2.1. Foreshadow

<Cain Ghron>

Grey nimbus clouds covered the sky. Two angels leaned against the handrail of the roof vantage. They looked upon the students flowing out of the school.

"Are you sure he's a fledgling?"

"How many times do you intend to ask that question?"

Cain sighed.

He understood why Eugine would be so doubtful. When it came to handling weapons, Avner's competence was way too abnormal.

"It's unusual, no matter how hard I think about it."

Eugine had met with many demons in his life. In fact, he's part of the bureau in charge of accepting demons into the angel forces.

"What's important is that we pull him to our side."

"Cain, know that I've exempted him from having to come to the temple to meet the counsels. I've made him a special case by my own volition, so don't tell anyone that I gave permission."

In that meaning, Avner would've needed to go for a stricter test before becoming accepted as an ally if not for Eugine's intervention.

"How is the situation in regards to the dispute? The case of the pureborn's death," Cain changed topics.

"The demons are now attempting to seize the territory."

"Which zone?"

"Zone 21."

Zone 21. It was south from here. Cain gazed towards the darkest region of the sky.

"The core is well enforced. I hope."

"Yes. To suppress the small skirmishes, they've dispatched angels to the outer regions of Zone 21. The critical point is being guarded by The Seraph. For now at least, the defence is holding."

"Why would they go all the way to station a Seraph there? It hasn't turned into a war.. or did they calculate its development?"

"I believe it's a precautionary measure. We still don't know if the demons would use this opportunity to go to war," Eugine shook his head.

Seraphs were non-living beings. A killing machine with the power to quite literally, turn a war on its head. These entities only listen to commands from God's lambs, and don't hesitate to kill without discriminating between angels and demons.

Cain had only encountered such a majestic entity once through his life. A simple action from The Seraph was enough to cull the lives of dozens.

Thunder rumbled in the sky, pulling Cain back to the present. Flakes of snow began falling.

"We should go."

"Yes."

The two of them entered the school building.

"I'll leave the rest to you. Nurture him properly."

Eugine paused a moment before continuing.

"Don't hesitate to kill him if he turns against you."

"I understand."

"See you."

Eugine waved as he made his way to the exit.

Cain placed his hands into the pocket and took out the broken keychains– weapons which Avner had destroyed during his fight against the mysterious angel.

Though, it wasn't that much of a mystery to a person like himself. He had an inkling to who it was.

Nevertheless, he decided to keep the answer to himself. It would be dangerous if others learnt of the method to bring memories over to the next life.

Cain watched the passing student.

How exactly did Avner Franc accomplish such a feat?

===

<Lynda Sparks>

Lynda was rolling around in bed. The sky was still dark, moon hidden behind thick clouds.

Her clothes were a mess, underwear all exposed. She scratched her butt.

Why was she itching all over?

There was a buzz in her ears. She spun her body and attempted to seize it.

Slap!

She missed.

Groaning, she got up scratching her disheveled orange hair.

It was too dark to see.

She wore her glasses.

[The bug is highlighted in green.]

The simple cubic AI said.

"Thank you," she said groggily.

The small green dot in the darkness landed on her leg. She tried her best not to move and.. slap!

Miss.

The dot flew in circles, she traced its movements like a cat eyeing a laser pointer.

It stopped again, this time on her cheeks. She did her best not to flinch at the itch. Bringing her hands close..

Slap!

She felt the sticky sensation on her palms. Victory!

"Turn on the lights."

She went to the bathroom to wash away the blood. The mosquito had been feeding on her throughout the night, noted by the red stain stuck on her hands. It was a little disturbing.

Then the thought hit her.

"Huh? Why would there be a mosquito.."

Alska is a country with four seasons. Mosquitoes shouldn't be able to survive here. So why was there one in her room?

[I don't know either, should I scour the web for deeper clues?]

"No need."

She decided in a beat.

She was too tired. It was only 2 am. She wanted to sleep some more.

Scratching the bite mark on her cheeks, she closed her eyes and fell back into slumber.

===

["If you become infected with NtBM, don't panic, it can be treated."]

Lynda was brushing her teeth when she received a message from that junior student whose name she couldn't remember.

She spat out the toothpaste.

"What is wrong with this guy? Asking me for my contact just to tell me that NtBM can be cured?"

Moreover, her friends had made a fool of her by uploading a clip of her conversation with this student onto ShareWiw. Daniel was the asshole that created the misunderstanding.

[NtBM cannot be treated with the current remedies, research is still on going to find a cure.]

"I know, so why did he tell me that?"

And here Lynda thought he would ask her about the baking club. Who'd thought that it'd be about this nonsense.

"Maybe he's wrong in the head."

Lynda mused. She had received similar messages from anonymous accounts in the past. After all, her father is a tycoon of a large firm. She shouldn't find it odd that she'd received something like this from a person in school too.

"He's a scammer, maybe."

[Perhaps.]

"Cuue, can you prepare some coffee in the kitchen? I'll go grab it later.

[Latte as usual?]

"Yup."

[Command has been sent to Mister Coffee Machine, please wait around 3 minutes.]

Lynda wiped her face. Then she went to grab the finished latte alongside the macarons she made earlier. With the snacks prepared, she began to study for the exams.