TWENTY YEARS HAD PASSED SINCE THE FIRST GATE APPEARED.
HUNTERS, MONSTERS, AND GATES HAD BECOME A PART OF DAILY LIFE. PEOPLE HAD LEARNED TO LIVE IN FEAR, KNOWING THAT ONE DAY… A GATE MIGHT BREAK.
AND THAT DAY HAD COME.
A MASSIVE RED GATE ERUPTED IN THE HEART OF THE CITY. ITS CRIMSON LIGHT PAINTED THE SKY LIKE BLOOD. ALARMS BLARED. THE HUNTER DIVISION MOBILIZED, BUT IT WAS TOO LATE.
THE GATE BROKE.
THE CITY WAS DROWNED IN MONSTERS.
COLOSSAL BEASTS WITH BONES FOR BLADES, LIZARD-LIKE CREATURES WITH ARMOR HARDER THAN STEEL, AND SMALL, TWISTED THINGS WITH NEEDLE-LIKE TEETH SWARMED THROUGH THE STREETS.
PEOPLE SCREAMED. BUILDINGS COLLAPSED. BLOOD FILLED THE ROADS.
IN THE MIDST OF THE CHAOS, A YOUNG BOY HID INSIDE A DARK CORNER OF HIS CRUMBLING HOUSE. HE BIT HIS LIP UNTIL IT BLED, TRYING NOT TO MAKE A SOUND. THROUGH THE CRACKS IN THE WALL, HE COULD SEE HIS FAMILY.
HIS MOTHER WAS LYING ON THE FLOOR, HER EYES LIFELESS.
HIS FATHER WAS STILL FIGHTING, TRYING TO DEFEND HER WITH ANYTHING HE COULD GRAB. BUT IT WAS USELESS.
THE CREATURES TORE INTO HIM.
THE BOY SHIVERED, HANDS TREMBLING, TEARS STREAMING DOWN HIS FACE, BUT HE DID NOT MOVE. HE WATCHED—FORCED TO WATCH—AS THOSE THINGS LAUGHED AND RIPPED HIS FAMILY APART PIECE BY PIECE.
HE WANTED TO SCREAM. HE WANTED TO RUN OUT AND FIGHT.
BUT HE WAS TOO SMALL. TOO WEAK.
THE BOY CURLED INTO THE SHADOWS, BITING HIS HAND TO KEEP QUIET, UNTIL THERE WAS NOTHING LEFT TO WATCH.
AND THEN… SOMETHING INSIDE HIM BROKE.
HE STEPPED OUT FROM THE DARK, HIS EYES EMPTY, HIS FACE PALE.
BUT ON HIS LIPS WAS A QUIET, BROKEN SMILE.
"I'LL KILL YOU ALL," HE WHISPERED, HIS VOICE TREMBLING WITH SOMETHING DARKER THAN RAGE.
"EVERY. SINGLE. ONE OF YOU… GREEN SH*T (GOBLINS)."
THAT NIGHT, AS THE CITY BURNED, A BOY WALKED ALONE INTO THE RUINS.
AND A MONSTER WAS BORN AMONG MEN.