After nearly scaring me to death, the little creature began to explain to me the doubts I had about everything that was happening. I had been chosen by him to be a Guardian, a kind of protector of humanity who had to deal with the Monsters that were appearing. He was a Djin, a mystical creature who had lived away from the eyes of humanity since the beginning of time. Their existence appeared from time to time in some cultures, like angels or fairies. It was only when the balance of the world began to be disturbed by the appearance of the Monsters, and the emergence of such creatures, that the King was forced to act. In order to prevent the destruction of the world, he sent the Djins to contain their spread, but they were not powerful enough on their own.

— That's how the King ordered that from among you humans, some should be chosen – the Raccoon said.

— But how come we've never seen any Djin before? – I asked.

— As time passed, you humans began to drift further and further away from the essence that kept our worlds connected - he explained – The world of the Djins and the humans was separated, and only a few very powerful Djins could pass over to this side. I think you call them gods.

— The gods are Djins? – I asked in disbelief – Like, Jesus Christ was a Djin?

— Not every Djin looks like me - he said with a sigh – This form is the only one I can have, because my power isn't that great. Djins who were once deities could resemble you humans.

It was incredible to think of something like that, but I hope this kind of information doesn't leak out, because if it does, I can imagine some religious fanatics tearing up with hatred and starting persecution against the Djins.

— So other people will be chosen? – I asked.

— It's probably already happened – he replied – and over time, the situation should start to improve.

It hasn't. I hate to be the harbinger of bad news, but the Djins' trump card to resolve the situation only seemed to make things worse. When the Guardians started appearing everywhere, things got completely out of control. The monsters' attacks began to become more frequent, to the point where the army was completely useless in containing their advance. Smaller towns were lost, and the population was forced to exodus to the capitals and larger cities, where security was a little better.

The Guardians still weren't many, and that was the real problem. Guardians were only chosen by the Djins, and this made it very difficult for new Guardians to appear, since there didn't seem to be that many Djins. It was in the Capitals that they were most gathered, and this increased security. Monsters could be slaughtered by these guardians and the army could hold the line until they arrived, but that wouldn't last forever. With the constant increase in monsters, some places were completely taken over and the pressure on the Guardians increased as the days went by.

As long as the problem could only be contained by private groups and the police, there was no need to hire the very expensive service of the Guardians for protection, but when the situation got out of line with the working class, and into the lap of the really rich, the problem needed a solution; the creation of the Guilds was that solution.

Plantations, factories, distributors and large supermarket chains were the ones that needed the most immediate protection.

At first, small groups of Guardians were formed, but this quickly became insufficient to protect the companies. There was the whole problem that the groups were not really organised and very independent. When this model began to become unsustainable, the Guilds were created. They arose to protect the welfare of the population, it's said like that to make it sound better, and there are those who believe this shameless lie.

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It was big business and private property that were really protected by these organisations.

Entire guilds were created to protect the arable land of agribusiness, factories and companies. As a country of great economic discrepancy, there are those who make a lot of money. These people could hire the service of Guardians, but the majority of the population needed the protection of the National Guild.

The ABG (Brazilian Guardians Agency) was a public body that the Brazilian government was forced to create due to the high demand for protection of the people and public buildings. There was a great deal of discontent from the media, who, at the end of the day, were controlled by big business, which profited greatly from the million-dollar contracts its corporations had with the government.

The way to join the agency was the same as the police, anyone could join, but to be a field agent, you had to be a Guardian.

Ordinary people stayed in the paperwork or as field support, but they never faced the Monsters directly. I tried a couple of times to pass the Guardians' public examination, as the working conditions were better, but I didn't succeed due to a lack of power and ability.

I ended up working for a private guild, but due to a mistake I made by not reading the Contract, I ended up becoming a slave to that company. Due to the aggressive contract, my "salary" was very low, even though I was working like a maniac and could barely get by on the bare minimum. Sometimes I wondered if going back to work for a regular company wouldn't be better for me, but my contract with the Guild prevented me from doing so.

My first Djin, that raccoon I called Jean, was the one who really made me fall in love with those creatures. Unfortunately, my time with Jean was short-lived. During a mission, which ended up failing completely, my companion was killed. I was completely devastated and blamed myself the whole time for his death, even though in his final moments he said it wasn't my fault, I could never forgive myself. I put it in my head that it would never happen again and threw myself into constant training.

Furthermore, I ended up taking other Djins abandoned by their masters under my wing, but I didn't allow any of them to follow me on my missions. I couldn't allow them to die because of my incompetence, that wouldn't happen again. Djins were, yes, capable of fighting, but my trauma was too great to allow me to take any of them into the field. Djins could also create incredible weapons, much more powerful than those created by humans.

When humans began to study the bodies of monsters, some weapons were created. Swords, daggers and shields were much more efficient than bullets. Good monster parts were hard to come by, so creating weapons that could be reused was better.

Even though studies had advanced a lot, the weapons created by human hands were weaker than those created by the Djins. Over time, ordinary weapons stopped being used against monsters because they were inefficient. Except for the most powerful weapons, like a ballistic missile. All the others were almost like trying to break through a brick wall with a broomstick.

When it was discovered that Djins could create more powerful and efficient weapons, the demand for these creatures went through the roof. Guilds offered big money for Djins who could make any dagger. In Brazil, a Djin who could create simple swords cost something like 20,000 dollars. Of course, you couldn't buy a Djin, but a desperate Guardian could "sell" his contract with the Djin to a Guild. The Guild would then force the Djin to work to exhaustion to create equipment. Not all of them did this, but what does a Djin's life matter? For companies, all that matters is profit, death is just an inevitability.

They could, yes, create such weapons, but there was always a limit to how much magical energy they could pour into a created item. Even if they tried very hard, they could never exceed this limit, and when they were no longer useful for their purpose, they were thrown away like rubbish. I wonder if this isn't what my parents thought of me when they abandoned me at the orphanage...

Today, I must have more than 30 of these cuties living with me. Keeping them healthy is very difficult with the money I earn, but I always make an extra effort. They always say they want to work to help out around the house, but I refuse, after all, that's not why I rescued them. I had to work twice as hard to be able to afford my little orphanage for Djins, and fortunately some people helped me out occasionally, but in general, it was me alone to run the orphanage.

It's not like I was a very efficient guardian, so coming home injured was a constant. Even if I knew a lot about the monsters, keeping track of their movements was a problem. Since I didn't have that much skill, I had to at least have knowledge, right? Calming my babies was always a problem, they were so cute, you know, they cared more about my health than I did. Luckily, my country had a public health system, otherwise I would have spent all the money I could on my hospital missions.