Some time before the incident of the mysterious man, in the city of Bukrasma, three friends were gathered as dusk fell.

  “Well, guys, I think it’s late. I should head home,” said Damien, a seventeen-year-old with a sturdy build, as he waved with a faint smile.

  “See you, Damien,” replied Edward, a slightly shorter boy with light brown hair and a calm gaze.

  “Yeah, it’s late. Be careful,” added Albert, Edward’s younger brother. He had dark, slightly wavy hair and freckles across his nose. Taller than his older brother.

  Damien began his walk home.

  “Damn it…” he muttered, staring at the path ahead. “I’ll have to go through that alley they say is haunted…”

  He was referring to an old narrow passage he often crossed with his friend Yulian during the day, but which carried a dark reputation at night. People spoke of shadows that moved on their own and of whispers in strange tongues. Even so, he had little choice.

  “Well… no other way,” he sighed, and crossed.

  He reached the other side without incident. After a few steps, he glanced sideways at the opposite sidewalk and noticed something odd. A small monkey, perfectly still, was staring at him.

  Damien looked at it with curiosity and kept walking. However, a strange, guttural voice echoed from afar:

  “Hungry…”

  Damien froze. He slowly turned his head, and what he saw made his stomach drop.

  The small monkey was growing. Its body elongated, its limbs twisted, and its skin stretched until it tore. Within seconds, it had become a towering monster, over two meters tall, with yellow fangs and a ravenous gaze.

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  “What the hell is that?!” Damien shouted, sprinting as fast as his legs could carry him.

  But his body wasn’t agile, and the monster was fast. In moments, it cornered him against a wall, panting, with no way out.

  “This is the end…” Damien whispered, shutting his eyes.

  “Kid, down!” a firm, unfamiliar voice roared.

  Damien dropped instantly. At that moment, two scrolls whizzed through the air above him and struck the creature’s chest, marked with the symbols of water and air.

  “Tempest!” the voice commanded.

  A storm of lightning and wind engulfed the monster, which collapsed to the ground convulsing—defeated… at least for the moment.

  Still trembling, Damien looked up. In front of him stood an older man with long gray hair, dressed in what looked like a blend between toga and cassock. Despite his age, his frame was strong and his presence imposing.

  “Sir… what was that? What did you do? What just happened?” Damien stammered, his mind swirling with questions.

  But there was no time for answers. The creature, still alive, staggered back up with a roar:

  “FOOOOD!!!”

  “Give me a second, then I’ll explain some things,” the old man said calmly.

  “I’ll use more Koa,” he whispered.

  At once, a strange energy enveloped his body. Out of thin air, he materialized a long, slender saber. With impossible speed for his age, he stepped forward and sliced the monster clean in two. This time, it did not rise again.

  “There. It won’t bother you anymore,” the man said, as if it had been no more than a chore.

  “My name is Yu-Han,” he introduced himself, dismissing the energy blade. “That thing that attacked you is called a Mono Mogui—a hell-monkey. It feeds on humans and creatures that…”

  He paused. Damien was staring wide-eyed, as if unable to process anything. Yu-Han let out a quiet sigh and smiled.

  “Well, never mind for now. Come on, I’ll walk you home.”

  They walked in silence for several minutes. Damien kept glancing sideways at his strange savior, thinking about the words he had said: Koa, Mogui, creatures…

  Finally, they reached Damien’s doorstep.

  “This is where I live, sir… I don’t really know what just happened, but… thank you.”

  “Take care, boy. And watch out for Mogui… hehehe,” Yu-Han said as he calmly walked away.

  Damien watched him go, not knowing that this night was the true beginning of something much greater.

  Meanwhile, several streets away, Yu-Han walked in silence, his gaze fixed on the moon.

  “Those creatures don’t attack ordinary humans,” he murmured. “They’re not fit for their sustenance.”

  He stopped for a moment, as if struck by a strange thought.

  “Could it be… that monkey saw something I didn’t?”

  A soft chuckle escaped him.

  “Hehehe… could be…”

  And so, under Bukrasma’s starry sky, the first step of Damien’s destiny was sealed.