Trey took casual steps deeper and deeper into the belly of the forest. His boots gently brushed the golden sand beneath his feet.

The sweet smell of the forest made him uneasy, since it was contrasted by the dark atmosphere the forest projected.

His eyes darted left then right, his footsteps grew more cautious with every step. His eyes were limited to what was infront of him, looking beyond that was an impossible task.

Howling sounds and roars echoed the distance.

"Just keep moving, everything will be fine"

He would often mumble those words to himself as he walked.

Trey heard footsteps crawling towards him. His eyes sprang to life, and looked in all directions. That's when he saw it.

A goblin, about a meter tall. It had raggered clothing and it carried a metal stick. It's razor sharp fangs glinted in the darkness. Its red eyes were locked on to Trey.

Unprovoked, it launched itself towards Trey, it raised its stick before bringing it on Trey's skull.

Trey's insincts kicked in and from the confines of his cloak, he escaped with his blade. Trey's blade clashed with the pole, the impact resonated with the forest.

"Arghh" the goblin cried,

"Freaky, did goblins always look like this?" This kind of goblin was a first for Trey.

He sent a powerful kick into the goblin's midsection and pushed it back forcefully.

The goblin raged, almost as if it didn't feel a thing. It's skin was brown and was slowly melting away, sections of its body exposed its hidden bones. It was all very unusual.

The goblin charged at Trey once more, it's movement chaotic and wild.

"A couple of years ago, maybe I would have struggled against you..."

Trey's blade turned completely black, smothered by a darkness that seeked to consume everything.

The goblin pounced, and its jaw sprang open. Its saliva escaped its mouth in excitement.

"Swift beheading"

Trey would say, before he marched foward without a care in the world.

From midair the goblin couldn't even see what happened, it's head rolled along the ground before its eyes even registered a thing.

It's body was slowly consumed by Trey's darkness, before it was rendered to noting. Not even its bones were left behind.

"My swordplay is still too slow" Trey was clearly not pleased with himself.

As he moved deeper and deeper into the forest he couldn't help but be reminded about what Lucy said the first time he passed this forest.

[One Year ago]

"The reason why this forest is infested with beasts, Is because I allowed my Mana to go wild." Lucy said.

"Wild? What do you mean?" Trey questioned, not sure what she meant.

"It means I've done many things I'm not proud of. Everything in this forest is the way it is because my Mana got wild, from the trees to the creatures, everything is my fault. Do me a favor kid, never allow that darkness in your heart to consume you

[Present day]

Trey couldn't help but be reminded by that odd conversation, was Lucy really the reason the forest was so freaky? He just couldn't understand what mana going wild meant. Well it didn't really matter, what mattered was getting the present. He would often remind himself when his thoughts trailed off.

Trey's footing was tested and the ground trembled, three mana beasts appeared infront of him. They all looked identical, they had blue fur and sharp fangs. Spiky red hair protruded from their heads. They had 2 tails that wagged in excitement upon seeing Tray.

"Grade 2 huh?" Trey would say, not a hint of fear was evident in his tone.

Grade 2 mana beasts were on the weaker side of things. The higher the grade, the stronger the beast. A mana beast's grade was determined by magicians based on its threat level, they has specific traits listed for each grade. So it was easy to identify what grade a creature was. Trey himself learned all this from Lucy.

The beasts launched themselves at Trey in a fierce dash, their movements in synch.

They had found their pray.

"I'd love to play with you guys a little more.."

Trey crouched, his hand rested on his blade. "But I really have somewhere to go"

His figure was impossible for the beasts to see. He zapped passes all three of them in a split second.

As he came to a halt a meter behind his targets, blood erupted from all three beasts. Their bodies collapsed to the ground, headless.

Trey had a satisfied grin on his face but as he placed his blade inside his cloak once more. An unbelievable smell invaded his nose. He turned around to find it was the blood of the beasts he slayed. For some reason their blood at least to Trey, it smelled so good.

Saliva dripped from his lips without him even realizing, Trey took casual steps towards the beasts, as he watched blood leak out of their necks. His tongue and raged in excitement. He wanted to dig his teeth into them and devour the whole.

As he looked to bow down, Trey clapped himself.

"Control yourself what's wrong with you?" Trey shouted at himself.

He staggered back and leaned against a tree, clearly struggling between sanity and his urge to devour. Trey bit his own fingers just to satisfy his own desires, as blood trickled down his hand, he finally calmed down. The pain he inflected on himself had subdued his desire.

"What the hell's wrong with me?"

He was huffing and puffing, sweat dripped down his forehead. This was something foreign to him, he never had urges like this before but why did they feel so natural.

He couldn't shake the feeling that having a demon insides him probably influenced his behavior.

"I don't have time for this"

Trey tried to get his mind back into focus he dragged himself out of the forest and to his credit, he never once turned around to face the beasts.

The gentle sun welcomed him as he escaped the forest, it's rays brought unbelievable warmth to his figure. Trey raised his head to gaze at the ocean blue smile

"Amazing!" Trey's lips were stretched to the limit as he uttered the word, he fully allowed himself to soak in all the warmth. His fingers had already began healing themselves.

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His eyes then shifted to what laid infromt of him, he could see a small town in the distance, it was a town he only visited once.

"Let's go get that present"

Looking to avoid drawing attention to himself, Trey made sure to cover his face with the hoodie of his cloak as he advanced foward. Within minutes he was inside the town.

Suveny town was busy as always, magicians wearing different robes moved up and down.

Each Magician's robe had a unique logo at its rear, this is because magicians were grouped into parties or groups and each party had it's own logo. For Zoey and his party members Trey usually saw them wearing robes with the logo of a spider. Some logos looked similar but not entirely the same. A good logo was a very important thing to magicians.

Children dashed around playfully and adults were seen visiting the many market places that existed in Suveny. The buildings were all built and made of solid rocks.

Some magicians could be seen riding Mana Beasts as a form of transportation. The chaos of the town made Trey's head spin for a bit.

He looked at all the interesting stores in the town. The potion store was by far the most popular, many people gathered around the store to try the different potions it offered, one potion could even change one's hair into ridiculous hairstyles. Trey was slightly tempted to go try the potions himself but his budget was limited.

"I've only got 5 gold pieces surely I can get Lucy a present worth 3 gold pieces and then..." he shook his had clapping himself again, "no Trey focus, if I'm buying Lucy a present it should be worth every last gold piece I have. I owe her that much"

Trey's stomach grumbled as he went past a local store that sold goblin meat, but he was determined to go hungry if it meant getting Lucy that present.

"Ok, I just need to find something cool for Lucy. I could buy her a cool hat but is that really cool enough for her?" Trey thought long and hard, his eyes darting all around the Town.

He saw the biggest building in the entire town. It had a massive white board at its entrance, written "green petals magician guild"

Trey knew that magicians gathered around in a guild to do quests and other magician stuff but he never really entered a guild, even during his first visit to Suveny, he never went to the guild.

This was his opportunity, a chance to see all the cool magicians in action, but he knew, his own personal mission came first so he shifted his gaze away from the building.

His eyes landed on a small swordsmith store not far from him, and almost immediately he knew were to go.

"I'll just buy her a sword, I've never seen her use a sword before, but who wouldn't want a cool sword?"

Trey marched to the store and opened the door, a golden bell rang notifying the store owner.

The owner was an old man who had a gaping scar across his right eye. He looked a little wrinkly and Trey could tell immediately he was ancient, even his bald hair was a dead giveaway.

"Huh, what's a kid like you doing around my store?" Gary the old man asked, his face a little annoyed.

Trey rushed to the counter before placing his palm on it. He slid 5 gold coins towards the old man.

"Give me your finest blade old man" he said, his voice very mysterious.

"You think 5 gold pieces will get you a blade?" the old man reached beneath the counter and rised up with a baseball bat in his hand.

"Beat it kid, I don't play around with little kids"

Trey staggered backwards,"wait, please old man I need this ok. It's a present for someone very important to me" he bowed his head.

"Look kid," Garry sighed. "My blades are expensive, you'd need 20 gold pieces at least. They're of the finest quality I can tell you that much"

Trey stood silent, he felt something. Something was calling out to him.

He turned his head and stood up straight. He pointed to his right.

"That blade..." Trey's finger shook as he pointed.

"Don't even think about it kid" Garry shot down the idea "if you don't have money you should beat it" he yelled, throwing away Trey's gold pieces.

"Fine!" Trey yelled back.

Trey bowed to pick up his coins, but the feeling remained.

The blade was stored in a black box, it looked just like all the other blades so why was it calling out to him? He couldn't place his finger on it.

Trey shook his head, he had to forget about it. He took his coins and left, slamming the door as he exited.

Garry was left to think to himself, "that kid..."

Trey wanted to find another store but his attention was drawn by a small mana beast. He couldn't get over how cool it was.

It had fur that was half black and half red. He saw it carrying jewelry with its mouth which included a golden necklace.

The beast rushed into an alleyway and Trey decided to follow it. That's when he stumbled on something.

He saw a magician kneeling down. The magician wore black pants and a green jacket. Their hair was shaped like that of a star. There was no doubt to Trey, he had to have used a potion. It was too cool to be natural.

The beast coughed up jewelry made of gold. The magician gave it a pat on the head, it purred in response

"Good job Perry, I can always rely on you." The magician complemented his beast which turned to smoke moments later.

"That's so cool!!" Trey shouted going down the alleyway. Ten, the magician. Looked at Trey clearly startled. He got up to his feet.

"What's a brat like him doing here? Damn it he saw me! I'm screwed." Ten's mind was in panick mode.

"I'll give you five gold pieces if you can give me one of those shiny things" Trey said, opening his palm and offering the pieces.

Ten looked at Trey with his odd eyes. They were of different colors blue and green.

"Is this kid an idiot? Did he not catch on to what was happening? Well this gives me an idea." Ten unleashed a devilish smirk after he thought of something.

"Just give me those 5 gold pieces and beat it kid!" Ten ordered, reaching out to grab the pieces them from Trey's hand.

Trey moved a few meters back "Sorry I can't do that."

Ten smiled, "you're just a little twerp! you'll do what I tell you!." Ten's knee smashed into Trey sending him rolling. The 5 gold pieces hit the ground and Ten picked them up one by one.

"Now beat it kid!" he said, before turning his back on Trey.

"Give it back!" Trey was back on his feet. The hoodie on his face had fallen off during his fall. His unique aura cloaked figure, his eyes locked directly with Ten. He held his sword with right hand shrouding it in darkness.

"I sa-" Ten's words were cut shot when Trey's sword brushed past his face.

Ten had instinctively leaped back and the blade was centimeters away from cutting his face open.

He stood a few meters away from Trey and blood trickled down his bottom lip, the blade narrowly grazed. "That kid's a monster, how's a kid his age even using mana" Ten thought himself, as he analyzed Trey's figure. That's when something else caught his attention.

"Now way, It's him" Trey thought to himself, not believing his eyes. It took less than a second for Ten to recognize Trey's face.

"This is my lucky day, to think this kid would come to me" Ten, couldn't believe his luck. His thoughts were went wild the minute he saw Trey. Blue mana covered his body as he made up his mind.

"On second thought, you're coming with me kid"

His movement became a blur before he appeared infront of Trey, he grabbed the wrist around Trey's blade and he pulled him down with force. A crunching sound was heard when his knee collided with Trey's jaw.

The attack stunned Trey forcing him to drop his blade.

Ten grabbed him by his throat before smashing him against a wall.

"You're certainly interesting kid, not many can harm a ranked magician like myself"

Ten's eyes were burning with excitement. Finally he found it. The missing piece.

He rained on Trey with punch after punch. His fist became decorated in the colour of Trey's blood.

"No, I thought i was stronger. He'll take it. He'll take all the pieces " Trey thought, as he felt the relentless barrage of punches.

His eyes got watery and his vision became blurry. He saw Ten tighten his right fist.

"I'm sorry Lucy.." Trey could only mumble to himself.

Ten sent his punch and Trey's eyes found a figure standing infront of him. Trey's eyes was blurry but he knew it could only be one person.

"Lucy" he whispered. As his body fell to the ground.

Trey's eyes didn't deceive him, it was Lucy. She held Ten's right fist with her open palm.

She wore her classic black dress and black hat.

"What do u think you're doing you brat?" Lucy's words sent shivers down Ten's spine.

What followed after was a solid punch to Ten's midsection. Ten's body flung back and he fell to his knees.

"Lucy? What are you doing here?" Ten's voice was shaky as he asked. Even on the ground he slowly pulled himself away from Lucy looking to distance himself.

"What the hell were you doing you brat!" Lucy's glare was Ice cold.

"I'm sorry, I didn't know he was with you. Forgive me!" Ten groveled.

"I guess now you'll know. Absolutely nobody messes with my family!"

A cracking sound rattled Ten's brain before his lights went out.

After a few hours Trey regained consciousness, he soon realised he was back in his room. Lucy looked down on him in a disapproving gaze.

"What were you thinking?"

Trey's eyes got watery before his cheeks got flooded, "I'm sorry Lucy I wanted to get you present" he tried his best to wipe the tears and snot.

Lucy grabbed Trey before embracing him in a warm hug "you idiot, you could've been hurt. Do you have any idea how worried I was?"

Trey's tears continued as he felt Lucy's warmth "never do it again you hear me!"

Try nodded as he buried his face into Lucy.

[Inside the Green Petals Magician Guild]

Two figures sat alone on a bar counter.

"We've been here for 2 years and still no luck. The information provided by those villagers was useless" one of them complained.

"The village was in chaos it makes sense they didn't really get to see what was happening" the other explained, their voice calm.

"You think we should head back? Mother will be disappointed, but I don't think we have a choice" just as they finished speaking.

A figure smashed open the door. The light slowly invaded the room. It was Ten.

He dragged himself towards the two figures bloodied and a mess.

"I found him!!" he shouted coughing up blood in the process.

"What do you want Ten? Do you have the money?" one of the figures asked.

"No, but.." Ten showed them a poster. The poster had Trey's face and it was written;

[Wanted!]

"I found him!! this boy, he's with Lucy!!"