Hello good morning, afternoon or night, this is the second chapter of the story, let's learn more about our protagonist's past, leave your comments on the chapter and have a good read.

Nier and Drakengard belong to Yoko Taro.

The images used belong to their respective authors.

Alan's POV"Calm down, calm down, now," I say as I pierce the fish with my spear, the fish squirms until it finally stops moving, I take a look at my surroundings, here I am inside a river with my pant legs folded up, my things are on the side of a rock at the river's edge and the POD "sitting" on the rock, putting the fish out of the river I turn to catch one more, as I look at the water I see my reflection, black hair, a tired face, a little long beard, slightly tanned skin, a scar running from left to right just below the eyes, and one on the left cheek, I start to remember how I got here.

2003 Japan, Shinjuku, Tokyo I was younger at that time and had an adventurous spirit, with the money I saved for a good part of my life I decided to travel the world, I've been to all continents, South America, North America, Europe, Asia, Africa, Oceania and Antarctica, my most recent stop was Japan I went through all the islands until I got to Tokyo, I was in the Shinjuku district when it happened.

The sound of bells began to echo throughout the city a deafening noise until the impossible happened, a tear opened in the sky, and out of it came a giant gray creature in the shape of a woman and a red dragon with something mounted on top of it. , the creature crushed much of the district, buildings and people were reduced to smudges on the ground, then there was chaos the dragon began to circle the creature, white and black circles collided in the air and the sound of bells became unbearable, I fall to the ground holding on my head trying to make the noise stop, then images flashed through my brain along with agonizing pain, what I saw felt like it came from a fantasy book, a city appearing out of nowhere, a girl with pink eyes, a flower, five girls fighting lords, a white dragon, a cathedral, a giant flower on top of a city, red eyes, a black dragon attacks a castle, a man slaughtering red-eyed soldiers, a red dragon, the gray giant, and a Word repeating itself over and over...

WATCHERS

WATCHERS

WATCHERS

WATCHERS

When the pain disappeared I got up and saw people still in a panic, I seemed to have been the only one to see those images, when I looked up the giant was crumbling into a white powder and the dragon was being shot down by a jet missile, something seemed to fall towards me from afar it was a black dot, but as it got closer and closer I realized it was a person, my legs didn't move, I was hit hard by that person, I lost consciousness and when I woke up I didn't I was more in Japan and a dark city overgrown with vegetation. I wandered around the city for a while, shouting out loud if anyone was there, but there was no response, it was completely deserted, I kept walking until I reached a shopping area, all the stores were abandoned by the looks of it, abandoned a long time ago, Entering one of the stores I started looking for equipment was a camp store mixed with survival gear.

I looked at myself in the mirror from top to bottom I wore a tactical shirt with a black jacket over it, black combat pants with lots of pockets, black boots that reached up to my shins, and a black bonnie hat, beside me near the store counter there was the cargo bag I took, on the counter I made an inventory of the things I'm going to take with me two tactical knives (call me paranoid, but you never know when you'll need one), a multipurpose pocket knife, a machete for defense and cutting the plants in my path, a tactical pen (yes there is), multi-purpose pliers, my cell phone fully charged (it was without signal but I didn't throw it away because all my photos and music were on it), my headphones without a working side, my wallet with documents and keys to the hotel where I was staying in Tokyo.

I kept walking around the city looking for any sign of life, I passed areas where there were shops, apartments, offices, everything was empty, so I thought 'There must have been some crisis in this kind of situation and I better go to a hospital or shelter' so my new objective was to find a hospital, I went through a police station I called the police, but still no answer, when I arrived at the hospital the place was abandoned I had walked for a long time so I decided to rest, I took my cell phone and looked at the time it was noon, half-day, but the moon still shone in the sky.

Eventually, I had to look for water and food, I went to the hospital kitchen, it was dirty and abandoned, where did everyone go I thought, I was rummaging through the pantry for something that wasn't spoiled when I felt something cold touching my back and a voice saying: "Do not move" But what!" I screamed."I told you not to move, hand up and turn around slowly!"Doing what I was told I turned around and was surprised by the appearance of that person, she seemed to be about 19 years old, 1.75 in height, with silvery-white hair, yellow eyes, and a straight face with pale skin and a thin chin.

"Who are you and what are you doing here, the city has been abandoned for years!"I would have given a rude answer, but the gun pointed at my face made me change my mind, so I told her what she wanted to hear, kept a calm appearance, but inside I was scared to death."My name is Alan and I was looking for other people and food mostly food, and what do you mean abandoned years ago what happened here?"You are an idiot"? "Where were you during the SHADES invasion and when people started dropping dead out of nowhere. How are you still alive?"Look girl I don't know what you're talking about, what is a SHADE, what do you mean people dropping dead and why wouldn't I be alive"?"What cave were you living in, SHADES are the monsters that want to invade people's bodies, but at the same time around the world people started getting weaker and weaker until they die which is why you shouldn't be alive like have you survived so far?"I do not know what you're talking about" Listen here you son of a..." She stops at the sound of groans of pain coming towards us, and what I saw gave me nightmares for days, all I can say is that it was a monster, almost 2 meters tall. , claws on his hands and feet, his body appeared to be made of black and gold pieces, on his face two white dots for eyes and on his head two horns, he wore pieces of metal as armor on his chest, hands, and feet.

"What is this thing!" I screamed."A SHADE!" she yelled as she shot the thing. The shots only pushed the monster back, it only served to make him angry, the monster then jumped on the girl, throwing her against the pantry wall, her revolver rolling away, at that moment I could have run away, I didn't I know what got into me at that moment but after seeing the desperate look she gave me I grabbed the machete tied to my backpack and swung with all my might on the creature's neck, a deafening scream shook the hospital, blood splashed on my face, the creature struggled and finally dropped dead.

"The girl looked at me scared, maybe she thought I was going to kill her after pointing a gun at me" approached me closer and closer and she backed up towards the wall trying to look as small as possible, I extended my hand to she and said: "Are you okay?" She looked at me confused but finally took my hand."Yes you idiot, you could have run but saved me instead, why?"I have no idea, but how about we start right this time, my name is Alan" I said as I held out my hand to her."Novissime Superstes" she said staring at my face waiting for some kind of reaction."Why are you looking at me like that?" Most people laugh at my name" she glared at me."I don't mind your name, but can I call you Novi?"No!" Too bad I'll call you Novi anyway," I said to her smiling. She opened her mouth, probably to curse me even more, but we were interrupted by more screams and groans of pain, it seems that monster wasn't the only one in the hospital." We need to get out of here now!" she yelled as she grabbed her revolver and I grabbed my backpack and machete. We ran out of the hospital and when I looked back I was startled and relieved to be out of there, a horde of those SHADES overflowing the hospital.

I don't know how much time passed but I and Novi ran like there was no tomorrow and there wouldn't have been if we had stayed there longer, Novi took me to her hideout in an area away from downtown, it was a converted residential district in a forest by nature, her "hiding place" was a ramshackle shack, old wood for the walls, a ceiling full of holes, a bed with a moldy mattress was in one corner, a table and two chairs in the center of the room and a makeshift kitchen in front of me." So what did you think of my house?" she said opening her arms and showing a smile."It's cozy," I said nervously. She sat in one of the chairs and pointed to the other, I sat down and we started talking."Let's cut to the chase, how are you alive?"I don't understand what you mean, why wouldn't I be?" I said."A long time ago people lived their normal lives until the SHADES appeared and tried to steal people's bodies, for a long time we fought against them, at some point no one knows how the SHADES became extremely violent and increased in quantity destroyed everything they saw ahead, at the same time the population of the world began to get sick until they died of weakness and became unable to have children, some panicked and others simply accepted I thought I was the last survivor to this day."

"This is hard to believe, but I assure you that I am perfectly healthy, and how I got here I have no idea, I was unconscious and when I woke up I was here" on the outside I kept calm, but on the inside, I was panicking, dragons and giants falling from the sky and now monsters and plagues, what happened when I got hit?"Now answer me what place is this, it's 3 pm, but the moon is still in the sky, and my cell phone has no signal, do you have a phone or computer here, do I need to make a call to a friend, family, anyone? "You're in the realm of night and it's always night here, no matter what time of day, I don't know what a cell phone or computer is, and sorry for the coldness, but your friends and family must be dead by now."What do you mean, it's only been a few hours since I last spoke to them, it can't have been that long!"

"When was the last time you spoke to them"? she asked me with a suspicious look."At 3 pm in the year 2003!" I screamed."Well, if what knocked you unconscious hit you right over the head, because today's year is 4190."I was speechless at that moment, my mouth opened and closed, but my voice didn't come out until I fell backward and everything went black."

Alan's POV present

As I reminisced about my past I saw another fish passing through my reflection in the water, so I started my preparation to catch it."Calm down, calm down, now."

BANG!BANG!BANG!

I miss the blow with the scare and the fish swims away scared, the sound of gunshots echoed in the streets a few meters behind me, normally I would go in the opposite direction of the shots, but I changed my mind as soon as I heard the sound of screams.

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!

"POD come with me!" I yelled as I put on my boots and swung my backpack onto my back." Affirmative" he said as he floated away. So I ran towards the screams.