Linkon City, 2034.
A bustling metropolis where humanity had learned to coexist with Wanderers—dangerous creatures from another dimension that threatened civilian safety.
The Hunter Association had been established to combat these threats, training individuals with special abilities called "evol" to protect the innocent.
Nana woke up at 5 AM, which was unheard of for her. But today was special.
Today was her first official day as a rookie hunter with the Linkon City Hunter Association.
She'd moved to Linkon right after her nineteenth birthday three months ago, fresh from training at a smaller branch. The city was overwhelming—tall buildings that scraped the sky, technology that seemed almost magical, people with abilities she'd only read about in books.
And Xavier.
Her neighbor, who lived one floor below in the same apartment complex.
Her friend, who'd helped her move in and showed her around the city. Her senior at the Hunter Association, who'd be supervising her team today.
Xavier, with his striking silver hair and pale blue eyes that sometimes looked sad even when he smiled. Xavier, who kept weird old trinkets in his apartment and seemed to know things before she told him. Xavier, who looked at her sometimes like he was seeing someone else—someone from a long time ago.
Nana grabbed her new hunter uniform—tactical gear in black and silver—and practically bounced out of her apartment.
The elevator felt too slow, so she took the stairs down one floor to Xavier's unit.
She knocked. Once. Twice. Three times.
No answer.
Of course. Xavier was probably still asleep. He had the strangest sleep schedule—sometimes she'd see his lights on at 3 AM, other times he'd sleep through entire mornings like the dead.
Nana knocked harder.
"Xavier! Wake up! It's my first day! You promised you'd be ready!"
Finally, she heard movement inside. The door opened to reveal Xavier in sweatpants and a soft sweater, his silver hair adorably mussed from sleep, his eyes still half-closed and unfocused.He looked... soft. Young. Almost innocent, despite being in his late twenties (or so he claimed—Nana sometimes suspected he was older than he let on, given how he carried himself).
"Nana?"
Xavier's voice was rough with sleep. He blinked at her slowly, processing.
"It's... what time is it?"
"Five-thirty! Come on, we need to be at headquarters by seven for the briefing!"
Nana couldn't help but giggle at his confused expression.
"You look so cute right now. All sleepy and innocent."
Xavier's expression shifted slightly—something that looked almost like pain flickering across his features before he controlled it.
"It's rare you wake up this early, Starlight."
The nickname made Nana's heart flutter.
He'd been calling her that since they met—said something about her personality reminded him of starlight. She'd liked it immediately, even though she didn't fully understand why.
"I'm excited!"
Nana bounced on her toes.
"Remember? It's my first day working in the Hunter Association! Making new friends, hunting Wanderers, protecting people! And you'll be the one teaching me, right? Since you're the senior hunter on our team?"
"Yes, of course."
Xavier ran a hand through his messy hair, making it somehow even more disheveled. "Just... give me a moment. I need a quick shower and to get ready. Come in, don't stand in the hallway."
He disappeared into his bedroom, leaving Nana to enter his apartment.
She'd been here before, of course. Multiple times over the past three months.
But she still found herself drawn to examine his space whenever she visited.Xavier's apartment was warm but simple. Minimalist furniture, a well-worn couch, a bookshelf packed with books in multiple languages—some she recognized, others in scripts she'd never seen.
Comics scattered on the coffee table (he had a surprising fondness for manga). A small kitchen that looked barely used.
And on a special shelf near the window, protected under glass—three star-shaped tassels.
Nana approached them slowly, drawn like always to these curious objects.
They were clearly very old—centuries old, if she had to guess.
The craftsmanship was exquisite but from different eras. One looked ancient Chinese, another seemed even older, and the third was made with techniques she couldn't identify.
But all three were pristine. Not a speck of dust, not a single thread out of place.
Xavier kept them immaculately maintained, like they were the most precious things he owned.
"Why does he have these?"
Nana murmured to herself, leaning close to the glass. Each tassel was star-shaped—five points, beautifully crafted, clearly made by hand with painstaking care.
"Xavier" in Philos language meant "crown star." She'd learned that while studying ancient languages at the academy.
The name suited him perfectly—he moved like starlight, graceful and untouchable. His light evol let him teleport in flashes of brilliance that left afterimages burned into her vision.
Sometimes she wondered if he'd chosen the name because of its meaning, or if it was fate that gave him a name so fitting.
"Ready."
Nana jumped, turning to find Xavier now dressed in his hunter tactical gear—black combat clothing with silver accents, weapons strapped to his belt, his hair still slightly damp from a clearly very fast shower.
He looked different now.
Not soft and sleepy but sharp and dangerous. The hunter, not the neighbor.But his eyes—those pale blue eyes—still held that same sadness she could never quite understand.
"You were looking at the tassels again," Xavier observed, moving to grab supplies from his kitchen.
"Sorry, I know I shouldn't—"
"It's fine."
He pulled out bread and milk, simple breakfast fare.
"You're always welcome to look. Just... don't touch the case. They're fragile."
"They must be really important to you. Family heirlooms?"
Xavier paused, his back to her.
"Something like that."
"They're beautiful. And star-shaped, like your name. Did you collect them because of that?"
"They were gifts."
Xavier's voice was quiet.
"From someone important. Someone I... someone I lost."
Nana's curiosity warred with her instinct not to pry into obviously painful topics.
"I'm sorry. They must have meant a lot to you, to keep them so perfectly preserved."
"They mean everything."
Xavier turned, and his expression was carefully neutral again. He held out his hand. "Come on. Let's go. Don't want you to be late for your first day."
Nana took his hand automatically, enjoying the way his fingers wrapped around hers—warm and secure and somehow familiar, even though they'd only known each other three months.
"Let's go!"
she said cheerfully, trying to lighten the mood. "I'm so excited to protect civilians from bad Wanderers!"
"Sure, but you shouldn't push yourself too hard, remember?" Xavier's grip tightened slightly. "Your condition—"
"I know, I know. The doctors said I need to be careful with my energy output because of my heart." Nana rolled her eyes.
"But Xavier, I'll be fine! I've trained for this. And besides—"
She squeezed his hand. "You'll always protect me, right?"
Xavier stopped walking.
Just completely froze in the middle of the hallway, his hand still holding hers, his expression shuttering closed.
"Xavier?"
Nana looked back at him, concerned.
"What's wrong?"
He was staring at her with such intensity it made her breath catch. Those blue eyes—suddenly not sad but desperate, ancient, carrying the weight of something she couldn't understand.
"Yes," he finally said, his voice rough.
"I'll always protect you. No matter what. No matter how many times—"
He cut himself off, looked away, seemed to forcibly collect himself. "I promise."
"How many times what?"
"Nothing. Come on."
Xavier started walking again, deliberately avoiding her gaze, focusing instead on the sky visible through the hallway windows.
"We're going to be late."
Nana let him pull her along, but she couldn't shake the feeling that she'd touched on something important. Something Xavier was hiding.
He'd been doing that a lot lately—saying things that didn't quite make sense, looking at her like he was remembering something painful, keeping secrets behind carefully maintained walls.
But Nana didn't push. Whatever Xavier was hiding, whatever pain he carried, he'd tell her when he was ready.
She trusted him. She didn't know why—they'd only known each other three months—but she trusted him more than almost anyone.
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The First Mission
The Hunter Association headquarters was impressive—a massive building in Linkon's center, bustling with hunters in tactical gear, support staff, and advanced technology designed to detect and track Wanderers.
Nana's team consisted of five rookie hunters and Xavier as their supervising senior.
The mission briefing was straightforward: a cluster of low-level Wanderers had been spotted in the forest on Linkon's outskirts. Perfect training exercise for new recruits.
"Remember," Xavier addressed the team with professional efficiency,
"Wanderers are unpredictable. Even low-level ones can be dangerous if you're careless. Stay together, watch each other's backs, and follow my lead. If anything goes wrong—if anyone gets injured or separated—retreat immediately and call for backup. Understood?"
"Yes, sir!"
the team chorused.Xavier's eyes found Nana's. "Especially you, Starlight. No heroics on day one."
She grinned. "No promises!"
Xavier's expression tightened, but he didn't argue.
The forest was dense and slightly eerie, shadows playing tricks on the eyes.
The team moved in formation, Xavier at the front with his light evol illuminating their path in gentle pulses.
Nana watched him work with fascination. Xavier was famous in the Association—the only hunter with both light evol AND teleportation capabilities. Nobody on Earth had dual abilities like that. It made him invaluable for missions but also isolated.
People respected him, admired him, but also kept their distance.
Like he was something other. Something not quite human.
The Wanderers appeared without warning—twisted creatures that looked like shadows given form, with too many limbs and eyes that glowed sickly colors. Four of them, larger than expected.
"Formation!"
Xavier commanded, his sword already drawn—and Nana noticed for the first time that it had a star-shaped tassel hanging from the hilt. Not as old as the ones in his apartment, but similar craftsmanship.
"Nana, support from the back! Use your resonance to boost the others!"
Nana nodded, falling back as the other hunters engaged. Her ability—aether core resonance—was rare. She couldn't fight directly, but she could enhance others' abilities, heal injuries, restore energy.
She reached out with her power, feeling for her teammates' evol signatures.
When she found them, she pushed energy outward—golden light flowing from her chest, wrapping around the hunters, amplifying their strength.
The team's attacks became faster, stronger, more coordinated. They cut through the Wanderers with efficiency that surprised even themselves.
But then a fifth Wanderer appeared.
Larger. More aggressive. Clearly a mid-level threat, not the low-level creatures they'd been briefed about.
It went straight for Nana.
"NANA!"
Xavier's voice cracked with panic. He teleported—a flash of light—and appeared between her and the creature, his blade intercepting claws that would have torn through her chest.
The impact sent him stumbling back. Blood bloomed across his shoulder where one claw had gotten through his defense.
"Xavier!"
Nana's heart lurched. Without thinking, she reached out with her aether core, pouring healing energy into him.
The wound closed immediately. Xavier's eyes widened in shock.
"Don't—"
he started to say, but Nana was already moving forward, her resonance flaring bright as she boosted Xavier's abilities to maximum.
Xavier moved like lightning. His light evol exploded outward, blinding bright, and when it faded, the Wanderer was dissolving into particles.
Silence fell over the forest.
"Everyone okay?"
Xavier's voice was steady, professional, but his eyes kept darting to Nana with barely concealed worry.
The team confirmed their status—minor injuries, nothing serious. The mission was technically a success.
But as they headed back to headquarters, Xavier pulled Nana aside.
"Don't do that again," he said quietly.
"Do what? Heal you? Xavier, you were hurt—"
"You used too much energy. I could feel it." His hand found hers, squeezed gently.
"Nana, your aether core is powerful, but it draws from your own life force. Using it too much will kill you."
"I know the risks—"
No." Xavier's voice was sharp now, almost desperate.
"You don't. Trust me, Starlight. You don't know what you're risking. Please—"
His hand cupped her face, and Nana's breath caught at the raw emotion in his eyes.
"Please be more careful. I can't—"
He stopped himself, swallowed hard.
"I can't watch you die again."
Again.
There was that word again.
"Xavier, what do you mean 'again'? We just met three months ago. How could you have watched me—"
"Forget I said that."
Xavier dropped his hand, stepped back, his expression shuttering closed.
"I'm just worried about you. That's all. You're my friend, and I don't want to see you get hurt."
But Nana wasn't stupid. She'd heard the pain in his voice, seen the ancient grief in his eyesXavier was hiding something. Something big. Something connected to those tassels in his apartment, to the way he looked at her like he was memorizing her face, to the sadness that never quite left his eyes.
And Nana was determined to figure out what it was.
Even if the truth broke her heart.
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⭐⭐⭐
To be continued__