Astrin had been a slave since he was ten. His parents abandoned him, not wanting to connect themselves with such a dishonorable child. Under Granit, Astrin had become a skilled bowsman, swordsman, horse rider, and fighter in every regard, but it was useless when came to facing supernatural forces.

Astrin didn't stop running once he reached the city. His heart and head thumped as he sprinted through the streets with all of his strength. The sound of fire still crackled through his ears. The night was silent, not offering any leniency to the experience he'd just witnessed. The sky's crescent moon was still up. Light crept through the horizon as night shifted to light.

Before Astrin was sent off to the slave ships towards Greece, he remembered his parents looking down at him with disdain in their eyes. The very fact that he was alive disgusted them. If slavery wasn't an option, they would have just abandoned him in the forest and left him to die.

The night air was cold. Despite it being summer, the coldness of the world hurt his skin. The wind was pushing him back, telling him that there was no love left in the world for him.

Astrin kept running. Reaching the edge of the city, then stopping at the cemetery.

He breathed heavy. There was nowhere in the world to hide. No one could protect him. If a dozen armed soldiers couldn't stop those beasts from burning them alive, what hope was there for him? What hopes was there that the monsters which moved as quickly as fire, couldn't find him?

A tunnel ahead of him laid at the edge of the cemetery. It was a tomb. The only underground structure in Athens. He sprinted inside.

When Astrin first came to Athens he was lost. The first city outside of the tribe was like a stepping stone into a world of legends. It was overwhelming. The myths, the tales, the knowledge. He versed himself in everything there was about Greece, purely to sedate his unquenchable questioning.

And it was never enough. No matter how much he tried to be Greek, it was never enough for the acceptance of the citizens of the city. He was just another slave. A boy bred by barbarians who's only worth was in serving Greek men.

They didn't know that his tribe hated him too. It was how he'd become ostracized. His Greek city looked down at him like cattle, his old tribe looked down at him like a parasite. There was no love for him on either end of the spectrum. No love from his blood or his land.

Astrin marched to the center of the underground tomb. The walls were made of stone. No bones or corpses to be seen. They were typically cremated, and given a ceremonial burial on the mounds around him.

This tomb was more ancient than Athens itself. It was from the people who came before Athens, a people that were as ancient as Troy. This tomb had remained a mystery. The Athenian citizens came often to bid their respects to the ancient kings.

Now Astrin was using it to hide.

Before Astrin turned ten, he and his two sisters had gone off to explore one of the mountain caves near the hunting grounds. They were children. Elena was seven and Slavista was a few months old. It was his idea to play somewhere new, somewhere different. He'd once had ambition in his heart, and was so adventurous as a smaller child.

They dropped to the floor of the mountain cavern. Elena held Slavista in her arms, and Astrin showed them the litter of animals that were deep inside the cave. They seemed so harmless at the time. A few days old, playful and just barely able to walk.

Astrin had done it for Slavista. He wanted to adopt one. Bring it into the tribe like a brother that could be raised. It was naive. Astrin thought those animals were just people in different skins, not as the feral creatures that they actually were.

He learned a hard lesson that day. The laws of nature were always merciless.

A saber tooth mountain lion found the three of them playing with the kittens. It growled quietly, stalking them in the middle of the cave. They held still, petrified by the beast's presence. Not even Slavista cried at the first sight of it. They eyed the animal horrifyingly as it walked around them with methodical steps.

Astrin and Elena took long, slow steps away. It steadied its eyes on them, watching them leave quietly. At first, it seemed like a miracle was about to occur. That the animal would let them go. Forgive them for trespassing in its territory.

As they neared the exit, Slavita cried in Elena's arm. The lion picked its target. It pounced at them, flying in the air paces away. Elena's body became petrified in shock. She clutched at Slavista as it flew towards her.

It was this moment that Astrin remembered most. He remembered his choice. What he could've done. Time slowed down as his thoughts processed the moment. He could've pushed them out of the way, allowed for the lion to eat him instead of them. Give them a chance to escape at the cost of his own life.

But he also thought they'd make a good distraction needed for his own escape.

He didn't move, allowing the beast to kill his two sisters. He watched in terror for minutes, letting the animal eat his sisters with malicious contempt. The beast turned its head to Astrin. It stared into him.

The stare was chilling. There was no love or hate in those eyes, just the natural stare from a beast of nature.

Astrin got up slowly. His feet moved on its own carrying him out of the cave. The lion consumed his fill with his sisters, and Astrin used the opportunity to return to his tribe.

The memories after that were hazy. He told his parents what happened. Out of horror of what he had seen, he told them the whole truth.

Sometimes he wondered if he should've lied to them. Told them that it wasn't his own fault for taking them there. Maybe then they still would've loved him. But he didn't feel deserving love that day. From that day forward, they decided to get rid of him.

In his head he would always replay the ghastly moment. He wanted to feel guilty, wanted to feel shame for not jumping in the way of that beast. His life was more worthless than both their lives.

Astrin slammed his fists to the ground. He cried, screamed, and begged for forgiveness at the air. Just as he'd abandoned his sisters, he now abandoned his fellow guardsmen. There was nothing to him. Even after years of that tragic incident, he still ran away like a child would.

No, the reality was, he hadn't changed since his boyhood. Just as he refused to save his sisters, he wasn't willing to die for his fellow soldiers either. Like an observing mosquito, Astrin's true nature showed itself in moments of crisis.

'I never help anyone.'

He screamed at the Gods. Not words of blame, just hating his own existence. He yelled up through the tomb, begging the Gods to damn him for his own dishonor.

Astrin unstrapped his sword and wicker shield. They were useless. Everything was useless. No matter what he wanted to be, his soul never made him passionate enough. The worst part wasn't his powerlessness to it all, the worst part was his own unwillingness to face the crisis of it all.

"Kill me," he clutched his body over, letting his forehead touch the ground. "Gods, just kill me. I am nothing. Just let me die for something, anything."

He cried, and he sobbed. Defeated again, with a waking emptiness in his heart.

A screech was heard above him. He looked up. It was a bat. Specifically, an albino bat. Nikki? As it opened its red-colored eyes from its sleep, other sleeping bats did the same. He was in a tomb for the dead, of course there would be critters hiding there.

The bats began screeching at once, and jumped from their sleeping spots to descend upon him. They span around him, hissing in screams. Astrin covered his head, protecting his face from any bites they might bring.

As quickly as they came they disappeared. They flew out of the tomb just as daylight came. Astrin looked toward the tunnel he'd come through. A crystal was left at the entrance. Picked up by the bat and left behind at the entrance.

He walked over to pick it up.

The crystal gem was purple. It was no bigger than the tip of his pinky, but there was something distinctly lively to it. A light, in the shape of water, edged to the side of the inside.

No matter which way Astrin turned it, it pointed in one direction. He thought back to the girl who gave it to him. He remembered how she glanced at a crystal before running away.

"Are you... A light from the Gods?" The crystal said nothing to him. It simply pointed outward from the cave.

Astrin looked to the rising light over the hill. He wanted answers. Answers to make sense of the world. Vengeance, redemption, or absolvement from the cowardice he'd shown. He wasn't sure how to get it, but he knew that the crystal's light could hold some sort of answer.

Astrin stepped out of the tomb and allowed the crystal's light to guide his path. He clutched at the gem, "Gods, give me guidance."