What is death?
At least once in our lives we've asked ourselves this question.
To some, it was solace, an eternal rest meant to put them out of their misery.
To a few, it was a thief, coming to claim a life yet to be enjoyed to its fullest.
Many people had different perspectives as to what it was, yet one truth remained.
Death was inevitable.
It didn't matter whether we wanted or not, it wasn't something people had a say in.
Perhaps it was an inevitable force like it was described but sometimes, some partings weren't meant to be so… soon.
Sometimes it was forced, and most times it was as a result of human greed.
****
Ivonriel continent, cursed forest
Footprints left deep impressions on the damp earth below following the muffled grunts of various figures chasing someone, …something in the confines of a cursed forest.
Dart-like bullets flew through the air, missing their target— A figure, barely older than twelve running for his dear life— by a hair's breadth.
His looks was androgynous, with a face too delicate to belong to a male.
Long lashes framed his tired green eyes which had cat-like slits rather than pupils.
His rosy lips parted slightly as he took laboured breaths, coughing up blood in the process.
His hair— a unique blend of silver and black clung to his skin, damp from the relentless downpour of rain.
Blood poured from all sides of his body, littered with cuts yet he never slowed down, not for a second even as jagged branches clawed at him or tree trunks bruised his sides.
From time to time, a few stray vines would try to wrap themselves around him but he would cut through them using nothing but a finely crafted dagger and brute force, straining his slim, underdeveloped muscles to the extreme.
The forest itself seemed alive, like an enormous abomination waiting patiently for its prey to come to it. This realization made the kid shudder but his mind was quickly drawn away from that thought as he heard sounds behind him.
"How are you guys losing track of one abominable spawn, get him!!!" One yelled.
At his words, countless darts tore through the forest, aiming for just one person.
His heart thumped loudly as panic settled in, like a prey about to be caught by its predator, his instincts ran wild, releasing adrenaline which surged throughout his entire body.
He couldn't let himself be caught, he had to escape by all means.
Even he knew that the moment he was caught, it would be over, everything, his parents'sacrifice and that wasn't something he could afford.
'Az my little prince… run, you have to run, don't get caught… you can't end up like Irene, do it for mummy's sake, just run far away from here.'
These words continually repeated itself in his mind, like a broken record, a reminder that his priority was to flee, to escape alive from the dreadful hands of his pursuers who massacred his pack.
'I… can't get caught, not yet, I need to live so I can kill them with my own hands, I… must survive, no matter what.'
It was as though his mind was caught in a loop, causing his thoughts to become unstable.
Drowned in a sea of repetitive thoughts, he momentarily lost focus on his location, causing a dart-like bullet to graze his skin.
The effects of the tranquilizer was immediate as his vision spun, causing his foot to trip over a stray vine.
Everything happened abruptly, one second he was running and the next, his body had involuntarily begun its descent down the slope–like terrain of a section of the forest, rolling down its steep hill like a ragdoll.
An agonizing cry left his lips as rocks tore at his flesh, accompanied by the sound of snapping twigs beneath his tumbling body.
Each impact brought with it a fresh burst of pain, adding more wounds to his mangled body.
This went on for several minutes before his fall abruptly came to an end.
He had veered off the steep terrain of the forest and had landed in another part of the greenland, letting out a pained yelp as his body connected to the uneven ground of the forest.
The frail body of the child bounced off the ground like weightless latex, spinning a few more times before finally stopping.
—Keuk!!..
His tired eyes blinked slowly, as he sprawled across the forest floor, perfectly still, under a pool of blood of his making.
For a moment, silence reclaimed the forest.. safe for the constant dripping of the rain washing his blood away.
He struggled to stand up, supporting himself with a nearby tree before inhaling deeply to gather breath.
His pursuers didn't seem like they were going to get to him anytime soon but even that did nothing to quell his unease, rather the unsettling feeling he had since he fell into this portion of the forest only seemed to increase the deeper he went.
The forest was serene, a little too quiet, as if inviting him to find solace in its confines.
Unbeknownst to the child, he had long gone past the safe zone of this said forest and currently, he was within a death zone, a place where only a few said entities had managed to survive, while keeping their sense of reasoning intact.
He winced in pain as he took a few more steps forward, after several minutes of movement, his battered body had finally given up.
His trembling body fell to the ground with a loud thud, despite that he tried to stand up again but he still plummeted to the ground. This went on for several minutes before he completely abandoned the idea of walking, clearly that wasn't getting him anywhere, instead he decided to crawl, sinking his fingers into the damp wet soil of the jungle, tirelessly dragging his mangled body across it.
A disturbing memory flashed into his mind, one painted with crimson, the blood of his people being spilled like liquid wine, turning their once joyous village into a graveyard for his peers.
'M-Mother, father… I'm scared, I don't want to be alone… why did you leave me, why… why… why..'
While the child thought to himself with a silent whimper, succumbing to despair from the fact that his parents were really gone, an eerie voice chimed.
Its voice, low and serpentine, like the hiss of a mist as it spoke.
"How distasteful... You thirst for revenge yet you wallow in despair, aren't you a little too pathetic for your own good?" It asked.
As soon as the kid heard the voice, he shuddered, His eyes widened in surprise while his lips trembled.
'N..No way... Th.. This voice, it's mine, but why.. is my.. no, what exactly is happening right now?'
He had been so absorbed in his thoughts and the pain from the damage his body sustained that he didn't even have the time to register his surroundings. It was only at this moment that he noticed that the forest was surrounded with a deep fog.
The voice sounded again, this time more audible than the last with a certain malevolence in its tone.
"Your parents are dead, your pack members have been eradicated completely from the face of this world and finally... You, the last of your pack, a weak, pathetic, fragile child with no speciality of your race, it's hard to believe you're not a human but a mixed abomination of two cursed races. So tell me... Nox of the crescent moon pack, why do you still cling to life?''
Nox couldn't believe his ears, at first he thought it was just his imagination but hearing the voice for the second time had indeed confirmed it to be true.
"Ah... Did I phrase it wrong? No… rather than that, what are you living for?"
The voice lingered for a split second before speaking once again.
"Shall I tell you, a way to ease your suffering?... There's nothing you can do. So just give up right here and die."
"Give... Up?, and die?..." Nox repeated, in a tone laced with untamed rage.
He paused, gritting his teeth until blood began to drip from his mouth.
"Cut the bullshit.. what made you think... that I would give up? I have nothing to lose... Nothing to live for, my parents sacrificed their lives just so I could escape, since they did, then I won't die until I kill every single person responsible for their deaths, no matter what they are, no matter how long it takes I will get rid of them all, I'll make sure they suffer even after death!"
"Is that so?... That's an interesting logic, but do you think you could even make it to them, do you even think you could get past me? You sure talk big for someone who's about to die."
"I said... It doesn't matter what or who they are, if you're one of them, then you will die."
For a few seconds there was an eerie silence following Nox's proclamation, then a loud vile laughter sounded from nowhere and everywhere at the same time, it felt like a chorus of cacophonous laughs, slightly damaging his soul as an after effect.
At that moment, Nox's face paled slightly as he felt the immediate change in the atmosphere. The air became colder and the winds seemed to slow down while the rustle of the leaves had fallen silent, even the chatters of rain couldn't be heard.
Nox couldn't suppress the shivers that followed, somewhere in front of him, the mist swirled, coalescing together and forming a humanoid figure within it.
Frightened, Nox's body went cold, he trembled and a chill spread through him, making his already pale skin, paler.
Before him stood a boy with porcelain-like skin and windswept, messy silver hair crudely tied into a ponytail, a small braid framed the left side of his face, accentuating his long bangs, while his rosy lips and slightly arched eyebrow added a touch of delicate charm to his striking androgynous appearance.
He had a small birthmark far beneath his right eye slightly below his lips but a notable distance from them, as well as another identical birthmark located somewhere within his neck.
The wraith looked like an exact replica of Nox who was staring from the ground in visible shock. The only difference between them was the fact that Nox had bright green eyes with cat-like slits instead of pupils, which seemed to exclude a feline grace, while the wraith had deep pools of darkness situated where his eyes were supposed to be.
The moment their eyes met, Nox flinched and hurriedly shut his eyes, he didn't know why, but his instincts were warning him against gazing into those pools of darkness within the wraith's eyes.
The wraith chuckled, seeing Nox's reaction, then in a voice laced with mockery, it asked.
"What's wrong?.. scared now aren't you? What's the matter, you can't afford to look me in the eyes?"
Nox couldn't reply or rather his body wasn't able to do anything, it felt like his nerves were shut down, paralyzed by fear.
The voice of the wraith sounded again, this time much more commanding and dreadful.
"Open your eyes..."
"Look at me" it sneered.
Still, Nox refused to do as it said, somehow, he knew that if he were to gaze within those sinister eyes of the wraith, then he was going to perish, and that was something he couldn't afford to happen, not at this moment.. not till he's killed every one of those bastards who took his parents away from him.
Now he was painfully aware, why the forest had no monsters around this location, why would it? It was already housing a dreadful creature, so what beast would be foolish enough to reside around an apex predator and a nasty one at that?.
The soft whispers soon turned into fierce shouts, growing louder and louder, while alternating between voices that Nox was familiar with.
"OPEN YOUR EYES, OPEN YOUR EYES, OPEN THEM, LOOK AT ME! OPEN YOUR EYES, OPEN YOUR EYES, OPEN YOUR EYES, OPEN YOUR EYES, OPEN YOUR EYES, OPEN YOUR EYES, OPEN YOUR EYES, OPEN YOUR EYES, OPEN YOUR EYES, OPEN YOUR EYES, OPEN YOUR EYES, OPEN YOUR EYES, OPEN YOUR EYES, OPEN YOUR EYES!"
Nox could only let out a weak groan, he wasn't sure how much longer he could hold on to his sanity, his body remained paralyzed, unable to move, yet for some unknown reasons the wraith didn't touch him or attempt anything besides trying to get him to open his eyes.
This went on for several more minutes, with the inhumane shrieks growing louder the more time went by, Nox didn't think he could hold on, in fact it was the desire for his revenge that kept him up till this moment, else he would have already given up.
The continuous shriek of the mist wraith abruptly came to an end as the sounds of approaching footsteps interrupted his hunt.
The wraith stared at the paralyzed Nox before licking its lips.
"You got lucky today, however you're too rare of a prey to just let go... I'll be watching you." Such were its last words before dissolving into the mist.
As soon as the wraith left, the unsettling feeling that lingered, disappeared as well indicating that the wraith was no longer around.
The footsteps became more audible and strangely enough, Nox felt compelled to open his eyes, which he did or at least tried to, but his body refused to listen to him. At best he could only open them slightly enough for him to see a blurry silhouette of a human figure before he finally passed out.