A 10-meter-long snake slithered against the ground in the cold night. Its onyx scales seemed to readily absorb the moonlight illuminating the dark forest. Its eyes, all six of them, were fixed ahead of it while its body blurred and blended in with the shadows it crossed.
Its life was rather static. Feed, sleep, wake, and feed again in an endless cycle. The few thoughts it had were fleeting and few in between, suppressed by decades of instinct.
Today, however, something was eerily different.
The snake raised its head and hissed menacingly at the air around it. Its scales visibly clenching before it burst into an intangible mass of darkness.
A white spear made from a luminous metal fell from the sky on the mass of darkness but had no effect other than embedding itself into the ground. The mass surged forward with speed, clearly trying to flee from a danger it could not process.
Specs of light left the spear and coalesced into a lean figure. He had pure golden eyes and white hair. Third Light.
Third Light looked at the fleeing mass of darkness and cursed himself, "I knew I should've struck with more force." He gripped his spear and pulled it from the ground.
The shaft increased in luminosity, and he pointed the tip at the mass. A small, intensely burning sphere of light built up, sizzling with immense heat and power.
He aimed carefully and fired. It covered the distance to the mass in less than a second but before it could land, the mass condensed to form the snake once more.
It hissed angrily at the blatant challenge and spat out a beam of concentrated darkness from its mouth.
The two opposing elemental beams collided and erased the other, leaving no trace of either.
"Ah. Much too troublesome, facing an opponent of your element." Third Light leaned forward and vanished.
He appeared in the moonlight, a hundred meters above the forest, and spun his spear. It absorbed the light from the moon, casting an unnatural darkness over the forest: "Light Fall."
Third Light threw the spear at the reptile.
The snake tried to run but it was too late. Third Light's spear pierced through its head and discharged a blinding light that enveloped everything within 100 meters. As the light died down, all that could be seen was the burnt corpse of the snake surrounded by molten rocks and burned trees.
Third Light appeared beside his spear and pulled it out from the corpse. His breath was uneven and ragged but he reached down, stabbed into the snake with his fingers, and brought out a small dark crystal that had been chipped.
"This beast shard should fetch a pretty penny, right guys?" He turned his head around and noticed where he was. "Oh yes, I probably shouldn't have left them behind." His tired groan echoed through the silent forest.
He looked into the distance and raised his spear at an angle to the ground while leaning back. His muscles clenched, and beads of sweat rolled down his forehead, but he still leaned further back and held the spear tight.
With a quick breath, he threw himself forward, launching the spear into the air. It boomed through the air, tracing an arc with its movement, and soon came upon a clearing in the middle of the forest with four people seated around a campfire.
Its tip pierced the ground with enough force to shatter it, but before it could, the ground turned loose and swallowed most of the spear, tightening like a vise around it.
Third Light's figure appeared soon after with his hands clasped around his spear. "Ian." He called out as soon as he materialized, "Let go of my spear." Ian was a large man with scars and burns decorating his face.
Ian scoffed, but the earth around Third Light's spear loosened, and the latter pulled it free before turning to his party.
There was Ian who had power over earth and wielded a warhammer. Asher, the tallest of the group, carried a bow and arrow, Rish, the only girl in the group, had a short knife, and finally, Han.
Han was unlike the rest in the group. The others possessed miraculous abilities or special weapons, or both, that allowed them to slay mighty beasts like the six-eyed snake, but he did not. He didn't even have any outstanding qualities other than being the load-bearing member of the group.
He actively tried to blend in with dark clothes that matched his black hair. The only reason why he had fresh clothes was because of the group he was with.
"So? Did you kill it?" Rish asked without looking away from the campfire that left a yellow glow on her ebony skin.
Third Light looked at her and smiled, "Obviously." He raised the shimmering obsidian beast shard as a testament, yet she frowned.
He chuckled lightly, "Ri-ri, don't tell me you're mad at me. Come on, I just saved you time." She scoffed.
A wry smile spread on his lips, "You know my father only lets you guys come on these 'group hunts' to hide my true power." His words made the others scowl but they didn't dare refute because there was truth in his otherwise demeaning statement.
And even in their wildest dreams, they wouldn't say or do anything that might antagonize his father.
Han saw Third Light look around before staring at him intently. He shifted uncomfortably, "Take him for example." Third Light spoke, pointing a finger at Han.
The others looked at him, "He's definitely only here for appearances. I think my dad's company promised him an armament if he followed us around or something." Third Light laughed and Han turned red.
'It is true. I'm only here because of the armament promised to me. I've already been on 18 hunts with them, 2 more and I get my armament.' He clenched his fists tightly.
'Two more hunts filled with mockery and ridicule but it will be worth it in the future. I must experience a better life than what I have now.' By now the others had started laughing and Han joined in because he needed to do what he could to survive.