Running at breakneck speed, eyes darting about, flinching at every shadow, Elelth turned into a narrow alleyway only to be met with a dead end. "Ancients damn it."

Nothing more than a solitary streetlamp illuminate the alleyway, boarded doors and windows on each side offering no place to climb or even hide.

Elelth scanned her surroundings, looking for and escape route, quickly realising it was hopeless. "Damn it, damn it, damn it. Curse the fucking ancients."

A laugh echoed behind her. "Hey now, no need to swear or bring the old gods into this. It's not like you had any hope of escaping anyway."

Elelth had woken up as the man was bartering for a room in a shady looking building, probably some sort of brothel, and made a break for it. However, instead of panicking, the man had taken it as a game and toyed with her, letting the elf exhaust herself before finally deciding to end the game and herding her towards a dead end.

"Why are you doing this?" Tear's streaked down Elelth's purple cheeks as she tried to catch her breath, looking around for any possibility of escape while backing away from the man.

The bounty hunter shrugged, walking forward with a steady gate. "Money and a chance to get commissioned work from the Alliance. Those contracts are worth your weight in gold."

"Money?" responded Elelth, ignoring the second half as she would have no way of making a counter offer. "My Uncle has money. I am sure he will pay yo-"

"Your Uncle? The head of the Mercenary Branch in this town?" The man could barely talk, trying to stop himself from laughing. "How do you think I knew you were coming? I wasn't just sitting at the town gate enjoying the sights."

Elelth's long, pointed ears shook, knowing full well what the man was alluding to but refusing to believe it. She had been betrayed. Again. And this time, it was by family.

However, instead of breaking down like he expected, she took a defiant stance, causing the man's creepy smile to grow. "Oh, so knowing that he sold you out, for a few silver, doesn't effect you much? After hearing what freaks your parents were, trying to protect an abomination like you, I thought you would have been sheltered, but it seems you're no stranger to a bit of hardship."

Tears pooled in Elelth's eyes as her temper flared.

The bounty hunters goal was to break her spirit, making it much easier to transport her, during the two-month journey, to the Immortal City. He knew she was immune to any mana based technology and could, if she knew how, create a field around her that neutralised any spells or abilities.

Manaless were publically believed to be cursed creatures that had somehow offended the ancient gods, but a few, in positions of power, knew the truth. Back at the start of the Dark War, long before the summoned were called, they had been created as anti-mage weapons, some becoming so powerful that they managed to escape and integrate with the general population without arousing suspicion.

Initially, when it was discovered that the manaless trait was passed on, a hundred percent of the time, to their offspring, the Alliance had attempted to cull all with the bloodline, in fear that unchecked, the general population would soon lose the ability to wield magic.

This lasted until most sentient societies developed and their communities started to demand equality and fairness for all, mainly so their own race would not be persecuted.

As the times changed, the Alliance was forced to use tamer methods, though, to some, they were just as brutal. Sterilisation, imprisonment and even deportation to the Deserted Continent were standard practices, though, if they had the sport of influential family, they could scrape by with a sub-par quality of life.

"What makes you think I would put any value in the words of a bounty hunter," hissed Elelth, a feral snarl appearing on her face, displaying her two sharp canines, a common trait for dark elves.

The man's smile faltered, it seemed she wasn't going to break like he hoped. For a manaless, she was strong and obviously had some survival training by how fast she woke up from getting knocked out and her attempted escape.

His backup plan, which was the reason why he allowed her to flee, was to gauge Elelth's strength. It had worked pretty well so he wasn't too worried but it was going to be a long journey if she fought him ever step of the way and so he decided that he would need to put her in her place.

Letting out a deep sigh, he wracked his brains. "You damn manaless freaks are always such a pain. I can't even slap a slave collar on your neck."

Elelth wasn't listening. The more she thought about it, the more she started to believe his initial claims about her uncle.

Her uncle had never been nice to her, barely putting up with her presence for the sake of his sister, her mother. She remembered the disgust in his eyes and had to repress a shiver.

"Wait, how did he know that I survived?" Elelth asked, the question confusing her. To her knowledge, her Uncle didn't know she was alive, let alone heading towards him.

"No idea, I would say you could ask him, but part of the deal was that he never see or hear from you again," chuckled the man, watching the elf's anger and despair grow.

Her last hope was gone and as cold reality sunk in, her thoughts turned dark, but instead of taking the blame, she turned it on the world that, at least to her, seemed to be the cause of all her suffering.

Her parents had loved her dearly, and done everything they could to make her happy, but away from their sight, her life had been hell. Years of bullying and torment had hardened her, warping her personality, particularly since she had to hide it from her parents, but they were no longer here, and she was sick of being a victim.

The more she thought, the more depressed she became but instead of wallowing, Elelth was getting angry.

Really angry.

To the experienced bounty hunter, it looked like she would attack him with her bare hands at any moment and he couldn't suppress a conceited smile, thinking that he had won.

"Looks like I am going to have to push her a little more. I need to show her that she cannot beat me," sighed the bounty hunter. "I can always work on breaking her spirit later."

"What's up little elf? Realising that you are an abomination that no one wants? You should feel lucky to get an escort to the Immortal City. The word is, you will be treated well and even given a job if you do as you're told... well that is the ones that come peacefully. More than your kind deserves. You are lucky they haven't sterilised you and thrown you to the dire wolfs already."

"I am wrong or evil? for just being born?" Elelth's teeth ground noisily, as her eyes turned vicious.

"Your kind was never meant to exist. The fact that you have the willpower to carry on when you are hated by all is the only good thing about you," responded the man, carefully watching her every movement.

"I am wrong for being born? My parents freaks for loving me? FUCK THAT! What have I done that's so wrong?" Elelth was almost foaming as her purple skin gained a red hint and her chest heaved. "It's not me that's wrong, its this world and you sick, twisted fucks that inhabit it."

"You want me to just lay down and die? Why should I? I am innocent. It's you that should die. You and every other brainless zealot on this forsaken planet."

The blond bounty hunter took a step forward. "What do you know of the world little girl?"

Madness danced in Elelth's eyes. Since the death of her parents it had been there but the small hope that she still had a family, and the delusion that he would care, had kept it at bay.

Both were so tense, waiting for the other to move, that as bells started ringing in the distance and the streetlight flicked before going out, they jumped backwards.

Though the human bounty hunter was at a disadvantage, not having the natural night vision of a dark elf, his experience and the red moon, bathing everything in a sinister red light, more than made up for it.

Even with the slight advantage and Elelth's rage, she still knew she was no match for him. "So this is my life? To be hated, imprisoned, betrayed and probably killed by this cruel, unjust world just for how I was born?"

Her eyes turned hard. "You know what, even though they say he caused the explosions that killed my parents, maybe that Devil everyone is talking about has the right idea."

"This world needs to be destroyed. If the world want's to do nothing but kill me, then it's only fair if I try and kill it back."

The man's eyes turned cold. "Steady on girl. There are bigger forces at work, and only a fool tempts them and what kind of logic is that? If he exists, he killed your parents yet you are saying he is right?"

"OH GREAT DEVIL," bellowed Elelth into the air, her voice burning with wrath. "I have been rejected by this world and all that is in it. I offer you everything. My mind, my body, my soul, to do with as you please. I only ask that you give me the power to destroy those that stand against me."

Elelth vaguely remembered reading about the old gods and how they would choose champions from the mortal races to act as their avatars, bestowing great power as long as they did as they were told. This Devil had killed millions as well as eight demigods, meaning that he must at leat been a God or higher tier entity, making it likely that he would hear her prayer. Not that there were many still alive who had once interacted with the old gods.

She didn't believe in the slightest that it would work, but she had to do something and seeing as escaping or fighting were out of the question, raging at the heavens seemed like a good place to vent. What made it better was that the man in front of her was obviously superstitious and even though she had no clue what she was doing, seeing his panicked face made her feel a little better.

Silence resonated around them, and after a few moments, the bounty hunter let out a deep breath. "Damned brat. Don't go messing with forces you don't understand-"

The bounty hunters eyes went wide, staring above Elelth's head causing her to tense, however, she did not turn around.

She had enough training, thanks to her overprotective father, not to fall for such a simple trick.

"Who would want such a pathetic soul or scrawny, child-like body?" A cold, chilling, yet slightly familiar voice emanated from behind her, causing her muscles to tense and goosebumps to rise on her arms.

As a manaless, no ability or skill would affect her but, as a native to the world, her instincts were still strong and whatever stood behind her, reeked of death causing her body to lock down.

"Let's talk later, I have work to do."

The world tilted as darkness overtook her, the last sensation she felt before falling into unconsciousness was the hard, cobblestoned floor and the echo of blood-curdling screams from the one who had chased her.