Danial’s world was reduced to
 
coldness
 
and
 
pain
.
The grip on his wrist was unnatural—too tight, too strong for something that looked human. His breath hitched as something sharp pressed into his skin, sending a shiver up his spine.
He couldn’t see.
Couldn’t move.
Couldn’t—
"Danial!"
Naurah’s voice cut through the darkness like a lifeline.
Then—
A blinding light burst through the cafeteria.
The pressure on Danial’s wrist suddenly vanished.
Air rushed into his lungs as his knees buckled, and he collapsed, gasping. His glasses had slipped down his nose, and his hands trembled as he pushed them back up.
The cafeteria was empty.
The girl was gone.
The wrongness in the air lingered.
Footsteps pounded against the tiled floor, and then—
"Danial!"
Alex reached him first, skidding to a stop before kneeling beside him. "Are you okay?"
"Do I look okay?" Danial muttered.
"Honestly?" Alex smirked. "You look like you just met a ghost."*
"Not a ghost," Jian’s voice came from the doorway, his tone low. "Something worse."*
Danial exhaled sharply and pushed himself up. His heartbeat was still racing, his skin still cold. "She was—" He swallowed. "She knew what I was."*
"Knew what?" Zariel asked, stepping inside. "That you’re a nerd?"
"That I’m a werewolf," Danial snapped. "She called me little wolf. Then she attacked."*
Silence.
"What happened to her?" Naurah finally asked.
Danial shook his head. "She disappeared as soon as the lights came back on."*
"That’s not normal," Jian murmured. "Even for us. Monsters don’t just vanish."*
"Unless they aren’t fully in this world," Naurah said, her brows furrowed in thought. "They could be shifting between realities—between existence and nonexistence."*
"That… doesn’t sound great," Zariel muttered.
"It’s not," Naurah confirmed. "It means they don’t just erase people. They exist in the same void they send their victims to."*
"Which means," Jian said darkly, "they can pull us into it too."*
Danial clenched his jaw. "I felt it. When she touched me… it wasn’t just an attack. She was pulling me somewhere else."*
Alex shuddered. "Okay, new rule: No one wanders off alone anymore."*
"Agreed," Naurah said. "We need to figure out what these creatures are before we lose someone for real."*
Danial let out a slow breath and rolled his shoulders. "Then let’s get to work."
Back at their HQ, the tension was thick.
Jian sat in a corner, his fingers playing with the shadows around him as he processed the information. Zariel had his arms crossed, his usual smirk absent. Alex paced the room restlessly.
Danial leaned against the desk, deep in thought.
"If they exist in that void… there has to be a way to bring people back from it," Naurah mused. "No spell is irreversible."*
"Yeah, but we don’t even know how they do it," Zariel pointed out. "Or why."*
"That girl," Danial murmured. "She wasn’t a normal student anymore. She was already… one of them."*
Alex stopped pacing. "You think the students who disappear…turn into those things?"
The idea sent a chill down everyone’s spine.
"It makes sense," Jian finally said. "We assume they’re just gone, but what if they aren’t? What if they’re still here… just not as themselves anymore?"
Zariel groaned. "I really hate this case."
"You hate all our cases," Alex muttered.
"Yeah, but this one is extra cursed, okay?" Zariel shot back.
"Then we better end it before it gets worse," Naurah said firmly. "We need to find proof. Real proof."
Jian smirked. "Then it’s time for another trap, isn’t it?"
Danial let out a slow breath. "This time, we go in prepared."*
"This time," Naurah said, "we fight back."
The weight of their situation settled in like a thick fog. As much as they had learned, they were still in the dark.
Naurah paced around the HQ, her mind racing with possibilities. She wasn’t used to feeling unprepared. But this case? This one had her questioning everything she thought she knew.
"So what's our next move?" Jian asked, his eyes narrowing as he watched Naurah. "We can’t keep running in circles like this."*
Naurah stopped, her gaze fixed on the door. "We need to be smarter than that."*
Alex glanced up from the map she was laying out on the table. "We’re already a step ahead of them. We’ve found a pattern. We just need to understand it better."*
"And bait them with it," Zariel added. "Because nothing says ‘we’re ready’ like being attacked by monsters, right?"
"It’s not about the fight," Naurah responded, her voice steady. "It’s about uncovering the truth. We need answers. Why are they taking students? What are they doing to them?"
Danial, who had been silent up until this point, finally spoke. "We’re not just dealing with simple monsters. These things have a purpose—one we don’t understand yet. They’re not just trying to feed or destroy. They’re trying to… rewrite existence."*
Naurah nodded slowly, her mind catching up with Danial’s words. "Yes. That’s exactly it. If they’re erasing students and manipulating reality itself, then they have to be part of something bigger."*
Jian crossed his arms, his expression thoughtful. "You think they’re working for someone? Or is this their own agenda?"
"Either way," Naurah said, "it’s a dangerous game. And we need to be careful. They know we’re onto them. We can’t afford to let them catch us off guard again."*
Alex grinned, the tension in the air slightly easing with her infectious energy. "Well, lucky for you, I’m really good at being a distraction. Who doesn’t love a siren’s song?"
"But it’s not just about luring them in," Danial pointed out. "We need to make sure we’re ready for whatever they throw at us. These creatures have shown they can shift realities. That’s not something we can fight with normal weapons."*
"And I don’t think our usual traps are enough," Zariel added. "We need something that can actually hurt them."*
"I have an idea," Naurah said, her eyes flashing with determination. "But it requires all of us to work together. We’re going to make our stand here, at the school. We’ll set up a perimeter and bait them into one area. Then, we’ll hit them hard and fast."*
Everyone gathered around the table, looking at the map of the school. It was time to take the fight to the creatures.