Alana jolted awake to something nibbling on her right hand. She flinched in horror as she saw a creature that looked like a spider. Instead of a hairy body and legs, it was equipped with spiky red stones segmenting it's small abdomen and clawed stony legs.

As Alana came to from her stagnant brain, she realised this thing was what had bitten her hand. She trembled in fear as she watched it glow red after consuming her blood.

Alana shivered as if a thousand of spiders were now crawling all over her body, she flinched and stood up quickly from the ground.

She studied her surroundings. It was dark, the only light source was from the red glowing spider below her. She was caged in what seemed to be a rocky cave-like room with fragmented huge bones for bars. Alana tried not to think about where these bones were sourced from. However, they looked strangely identical to human bones.

Another shudder coursed through her and she tensed suddenly at the impending danger. Instantly becoming alert as warning signals screamed for her to leave this place.

I'm going to be fine! I'm not dead yet! I'm going to be fine!

She repeated this mantra over and over, however her kidnapper's voice wrung inside her head taunting her.

"...Maybe I'll stew you up and gobble you up later..."

Alana had no time to question exactly what sort of creature that man that transformed into flames was. She couldn't get past the feeling of terror she was currently in.

Don't be such a damsel in distress! She told herself. You have to fight! Find a way out of here!

She had to fight for her life. Wasting away and doing nothing meant accepting her fate. She still had things to do; a business to established and places to visit.

Alana ran quickly toward the bony bars, cringing internally before she touched them.

Don't think about it!

She wrung the bony bars, shaking them to test their durance and was surprised to find how sturdy they were. How was such a thing was possible? She couldn't even imagine.

She couldn't give up. This will not discourage her. Looking around she only saw rocks and stones around her. She grabbed a heavy stone with both hands and flung it toward the bars. A clashing sound resonated throughout the cave. The sound echoed all around her, telling her of the open space that would be her freedom.

Alana grabbed another heavy stone, however, before she could throw this one too—

"A-Alana?" An echoey voice called out to her.

Alana stopped her moments, the stone falling on the ground next to her feet. "K-Karla? Is that you?"

"Alana? Oh thank God you're alive! Alana listen to me, do not make any noise! Just stay put. He's coming soon to save us?"

"Who's coming?" Alana asked desperately. "Where are we? What happened? All I remember is seeing a man turn into flames, he said that I wasn't his target but he'll take me as well to eat me!"

A shudder ran through her as she remembered her last moments before she fainted.

"Listen to me, don't make any noise otherwise he'll get impatient, his kind are known to lose their temper quickly!" Karla told her.

"What do you mean "his kind"? What is he?"

"I'll explain everything later...Alana, I'm so sorry you were thrown in this mess! It's my fault for not being extra careful!"

Alana was about to ask more questions when Karla suddenly let out a heart wrenching scream.

"I THOUGHT I TOLD YOU TO SHUT YOUR FÛCKING TRAP MOUTH! I'M THIS CLOSE ON KILLING YOU EVEN BEFORE HE COMES!" A blood curdling demon-like throaty voice boomed, making the rocky walls shake with its vibration.

"You don't know what you're getting yourself into!" She heard Karla's voice amidst the vibrations.

A growl escaped the creatures throat and Alana suddenly felt the world around her shake tremendously. She held on to the bars of bones for dear life, not caring anymore about what sort of bones they were.

Her heart slammed into her chest as she suddenly heard Karla's struggling gasps, as if she were choking.

"Karla!" Alana screamed through the fear.

Silence replied her. Alana felt a dread enter her heart. What did that creature do to her?

"KARLA?!"

Silence met her again.

The panic wrought her. Alana could only think of the worse as the tears streamed down her eyes.

She couldn't lose Karla, not after she had just reunited with her. She couldn't lose anymore loved ones. The fear of being alone was the most scariest. Alana imagined it at this moment, her body rotting away in this cage never to see light again. Her bones becoming these very bars she held. The creature consuming her soul, taking everything away.

"Don't leave me!" Alana yelled desperately through her panic.

"M-Miss..."A voice called out behind her.

Alana startled as she whipped around. She nearly tripped backward at what she saw. The red spiky spider she'd forgotten about was slowly transforming into a minuscule elf-like being with wings. It flew toward her and landed on her shaky hands. Alana flinched at the glittery touch, equally flinging it away.

That creature wasn't deterred however, as it flew persistently back to her. "Miss, you've saved me!"

"W-What are you?" She asked through shaky breaths.

"I'm a fairie sprite, I've been imprisoned for a thousand years by the fire demon. He wanted to consume my essence but on the last second I transformed myself into stony spider and hid between the rocks...he eventually forgot about me. However, I was trapped in these spell-bound bars, I couldn't transform back into my fairie self and so I stayed as my spider self. With time I eventually mastered hibernation to save myself from rotting away. I awoke when he threw your body here... I sensed primordial essence in you and I instantly knew drinking your blood will only transform me back to my true form..."

"What?" Alana was so confused.

It was one thing watching an amazing phenomenon such as metamorphosis of a spider into a fairie and that same creature speaking to you as if you were kindred spirits from birth. It was another thing for that same creature to declare that Alana Walters had primordial essence.

"What exactly is primordial essence?"

The creature frowned, confused how she couldn't know such a basic thing. "Primordial essence is the foundations of your origin, the breath of your true self, whether fairie or demon. Mortals don't have essence since they only have mortal hearts and mind... but you, Miss, you're the only mortal in all three realms of earth that has primordial essence..."

"Three realms?" It seems the more he tried to explain, the more confused, Alana was getting.

"I must be dreaming," She muttered to herself as she closed her eyes, willing herself to wake up from this nightmare.

"Miss, I assure this is not a dream..." He assured her.

Alana opened her eyes and the creature still glowed red, his wings fluttering in a wayward motion around her.

"...since you've saved me, I have to repay you, it's our fairie law to always return favours and debt to those that were kind to us."

"Well you took my blood without my consent so, I'd say you owe me a pretty big sum." Alana reminded him. The fact that she spoke so casually was as if she was accepting this fate.

Alana watched as his red small eyes blink in surprise.

"With what shall I repay mistress?"

"How about getting us out of here?" Alana asked.

"Yes, yes, Of course. Although I am not immortal, these thousand of years in hibernation have made me increase enough powers to free us." He explained.

Before Alana could ask what exactly he was talking about, he flew toward the bars, his glowing wings fluttering in a speed she couldn't measure. In her eyes he became a red glowing blur that flew on all corners of the barred cage.

The world around her shook once more and just as quick as the shake manifested, the bones began crumbling. Equally destabilising the curved stone that relied on them for support. Seeing as the cage was about to collapse around her, Alana quickly darted to freedom.

She followed his red beaming body, trusting him entirely, that he will lead her to freedom.

The place was still surrounded in darkness, the only material she came across was rocks similar to the cage she came from. The hot and stuffy air told her that she was either under a mountain or inside of it.

"Quick miss, I can feel fresh air this way." The creature in front of her spoke as he led the way.

Alana was exhausting her energy by running after him. He was tiny and just too quick for her. She was about to stop to catch her breath when suddenly, the air around them shifted.

It became too hot to breathe, as if she was in a sauna without condensation. It was too dry as if she were in a blazing desert.

"You dare break free!" Something flew around them, casting dark shadows around the caved walls.

Then the man she last saw before she fainted landed in front of them. Wrath and malice was printed in his human expression. Alana felt her inside tumbling against the heat.

She skidded backward in fear. Freezing in shock when his eyes landed on her. Then it happened to fast, she didn't have time to dodge it. The blazing flame produced form his hand was beelining toward her. Before impact, however, the direction of the flame pivoted eastward and grazed her arm. She flinched at the burn, but the pain became nothing as she watched the embers dim toward where they had landed.

Alana felt her heart shatter as she realised why the flame hadn't reached her. Her saviour, had took the impact in her stead. Alana quickly ran to the dying embers.

Her heart in her throat as she watched the singed creature covered in soot from head to toe. His wings were still vibrating red, however their flickering were dimming into a slow rhythm. Tears suddenly welled in her eyes, somehow knowing that he wasn't going to make it.

"M-miss, T'was a pleasure...pleasure meeting you!" His voice was barely a whisper.

Alana's lips trembled.

"I-I... must have owed you a great debt in our previous lives, the will to save you took over me..." He continued.

"Your name, tell me you name! I'll never forget what you did for me today! Tell me your name!" Alana couldn't understand it, why she was so emotional over this creature she barely met ten minutes ago.

But no one had ever took bullet for her before—well, in this case a fire ball. It moved her so much, his sacrifice. It made her heart ache with sadness and she couldn't stop crying.

"Kilan. My name was Kilan...ahh it's so painful." These where his last words as the fluttering of his wings steadied.

"Kilan, its a beautiful name. Kilan, where does it hurt? Can I help?" Alana asked desperately.

Thinking how he'd revived earlier after drinking her blood, she was about to offer her hand to him. However it was too late, his glowing wings stilled into a stop and his form lost all colour completely.

As if becoming one with embers, his small body slowly incinerated into ashes. The glowing residue twirling in zigzagging dance, mingling with the air in front of her and until they were no more.

"I should have ate you when you fainted!" The fire demon's booming voice broke the silence that had suspended her in a state of loss.

His flaming sixteen foot self, emerged two feet away from where she was. He seemed to be nursing the wound inflicted by Kilan moments ago in retaliation to the fireball.

Alana stood in shock staring at the looming presence of the fiery beast. She couldn't move, too stunned and frightened to do so. She closed her eyes, willing this to be a dream. It was a dream, one of her nightmares in which she will incorporate into paint when she woke up. However, as she opened her eyes again, the monster was still pouncing for her with a hammering speed.

Her nightmares were manifested into reality. She quickly braced herself for impact, her eyes closed and hands covering her face in a defence mode.

I must be fated to die today. She thought.

However, just as she waited for the strike, it never came. Instead she saw a dazzling golden light burst through the scene, colouring the cave in haze of gold. The hands covering her face even glowed against the bright colour. Alana was mesmerised watching her hand shadowing the light before its power ricocheted through her, sending her flying backward.

As if in slow motion, she watched as a dark figure emerge through the blinding gold light. His movements were too quick for her eyes to register, however, the metal sound of a sword was heard amongst the wails of the fire demon.

"I see your demon king has failed to warn you about me." The dark figure spoke.

"Kalak is a puny king! I'm here in his stead, to show him once and for all that I can defeat the Lylas Fury." The monster spoke gutturally.

Lylas smirked enjoying the confidence on this unknowing demon. "I'd like to see you try."

You idiot don't provoke him! Can't you see the height difference! Alana wanted to shout these words but she was suspended speechless and motionless.

The beast snickered. "You're just a mere hybrid... your fairie side has weakened you."

"Child ... I don't think you're worth showing my true form. So defeat me, if you dare. My sword has been thirsting for demon flesh lately. Especially those demons who use harmful methods against mortals!" The malicious tone of Lylas' voice made Alana shudder with slight fear.

"How else was I to draw your attention..." The fire demon seemed even more heated.

"...my target was for the mortal with blonde hair. She is always on your side...as for her black haired friend, well she has unfortunate luck."

Alana heard all of this while her limbs were still floundering weightlessly in the air. She watched as that dark figure—whom she knew now to be Lylas—quickly impale the golden light, that was his sword, into the demon's chest. The beast hadn't expected this sudden move. The chain reaction of Lylas' action resulted in an even brighter golden light that started at the beast chest and consumed his whole body.

"If only you were informed about me, then your act of provoking me would have been avoided... maybe even then, your life would have been spared." These were Lylas' nonchalant words to the ashes of the beast that were now flittering in the air.

The shock of it all brought a migraine toward Alana's heard. She groaned painfully, equally alerting him to her presence.

He loomed toward her, she couldn't decipher his blank expression as his hand touched an invisible force field surrounding her. The bubble she had been encased in as she floated in the air.

That force field popped against his hand and then she fell straight into his arms.

"Are you alright?" Lylas looked down at her, that intimidating frown placating his face again.

It was strange to feel comforted by him. His words were comforting as he was seeking reassurance for her well-being, however, his expression made her feel she were a nuisance.

The migraine sliced through her again, and she felt hurt all over, specially to the arm where the fireball had grazed. Alana grimaced against the discomfort. Her eyes in slits as she stared up at him.

"K-Karla..." she managed to speak, remembering that her friend was somewhere unconscious in these caves. "Save Karla—" she told him through the pain.

Her hand rubbed her arm in an attempt to numb the pain, however it was no use. It felt better when she closed her eyes and so she did.

The last thing she heard was his long sigh before unconscious met her halfway.

Through the foggy blackness of her unconscious state. A familiar voice greeted her in her fragmented dreams.

"Judging by your ignorance of not knowing when to flee when danger arises, and judging by your being here when it's clearly forbidden, these careless actions could only mean, the kingdom's only princess is before me." He spoke with a deep throaty voice that further seem to melt her already frazzled state.

However, there was contempt singed in his undertone that told her not to mess with him. She had just witnessed him slaying a ghoul into ashes as if it had been just a mere sport to him.

She instantly bowed her head to the ground and stared at his shoes. Her fists clasped together in a respectful manner that indicated her submission.

"This kingdoms' princess thanks the great hero for saving her life."

"G-Great hero?" He stuttered out of character as if he couldn't believe she had just addressed him this way.

She looked up and caught the frown that further marred his beautiful expression.

She couldn't help but frown slightly too as she wondered why she suddenly felt so flustered around this person. No one, in all her life had managed to fluster her royal highness.

"Then please bestow this princess a name to call the one who saved her from death."

"Lylas." He spoke with determination. "Lylas Fury."