Chapter 1

AKSHA BEATRIX ASLENOVIE (Present)

“Aksha…”

I followed a melancholic voice. “Who's there?!”

All I can see is…nothing, it's as if I'm in some kind of a cell where everything is black, and it's kinda suffocating.

“You need to feel it…”

“Feel what?!” I asked back. With a trembling body, I tried harder not to fall on my knees. “Who are you?!”

“We will meet soon…”

That's when I heard a sound that took me back to the waking world. I heaved a sigh and shut off the alarm.

What a weird dream.

I lazily sat up in my bed with barely open eyes. The beam of sunlight reflected in the window hit my face. Annoyed, I stood up and did some stretching before going downstairs. I still need to do some preparation before setting off to work.

But I can't contain the fact that my body is aching, now that I am completely awake. It was because of the packages we picked up yesterday. In total, there were three packages which were filled with new cups and saucers for the coffee shop. Emilio, our pickuper-slash-barista, wasn't there so it was our time to be his substitute.

Honestly, it pissed me off. Thinking how irresponsible he is when it comes to work.

To tell you the truth, he left in the middle of his shift just because he ran an errand for his girlfriend—Anne, the b*tchy one. I can tell, ‘cause I already met her once at a party, and all she could do was throw tantrums at Emilio which was really irritating.

Unfortunately, Sir Ty was mad about it. We had a lot of customers yesterday, the shop was crowded and we lacked manpower. Thankfully, we still ended the day without any problems. However, Mr. Ty's mood was too obvious by the way he spoke and his seriousness kicks off the sh*t outta me until closing. We can't even joke around him as usual because of his aura.

“Good morning, bestie!”

I almost fell down the stairs as Feyra popped out of nowhere. “Gosh, Feyra!”

“Sorry.”

I shook my head and the aroma of a scrambled egg, bacon, fried rice, and freshly made coffee crossed my nose.

D*mn, it smells good.

“So you already made our breakfast?”

“Of course!”

I smiled at her and sat on the chair next to the round table.

So going back to Emilio, all I can say is…romantic relationships are a huge distraction, and he did that not just once, but maybe thrice or much more. Our boss was just kind enough to give him a lot of chances which he took as an advantage. But Mr. Ty lost the remaining patience he had as I clearly remember yesterday.

Emilio needs that job so much because he has to support his mother’s medication as a cancer survivor. However, because of Anne, he's now on the brink of losing his job.

I shrugged my shoulders.

“Here.” Feyra handed me a newspaper.

One of my daily routines is reading a newspaper every morning to keep updated on what is happening in the world. That's why Feyra always gets one from a newsie.

News Headline: A Vlogger, Brutally Died in the City of Colambi

July 9, 2025

By Frankenrich Almed

Yesterday, a famous vlogger named Greg was last seen entering the City of Colambi. Later at four in the morning, a farmer from the neighborhood city saw his body at the entrance of Colambi with scratches in his abdomen, chopped legs, a hole in his chest with a missing heart, and lost eyeballs.

I almost coughed up the coffee that I'm currently drinking because of the disgusting news. However, it caught my attention to read more.

The killer must be a psycho!

But Colambi? As far as I remember, that city was abandoned by people for ages with some inexplicable truths. Well, I just heard some gossip, not interested at all. I hate history and ain't a bookworm so I didn't dig deeper about that issue.

The content is entirely a fantasy. It said that the incident was possibly caused by a werewolf—theorizing that these creatures almost wiped out the Colambi in its history.

There are also some statements written which came from a few people who had a relative who was residing in Colambi years ago and experienced the darkest days in the said city. They justified that the city was cursed, and a lot of wolves were lurking around the forest. They also claimed that werewolves want to rule the world until now—the vlogger's body is the proof of domination, a message from the wolves.

Indeed, their overstatement is the reason why the world will come to an end someday, not because of those mythical creatures—

"I already read that news."

I rolled my eyes. "Let me guess, it caught your attention because they mentioned 'werewolves', right? And what else do I expect from a fantasy novelist like you, huh? Of course! You'll read this because this is fiction."

I smirked at her as I emphasized the word ‘fiction’.

"Such a meanie." She sat next to me. "Well you're right, the headline caught me, and all I can say is that everything written in that news is quite possible. As far as I know, Colambi has become an empty place because of werewolves' berserk to humankind years ago."

"So werewolves are monsters, you say?"

She purses her lips. "Not at all. Think about it, bestie…they're like us, humans, there's always good and bad within us. You can't judge them so easily just because someone did that to them. I always classified wolves to have the cleanest soul and clear mind in the entire universe because they are the children of the Moon Goddess—"

"Alright! Cease that argument, it's too early for my brain to function what you are trying to tell." I sip on my glass. "You know, we're already in the 21st century. Such fantasies are just a product of our creativity. They should stop spreading that kind of fake news."

"But what if it wasn't just an imagination? Gosh! I want to see the legendary white wolf. According to the tales, the white wolf is the blessing from above—the purest of them all."

She really wants to convince me about it. A debate like this? My winning rate is…zero percent.

"Let's end this conversation. It is only a tale so stop saying what-ifs. Because they weren't true."

"Well, they saw a—"

"I don't care," I chimed in, and continued eating. She only scowled at me and sipped on her glass.