Year - 2230

“Help!”

The call rang out through the night.

“Somebody, help me!” The girl's voice was laced with distress and terror.

“Anybody?”

He couldn’t take it anymore. Parth Hall had been asleep in the dorm and had been deliberately ignoring the voice. He knew it was trouble from the moment he heard it and unfortunately it was simply getting closer and closer to his window as time went on. If anything happened and there were investigations, he was sure it would involve him regardless.

Thus, he got dressed into a pair of black form-fitting chinos and a white long-sleeved shirt that he barely managed to button up. He put on a pair of while trainers and ran to the window. He opened it up and looked from the third floor of the dorm building.

He dropped from the window and hit the ground running, as a Framer his physical abilities were beyond a normal human’s and so he did not incur any injuries from such a direct drop.

Through the darkness he followed the cries which appeared to be coming from the large gardens of the faculties. The various large grey statues and dark hedges gave the place a creepy atmosphere.

He reached the source of the commotion moments later as he climbed unto a large stone slab that held an even larger statue, the biggest in the garden by far, reaching ten meters in height. A monument dedicated to the highly venerated Framer Jyllian known as Lion of Gold and her many deeds. There were a few more statues of her around the place but this was the most ornate with golden highlights.

Parth scanned the surroundings in the dark, settling on a figure standing on her lonesome. She appeared to be cornered against another monument, three other girls standing in front of her.

He couldn’t help but sigh. What had he got himself into? Some high school girl drama? It was hard in the dark but looking at her, he could see that her ears were knife-like with feathery tufts on the end poking out of the sides of her long flowing brown hair. She wore the black jacket and red checkered skirt combination of the girl’s uniform.

The uniform of the Northern Federation’s First Framer Institute. They all were. Well considering that they were all Framers he supposed that even a small agreement could lead to a lethal situation. Like this one seemed to be shaping up to be based on the tension that he could quite literally feel in the air.

Another sigh escaped his lips, he really couldn’t let this go on especially since the guards seemingly haven't noticed the commotion yet.

“Apologize!” Ordered the red haired one in the center she had tufts of red fur coming out of her sleeves, he supposed she was the leader of the little group. The other two girls both had short black hair, all three of them had their backs to him.

The girl she was harassing simply stared around wildly, seemingly looking for an escape as the girls closed in on her.

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“I-I’m sorry, I did not mean to offen-” She started before getting interrupted by a stomp from the red head, causing her to flinch holding an arm behind her back.

“Just saying sorry isn’t enough, I want you begging, on your knees!” She paused in her tirade. “Even that might not be enough.”

Parth finally decided enough was enough as the three aggressively approached the girl. He didn't want to deal with a murder case if they took it too far.

As the girls reached the horned loner he was swooping down at an angle with a powerful jump. He threw a sweeping kick. Somehow the leader noticed ducking as he swooped past and above her. He had angled himself in anticipation as his kick slammed into the midriff of the girl on her right, sending her flying into a hedge.

“Who dares!” The red head turned to him in anger.

“Ah, no one special.” He replied quietly in a bored tone.

The woman’s grey eyes glowed with an ethereal light.

“I don’t think you want to do this.” He tried, a dark mist appeared around him, moving towards his hands.

“Oh, I am sure I do, do you know who I a-”

“No, and I really do not care.” A dark pole-like object as if made of a dark tinted glass or crystal of a sort materialized out of the dark mist. The top of the pole forming two blade like protrusions on either side. Like a double bladed scythe. Made of the same dark material.

Seeing the weapon, she stiffened.

Now after he had a look at their faces he realized that the darked haired girls were twins. They seemed to be of Asian descent, the one he had kicked away was starting to get up. But she was obviously injured, holding her arm to her side.

All three stared at him in hatred.

“Hmph, this is not over.” The non-injured sister helped the other one as they stalked out of the opening.

His double scythe disappeared into the dark mist. That was dangerous. Taking on three other Framers all at the similar levels to himself was not something a single Framer should do especially without knowing their abilities. Luckily it seemed that they did not deem their grudge worth the trouble of taking him on especially after his surprise attack temporarily took one out of the fight. Although…

He glanced at the girl behind him, hand still behind her back. Her red iris had a slightly larger pupil than normal with two triangular protrusions coming out of the top and bottom of said pupil and in its center was an orange circle.

“Tha-Thank you for helping me.” She stammered out with a heavy bow.

“You can drop the act now.”

“Huh?”

“The pretense, I know you are faking it.”

For a moment nothing happened as her red eyes stared at him with the demure look on her almond face. Then that look was gone, replaced by a dangerous smirk. Her disposition changed entirely.

“I thought I was hiding it well, what gave it away?”

“As you checked your surroundings earlier, for a moment your eyes landed on me too quick for most people to catch.” He started. “But I noticed and yet you did not say a thing, someone truly in trouble would have had a reaction.”

“Your, acting as you screamed for help was good, but the desperation was just a little off.”

“The hand behind you back.”

She held it up wiggling her fingers. Her right hand ended in long and very sharp black claws on her fingertips.

“Finally, the bloodlust. They did not notice it because of their own, but yours eclipsed all three of them together.”

“And you still jumped in to save me.” She smiled.

“Not you…them.” He replied tiredly moving a hand to his face. He was sure from the moment he had arrived that the ones who would be murdered were the three girls.

“Hahaha, you are a funny one. The name is Tey’ra Castro. My friends call me Tey.”

“I didn’t ask.”

“And yet I still told you Mr Gloomy.” She referred to his sullen face. “What’s yours?”

He had hoped to avoid trouble by coming here and yet he felt that he found himself in even more trouble.

“It is nothing to you.” He replied as he began to walk back to his dorm.

Parth knew coming here would mean meeting all kinds of crazies, but he didn't expect to get involved with four of them before classes even started.

“Meet you later, Parth.” She said as she walked in the direction of the girl’s dorm.

He spun around with a start, but she was already gone.

Shaking his head, he continued to his destination. He needed some sleep.