The trees were tall, but I was taller. Standing above them on a steep mountain slope—near the town of Graymore. Moments before, I had arrived here, it was cold; the snow-wreathed trees knew my pain. My spark was weak in the cold, but it mattered not as there was a reason I was making my already pale skin paler in the snowy regions. Hours before, I had been in my house taking rest after the days of my separation. I sighed, a puff of snow-white breath coiling out of my mouth.

Ruffling through my pocket, I pulled out a piece of Dor; red—the worst kind—and crunched it under my teeth, consuming the euphoric, warm liquid filled with flacks ashine. Haah, this taste never gets old, does it?

Sighing in bliss like a drug addict, I jumped off the slope, pushing through the frosty wind like a knife through a watermelon, without an ounce of pain or discomfort. By the point I reached ten feet above the ground, I burned Dor, my body exploded into raging fire, and my vision shifted to 360 degrees. I loomed over the snow-cloaked ground, traveling through the snow-hooded trees, carefully not to burn them. Reaching the entrance to the town—if you could even call it that—and extinguished Dor, turning back to my human form, my vision turning back to the limited version.

“only a breath left?” I sighed, noticing that my spark consumed Dor like It was eating something after month-long starvation.

Shifting my attention from my overly excessive use of Dor, I gazed at the town’s entrance. The arch of an entrance was broken, in ruins, and shambles.

Unsurprisingly, it was empty. The wooden thatched houses near the town’s edge—usually for the poor—seemed devoid of life; so did the barren street. The wind howled, adding to the solitude of Graymore.

Treading forth with caution, I peered from the muddy track to the broken houses, then onto the destroyed cottages. The damp air and the eerie silence knew something was amiss. No matter how small, a town was never this silent.

As a disgusting smell like burnt butter—or probably a decomposing corpse—wafted into my nose, I halted; my face scrunching.

What the disgusting fuck is this?

I questioned inwardly, frowning while I covered my face with a black mask—especially made by a very capable dwarf(or so I’d been told) for my super-secret identity—which was embroidered with small dragon scale-like markings. I increased my pace, the eerie silence was getting on my nerves. My twitching left hand knew; it had suffered enough because of my fluctuating emotions, the uniqueness of my spark—which I definitely didn’t like—was unpleasant, extremely painful even.

As my emotions were a bit out of control, I felt blood seep out of the pores of my left arm, I concluded that I . . . had fucked up.

Dammit! I shouldn’t have consumed Dor this early!

Calming myself to no avail, I sat down, trying the breathing technique Kal had promised would work.

“Blue cat, red cat, orange cat, green cat.”—feeling the pain increase, I hastened the chant—“cats are awesome, cats are cool, cats are badass, cats are kings, cats are novel protagonists, cats are the absolute best, cats are the absolute apex of the world. Yes, as expected, cats should rule the world, no, cats should be the rulers of the universe.”

Feeling the pain fade away, I rejoiced. Yes! The super-secret calm-your-nerves cat technique was working!

As of today, cats are my favorite animals!

Though the happiness was not long-lived as a disgusting, raven-black figure emerged from behind a broken house, startling the ever-living sh-t out of me.

“KHrrr” the zombie-like black monstrosity lunged at me as I felt my heart jump out of my chest.

My eyes widening, there was but one thought in my mind as Dor flared without my consent.

Fuck.

With a painful spurt, my left arm burst from inside, berry-red blood splattering all over.

I clenched my teeth, munching a piece of Dor with my left hand.

This fucking hellacious-eyed creature!

Cursing under my breath, I raised my right hand. Dor ablaze, my hand flashed magma-red for a second. Then with a thundering boom, it exploded, hurtling towards the zombie. The explosion hit the zombie, it exploded into black goo-like blood and spaghetti-like intestines, which splattered all over—some on my face—the track, dying the bone-white snowy ground in black.

“Fuck you!” I spat at it and stood up, my right hand dangling like a limp penis and my left arm . . . well, it was not even there anymore. My Dor reserves were also morsel. Shuffling through my pocket, I realized that I had only five pieces left(and they were of the lowest quality). I should’ve brought better quality, Dammit! Why do I have to act like a scrimp? My habits are gonna get me killed!

Haah, I hate this.

Stumbling towards the nearest thatched house, I head-butted the door as my hands were out of commission.

Not getting a satisfactory response, my breathing hitched as I head-butted the door again.

“Hello! Is anybody there!?” my voice was trembling.

Getting no response, I asked again though in a low voice.

“Um, hello?” my voice was soft, and lacked the energy it usually had, even a normal person could tell the blood loss was getting to my head. Seeing the shadow of a person beneath the door, I smirked though just for a moment then went back to my ‘near death’, constipated-like expression.

“I can see your shadow from below. Please open the door or I am going to die.” I called out desperately.

“Leave! I can’t help you! I don’t want to have anything with you!” the voice alone told me a lot about the woman on the other side. She was an elderly person and an asshole.

Coughing for a while, I crashed down on the ground, though I didn’t forget to hit the door with my head.

“Please o-open th-the door…” I said, my voice shaking due to the cold. Then I dropped to the ground, seemingly unconscious.

___________

My eyes fluttered open.

I was inside her house successfully. Looking around, it wasn’t anything special. A dining table, four chairs, and a place to sit beside the hearth. I was lying on a cloth near the hearth. I was hot and I liked it. Pun totally intended.

Slightly beside the hearth, was a painting of four, an old couple and a young couple.

Hmmm, a family of four Huh?

Staring around, my gaze halted on the old woman’s wrinkled face.

“!!!”

Holy mother of . . .

I almost jumped, t-this woman! This hateful-disrespectful-wrinkly-and-toothless old hag!!!

Raising my shaky right hand—as the other was completely blasted, only a bud at the shoulder—and pointed at her face.

“Y-yo-yo-you!!!???”

I staggered…

I abso—fucking—lutely remember her!

She was the one who had spanked the ever-living shit out of my private off-limits booty when I was just born!

Before I could speak anything, the old hag said frostily.

“Get out of my house when you have the strength to walk. I don’t want anyone near my house.”

You fucking bi-=tch!!! HOW DARE YOU!!! The sin you had committed cannot be forgiven!!!

No one, and I mean NO ONE spanks my booty!

Even if you had spanked no one but a newly born child!

“You booty wrecker, how dare you forget me?” I said, my voice chilly.

The old hag’s eyebrows furrowed, scrunching her already ugly face beyond belief as my eyes couldn’t help but twitch at the reminder of my first day in Titan.

“Who are you?” she asked, confusion evident on her face.

“Someone whose booty you smacked when he was born.” I commented as the thick skin I had built over the years came into play.

Her face turned chilly.

“Boy”—she said, raising her hand—“these hands have turned wrinkly throughout my booty-spanking-newborn-kids’ job. And let me tell you”—she raised four fingers—“ I lost count after the booties hit the four digits.” She said as if she had done a deed to be proud of. Maybe it was; I mean, helping in the birth of kids was a feat to be proud of as even the most cold-hearted person might not be able to hold his shit together after hearing the wails of a woman in labor. And she claimed that she had stopped counting after it hit the four-digit mark: it needed guts.

BUT!

That did NOT give her permission to defile a defenseless newborn!

Haah.

Sighing after ranting inwardly for minutes, I returned to the serious business.

“Listen, old bones.” I raised my penis-limp hand and continued, “let’s get to business. I need you to tell me everything you know about the missing people.” Then, as I pointed outside, I said, “and what the fuck was that disgusting thing that cost me a fucking arm!” I lamented.

Her expression changed drastically, though she hid it instantly, I had enough experience in the experiencing-shit experiences, that I noticed her fear, anguish, sorrow, and desperation.

She knows something…

I concluded.

Her eyes darting here and there she answered, “I don’t know anything! That was a beast you saw out there—”

At the mention of beasts, my eyes flared in anger, but I suppressed it. It was not time. I had promised ‘her’ that I wouldn’t let revenge cloud my judgment, emotions, or life. And I was going to adhere to that promise as long as I could. That is if shit didn’t hit the fan.

“Don’t,” I said, my voice bleak.

“I have seen enough in my life to tell that definitely wasn’t a beast, so, tell me what you know.” I threatened, mildly.

She gulped visibly. Why wouldn’t she? I was a Pyromancer whereas she was but just a human.

The difference was exuberant. And she knew that well: from how she talked, she had seen me fight the zombie-like monstrosity, and even though one of my arms was penis limp and the other was nothing but a flowering bud—as some Pyromancers had healing capabilities, which I think she believed I had—I was still strong enough to wipe out her existence with just but a swipe of my hands. And she knew it well, she had years of experience in this world than me.

Sighing, she opened her mouth to speak but no words came out. Instead, her eyes peered around the room.

“No one is here, trust me.” I reassured her, “no one is going to hurt you, not even me. Just tell me everything you know.”

Though I’d kill you without even an ounce of regret if need be.

Finally having gathered the courage to speak, she started.

"T-two months ago, one of my neighbors went inside the forest to cut some wood," she explained. "We—the inhabitants of Graymore live by selling coal and wood. The one who went into the forest that day was a young man around twenty-five, his name is Davis. He was a good person.”—her eyes lacing with pity, she continued—“He never came outside. After that, the people started disappearing more often, and slowly, the town folk stopped going in the forest, in fear of disappearing only God knows where.”

She stopped, gathering her thoughts.

“It was fine the first few days, but th-then, then those…things raided our town.” Her hand trembled.

“Th-they killed some of us. And kidnapped others.” Her eyes watered. “And a week ago my son Callahan and daughter-in-law Sofia were captured as well.” Tears streamed down her wrinkly old face like water overflowing a glass. She sat there, sobbing.

As for me, I was just sitting silently. This wasn’t something new, people die every day here in Shun. To be completely honest, I didn’t care anymore. I had wept enough…‘that’ day, that I refuse to let even a tear come out—of course, uncle Alaric’s training excluded.

Shuddering at the mere thought, I shifted my attention away from the disturbing memory lane, especially since mine was a bit too picture-perfect.

“After that, who were left didn’t leave their houses in hopes of not being found by ‘them’.” She continued, hoarsely.

“It’s enough.”

“I don’t want you to reminisce anymore. But, can you take me where that Davis went? If you know where he went that is.” I asked, stopping when I noticed her horror-scrunched face.

My pupils constricted and my brows furrowed.

She went there…

I concluded. She probably went there in search of her son and daughter-in-law.

Having no choice, I pressed further.

“What are you hiding, tell me, I’m just here to help…” I was interrupted by the hag again.

“NO! I don’t know anything else!” she snapped. “Please, just leave! I have already risked enough for even getting you inside my house. Only God knows when ‘they’ will come again and hunt me down as well!” she pleaded and beckoned me to get out.

Well…that was anticlimactic.

Standing up, limply, as if exhausted, I put on my best-tired expression, my pale white face was a plus.

“Then…I thank you for taking care of me, and helping me come into this world as well. But can you, at least, point out the direction the place where Davis went is?” her guilty expression indicated that my acting had worked like a charm. Yes!

The old hag escorted me out—at least she had manners—and pointed North. Thanking her, I staggered away, towards the north.

As I concluded that I was deep in the forest and no one was near me, I stopped staggering.

I tore all the bandages the old hag had enveloped me in like a mummy and walked nonchalantly.

Decocting the remaining Dor inside me, My bud-like left arm healed at a speed visible to the human eyes and my right hand healed as well. There was nothing left but the smoke emanated from the healing.

As I walked, my face lost all its expression. With nothing but caution written on my face, I trotted deeper into the lush dark-brown forest.

‘Done with the dramatics and pointless acting?’ Doryu chimed in, sending an image of his snout wrinkling in disgust.

I stumbled.

“Dude, I was happy when you didn’t talk for hours, I thought that you had kicked the bucket, but Nah, you are fine.” I sighed, regretfully.

‘SHUT UP!’ he roared, a misty feline white smoky snout puffing out of my body.

“I was there, writhing in pain! And you’re here acting like nothing happened? You didn’t even notice that I was waiting for you to apologize!” he wined.

I halted, “did something happen to you?” why didn’t I notice? If anything had happened to him, I’d have been the first to notice.

Smoky tears streamed down Doryu’s saddened snout as he bellowed in despair.

“The stock of my favorite strawberry pie has run out! It’s your fault! You didn’t pack enough!”—he looked at me with big puppy eyes—“can I have a bit of your share?”

The cool image I had built crumbled as my eyebrows and mouth twitched uncontrollably.

“FUCK OFF! NO ONE TOUCHES MY STRAWBERRY PIES!” I said 'calmly'.

No one, and I mean no one, IS allowed to even touch my strawberry pies!

.

.

.

Walking inside the rugged forest, I was a bit apprehensive. The forest was strangely quiet: not a single sound—except the occasional wind.

I scuttled through the forest and stopped as a lot of half-cut trees came into my vision. The logs were lying interspersed between the scattered bark and ragged brown-crunchy leaves.

The leaves crunched under my feet, emanating an eerie sound. My head spun, and everything turned blurry. The muscles around my torso tightened, my breathing hitched, and my pupils constricted before losing their luster.

Suddenly, manic laughter wafted in my ears as if I was deep inside the ocean. Then the laughter broke through the deep ocean-like barrier and assaulted my eardrums, morphing into the cries of children, the head-piercing voices only grew.

I waddled forth just for a quarter of a second before slumping to my feet, clenching my head as if I wanted to break it apart.

There were just...too many voices ringing inside my head.

The face of a magma-red bird-like shape passed through my eyes…

My breath halted.

Ash…

The vision continued: cries, countless screeches, intestines, charred corpses, blood, and…fire.

A boy, a lake, then a familiar tree.

I hit the ground until my hands bled.

I gnashed my teeth, the pain was…unbearable.

Then everything came crashing down. The vision continued, my entire family being dead. Blood dripping down their corpses. My mom being eaten alive. dad dying while protecting me. Leia’s falling figure as something pierced her heart. Caleb being burned alive. Lena and Nora being devoured by a beast. Eva being sliced into shreds.

Then everything went quite like it never existed. The voices the visions and everything else.

“—an!” a muffled bark resounded.

“Aidan!” Doryu smacked my face as I felt the blazing pain.

“Damn! That was nasty!” Doryu—who was outside my body, in his feline-like leopard form—spat.

I peered around in confusion. Only hearing ringing sounds.

What happened? What was that?

“come out of it. something just f-cked your mind up and you're still having the leisure to get confused!" Doryu growled, hitting my head.

Fuck!

“Stop it!” I snapped.

“I saw som—” I felt the ground beneath my feet jitter. Bolting up, my eyes darted around as my right hand clutched the remaining five pieces of Dor tightly. I was ready to flare at any moment.

Then it went quiet.

“What the f-ck was that—” Doryu halted, crackling sounds ringing beneath us. Everything trembled.

I didn’t give a fuck and turned around, running at full throttle.

Whatever was causing the earthquake-ish tremble, I wasn’t too keen on finding out.

But alas, it was meant to be. I didn’t have the shining golden armor like in the novels. The ground beneath sneaked away, hiding below in the depths of darkness with a thundering boom.

We—of course—followed the ground; fucking gravity.

The last thing I remember is hitting the ground and staring at the blazing white light illuminating my face as I drifted into the dream world.

.

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