Grimaldi: Allies from the Night

Chapter Two

The school grounds felt longer than usual. Every step Kaia took echoed in her mind louder than the noise around her, each one reminding her of what always came next—of what she had seen too many times before, of what she could never fully stop no matter how many times she tried. It took her minutes before she finally reached her classroom, even though she knew the route by heart.

Inside, her classmates greeted her like usual. Their voices blended into a familiar background hum, casual and unaware of anything beyond the present moment. Kaia returned their smiles automatically, almost like muscle memory, the expression forming on her face before she could even decide whether she meant it or not. Then she walked toward her group of friends.

Gail was there, along with Caureann and Stephanie, laughing loudly as if the world outside their table was still safe, still predictable, still something that would continue the same way tomorrow. For a moment, Kaia almost forgot the weight she was carrying. Almost. It was always like that—just a brief illusion of normalcy before reality reminded her otherwise.

Gail glanced at the window and sighed. “Today’s weather looks horrible.”

Kaia followed her gaze slowly. The sky had been strange lately. Gray clouds gathered too early, covering what should have been a bright morning. The air also felt heavier than usual, like something unseen was pressing down on the world, waiting. It wasn’t dramatic enough for anyone else to notice, but Kaia noticed everything now. Every small change. Every deviation.

She nodded slightly in agreement, but said nothing. Same weather from all the loops.

Stephanie and Caureann suddenly rose from their seats.

“We’re going to buy some snacks from the cafeteria,” they said casually, like it was just another ordinary part of the day.

Kaia’s body stiffened almost instantly. A sharp, familiar sense of dread crawled up her spine before she could stop it. Her fingers twitched against the edge of her desk, and for a second, she forgot how to breathe properly.

“Can you just… buy later?” she blurted out. Her voice came out faster than she intended, thinner than she wanted it to be. “You see—”

“Geez, Kaia,” Caureann interrupted with a sigh, already turning away. “We’re hungry. We’ll be back as soon as possible.”

Her words were light. Careless. Final in a way she didn’t understand.

Before Kaia could say anything else, Stephanie had already turned away as well.

Both of them left the room.

The door closed behind them with a soft click that somehow felt heavier than it should have.

Kaia’s hand stayed frozen mid-air.

“No…” she whispered under her breath.

But they were already gone.

Then it happened.

A sudden chill spread through the air.

Not just cold—but wrong.

A distant explosion echoed across the city, low and muffled at first, like the world itself had been struck somewhere far away. The sound was followed by another.

And another.

The windows rattled violently. Dust fell from the ceiling in faint trails. The classroom fell silent for half a second before chaos erupted outside the walls, like the world had suddenly lost its order.

Screams filled the school.

Kaia’s body went cold.

Not surprised.

Not confused.

Just confirmed.

She knew this moment.

The school turned into chaos within seconds. Students ran in every direction, voices breaking into panic as something unseen destroyed parts of the building beyond their sight. The ground trembled slightly, as if something massive had arrived and stepped into their reality without permission.

And then she saw them.

Orcs.

Tall, grotesque figures moved through the corridors like hunters. Their green skin, sharp fangs, and bone-made weapons left no room for misunderstanding. They were not human. Not even close. Their footsteps were heavy, deliberate, like they had done this before—like they knew exactly where to go.

Kaia’s body stiffened.

Her breath stopped.

Fear did not arrive all at once—it crept in slowly, wrapping itself around her limbs, her chest, her throat, until she could barely move. It was familiar, too familiar, and that made it worse.

Gail grabbed her arm, but Kaia could not respond. Her eyes were fixed ahead, locked onto a scene she had already seen before, already survived before, already failed to change before.

Stephanie and Caureann were further down the hallway.

Too far.

Too exposed.

Too late.

“No…” Kaia whispered under her breath, her voice barely audible, already breaking.

She remembered this.

She remembered everything.

And she remembered what happened next.

An orc raised its axe.

Time felt slower, but Kaia knew it was not. It was her mind breaking again under the weight of repetition, trying to process something it already knew would happen but still could not accept.

“Steph… Ren!” she shouted, finally finding her voice.

The girls turned, but it was already too late.

The axe fell.

Blood splattered across the hallway walls as their bodies dropped almost instantly. The sound did not fully reach Kaia’s ears, or maybe her mind refused to process it properly. Her vision blurred. Her knees weakened. Her hands trembled violently at her sides.

This was not new.

And yet it still hurt every time.

Gail stood frozen beside her, shaking.

Kaia’s lips moved without sound. She wanted to scream. She wanted to run forward. She wanted to stop it. She wanted—like she always wanted—to change something that refused to be changed.

But her body did nothing.

Only silence filled her mind.

“If only I could stop them from going into the cafeteria… I don’t deserve to live. I want to die. I’m sorry… it’s all my fault,” she muttered as her trembling hands covered her ears, as if that could block out what had already happened.

“Kaia!”

Gail slapped her.

The sound snapped her slightly back into reality.

Kaia held her swollen cheek, stunned. Gail’s face was already covered in tears, her eyes shaking with fear and anger.

“Look, I understand you’re scared, but we need to get out of here right now!”

“N-No…” Kaia whispered. She could barely hear her properly, still trapped between memory and present.

Gail grabbed her hand and pulled her to run. Kaia noticed how cold and trembling her hand was. Despite everything, Gail still forced herself to move forward.

Both of them ran, but Kaia’s vision blurred from tears, making it hard to see where she was going. The hallway stretched unnaturally, like it had no end, like the world itself didn’t want them to escape cleanly.

“Gail…”

“What is it? Run faster!”

“Let me die,” Kaia said quietly.

Gail fell silent for a moment, but did not stop running. Instead, she tightened her grip.

“Just shut up and listen.”

Kaia suddenly felt light, her vision blurring as if she were floating for a moment. The noise around her faded completely, replaced by a silence that felt even heavier than the screams. The pain in her chest disappeared briefly, and her heartbeat steadied in a way that didn’t feel natural.

Before she could process it, she was pulled back into reality.

She found herself sitting in a chair inside their classroom beside Gail.

The doors and windows were shut.

Some students were lying on the floor, unsure if they were alive or unconscious, while others trembled and cried silently, hugging their knees or staring at nothing.

“We were shocked when we heard a loud explosion coming from the other buildings. Thankfully, the STE building was too far, but a rabbit with a horn entered the room and released smoke. As soon as they inhaled it, they died. We closed the doors quickly so other monsters couldn’t enter,” Makaella, the class secretary, explained.

Since they entered the room, she had been talking with the others while occasionally peeking outside the window, as if checking whether the world had stopped collapsing yet.

“Uhm…” Kaia murmured as she regained awareness. Both Gail and Makaella turned to her.

Gail’s brows were furrowed, her eyes full of worry. Kaia lowered her gaze, clenching her fist, trying to stop the tears forming in her eyes.

“What is going on?” Gail asked sharply, her frustration breaking through her fear. She ruffled her hair, trying to calm herself down.

“Obviously, monsters are attacking us,” Makaella said flatly. “I don’t know what they are, but I’ve been watching them for a while.”

Kaia scratched her chin in thought. She recognized them from books she had read from all her regressions. Orcs were strong but slow. Goblins were fast and cunning. Horned rabbits released poisonous smoke.

“But wait…” Kaia suddenly paused.

“Mak, how did you survive the smoke?” Gail asked before Kaia could continue.

“We have runny noses.”

“What?” Gail shouted. “This isn’t the time to joke!”

Makaella only shrugged.

Kaia interrupted them. “Stop it, both of you.”

They turned to her.

Kaia gasped slightly as her thoughts aligned. “It’s the scent. The smoke is toxic, but if you can’t smell it properly, you can still inhale it. That’s why they died.”

Gail and Makaella looked at her, confused, before slowly nodding as they understood.

“Now what do we do?” Kaia asked, looking around.

Only five of them were left: Angelina, Kaia, Makaella, Gail, and Kenneth. The others were either dead or unresponsive.

Kaia clenched her fists and looked down. “How did it come to this? Why did so many of us die? Why am I still alive…?”

“Calm down, Kaia,” Gail said softly, holding her hand. “Don’t be afraid. I’m still here.”

Kaia looked at her friend’s trembling smile. Gail was scared too, but still trying to be strong anyway.

“Damn it…” Gail muttered. “We should’ve had power to fight back…”

Kaia gave a weak smile.

“Tha—”

Before she could finish, her body suddenly grew heavy. Her vision darkened as if something was pulling her away again, deeper than before.

(❕) ALARM

WELCOME, PLAYER!

Kaia’s breath hitched as the message echoed in her mind. Her vision blurred again, the same sensation she had felt countless times before returning.

“W-What is that…?” Kaia whispered, her voice trembling.

Her body went light, as if being pulled away from reality itself. The classroom, the voices, the fear—everything began to fade.

Not unconsciousness.

Not sleep.

It was something she knew too well now.

Another return.