There was a loud noise, and then everyone saw the wind coming after the black circle. In the middle of the circle, there was a reddish glimmer, and the wind was so strong the whole city felt it. All the windows were closed, and everyone went into nearby buildings, so there was no way to get any air into the room from outside. After that dungeon showed up and caused chaos in the area years ago, all the glass in the country had to meet its own standards. The glass was already super strong and protected by the Espers' psionic power, which spread throughout the entire building.
Everyone was whispering, and they all looked worried. The Dungeon hasn't exactly been a rare sight in the downtown area over the last couple of years. In fact, the Esper barely made it on time.
A little kid was looking at the sky, where there was a black circle with a monster screaming inside it. A loud screeching sound and huge explosions rang out from that black circle.
"Mom, what is that?" He asked, his eyes showing curiosity.
"It's basically a dungeon where monsters appear." The mother replied.
The boy was still staring at the ball thing. All these monsters. He had learned in school that some of them would have powers if they were awakened. There were two options: to be a Guide or an Esper. Since he was still in elementary school, his teacher hadn't taught him what the two meant.
"Mom, if there are monsters here, will we die?" He asked her.
His mom shook her head, looked at the boy, and crouched down in front of him, lining their eyes up. The two of them were looking at each other.
"See those people out there?" His mom was pointing out the crowd outside the window. A bunch of people were standing under the black circle in the middle of the street. They were all decked out in black suits and fresh kicks. Some of them just wore plain t-shirts with sneakers.
"They're the Guides."
"Guide?"
"Yeah, they're waiting for the Esper they're guiding. The Esper is fighting the monsters in there. When they are back, they'll need a guide. Those guides will help them get back on their feet. We won't die, there's an Esper looking after all of us and Guides who always be there for the Espers."
The boy was excited, Guide. He wanted to be a Guide. Esper was awesome because they could beat a bunch of monsters inside the Dungeon, but the Guide who waited for the Esper to come back from the Dungeon was way cooler. Esper's strength was maximized thanks to the help of their guide.
In this world, people can be divided into two groups. Regular people and people with awakening. Then, the humans that have awakened are split into different groups, but the two most well-known are Esper and Guide. They're both powerful people who are also at the forefront of dealing with monsters.
Esper and Guide have different ranks The higher the rank, the stronger they are. Esper have this power that comes from inside their body. It just appears out of nowhere when they're a certain age. Since the power showed up out of nowhere, they couldn't control it for long. That's where the Guide came in handy, guiding them to neutralize the Esper's power and prevent it from going into "Corruption" or "Berserk" mode.
Everyone stopped talking as the Espers who'd gone inside came out one by one. It stopped windy, and the sun started coming up again. Everyone in the room cheered. One by one, they clapped and thanked the hard-working Espers..
There was a guy who came down from there, a man with long silvery-white hair. He looked like a total angel, but his black clothes didn't do him justice. He was decked out in all black, with a strap going down his chest to his neck. He had such white skin that it looked almost pale. Sweat was rolling down his forehead in beads. He was breathing heavily.
No one was willing to get close. They just watched the guy from a distance.
"Noah! Noah!" A man ran up and was wearing a hazmat suit. He went up to the guy and put him in a car.
"Hey, isn't that Noah Miles?" the girl behind the boy asked.
"Noah Miles? I thought he was dead."
"Yeah, he was MIA for two years."
"I'm wondering if that's because of his Guide, who committed suicide."
"Shh, stop it. Don't talk."
The man in hazmat suit carried Noah's body inside, then quickly removed all his clothes in the car. The pale guy was still breathing heavily and holding his chest, clearly in a lot of pain.
"Luka..." Noah said in a quivering voice.
"Hey, quick, drink this..."
The guy, Luka, quickly put the drugs in Noah's mouth and gave him some water to drink so the drugs could get into his system ASAP. Noah closed his eyes, and his whole body felt like it was on fire. When he got back from the dungeon and used his powers, Noah's body got heated up. It was so burning hot, and his skin was on fire. That's why Noah had tattoos covering up the burn marks from his out-of-control powers.
The heat also made his heart pumping blood faster, which made him more likely to have a heart attack.
"Hey, Luka, have you managed to save Noah yet?" The voice in Luka's ear snapped him back to reality. He took off his hazmat suit and got the car started.
"We're heading back to the lab." He replied without saying anything else.
Luka looked at Noah a few times on his way to the lab, where he was about to black out after taking a drug he'd made. The guy had been taking that strong drug for the past six months after he got back to the Dungeon after two years.
Luka parked in the basement, then opened the door and saw a bunch of people rushing over to move Noah onto a push bed. They took Noah's clothes off real quick and put him in a room with the lowest temperature. The room was so cold, but it helped keep Noah's body temperature from getting too high. His body would still feel feverish after the effects of the drug wore off.
"You made the right time, that's good..." There was this older guy, about fifty, with a beard and a mustache that had turned white. He came up to Luka and started talking. The guy had switched into a T-shirt and khakis, but he still had on his lab coat.
Luka crossed his arms over his chest and stared at the see-through glass. He was staring at Noah, while the nurses were tidying up the room. There was a room with lots of machines, and the cables were hooked up to Noah's body like before.
"Mr. Director, could you not wake him up and make him go to the dungeon again?" Luka put on his glasses and said something to the man without even looking at him.
The tall, well-built man was also looking at Noah.
"We need him. You know, lately the Dungeon has been showing up in places we never would've thought to expect. Some monsters have escaped, and now they're running around the city. It's a mess." The man cleared his throat, and that's how the conversation continued.
"Noah hasn't got a Guide yet, and if he fights under these circumstances, his life won't last long, Mr. Director."
"I got in touch with the Oak Guild."
Luka turned to the man he'd called "Director" earlier, taken aback. His name was Ryan Ainsworth, and he was the Director of the FERN GUILD. The guild where Noah and Luka grew up
"Luka, Noah needs a guide either way, and this city needs him. Nah, this country. This country needs Noah's power."
"A lot of Esper has started to awaken, and if I'm not mistaken, there was another one with almost the same power as Noah a few months ago, right?" Luka started to raise his voice a little, and he sounded so emotional.
"Are you saying Noah's replaceable? We're talking about Noah Miles here. He's the only Esper with powers like this, and he's got some unique abilities that you won't see in any other Esper. After all, we can't let him constantly sleep and ignore reality." Ryan looked over at Luka, who had a confused look on his face. Yeah, that statement had Luka a bit surprised. How could Noah's best friend say that he was replaceable?
Absolutely not.
He was the only Esper who couldn't die.
Correct. His power didn't allow for his demise. No matter what, Noah would keep living because of his power. Even if he only had one leg, one arm, or half his body split open. That awful power would still keep him going like a zombie.
"He's still unstable mentally. He can't meet a Guide who can control him at the moment. He needs a lot of time."
Ryan let out a sigh and said, "Tomorrow. The boy is coming, so I'm hoping Noah will be able to prepare."
Ryan left the room, and Luka clenched his fists in anger. For him, it was too soon. Noah was too groggy after being woken up to even have a simple conversation on a two-way. Two years ago, they had to put Noah to sleep. The guy had almost destroyed the city with his power because he went berserk. If Luka hadn't jumped in and taken charge, the people of this town would have died that day.
Noah never woke up for two years. He was hooked up to a machine that was pumping him full of sleeping pills, and he was guarded 24/7. A little while back, Ryan asked Luka to "wake" Noah because there was an emergency.
After that, Noah would be 'woken up' to go to the dungeon and would return to 'putting himself to sleep' until there was another task for him.
Luka touched the windowpane, and felt the coldness of his fingertips. The room felt like an icebox. The pale white body looked even paler, the lips still looked reddish, and the eyes were closed with long eyelashes.
"I'm sorry, Noah...That day..." He couldn't keep mumbling to himself. What happened two years ago was also pretty shocking to him. Even then, Noah still had to carry out his duties as an Esper. Luka let out a sigh and headed out of the room.