Intro:

This began a long time ago. A really, really long time ago. As I stare at these pages, which are made from the Tree of Life's finest wood, I can't help but pick at them, for they too, are beginning to become yellow, and the ink, made from a thousand year old kraken's ink sac, slowly fades away.

I have waited for so long...

Ten thousand years. I waited for you for ten thousand years, in this place with no light. I waited for that day, when the thousands of stone flowers would bud and bloom again. I waited, for that day, when the clock would begin to tick again, signaling to me your return.

Today is the eighty first day of the ten thousandth, three hundred sixty eighth year. Will you return today?

Here, at the core of the Forest of Worlds, there is no sound. There is only this old, old journal, my fading handwriting, and your empty coffin. If I'm telling the truth...I have no right to be by your side. I, the bloodthirsty Demon that swallowed humanity. I am the evil demon that then slew the five great Clans. But I will never, ever let go of your hand again.

Because...I remember.

Chapter 1:

All I knew when I woke up was that, for some reason, I was saying "goodbye." Apparently, I didn't expect to open my eyes again. I really didn't. But I did.

The first thing that I noticed when I woke up was that It was very, very hard to move. My eyes opened with slight popping sounds. The first thing I saw was a moss-covered ring of statues around me in a glade with dense overgrowth. The statues had various expressions on their faces, mostly expressions of surprise or horror. After my eyes opened, I realized that..I happened to be hugging a statue. And rather tightly too. Feeling like an idiot, I tried to move my arms away from the statue.

That's when I noticed that I was covered from head to toe in a thin layer of stone. As if partially petrified.

Where was I? Why was I still alive? Why was I here? Who was I saying goodbye to? Suddenly, it all came back to me.

I clenched my teeth and broke the thin layer of stone on me.

Crack! Plink!

The stone fell around my body in a messy layer of what looked like a massive, cracked, gray eggshell. Which was practically what I was actually in.

As I dusted myself off, I began to recall the circumstances surrounding my death. I was the ninth disciple of the Sword Saint of the West. I was sent forth with the other disciples and a regiment of the King's Army to vanquish a dark dragon that was ravaging the eastern part of the kingdom.

The mission was successful, but not without heavy casualties. I myself, died, or was supposed to have, when we were ambushed by a powerful Medusa. To prevent Sixth Sister from dying under the claws of the Medusa, I took the attack meant for her right on my heart. Before I died from petrification and a ruptured heart, I managed to grab the Medusa, and plunged my sword through both hers and my own chest. And Medusas die, they also turn to stone. From dust we come, unto dust we go. They were the perfect example of that.

At any rate, by that time, most of the King's Army had died off. I estimated that when they reached the cavern of the dark dragon, it was probably just the other eight disciples who survived.

I got a bearing of my surroundings. I was still in the forests by the dark dragon's cavern. Same place where I was petrified. The Medusa had also been turned into a statue? That would explain why I was hugging it.

Looks like for whatever reason, I was unpetrified and also had a working heart. After I had given myself a good dusting, I saw that my sword was no longer through my chest but was on the soft grass of the glade of petrified people. I reached down to pick it up.

Suddenly, I felt a dangerous chill over my neck. What was it? Oh shit.

Guess what? The statue that I had been hugging when I was petrified had moved. And it was holding its claws over my neck.

Damn it! What a foolish mistake! How could I have not thought of the fact that if I was revived...there was a very high chance of the Medusa being revived as well...

"At least you have the brains to not move, you puny human. "

I swallowed hard. "I'm not sure what you mean." Seriously, Mist Ji? What the fuck. Holy shit, when people say say anything, they don't mean act like a retard.

The Medusa laughed mockingly. "Or you're just very slow. I have my claws over your neck and you're asking me what I mean?"

"You were going to kill Sixth Sister. And I can't let you do that. Your kind...already slaughtered hundreds of my brethren. "

"Oh, dearie me. Isn't that sweet? Using your body to protect the girl of your dreams? Dying for her is sooo honorable. When you can't even see that she wanted you to die. And don't even talk about us Ancient slaughtering your kind, Conqueror scum."

I furrowed my brow. What was she talking about? She had guessed correctly that I liked Sixth Sister...but...what in the what? I had never heard of over half the terms that she was talking about.

The Medusa shifted her claws on my neck and crouched down beside me. This was the first time that I saw my killer face to face. How ironic that I was killed by literally the hottest female of any species I'd ever met. And I thought Sixth Sister was pretty. Compared to this Medusa, she was a literal wad of dirt.

She was stunningly beautiful. Jet-black hair gently fell around a pale face with delicate features. Lashes like moth's wings, a thin, sculpted nose, and lips the color of cherry blossoms. But...the thing that drew me in the most...was her jade-green eyes.

Bright green interlaced with milky white. Like her irises were sculpted from Imperial Jade.

She was nothing like what the textbooks on monsters said she would be. With snakes for hair, eyes of snakes, and metal parts jutting out. Nothing like that at all. It was rather hard to try to kill someone this beautiful, I thought to myself.

The Medusa suddenly frowned in confusion. "You're...not petrifying?"

I was called back to reality by her words. That's right! The Medusa's most powerful and most dangerous weapon was her petrifying gaze. But...I was unscathed. Why? How? I was filled with so many questions. Why was I still alive, and what had brought me back to life? Why was I not getting petrified by this Medusa's gaze?

The Medusa frowned, and sniffed gently. Her eyes widened suddenly, and she gave a small sigh. She stood up and her claws retracted with a shink!

I hurriedly picked up my sword and backed away from her with my blade raised. Gritting my teeth, I willed my Magic to enter my sword.

Magic refers to the energy that humans are able to call upon to perform various supernatural tasks, ranging from affecting the environment to affecting one's own body to become stronger.

The familiar trickle of power through my body was euphoric. My sword blazed bright white as the flow grew stronger and steadier. When the blade was shining with a blinding light, I assumed a ready position and slashed at the Medusa's turned back.

An arc of white energy hummed out of my blade and raced towards the Medusa. She turned her head ever so slightly, her jade eyes flashing. Her long claws shot out again and cut through the Magic slash.

"Relax! I mean you no harm now. " She said with a conflicted expression.

I stopped but kept my blade up.

"Calm down. I don't kill fellow Descendants of the Ancients. Only those seeds of Conquerors. "

I shook my head. "What are you talking about?"

She pointed at me with a long claw. "You're not a human anymore. You're a Monster."

I scowled, and instantly swung the blade with another Magic Cut.

"Tsk!" The Medusa scowled too and slashed away my Magic. "What are you so pissed about? That's what humans call us."

I paused. I was a human. So why was she mistaking me for a monster? The Medusa furrowed her brow, thinking. She looked off to the West and sniffed.

"So I see. Deseray has fallen. Yes...the energy from his broken core would definitely be enough to bring us back to life. And...turn you into a Monster. " She turned her shocking eyes on me again. "Do you hear me? You are no longer human."

"I have no idea what you're talking about, and I don't want to know." My voice wavered slightly.

I was scared now. What if...what she said was true? The more I thought about it, the more I felt that it could be true and that I really was a disgusting Monster. No! there was no way. It was just this evil Monster, messing with my head.

"Leave me be, and we can both get off easy." I started cautiously.

The Medusa cocked her head to the side. She thought for a moment, and then said carefully, "You plan to return to them, don't you? There will be no place for you among them. "

I scoffed. "Medusa, even if it were as you say, and I am turned into a monster, they would never reject me. I am a human, and a disciple of the Sword Saint of the West. They are my family. They would never reject me. " What a foolish idea. I had grown up with all of my eight brothers and sisters. Even if we weren't related by blood, we were closer than blood related siblings.

The Medusa sighed heavily. "You are not a human anymore. I therefore will not continue to hunt you and kill you. Though I hate you for the fall of Deseray...I will not kill a fellow Ancient-blood. " The Medusa gave a long look, and a slightly worried expression flashed over her delicate face. She then turned, and disappeared into the shadows.

I let out a breath that I didn't even know that I was holding. That didn't matter right now. What did matter...was finding my way back to my brothers and sisters.

I looked at a small compass that was clipped to my belt and found that their position was just outside of the forest. I hurriedly sheathed my blade and began to jog in their general direction.

I came out of the forest only to be greeted by a pouring rain. I paused, and squinted to see an encampment of tents and a small curl of smoke not far off.

I charged towards the small group with a smile that was about to burst off of my face. I was alive! I hadn't died!

"Brothers! Sisters! I have returned~!" I waved and yelled as loud as I could. "Broth-"

Zwist-thunk!

Suddenly, a blinding pain erupted from my left shoulder. I turned my head slowly to see a fletching growing out of my shoulder.

I then looked towards the person that had shot me. "Sixth Sister! It's me! Don't shoot! It's Mist! Don't shoot!"

Sixth Sister...only gave a hard, cruel smile. And she drew another arrow out of her quiver and shot again.

Zwist-thunk!

The pain seemed to finally catch up with me.

"Ah!" I cried out in pain and disbelief. Why? Why was this happening? What was happening? Someone! Anyone! Explain to me what the hell was going on!

I sank to my knees, shivering as the cold rain diluted the stream of hot blood pouring out of my shoulders. I looked again at Sixth Sister with fear and desperation.

Sixth Sister laughed. "Oh, Mist. You won't really be...missed." I heard a rustle behind me. I turned just in time to see a blade larger than I was swinging towards my neck. I rolled just barely in time.

"Eldest brother! What is the meaning of this!"

My face was already wet, so no one could see the tears that were streaming out of my eyes. You plan to return to them don't you? There will be no place for you among them.

I suddenly heard her voice again in my head.

"Do not blame me, Mist. If anything, blame yourself! Blame yourself for not dying back there! And having to see for yourself the truth! Blame yourself! For being too talented! Blame yourself! For causing our teacher to consider placing the position of Sword Saint on you!"

"Eldest Brother! Sixth Sister! I never needed that position of Sword Saint! Please! Don't do this! I..." What came next made my whole body go ice-cold. I saw the rest of my eight siblings slowly walk out from behind their tents with their weapons drawn. Some of them had conflicting emotions on their faces, others, with pure bloodlust.

I suddenly felt that...I was just comical. It's true. Out of the nine of us, I was the one that my teacher had deemed most talented and spent the most time training. No wonder...since that day that my teacher commended me to the King, they had slowly begun to leave my side. So...they had been planning it from that long ago? Five years...huh.

Holy shit, that's hilarious. What a joke! What a joke!

"Ah hah hah! Hah hah hah hah hah hah! Hee hah ah hah hah agh!" I began to laugh, and sob uncontrollably, my shoulders sharking, my arms useless by my side, and my face pointed towards the sky. I couldn't even tell if I was screaming or laughing or crying anymore. Just some strange mix of all three. Just some crazy mixture of all three.

Eldest brother looked at me with contempt. He signaled an attack. My "siblings" all jumped at me, their weapons poised to hack me to bits.

As the pieces of metal came closer and closer and closer to me, I suddenly decided something. A rage, a hatred, a power that I never knew existed within me exploded outward.

"AH!" I yelled. A shockwave suddenly spread from my kneeling body outwards and knocked my assailants backwards.

"I treated you...as my siblings! My real siblings! I had no one! I was an orphan! I loved you guys! I trusted you! And this is what I get in return! I gave up my life for you guys! I gave up everything! And this is what I receive in return...If you want my life...Come and take it!" I shouted.

The power that was boiling within me exploded again. A bright flash of purple, and I charged at those traitors. No...I was the traitor!

Hah! I was that traitor! Can you believe it! I am! Ah hah!

I leapt at the nearest person, Eldest brother. He had his heavy broadsword over his shoulder, ready to cut me down. I didn't even draw my sword. You want my life? Kill me then! I don't want it either! I reached towards the crushing blade with only my bare hand.

...