The boy could see that the wolf pup was blind, two crimson scratches lining down each of its eyes. He felt the instincts of a killer whirling within him. He didn’t know what had attacked the creature and forced it to linger near their village, but he would end it. Even when disabled, the wolf was still a threat. He lifted his sword to deal the final blow to the injured animal.

“Arcturius stop!” A voice bellowed out to him and he froze, the edge of his blade hovering above the pup’s head. 

“Arkhantos… dad.” Arcturius kept his gaze steady on the wolf and his sword mere inches away from its forehead. 

If it moved, he would end its life in a moment.

A large shadow appeared over Arcturius and he knew his father was standing behind him. “You would kill a helpless animal?” 

“I would kill a threat to our village.” Arcturius was resolute with his intentions. He saw nothing wrong with killing a wolf if it meant saving them from future trouble. “Why would you stop me?”

Despite his words, he still respected his father’s opinion above his own, and he lowered the blade. The man had more experience than he did, having explored the world and even tackled dangerous dungeons before. Words couldn’t describe the respect and awe Arcturius held for his dad. 

“Heh. Then I have raised you wrong.” Arkhantos moved beside the pup and knelt down, scanning its body with his eyes and frowning. “Tell me, what do you see here?”

Arcturius knelt down and studied the wounded creature. “I see something that will eat our chickens and threaten my mother and sister if we allow it to grow up.”

“Then you are clearly as blind as this pup.” Arkhantos reprimanded him sharply. “Your mother can take care of herself, she did not cross the three seas so that a young whelp could try and protect her with meager fighting skills. Do not let your talent get to your head. No.” Arkhantos lifted the creature’s fur and his son felt surprised as he saw that the wolf hardly flinched. He had expected it to attack his father or try to bite him. “This little fellow is not just wounded, he is starving. These marks are also fresh. But there is nothing around that seems like a threat.” 

“Come Arcturius.” Arkhantos looked uneasy. “Grab the pup and return to the village. We have bigger concerns than a single wolf.”

Arcturius nodded and moved alongside his father back towards the direction of the village, only to run into his father’s back. “Dad?”

“Bring the pup with you.” His father’s voice was resolute. “We will figure out what to do with it after.”

“Why?” Arcturius turned around and picked up the weakened wolf, staring at it without emotion. 

To him, it was just a feeble creature that would probably end up dying regardless of what they did with it.

Arkhantos’ eyes darkened as they walked and he gazed into the woods where he knew the wolf packs roamed. “The wolves have always taken care of their young. If this pup is both starving and injured, it means that something has encroached into their territory. I suspect that the only reason this one is so injured is that something got through the adults and tore into the child. The only reason it is alive is because its parents were probably the more immediate threat.”

Arcturius’ ears perked up and he grew more alert. “You think it would attack the village?”

He wasn't worried about his dad. The man was the strongest person he knew. Even the wolves would scurry in fear when Arkhantos approached them. But their village was a different matter. If something attacked while his dad was busy, then he didn’t know if the villagers could cope with it.

“Perhaps.” Arkhantos sniffed the air and grimaced. “There is something strange in the air. Something is happening.”

Arcturius followed his father’s lead and tried to smell the air, but he couldn’t sense anything. Magic hadn't heightened his senses yet like it had his fathers. But the next moment he could feel something under his feet. A soft tremor, slowly growing stronger as time passed. It passed by his feet and continued until the trees were shaking. Arcturius could feel the ground itself quaking. And then nothing. 

‘Something is happening in the village.’ Arcturius turned to face the source of the tremor.

The tremor had been fierce but it had died out just as quickly as it had begun.

“Come Arcturius.” his father didn’t hesitate to sprint towards the village and Arcturius followed him with the pup in his arms. 

It wasn’t long before they reached the outskirts of the forest where the tree line ended and their village began.

‘What in the name of the gods is that?’ Arcturius saw the sky above the village area brighten and he leaped forward into a sprint towards his home. 

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“Gods.” Arcturius could hear the flames before he saw them, and he rushed through the treeline with the pup in his arms to see what was happening in the village. “It’s on fire!”

Before his eyes, the houses and small defensive walls that had been his home for all of his life were burning into cinders. He squinted as the light burned so bright that just staring into the flames blinded him. 

Arcturius began to throw the pup to the ground so that he could rush towards the village but before he could make a move, a large hand pushed him back and held him in place. More power than he could fight against pressured him into staying still and he looked up to see his father’s grimacing face eyeing the village cautiously. 

“You’ve got eyes but not common sense boy.” Arkhantos didn’t take a single step towards the village. “Tell me, what do you see there?”

Arcturius squirmed in his father’s grasp but took a closer look at the village. “Fire. And the village we need to help. Right no-”

He stopped speaking as he eyed the village carefully. There was something odd about the entire scene. The flames crackled over the buildings with reckless abandon, and the fire had completely annihilated the walls. But something more was missing.

“Where are the others?” Arcturius suddenly realised what was missing.

There wasn’t a single villager in sight trying to put out the flames that engulfed the buildings. Normally even the outskirts of the village would bustle with activity, and his mother would definitely be in the front lines firing off water magic to douse the fires. But he couldn't see a single soul in the entire area. It was as though the village had turned into a ghost town.

“Boy, listen to me carefully.” His father’s voice was strong and firm, but Arcturius could hear a small tremble as he spoke. “Your mother would have kept your sister safe, but she would not have abandoned the village easily. Not when she knows we would return to help. It is possible that there is something here which could cause even her to retreat.”

“Then I’ll stay here an-”

“You will stay nowhere.” His father’s voice was sharp. “You are to follow me and stay by my side at all times. I will not allow you to enter harm’s way.”

Arcturius was about to argue when a shriek blew into the air from in front of him. He jolted in surprise and rushed to bring out his sword, only to realise that the sound wasn’t coming from an enemy. It was coming from his arms. 

The wolf pup was howling. 

“Bloody hell.” Artcurius lifted the pup by the scrap of its neck.

“Stop.” Arkhantos’ voice was sharp and Arcturius saw his dad’s eyes slowly widening as the pups howls grew louder. The wolf’s paw started to move as it tried unsuccessfully to run away from Arcturius’ grasp. “It’s sensing whatever harmed it.”

Their eyebrows furrowed as they tried to spot what the wolf was sensing. But aside from the burning village, he couldn't see anything of interest. No dangerous animals or signs of bandits. With a wide view of the entire area, he could see that nothing living was even remotely close to them.

“This thing can’t even see.” Arcturius shook the blind pup and watched it howl helplessly. “It's probably just scared out of its mind at the fire.”

At his words, Arkhantos froze and turned slowly towards him. “You are right. The wolf cannot see. But it can smell... ON GUARD ARCTURIUS.”

Arcturius heeded his father’s warning a second too late, only to feel something large pass by him and smash into his father. His eyes widened in surprise as his father lifted his arm to block a blow from something neither of them could see, but then five blood-red gashes appeared on his arm where he had moved to defend himself.

Something had injured his father.

“Illusion magic.” Akrhantos hissed as his blood dripped onto the grass. He lifted his free hand and smashed it into the ground, his fingers glowing bright red.

Arcturius flinched as the attack bathed their surroundings in the brilliant crimson glow of his dad’s magic and then he stared up in horror. There were no more flames, no buildings, no bright trees, and grass. The village was completely gone. In its place was a desolate black and purple landscape. A mishmash of purple crevices that seemed to scar the earth; And Arcturius was standing right beside one.

“What the hell are you?” 

Arcturius heard his father’s voice growling in anger and he looked up, only to see a large purple creature staring down at them. It was a humanoid that looked like a mismatch of muscle and sinew, with the legs of a cow and startlingly sharp claws. Arcturius shivered as he realised he hadn’t been able to see the thing the entire time it had been there, but now it was too late. 

It was standing right next to him.

“Die.” Arcturius lunged at the creature but its body blurred and he felt a stabbing pain as it dug its claws into him, throwing him and the wolf pup in his arms back with enough force to knock the wind out of his stomach.

Arcturius let out a cry of pain and then tried to lift himself up, only to realise that there wasn’t any ground underneath him. The creature had knocked him straight over the edge of the purple crack that had appeared beside him.

He was already falling down into it.

“ARCTURIUS.” 

“DAD.” 

Arcturius could see his father reaching towards him and being stopped by the creature’s blackened hand. He felt his heart plummeting as he fell beyond his father’s grasp and into the pitch-black. The confusion of the fall frayed his emotions as he fell deeper but before he could gather his thought he felt a sharp pain in the back of his head and his body crumpled, his mind turning blank and his eyesight leaving him. 

He had hit something, but he hadn’t stopped falling. 

Arcturius could feel his hands reaching out to grab something, anything, and failing. He blinked and tears flew from his eyes into the air. He wasn’t a fool. Wherever he was falling, it was far too deep for him to survive the fall. These would be the final seconds of his life.

'And it was a good one.' He thought to himself groggily. "If only I had been strong enough.'

Then he would have been able to react quickly enough to dodge his attacker. Maybe even powerful enough to stop his father from being hit, or to sense the illusion magic before they had been ensnared. But now it was too late to worry about that. He wouldn't have any more time to grow stronger when he was dead. As he fell a small glimmer caught his eye and he turned his head towards it. The last thing he saw as he fell was a faint rainbow light entering his vision. he felt warmth flowing through his body, easing his pain and causing him to feel a sense of calm and peace.

Then he felt his body hit the ground and his surroundings turned black.