Despite this long summer’s heat, the air felt cold and my body trembled as a foul stench attacked my nostrils. I carefully approached the kitchen trying to find anything that would create light as the hut was completely dark since the suns set. With every step I took, I could feel something wet stick to my bare feet, sending a shiver down my spine, but it was too dark to see what it was, and I was too afraid to even care. I could not understand what was happening, but the smell was so awful, it nearly made me vomit.

As I entered the kitchen, the silhouette of a person revealed itself, sitting on the same chair I had sat in this morning. The figure raised his arm, and a bright flame was conjured out of his hand. It illuminated Mr. Saintsworth’s face, a sinister grin present on his face. Everything about him seemed completely different from the man I met earlier.

Why is he here? My mind raced as countless thoughts ran through my mind, so many thoughts I couldn’t make sense of even one; the Knight I met earlier suddenly came to mind as the fear I was feeling grew even deeper.

He did not spare me a glance, but rather just stared at the empty space, half-laughing to himself. All the candles in the room lit up at once. I looked down at my feet, the floor, previously a wooden brown was now dyed a dark red. My feet were now stained red, and I looked around, trying to find the source of this, and then I saw it –a hand on the floor. Just a hand… not attached to anything.

Despite my efforts to hold it back, I couldn’t hold myself back, and I dropped to my knees, vomiting, as the little food I ate today came up in a rush. My hands hit the sticky floor, and the stench, mixed with my vomit now, made me feel ill once more.

Mr. Saintsworth, still not having acknowledged me, just continued his sinister laugh to himself. A sinister and inexplicable laugh, which simply frightened me down to my very core. I managed to look up to him despite my own body shouting at me to not try and meet his gaze, and he finally stood, his menacing figure looking down on me, a grin ever-present on his face, as his deep blue eyes looked at me in disgust. He then walked behind the table, bending down and then he stood back up, walking towards me.

In his hands… were my parents. He held them both by their hair and threw them at me.

I could see his mouth still open as he laughed, but everything had gone quiet, the only thing I could hear was a buzzing noise that got louder and louder with each passing second. I could feel my chest grow hot, my heart beating too fast, and the whole world slowing down as their bodies fell to the ground, a few steps away from me.

No matter how hard I tried to look away, my eyes were fixed on them. Blood covered their faces, there were deep cuts slashed across their throats and they were missing all their limbs. Their expressions and their eyes are pointed directly at me. Their eyes were covered in blood, and they seemed empty, but their expressions were full of fear.

It’s my fault, I’m the reason this monster knows where they lived, I’m the reason he killed them, it’s all my fault.

Mr. Saintsworth continued laughter filled the hut, and my mind snapped back into reality. Somehow I managed to take my eyes off of my parents, and I looked up just to see Ranork Saintsworth laughing, a devious laugh full of malice.

He was still wearing his armour, no longer spotless, and now, like everything else in this room, smeared in my parents’ blood. He had one hand resting on his hip, while the other carried a bottle. He brought the bottle to his mouth and drank until the bottle was empty, and then just threw it on the ground, where it shattered into pieces, a few shards stabbing me in the leg from the impact.

“Little Caine,” he sneered. “Let’s play a game. I’m going to take a piss, and when I’m done, I’ll just kill you. So... you’ve got some time, if you make a run for it, you can probably earn yourself a couple of minutes.”

“W-w-why?” I managed to mumble with tears running across my face “Why are you doing this?”

“I’ll make this quick.” He said, his voice sounding groggy now. “What did you ask again? Oh yes, you bumped into me, so i just made sure that you understand that was wrong.”

“It was an accident.” I sobbed. “You didn’t have to kill them.”

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“Well, boy, whether it was an accident or not is irrelevant. All actions have consequences, and this time I am the fucking consequence!” He shouted, pointing at himself.

“Look… little Caine, I am not a simple knight. I am a Demigod, my ancestor was a full-blooded God, and his blood flows through my veins.” He said, raising his hand and staring at it. “I can do whatever the fuck I want. You and your parents are humans, no different from a bunch of filthy monkeys so it doesn’t matter if I kill them or not. You don’t matter.”

How can he say this? Are our lives worthless? I always knew of Demigods, but they are supposed to be better, they are supposed to be noble and honorable, but this man is nothing like that. He’s a monster.

“I don’t like repeating myself, but I’ll make an exception this time. I’m going to take a piss, and when I come back I’ll kill you, so just stand there, or hide, or run away, I don’t care. Just make this kind of fun for me.” He said before leaving. He left the kitchen and began humming, leaving me alone in the hut with their corpses in front of me.

My legs were shaking, my eyes still fixed on their bodies, and an endless stream of tears flowed down my face. And suddenly it just hit me: he left. I don’t want to leave them here, but I need to, I don’t want to die, I want to live, I’m scared. I need to run.

“Sorry, Mother. Sorry, Father. Please forgive me.” I whispered before turning around and running out of the hut. I didn’t know where to go, I just needed to run anywhere, and that’s what I did. I ran aimlessly, attempting to put as much distance from that monster and I, my feet aggressively pounded the ground with every step I took, despite all the cuts I got from running barefoot.

I could feel my necklace swinging around in my neck, and instinctively held onto it; I continued to run and run, feeling a new surge of energy, and before I knew it, I found myself surrounded by trees.

Where was I? I let go of my necklace and looked around trying to make sense of my surroundings. There was no path behind me, and the trees were so dense that I can’t figure out my location.

This place was different from anywhere I’d ever been. The air felt heavier, but it was not difficult to breathe, it was actually the opposite, breathing had never been easier. Slowly waving my hand around, I could feel something move, almost as if it was reacting to my movements. Mother used to say that mana felt like an energy in the air that would react to a mage’s every action. Could this be mana?

Then, a loud howl reverbed within these dense woods, startling me and reflexively making me a few steps back. I had heard a howl like that once before, but that was months. When I first heard it, it was faint and distant, but this seemed much closer. I realised where I was.

I messed up. I’m in The Forest.

The stories I heard when I was younger came to mind, stories about monsters so aggressive in The Forest that would tear each other apart, which is the only reason we have been safe despite living so close. But those were supposed to be stories to scare children. But now, apparently, demonic beasts are real, always have been, and they live in this Forest.

I need to get out of here immediately.

I tried to trace my steps, but The Forest is so dense, I just couldn’t find my way back, and I couldn’t recognise anything there. After stopping for a moment, my body lost all its energy, and my legs gave out. I crawled to a tree, resting my back on the trunk, and looked around, making sure that no monsters were nearby.

Out of nowhere, I heard a screeching noise coming from above. I looked up and saw something climbing down the trees opposite me. They looked like dogs, but they were abnormal, they seemed larger than me, and their eyes were completely red, glowing ominously in the dim light. They had furry wings on their backs and giant claws gripped the tree trunk with ease. There were four of them, and they all jumped down, cornering me against the tree.

My heart began racing even more, a heavy pressure building in my chest as I came face to face with these demonic beasts, who had their eyes locked on me, drooling as they growled. I held out my trembling hand, hoping that the mana in the air would save me, but no matter how hard I tried to command it, nothing happened.

The demonic beasts slowly approached me, growling at one another, almost as if arguing over who would kill me, and at times, they would try to bite each other if they got too close. I retracted my hand, looking for the strength to get to my feet.

I clenched my hands, and somehow managed to raise my trembling arms, bringing my fists to my jaw, but then I heard another loud screeching, and the demonic beasts spun around and began growling at something behind them. A man appeared, covered in blood.

He only wore some ragged pants and carried a large sword in his hand. He slowly approached us, and I could feel the air escaping my lungs as if I wasn’t allowed to breathe. With every step the man took the pressure around me increased; not a single muscle in my body dared to move, no matter how much I tried, and I felt my entire body being weighed down by this ominous pressure.

The man continued walking towards us, a sword in his left hand, and the head of a demonic beast in the other. He let the corpse fall out of his hand, and in the blink of an eye, he vanished. He reappeared right before me, kneeling so that we were face to face; I could feel his cold breath on my face, and he was staring directly into my eyes. Cold sweat covered my face, surely caused by this man’s gaze. Behind him, the winged wolves all burst into flames, and then he slowly opened his mouth.