Bang!
The heavy gunshot still echoed violently in my ears, cutting through the thick, suffocating smoke of the burning town square.
My finger was frozen on the cold trigger of the revolver.
I had fired with the desperate, raw instinct of a cornered animal.
But the female creature’s reflexes were far from human.
In a blinding, fluid motion, she swung her newly acquired black sword.
CLANG!
The ancient blade sliced the speeding bullet clean in half in mid-air.
The two lead fragments hissed sharply before burying themselves into the dirt on either side of me.
Instantly, the toll of extreme exhaustion and severe blood loss caught up to her.
Her knees buckled.
Her tight grip on the hilt loosened, and she collapsed heavily onto the flooded cobblestones, completely unconscious.
Breathing heavily, my muscles trembling from the fading adrenaline rush, I slowly lowered my weapon.
I sank to my knees, my attention shifting immediately to the bundle of cloth tucked against my chest.
With a shaking hand, I pulled back the blood-stained fabric, preparing myself for a horrific sight.
The child was alive.
He was shivering, drenched by the fountain’s wild spray, but he was entirely unharmed.
His wide, innocent eyes stared up at me through the darkness.
A deep, heavy sigh of relief escaped my cracked lips.
I wouldn’t have to bury a corpse today.
I had actually saved someone.
Clutching the anonymous baby tightly against me, I walked back toward the ruined, smoldering house on the hill.
The roaring flames had finally died down, leaving behind nothing but a hollow skeleton of blackened wood and glowing embers.
I stepped into the wreckage, my boots crunching softly on the wet ash.
Everything was incinerated.
The life of whoever had lived here had been completely erased from existence.
Except for one thing.
Miraculously spared by the fire, a lone wooden table stood firmly in the corner of what used to be a study.
Resting upon it was a pristine, untouched white envelope.
I approached it cautiously, setting my weapon down.
I tore the envelope open and pulled out a folded piece of parchment.
“Dear Eden,
I am expecting a child, an heir, and I wanted to give you a surprise.
Since you know his father so well, I wanted to ask your opinion on the name.
Personally, I would like to call him Kim, in honor of my father.
Thank you, and take care of yourself.
— Anita”
The words hit me like a physical blow.
Eden.
The name echoed deeply within the empty spaces of my amnesiac mind.
The letter spoke of a father, an unborn child, a past friendship.
Every answer I uncovered only birthed a hundred more questions.
Who was Anita?
Who was I to her?
And who was this poor, nameless baby I had found in the middle of the chaos?
I carefully pocketed the letter and walked back outside into the biting night air.
Near the edge of the property, the female creature was starting to wake up.
She forced herself onto her hands and knees, her dark, deep eyes locking instantly onto mine.
She didn’t look at me with the feral hunger of the other monsters.
There was a faint, fragile spark of true intelligence in her gaze.
She parted her bleeding lips, her voice a soft, raspy whisper that sent a sudden chill down my spine:
“Eden…”
Hearing it straight from her mouth solidified everything.
It wasn’t just a guess anymore.
It was undeniably my name.
I stepped closer to her, looking down into her pale, shadowed face, trying to read whatever emotions were hidden there.
“Do you understand me?” I asked, my voice tight.
She paused for a long second, then gave a slow, deliberate nod of her head.
“Yes.”
A massive wave of hope washed over my grim expression.
She wasn’t just a mindless Calamity.
“What is your name?” I demanded gently.
“Do you remember who you are?” This chapter was taken from g.com without permission.
She stared intently at her hands, which were still stained with the black ash of her fallen enemy, and muttered a single word:
“Alya.”
I knelt beside her, gripping her trembling shoulders to keep her steady.
My mind was racing at a thousand miles an hour, and a barrage of questions poured out of my mouth before I could stop them.
Where did we come from?
What were those monsters?
What had happened to this world?
But Alya simply shook her head weakly.
Her eyes went entirely blank, filled with a profound, crushing sadness.
She couldn’t tell me anything more.
Her memory was just as fractured and broken as mine.
I let out a heavy breath, loosening my grip on her shoulders.
“Thank you,” I murmured, casting a glance back toward the ruined town square.
“For saving me from that thing back there.”
From that fateful night onward, our survival depended entirely on each other.
But a brutal life spent hunting monsters was no place for a helpless newborn.
Before even considering our own future, we sought out a hidden, heavily fortified sanctuary—a secure orphanage run by fellow survivors, far away from the active war zones.
It was there that we left the baby, ensuring he would have proper food, safety, and a real chance at a life.
Once the child was safe, Alya and I made a radical decision.
To survive in this unforgiving world and achieve our ultimate goal, we had to become stronger.
We isolated ourselves from what remained of society and trained relentlessly for years, constantly pushing our physical and spiritual limits to the absolute edge.
Following that long, agonizing training, our duo became a living legend on the roads.
From battle to battle, we systematically hunted the beasts that plagued the remaining survivors, and in return, the people gave us a name that whispered through the desolate wastes: The Calamity Hunters.
Sometimes, because we carried vital medical supplies and patched up the wounded after the slaughter, they even called us The Doctors.
Our ultimate goal had never changed: find a way to permanently restore Alya to her normal, human state.
It was this endless quest that eventually led us toward a specific town, a place mentioned in dark rumors where a unique, highly dangerous Calamity problem required our newly forged skills.
The name of that town was Happy.
After days of endless walking through dead forests and barren fields, the thick fog finally cleared ahead of us.
Planted firmly at a crossroads was a weathered, rotting wooden sign.
Written in faded, peeling paint were the words:
Welcome to HAPPY!
Eden and Alya exchanged a quiet, rare look of relief.
We guided our old wooden cart onto the main path, stepping into the deep shadows of the valley, completely unaware of the absolute madness that awaited us within the city walls.