2012
Gakuin College, Tokyo

It was a slightly cool but sunny early afternoon which began on this ordinary day in the capital of Japan immersed in this timid beginning of autumn. The sky was clear, with very little cloudiness and showed its majestic blue palette extending as far as the eye could see. Already the trees were slowly but surely beginning to lose their leaves and soon darker days were ahead. In the immense and sprawling city, millions of people went about their various jobs and occupations without worrying about anything else. It was the same at Gakuin College, a renowned educational establishment located not far from the district of Taito, in the northeast of the city. The students enrolled there were mostly from well-off, even wealthy families, and the teaching there was just as demanding and rigorous.

It was break time at the school, the students, boys and girls, being gathered in the large courtyard to chat and play various games before the return to class bell rang. All the students were talking, laughing and having fun... all except one.

Sitting alone at the foot of the big tree that stood on the little grassy hill a little way off in the yard, was a girl aged 15, with a fine, pretty face, and beautiful black eyes, as much as her long, smooth hair dark as night and tied in a ponytail behind her head. Like the other girls at the school, she wore the regulation uniform, consisting of a white shirt, a deep blue-black jacket on top, a dark red bow tie at the collar, a skirt of the same color, long black socks going up to the knees and black shoes. The boys, on the other hand, wore the same shirts and jackets, but with red ties and gray pants.

Her name was Suzuka Nakamoto, sometimes nicknamed Su, and she hadn't come to sit here for nothing. Suzuka had always lived in solitude and sadness, like an outcast, a misunderstood person. The first years of her life began in a tragic way when, when she was only 1 year old, her parents perished in the fire which devastated their house, but Su had escaped as if by a miracle, the flames did not having never reached her cradle and this, without the emergency services who intervened being able to explain it.

Su was then taken in and raised by her grandmother who gave her as much love as possible and took care of her health and education. But at school, Su never managed to really make friends, the other children finding her too distant, too strange. Then over time came the bullying and teasing from the other students, but Su resigned herself to this. She found refuge in drawing, but also in what would become a passion for her: Metal. It all started when she was hanging out on YouTube, and one day, she discovered a music video by the band Judas Priest. Immediately, Su was captivated by the music, the fast and catchy riffs, Rob Halford's singing... After that came bands like Metallica, Rob Zombie, Slipknot, Sabaton, Bring Me the Horizon, ... Suzuka became a fan of this kind of music and became began to listen to it regularly, finding refuge and comfort in metal and rock music. Although she continued to suffer ridicule from others at school, her passion and love for metal allowed her to not give up, even if deep down, the feeling of being excluded and rejected by everyone was becoming more and more felt.

Sitting in the shade of this large tree, aside, Suzuka was deep in thought, making a drawing in her notebook placed on her knees. On her ears was a headset connected to an mp3, in which the Metallica song "For Whom the Bells Tolls" sounded softly. While drawing, Suzuka shook her head very gently to the rhythm of the melody, without even glancing at the other students and what was happening in the courtyard. All her attention was focused on what she had just drawn on the white sheet. The image represented a sort of confrontation between two creatures that could be described as supernatural and which could seem to come straight out of a dark fantasy universe.

The first looked like a sort of giant white fox with red eyes, majestic, roaring, with multiple tails, emanating from it flames and a light that was both pure and destructive. In front of him was another giant entity, having the appearance of an imposing bird of prey, like a vulture, cadaverous and frightening, made up of shadows and darkness spreading around it like a devouring and parasitic wave.

If one could think that these creatures came from Suzuka's overactive imagination, this was not the case. In reality, they came from a dream, or rather a recurring nightmare that Suzuka had been having for several months now. It was the same thing every time, she remembered it perfectly because it was so engraved in her mind. She was there, alone and absolutely terrified, in a sort of sprawling and twisted black forest, as if the dead trees were coming to life and were trying, with their clawed branches, to take hold of her. Behind her, chasing her, the great dark vulture draws inexorably closer, spreading its wings of black smoke and darkness spreading from it, crawling towards her like thousands of tentacles to engulf and devour her. It is then that in an intense and burning flash a white light explodes, and the great fox appears, protective and all-powerful, managing with a simple roar and another flash of his purifying flames to push back the darkness and confront the great evil vulture. Suzuka remained there, paralyzed by this surreal vision, then the fox turned its red eye towards her, and at that moment, she woke up.

Each time, Su had woken up with her heart pounding, feeling both bad but also reassured, as if this fox had tried to protect her and make her safe. It was very strange, and what was even stranger was that these nightmares had started the day after her 15th birthday. A coincidence perhaps? Suzuka had kept it to herself at first, but one day decided to tell her grandmother, who oddly enough remained evasive on the subject, as if she didn't want to talk about it. Really strange, Su thought as she stood lost in contemplation of her drawing.

But suddenly, she felt a shadow cover her little by little, taking her out of her thoughts and making her look up. "Oh no, not them..." she thought at that moment. In front of her, a group of five students from her class were there, three girls and two boys, all the same age as her and looking at her with mocking looks. The girl standing in the middle, Suzuka knew her too well unfortunately. Miyuki was her name, the most popular and also the richest girl in the school, and also very good in class. Most of the boys were at her feet and to make matters worse she was the daughter of the director of a prestigious and world-renowned pharmaceutical company. It was even said that his father had several friends in high places in the Japanese government.

Since Suzuka's arrival at middle school, Miyuki had become her main tormentor, never missing an opportunity to mock or humiliate her, constantly belittling her. Since Suzuka had no friends, she could not defend herself against Miyuki who had managed to turn the entire class against her. This is what Suzuka was in middle school: the outcast, the loner, the misunderstood, the weird girl that no one wants to approach...

Sensing trouble coming, Suzuka removed her headphones from her ears and stood up, holding her sketchbook close to her and was quickly surrounded by the group of students. With her back to the tree trunk, she was cornered. Miyuki stood in front of her, looking at her with an evil and very hypocritical smile.

_"Well, well, my poor little Suzuka..." said Miyuki in a falsely friendly tone. "Why don't you come and enjoy some sunshine with us? Or would you rather stay and talk with your imaginary friend, the tree, right?"

The remark made the other students laugh softly.

_"I don't have time to talk Miyuki... The bell will ring soon..." Suzuka replied timidly while trying to leave, but Miyuki's arm blocked her.

_"Oh but I'm just coming to see how my favorite toy is doing." Miyuki added grimly, accompanied by the snickers of her group. "You're not going to blame me for being curious and to be honest, I was getting a little bored."

Being described as her "toy" made Suzuka shudder in anguish. Then, without having time to react, Miyuki snatched the drawing book from her hands. Suzuka wanted to try to take it back, but the two boys, much physically stronger than her, held her by the arms and forced her to back up to the trunk of the tree, all to the laughter of the two other girls.

_"No! Give it back, it's mine!" Suzuka panted, struggling in vain.

But Miyuki remained deaf to his request, even seeming to delight in seeing the distress in Su's eyes, and took a look at the drawing. Immediately, an expression of incomprehension and disgust appeared on Miyuki's face, who then showed it to the others and then held it out in front of Suzuka's face.

_"It's no wonder that no one wants to talk to you and that no boy wants you, my poor Suzuka, with designs like that." Miyuki commented cruelly. "What are you trying to do? Become an artist? Write a horror story?! I knew you weren't normal."

Suzuka couldn't answer and without being able to do anything could only watch as Miyuki tore the drawing into several pieces and let them fall at her feet, to the laughter of the others. Then, Miyuki decided to go further in her little torture game and took something else from Suzuka: her mp3. Once again, Suzuka struggled but the other students under Miyuki's influence held her back. The tree being very isolated from the rest of the playground, they were out of sight of the teachers. Miyuki then put the headphones to her ears but quickly took them off when the Metallica song screamed at her.

_"Ha and you continue to listen to this horrible din which are qualified as music?! You are truly a hopeless case, little Su. A failure, who will never succeed. But after all, such is life: There are those who were born to dominate and those who were born to be dominated. And unfortunately for you, you drew the wrong ticket in the lottery. I am everything and you are nothing."

Upon this cruel judgment, Miyuki threw the mp3 on the ground and crushed it under her shoe several times, breaking it under Suzuka's shocked and sad gaze. The other students, laughing sadistically, then let her fall to her knees on the grass and Suzuka, without a word, crawled to the pieces of her mp3 which she picked up in her hands. Miyuki, dominating her then, leaned towards her to speak in her ear.

_"It's for your own good that I'm doing this." she said, sadistically. "You will see one day you will thank me and who knows, maybe I will agree to hire you as a cleaning lady in my future company?"

Suzuka didn't even listen to her, remaining on her knees, tears forming in the corners of her eyes and seeing the debris of the mp3 slowly flow between her fingers. Particularly proud of their macabre little power play, Miyuki and her group began to walk away as the bell announcing the resumption of classes began to echo towards the main building. But Suzuka didn't hear it either, lost, sad and suffering. In just a few seconds, Miyuki had mercilessly trampled on what he held dear. But suddenly, something seemed to awaken in Su, she felt it clearly, like a nascent flame in her mind, and clearly telling her to get up, not to give up... But also, a much darker thought, a taste of revenge permeated her mouth and soon, the sadness and pain gave way to an angry expression as she stood up and turned her gaze towards the group of unsuspecting students.

Then, as if no longer responding on her own, Suzuka walked very quickly towards them, and more particularly towards Miyuki's back. She barely had time to feel a presence behind her when Suzuka pushed her brutally. Surprised and under the stunned looks of her friends, Miyuki rolled and quickly rolled down the grassy slope to the bottom where she broke one of her wrists after a bad landing on the concrete ground. Immediately, Miyuki's cries of pain alerted the middle school teachers who came running, under the astonished and curious looks of the other students. Miyuki, on the ground and holding her broken wrist while crying, was quickly surrounded by teachers and friends worried about her.

_"Miyuki! Oh my god, what happened? Quick, call an ambulance!" asked one of the teachers when he saw that the bone was sticking out of Miyuki's wrist who was in excruciating pain.

_"It was Suzuka who pushed her! We saw her do it!" said one of Miyuki's friends, pointing an accusing finger at the designated culprit.

All eyes then focused on Suzuka, who having remained alone at the top of the small grassy hill, remained silent, almost seeming to gather her wits and realize what she had just done. Shock was seen on the teachers' faces and one of them immediately came towards Suzuka.

_"Suzuka, is what she says true? Did you really do that?!"

_"I... she... she deserved it..." Suzuka then breathed with a sad but nevertheless angry voice.

_"How can you say that? Do you just see what you have done?!... Ok, you're going to follow me to the principal's office right away, come on!" then ordered the professor, wanting to take her by the wrist.

But Suzuka quickly tore herself from his hold and quickly stepped back, keeping a distance between herself and the others, looking at them with tears streaming from her eyes, but also an expression of contempt to see them all gathered together and worried about the girl who had harassed and tortured her for so long.

_"You're all here judging me, but you have no idea what she could have done to me! You never cared about that! Fuck off, I hate you all!"

With these painful but true words, Suzuka flees the school under the dismayed gaze of everyone. In tears, feeling more alone and misunderstood than ever before, Suzuka ran for a long time through the streets, under the perplexed looks of passers-by who saw her pass, while the sky was gradually clouding over and a light rain began to fall. fall on the city. Not having an umbrella or a hooded coat, Suzuka continued running in the rain, but not caring at all, the water from the rain mixing with that of her tears. Her run led her to take refuge in a small, isolated and deserted park. On the paved stone path, among the grass, trees and near a small pond in which koï carp were swimming, Suzuka came to huddle on a bench, her face buried in her arms and continuing to cry. She had had enough of it all. It was no life to suffer like this. Was this her destiny? To remain alone and misunderstood forever?

_"I hate them all..." she whispered through her tears. "I don't want to see them, ever again... I would love to be able to go somewhere else, very far from here..."

But as she cried, suddenly a small animal squeak pulled her from her sad thoughts and caught her attention. Raising her head, she then noticed a very cute little fox standing at the foot of the bench and staring at her. Suzuka was more than perplexed to see this kind of animal here, in a park in the middle of Tokyo, but the most surprising thing was the appearance of this fox. Fur white as snow and eyes red as blood. But another strange aspect was his behavior, very calm and absolutely not afraid to stand so close to a human.

_"Leave me... come on, go away..." then said Suzuka, who with a movement of her hand wanted to make him go away.

The fox, although it backed away, came back very quickly towards her and then became agitated, continuing to emit little squeaks and, almost like a dog, gently pulled on Suzuka's shoe with its teeth, to make her come. Suzuka was about to yell at him to make him leave, but was quickly perplexed by his way of acting. As soon as she was up, the white fox quickly moved away in a direction towards the back of the park, but upon seeing that Suzuka was not following him, retraced his steps and squealed and fidgeted again. Su was more and more confused. Did this fox really want her to follow him? Her instincts told her not to do it, but deep down, another part couldn't resist the temptation, as if an irresistible force was pushing her.

She hesitated for long seconds in the rain, but finally, after a first step, then a second, a third, began to go towards the fox, first in an increasingly rapid walk which turned into a run when the animal also began to gallop among the thick vegetation and trees of the park, always making sure that the young girl followed him. As she ran, pushing aside the leaves in her path, Su didn't know what to think or why she was doing this. She had read Alice in Wonderland when she was a child, and felt a bit like her, following the white rabbit to its burrow, only this time it was a fox.

This lasted for many minutes, then finally, Suzuka managed to extricate herself from the thick vegetation, to arrive in the most remote and isolated section of the park. She remained silent and fascinated by what she saw. A small, sparse space, surrounded and hidden by trees. A small clearing covered with large slabs of worn stone. Several statues, arranged in a circle around the clearing, represented foxes with several tails. In the center of this circle was an ancient Japanese altar, whose stone base was also marked with the fox symbol and on which were placed candles, but also a small sealed black box. Everything seemed worn by time and humidity, as if this place was hundreds of years old and had never been discovered. Suzuka felt it, there was a special atmosphere here... very heavy but at the same time peaceful, almost like in a cathedral. Looking closer at the statues, Su could see that the foxes all had their front legs raised upwards, in a symbolic sign truly reminiscent of the sign of horns from the metalheads.

The little white fox appeared again from a bush and came to perch on a small rock not far from Suzuka.

_"But... what is this place?" she asked, torn between confusion and fascination.

And here I am talking to a fox, Su thought, calling herself an idiot. It's not like he's going to answer. And yet, the fox showed understanding and with a gesture of his muzzle pointed towards the altar, towards the black box. Suzuka hesitated for a moment, but nevertheless decided to approach, with caution. Coming into the large stone circle, she could see this huge fresco beneath her feet, depicting a large fox head. She also noticed Japanese engravings, half faded but still slightly legible in the stone of the altar base.

_"Only those whose ancient blood of the first gods of metal flows in their veins will be granted their blessing to become the new guardians of balance and power." Su then read, totally disconcerted.

Staying behind, the white fox observed with great attention what the girl was going to do. Suzuka no longer knew what to think, but again, this irresistible attraction manifested itself within her, like a devouring curiosity, pushing her to put her hands down and open the box. Inside was a small metal object, a sort of talisman representing a white fox with red paints.

When Su took the small talisman in her hand, suddenly, the candles on the altar lit up as if by magic, making the young girl jump in surprise but also in fear. The atmosphere became much heavier, more charged with an energy that she was unable to describe. Dumbfounded, she saw that the raindrops had frozen and that time itself seemed to have stopped, although she could still move, as could the white fox. Su looked around, not understanding what was happening and starting to get scared. The weather seemed to have darkened, as if the sun had been hidden by clouds. Then, she saw the small eyes of the talisman begin to glow, a piercing red. Su gasped as he saw that the eyes of the little white fox that had guided him here also began to glow the same unearthly red and several tails began to appear behind him. Several things had also changed and Su noticed it too. The statues of the foxes were no longer seated, but standing, and all holding electric guitars in their hands, like warriors brandishing swords. A distant but powerful sound echoed through the air, like the sound of an electric guitar. Su began to panic as she looked around, so much so that she lost her balance and fell to the ground, dropping the talisman which rolled a few meters away.

Several other white foxes with multiple tails appeared from the surrounding vegetation, showing no hostility but all looking at the girl with their red eyes glowing in the dim light. And finally, a voice, powerful, ethereal and absolute rose in the air, speaking directly to the young girl. The mouths of all the white foxes moved in perfect unison, the single voice coming from them.

_"You, whose blood of ancestral guardians flows in your veins. You who answered the call of the metal gods and received their blessing... I have finally found you..."

Su remained paralyzed, afraid, feeling completely crushed by this voice, as if it were not meant to be heard by human ears.

However, despite the incomprehension and the fear that gripped her, Su could not prevent this strange sensation from running through her, as if she had already felt this presence, already heard this voice before... But it was impossible, she 'would remember it otherwise!

Seeing the foxes starting to come towards her, Su became frightened and managed to get up and run away from the clearing, leaving behind the talisman and also the foxes who did nothing to catch up with her and watched her flee. One of the foxes, however, retrieved the talisman between his teeth while a mist gradually enveloped the sanctuary, the weather seemed to return to normal and the rain began to fall again.

Heart beating, fear in her stomach, Su had never run so fast. Blinded by the dense vegetation that she struggled to push aside, scratching her cheek on a branch, the young girl managed to escape and finally returned to the path to the park, out of breath. It was then that flashlight lights surprised her and blinded her.

_"Suzuka!" then gasped a voice that was familiar to her.

Su, still in shock from what she had just experienced, then saw her grandmother, Asuka, accompanied by police officers, run up to her and hug her forcefully.

_"G...Granny..." Su breathed, confused.

_"But where have you been?! You've been missing for hours, I was worried to death!" Grandma Asuka then said, reprimanding her out of emotion.

For hours? Su didn't understand, but in fact noticed that... night had fallen! And the watch of one of the police officers indicated... 10 o'clock in the evening?! How was this possible? It was early afternoon just a few minutes ago! Su remained unable to explain this phenomenon.

_"I... I beg your pardon, grandma, I..." Suzuka wanted to answer, but couldn't find what to say to explain herself, and even less talk about what she had witnessed, not being able to know whether she had dreamed or not.

Seeing her granddaughter shivering from the rain and cold, Asuka covered her with a coat.

_"Come on, let's go home."

Without saying a word or offering resistance, Su left with her grandmother, both escorted by the police towards the exit of the park where a police car was parked. Then, as if in a premonition warning her, Su couldn't help but take one last look over her shoulder, and notice, lurking in the thick bushes, a pair of small red eyes staring at her. Su felt a shiver run through her, swallowing but chose not to say anything and walked away.

************

Meanwhile...

Far, very far from Tokyo and even from Earth, beyond borders that no one could envisage and imagine, Suzuka was observed... In the middle of indescribable darkness, floated a moving and energetic sphere, showing in its distorted heart the The image of young Su leaving with her grandmother and the police towards the car. The sphere then vanishes between the hooked fingers of a dark and armored hand, similar to the claws of a bird of prey.

_"So, my old enemy seems to have found a new first guardian." commented and sneered an inhuman voice, from beyond the grave and overwhelming. "Poor little human, you seem so lost, so afraid... But if only you knew how this is only the beginning... Miserable little creature. My monsters will be happy to visit you."

The entity's armored, clawed hand then rose, imbued with black and sickly green energy that burst and spread across the dark ground.

_"Arise, children of darkness! Come and serve your master!" commanded fiercely and powerfully the entity whose voice resonated.

The invoked energy caused three puddles of a viscous, gray and disgusting liquid to appear, from which three filthy and twisted creatures were born and raised, who already uttered their first infernal groans under the satisfied observation of their master and creator.

_"Your prey is in the mortal world." he told them, then showing them an image of Su through a new sphere. "Kill anyone who gets in your way, but bring this girl back to me alive!"

The entity, measuring more than two meters, with a body made of darkness, rickety and cadaverous, covered with pieces of dirty and dark armor, and with lacerated wings of darkness folded behind its back, then turned around, revealing its head having the shape of a misshapen skull devoid of flesh, a mixture of human and vulture and covered with a metal helmet in the shape of a sharp beak.

Without seeking further answers, the three monstrous spawns set off on the hunt in a chorus of abominable growls, all under the gaze and sinister sneers of their master, whose eyes shone with a malevolence beyond all imagination.