Grey Nirmala
A massive explosion shook the entire forest.
"What the hell was that?"
One of the hunters standing to Gien Husk's right asked, his voice edged with fear.
"Is that old man really that strong?"
Another hunter on Gien's left asked. I glanced over my shoulder out of curiosity. The first thing I saw was a gray blast firing up into the air.
"That must be Cinder's attack," I muttered to myself.
"Anyway, Ei will finish him soon enough. Let's focus on the prey in front of us," Gien said.
He snapped his fingers a few times, trying to pull everyone's attention back.
"Come on then, Fates Masterpiece. Show us what you can do."
Gien smiled and stepped back. The hunters flanking him began to walk toward me. All of them were surrounded by blood-red, hungry auras.
"Before you rush to catch him, introduce yourselves first, boys," Gien said, shooting me an amused look.
"Fine then."
A thin hunter stepped forward, his face twisted in a grin that showed teeth like a beast's.
"My name is Amon Draje, but you can call me Firstborn, brat."
Amon introduced himself. His eyes were yellow, reptilian, almost like a snake's, and he wore a red leather armor, the same style all the others had. Another hunter stepped forward, but right then the whole forest shook again.
The ground rumbled violently, and I struggled to keep my balance. The hunters did too, arms thrown out to steady themselves so they wouldn't fall. The tremor lasted a few more seconds, then stopped.
The second hunter, the one who'd been about to speak, let out a harsh breath and then roared:
"Damn it! Can Ei just finish that old man already?!"
He had a belt lined with blades, all kinds, and every one of them looked cruelly sharp. His lower face was almost completely covered by a thick brown beard. His eyes were even more terrifying than Amon's. Those eyes were nothing but rage and hatred. A hood covered his head, so I couldn't see his hair. But I could see his body. His arms were as thick as my head, and each of his legs was twice the size of mine.
"You want a name, brat? Here's a name!"
The hunter kept roaring.
"My name is Ciro Demise, the Butcher of the Night! Your executioner!"
Ciro drew in a deep breath, and the rage in his eyes faded, replaced by something colder.
"Calm down, Ciro. He's still just a kid."
A third hunter stepped forward and placed a hand on Ciro's shoulder. His face was completely visible. His eyes were a soft red, and his expression was relaxed.
"Please forgive my friend's attitude, Fates Masterpiece. He's got anger issues. Lost his brother in the war."
This hunter's voice was gentler than the others'. Calmer. Almost soothing. But there was still something about him that screamed killer. His hands were covered with white gloves that matched his long white hair.
"My name is Wasa, the Sacred One."
Wasa smiled warmly, and with a firm squeeze on Ciro's shoulder, stepped him back. The remaining three hunters were all still staring at me like death itself.
One had black hair. One had deep red hair. One had dark orange hair.
"Damn it…" I muttered, cursing the situation I was in.
All three stepped forward in sync.
"My name's Praxy, the Shattered Listener," the black-haired one said.
Praxy had a red strip of fabric taped across the bridge of his nose.
"And this here is Mono. We call him Zero."
Praxy pointed with his eyes toward the deep red-haired hunter whose both eyes were covered.
Mono didn't say a single word.
"Don't mind him, he doesn't really like talking," Praxy said. "He just does the job. That's why we call him that."
Gien chimed in smugly from behind, "Exactly. He's simple. Efficient."
Praxy rolled his eyes, then jabbed a thumb at the last one.
"And that's North. The One Who Shows the True Path. He's kind of an idiot, though."
The dark orange-haired hunter scowled and shot Praxy a warning glare. Praxy just snickered and lifted a hand lazily into the air.
"Anyway. Now that introductions are out of the way, we can remind you why we're here."
A nasty smile spread across Praxy's face. That relaxed look from a few seconds ago was gone. All around us, golden aetheric particles drifted toward Praxy's outstretched hand. The hundreds of fragments gathered together and formed a massive axe. It was so heavy and huge that its own weight drove it straight into the dirt, burying its blade in the ground. But Praxy just grinned and lifted it like it weighed nothing.
He swung the axe up onto his shoulder and let out a mocking laugh.
"Now your execution begins, Fates Masterpiece."
At the same time, the rest of the hunters, all of them except Gien, took a step forward so they stood side by side with Praxy. Every one of them had drawn their weapon.
Mono was holding two pistols. North had small blades strapped along his feet. Wasa had a massive crimson shield on his arm. Ciro gripped a huge red scythe with both hands. And Amon's forearms ended in two long, hidden, razor-like blades.
"Come now, my fellow hunters!" Gien shouted. "Under the Red Moon, let's complete one more hunt!"
I didn't understand what he meant.
The sun was still up.
Yeah, the massive gray-leaved trees swallowed most of the light, but it was nowhere near night yet.
Gien launched himself from where he stood and landed in front of me. That smug smile had crawled back onto his face.
He spread his arms out wide, and red aetheric shards flowed down his arms, dripping off his fingers and seeping into the dirt. The earth drank them in and devoured them whole.
Gien snapped his fingers.
The ground split. Four massive red spikes burst up through the soil, tearing straight out of the earth. They twisted toward Gien, who grinned even wider. His smile shifted, no longer smug, but hungry.
The Crimson Spikes trembled.
Then, in a blur, all four shot upward at blinding speed. I could only watch in stunned silence.
The spikes ripped through the towering gray-leaved trees and met in the air, crashing together mid-sky. Their collision exploded into a crimson shockwave that rolled through the canopy, and the whole sky turned red.
The purple Sun vanished.
In its place hung the Crimson Moon.
"Well, now we're screwed," Hachiko said. His voice was flooded with fear. "What exactly are we supposed to do against that? You don't even know how to fight."
His voice was shaking.
I frowned, trying to assess where I stood. If I tried to fight them, they'd kill me.
But…
My mind flashed back to something Gien had said."We'll finish off the old man and then deal with the prey in front of us."
That was obvious. They'd come here to kill me.
But then I thought of something else he'd said."Give us Fates Masterpiece so we can leave without spilling any blood."
In that sentence, he hadn't said anything alike with killing. He'd sounded more like he wanted to take me.
Maybe killing me wasn't the goal.
For a second, I stopped thinking and just looked into their eyes.
Their bloodlust was still there. Loud. Open. Starving.
"Yeah, no," Hachiko said flatly inside my head. "They absolutely want to kill you."
I frowned and let out a breath.
"Aren't you the Eye of the Void? Can't you pull something out of your ass and get us out of this hell?"
Hachiko went quiet. The incarnation of the Eye of the Void was thinking.
"If you manage to control the black flames, you win," he finally said.
Then, a beat.
"But let's be real. With how weak you are right now, you're never going to control the black flames."
"Have a little faith, for fuck's sake," I muttered. "Faith..."
I repeated it to myself. Maybe that's all it took. A leap of faith.
I threw every other thought out of my head and focused only on the Crimson Moon Hunters. Under the light of the Crimson Moon, they looked even more dangerous, more predatory. But I wasn't going to let that freeze me.
I clicked my tongue, lifted my head, and smiled like an idiot.
Gien's eyebrow twitched.
"What's with that stupid frog face?"
The Crimson Leader asked, arrogance dripping from his voice.
"I can promise you one thing, Gien Husk," I said.
Gien gave a short laugh, nodding. "And what would that be, Fates Masterpiece?"
My smile widened.
"I will survive."
Gien's smirk vanished. His expression hardened, turning cold and heavy.
He glanced over his shoulder at the hunters behind him.
"Leave the kid to me," he said.
Then he turned back to me.
"You talk too much. Believe me, I want to be done with you quickly."
He drew a deep breath and started walking toward me, slow and deliberate.
"Normally, hunters never take orders from anyone outside the cult," he said. "But this was different. The order came from the very top. The Dream King wants you. I don't know why. But he wants you. Dead or alive."
Red light flickered in Gien's eyes. His crimson hair began to rise, like it was being lifted by something that wasn't wind.
"And so, I'm going to fulfill his request."
Four small red blades formed in the air around him, circling his body.
"Yeah," I whispered to myself. "There it is."
A leap of faith.
I raised the Destruction rune toward the air and began pulling in every aetheric particle I could reach. The particles drifted toward the rune, gathering in my palm.
Gien's eyes narrowed. He took a step forward.
Then he lunged.
In an instant, he was right in front of me. I didn't even see him cross the distance. His fist slammed into my face.
The impact sent me flying backward, several feet through the air, until I crashed into a tree. Pain shot through my cheek. My back throbbed with a scream. My head rang.
But I couldn't give up now.
Gien appeared in front of me and looked down with bored contempt.
"Did you really think you could stand against me?"
His tone dripped with mockery.
"No. You can't!" he roared, answering himself.
"This fight isn't over," I hissed, and slowly aimed the Destruction rune straight at him.
Gien's eyebrow lifted.
"A rune of concept, huh…" he muttered. "Now it makes sense why the King wants you. Honestly, I thought you'd be about as valuable as a bolem."
"What the hell is a bolem?" I said through the pain.
Gien shrugged. "Doesn't matter. You're going to die in a minute anyway."
"Maybe," I said.
I finished charging the aether into the Destruction rune.
"But that goes for both of us."
Gien's eyes widened. "Wait you little—"
Before he could finish, I released the aetheric blast.
I could feel the aether ripping out of my body.
When the force cleared, Gien wasn't there.
Laughing through the pain, I pushed myself upright and slumped back, sitting against the cracked trunk of the tree I'd hit.
I closed my eyes and tried to breathe. Tried to rest.
But only a few seconds passed before I heard ragged breathing in front of me.
I snapped my eyes open.
Gien Husk was still there.
His crimson armor was shattered. His eyes were full of fury.
"You merely damaged my armor. Not even enough to kill an insect."
He aimed his hands toward me, and the four small red blades around him all turned, pointing at me.
I stared at them helplessly.
I couldn't lose here. I couldn't.
If I wanted to reach my own goals, I had to stand up and fight for it.
So I forced myself up. Using the broken tree for balance, I pushed to my feet and flashed the Crimson Leader a grin.
"As you can see," I said, "I'm still not done."
Gien's brow creased.
"Getting you into this condition only took one punch. Trust me, this next strike will erase you completely."
My grin twisted wider, unhinged.
"Go on then, hunter. Hunt me!"
I roared and focused. I drew in aether from everywhere, the ground, the air, the plants... Every source I could reach. In a blink, I was wrapped in it. Drenched in it. Aether was all around my body, and I absorbed all of it.
Gien spat onto the dirt.
"You really think aether is going to protect you from this attack? Pathetic."
The four crimson blades shot toward me.
I didn't have time to dodge. I knew I didn't. So I didn't try.
I let them hit me.
All four stabbed into my arms and chest at once. The pain was searing, blinding. My body lurched and I almost toppled, but I didn't fall. I forced myself to stay standing.
"That's the best you can do?" I laughed, delirious, broken.
Gien's eyes narrowed to slits.
"The only reason you're even still upright is the amount of aether you absorbed. My next attack will kill you."
I shook my head. Blood slipped from the corner of my mouth.
"You play with your prey too much, hunter," I said.
Then I poured aether into my legs and launched forward.
Gien's eyes widened. He mirrored me and leapt in as well. The crimson blades vanished from my body, and four new blades spun back into orbit around him.
He cocked his arm back for a punch, faster than before.
But this time, I'd win.
I matched his speed. I knocked his fist aside with my left hand, then drove my right straight into his face.
The hit blasted Gien backward. He slammed into a tree so hard it split in half, then crashed through the next one. And the next.
He staggered back up, shaking, rage spilling off him like heat.
"If it weren't for that damned rune, you'd already be dead!"
Gien screamed.
I descended to a low landing right in front of him and grinned, then aimed the Creation rune at him.
"But it's not just one," I said.
Gien froze. His eyes filled, not with anger now, but with something close to fear.
"How?" he whispered. "How can a kid like you have two runes of concept?"
I pointed my thumb at my face and laughed.
"I have no idea what you're talking about," I said. "But from the way you're reacting, I'm guessing these runs make me stronger."
A smug smile stretched across my face.
"And if you're wondering how I got them, I'll tell you."
I lifted my eyes for a few seconds, staring up into the crimson light of the Crimson Moon. Then I looked back down at Gien, this desperate, shaking thing in front of me.
"The Organizer gave them to me."
Confusion broke across Gien's face.
"What the hell are you talking about?" he shouted. "Who the fuck is the Organizer?"
He fell forward onto his hands, looking up at me like I was some kind of god.
"This was supposed to be easy," he hissed. "So why aren't you dead yet?!"
I tilted my head.
"Why?" I said softly, then smiled.
"Because I want to live. I told you already. I will survive."
Gien slammed his forehead into the ground.
"Fuck your pathetic life a thousand times over! Damn it all!"
Every ounce of arrogance, superiority, pride, gone. Stripped away. He was nothing now but panic and fury.
And then he started laughing.
"But why am I upset?" he snarled. "Sure, maybe I'm leaving this world, but you're about to leave it too."
His voice warped, twisted, went feral.
"You think the other hunters are just going to let this go? No. All you've done is sign your own slow, painful execution."
"I don't really think so, Husk."
A alien voice came from above, cutting Gien off.
Gien and I both snapped our heads up.
Someone was descending toward us out of the sky.
An older man, hovering there, slowly lowering to the ground. His hair was white and fell to his shoulders. On his forehead, right in the center, was a golden lightning rune like a tattoo. His eyes were blue, calm, in a way that felt terrifying. The clothes he wore looked both ceremonial and powerful.
"Lord Orinn…" Gien's voice came out as barely more than a whisper.
But his eyes were shining. He started laughing again, hopeful now.
"This is perfect! Go on, kill Fates Masterpiece!"
The man... Orinn, I corrected myself, shook his head and looked at Gien with disgust.
"You dare give me orders?" Orinn said.
His voice was quiet, but it cut like a blade.
Gien's laughter died instantly. "No… no, my lord, never. I would never presume to command you."
Orinn clicked his tongue and lifted his right hand toward Gien.
"I'm relieving you of your position, Gien Husk," he said. "Permanently."
A blast of brilliant blue aether fired from Orinn's palm.
"No, my lord, ple—"
Gien never finished his begging.
He turned to dust.
Orinn's mouth curled into something cruel for a heartbeat. But when he turned to look at me, that expression melted into something else, soft, almost kind.
"Are you alright, child?" Orinn asked, his voice carrying concern.
I glanced at the spot where Gien had just been and saw only ash. I tore my gaze away and forced myself to focus on Orinn.
"Yes, sir," I said. "I'm fine."
Orinn's smile faded into something smaller, more controlled. He folded both hands behind his back and looked at me with a calm, unreadable face.
"I apologize," he said. "I didn't introduce myself."
His posture straightened, then eased, like standing in the center of a storm he owned.
"My name is Orinn Legia, Dream King of the Storm City."