Chapter 1

The Pixies

The pixies flew around an abandoned building. Like flies circling the rotten food, they are about to eat. Where did the pixies come from, that didn't deter a woman in her solitude from escaping. Nevertheless, the woman still wondered how the mythical creature could suddenly appear in the hospital's old building.

That woman quickly took out the reload on the silent gun. She was still perplexed by the existence of these thin-winged creatures. When she first met them, it seemed as if she still couldn't believe what she saw. Then she launches bullets from the silent gun like an owl across the night sky to catch its prey.

“Screech!” The pixie shrieked loudly after being hit by a bullet. Too bad, the bullet only hit the wing. It was unusual for her to miss the target due to how fast the creature was moving.

"Damn it!" she muttered. Shooting those supernatural beings was not her profession. She was only tasked with shooting people who were supposed to be ‘eliminate’ from an organization's hit list. She thought from the beginning the mischievous sprite was just a nuisance insect. She had to shoot because all of a sudden the puck bit her on the shoulder so hard.

“16!”

There was a voice calling from her ear. There was no need to answer someone from behind her earpiece, that person gave a warning. 

“Get out of that place right now! You don't have to bother shooting those weird insects!"

"It's not an insect, it's a mythical creature that suddenly comes out from a children's book."

"What?"

"That's not an insect!" she replied slightly raising her voice which she thought the person did not hear her voice.

"I heard you, it's just that what do you mean by mythical creatures coming out of children's story books?"

"A pixie," 16 chimed in exasperatedly. The pixies were still circling her to fight a human who only had a useless silent gun. She didn't give up until she tried to aim at the pixie's mouth which suddenly opened its mouth revealing sharp teeth as though thorns.

“Screw that! You're just wasting bullets. Go back to your base!”

“I was trying to run, but the pixies were after me. They want to eat me,” snapped 16 trying to calm down but was out of control.

"You're still hurt?"

"No. Just a small cut on the shoulder, I supposed,” 16 replied.

Another shot, moreover, didn't work either. The puck is increasingly being resisted the more it attacks its allies. 16 was forced to stop shooting then turned over and ran.

She tried to cover the shoulder that had been bitten. Even though the suit was designed to avoid sharp objects that could even tear the skin or something penetrated her body. Worse luck, it is not designed for the sharp teeth of the little demon-like being. Although 16 is wearing heeled shoes, she is used to running steadily without falling in order to be unagitated in the face of calamity situations.

16 had never run this fast before. Usually, she just stepped foot at a fast tempo to avoid the witnesses of the victim of her elimination. Before she could get close to the exit, someone came jumping to break the window from the side. 16 deftly covers herself, mostly her eyes.

The pixies and their flocks flew around still chasing 16. At the same time, someone who broke the window just threw a fire sprite from one of his hands. The smoldering fire spread and scorched the pixies who had gathered up to hundreds of them. As an ordinary human being, 16 did not understand what was happening this time in front of her to the point of being aghast. The wind blows hard due to the turmoil of the fire making her body feel a bit of heat.

The fire had burned the pixies but not the perimeter of the old building. Thin and small wings fell like dust from the flames at the hands of a young man. Having managed to finish off the pixies, the young man exhaled loudly as if to expel the remaining gas from his body.

The young man turned to look at the woman in the black suit. Raising an eyebrow, he walked over to the woman in surprise.

"Who are you? What business do you have in this abandoned building?”

She who was asked chose not to answer because no one could understand what her profession was.

"I just happened to be passing by," replied 16, "what other being are you?"

"I'm just a human being."

"What equipment did you get from under your jacket to make a fire out?"

"There's nothing," he raised his hands.

She was speechless.

"Marvelous," said 16.

The two of them fell silent again, not uttering a word. The young man didn't know what happened between a woman in a formal suit and the pixies. He saw at a glance that the woman was carrying a silent gun in her right hand.

"Are you an assassin?" he asked with a popeyed.

16 who realized that she needs to hide the gun, she slowly put it back in a shoulder holster. Like she didn't notice something. 

"Yes, but it's none of your business. And thanks for saving me.”

The young man just nodded without asking much after he was given the order to keep his mouth shut.

"Aight, fine, happy to help,” he grimaces. “My job is just to finish off things like that.”

That woman listened to what the young man in front of her was saying. 16 can feel that the young man is not hiding a mere lie because she has seen it with her own eyes.

“And…” the young man continues, “you can't kill those pucks with just a gun. They're kind of like “ghosts”."

16 nodded in understanding. Nor did she expect to meet the mythical creature that had suddenly appeared in her eyes.

"Can I ask something?"

"Yes, you can."

“Where did that creature suddenly appear?”

Before he could answer, the young man was startled by a lump of black flying up toward him. A puff of black smoke around the boy's head slowly descended to a cease on his shoulder.

The puff of smoke slowly dissipated and formed the shape of a black crow with shining white eyes.

"Where is your brother?"

"I was not with him, it seems he is still trying to beat the gatekeeper."

The crow then noticed the pixies' burnt marks. And it didn't just stop, it looked around the abandoned building and then stopped staring at a woman in a formal suit.

"And who are you?"

The woman was just trying to remain silent with no expression. A strange feeling began to come because the black crow-shaped figure could talk. Eventually, the boy whispered something to the crow.

"Ah, in that case, you shall keep silent too."

16 didn't respond. She wasn't the only one who knew what was going on here.

“Rion, I want to say that those pixies have a leader.”

"Good. I'm going to finish it off right now."

"Don't be rash. I'm here to accompany you. And you, go back to your base, lady."

At once a mystical bolt struck the crow until it was knocked off Rion's shoulder.

"MOM!" Rion shouted at the crow.