As he approached the source of the light, he noticed movement coming towards him. "Hmm?" Something massive drew nearer, but he couldn't discern what it could be. It wasn't until it came closer that he could finally see it.

The horizon was consumed by a destructive snowstorm that seemed to stretch endlessly, hurtling straight towards him at an insane speed, like an airplane. Even from far away, he could feel the coldness.

Frozen in fear, he could only silently stare at it. Despite the cold, small drops of sweat trickled down from his forehead to his cheek.

Was this his death sentence?

He didn't have to wait long, as the snowstorm was already upon him while he was busy suppressing his fear.

The snowstorm engulfed his entire body, leaving him stupefied. The combined coldness and pain from the fast-moving snow made him grit his teeth and stand still, trying to hold on.

"Arghh~"

The snow scraped his skin, but strangely, no blood leaked. Nonetheless, the pain was abnormally excruciating, as if small knives were scratching him.

"—AAHHHHH!"

Ring Ring

Suddenly, ringing sounds echoed inside his head. He thought it was the sound of death, but the next moment, it all stopped.

He felt warmth, the warmth he missed. The softness of the bed and the high-pitched alarm clock indicated he had come back to his bedroom. Slowly opening his closed eyelids, he saw the white ceiling and looked around his room. He touched his wet clothes and head. "I'm sweaty..." He muttered.

He sighed in relief. "It was all a nightmare..." But he still couldn't understand the realism of the nightmare; it felt too real, even the pain could be felt. He sat on the bed and touched his skin. 'Just a nightmare...'

He started stretching his stiffened body, cracking his back, legs, and arms. '...That felt good.'

[8.13 AM]

He looked over at the clock on the table beside his bed. 'The first day of the Academy starts at 9 AM.' He remembered.

He stared at his wet bed from all the sweat. 'I really sweated a lot, huh...' Lightly sighing, he picked up the bed sheet to change it later. Afterwards, he took a quick warm shower and changed clothes to a black t-shirt and blue jeans. He made a quick breakfast of white bread and milk.

He tapped on his watch and stared at his contacts, more precisely the name 'Girlfriend.' He deeply sighed, should he contact her or not? He tried to figure out the reason behind the break-up, but he couldn't or maybe he didn't dare imagine it.

But, in the end, he gave up. It would be awkward since they were no longer together, and he didn't have the face to talk to her.

He turned his head to the holographic television, which was displaying the latest news. "At midnight, there were reports of demons attacking a small city, Estet. Casualty count is 308, and 894 injured." "The Alliance has sent their reinforcement and is currently helping the city."

''Num~'' Clay ate his bread, feeling bad for the fallen and injured. He hated these fantasy creatures called demons, doing whatever they wanted to wreck havoc.

Six generations ago, presumably 120 years ago in the late 2030s, a change occurred on the once peaceful blue planet Earth. The planet changed entirely; it was truly an apocalypse with the emergence of monsters and the new energy called mana.

But just after humans finally started to restabilize, demons invaded the planet and wreaked havoc across the planet, shrouding it in death and blood. After many decades now In the current timeline, the demons and humans are still in at war stalemate.

Ding

Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.

The doorbell rang. He gulped down the remaining milk and wondered to himself, 'Who could it be?' He walked to the door and checked the screen beside it, which had a camera installed to see the other side.

He saw a young adult with a red cap on his head, dressed as a worker and carrying a package. He opened the door;

"What is it—" He was cut off mid-sentence.

"Here's the package." The delivery man handed it over to him.

"Who sent—" The door suddenly closed, and Clay flinched a step back.

Clay shook his head and looked at the door screen again, but the man was nowhere to be seen. 'Maybe he was in a hurry?' he thought.

Walking to the living room, he put the package down and circled around it while staring at it. It was small, like the size of a hand. He picked up a nearby pair of scissors he had previously used but forgotten and cut the tape on the package.

Unpacking the package, he found another smaller black box, with see-through plastic through which he could see a pair of wireless earbuds. Beside the black box was an old portable music player.

There was also a written note inside the package box.

He read the words on the paper aloud. "Congratulations, son, on making it into Avalon Academy! We decided to gift you a present for your acceptance. Deluxe, black wireless earbuds that have hyper-quality sound and a half-year-lasting battery, as well as a portable music device with classical songs from before the Emergence."

''-- Your Dad and Mom."

He smiled as he read the message. 'This is my dad's doing,' he thought. His dad worked as a merchant and loved music, especially the classic ones.

Clay also loved old classic music from the Peace Era, the most peaceful era and when humans were flourishing, around the year 2030 before the Emergence happened.

He unpacked the black box, took out one of the earbuds with two of his fingers. He looked at it. 'It's pretty small,' he thought.

The next he took out was the music device. There was a screen on it, but it looked to be of low resolution and HD, probably something from the Peace Era. He clicked on a button he guessed to be the power button.

–SapplE

A word appeared on the screen. It seemed to be the company that made this device from before. He had also heard about it from his father; SapplE was quite massive in that era.

After showing the company name, it changed into a battery image, but with only one bar glowing red.

"It needs to be recharged." Clay sighed. He looked at the charging port and found it to be similar to the ones currently in use. It looked like the port design still hadn't changed after a hundred years.

He found a nearby charging plug and plugged it into a nearby power source and to the device's port. He left the charging alone and decided to check it out after the Academy.

***

After finishing his meal and turning off the television, he got dressed and stepped outside his apartment, and then the building.

It was early September, and the morning sun was already shining bright. It was the perfect way to start the day, and more importantly, the first day of the Academy.

Suddenly, his watch began to ring, emitting a sharp sound. Clay looked at the small screen on his bracelet and saw the word "Mom" displayed.

He double-tapped the screen, and a holographic image of his mother, Eva Hunter, appeared. She had brown hair and emerald eyes and had a mature look about her.

"Hey, Mom," Clay greeted her, his eyes softening.

"Aya, congratulations on being accepted into Avalon Academy. We're proud of you, especially your dad, but he's busy with work and couldn't talk with you." Eva said.

"Thanks," Clay replied gratefully.

Eva narrowed her eyes at Clay, noticing something that feels off. "Hmm, are you okay?" she questioned.

Clay hesitated for a moment before replying, "Yeah, I'm okay. I'm just really excited about the Academy."

Eva sighed but decided not to push further. "Did you get the gift we sent?" she asked, changing the subject.

Clay reached into his pocket and took out a pair of earbuds. "Yeah, thanks," he said, nodding.

"Hope you like it," Eva said, giving him a bright, cheerful smile.

Clay nodded in response, thinking to himself, 'Music is the best distraction.'

"Mom, I gotta go. The Entrance Ceremony is about to start," he said, cutting their conversation short.

''Bye!'' Turning off the call, he walked towards the Avalon Academy.

***

Avalon Academy.

As Clay arrived at Avalon Academy, he could see the luxury and magnificence of the famed Avalon 1st Hall. The hall was lit up by lamps powered by Mana Stones, and teachers stood at the back of the hall. Hundreds of teenage students were seated in rows of chairs in front of the main stage.

There were around twenty rows, with each row had around fifty seats, with a sign indicating the different classes. Clay headed towards the 1-A row and took the nearest free seat. His seat was in the middle-right part, just a few seats away from the corner.

He observed some students, and his classmates chatting with each other while others chose to stay quiet or ignore others.

But there were three figures that stood out the most in his class. They garnered the most glances and stares, with a decent number of people trying to talk to them.

Sitting in the farthest left was a male, which meant he was the earliest of the class. Clay knew who the person was; he was the 1st place ranking in the Entrance Exam.

He had a handsome appearance, especially his eye-catching black hair and emerald eyes that caught the attention of many young girls.

Prodigy.

Humanity's Hope.

...and had many more titles. But the most shocking point was that he was the same age as Clay and born from a commoner background like him.

His peerless talent was graded at: . His name was;

William Aonsworth.