As he ran toward his apartment, Noah lifted his head and looked down the alley that led directly to the backyards of the buildings where he lived. Suddenly, a gray cloud formed at the end of the alley, and a figure began to emerge. It looked at him and shouted:
—I found you. You are the last bearer of the mark.
It didn't walk; it glided across the pavement.
Watching it approach, Noah thought to himself: I never wanted this life. I didn't want this responsibility. I just wanted to be a normal person.
But none of that mattered anymore.
The war that would determine whether humanity remained free had already begun.
The Claimoor grinned with a sadistic satisfaction.
—You will come with me. My masters have waited centuries for this moment.
Noah saw the tentacles on its back reach toward him. He summoned his magic as fast as he could, raising a small wall of ice—but the tentacles shredded it as if it were paper.
That gave him only a few seconds—enough time to reach into his back pocket and pull out something he always carried.
A piece of paper with his family's shield: a coat of arms featuring two overlapping hexagrams, inside which were drawn a wolf and a bear.
He shouted with all his might:
—Protection!
Instantly, a figure materialized in front of him. It took the shape of a bear, blocking the tentacles. Without hesitation, he shouted again:
—Attack it!
The figure transformed into a wolf. Moving with a speed invisible to the human eye, the wolf leaped and sank its teeth into the Claimoor's neck. The tentacles thrashed violently, struggling. Noah seized the moment to escape; he had to reach his apartment no matter what.
He was only about five minutes away, so he couldn't waste a second. He knew this wouldn't defeat a Claimoor—one of the strongest warriors of the Kartnod family, a being born of magic and the body of a human once.
His only hope was to use his family's relic, given to him when his aunt died. She had been the bearer of the mark, and when a bearer dies, the mark vanishes and chooses a new one. To the astonishment of the entire family, it had chosen him.
As he ran, he heard explosions.
Until that morning, ordinary humans had been unable to see any of this. The world was protected by a magical veil, created by the Supreme Beings millennia ago. It hid magic and supernatural creatures from human eyes, allowing normal people to live their lives unaware of the chaos unfolding in parallel.
But with the seal partially broken, that veil began to weaken. For the first time, ordinary people could see the battle: the ice rays, fire explosions, and nightmarish creatures roaming the streets.
Chaos erupted. Screams, confusion, and fear spread through the town.
Alarms began to blare. In the center of the small town, a wolf-shaped shadow and a tentacled creature were destroying everything in a brutal fight—a scene straight out of a horror movie.
Noah looked up and saw the door to his apartment. Nearly out of breath, he felt the cold air burn his lungs with every inhale. He used his magic to break the door, ran to his room, and searched under his bed for a box.
Inside was an ancient relic—its age unknown. It was a bracelet with the ÓBroin family crest.
Suddenly, a massive explosion rocked the building, sending him flying.
Feeling the shockwave, he activated a magical barrier, protecting himself as he crashed through the window. The explosion obliterated the apartment. The Claimoor had already shattered his protective spell, leaving the town nearly destroyed and countless people dead.
Chaos reigned. Terrified citizens fled, screaming, unsure of what was happening.
The Claimoor, about ten meters from where Noah landed, fixed him with a gaze that froze his blood. It growled, bared its teeth, and snorted like a demon from hell.
—You've made me angry now. My masters ordered me to bring you back alive, but they never said anything about keeping you whole. I will tear off your legs and release all the fury inside me!
Noah was paralyzed with fear. He hadn't put on the bracelet—the only thing that could give him a chance to survive against this monster.
Suddenly, out of nowhere, spears of fire and ice began raining down.
The Claimoor raised its tentacles to shield itself. A voice shouted:
—I always knew you weren't a warrior, but I never thought you were so useless that you couldn't even defend yourself.
Dizzy from the explosion, Noah's mind barely processed the words. That voice… that tone… it could only belong to Eleonor, the person he hated most in this world.