I lay under one of the thick trees surrounding me. It had been a few days since Gillius left me here.

“Ares…” I muttered to myself. I had no education, but it was definitely a name filled with power. I could feel it everytime it left my lips. I remember when Gillius… no, father told me he was undeserving of me as a son. Ironically, he gave me a name I did not deserve in return. I plan to repay him someday, if I survive.

“When I survive,” I said correcting myself.

Who knows how much time has passed since I began walking. The forest was dense with foliage and the sun could not penetrate to the earth. It was perpetually night-time in a sense. Upon entering the forest, I could hear low grumbles and steps that shook the air and ground beneath me. I froze in fear. Berries, at least that’s what I think they were, fell from the tree above me, hitting my head with fierce velocity, and knocked me out of my trance. Had an animal been near at the time waiting to strike, I would have already been dead.

I steeled my resolve and ventured deeper into the forest. I encountered my first magical beast while feeling around the trees, my eyes having difficulty adjusting to the darkness. There it was, lanky and bipedal. It had the face of a horse and long arms that dragged across the ground with sharp thin claws. I couldn’t tell for sure, but it had no eyes. It stopped in its tracks and I slipped behind a tree, my heart pounding excessively. I breathed hard and loudly. I tried to stop myself, but the fear welling up inside me only worsened by condition. I thought this would be how I died, but the monster kept moving despite the loud noises I made.

I was in the clear. But why? I wracked my thoughts, but couldn’t come up with a good answer. As I encountered more and more beasts, and even a dragon, they seemed to not notice me. Eventually, I stopped sneaking around and walked straight. I didn’t know where I was going. I couldn’t even tell what of day it was. I was too scared to even sleep and I ran out of the berries I had gathered earlier. They gave me a bit of stomach pain, but I persevered, starving afterwards.

After a walking for god knows how long, I heard a voice calling me.

“Ares, that is a nice name…”

I turned to my right, but there was nothing there. I continued only to be disturbed again and again. I was frightened considerably. I tried to speak to the voice this time.

“W-Who are you? C-Come out!” I stuttered. My failed attempt to be brave and intimidating was followed by a light chuckle barely audible, but definitely feminine. She ignored my question.

“Do you not have mana? Strange… Why do these monsters not sense you, boy.”

I ignored her words and thought of them antagonistic. The pressure I received from the other beasts could not compare to this disembodied voice. And this area itself felt… felt like… pure blackness.

I turned my head frantically as my breath quickened and ran in the direction opposite to the voice. Branches cut me all over and the scent of blood mixed with the scent of dew.

A black shadow flashed by my right. I turned around only to see what seemed to be a black wolf. But black crystal-like structures were adorned all over his body. His size was also about four times bigger. Meeting eye to eye with the beast, my mind went blank. I saw something in its jaws. As I stood stiffly, a puddle of blood formed beneath me.

The wolf chewed and the cracking of bones could be heard.

I couldn’t feel my right arm. It was gone.

Tears flowed down as my face violently contorted. I screamed. So loud. It pierced the air. The wolf did not seem able to hear me, enjoying his meal.

“But I am glad for it.” The feminine voice returned.

The wolf exploded into pieces as his guts splattered over the dark bark of the trees. Blood also splashed at my face. But I suddenly silenced my scream of horror into short breaths as a woman barely dressed appeared behind the corpse of the wolf. She was blind herself with a piece of cloth that binded her breasts. Her hair was black and did not reflect the little light that seeped through the forest. It seemed to flow by its own laws of nature as the wind had no affect on it. Dark streaks went from her eyes to her chin. Her lower dress seemed to be woven of shadows and followed the same laws as her hair.

“You are the first to reach the burial ground of Ryell and I am its protector. Do you wish to be rewarded?”

The woman looked at me intently. She seemed to have been following since I was with Gillius. I wasn’t sure but I think she could read my mind too. She seemed to….want to reward me.

I was on the brink of losing consciousness. I could only give a small nod barely noticeable as I fell to the ground. As the puddle of blood wet my hair and clothes, I was slowly losing consciousness, barely able to have a conversation.

“What do you want?”

“….to return… “

The woman frowned and looked at me with disdain.

“To the man and family that discarded you when you protected them? I decline.”

“….then… power…. will return….by myself…promised….”

“… You are kind to a fault. But I do not dislike a man such as yourself.”

My eyes slowly began to close, but I withstood it through sheer willpower.

“I will grant both of your wishes. Your second wish immediately. But your first in ten years, should you survive. ”

“… thank… you…”

Not forgetting my manners in such a situation, she returned my grateful smile like a mother would. She smiled proudly, ruffled my hair, and receded into the blackness like she was never there.

I felt a change in my body, but darkness enveloped my vision as I lay still. The falling leaves and gentle winds caressed my body as I let my consciousness leave me amidst the puddle of blood beneath me.