.
Soon after the stairwell door exploded outward, its frame splintering under the weight of the flood behind it. The lobby, once a place of polished calm, became a slaughterhouse in an instant. The new arrivals were a tide of desperate flesh—pale, twitching things with a horrifying hunger. They didn't move with the calculated menace of the black creature; this was a frenzy.
People screamed, scattering, shoving blindly toward the exit.
Lara didn't even glance at it. Her nails dug into his shirt, her trembling body pressed close to his. "Don't let go," she begged, her voice so soft only he could hear.
He nodded, yanking her toward the doors, which had already been forced open by the stampede. The jagged glass edges caught the light like fangs, smeared with blood from those who hadn't made it through cleanly.
The crowd surged, dragging them along. He shielded Lara with his body as best he could, forcing a path through the chaos. Her arms stayed wrapped around him, even as the press of bodies threatened to crush them both.
Then, with one final shove, they burst into the open air of the quad.
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