Caelum walked in through the backdoors of the school, looking left and right as he went through the doors.

Everywhere was trashed, the floors were littered with dirt and various objects having been thrown away and probably deemed unimportant.

The corridors were empty and after deeming it was safe for the time being, he brought Atlas out of the bag. Atlas quickly jumped out of the bag and stretched a little before heading over to Caelum’s feet seemingly unperturbed by the past events that had occurred.

“I wish I could be as carefree as you are right now,” Caelum muttered to Atlas as he began to walk down the hallway to his left. He received a meow from Atlas who then purposely bumped past his foot on his way to lead Caelum as he obviously should.

Sighing Caelum continued down the corridor. After walking for a few mintues he started to notice the certain section of the school he was in looked more damaged than the others.

Paying closer attention to his surrounding he continued on, when he came upon tracks on the ground… tracks in fresh blood. The tracks were huge, looking as if a giant had stepped in puddles of blood.

Caelum took a step back when he noticed that direction the tracks led went to a dead end.

Caelum pretty much knew the school’s entire memory by layout since his mom had been the vice-principal. He had sat in her office so much after-school last year he had completely memorized the school map she had in her office from all the staring he had done.

The tracks veered off onto the left hallway of the corridor and Caelum was debating whether to follow them. The person the blood belonged to could already be dead so it would be putting himself in danger to head over there.

Another reason he thought was that there seemed to be no one in the hallways or outside suggesting it was very dangerous to be out in the open. Looking at Atlas who patiently waiting for him he decided to continue forward and just forget he ever saw the tracks.

As he walked forward, he saw the way that Atlas tail slumped over. With a quiet meow, Atlas followed albeit at a slower rate than before. Knowing this was better for the both of them he quickly continued forward.

Suddenly Atlas bit his leg with a ferocity he hadn’t seen from the cat before. “OW what the hell Atlas!” he whispered hastily. With a look, Atlas stopped moving and turned his head away from Caelum.

Realizing Caelum whispered, “Oh come on you know it’s too dangerous to go back!” Ignoring him Atlas started playing with his tail. “Fine then you can stay right here, I need to get to the gym anyways” he huffed.

Continuing he started to walk forwards glancing back often to see Atlas not even looking at him, just sitting there. Filled with doubt he stopped a few meters away and looked back to see Atlas gazing directly at him.

The glow of his yellow eyes piercing right through Caelum as he stared right at him. Looking down to avoid Atlas’s gaze, he thought about how scared he had been during his fight with the ghoul.

And while he was scared to have to fight for his life again, he knew that he couldn’t imagine what the person who was actively being chased while bleeding out could be feeling.

Looking back at Atlas, his face had a look of determination on it. Tears pooling at the edge of his eyes he ran back in the direction he came. Seeing his change of heart Atlas ran ahead, leading the way with yips of encouragement and excitement.

Turning to the left and then another corner, he continued to run on when he slowed down as Atlas came to a stop. At the end of the hall was a boy facing a 3-meter black skeleton, with chunks of flesh still attached to it.

The boy was Leon Sandoval, easily identifiable due to being one of the best soccer players in their school, Hollowgate. His clothing resembled fist fighters in games Caelum played when he was younger. He had thin metal gauntlets on his arms, and black pants and a leather vest over his shirt.

He was about the same height as Caelum who was around 5’10. He had mousey brown hair and eyes… and was clutching his arm covered in blood.

Focusing on the corpse, the words [Elite Draugr Level 25] sprung into the air. Level 25… Caelum was frozen in shock and terror. How could it have leveled up so quickly, the initiation had barely started hours ago.

Trembling Caelum looked at Atlas who was showing no fear in front of this huge enemy. Atlas looked back with those same unflinching eyes, waiting expectantly.

Staring back Caelum felt a surge of courage and contentment knowing even if he died here, Atlas could easily escape. Staring at the Draugr he made up his mind and ran straight at its back.

As he ran towards it, a feeling overcame him, one of contentment and focus. He was charging at an enemy he knew he could not defeat. But he was taking matters into his own hands and taking charge of his life.

Taking his backpack off he felt energy surging through his body and down into his legs, and he jumped straight at the draugr. Kicking off the ground he jumped the full three meters into the air slinging his backpack over its face and with rapid movements tied the backpack around its face.

Leon’s face lit up with hope and without saying a word he sprung into action. Still clutching his hand, he ran to the side of the draugr and kicked at its knee, sending it to the ground.

The draugr let out roars of angry at being sent to its knees by a mere child. It couldn’t even see with the bag draped over it that Caelum had tied very tightly to the back of its skull.

Even with all of this going on the draugr grabbed at its neck area just as Caelum had been about to jump back onto the ground. Its hand had caught onto Caelum’s leg and it refused to let go.

“DAMN!” Caelum yelled as he struggled in the grip of the draugr. No matter how much he struggled the draugr had a grip of steel and wasn’t letting go soon. With a roar, it threw Caelum full force straight into a locker.

Caelum hit the locker hard enough to leave a dent in and slumped down. Gasping to get air back in his lungs, he felt blood come up in his throat. Shit can’t believe I’m going to die like this, he thought as he wiped the blood away from his mouth.

His vision was swimming, as he looked around trying to see if Leon and Atlas had made it out of there. Suddenly he saw that Leon had circled around the draugr and was heading over to him.

Desperately he tried to signal for them to leave as the draugr was still letting out desperate roars trying to claw the backpack off its face. Ignoring him Leon made it over to where he was.

“I can’t leave you behind, especially when you just saved my ass back there man. Either we both leave or we both die here” he said flashing Caelum a weak smile. Laughing a little, Caelum coughed up more blood as he shook his head. “Ok then let’s get out here while he’s still blinded.”

Nodding he draped Caelum over his shoulder and supporting each other they made it to the end of the corridor when Caelum’s senses started going haywire. Looking back, he saw that the draugr’s hand and gotten to the knot and was in the process of ripping it off.

Hurriedly glancing around he saw the janitor’s closet and shoved Leon and himself into the closet with Atlas right behind them. Feeling an odd sense of what they needed to do to not be caught he grabbed Leon and hid directly behind the door signaling at him to not make a noise.

They both heard a roar as the draugr managed to successfully free itself from the bag, then a metallic grinding noise and quiet. Slowly the heavy noises of the draugr’s feet hitting the ground got closer and closer to the janitor’s closet.

It slowed as it got closer to where they were and finally paused right in front of the closet. Suddenly it roared making Leon and Caelum cover their ears with their hands trying not to make a noise. Smashing a locker it had ripped off the wall into the door, it made a hole in the door.

The dust of the wood being smashed in almost made Caelum cough, but he held it in struggling to breathe. The empty socket of the draugr’s head looked through the hole and peered around.

After around five minutes of just staring through the hole in the door, it raised its head and in complete silence wandered off.

Standing still for a few minutes afterward, Leon let out a sigh and turned to talk to Caelum. Before he got out a word Caelum finally stopped holding his cough in.

He couldn’t hold it in anymore and he started violently coughing, with lots of blood coming out his vision began to swim, and he fell over. The last thing he heard was Leon yelling and the familiar sound of the system sending him messages.

[Inferior Stealth -> Intermediate Stealth] due to remaining hidden from an enemy more than 10 levels above yours!