The heat of the flames that cover the room becomes increasingly suffocating, slowly closing the exits. The sense of urgency, the need to flee, is not strong enough to break the trance caused by that senseless display of violence, just carried out in front of you.

The pools of blood reflect the dancing fire, happy to engulf those two bodies that have not yet taken their last breath, staring at you as they are devoured, leaving behind a powerful stench of burnt flesh.

You fight with your own mind to get running before his attention turns to you, but you only manage to make the muscles of your still sleepy body tremble anxiously.

It's too late. His gaze is fixed on you.

Your heartbeat accelerates, deafening you, leaving only brief moments of clarity with the rumble of his footsteps, as if with each one he stomped on your heart, stealing your beats.

The silence of the night is only interrupted by the creaking of the burning building and your own painful breathing, revealing the absence of any kind of life in the surroundings, driven away by that presence.

You can feel the smoke coating your lungs as that large blackened figure in the pulsating light approaches clumsily, shuffling with each step as if his body were resisting action, his huge figure fighting against itself, refusing to finish what it has started, begging you to flee with its spasmodic movements, in complete silence.

At times the light of the flames is overcome by the reflections of the knife that the being clings to tightly, they aim at your eyes almost forcing them to close; but without losing focus on his expression, your eyes only travel between his eyes and its mouth.

You never imagined that a face could twist in such a way, to a point where its humanity and soul seem to have been eradicated.

His black pupils have mixed with the blue of his irises, forming two opposite spirals that expand until they meet the sclera of each eye. Through them you can still feel his desperation, his pain, his anger, wrinkled in a way that contradicts his smile. If you can call that grimace that is forced on his lips and cheeks one.

The corners of his mouth have been twisted to the point of almost touch his lips, between which only sharp fangs peek out, replacing his front teeth and molars, a carnivorous set, preserved as the only witness to his once mundane existence its slightly yellowish hue, due to excessive coffee consumption and poor care, as a consequence of a stressful life.

The light that surrounds the room has been almost completely obscured by his figure, which has managed to close the distance to a few feet.

A couple more steps and everything will be over, your short life will be extinguished while you are still an infant, having as your last memory the sensation of the dripping  blood from the sharp knife, falling on your forehead as it rises threateningly, pointing at you.

You force your eyes shut, preparing for the impact, but it never comes, instead you are splattered with the boiling blood of your attacker as a sudden tug on your arm brings you back to reality.

“AHHH!!”

They both screamed as they woke up, covered in cold sweat, their voices echoing in their rooms, each one breaking the tranquility of their homes. They took a minute to realize it was all a nightmare, the same one as always.

“Why? Why? Why?...”

Aubrey, the girl, wondered as she covered her face with her hands, struggling to hold back her tears, her long hair tangling between her fingers.

Her hazel complexion was now almost completely white from the terror of reliving that day, a day she would never forget, present in every moment of her life.

Erick, the boy, on the other hand, didn’t know where those visions came from, his fear combined with confusion and a strong headache every time he emerged from that dream.

Bringing a hand to his forehead, he pressed down to try and clear the fog from his mind as his headache dispersed, at the same time he was overcome by a strong nausea, rising from his stomach.

“What… the hell?” he whispered to himself.

His meditation was suddenly interrupted by the abrupt opening of his room’s door, a comforting familiar face, and a loud, nervous voice.

“ERICK!”

Jake, his cousin, the one who had been by his side since he can remember, panicked after hearing him scream, the sudden light from the hallway preventing Erick from keeping his eyes open for several seconds while he heard the young man's accelerated breathing.

Slowly opening his eyes, he realized how upset he was.

Her haste to come to his aid was evidenced by his condition, completely soaked and covered only by a towel around his waist, his black gloves with exposed fingers poorly fastened and another towel clumsily thrown over his right shoulder, about to fall off.

His overwhelmingly white hair and skin reflected the light from the hallway, dazzling Erick's blue eyes, forcing him to close them again.

Jake's breathing calmed down in the absence of the metallic smell of blood or any visible havoc in the room. The boy seemed to be safe.

“Are you okay?” Jake asked, calmer.

“What? What are you talking about?”.

Erick yawned as he scratched his head, acting as if nothing had happened, showing a calm face, but Jake knows him very well, he could tell he was pretending, after all they have spent a lot of time together, relying on each other for eight years of their young lives.

“Don't play dumb, you've been like this all week. Now, spit it out”.

“Well…”

Avoiding his cousin's intense crimson eyes, the boy tried to find an excuse as he looked around the room. In his search his gaze fell on the alarm clock on his nightstand, reading six thirty in the morning.

“DAMN IT! I'm gonna be late!”.

Erick jumped out of his bed, rushing to take a shower. Jake watched him bewildered, processing what he just heard, trying to keep up with the boy who seemed to bounce from one side of the room to the other.

“Wait... What time is it?” he finally turned his gaze to the clock “Really?! We only have twenty minutes”.

The young man hurriedly ran to his room, slipping a little on the water that ran down his legs, but managing not to fall, holding the towel around his waist tightly with his right hand and catching the towel that fell from his shoulder before it hit the floor with his left.

Resigned to not having breakfast, he hurried to get dressed, grateful that Klaus, who was on a trip at the moment, had accustomed him to organizing his clothes by sets. Immediately after, he made sure to pack lunch for his cousin and check that everything he needed was in his backpack.

By the time he finished putting everything away, Erick hurried down to the front door of their house, before leaving Jake helped him put on his tie.

It was already six fifty-five. Putting on his helmet to board his motorcycle, Jake looked at his cell phone clock and gave Erick a look full of guilt.

“Sorry, but you’ll have to go alone”.

“What? Can’t you take me?”.

“Sorry, I’m late too, you’ll have to run this time.”

“Run? Really? Are you kidding me?”

“Better be quick” he started his bike “and don’t get in trouble” his voice faded away as he moved forward, leaving the confused and stressed boy behind.

With no other choice, Erick began to run through the deserted streets of his neighborhood. At least it was a quiet and uncrowded area during the day, one of the few advantages of living in a neighborhood inhabited exclusively by ghosts in a city as busy as Daevalli.

The biggest nuisance was the occasional laments and cries at night, although the real problem with living there was its proximity to one of the forests in the Kastafor region.

As his country, Elumevaz, was a predominantly human island, clear laws and classifications had been imposed to separate the entities that inhabited it based on the risk they posed to them.

Humans, of course, have the power to settle anywhere they wish, being classified as Level 2 of the Non-Deadly (ND-2).

Humanoid beings whose diet excluded humans such as elves, some witches, and some types of fairies were allowed to inhabit anywhere and even share housing with humans in the center of the island, in the city of Xipe, and on the coasts in the cities of Mahule and Daevalli, classified as ND-3 and ND-4.

Non-humanoid beings that do not devour humans are found on the immediate outskirts of Xipe, in the villages and forests of the Natilon region, classified as ND-5 to ND-7.

Any entity that may pose a risk to human safety is forced to live in the Kastafor region.

This region is made up of multiple sections of forests, cities and towns spread across the island, their proximity to human settlements depends on their Deadly (D) classification, which ranges from D-1 to D-7.

These places are usually avoided by humans and are subject to strong entry and exit regulations for their locals.

This is the case in every country and region where humanity dominates, its main territory being Elumevaz, since the remaining portal of the dimension from which most humans came, prior to the great convergence, was located there.

Distributed among the ND settlements, the minor portals that give access to other dimensions were rigorously guarded by different species, usually at random.

The groups in charge of their custody in this country are humans, of course, the forest elves and the white witches.

Incorporeal entities such as ghosts, spirits and specters were subjects of great debate given their variety and motivations, which is why it had been decided to give them asylum among the others.

Ghost neighborhoods existed all over the island. Their classifications ranged from ND-1, which included benevolent angels and gods, to D-7, which included beings such as demons and powerful vengeful specters.

These neighborhoods sometimes allowed the entry of entities of other classifications outside of the locality in which they were designated, even allowing Deadly entities in areas for Non-Deadly.

These special exceptions are given under strict regulations and monitoring. Although this is not well seen by humans and other Non-Deadly beings.

In the case of Erick and his family there was such an exception, that was precisely the reason for their accommodation in such an unusual, and poorly prepared for human life, place.

That exception was the temporarily absent Klaus, the person Erick most respected and trusted, along with Jake. It was he who had educated him up to that point, everything he knew in an academic sense he learned from Klaus, something that given their lifestyle was no longer viable.

Fortunately, his teachings managed to get Erick into middle school, his new school, with a full scholarship.

Once he returned, Klaus would be in charge of taking him to and from classes; now, in his absence, the boy depended on the availability and flexibility of Jake's work.

Fortunately, his house and school were close to the limits of the ghost neighborhood and a common neighborhood of the human population. Despite their proximity, both places were at a considerable distance away. He had to hurry.

Meanwhile.

Once Aubrey regained her composure she got up to check on Lady, the cat that had been with her since birth, the last reminder of her parents and her old life. Despite all the changes and relocations she had been through, Lady always found her way back to her side.

“Sorry for waking you up… I had the nightmare”.

She stroked her black fur and spoke softly to her as she made sure her scream hadn’t scared the cat. A sudden knock on her door made them both jump.

Mitzi, her adoptive sister, entered the room, grabbed Bry by the shoulders and began pushing her into the bathroom.

“What the heck are you doing? We have to go to class”.

“It’s Monday already? Really?”.

“Yeah, it is”.

With time pressure on them, Mitzi helped Bry bathe and dress, tied her hair into a loose ponytail, and they hurried out.

“Sorry, it was hard to get up”.

“Don’t talk and walk”.

“Sorry”.

“Just run!”.

They quickly crossed the streets, dodging pedestrians. Seeing the crowd, they decided to take a shortcut through the desolate part of town, where ghosts and specters dwell.

Since people tended to avoid such neighborhoods for fear of their locals, the girls were able to run unhindered.

“Come on, come on, we won’t make it.”.

As Mitzi lamented, the sisters reached an intersection, just four blocks away from their school, three minutes before closing time.

Bry was running with her eyes fixed ahead when a black and blue flash appeared in her vision, a person. She tried to stop, but Mitzi ran into her, not realizing the situation, pushing Bry forward and making her collide with the stranger.

A boy; of the same age, the same complexion, the same height and eyes of the same color as his left eye, which he kept clear of his hair while covering the right one; was on the ground, just like her, visibly upset.

Bry's right eye was red in the iris, due to the circumstance that caused such a difference it could only be perceived by beings with very specific abilities, for the rest it was just an empty cavity. Seeing a little through her hair was preferable to covering it with an eye patch.

In an instant she would reconsider that decision. She had come across someone who could see him.

“Why don’t you watch where you’re going?!” the boy exclaimed, pained by the fall.

“I’m sorry!”

Their eyes met. She recognized him instantly, he noticed her strangely familiar, seeing her was like seeing an old friend.