A lone figure strolled down a deserted pathway, green neon signs on shops cast a sickly glow on him. The pungent smell of rubbish and decay wafted into his nostrils, making him hasten his steps.
"There it is," he whispered.
A food truck parked at the edge of the road across him came into his view. He approached the truck.
"Welcome, lad, what would you like this evening?" The vendor, having sighted him from afar, asked.
Ashley's eyes scanned through the many assortments of food in the truck.
"Do you have the New Year's special chocolate dessert?" he asked.
The food vendor's expression became sad. "Ah, you came a little late. That dessert completely sold out last night," he said.
Ashley's head lowered, his hopes of gaining an expensive, rich meal crushed.
"Then how about a chocolate muffler?" Ashley asked.
The vendor's face contorted into one of pity at the lad's sad-laden tone.
"We do have that."
"Fine, I'll have it." Ashley sighed.
In a fit to cheer him up, the vendor suggested, "But there's still the New Year special strawberry—"
"Just give me the muffler," Ashley cut him off.
The vendor froze at his tone. Ashley, though, lazily looked up, his gaze locking with the food vendor. "I'm not a fan of strawberries after all," he said with a fake smile.
The vendor, still not convinced, grabbed the chocolate muffler, gave it to him, and added a small–sized lollipop along with it. "It's on the house," he grinned.
Without reacting, Ashley paid for the muffler and took the tiny lollipop.
"I feel sorry for those kids without relics whose birthday is tomorrow," The vendor shook his head.
Ashley grimaced. "Same here," he whispered and walked away.
When Ashley was almost out of his sight, the vendor sighed, "Poor kid."
The vendor's voice echoed through the night, reaching Ashley's ears from afar.
Ashley gripped his package a little tighter.
'Bastard! Playing pretend, like he gives a damn about our lives,' he gritted his teeth.
Not wanting to reflect on that, Ashley skipped in his steps, which turned into a sprint.
He graciously maneuvered through boxes and trash bins, jumping over barricades like some elite athlete.
Minutes later, he stood before the place he called home — an uncompleted house project abandoned decades ago.
'At least I got a roof over my head,' Ashley wryly smiled.
Ashley hastily ran up the stairs to his "room" and hurriedly sat by the window facing the direction to Lord's City.
The cold breeze sent a chill down his spine, but he was at least grateful that it got to be the last weather he would experience.
'The last, huh?' his face darkened at the thought.
"If only I were connected to a Divine Contracted…" he paused, as a long but not forgotten memory crossed his mind.
His face twisted into one of disgust.
"To think I'll want to be connected to the ones responsible for your death…" he looked down at his chest, gently clutching his dangling purple pendant in his palms. "…mother." He croaked.
Ashley roughly wiped off the tears that threatened to flow from his eyes.
"No need to cry now, in less than a few minutes from now, I'll be with her… probably." His eyes twitched.
Ashley turned his attention towards the black sky, its emptiness a reminder of his poor, lonely life.
"5… 4… 3… 2… 1!"
"Happy New Year!"
The voices of the many inhabitants resonated through the silent night. Fireworks exploded in the sky, illuminating all parts of Lord's City in colourful hues.
Ashley briefly cast a glance towards the source of light, his expression darkening.
"Finally… January 1st… my birthday… and my last."
He swiftly faced the assortment of foods in front of him, his hands hovering over them.
"At least I get to eat a delicacy before I die."
Ashley unethically gobbled down his meal, stuffing his mouth with different combinations, not caring once for the possibility of choking.
He might have preferred to die that way instead.
After his mannerless salvaging, Ashley picked up a can of beer, examined it closely, and then opened it.
"I get to drink alcohol before eighteen — not that anyone would care."
He took a small sip, grimaced, then chugged it down, and moments later burped to his bitter satisfaction.
"This might as well have been the best meal of my life since…" he paused, his expression turning somber.
"I really miss you… But I don't want to turn into a Nether Monster and get killed by those Divine Association bastards," he sighed.
"But fate can't be avoided," Ashley whispered.
***
At some unknown time, beings called Nether Monsters began appearing across the world at alarming rate, bringing the death toll to terrifying heights.
It was later discovered that most appearances of said monsters happened around the time kids turned sixteen.
People tried all kinds of experiments, some using the technology of the modern age in an attempt to predict the happenings and some going as far as doing rituals to prevent the occurrences, but all to no avail.
But all things changed after the discovery of the Divine Relics and Artifacts: tools said to contain Divine Mana.
It was theorized that those with Divine Relics and Artifacts could ward off the Nether Beasts during their sixteenth birthday and even throughout life.
But with its limited availability, only the top families and the members of the formed organisation — Divine Contracted Association — had access to them.
The unfortunate souls would turn to Nether Monsters only to be killed by the D.C.A, and sadly… Ashley fell under these unfortunate souls.
***
Lost in his thoughts, he began playing with his fingers, rolling them around each other before completely losing interest in the finger play.
"How long is this supposed to take?" Ashley frowned, looking around his dark room that was dimly lit by a candle that was about to go out.
After some moments, hope gradually filled his heart, calming his already tense mind.
"Maybe it forgot about me?" He smiled.
Suddenly, the air grew heavy and cold. The walls and floor became frosted, the cold biting against Ashley's skin. Then, he felt an ominous feeling, making a cold shiver run down his spine in terror.
"It's… here!" Ashley muttered in fear.
In the centre of the room, space cracked and opened, widening by the second. Then a sickly, pale, feathery hand came out, gripping at the edge of the torn space.
Ashley's eyes widened, his heart frantically beating against his ribs, as if threatening to escape and flee for its life.
"What… is that?" He grimaced.
All Ashley wanted to do was run away right now, but how could he when he was practically frozen to the floor?
Even if he wasn't frozen, was he sure he could get his body and mind to work together to escape this ominous presence?
More parts of the being began coming out from the cracked space portal.
Finally, Ashley could see what could only be described as the worst unimaginable nightmare.
Aside from the fact that it was covered in feathers, the face of the Beast was perfectly symmetrical, as though it had been sculpted by gods. Its eyes were covered by its draping, long, pale white hair. There was a glistening purple crown levitating above its head that faintly illuminated the room.
But all that wasn't what made Ashley want to crawl out of his skin.
It had no nose, yet the most ominous of all was the wicked, jagged smile on its face. The inside of its mouth was a pitch black that seemed to absorb the faint light given off from its crown.
'It's a humanoid Nether Beast!' he shuddered at the thought.
Ashley couldn't help but silently pray that this was all a dream, that he would just wake up — but if this was really a dream, he might as well die from fear in his sleep!
The Nether Beast glanced around itself, as if confirming its location. Then it opened its mouth…
"Ah… the human world," a sickly sweet sound came out, causing Ashley's stomach to churn more than it already had.
If not for his fear of getting noticed, he would've thrown up all the food he had managed to buy. But that didn't stop the inevitable.
The Beast slowly turned its head in Ashley's direction. "Hi… there." It said.
Something affected Ashley's being, and immediately he vomited a mouthful of blood. Blood poured out from his eyes, nose, and ears in an uncontrollable stream when his gaze met the Beast's pair of glowing purple irises.
All the food he had treated himself to splattered across the floor along with his blood.
'Is this what it feels like to be in the presence of a Nether Beast?'
If Ashley had seen this coming, he would've done everything possible to be at least the servant of a Divine Contracted — even if it meant licking their feet or giving up his body, then backstabbing them later on — just anything, anything to not be in the presence of this devil.
"You… must be… Ashley?" The humanoid Beast said. Then, its smile grew wider.
"I have watched you ever since you were a child." It continued. "Your hatred towards your own kind… your pain and sorrow… Never have I felt such animosity from a human."
Then it spread out its hands...
"Surely you must be the most twisted human of all!"
… And let out a giggle that sounded something akin to when metals were scraped against each other.
The screeching laugh almost made Ashley's eardrums pop — that's if they hadn't already.
Ashley's body kept uncontrollably shaking, one from the cold and the other from the fear of the Creature before him.
However, something sparked within him, though faint and almost unnoticeable, but Ashley felt it.
The Beast continued with its rambling and jesters…
"It's funny how we get to be locked in that pathetic realm waiting on you humans to unlock the gates to your world," It sighed. "Among the three realms, we are seen as the worst among them. Why? Because we are pathetic? Or demonic?" It questioned no one.
Suddenly, a new wave of pressure, worse than the last, descended in the room.
Ashley's eyes spun, coughing out another mouthful of blood.
Then, with a sigh, its gaze once again focused on Ashley. "Now… It's about time I take what I came for," It said as it calmly raised its pale white hand, pointing a black clawed finger at freezing Ashley.
Ashley shuddered.
He didn't need to see where the Beast was pointing at, because he already knew.
"My soul," Ashley said.