It was a cool night. Jack was strolling along a park trail. It was inside the academy grounds and this route had quickly become his favorite to walk along. The path was a beautiful cobblestone with trees and lampposts lining each side. The crisp night air felt refreshing as he walked along. He had been studying with Chad and Sable and was returning to his room. While walking he noticed a section of lights seemed to not be working. He didn’t think too much of it. The sky was clear, and he could easily navigate by the light of the moon. While striding along enjoying the stars he heard a sound he had started to hear in his nightmares. The tick-tock sound. The sound that the beast made. He stopped and carefully started to look around. Has the monster come to kill me? He slowly pulled out his sword, looking everywhere for where the threat would come from. Then he saw them. Two red eyes were staring right at him. they were further down the path he had been heading. Dim and hard to see, they were much smaller than the eyes he had seen on the beast. He started to cautiously backpaddle, the eyes were red just like the monster, and he was terrified that it had sent something to get him. His instinct was to run, so he slowly turned to flee. And that is when he saw the monster was right behind him. Fuck! It had somehow crept right up behind him without making a sound.

It was silent for a moment as Jack looked at the monster. The monster seemed to be examining him in turn. He very slowly turned forward to run, but the eyes he had seen in front looked to be from some sort of human-like figure. The figure was wearing a big cloak and had come out of the shadows to stand in his path. Wide-eyed and in a panic, he looked around for another escape route. There was no obvious option. But he didn’t let that stop him. Behind was a large monster, and in front was a single figure. It only took a second for him to make up his mind, and he charged forward. He held his head low and kept his shoulder out in front as he smashed past the shadowy figure. Jack was barely able to bowl past them as he sprinted down the path. The figure was very heavy, and it felt like they were made of metal when he hit them. Then he ran as fast as possible. While running he saw light further along and hoped he would be able to find a guard patrolling somewhere. he ran as fast as he could, the monster was right on his heels. Something was able to scratch his calf as he ran, and he almost tripped but he caught himself and kept running. Even though his lungs were burning, he continued to run down the trail as fast as he could. As he ran, he couldn’t catch his breath, and his eyesight began to blur.

Suddenly it was bright around him, he was momentarily blinded, and stumbled then tripped. Fuck. Jack cursed internally as he tumbled into a heap. Quickly gathering himself and standing up with his sword held ready to swing. “I ain’t going without a fight!” Jack yelled ferociously.

But as he looked around nothing was there. He had reached an area where the lights were working. He was still near the edge of the shadows, but he couldn’t see anything. No red eyes, no death machines. Just darkness. “fuuuuuuck” Jack said. “That’s not cool. Like literally kill me. You can’t fuck with me like that.” Jack just sat stunned for a few minutes while he gathered his breath. His leg hurt. He looked down at the wound. Some sort of blade had cut open his pants and had bit deep into his calf. As he gathered his breath, and his adrenaline slowed the cut really started to hurt. “Fuck.” Jack swore as he gathered himself and stood up. He had to hop on his left leg as his right one hurt to put any pressure on it. He hopped along the path his mind panicking.

“Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. It is mad at me. It definitely wants to kill me. Fuck.”

Jack went to the security office because it was closest. Unfortunately, it was late, and the office was closed. “Oh, come on, seriously fuck you life.” Jack was constantly swearing loudly as he had lost a decent amount of blood and was slightly delirious. His swearing brought the attention of a guard who had been walking nearby. Once the guard saw Jack she freaked out and rushed him to the medical wing.

Jack tried to explain to the guard that there was a danger to other people because of the crazy monster, but he wasn’t really making sense. Fortunately, once a doctor helped heal his wounds and he had a big meal Jack was able to talk to the head of security for the academy. The head of security was very good at their job and seemed to already know that something was happening. His name was Seras Cornwall, he was a very stern-looking man. “The academy has had reports of power loss. The city has also had an increase in missing person reports. Power loss should be impossible with our system, we have been looking into it with minimal results. We just don’t know what’s doing it or how to find it.”

“I think I’ve seen it, or one of it, or something. I don’t know. A couple of weeks ago I saw a weird monster in the sewers. I reported that to security.”

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“Yes, I have seen that report.”

Jack continued. “Well, tonight I saw another interesting one. Beside the abomination that chased me, there was a human-shaped one.”

“A human?” He asked confused.

“I didn’t get a good look at them. But they were definitely shaped like a human. But when I ran into them, they felt like they were made of metal. That is all I know. I ran as fast as I could.”

“I saw the wound on your leg. That was a good cut. I believe you. We have increased guard patrols and started searching through the tunnels.” Jack was silent and wondered if he should tell the head of security about Pyke. It was very likely that Pyke was connected to the monster, but he didn’t want to lose the little companion. He had quickly become attached to him. Pyke’s eyes had never changed back to red, so Jack had hoped that Pyke was still friendly. Eventually, he decided to be smart and tell him everything. “You must bring that rat to me at once.” He said firmly.

Jack brought Pyke. They were in the head security office now and Jack put Pyke down on a table. Around the table were three people other than Jack. The head of Security Mr. Cornwall, The head of Maintenance Ms. Posie, and the head of the school Mr. Starfire. “Hmmm, an interesting creature.” It was the head of the school talking. His name was Atlas Starfire. He was the old man who had spoken at the opening ceremonies. Jack hadn’t paid much attention to him at the time. But now being closer the man seemed very intelligent. “And you say the creatures you saw were similar in design to this?”

“Yes sir.” Jack replied.

“A cute creature.” It was the head of maintenance Ms. Posie. She leaned down and closely examined Pyke. The head of security was quiet as he started to perform tests with various devices. Jack was nervous for his little companion. Fortunately, every test he performed seemed to give a negative result that Pyke was being influenced by an outside source.

“Every test I can think of shows nothing, but there is a specialist in the city I want to take a look at him.” It was now early morning and they sent out a courier to retrieve the specialist. While they waited Jack idly played with Pyke while the three teachers spoke.

“The students are in danger; we must deploy more security measures.” Mr. Starfire the head of the academy said.

“I agree, we will send out search teams throughout the sewers.” Mr. Cornwall replied.

“What could the monster possibly be?” Ms. Posie asked. “A monster of steel and flesh has never been seen before.”

“That’s not entirely true.” Everyone looked at the new voice in the room. It was Ms. Griffith. Jack’s monster teacher. “I have been doing research on the mechanical menace that has been bothering the city. Within my research, I have come across some gruesome discoveries. There have been a few misled minds through the generations that have dabbled in dangerous creations, and this may be one of them. There was a story I found of a man who was convicted and hung for creating such abominations. It would seem that not all his inventions were found. That man is non-other than Merlin Firedrake himself. We all know him as the man who famously absorbed the first element. But the ending of Firedrake is barely spoken of or taught due to the sadness of the story. A man who had all the power in the world and lost his wife and daughter in a single night. The loss led him to try and find a way to bring them back from the dead with a combination of science and magic. Once others found out he was trying to cast forbidden magic he was captured and sentenced. Merlin was not the last person to try and create combinations. It is still highly illegal and looked down upon but there is always a person who doesn’t want to follow the rules. I believe this monster the young master has seen is a monster that has been created in this fashion.”

“What can you tell us about how to hunt it and kill it?” Mr. Cornwall asked.

“Hmm, it depends. On the description, we have it is really hard to tell its mannerisms.” Ms. Griffith replied. “Any idea what it is after?”

“Not a clue. But it apparently is mad at him.” Cornwall pointed at Jack. Jack’s blood went cold when they all looked at him.

“I shall place multiple top-tier trackers on him.” Mr. Starfire replied.

“I will conduct the pursuit beneath the city myself.” It was Ms. Griffith said. “She was wearing armor and looked like she was ready to hunt. We will send out multiple teams to find the beast. Beneath the city lies the sewers. Beneath that are the catacombs, the catacombs are easy to get lost in. I will only be sending the best down there.”

Jack began to feel a little better, but now he was worried for his teacher. She had been very nice, and he didn’t want anything to happen to her. She saw Jack looking at her and said. “Don’t worry child, I have hunted mechanical beasts before. There is a reason I’m your teacher.” She left soon after. The specialist finally came. After examining the rat and performing all his tests. He came to the conclusion that Pyke was completely safe. Jack was happy to be able to keep his companion. He had quickly come to cherish his companionship as he worked late at his desk. Pyke would always scurry around his desk as he worked, playing with Jack’s hands as he wrote.

He was back in his room now; it was one of his days off and he had no idea what to do. His leg only hurt a little now. He had checked it when he got back to his room and the cut was a soft red scar that was quickly fading. Thinking back to the event, he wondered about the human figure he saw. What was the deal with that one?