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Prologue - The Silhouette at Dusk

The pacifying sound of horse clops and wooden wheels rumbling through stone halted before the two castles. For the last eight hours, three adventurers had traversed nonstop through the nation of Restoura, looking for potential clues on the abnormal undead who had haunted nearby townlets.

Looking past the horizon of the twilight sky, the man sighed with a sense of defeat. “Shouldn’t we call it a day? The sun is already setting.”

“Ahhh-haa, finally, someone said it! I’ve barely been able to keep my eyes open,” yawned the woman who lay her head against his. “I bet that stupid undead doesn’t even exist.”

“I sure hope so,” he replied, clutching his wife with a tight, warm hug. Her name was Alicia, and they had met during their years as an adventurer-for-hire.

“But, hey, have you heard? Isn’t this the area where the half-human, half-monster guy lives? Ermm, what was his name again?” Alicia queried.

“Uhh, The Riftwalker… Or something? Right?” he asked, looking at the others, who nodded in unison. “So what’s up with him? Why’s he such a hot topic these days?”

“I heard he once burnt down a village for fun,” daunted Alicia. She held her eyes as wide as her smile, expression a jokingly scary look. “He might be as dangerous as that undead we’ve failed to find. You think you can match him, Toby?”

“I dunno. Can’t answer that from rumors alone. Someone told me he cooked and ate the villagers as well,” he chuckled. “You guys think that’s true? I personally don’t even think he exists, and even if he did—”

“Can’t we just find a place to stay?” insisted Nikolas. He sat at the back of the cart, legs, and arms spread wide like the lazy bum he was.

Alicia laughed.

Toby didn’t.

He considered Nikolas his rival. The man had proposed to Alicia first, but she had refused, choosing to marry him instead. Their love triangle went back to their youth, where Nikolas would always challenge him in everything—from the mundane to the absurd.

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And that was not going to change even now.

“I don’t want to hear you babbling about odd rumors. Also, get the horses started again, won’t you? It’s gonna talk all night the way you can talk.” Nikolas blurted.

“Tsk, whatever you say. Any place works, right?”

“Yuh!”

“What about the horses?” Alicia asked. “We can’t just let them roam outside, can we?”

“We’ll tie them to something. The weather is pleasant anyway, so they won’t get sick. We’re in Restoura, remember? It’s warm here. Always a nice weather, no matter what.”

[https://i.imgur.com/R7mpwWR.png]

The three spent until nightfall searching for an inn and settled with the closest adventurer's guild. Sure, it was pricey, but none of them had the energy or familiarity of the area to find a cheaper stay. The guild didn't have a horse stall but had a few poles to keep them from leaving, which worked fine.

“Alicia, can you deal with the horses? I’ll deal with the wagon and order food then,” Toby asked with a gentle smile. “We could also do the opposite if you want.”

She quickly got to work, giving a short wave with the back of her hand. “Don’t worry; I’m on it.”

“You think she’ll be okay out there?” Nikolas wondered, raising an eyebrow and scratching the back of his tilted head. “You know, there are a bunch of creepy guys, completely wasted by alcohol here.”

“True. I should’ve told her to be more careful, but she should be alright. She isn’t as weak as she acts. I mean, we’ve been traveling for a while, so you know how she is,” Toby answered while glancing his eyes throughout the chamber. A group of drunken, burly men stood in the shadowy corner, surrounding a female guild worker. He could discern she wanted nothing to do with them despite being hidden across the guild. It was just a thing Toby could feel, almost like a sixth sense. Turning his face back to Nikolas, he gave him an awkward shrug. “Actually, on second thought, maybe I’ll check on her. Just in case.”

“Ooohh, how romantic,” he chuckled. “Be quick about it, okay?”

He gave him a thumbs-up as he walked out of the guild. “I’ll be back.”

For some reason, his walking pace turned to light jogging. Then, he ran and darted, and eventually, he sprinted with all his might. The night was closing in, weaving the shadows through the broken windows of abandoned buildings, and his mind quaked with a single thought: Alicia was in danger.

Turning around the corner, he expected Alicia, injured and ganged up by crooks. Perhaps hopelessly bound up and taken away. But, instead, she had fallen on her knees with her arms dangling, frozen in fright yet completely unhurt. On the pole where the horses were supposed to be tied hung the undead they had spent hours tracking. It was pinned to the rod with a webbed sludge and had a gap in its ribcage as if someone or something had ripped its heart out.

And atop the terrain that led to a castle stood the silhouette of a lone boy, no older than fifteen. His hands had long metal-like claws that, after retracting, revealed a radiating crystal. His gaze wasn’t even directed at him, yet Toby felt the boy’s conquering pressure weighing down on every fiber of his soul and body. And, in the blink of an eye, he vanished along his aura, leaving only a brief afterimage.

The two lovers knew it was him—the Riftwalker.