1 Chapter 1: Awakening

The world had shifted, and I was left behind, suspended in a timeless void. Two years of my life had vanished like a forgotten dream. I couldn't remember what had led me to that fateful moment when I slipped into a coma. All I knew was that I was seventeen when it happened.

The moment my eyes fluttered open, I knew something was horribly wrong. The sterile smell of the hospital room and the soft hum of machines were there, but they felt alien, distant. My body felt heavy, as if it had been asleep for far too long. Panic surged through me, and I tried to sit up, but my muscles protested, and I fell back onto the hospital bed with a groan.

"Easy there," a soothing voice said, and I turned my head to see a nurse approaching. She wore a mask, a sign of the times. "You've been in a coma for quite some time. It'll take a while for your body to adjust."

Questions flooded my mind, but I couldn't find my voice. The nurse seemed to sense my confusion and continued, "You're safe now. The world has changed since you've been asleep. There have been reports of dungeon outbreaks all throughout the Earth. It's a dangerous time, but you're in a hospital, and we'll take care of you."

Dungeon outbreaks? The phrase was foreign to me, and it sent shivers down my spine. I wanted to know more, but before I could ask, the hospital's intercom crackled to life. Urgent voices filled the room.

"Code Red! All staff, report to the east wing! We have a situation!"

The nurse's face turned pale, and she hurried out of the room, leaving me alone and bewildered. What was happening? I tried to move again, to get out of the bed and find some answers, but my limbs were still too weak.

Minutes felt like hours as I lay there, listening to the distant commotion. Fear gnawed at the edges of my mind, but a sense of helplessness kept me rooted in that sterile room.

And then, as if the world had conspired to test my newly awakened resolve, I heard it; a low, guttural growl that sent a shiver down my spine. It was a sound that no hospital should ever echo.

I turned my head toward the door, my heart pounding in my chest. The growl was followed by a deep, menacing snarl, and then came the unmistakable sound of claws scraping against the tiled floor. It was getting closer, and dread clung to me like a vice.

I fumbled for the nurse call button, desperately trying to summon help, but it was just out of reach. The growling grew louder, and I could hear heavy, uneven breathing. Whatever was out there was coming for me.

Then, as the door to my room burst open with a deafening crash, I saw it; a hulking, hairy monstrosity, its eyes burning with a feral hunger. It was a werewolf, a creature of myth and nightmares, and it was about to pounce on me.

I closed my eyes, bracing for the inevitable, but instead of the searing pain of its jaws closing around me, I heard a different sound—a sharp, metallic clang, followed by a guttural howl of pain.

I dared to open my eyes, and there, standing between me and the werewolf, was a figure cloaked in shadow, holding a gleaming dagger. The werewolf recoiled, blood oozing from a deep gash on its shoulder.

The figure stepped forward, their face hidden by a hood, and with a voice filled with determination, they said, "Stay back, kid. I'll handle this."

In that moment, I realized that the world I had awoken to was far more perilous than I could have ever imagined, and I had been thrust into a battle I never asked for. But as I watched the mysterious savior face off against the monster, I knew one thing for certain, I was no longer a spectator in this new, terrifying reality.