It was a cold night in the Philippines, especially in Laguna, where the Rych family embraced their lives—not extravagantly but comfortably and securely enough—without a worry for the future.

In the once cheerful and lively village called Southern Heights, where the Rych residence was, the sound of crickets echoed as total silence surrounded the whole village.

The residents of the village emptied their houses with nothing but Christmas spirit as they directed their energy—dancing and having an enjoyable time—towards their annual party held on the tenth of December, hosted by the homeowners association in the village's own court.

Empty homes meant a village devoid of any light, like a world that had traveled back in time where technology for light had been disestablished.

Though, even when darkness bloomed on 38th Street, where the Rych residence was located, the moonlight lightened its path, expelling the sensation of eerie abyss it gave.

The gentle cold wind entered the slightly opened window of the Rych parents' master bedroom, located on the second floor of their two-story home.

Mr. and Mrs. Rych sat side by side in their matching pajamas, embracing the soft, chilly breeze coming in through their window. A foamy blanket covered half of their bodies as they rested their backs against their bed's headboard, creating a nearly ideal, cozy memory that would last a lifetime.

"I love you," Mrs. Rych softly whispered.

"I love you too." Mr. Rych expresses his gentle and tender affection towards Mrs. Rych, yet a dissatisfactory feeling lingered.

The cold wind made its way to Francine, eldest of the family, whose room was also located on the second floor of the house.

Sitting in her office chair, Francine stared at the clock in the bottom right of her screen, dismayed by the time the computer screen in front of her displayed.

7:00 PM: No volleyball today. Francine sighs with disappointment.

Feeling an unwelcome chill around her whole body from the cold wind that blew through the partially opened window, Francine decided it was time to close it.

Satisfied by the absence of distractions, Francine wore her headphones and opened her music streaming app on the computer, playing sad lesbian pop music, fully shutting the outside world out to center her focus on the remaining work activities she has as a programmer.

As the path to Francine's room closed, the wind traveled to Andrea, the second eldest, whose room is just one wall away from Francine's.

Adorable and cute decorations occupied every corner of Andrea's room. The sight of the room felt messy and overwhelming, yet Andrea treated it like paradise.

"Finally," Andrea expressed relief in her seat, looking at the messy, paper-filled desk in front of her as she had finally just finished grading the last paper of her students' essays as their English teacher.

After completing her final task, she immediately grabbed her laptop to take to bed to finish the fantasy rom-com anime she had been watching during her nighttime skin-care routine, disregarding the papers' messy state on her desk as if they never existed in the first place.

Looking at the state of Lus, the third child—locking eyes with the computer screen, aggressively pressing his fingers onto the ragged WASD keys, and energetically clicking with his right hand while blasting the video game's soundtrack on his headphones—the wind respected his determination and concentration, daring not to enter his room, located on the ground floor of the house.

And consequently, the wind joined the youngest, Ley, in his room during his melancholic state as he lay flat on his back on his bed, staring at the dark ceiling of his room, imagining himself as an anime protagonist—someone transported to another world, gifted with magic, and destined for greatness.

The Rychs, occupied with the respective flow of their lives, proceeded as the long arm of the clock reached the twelve; a new time had been made.

8:00 PM

As eight in the evening began, marking an hour passed, everyone finished what they were previously doing; Francine finished her workload. Andrea finished her skincare routine and the anime series, completely satisfied by the ending. Lus finally completed the game he had been grinding for. And Ley, who lost himself again in his imagination, completely fell asleep.

The house was peaceful—quiet, calm, and enclosed. But the excessive feeling felt unsettling, depressing, and eerie, like a sensation that something bad was about to happen.

Then something bad did come. One by one, sleep overtook the family—forced, unnatural, and inescapable.

It began with Mr. and Mrs. Rych. Then Francine. Andrea. And Lus.

The family opened their eyes, finding themselves sitting on the sofa in their living room, all of their limbs bound by the ropes, limiting their ability to resist.

As Ley eventually woke up, he struggled to process what was happening—especially without his glasses.

The world was a blur of shapes and figures. But he knew that the five blurred figures in front of him, sitting on the sofa, were his family.

It was hard to figure out who the people standing around his family, engulfed in black, were. Though it was easy to tell that they reeked of danger.

There was another figure behind Ley, a man. Though he did not speak, he gently placed Ley's missing glasses onto his face, allowing him to see clearly.

Now with a clear view, Ley saw four figures surrounding them in their living room, dressed entirely in black uniforms—ones you'd see on agents of an underground organization.

Every single one of them had their faces covered with black masks, each engraved with a common symbol of a thin white circle on the forehead.

Seeing his entire family tied up in their seats in front of him, while surrounded by dangerous-looking people, Ley began to panic—causing excessive sweat, an uncontrollable race of thoughts, and a racing heartbeat.

The tremors Ley was exuding from his body were visible. And worse, his fear rendered him mute—unable to yell for help or ask why his family sat there nonresistant.

WHY? He questioned aggressively.

The man who gave Ley his glasses stepped forward, positioning himself as he stood in front of the Rych parents.

Ley was never the person to fight or confront someone, but with danger standing in front of his parents, his character felt different.

Even without seeing any weapon in the man's hands, his anxiety never left, nor did it lessen.

Especially now after the man raised both his hands, placing them in front of the parents' faces.

Left hand for Mr. Rych.

Right hand for Mrs. Rych.

The two parents simply closed their eyes, tilted their heads upwards, and accepted the situation in its entirety.

"Distance yourselves." The man who stood over the parents spoke; his voice carried authority, ordering the three to move away.

There it was easy to recognize that he was the leader out of the four.

In a second after the leader proclaimed his order, black, smoke-like energy began to rise from Mr. and Mrs. Rych's bodies.

Three seconds passed, and the black energy emitting out of their bodies stopped, but so did their lives.

The two figures, resembling a man and a woman, standing behind the parents, gently laid their bodies to rest on the sofa, making the parents seem as if they were just peacefully sleeping.

Ley couldn't process what he had just seen happen; he didn't want to. He kept staring at the lifeless bodies of his parents, but they never moved. His anxiety multiplied, fearing that he and his siblings might be next, so he closed his eyes briefly.

Ley felt like he had just closed his eyes, but he wished he never had the courage to open them again.

It was instant, all of it. He tried to process this nightmare but never could. All he could do was stare at his entire family's lifeless bodies, devoid of any signs of life.

His eyes frantically looked at each of his family members, waiting for them to move. His eyes started to hurt from it, but it didn't matter.

He closed his eyes again, knowing that he should be the next one to be killed. And from that, he found relief.

All he saw was darkness, all he heard was silence, but all he felt was sadness.

Ley always felt sadness at the possibility he might outlive his family, fearing that they would die before him.

But now, to think that they were taken away from him. All he felt was grief, disbelief, and overwhelming rage. He wanted to kill the person who killed his entire family.

The racing heartbeat, violent headache, and aggressive sweating and trembling. All of it felt familiar, but the intensity of it was unbearable, even for Ley.

Ley remained frozen in his seat, his expression turned so hollow that even a tear falling from his eyes became improbable.

The leader observed Ley and warned the other three. "It's happening," he declared with such concern and caution.

Even when they distanced themselves, they still kept their eyes on Ley, observing as he began the phase of his awakening.

The four belonged to an organization called White Trigger, a global force dedicated to eradicating those who are with superpowers, individually called Triggers.

Though a 1 in 100 chance, people who possess the capacity to become an awakened trigger are called potential triggers.

When potential triggers undergo the awakening phase, a lethal phenomenon called the Mist of Death occurs.

The potential trigger's body releases an outburst of black mist that kills exposed humans within a fifty-meter range.

The organization uncovered this common occurrence, though the four agents standing near Ley expected something different.

As they continued to observe Ley, they noticed that his body began to release the black mist, but it was slow, gentle, and prolonged, something that didn't match the organization's knowledge.

The organization invented a technology designed to prevent the mist from killing nearby humans, called the Mist Siphoner Glove. A black glove produced with a secret mist-absorbing ingredient that essentially powers it.

The glove forcefully absorbs the black mist inside the triggers' bodies, but in doing so, their life force is also absorbed, causing them to die.

The four agents that stood before Ley were no low-ranking agents; they each held high positions within the organization, with one agent exceeding every title there is.

R, the leader of the organization, was the one who killed Ley's entire family. Alongside his three heads of departments—Proxima, Tract, and Attara.

R came near Ley's mist and signaled Attara, who had just worn her gloves, to come close beside him.

The two began absorbing the mist: R from the left and Attara from the right. However, only five seconds into absorbing the mist, Attara struggled to keep it up.

R, noticing her struggle, ordered her to get back and distance herself so he could take on the absorption all by himself.

The leaked mist ceased after a full minute had passed; it was then that Ley's body reabsorbed the mist, marking the completion of his awakening.

As the mist disappeared, so did Ley's consciousness along with it, causing him to fall back from the separate seat the agents had placed him in.

R's wince after absorbing the mist caused the three to worry.

"Hey, boss. You okay?" Tract worriedly asked.

Though asked, R stayed silent, quickly removing the gloves he had been wearing, only for the ungloving to reveal the decaying flesh of his hands.

R, seeing the current state of his hands, assured them as the leader. "This is expected. Don't worry about me."

But even with his assurance, their worries remained. And their tasks as agents weren't done yet, and they knew not to waste time either.

With one exchanged nod from R, Proxima immediately left the room and started searching the area, scouting for eyewitnesses.

"No eyewitnesses. The residents—neighbors included—are at a celebratory party far from here," Proxima reported the findings of her scout.

"Perfect," R expressed his relief, turning to Tract. "Your turn now."

On the outside of the street, six funeral cars, each loaded with a black coffin padded with comfort, were parked.

In five minutes, Tract's mission to hastily transport the bodies of the Rychs into the coffins was completed.

The five cars loaded with Ley's family's bodies were instructed by R to go on first. Which the four high-ranking agents then followed in pursuit after.

The four sat in their respective seats, with R in the front passenger seat and the three in the back, while a low-ranking agent drove the car.

"I want the house purchased and cleaned," R relayed his order to Attara.

The six cars all had one common destination, the White Trigger headquarters in the capital of the Philippines, Manila.

While the cars overcrowded the road with excessive lights, the four agents paid no mind; they knew to expect traffic that would expand their estimated travel time.

Three hours after they arrived at the Philippines' headquarters, they immediately hopped onto the organization's private jet to travel to their final destination, Canada's headquarters in Ottawa.

Fifteen hours later, they arrived at Canada's headquarters, being greeted by low-ranking agents after only taking a step outside their jet.

The low-ranking agents were already instructed on what to do: to place Ley's body in the trigger containment room—white, padded, and clinical.

R watched as they bring Ley's black coffin inside the room and place his body onto the bed in the trigger containment room.

Proxima, Tract, and Attara stood behind R, accompanying him as they observed the process with R behind the glass.

R gave orders to each of the three, dismissing them after in the process. "Proxima will handle Ley's papers. Tract will inform the selected agents. And Attara will handle the Rych residence and Ley's migration."

R waited until no other agent stood in the vicinity, not even his three trusted companions, before he removed the mask he had been wearing.

Wearing this mask really makes me suffer. But it doesn't even compare to the amount of suffering I will endure for you, Ley. R internalizes as he stares at Ley's sleeping body behind the room's thin pane of glass.

"I hope you become as powerful as you should be. For my sake," R whispered, blurring the glass as he stood close to it.