It was already 3:00 AM. Outside was still dark and full of stars. Down on the street, noises from vehicles had become much more quiet. Although to Anubis, who was lying on his paws on the soft, large bed of the highest apartment in the city, those noises somehow still managed to find a way to bother his keen ears a little. His two triangle ears kept twitching, but not only because of wanting to silence all the disturbance.

Anubis was strangely on the tenterhooks tonight. He had been trying to sleep for hours. Every time he closed his eyes, something would swirl up inside him and send him to his awake state again. No matter how determined he was to put that feeling off his mind, it just seemed to get worse. It was like a sign alarming him not to enter the world of dreams. Nightmares are also dreams. And Anubis extremely hates them.

Despite that, he knew he had to rest. He had been assigned a mission the following day. If he hadn't got any sleep, his senses would be weakened, his muscles inflexible. He wouldn't have full access to his ability then and may likely fail his mission. He didn't enjoy the thought of upsetting Sephiria at all. Though he hardly imagined she would make any big deal out of it.

Mentioning Sephiria, she had been sitting in her office since midnight. Her office is right next to his room, their bedroom , so that she wouldn't have to go far to finally set her back on the soft bedsheets and call it a day. But as expected from his captain, her devotion to work was driving her off limits. Since the day he moved in with her, Anubis had never stopped being amazed at how Sephiria handled mountains of Chronos's problems. Once he had made an attempt to stay up with her through the night untill she finished. But eventually, even with his wolf's strength, he could only keep his eyes open for a few more minutes before 4:30 in the morning. That night Sephiria had to bring him to bed with her. His captain sure had a lot of strength lying beneath her graceful outlook.

After that, Sephiria always told him to get to bed first. She said waiting for her was unnecessary and she needed to be alone to better concentrate on what she was doing. He was too grateful to say no. Sephiria had offered him the chance to live with her in her apartment due to seeing his living condition which Chronos gave him inadequate. He had to admit it's much more comfortable here than he had bargained for. He adapted to his new home quite fast. Which wolf wouldn't anyway? Sleeping in a warm bed, eating plenty of delectable and nutritious dishes cooked by Sephiria herself, having freedom to roam around the park near their place whenever he wanted, and what he loved most definitely were those gentle strokes from his captain anytime he rubbed his head against her. From his viewpoint, it was clearly that she enjoyed those moments too. Her blue eyes usually glowed up with tenderness and she hadn't turned him down ever before. Getting to bed sooner than her might change that, though. Now he would spend less time around Sephiria at home. If he yearned for her affection, Anubis would probably have to show her his puppy eyes in broad daylight, at the head quarter where they would be for most time of the day. He groaned at that idea. His wolf's pride wouldn't allow it. Just the thought of Sephiria inward giggles was enough to annoy him to no end. Anubis was a fearsome, dangerous Chronos number. So this Anubis could never let himself do such embarrassing, silly, doggy's things. But he wouldn't mind in the slightest if Sephiria was the one to initiate it. That's a different story. And maybe, some tail waggings at her couldn't do him any harm either.

Suddenly remembering that he had to sleep, Anubis shut all his imagination of Sephiria's hands tangling in his fur out at once and closed his eyelids again. This time the world around him turned into black for quite a while. Truly a good thing since nothing came up to bother him like those times before. His breaths became gradually slower, and Anubis was more than ready to sink into unconsciousness.

But a few moments later, lights began to show up.

The lovely bed under him had disappeared. Instead of the cozy feeling of a blanket against his belly, all he felt was hard, cold rock. Anubis moved his head and immediately the roar of chains reached his ears. Tiredly opened his eyes, he could spot where the lights came from. They were flickering through the spaces between those titan bars in front of him. It took him seconds to get used to how bright they were. Their color was white, unlike sunlight and didn't radiate any warmth.

His memories struck him. He was being checked. The lights belonged to a black flashlight which he would see every nights, at the same hour, only in the hands of different people. The security guy visited his cage to make sure that he was well-captured. Anubis wasn't a very good boy and obviously his reputation had been known by all the staff working here. Whether they were rookies or experienced ones.

His entire body seemed so small. No surprise as this was the world of twenty years ago. Anubis hadn't grown to his full size back in those days. He aged differently from his peers. Anubis's muscle developing process had been slowed down considerably because of the experiments which Chronos forced on him. It was a chain of complicated and terrible experiments to create a body that would be able to withstand any injuries inflicted on it. In order to achieve that final goal, scientists must enhance the subject's regenerating ability and suppress his aging. Anubis was the only successful subject at the time. He would grow much slower but his life span could even surpass that of a human being. In additional, Anubis would always stay in great health if he had a reasonable training timetable. He was definitely expected to be Chronos's perfect bio weapon.

But the scientists had gone too far. They made a mistake by modifying his brain cells into those human like ones. They wanted him to pull off demanding, live-risking missions too in place of the human numbers. And so, Anubis with the superior intelligence while his heart still remained a wolf turned into a untamable beast. He usually used his fangs and claws to rip his trainers' throats off rather than to attack his targets. He played dead to get out of his cage and tried to escaped. Plenty of plans, tricks were carried out. Despite the staffs' passive states, they only resulted in more and more physical punishments and starving nights for him. As time went by, Anubis's desire to discover the outside world subsided. He had learned he should better accept his 'world' the way it was after several nights drinking only water. Dreams of an exit out of this place was something he had only occasionally then.

Knowing he probably just got nightmares again, Anubis ignored the lights and shut his eyes once more. Anubis did his best to put asides the security guy yelling in hope that he would finally had a peaceful rest. In contrast, his ears caught a cracking sound which told him his caged were being opened.

Anubis still stubbornly refused to look.

And the sound of angry footsteps ramming on the ground just getting clearer and more threatening by minutes.

His instincts kicked in furiously, urging him to wake up.

Suddenly, the space around him became quiet.

This time did Anubis's golden orbs shot open.

No one was standing there, only a giant silver bludgeon, teared through the air, plunged down brutally on his head.