It was dark and cold. Whenever he breathed, the chill hit his lungs. The warmth went out in fumes with each breath. He was alone. In nothingness.

Out of the blue, trees grew around him. Within the trees, he saw a monster. It had a spider body and a mantis head.

He screamed in fear and ran away from the monster. It also came down from the tree and chased after him.

He ran and ran until he saw his parents.

"Father! Mother!"

He hid behind his parents as the two stood between him and the monster. Without notice, his mother pushed him away.

She shouted something. He did not hear it clearly. But it was the last word from her and his father before the monster cut their heads off. He was so scared he didn't look back and ran.

He ran and ran and ran. On his way he saw people from his village. Some ran toward the monster. Some panicked and ran along with him. But he was faster than all. And one by one behind him, their heads were cut off by the monster. He kept running until he saw no one and the monster anymore.

He sat down on all four exhausted.

While he tried to catch his breathe, he saw bloods oozed out from nothing then the faces of his parents. They floated up, flying around abruptly. Then other heads followed.

"You killed us." "I told you not to play inside the wood." "Why did you lead it to us?" "You should have die alone."

The faces haunted him. He shut his eyes and closed his ears with hands. He cried and begged so that the faces would stop. Suddenly everything turned quiet. He looked around. There were no faces but only nothingness.

Then a tip of tree rose up again near him. And the monster. Again he ran. And the whole story looped the same as before.

The same thing happened again and again and again. The boy was trapped in a infinite horror.

However this time, among the cold voices from the faces, he heard a voice. It was not cold. It was warm unlike the faces.

"Child ... I am here to help."

"No. Get away. Don't help me." The child replied. He shut his ears tighter so that he did not hear the voice anymore.

"Child ... Don't be afraid of that monster. ... I will defeat that..."

"No!! Don't! You can't! It will cut your head! Leave!" He yelled to warn the voice. He did not want it to change into a cold one. Like the faces.

Everything turned to silence again. He dropped his hands covering the ear. They had turn red.

Suddenly he felt the warmth he had never felt for a long time. It touched his wrist then it cloaked him entirely. He felt warmth for the first time in here.

The appration extended his hand in desperate to get back the child. But it was too late. Ethanial got to the child first. He grabbed the child from the wrist and pulled the child toward him, hugging him.

"Child, listen to me. No... I will listen to you this time. You can tell me child."

"I killed everyone. They died because of me. I should have never play in the forest."

"You can play anywhere."

"But the monster...I woke it and led it to them."

"No. You didn't."

"Yes, I did. They told me."

"Who?"

"The flying heads. The people. My ... parents."

"Silly child. They would never told you that. Look at them closely."

The child slowly opened his eyes and looked at the flying heads. They were not angry. They were smiling. Then everything came to vivid. The green forest, the golden fields, the dirt road and the people, his parents.

"Father! Mother!"

"Oh lord Mordu'. A monster! Buck! Come! Stay behind us."

"No. Honey, run with him to the village. I will hinder it for a while."

His mother bit her lip and turned to him. Tears ran down her eyes as she pushed him away.

"Run to the village! This is your mission. Warn the villagers. Save them like you used to play a knight."

She smiled as she shouted to him. Then she took one of the pitchforks from her husband and braced herself to deter the monster, along with her husband.

He ran and ran, warning everyone along the way. The men ran passed him with their sickles and forks toward the monster. They told him 'kid, good job. Run! Go notify the village for us'. Women ran along with him, with children in their hands, to the village. 'Child, don't run with us. Go ahead and warn the village. Hurry. You are the fastest. You can do it.'

Tears fell behind as he ran like an arrow.

"They did not hate me. They praised me. And told me to go ahead, to warn the rest." The child said to Ethanial happily.

"Yes. You did well. Child." Ethanial whispered into the child's ears.

As the child, the source of its life was slowly getting out of its astral world, the appration felt its strength drained. It screamed.

He reached the village and told the village head. The man patted his head gently and said "Good job kid. You saved us. Now go with the women and the children to the town. My men and I will stop the monster."

"They told me, I saved them. I didn't kill them." The child shouted. Ethanial could feel the warmth coming back the child body. The hollow was refilled with love.

Now that the child was nearly out of its astral prison, the appration cried in desperation to call the child back.

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"Nooo! You killed them. You led it to them. You should have died alone. Don't you hide behind a person again and let him die."

The child twitched upon hearing the words. The coldness return back.

"No. I won't die, child. You have helped me weaken the monster. Now watch how I defeat the monster."

The strong words of Ethanial brought the warmth into his world. The child was free. He opened his eyes and saw the appration and Ethanial for the first time.

Now weak, angered and desperate, the appration took out his claws. They were long and sharp like blades. It startled the child. Ethanial put the child behind him and readied his sword.

"Divination."

The appration charged first. Ethanial blocked the menacing claws. He needed two hands but he managed to push it back. The force threw the monster off balance. Ethanial saw the opportunity.

"Flameno!"

He jumped and cut the monster in half. The appration screamed in pain as the flames burned it away. Its loud deep cold voice could even be heard by the guards and the high Templer outside.

Soon the flames ate it whole and the appration vanished back to nothingness.

"You win, mister. You beat it." The child shouted cheerfully.

"Yes. Thanks to you, brat. You weaken it for me." He ruffled the brat's hair lightly and cheered him. "Anyway do you see those men outside? They are from the temple. Go to them. They will protect you."

"What about you mister?"

"I need to finish up. I can't leave in this mess, can I?"

"Allright, mister. I will wait outside. Thank you for saving me."

The child went out first. As he moved, Ethanial saw him limping on the floor.

"Brat, what happened to your leg?"

"I broke it while running down the stairs. That's why I was left behind."

After the child went out, he emptied a bottle and put the ashes into it. The remains of appration could be used in detox potion and anti-aging lotion which rose in popularity and demand due to recent new culture of courting. He carefully sealed the bottle and put it in an inside pocket where it was secure.

He looked outside to check if the kid got down safely. There he saw someone he thought he would never see again.

It was the high Templer with the fan he saw in Ronstead. He muttered, "Faün."

He saw sir Faün was whispering something to high Templer Ferde. Judging by their expression, Ethanial could sense something wrong. The situation was not favourable for him.

The guards were readying their swords to barge inside. The child was struggling and shouting something to him. He could not hear the child clearly under the heavy rain. But he could tell from the lips. It meant 'run'.

He remembered Alexel claiming in the last hearing that his team were searching for evidences against him in mount Raza. 'That Faün, he might have came back with some twisted evidences against him,' Ethanial concluded.

"Bastards. So you decided to kill me anyway. Fine. If you won't honour the trial, I will not respect your decision neither."

He grabbed some eggs and bagged them in a cloth. He looked back at the child one last time before he jumped out from the window in the back.

"... He will be fine with them. Take care of yourself child."

He jumped down from the second floor. Water splashed as his feet landed in a puddle. But under heavy rain and constant lightening, the guards did not suspect the sound.

He scanned the surrounding. It was best to run into the forest behind the farm. Suddenly he heard a faint sound of a horse. They are coming. He ran across the pasture with the last spurt of energy left in his legs. However he heard the sound of hoofs right behind him. It caught him.

He looked back. To his surprise, he saw the hoofs with white rings.

"Rings!!" He shouted happily.

Then he also saw men from temple coming toward him. Although the high Templer in charge was on foot due to Rings running away, Faün had his own mount.

As soon as he prepared to jump on Rings, it already lower its back, readied to be mounted. He swiftly hopped on and galloped hard. The men of temple chased on his tail but soon gave up.

It was now one on one race between him and Faün. Ethanial rode as fast as he could across the field toward the forest. But Faün was hard on his tail. He took out the fan and chanted a spell.

A burst of wind flew out from the fan and followed Ethanial. Rings swiftly changed the direction and dodged the attack. It hit a tree and formed a big cut.

Ethanial entered the forest with Faün behind him in a distance apart. Even though Ethanial were not familiar with the terrain of the forest, Rings manoeuvred itself cleverly. It easily searched the path and outmanoeuvred Faün.

Soon Faün lost sight of Ethanial and Rings. They successfully left Faün behind and disappeared into the forest.

"You did it, Rings! You clever boy. I love you." He was so happy, he petted its neck and gave a smooch.

"Bastard. He got me good," Faün yelled in anger, "he must have gone to the pilgrims trail." He looked above to see the stars. It turned out in vain. The storm had completely covered the sky in red. Alone, in the unfamiliar forest, without stars or winds to direct him, he lost in the dark.

Meanwhile Ethanial, with the help of Rings, safely got out of the forest and reached the pilgrims trail. He stood at the path and stared to the south where the town of Gambit was.

"Rings, you remember the beautiful missy you met in Mount Raza? The stupid girl who challenged a mantila riding on you? Yes that girl. She told me that she love me no matter what I hear otherwise. ... That was a farewell in good memories, right? She lives in different life now. No. She never was in the same life as me. It was just a dream. A delightful one. ... Right."

He stared into the dark for a while then he kicked his foot to signal Rings. It turned away from town and galloped toward the mountains, without looking back.

And so the life of a fugitive began for Ethanial.