The Gate Incident Recovery Division had already flooded the scene. GIRD weren't Awakeners; their job was to sweep up after chaos, to contain the fallout of Gates opening where they shouldn't.
But a gate opening on city streets?
That shook the CBAA to its core. An A-rank squad had been scrambled, with an S-rank Hunter as insurance.
Ash still hung in the air. The scorched stink of flesh pressed against every nose.
S-rank Hunter Sylvan emerged from the gate he had just sealed.Behind him, the gaping black maw slowly collapsed in on itself. With a shake of his green hair, he scattered the crystalline dust that still clung to him from within the dungeon.
Stepping over the wreckage strewn across the convenience store floor, his emerald eyes swept the surroundings—until they halted upon a head of blazing crimson hair, conversing with a GIRD officer.
Sylvan had already received word: an trainee Hunter had been the one to face down the monsters of this B-rank gate.
His brow furrowed. He strode toward the boy, gaze sharp, weighing him like prey. The boy's levo was unstable, feeble even… yet another current clung faintly to him, foreign, unmistakable.
A guide's touch.
"Trainee Hunter Kai Luciano." Sylvan's voice was ice, each word a blade. "How did you manage to clear a B-rank gate alone?"
Kai ran a hand through his filthy, ash-stinking hair. His eyes flicked around the wreckage, evasive, careless.
"I've already filed my report with GIRD. Ask them."
His tone was careless, evasive. His eyes roamed the wreckage, searching for an escape.
The ground quaked. Roots burst from beneath the tiles, curling like serpents around Sylvan's boots. His voice dropped to a growl.
"You reek of a Guide's touch," Sylvan said darkly, the roots creeping toward Kai. "Who supported you?"
Fear flashed in Kai's eyes, but pride cut it down. His grin was defiant, sharp-edged.
"I wouldn't kno—"
The roots lashed upward, coiling his body, crushing him toward the floor as if to drag him into the earth itself. Kai braced with everything he had just to remain upright.
"Do you understand what you're hiding?" Sylvan's voice rolled like damp earth, like rot and leaf mold from some ancient forest pressing close.
He stepped nearer. Roots tightened, crawling up Kai's torso, winding slow toward his throat.
Sylvan's face was impassive, eyes like deep jade woods without end, yet his levo spilled outward, suffocating, heavy as a storm.
The ground under Kai buckled, sinking beneath the crushing weight. His chest snapped, blood bursting from his lips as the roots constricted.
"Hunter Sylvan, stand down!"
GIRD staff surged in, seizing his arm, shouting to the street.
"Guide! Get a Guide in here! He's losing control!"
Kai's face flushed red, breath strangled. His vision dimmed. But still he clamped his mouth shut. His eyes burned—not just stubbornness, not just rebellion.
Hatred.
Not only for Sylvan, but for everyone in the uniforms of the CBAA.
He thrashed, straining to summon flame, to burn the roots as he had burned the orcs. But without a Guide, the sparks sputtered out, cold.
Other Hunters rushed in, prying Sylvan's roots away, one Guide pouring their strength into smothering his rampaging levo.
"Hunters are dying in the dungeons, and you choose to protect the identity of whoever guided you?"
At last, Sylvan pulled back his roots, as if the boy's terror was proof enough. Or perhaps because he himself had brushed too close to losing control.
Kai collapsed, palms braced on the floor, coughing blood, ribs screaming with each breath.
Gasping greedily at the air, his fist clenched against the tiles, teeth grinding together.
"I didn't even know she was a Guide. She was just here to buy groceries. If you don't believe me, check the cameras."
The answer landed flat. Dissatisfying. A GIRD officer, still holding Sylvan's arm in restraint, muttered with dread.
"Cameras… went offline when the Gate opened."
Sylvan's jaw tightened. A Guide, undocumented, slipping through their grasp in the middle of global unrest, it was humiliation.
And not just any Guide. To pull an unranked apprentice through a B-rank Gate, this one had to be seasoned, powerful, overflowing with levo.
Who was she?
"Find her. At any cost."
Sylvan shook free from their grip, turning away, his cloak cutting a dark line through the ruin.
Kai watched him go, face still pale with fear, body trembling under its weight. Yet the corner of his mouth curved, a bitter, mocking smile.
He reached quietly for a wallet on the floor, pulling it close, hiding it from GIRD's prying eyes.
A Guide? He had won the lottery.
*
Serein hunched deeper into her coat, ignoring the chaos behind her. Her legs moved on instinct, driven by the single thought of getting home, collapsing into bed, sleeping until daylight could sew her back together.
She prayed the red-haired boy would keep her secret.
As her figure disappeared into the elevator, a man in a black suit stepped from the shadows outside the apartment building. He ground his cigarette beneath his heel, phone already at his ear.
"Yes. A Guide. Not registered with the CBAA."
His words faded as he slipped into a waiting Mercedes.
The car pulled away.
High above, the window of Serein's apartment flickered with light. Warm, oblivious, spilling into a sky still heavy with thunderclouds.
Perhaps she would sleep deeply tonight. Perhaps she would never notice the beasts already circling, teeth bared, waiting to tear into her once again.
***
[Official Document – Central Bureau of Awakened Affairs (CABB)]
Gate Incident Recovery Division (GIRD)
Classification: Support and Containment Division
Primary Mandate:
GIRD is tasked with post-gate operations once a spatial gate has been secured or closed. The division ensures rapid stabilization of the affected area, maintaining both public safety and regulatory compliance under the CBAA.
Core Responsibilities:
Scene Control: Establish perimeter security, evacuate civilians, and coordinate with Hunters to prevent secondary casualties.
Data Collection: Record eyewitness testimony, gather combat reports, and extract aura residue for analysis.
Resource Management: Catalog, secure, and transport materials or byproducts recovered from the gate, preventing illicit trade or unauthorized use.
Damage Assessment: Document structural, ecological, and human losses for compensation and policy response.
Incident Reporting: Compile official case files for the CBAA, providing intelligence for guild oversight and future gate predictions.
Operational Protocol:
All GIRD agents undergo specialized training in crisis mediation, aura forensics, and hazardous material containment. Agents work in tandem with assigned Hunters but operate independently to ensure impartial reporting.
Issued by: Central Bureau of Awakened Affairs (CABB) – Classified
***