It was a rather quiet night for such a chaotic day. The young Paragons had successfully completed their fourth mission without any disturbances. Even if their contributions to ending the Decay were minimal, a step is still a step, even in a marathon.

For Paul Ira Lyles, it was what he’d always dreamt of. To be able to fight alongside his allies, like heroes. Despite the looming threat of the Decay, he still held onto such childish fantasies, and it did not matter to him what others thought, for his wishes were his own. Even if he only had met them months ago, Paul trusted them with his life.

( Tsk… I feel like an overly-optimistic naive kid thinking about this, it’s just great to see people happy even after the Decay )

Compared to previous missions, this one went exactly as planned. While lives would normally be lost every time, they had managed to eliminate the threat before it could harm anyone.

But of course, in the Decay, casualties and fatalities are inevitable. An unawakened individual is barely able to fend off an infant Folatr, nonetheless a hundred.

Paul stood up from the plastic lawn chair placed in his room. The singular tall lamp by his bedside emitted a low, yellow light. The warm and cozy atmosphere had made the fatigue he had built over the day and mission wash over him like a wave.

Falling onto his bed, he sluggishly shifted his body under the covers, sprawling out his arms and legs underneath it.

* ••

It was the end of June, I was graduating middle school.

“Paul Ira Lyles, please come up on stage.”

A calm yet powerful voice ordered. It was my principal at the time.

“For achieving and maintaining the highest grade average, I hereby award you Valedictorian.”

I was middle school Valedictorian.

I stood there awkwardly on one side of the stage as the previous student walked off, having been awarded an Honour Role. I didn’t know the guy, I only remember him for his crimson red hair, reflecting his soul colour.

My parents cheered for me, the combination of parents and teachers gave me a short round of applause. My principal handed me two certificates, one for graduation, and the other for Valedictorian. I gave my short speech and my friends called out to me from the crowd. I then stood there with the principal as the cameraman took a photo. Supposedly, they send it to our parents, but apparently, no one has ever received one.

I walked off stage as the next person was called on, a beautiful blonde haired girl with round blue eyes.

It was around 4 pm when the Ceremony ended. I watched as my parents chatted happily in the front seat, my mother driving the car. I wasn’t listening, but my father suddenly turned around and asked me,

“I always knew you had it in you. We’re both really proud of you. We could never have asked for a better son. What do you want as a reward?”

I expected my dad to briskly ask what I wanted as a reward, but he unexpectedly praised me. I did have something on my mind that I wanted to do, so I told him,

“Let's go to the festival downtown!”

My friends and I had planned to go there this afternoon as per our graduation. Even if the weather was terrible that day, I didn’t want to drop our plans at the last minute, especially for the occasion. My mom turned her head slightly, enough to talk to me while keeping her eyes on the road.

“Sounds good, but how about we eat first?”

As I still had time to pass, dad and I complied, and she started driving through a road I hadn’t seen before. A giant smile slowly creeped up my face. Mom was bringing us to a hidden gem, it seemed. I didn’t even know what food they sold, but whenever she brought us out to new places, it wouldn’t disappoint.

Looking up at the sky, I realized that the clouds were darker than earlier. Near pitch black even, like thunder clouds. I kept it to myself. Maybe my parents wouldn’t notice and would still drop me off at the festival.

“Ah, that restaurant? It was where we had our first date, right?” My father asked my mother.

A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

“So you still remember it?”

“…Well, it was our first date, I couldn’t forget that.”

“So how about the time you forgot to be there when I was giving birth to our son?”

“Ahahah… haha… come on, that was 13 years ago…” my father laughed awkwardly.

She’s already done this numerous times. I guess my dad just got used to it. Surprised he remembered that, though. I fidgeted with my hands as my mom was verbally pressing down on my dad. It sounded heated, yet deep down felt fun to be part of. I secretly wondered to myself if I could get a girlfriend. I was kinda absorbed in the thought for a second before quickly swatting it away. It was a little embarrassing to think about afterwards.

“Huh? Why is it snowing in the middle of June?” My mom suddenly asked.

“You’re right, what the hell? The weather man never gets the weather right, eh?”

“Quite joking, we just had a heat wave hours ago. What kind of weather are we having for this to happen?”

“I guess this is serious then…”

“Of course this is serious. When was the last time the weather shifted by 40 degrees in two hours? In the middle of the day?”

My parents bickering went back and forth, my mom continuously shitting on my dad’s responses. My dad was very expressive with his hand gestures, and while my mom was too, she was driving. Thus she obviously couldn’t pick at my dad. He would be saved from her, but not the Decay.

“Holy! When d’it turn into a snowstorm?!” My father questioned, bewildered by the sudden onslaught of snow.

I looked out the window, immediately stopping my fidgeting. Indeed, there was a snowstorm with black clouds in the middle of June. No doubt everyone was surprised by it, as the cars ahead of us braked suddenly. My mom did the same in response.

“Woah! What’s with these drivers?

My mom exclaimed as she braked.

I was launched forward a bit by the sudden brake, but my seat belt held me in place. I guess I finally knew its purpose. My dad was not so lucky, however. He didn’t have his seatbelt on, so he was lightly launched into the windshield. As he hit the windshield head-first, he let out a small ‘aGh’, it was kinda funny, and a small grin creeped on my face. Looking out the windshield, the car in front of us had stopped in the middle of the road.

“Ugh… just because there's a once-in-a-lifetime weather event doesn’t mean you suddenly lose YEARS OF EXPERIENCE!” My mom lashed in burning fury.

My dad winced as he held his temple, shaking his head before taking his hand off.

“Hey–.. what if they– Wait, everyone else in front of them braked as well! Ya’ think there was a bad car crash ahead or something?”

“Ehhh.. I guess that’s reasonable.”

Looking out of my window, I could see that the snow had accumulated a thin but growing coat on the ground. The whirring of the snowstorm blocked out most other noises, except for the ever increasing number of car sirens going off.

Huh…?

Are more people getting into an accident?

Suddenly, I felt as if something was beckoning to me. A gut feeling stuck with me the longer I looked out the car window. I couldn’t see far into the distance because of the snowstorm. But it felt like my vision was narrowing on something.

Something I couldn’t see.

Something which hid behind the torrent in front of me.

My eyes caught onto something, a weak glow.

Then it leapt at me.

***

Paul leapt backwards, hitting his head on the back wall. He was dripping with sweat, breathing heavily from the nightmare he had. He couldn’t believe he had such a vivid dream of something he could barely remember, guessing that some, if not most of it, was fabricated.

As his breathing slowed down and his racing heart calmed, Paul looked towards his window, covered by the curtains. The curtains concealed the dim cloud-covered sunlight which passed through his window. Noting it was surprisingly bright out that day, he was reminded of his dreams of seeing the clear blue skies once again.

He shivered as he realized that his dorm was oddly chilly as compared to the previous day, maybe around 16 C*. cold for a conditioned building but not for the weather outside.

A person knocking on his door garnered his attention, turning to face it. Said person called out to him. A honeyed male voice spoke from behind the door,

“Paul! Wake up, did you forget the important mission you had today? You're already late, you know, it’s 10:30 AM.”

It was Yorius speaking, the director of the Institution. At its core, he is Paul’s boss. Despite the age difference between them only being a year.

“ALRI– wait what?!”

Paul quickly opened the door with a panicked expression on his face.

“Alright! Let’s head out now.”

He turned right and ran into the hallway before immediately being halted by Yorious grabbing his hood. Paul, without realizing it, continued running in place with determined fury written on his face.

“Ay, come on, I was just kidding. In fact, you woke up early. The meeting time is 10:15 yet it’s only 7:45 AM.”

“WHA– Why’d you– kuh…”

—--