He left his home, barren land of blazing emeralds.

Nobody knows where this road goes, but he followed it despite that, with his pack. He was raised by crystal wolves, who were now leading him to the unknown.

The weather at the crossroads wasn't pleasant, the storm carried a rain of steel pieces. The boy and his animal companions were forced to hide behind the green pillars and wait.

The boy rolled his magic dice. The number was sixty-four. Eight times Eight, two to the power of six. It was a nice number. The boy fixed his shard-proof outfit made of obsidian plates and shielded his face. He walked into the rain, it was significantly weaker.

The pack followed, the rain would leave deep scratches on their crystal body, but it was not enough to threaten their lives.

After passing the rain, what was ahead of them was a vast lake of mud with brown pillars protruding from it. At the first of the pillars, sat a girl with brown skin, eyes, hair, and wings. She was wearing bandages, leather trousers, and a vest.

The boy stopped and observed, then he tossed his magical dice once more. Forty-Eight, three times sixteen. There was a small risk involved. As the boy carefully approached, a static sound filled his ears, then turned into a melody. It was out of this world, like sounds of crystals compiled with those of machines. It was loud and invasive, but there was a pleasant undertone to it.

The girl opened her eyes and the music stopped. She spread her wings to their full length.

The boy immediately noticed on the internal side, each feather had an eye that was observing him.

"Ay-oi-rea-ex-eultu-aomeada." - The girl uttered, it was a shrill, piercing voice. The one that would hurt the eyes.

The boy covered his ears and shouted to the girl. - "I don't understand."

The girl closed her mouth, then the static noise returned.

There was now a voice inside the boy's head. - "I'm the guardian of the eclipse. None shall pass as long as the sun yields no light." - It was coming from the girl. Although the eyes kept chaotically turning left and right, for most of the time, their majority was focused on the boy.

The boy looked at the sky, there indeed was a sun, blocked by a black disk.

"Is it possible to stop the eclipse?" - The boy asked.

"Nxuea nhor iinvarses." - The sound penetrated even the boy's hands and his left ear started bleeding. - "Bring me his head." - That was the last telepathic message of the girl. After it, she raised her wings and turned back, flying towards the highest, middle pillar of the lake.

The wolves surrounded the boy, they raised their heads and climbed onto him.

"I don't know what to do, but If I use the dice, there'll be no more tries today."

The wolves howled and started sniffing around, until one of them pointed in a direction of city ruins.

Not an hour has passed and the pack arrived at the edge of the metropolis. All around the boy, gray skyscrapers reached to the clouds, their crumbling walls were full of gaps.

The boy walked and walked, until he encountered a man in a white suit, with a glowing cube for his head.

"Welcome." - The man uttered.

One of the wolves howled, it was then that the boy knew, the cube was the head that the harpy was speaking of.

"I'm quite knowledgable about what is the reason for your reflection. Be prudent, my villain." - The man with cube head added.

"Your head, could you give it to me?" - The boy asked.

"I have no such desire."

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The boy tossed his magic dice, it was forty-eight again. It was a sign, an important one. Whatever decision he would take, the results would be of a tremendous scale.

"I need your head. If you're not going to give it to me, then I'll have to take it." - The boy shouted with bravery in his voice.

"Prepare for consequences." - The cube man raised his hands, the entire ground started shaking and the rubble started falling.

The boy rushed towards the man, when his fingers were about to touch the man's tie, it was like the entire plate shifted, placing the man in a suit behind the boy. He pushed the boy, forcing him on the knees.

The boy rolled, instinctively evading, but it was too late. His blue blood splurted when seven large needles pierced his body. The dead body collapsed under its own weight, slowly sliding to the ground.

"You're the reason for your own demise." - The man in suit uttered as soon as all of the wolves growled in anger, and rushed to attack him.

The man just extended his hand, one of the skyscrapers was about to fall. The pack quickly scattered themselves, but the building crushed two of them under its weight.

The harpy landed on the building and looked at pieces of shattered wolves.

"Fledgeling, do not abandon your nest." - The man in a suit directed those words to the girl with wings.

The harpy replied in normal voice and language. - "Leave the corpse."

"To you, a carrion eater? Why would I?" - The man responded.

"It's my trophy." - The girl uttered.

"It'll not come without a cost."

"State your price."

"Your eyes."

The girl removed her brown eyes with her razor-sharp talons and passed them to the man, then wrapped a bandage around her bleeding eye sockets.

"Those are the consequences of putting your blind faith into the first pilgrim." - The man in the suit spoke as he fixed his tie.

"Speak no further." - The girl flew down and removed the boy's body from the spikes. She opened her jaw and her sharp teeth dug into the man's arm. The girl licked off blue blood off her lips.

"Dull taste." - She commented. - "I want my eyes back."

"No returns. The contract is binding. Now, forgive me, but I've got a business to attend to." - The man in suit uttered those words, he walked away.

The harpy waited, and waited until he was gone, then she started digging a hole in the ground.

The crystal wolves approached her, growling.

"Dumb animals. Are you angry because I wanted to eat one of yours? I feigned it." - The harpy spoke in an impertinent tone.

The wolves came closer and started showing their fangs and barking.

"I paid the price. He is mine now." - The harpy replied, ignoring the danger, but the wolves wouldn't yield.

Angrily, the harpy finally shouted. - "LEAVE." - Her wings spread, directing their eyes at the pack.

All of the wolves froze in place, like their minds were struck by unimaginable concepts or horrors. They slowly backed away, then fled as fast as they could.

"The boundary of the world is where your loyalty ends." - The harpy commented, in a degrading tone, then returned to her rites. She impaled the corpse's chest with the talons of her hand, then removed the heart.

"What kills us, are the feelings, you won't need them anymore." - She said, then swallowed the heart whole. After that, she put the body in the grave and covered it with dirt. She spat on the ground, right where the boy was buried, and uttered a prayer.

The earth started to shift and a hand emerged from underneath, then the head. The boy was alive, fighting his way out of the ground, greedily grasping for air.

"You, servant, are useless. You didn't bring me the head." - The girl's averse expression was directed at the man.

"Where... where are my friends?"

"They abandoned you, because of your worthlessness."

"No, they must've had a reason! I've to find them." - The boy stood up and started looking around, unsure where to go.

The girl appeared afraid. - "Wait!" - She grabbed the man's arm. - "Hwratha ng'schao!!!"

"I don't..." - The man pulled out his hand - "...understand you!" - and started running in search of wolves.

"Don't go!" - The girl shouted, but the boy was acting like he was not hearing it.

The girl couldn't stand it. Soon, the boy could hear the static sound again, but this time it turned into a piercing, painful noise. The boy covered his ears, but there was no stop to it, he dropped on the knees and started bleeding again.

Then, the noise stopped at an instant.

The boy opened his eyes, the girl was standing in front of him, with an extended hand. There were pieces of shattered crystal wolf in her hand.

"They're dead. All dead." - The girl replied.

"No." - Tears started rolling down the boy's face. - "How... how?"

"The man."

"...no."

"He killed you too, but I've saved you. You should be more grateful."

The man didn't hear those words, he covered his face and wailed.