Paranomaly [ ONGOING WIP ]

You find an old journal, hidden away in an old broken down treehouse. It seems old, while you're curious to read it... staying here isn't safe. You can hear the banging on the outside walls, down below.

You pick it up to read later, as you do - a note slips out. You don't bother picking it up, need to run off before the dead breach the walls and this old safezone turns into a death trap, but you do catch a glimpse of the ink staining the fallen page;

"This is the story of how we died."

July 16th, ████. It's been years since the virus hit our  little town.. years since Haruko had gotten bit. I thought I had gotten  away from it all. That it was dealt with; how wrong I was. It blew up in  the last months going from a small secluded sickness to taking over  half the land. When it reached the Isles I had no choice to leave; ran  down to Frerune where Chi lived to seek shelter. I couldn't leave  my back unguarded and my magic is only so strong; being a luxury. She  was like a sister to me so we'll keep eachother safe. We thought  he was dead -- so why was he back now. Walking amidst the living dead as  if controlling the hordes. Why was he after us, specifically. Least  it... certainly looked like it, the way he smiled seeing me in the  crowd. Signed to me a warning - something.. only he would know how to  do. He's conscious still in there - somehow, I don't know. He's gone  insane for all I can tell.. but I digress. The north-eastern side  of Frimora was already taken over by the infected now. Whatever  survivors remained set up a border in hopes of keeping it from  spreading. ...It was weird, seeing everyone in agreement for once, even  some nightmares had put aside their differences out of fear. Others still vacated to their normal routine.. using the panic to take advantage on the weaker lups. ..Old habits die hard. Figure. This.. curse. Whatever it was; was far worse than the wrath of Vetis. This had turned out to be fair bigger, than all of us had ever foreseen. I need to rest... used up too much energy coming here as is.

July 29th, ████. Took me awhile but I managed to settle down  in the camp with Chiharu, despite anxiety being high to unholy degrees.  It's busy, everyone helping however they can to keep this place  standing. I've been seeing a familiar face around the safe camp  lately, but I can't figure out if it's actually him or not... no time  for this right now. Have too much to do, been training along with  Chiharu to join the hunter crew - both having a strong magic affinity  gives us a hand up on other folks despite our small nature, not common  for lupaxi to wield it so casually as we found out. Chi's magic has more  defensive purpose so we're not in the same class - she's a backline  support, while I plan to be a frontline assailant due to nature of my  skills; an assassin, someone that can quickly get in and out of place  without being seen. It's scary, I'll admit, but I will not stand  by doing nothing when I'm fully capable of fighting, even if it's taking  all my energy lately. Glory to Stellmina - may she protect us all.

You can't help but turn your nose up at that last sentence. Goddess long forgotten; banished under the shadow of Vetis after she failed to protect the lands from the infection.

Our overlord had given us immunity to the tainted poison; the blood of saints running in most of the new youngs' blood. He kept us alive when she failed. Whatever era this was from must have been ancient.. at the start of it all generations ago.

The title of Luxury was so forgone now; the chaos had lead to high rates of hybridization due to cohabitation between variants - so most no longer cared for those useless labels.

Still.. you were still curious to keep reading.

August 2nd, ████. I barely have energy to write, coming home  every day - being the only luxury in the program gets tiring. It was my  choice though and I'll persevere, it took a lot of effort just to get  accepted - I'm not going to let others intimidate me out of it. Still.  You mainly just see Caves and Deserts as frontline trainees, a few  oddball Arctics sure, but having natural armor against bites seems to  help qualifying for this rank. Or just being a Nightmare seems to  work - as we've found out, their natural venom makes them immune to  infection by bites. However they can still get infected by consuming the  flesh of the dead; fallen Nightmares have been nicknamed Archaic Banes  because of how dangerous they are. Thankfully they're rare since most  have figured it out by now and aren't being stupid about it anymore. Fallen  lups have been named Scourges - the classes serve to not only train us  physically but also teach us the weaknesses of these things and learn  how they behave. From what I've gathered the infection is  parasitic in nature - rots the core of a soulrune and takes over it; in  turn killing the host and using it as a puppet from there on. ...Freaky shit.

August 10th, ████. Guess I wasn't crazy after all - that familiar face ended up joining the frontliner classes; Jack Butler. ...My childhood friend, Film. I  tried making myself small, hiding within the veil of my shadow -- it  felt weird seeing him again after so long, knew he had hybrid nightmare  blood but... didn't expect such a drastic change from when we were  Luppies. Despite my best efforts I do think he noticed me, his  expression looked so broken for a second before he hid it back turning  away. Figure it must have hurt- after so long. ...Mean it sure as hell  hurt me too, seeing that reaction. It was beyond our control -- my  family dragged me away and I never saw him again until now... we were  children - no one was to blame but he never got any explanations, not  even a goodbye. I don't fault him; for averting his eyes. Even  now, I can only feel overwhelming shame standing in the same room as  him. I teleported back home as soon as class ended... but if he sticks  to the course I can't avoid him forever can I..? Fuck.

August 13th, ████. I took a few days break to wrap my head  around the situation, my two options are quitting the class or push  through and hope that he's not mad at me. I'm not going to let this hinder proving the titans that I can qualify. I've  already noticed more than once that the lupax in charge of teaching our  group has purposely tried making things harder for me to try and get me  to give up and quit. Jokes on him through, just made me push myself  harder. Still.. tiring constantly having to prove that I deserve  to be here compared to all my peers. Guess even the world ending doesn't  stop others from looking down on the "weaker" types. ..On another note, Chi  told me when she get back home that there's some rumors about Jack  getting transferred to another group because of an "accident" with the  last one. ... It's barely been two days. Christ. Really  just had the poor luck of getting stuck with the type-elitist crew, I  feel bad for him. Luxury get mocked for being weak but Nightmares.. the  distrust and fear must be soul crushing. He hid it, when we were kids  for similar reasons - only told me after years of being close, but being  all grown now the traits show whether he likes it or not. ..I hope he's holding up okay.

People were scared of Nightmares back then? Why? You can't even recall the last time you met someone that didn't have nightmare blood. Especially amidst runners - it was basically an obligatory requirement now. Civils weren't allowed to join the ranks at all unless they had some immunity to the infection; which in turn meant the blood of our Saint or his direct blessing.

Reading on a time so foreign... felt uncanny almost, but still lead you to imagine what living at a time like that was like - how was it before the infection even? 

Your curiosity continued to rock yourself to sleep, imagining of a time long forgone as you drifted to sleep for the night...

August 14th, ████. ...Forgot team assignments started today, with field tests. It seems the groups got made during my off days, unfortunately. No  one wanted to be teamed up with me of course.. why would someone  willingly team with the frail tiny luxury. Bullshit. Unfortunately for  me, that means that I'm stuck with the other person who nobody wanted to  be with due to the rumors going around... Film. I really can't  get a break can I - avoided him still for today, but won't have a choice  soon enough; lack of cooperation is the number one cause of death out  on hunts. ..To be fair... I missed him, I'm just scared he hates  me because of what happened. I'm not.. willing to face that mess, if it  comes out being true.