“I… I love you!” Sam says with a shy voice as her face blushes with a shade of red I’ve never seen before. I stammer on my feet, barely able to keep my balance from the sudden strike to my heart.

I cannot help but stare at her, completely dumbfounded at the sudden proclamation of love. After 10 seconds of silence and staring, Sam is unable to hold our eye contact and covers her eyes with her hands while sheepishly whispering to me.

“Say something.”

“Ah! Uhm… I…” I try to get out what I want to say to her, but am unable to do so in the current situation. 

“I…”

“Yes?”

“I also…”

“Yesssss?”

I also lov-.” As I go to confess my love back to her, she puts a finger on my mouth, making me stop mid-sentence. 

“Save it for next time.” Sam says with a cute smile and a giggle.

Next time?

“But now it’s time for you to wake up.” Sam’s voice is starting to get deeper and the world around me is starting to blur. Wait no, I don’t want to leave, let me stay!

I rush forward and try to hug Sam, but her image starts to blur and become bigger.

“Wake up!”

“No!”

“Wake up you little shit!”

A voice full of a Russian accent floods my ears and my vision is full of the sight of a messy beard. My arms are wrapped around someone massive and my face is buried in their neck area.

I slowly look up and see the familiar face of Niko. His face has a long scar that horrifies any child that sees it, and let’s not get into the permanent scowl that plasters his face.

Noticing my disappointment of seeing his ugly mug, Niko’s scowl deepens further. 

“Not who you expected huh? Did you expect a cute little girl that would tell you ‘Good morning handsome, I made you bacon with a side of disgusting eggs with ketchup’.” Niko says with a sarcastic tone while I pull my arms out from around his burly body. 

“Hey, stop fucking with me about how I prefer my eggs.” I snap back while trying to hide the embarrassment of clinging to Niko when he tried to wake me up.

“At least you didn’t lie about the fact that you wished I was some cute little girl.” Niko bellows out while chuckling. 

I stand up and head to the back of the bus, stepping over the permanent mess of clothes, empty vodka bottles, and an assortment of different kinds of weapons.

“While you’re back there, wash your face. Your hair is fuckin’ greasy and we have some people that we are meeting today.” Niko yells as he heads towards the front of the bus.

I give out a grunt of acknowledgement and pull a curtain to the side, looking out at the never-ending snowy wasteland that we are in.

Seeing that the snow hasn’t let up at all, I let out a deep sigh while closing the thick curtain, not trying to let the heat inside of the bus out through the exposed window. 

Finally reaching the bathroom in the back, I look in the mirror. My brown hair is starting to flow down past my eyes, maybe it is time for a haircut again. I look at the back of my head and see that there is still brown and white hair, and the white hair still is in the shape of an X. 

I turn on the faucet and splash some water on my face, and proceed to run my wet hand through my hair, trying to get it as clean as possible.

The water is freezing cold, but that is to be expected when you live in a metal tube in the middle of Nowhere, fucking Siberia. 

Taking a final good look at my depressed face, someone appears behind me. His formal suit is flawless, yet the white mask that covers his face is covered in scars and cracks. 

I’m used to this entity appearing and disappearing by now and I give him the middle finger through the mirror. 

Seeing my rude gesture, the man shakes his head and disappears from reality. Serves you right you creepy asshole, coming and going like a ghost in the night.

VRRROOOOOOM~!

The loud sound of the massive engine that pulls this metal death trap along the tundra roars to life, nearly deafening me all the way at the back of the bus.

Seeing that Niko is ready to head on out, I make my way back over to my couch/bed and start to eat into our truly nutritious and delectable breakfast.

Nature Valley Crunchy Granola Bars. They might not taste that bad, but they do make a large mess and I’ve had them nearly every morning of my life for the past 5 years. 

Speaking of which, when I look down at my phone I realize that I am now 18 as of today, 10/10/2018. This date truly makes it 5 years since Niko and I came out to the wilderness of Siberia. He told me it was for special training, but little did I know this man would try to kill me by putting me in this frozen hellscape.

After quickly scarfing down my dry, crumbly breakfast, I quickly put on my thick winter clothing and made my way towards the front of the bus.

Niko looks over at me and notices the beginnings of a beard on my face.

“Looks like the little boy is trying to look like me, too bad it'll take you another 10 years to grow a beard like me.”

I roll my eyes and pull out my hunting knife and take it to my face, giving myself the cleanest shave possible.

“Oi! What are you doing! I remember when you were younger you would always tell me ‘Uncle Niko, when I grow up I want a big beard just like you’!”. Niko yells in surprise at my sudden attempt at rebellion.

“Maybe I said that before I realized how ugly your face was. You always wonder why you’re single, but I don’t know if it’s the mountain look or the fact that you like to live out in frozen wastelands.”

“You little shit!”

Niko grabs my collar and starts to shake me threateningly while throwing obscenities my way while I laugh away my stress and depression. 

We drive for about 4 hours before the landscape around us starts to become familiar. Surprisingly when you live in an area in which there is snow nearly all year, you actually become able to tell the differences between tree lines and recognize certain barely visible rock formations. 

Last week we went on a mission that ended up being a dud, so we have been heading back to Delta base, hopefully to chew out whoever gave us the bad information. 

The familiar lights of Delta base come into view, and I finally feel my body really start to relax. I want to be able to sleep in my own room and take a shower instead of sleeping in the same bus as Niko, and we are nearly there.

The hairs on the back of my neck stand up however, and I hear a ghastly yet familiar voice reverberate inside of my mind.

‘Danger.’ The voice whispers to me.

My face scrunches up from this sudden revelation and I look over to Niko. He too has a face full of suspicion and he slows down the bus and turns off the engine. 

With the deafening sound of the engine finally stopping, all I can hear is a soft ringing sound and the whipping of the wind. 

Niko opens the window and a blast of cold slams into us, however, we don’t pay it any attention as we both stare at Delta base, looking for any signs of movement. 

Usually, when we come close enough to the base that the bus is within earshot, the base will point its spotlight at us and the light will flash 3 times. This is a sort of signal to us that the base is safe and we can head in. This time, however, the lights do no such thing. 

This isn't an immediate cause for alarm, as this has happened before since Jackson will sometimes fall asleep while on watch. Niko and I look at each other it seems that we both feel something ominous has happened to the base.

“Get your weapon ready and let’s walk the rest of the way. Keep your eyes open and your wits about you.” 

Niko is using his serious voice so I know this is not a time to be joking around. I stand up from the passenger seat and a black katana inside of its sheath appears on my left hip. As I leave the bus my right hand will never leave the hilt of this sword until we are sure there is no danger.

Niko materializes his large shotgun and follows me off of the bus, taking the lead afterwards as we trek through the snowy landscape towards Delta base.

It is cold enough outside that a normal person would easily feel lethargic and approaching death, however, Niko and I are not ordinary humans.

Being a Level 2 Spirit User means that I can survive in much lower temperatures than most humans can. So though I still feel extremely cold, I am not hindered by it.

Niko being a Level 4 Spirit User means that he is probably barely even affected by this, but that comes with the power of being able to kill groups of normal humans with ease. 

“Do you sense anything with Spirit Sense?” I ask, my voice just barely loud enough to be heard over the wind. Niko shakes his head from side to side.

Spirit Sense allows Niko to be able to see the monstrous things that we are tasked to hunt from a long distance. These things are called Anomalies, and they can range from a floating cup to a giant eldritch being named Richter that only likes to eat dung beetles. Anything can be an Anomaly as long as it is imbued with the negative emotions of humans, giving it anomalous powers, hence the name Anomaly.

Though Niko not seeing anything with Spirit Sense means there are no Anomalies, that is only for his type of power. Niko is a Nature user, and can only sense Nature Anomalies. So good thing there are no Nature Anomalies, right?

Well not quite, since Spirit Sense can also see Spirit users of the same type as you, so that means there are no Nature Spirit users with Delta base.

Though this isn’t impossible, it is still not reassuring as there are at least 7 other Nature Spirit users within the Delta base. What is the chance that they all just so happened to be out at once?

Very slim.

I also use my Spirit Sense. Though it isn’t as reliable as Niko’s I am at least a different type and can try to sense other things. 

This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings.

I am a Dimensional Spirit user, and the leader of the base is also a Dimensional Spirit user. The leader never leaves the base so I should be able to sense him inside.

I feel my Spirit energy flow to my eyes, and the normal world around me becomes a little blurry.

As the normal world becomes greyed, anything with Dimensional energy will become highlighted. 

As I look at Delta base, a bright purple light that shines like a bright fire fills my vision. In fact, it’s so bright that I have to squint and look away unless I want my brain to be overloaded with information.

“So, what did you see, boy?”

“It seems the Leader truly leveled up, since his power is so bright now that I can’t even look straight at it without being overwhelmed. “

“So you’re saying you are sure you saw the Leader’s energy?” Niko asks me while putting emphasis to make sure I knew what I saw. This causes me to second guess myself and I start hesitating.

Could the Leader’s energy be this much brighter after leveling up after so long? Maybe not, his energy has always been fading so for there to be such a jump would be surprising, but then again I’ve never seen a Level 5’s energy before. 

Deciding to take another look even though it might give me a headache, however, what I see makes me jump in surprise.

Looking at the energy, it seems to be charging something, and my intuition says it’s charging it at us.

“DUCK!” I yell as loud as possible while jumping into the fresh powder of snow.

Niko is also quick to respond as he jumps down onto the ground as well. 

sssssssssssSSSSSSSSSHHTOOOOM~!

The sound of an approaching blast of energy that proceeds to pass over us barely and explode with a large boom is enough to give the hint that Delta base has been compromised.

“Fuckin’ bastard!” Niko roars as a large bear appears behind him. This 15 foot tall bear is the Spirit that has made a contract with Niko, giving him his powers. 

Though I would love to observe the Level 4 Spirit with awe and wonder, I know that whenever Niko brings out his Spirit it is time to move away from him.

“Run away boy!’

“Already on it!” 

The wind has started to pick up and the snow is coming down like it’s raining daggers as it cuts my skins open in several places and tears my clothes.

Wait…

That’s not supposed to happen.

I put my left hand over my eyes and look through the small crack between my fingers. I see harmless snow and mixed in with it I start to notice shards of ice. These shards of ice are sharp enough to rip my winter clothes open and cut open my body. Though they are superficial cuts, my body is still being injured and exposed to dropping temperatures.

Fuck… It seems like there are multiple enemy Spirit users, and one of them is dropping the temperature while mixing in small attacks to catch us off guard…

Focus Xavier…

This is most likely a Magic Spirit user. On top of that, they can’t be too high of a level since the shards of ice are not that thick and don’t hurt my Level 2 body that much.

That means they are likely Level 2 or 3. With them being a low level, they won’t have much range for their skills, so they are nearby.

If I was to use this skill with a short range and not get caught, where would I hide?

While continuing to get further away from Niko and his fight, I scan the area looking for where someone could hide. A voice enters my mind as I try to find a solution.

‘Below.’

The same voice that told me there was danger gives me a great hint as to where someone might be. With this information, I remember that there is an escape tunnel from Delta base that exits around this area, and its most defining feature is a rock that protrudes up from the ground like a middle finger.

Those were Niko’s words when explaining the tunnel to me, and I see exactly what he is talking about.

It’s like the nearby landscape is flipping me off as a tall, thin rock protrudes from the snow. 

A smile spreads across my face and a fighting spirit enters my body.

Activating one of my 3 skills, I seemingly vanish from reality and reappear 50 feet away, standing directly beside Middle Finger Rock.

The skill I used is called Gamma shift, and it essentially turns my body into energy that can move in one direction at speeds that make it look like I am teleporting.

When my body turns back into atoms from energy, I feel my body become much colder than it ever has been.

It seems my hunch was correct.

I stomp on the ground right next to the rock, and I hear the sound of wood with a hole beneath it. 

“I found youuuuuuu.” I say while lifting both of my hands into the air.

I slam down onto the wooden door of the escape tunnel with both fists. Since it is normal wood, and my body is stronger than that of professional athletes, the wood gives way and breaks under my pounding. 

I fall 8 feet down, scanning my surroundings as a fall before landing on my feet. 

As I land I see a boy that looks to be 3 years younger than me. When he sees me, his face turns pale and his expression forms one of fear.

His black outfit is somewhat familiar to me, but I’ve never seen one with a blue collar before. Though the outfit feels familiar, I can’t remember where it is from.

Whatever, he infiltrated Delta base and is trying to harm us at the minimum so fight now, ask questions later.

This seems to have been the right call as though the teen is filled with fear, he has been trained decently and he sends multiple foot long ice spikes my way.

I once again dematerialize and turn into pure energy as I Gamma Shift pass the ice spikes and behind the kid.

Not knowing where I went, the kid looks around in a panic, however, my left hand touches his back before he can notice me.

“Nothing personal kid.”

I activate one of my other three skills, Gamma Beam. It creates a beam of Gamma energy that blasts out and destroys anything in its path. The chest of the enemy Spirit user is no exception as I see the black beam of energy blast through his chest and even go into the wall.

The boy’s eyes lose their light and his body falls forward, slamming into the ground with a loud thud.

I take in a deep breath and look down at my clothes. The coat sleeve of my left arm is starting to melt due to the residual energy of Gamma Beam, but at least the temperature is starting to stabilize again.

My whole body feels like it’s going numb, and I’m starting to wonder if it's the cold and the torn clothes, or if it is the after effects of using my skills consecutively. Though I would love to take a break, Niko is still up there fighting most likely and I’m not out of the thick of it yet myself.

I quickly search the body of the boy, yet don’t find any pouches or anything of value, so I quickly jump up out of the hole to get a view of the battl-.

BOOOOOOOOOOOOM.

Nevermind.

 I’m gonna stay in the hole and take my chances with anyone else in here.

Looking down the long tunnel, only the emergency lights shine to give me a hazy view down the pathway. I try to find anyone else that I could just see without having to move, and I even tried to use Spirit Sense.

Fucking nothing.

Why can’t I just catch a break and the person that’s definitely down at the end of this hallway be Dimensional as well?

Letting out a puff of breath with a sigh, I pick myself up and head down the tunnel, heading towards an unknown danger.

I make it a good distance down the tunnel without seeing anything suspicious, and soon I find myself at an intersection.

Great, three different paths to take not counting my own. I only knew where the tunnel was, not how to traverse it. 

Maybe, the mysterious voice that has helped all my life can help me here.

I stick my hand down the hallway to the right, yet no disembodied voice appears in my head.

I stick my hand down the tunnel opposite of the tunnel I came out and nothing once again.

I stick my hand down the tunnel to the left and to my surprise the voice once again appears.

‘Danger.’

The smile that appears on my face shows my amazement and love for the voice I have named ‘The Ultra Powerful All Knowing Instinct That Can Never Be Beat’, or as Niko calls it, ‘Intuition’.

Now I am left with two choices, straight or right. If I head to the right, it might lead to an exit that is near the bus.

Walking down the right path, I try to formulate a plan in which I can help Niko with the tools we have at the bus.

Unfortunately, we don’t fight other Spirit users that often, so most of our equipment is made for fighting Anomalies.

A couple plans do come together luckily enough before I reach the end of the tunnel, that I am confident in at least escaping from danger.

The ground still shakes even though Niko has been fighting for 5 minutes, which is a considerable amount of time to be fighting someone stronger than you.

Luckily enough, Nature type Spirits are strong against Dimensional type Spirits, so that helps even out the playing field for Niko who seems to be a level below his enemy. 

Looking up at the familiar trapdoor that was also in the other tunnel, I climb up a ladder and bust through the door.

I would’ve just opened it, but it was frozen shut and using my superhuman powers is just way cooler.

Looking around, I find myself relatively close to the bus, which is good since that is the major part of most of my plans. I look at Delta base and see that a good portion of it has been destroyed, however, luckily I can still see Niko’s giant bear Spirit in the distance. 

I quickly run over to the bus and slide under it, finding a special door that leads to a special compartment. 

I enter the code 9012 into the near frozen keypad and the door opens.

Climbing into the small, claustrophobic space, I find the bright yellow vial that will lead to our success.

Now all I need to do is just wait in the compartment until Niko dies.

That’s right, just wait for about 9 minutes until after Niko dies, and then the plan can continue. 

I look to the right and see a small screen that says ‘Niko, A’. When Niko made this bus, he created this compartment for me to hide in if he ever gets in a fight and he is most likely going to die. He also added this device that’s connected to his Spirit that tells me when Niko dies. 

The reason being-.

“Niko, D”. 

The voice of a robot echoes within the small compartment, telling me that Niko has passed away.

I look over at the screen that was once green that now illuminates my face with a dark red color. A countdown begins counting down from 10 minutes.

I look down at the reviving device in my hands. This little vial has the power to revive anyone below Level 5 as long as you pour it on their body within 10 minutes of them dying.

I have used them a couple times before in the past whenever Niko encounters something that he cannot beat.

Niko had this compartment made in the bus that blocks nearly all Spirit sense, so no one knows I’m here. He then dies near the bus, whoever or whatever killed him then usually leaves within the 10 minutes and I come out to revive him.

It was scary the first time I revived Niko when I was around 14, but I’m used to being drenched in fear for the most part.

I grab a thin book from the corner of the compartment. It was a book I have only read from the couple of times I have been forced to use this compartment, but I still remember every detail of the book.

It was actually written by Niko, and tells the story of a kid who is forced to grow up and kill his own father. The reason being is that the father is the main villain who has killed many heroes in the past, so the son rises up and faces the monster that is his father.

I flip open the book to the last place I left off about 9 months ago and start reading once again.

Currently, the son is training with a hidden master to learn how to kill anything that bleeds. As I make my way through the pages, I feel like some of the training techniques the hidden master is using are familiar, but before I even try to remember where I’ve seen them before, a small alarm goes off.

1:30.

1:29.

1:28.

Well looks like it is time to head on out back into the frozen hellscape to see if I can revive Niko without being caught. 

As I peek my head out from under the bus, I scan the area using Spirit sense…

Shit.

The person that killed Niko is still here, in fact, he is standing over Niko’s body.

With a sigh that lets out a puff of smoke from my mouth, I fill myself with resolve and prepare myself mentally for another life or death battle.

1:23.

1:22.

1:21.

I track the amount of time I have left to revive Niko as I get out of the compartment. The wind once again whips at my body.

I decide not to waste my time and do consecutive Gamma Shifts towards Delta base. Though I usually need a couple of seconds to recharge, now is not the time to be worrying about that.

The Dimensional user seems to have sensed me and is also coming toward me, luckily though I can see his attacks charging from a distance. 

A large beam of energy flies at me from within Delta Base, but a quick Gamma Shift lets me dodge it with ease. 

“LISTEN HERE YOU SHIT!” I yell at the top of my lungs, though I know most likely my voice is being drowned out by the wind.

“JUST GO AWAY AND I WON’T HAVE TO KILL YOU.”

1:01.

1:00.

Another beam comes my way and I manage to Gamma Shift passed it, but I can feel my whole body starting to tingle when I rematerialize.

I look down at the black katana currently still sheathed at my waist and I slightly stroke the handle.

“Look. I know every time I use you, you try to kill me, but this time is serious. I need your help.”

59.

58.

57.

56.

The sword gives a small vibration of confirmation and I smile devilishly at the prospect of being able to use my hidden ace card.

The idea of a Level 2 being able to kill a Level 5 is so ludicrous that out of the hundreds of millions of Spirit Users, I’m sure only a handful have pulled it off. 

“But none of the have had Black Flash.”

I steel myself mentally and head towards the Level 5, knowing that one single move could mean life or death for me.