As a cold wind blew across the ancient trees and the silvery moonlight scintillated through the watery depths, the haunting music slowly came to an end. His current demise was absolutely forgotten as Aster stared at the man in white and gold. All he cared about at that moment was the song that had brought him there—the song that was once love and warmth in his heart, now turned into a deep yearning, a longing for what was lost. Tears freely spilling down his face, Aster staggered as he pulled himself over, his voice nearly incoherent

."H-how…what…where?" He couldn't even form the words of what he truly wanted to say when his efforts were suddenly cut short by a familiar, grating voice booming from behind.

"There you are, you little runt!" A bearded man wielding two axes broke through the shrubbery along with the rest of his misfit group. With their weapons drawn and ready, they quickly took their positions, warily looking around for any threats. The one Aster took for their mage, the illusionist who had kept trying to shroud his senses, was dressed in a lustrous but faded purple robe, wielding a bony staff. He stood directly beside their leader while another man in shining armor holding a sword and shield settled right in front, probably as a protector. Another who held a bow and arrows, the ranger of the group, stood behind them, while the last one, the one who Aster guessed was their weightbearer, concealed himself further back, making sure there was no doubt he was never meant to join the battle. But their leader, with his hulking mass of muscles, burnt orange beard, and angry eyes, only had eyes for him, which was made very clear as he shoved one of his axes in his direction.

"Enough of this wild chase!" He swore, "Take my words, lad; this place shall be your grave. You will curse the day you crossed paths with us. The Lernean Brotherhood will use your blood to appease those whose lives were unjustly lost to your cowardly tricks."

Fear flooding his limbs, Aster crashed into the ground in a bid to put as much distance between him and certain death as possible. As if he couldn't wait to tear his limbs apart, the bearded man was just about to take a step forward when a hand suddenly clamped on his shoulder, forcing him to stop. Frustrated, he was about to violently free himself when he finally noticed the strange behavior of his comrades. Wondering what could have been so strange that it made his comrades pay no heed to their mark, the bearded man followed their gazes directly to the strange man in gold and white, still sitting under the golden tree with a harp in his hands.

He was the first to ask the question each of them had in mind.

"Who... or what are you?"

Noticing their attention was no longer on him, Aster was able to put a little bit of space between him and his captors. While the groove spanned several meters wide on each side and the brushes of leaves and flowers were not enough to completely hide him under the full light of the moon, that little bit of land could be the difference between life and death for him. He couldn't afford not to take advantage of what was within his grasp. It was how he had survived, after all.

"What…am I?" The man in a golden white robe softly spoke as he opened his eyes, revealing two gleaming orbs that seemingly fit into the ambiance. His voice was deep and velvety; somehow it resonated within the groove like a gentle rushing of waters. Pacifying the thrumming harp in his hold into silence, he slowly rose to his feet.

"That…is a very good question," he said as he slowly walked towards them, the harp mysteriously vanishing into thin air. "The kind of query worthy enough of souls who seek enlightenment: searching for a shard of clarity from the cosmos itself. Tell me, are you such souls?"

Only silence reigned as his gaze flitted from one person to the next.

"Once in the past, I would have been impressed by such an apt observation; in fact, I would have rewarded it as well, but from what I can tell, half of the answer is already within your grasp."

Confused, Aster was just about to wonder what they were talking about when the robed mage of the group, the illusionist, suddenly hissed a single word.

"A Shade…"

A reply that made Aster abruptly turn in disbelief, that single word evoking pure terror within him. He had heard of them once and had even read some of their terrible tales. They were said to be imitations—echoes of souls from magical creatures unwilling to pass on to the cosmos. And so they linger, their forms filled with hate and malice against those still living. Many of their rumors were treated as nothing but stories used to scare the little children, along with a host of other made-up creatures. But in each of the stories Aster could ever recall, shades were nothing more than remnants of unconscious souls; their infamy spread because of their instinct to kill any and all living things that dared cross their paths.

But his eyes clearly told him that the man in white and gold was fully and well alive. Leaves bent under his pressure, and his robes fluttered in the night's wind. It wasn't until he fully opened his senses that he began to feel that something was not quite right. There were slight inconsistencies, almost as if whatever was in front of him was trying too hard to emulate a living thing. There was weight to his every step but it was too uniform, almost as if each leaf on his path bent the exact same way without fail. The robe fluttering in the breeze seemed to be weightless, almost as if it were made of air. His eyes might be trying to lie to him but he could tell there was something lacking in the man—the weighty feel of a fleshly body and the tangy smell one should have if they have lived in the forest for who knows how long.

Once he noticed such details, though, it was almost like he had punctured through a wall and a veil had been lifted. Beyond the shadow of a doubt, he instinctively knew he was in the presence of something else, something that was definitely not living.

"What uncanny senses you have." The said man spoke, his gaze peering deep into Aster, almost as if he were aware of what he had just done.

"It seems no matter what I try, the dead can never truly emulate the living, even with all my strength." He mused to himself.

One of the hunters, the ranger, was the first to break their silence.

"Vil, I do not like this." His face, while glued to the golden-eyed man, was pale and frightened. "Curse the boy; let's escape while we still can. Ever since we took that damn bounty, our luck has been terrible. We have already lost Sid, Prag, and Nal to this damn forest, and we will surely follow if we do not flee right now." He vehemently hissed.

The one named Vil cut him off. "Shut it, Tor!" He quietly snarled. "This is not the place for one of your stupid complaints. We all knew the gold offered would have set our brotherhood apart for a long time. This is nothing more than another obstacle in our path to grandeur." A maddening gleam was in his eyes. It was clear that no matter what was said or happening, he was determined to face it head-on.

Their berserk of a leader, Raz, raised one of his two axes to the shade.

"I do not care who or what you are." He powerfully declared. "We are not here to seek trouble with you. Give us the boy and we will leave your lair intact. Give us a reason and we will make sure your pretty little garden loses its color. What do you choose?"

Aster's heart beat rapidly at the naked threat. The tables suddenly turned, making him realize that his fate now lay with a perhaps dead man who was now staring at them with a quiet, amused glance. Regardless of whether the man under the tree was a shade or something else, he knew it was only a matter of time before the hunters lost their patience. They had hounded him for days and weeks on end. Only wariness held them back from making a move.

"While it was deeply entertaining to see a group of hunters fruitlessly chasing after a single soul throughout the glades, you all haven't arrived in my garden by chance. A song brought you here, a song heard only by the little child you were pursuing, a song that called his lost soul to this place."

A frown creased Raz's face. "That damnable child is ours. I do not know what you are talking about but that little runt possesses something of ours that we must reclaim at all costs. He is also responsible for the deaths of several of our brothers. The Lernean Brotherhood has a stake in his life and it must be paid with his blood."

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A subtle smile wreathed the man's face. "What a bold name you have chosen for yourselves—the Lernean Brotherhood." A chuckle echoed throughout the night, causing Raz and his motley group to strangely blush. "Lernean...Hydra, a terrible creature of many heads." Looking at their numbers, he chuckled. "Ahh, that's what you meant, right? There must have been more than a few of you."

Stifling his embarrassment with rage, Raz hollered. "You do not have the right to jest at our name. One day it will echo throughout the Shorelands and by then no one will dare laugh in our faces. Let it not be said we hadn't tried to give you a chance. Shade or not, that boy's skin is mine. Get him."

The whole gang immediately exploded into action. Raz leapt towards the shade, each of his axes gleaming in red. Vil the illusionist and his protector readied their stance for battle while the smallest of them, the weightbearer, fled further away towards the trees, which oddly did not surprise Aster at all. It was standard practice for hunters to enlist the help of the weightbearers during their hunts. They were approved by the Hunter's Guild and their major role involved carrying luggage and other necessities other hunters would need for their journey. With their bodies trained towards strength and speed, they were meant to run and hide until the end of the battle. This was the sole reason why the weightbearer had somehow survived until now. Aster was just about to make a run for it too, but all of their rush disappeared under a single command.

"Be Still"

And the whole groove froze in its motion.

Terrified, with only his eyes allowing any modicum of movement, Aster wildly looked around at the lifeless meadow. The trees were petrified and the leaves were suspended in place, rooted in the air, almost like they were painted on a larger-than-life canvas. But it wasn't only the trees, the leaves, and the pond that stood still. Both he and the hunters were both arrested in their motion, helpless to do anything other than stare and see their fears reflected in each other's eyes.

"How much time must have really passed for this kind of knowledge to be lost?" The golden shade spoke softly, his figure lightly floating into the air. "That respect must be given to those who have died, whether malicious or not."

Raising his hand to their leader, Raz was helplessly plucked from the ground, his axes falling to the ground. He unwillingly floated across the air until he finally stood within the man's grasp.

"To see such boldness in a pair of weak hunters such as you is very baffling but perhaps it is one borne out of foolishness. No matter! Unfortunately for you, I too have a vested interest in the boy. You have told me there is something you must retrieve from his grasp. Well, let's see if your words hold any weight."

The frightened hunter could barely utter a word before a shower of golden haze bloomed from the strange man, only to pierce his terrified eyes. Heart wrenching screams of pain and terror suddenly tore through the still air until it was only a moment later when the golden haze dissipated and the hunter dropped to the ground in a whimper, his body shaking and shivering uncontrollably while his eyes and ears ghastly wept blood onto the bed of gleaming flowers.

"Wasn't that surprising?" He muttered as his form floated back into the ground. "It's true you were indeed chasing after something but it wasn't yours now, was it?"

Aster, who suddenly found himself freed from the strange spell, dropped to the ground, gasping and heaving. As he collected his jumbled thoughts, there was no doubt in his mind of why he had been freed before others.

"No, they were after something in my possession, something they wanted to claim for their own." His voice broke despite the heavy despair in his heart. "My family is all gone. They killed everyone—every single mage, maid, and steward. No one was spared. I only managed to escape because of my father. I have been on the run ever since," he said, breaking into sobs on the ground, his chest heaving from the pain, grievances, and anguish that had threatened to overwhelm him every step of the way.

At this point, Aster had truly given up. He knew he had no hopes of running away from whatever kind of creature was taking the form of a man in front of him. The power he had just witnessed was something he had never seen before. If he was meant to die in these woods, then he would make sure he pulled his pursuers along with him.

The shade's glowing eyes softened as he gazed at him. Turning towards the hunters, his stare turned cold.

"I could see in your mind the many lives you have destroyed. Greed has followed every step on your way, and ironically, it was also greed that has brought you into my hands. In that case, I will let this land be your reckoning. Let the hunters be the hunted; let your greed be your downfall."

He raised his hand and flicked his fingers, shattering the spell in the air, which was immediately followed by deep vibrations reverberating throughout the groove. The land shook, the trees, herbs, and flowers of all manners and types trembled, the source of all commotions seemingly emanating from the once-still pond. The freed hunters, who had just regained the use of their limbs, had barely collected their bearings when the trembling lulled for just a moment until the surface of the pond burst in a shower of cascading water, revealing a glittering silhouette under the moonlight.

Its scales shimmered under the pale light and its long, sinewy body unfurled from the pond. The moment its crystal-horned head rose several feet from the waters, an almost tangible presence manifested throughout the whole groove. Aster soon found it hard to breathe, his mouth gasping, forcing the weighty air to fill his desperate lungs. He wasn't the only one struggling, as the other hunters visibly staggered, their eyes wide open, gazing at the rising beast. When it was fully revealed and its yellow, gleaming eyes focused on them, a whisper escaped the man in the purple robe, almost as if he couldn't believe what he was actually seeing.

"A... a dire beast..." His hand shook as he pointed. "A snake dire beast..."

The man in white and gold wistfully gazed at the snake, its iridescent scales twinkling beneath the starlight. "For a while now, Shal has been my constant companion. I let her live in my domain, and in return, she protects me from threats I deem too weak to waste my strength on."

He turned towards them, this time holding his hands wide open.

"Behold hunters of avaricious greed; you have encroached upon the territory of a dire beast. Run, hide, or fight—the choice is yours. As the night wears on, the one who lives until the first ray of sunlight will get to keep their feeble life. Let this be your trial."

At the drop of his hand, two things immediately occurred.

The terrible beast, several meters long, abruptly lunged, its frightening maw wide open. Possessing unnatural speed and strength, Aster barely blinked before the beast crashed into a purple-hued shield on its path, shattering it like glass. Such a spell had no hopes of stopping a beast of such strength but it was more than enough to stun it as Vil, the caster, roared at the top of his lungs.

"SCATTERR!!!!"

An order he had no need of saying. The weightbearer was nowhere to be seen, while the ranger had already bound for the forest at the first syllable of the command.

While fear threatened to engulf him, Aster felt an odd sense of peace inside. He could face the truth now. He had no hopes of outrunning such a creature. He sat on the ground, watching the events unfold, almost like he was dreaming. He saw the humongous creature ignore him and Raz and chase after the mage, who had effectively raised its ire. Despite suffering from the backlash of the spell shattering, the illusionist never gave up, manifesting the protective spell again and again even as he ran and bled from every orifice on his face. When it became clear the spell barely bought them any time, the protector stood his ground, forming a barricade-like construct from his shield. The caster didn't even hesitate to abandon him as he again cast a spell, manifesting a mirror-like clone of him that fled in a different direction, hopefully to confuse his pursuer. To Aster, it felt almost cathartic to see the ones who had spent days clamoring for his blood struggle to preserve their own.

As he shifted his gaze from the ensuing chaos that involved the protector valiantly putting up a fight only to be gulped by the beast, armor and all, his eyes settled on the bearded man on the ground, and his heart lit up in flames. He might have accepted his fate at the hands of an eerily powerful man and his dangerous creature but he would at least make sure he took one of them down with his own hands.

Broken and vengeful, he slowly arose to his feet, taking seditious steps towards the incapacitated leader, who could barely move on his own. Somehow, in his delirium of pain, he registered Aster getting closer and he panicked, almost cursing as he vehemently tried to pull himself away, crawling on the wet grounds, heeding nothing else other than his desire to survive.

Once, Aster would have never thought of doing what he was just about to do. But then, once, he was the only child of a lesser family of star-touched mages whose only mistake was to never be able to infer their own tragic fates. Sometimes the heavens were petty like that. The precious gift of peering into the cosmos can at times be a curse just as much as a boon.

Aster soon reached the leader and then summoned a silver dagger from the void stone on his chest.

"Kid," the once-mighty leader of the Lernean Brotherhood, rasped. "You have no idea what you are getting yourself into. Help me escape and I can assure you that you will be safe. From me and even from the ones after you."

Slowly raising the knife with both hands, Raz could only stare into Aster's dead eyes before the glint of silver flashed towards his legs.

Roaring in pain, he only had enough strength to protect himself for a few short seconds before the knife plunged again into his other leg, pulling a splash of blood just as it left a gouge behind.

"Just as my family was offered no mercy, you will suffer the same." Aster roared as he plunged the knife again and again, crying and screaming in anger and pain, no longer caring if the snake had finished the last fleeing hunters or that the eerily dead man was witnessing his every action. No, Aster repeatedly plunged the dagger, almost as if he wanted to eviscerate the very pain and fear he felt within, until the body under him became unrecognizable and the glistening blood splattered everywhere, staining his already tattered robes and the nearby flowers in a vivid crimson.

When his frenzied haze of rage finally lifted, the horror of what he had done, in addition to days upon days of agony, fear, and malnutrition, crashed into him. When he felt his body giving out, he gladly welcomed the darkness, unceremoniously passing out beside the mutilated body, unaware of the strange man who had floated close by watching over him.