[…Elsewhere…]

-----

“I get it. Hunters need to hunt; that’s plenty obvious. After all, a man’s gotta eat. And if that man also got a family, well, he’s gotta feed them too. That’s great. Hell, I’d even consider that noble. There’s a hell of a lot of fathers out there that abandon their children right before they ever pop out of the womb! Tsk, pieces of shits if you ask me. I mean, who in their right mind would leave behind such adorable, little creatures? You get what I’m saying?”

Alan Silverback screamed behind his gag as the demi-human that was sitting across turned to face him. His body shook sporadically, trying to break free from the steel threads that bind him to the thick tree trunk. But alas, no matter the number of times he tried to escape, his efforts would always end in failure.

“Ease it up there, fella,” the demi-human said, gesturing Alan to calm down. “You’re going to cut yourself if you wiggle too hard. Well…that in itself really isn’t the issue here, but I’d like to at least talk to someone for the time being.”

The demi-human’s purple eyes glistened before the rising sun, bringing forth the light that pierced through the ever-ceasing darkness. He ran a hand through his gray locks and groaned as he stretched his lower back towards the orange sky. With a sigh of relief, he locked eyes with Alan and continued his speech.

“I don’t like this as much as you do, y’know? It’s a bit of a hassle having to tie you up there, but you intrigue me. There’s something about you that’s really…captivating. It’s also the only reason why you haven’t ended up like them.”

The demi-human swayed his arm, bringing Alan’s attention to the eight bodies that laid beside him: each one butchered beyond recognition.

As Alan became fixated on the vile scene, dread began to well up within him. He wailed to the heavens, flailing his head violently. He wanted to be heard, but the gag that wrapped his mouth also tied him to the harsh reality before him.

The demi-human paid no heed to his muffled screams and sighed. “You were the only one smart enough to not oppose me. Your friends, on the other hand, were driven by their pride. They really had to go out of their way to try and capture me, or kill me, or something. What were they even thinking?” Glancing sideways towards the yellow light beyond the horizon, he scoffed. “Pride. What a pointless word. I pity the prideful. It gets you nowhere but down under.” The demi-human said this as he lightly kicked one of the still bodies next to where he sat.

Alan then shuddered, his distress no longer acclimated towards the demi-human in front of him, but rather towards the cruel memories of his first encounter with this creature.

-----

Not too long ago, as the hunter party had started to set up camp after a long day of game, this lumbering demi-human stomped right into their vicinity. Upon noticing his arrival, the party responded immediately by collecting their bows and rifles. Surrounding the demi-human, they were ready to capture this creature and send him back to whence he belonged.

Alan had watched the development play out from afar. However, the minute he felt the demi-human’s presence, his legs began to give in. Alan’s heightened sense of affinity notified him that the rogue demi-human was no ordinary runaway. No. He was, in fact, the most dangerous presence they had ever encountered. The demi-human’s aura was overflowing with affinity, swirling around him like a multicolored vortex that was ready to explode at any given moment.

His party had probably sensed the same thing, but unlike Alan, they were honorable men. They weren’t going to let this demi-human tarnish the reputation of the human race. They would rather die than let that happen.

And so…their wishes were granted. As the battle ensued, Alan watched as one of his friends got beheaded by a strong, force of wind. Thereafter, as another party member raised his rifle to aim at the demi-human’s head, an earthly spike shot up from beneath and split him down the middle. In a matter of mere seconds, blood had begun to rain from the sky, and entrails splashed the earth red.

Having witnessed his two friends die, Alan became overcome with fear. Averting his eyes from the bloodbath, he ran into a nearby tent and cowered away beneath a cot. From where he laid, he could hear the foul screams of his friends as they were being butchered by this beast. Rather than take in the horror, however, Alan decided to put his hands over his ears, close his eyes, and completely shut himself off from the world. That way, he would be able to find some sort of inner peace among the silent darkness.

He laid there for what felt like a millennium. Alan stayed ever so still. His breathing was shallow, but his heart raced and pounded against his chest. He was afraid. So, very afraid. He wanted the foul creature to leave him alone. But, unfortunately for him, his wish could not be granted.

Through covered ears, Alan heard the tent entrance unfold. His eyes immediately opened to the sight of a dim silhouette inside of the tent. Without any hesitation, the silhouette strode over to the cot that Alan hid under, and stood beside him.

“Aquae Dormetheum” was chanted, and before he knew it, Alan had passed out.

-----

The moment Alan had finally woken up, he came to realize that he was bounded to a tree. He wasn’t harmed in any sort of capacity, but having seen the the demi-human before him, Alan couldn’t help but pointlessly scream. That brings us back to the current scene.

Alan squirmed from where he sat as the demi-human continued on with his one-sided conversation.

“Now do you see what I’m trying to get at here? Pride is nothing but a useless word. It’s self-satisfying horseshit that plays no effect on the grander scheme of things,” the demi-human affirmed in a rather stern tone. But his demeanor instantly lightened up as he pointed a finger towards the bounded-up hunter. “But you, on the other hand, are a coward. And I mean that in the best way possible!” He looked at Alan with much respect. “Cowards only run away because they have something to live for. They have a purpose in their life that they’re not willing to give up just yet. Am I right?”

As much as Alan didn’t want to acknowledge this evil creature’s words, he knew in his mind that the demi-human was correct. There was something that he needed to live for, and that very thing was-

“Ah, so I really did get it right the first time, huh?” the demi-human said with much intrigue. He then leaned forward and asked, “Tell me, is it a boy or a girl?”

Alan’s eyes widened in shock because of how easily the demi-human was able to read his inner thoughts.

Indeed, Alan wanted to stay alive for one reason, and one reason only: to see his daughter again. He had promised before setting off that he’d tell her all about his expedition inside of the Grand Forest. During his journey, he would write in his journal about every exciting thing that would happen. He even had a souvenir in his bag that he was ready to bring home to her. Each and every day, she was all that he could think about. After all, the only family they had left was each other.

She must be so lonely right now…

After losing her mother at a very young age, Alan was left to take care of his daughter on his own. He had raised her for eight years without anyone else’s help and had worked diligently to make her life the most comfortable it could possibly be. He dedicated his whole life to his daughter, and vowed to himself that he would get home to her no matter what. It was the only thing that he lived for. To see her smile once more; to feel her warm embrace in his arms. His heart yearned for it. He missed her so very much.

A stream of tears began to roll down Alan’s face, moistening the gag around his mouth. As the demi-human watched this display of sorrow, he started grow slightly uncomfortable.

“Oh, so you do…I’m so sorry,” the demi-human said, rubbing the back of his neck. “Listen, I get it now. You want to get back to your family, and me tying you up there isn’t really helping too much. So how about this, we-”

SNAP!

The demi-human formed a blade of wind and immediately fired it off to his right. The blade crashed into three standing trees and sliced away at each trunk with little to no effort. One by one, the trees fell and slammed onto the ground, causing the earth to shake. A murder of crows flew from their nest the very moment they heard a thunderous boom project from the landing site. And the most terrifying part of it all: the demi-human was able to do this without ever taking his eyes off of Alan.

The demi-human’s eyes narrowed as he clicked his tongue. Sitting very still, the demi-human concentrated.

All was quiet…until suddenly, a figure swung down from a hanging branch and landed besides the demi-human. Reacting instinctively, the demi-human formed a long spear from the ground and was about to jab the weapon right through the mysterious person’s face. However, the spear tip stopped only mere inches away from where the figure stood.

“Whoa whoa whoa! Hold it there Arteman! You almost killed me right there,” the mysterious person said, raising both hands into the air.

Without bothering to glance at this new arrival, the demi-human referred to as Arteman groaned. “Gaff, for fuck’s sake. How many times are you gonna keep doing this shit?”

“As many times as I want…or until I actually die. Whichever comes first,” the person named Gaff said.

Alan, confused by their interaction, glanced at this Gaff. He was much smaller than that Arteman but seemed very nimble on his feet. He wore thin clothing and had two daggers holstered to his sides. His hair was dark and frizzled and he wore a wild grin on his face. Finally, bringing his attention towards the two gemstones above this person's nose, Alan found what he had dreaded the most: purple eyes.

Gaff was another demi-human. However, Alan sensed that his affinity was not nearly as strong as Arteman’s. Regardless of that fact, the new arrival seemed unhinged, willing to strike anything with his daggers if provoked. At the sight of this, Alan began to scream once more.

Upon hearing the muffled Alan, Gaff sharply turned his head towards him. “Oi, what’s with him?” he asked Arteman. “And what are you even doing tying him up like that? Don’t you usually have that policy of ‘no mercy’ or something?”

“He intrigued me, so I wanted to have a conversation. Plain and simple,” Arteman said, crossing his arms.

“So much for that. Isn’t a ‘conversation’ something you do when both parties are actually using their mouths to produce words? I mean look at him! He can’t even speak!” Gaff proceeded to cackle wildly for half a minute. Once he was able to slightly calm down, he continued on with his speech. “Well putting that aside for now, I actually got some news for you!”

Arteman raised his eyebrows in skepticism. “And since when was it that you actually had something useful to me?”

“Oi, fuck you, yeah? That really hurt my feelings! You better start treating me with more respect if you want your intel,” Gaff said, turning his face away from Arteman and puffing his cheeks.

Completely and utterly annoyed, Arteman covered his face with both of his hands and muttered, “God, you’re such a fucking pain…” He then sighed and looked at Gaff with fake sincerity. “I’m sorry for hurting your…whatever I hurt. I appreciate everything that you’ve been doing for me up until now. With all of that being said, what is it that you have?”

“Hahaha…that’s what I like to hear,” Gaff rejoiced, his wide, toothy grin resurfacing. “Alright alright, so get this. I was jumping through the trees for a good while as I usually do. And then suddenly, I see this giant snake, and by god it was HUGE. It was white and it had this cool looking pattern and these weird little-”

“Gaff just…get to the point,” Arteman said, holding a hand up to stop Gaff from rambling.

“Awww, you’re such a downer Arteman,” Gaff said, pouting. “Fiiiine. So after playing with the snake for a bit and doing some other stuff, I spotted this tall ass tree in between a few other short ones. I’m not kidding when I say this one is really tall, like you can see-”

“Gaff!” Arteman interrupted again.

“Oi Arteman shut it for a moment, will you! This shit is actually relevant!” Gaff shouted back at Arteman. “So this tree that I saw was tall, and I really wanted to climb it. Obviously, that’s what I did. I used my arms and daggers to get some sort of leverage on the way up. When I finally got to the top, I could see green for miles on end. Really! There was nothing but green! Tree after tree after tree after tree. You still following me here?”

“Yes Gaff…I’m still following,” Arteman affirmed with a strained face.

“Okay good. And then I just spun around and around for a bit to see if I could find something that wasn’t green. Perhaps a patch of sand or an ice field. Just something not green. And I did that for a while until I got a bit tired. I was going to climb down from the tree and go on another journey until…I felt a familiar sense of affinity,” Gaff said, suddenly turning serious.

“…What do you mean by that?” Arteman asked, now appearing curious.

“As I faced west towards the general direction of Lamora, a powerful surge of affinity suddenly appeared. It was like a geyser of energy…and something that I’ve already felt before.”

“Like what Gaff? Be a bit more specific.”

“…It was a similar feeling to that kid.”

“There’s a lot of kids in our camp. Which one are we talking about?”

“…The one with the X on his back…”

“WHAT?!” Arteman suddenly roared, shooting up from his seat in absolutely disbelief.

“I’m serious Arteman. This one felt exactly like that kid’s,” Gaff affirmed while locking his eyes onto Arteman’s.

“Surely you got something wrong. There’s no possibility that another could have the same affinity as him.”

“…I’m not,” Gaff calmly stated. “Remember, I’m the most capable among the demi-humans when it comes to snuffing out affinity. You, on the other hand, rely on me for this task because you yourself are unable to detect any sort of affinity in others.”

“…Yes I’m aware of that,” Arteman said, slightly disheartened. “But are you sure about this? If what you say is true…we cannot let this presence fall into the human’s hands.”

“I haven’t been wrong yet…and I’m not wrong now,” Gaff affirmed. “It’s safe to say that for now, no human should be able to detect this individual’s affinity. Although I described it as an energy geyser, in reality, it’s very faint. It’s only due to my abilities that I was able to sense its strong potential. And that strong potential is just like that kid’s.”

“My god,” Arteman said in bewilderment as he began to pace around the area. “If what you say is true, then we actually have a chance at defeating the humans. With our affinity pools combined, we could cause armageddon.” Arteman then suddenly paused. “But this whole thing also comes with risks.” He stopped in his tracks and took a deep breath. He then said, “If we really do this, this will be the start of another war. Our manpower as it is now will be unable to take on Lamora. If we do this…many will die.” Arteman arms began to slightly tremble.

However, Gaff appeared confident. “If we get our hands on this mysterious being, we’d be able to slaughter the humans without any trouble. If that is the only risk, then our people are willing to pay it. Don’t you remember? The past generations started our small nation with the sole purpose of eradicating the humans. With this new development…we now stand a chance. What is there to not celebrate here, Arteman?! We can finally fulfill our ancestor’s wishes. We’re finally going to be free!” Gaff’s wild smile was bursting with exuberance as he happily danced from where he stood.

Arteman still had a bit of doubt on his face. However, after seeing him get so giddy, Arteman couldn’t help but join in on Gaff’s enthusiasm. A tiny grin began to form.

“You’re right…this is truly a celebratory matter.” Arteman then let off a mighty laugh that echoed throughout the forest. “Alright Gaff, I’ll give in. If what you’re saying is true, then we must not let this opportunity slip. Rally up the people and have them meet at our usual spot. We’re going to tell them about our objective moving forward.”

“Yes, Arteman, yes!” Gaff shouted gleefully. “We’re finally going to do it. We’re finally going to kill all those damned humans! I’m so excited!” Unable to contain his joyous passion, Gaff jumped onto a tall branch over Arteman. “I’ll go on ahead and let our people know about tonight. I’ll catch you later, Arteman!”

Gaff then sprang to another branch further up before disappearing beyond the thick green leaves of the mighty tree.

Alan had watched and heard everything unfold. He had gone silent and no longer tried to escape from his binds. In fact, he was too stunned to move. After all, Alan had just heard the two demi-humans discuss about the eradication of the human race. If you were a human, there would be no mercy had by these creatures. The same rules would apply for Alan and his-

Alan started to shriek behind his gag. It was louder and more desperate than ever before. Alas, his physical capabilities were still not strong enough to break the bonds around him. His only hope of escape would be by the will of the evil being that stood before him, looking down at his flailing body.

“I almost forgot about you,” Arteman said to Alan. “We were on the subject of family, and you wanted to go back and see them, correct?”

Alan stopped his sporadic behavior and looked at Arteman. Could it be that he was actually letting him go? Was this demi-human...actually merciful? Without hesitation, Alan nodded violently.

Arteman closed his and said, “I see. Then I suppose it’s time that I set you free.”

Upon hearing this, Alan’s chest began to flow with joy. He was finally going to be free. At that very moment, it didn’t matter to Alan if all the humans were to be eradicated. If he were able to get home, then these demi-human's misgivings would be worth it. That’s all that mattered to him…

But unfortunate for Alan, Arteman’s definition of “free” was different from his.

In a single, split second, Arteman shot a blade of wind at Alan, slitting his throat wide open. Unable to react, Alan began to choke on his own blood. The red fluid gurgled down his windpipe as it blocked the passageway that allowed for the inward flow of oxygen. Alan’s vision turned hazy, progressively darkening with each second that passes. His numbness had gotten to the point where he could no longer feel any part of his body. His very soul was slowly leaving his flesh. He was...going to die.

As the final drops of life seeped from his neck, Alan’s mind flashed towards the only thing he had ever cared about in this cruel world. His final thoughts were thus:

I’m sorry…Catherine…

Soon thereafter, Alan died with the regret of never being able to see his daughter ever again.

THE END OF THE PROLOGUE