1 The Hunt Begins

In other parts of the world, the night is a gift. When the sun sets and the moon descends to blot its pitch-black canvas, the loudness and craziness vanish into oblivion. For this remote village in The Dark Forest, nighttime is a curse.

When the sky turns pitch black —the kind of black that looks to devour everything it touches —is when you can hear the menacing howls of bloodthirsty wolves. Led by the ruthless Wolf King, the pack scourges the Dark Forest for their prey. These wolves roam the land, leaving one pile of bodies after another. So much blood is shed in these hours that the smell of it permeates the area until dawn.

The remote village suffered its worst attack many moons ago, claiming the lives of many locals. While they managed to drive away The Wolf King and his minions with the help of Roger the Hunter, villagers still lived in constant fear of the Wolf King's retaliation.

Ruby has had enough of this inevitable threat. Determined to put an end to the Wolf King, she worked herself to the ground day by day to fortify the defenses of her little hometown. She had managed to surround the village with spiked fences to keep the horde of wolves from attacking from different corners. Villagers did their part by reinforcing their homes, crafting weapons to oppose their attackers, and continuing to train how to fight as taught by Roger.

Every night, Ruby would plant herself in front of the village, anticipating the attack that awaits their fate. Donning her signature red cloak and unusually huge scythe, she would sit on her knees, observing the surroundings intently. Tonight, we find her in the exact same spot.

"This darkness is quite eerie", she whispers to herself.

Unmoving, she lifts her head up to gaze at the skyline. Living in the bosoms of The Dark Forest, Ruby had grown used to total darkness. The dark had this habit of sucking every source of light imaginable, from the glowing marrows of lanterns to the vague twinkle of the stars, for the longest time until the moon decides to bless the land with its radiance. The darkness this evening, however, felt unfamiliar to her. It was a blackness that cloaked everything it touched, hiding the evil that lurks in the shadows and what it can do to an unsuspecting soul.

Hours withered like petals falling off a withered rose. The night sure took its sweet time. Eerie as it was, nothing noteworthy occurred except the rustling of leaves which was probably caused by some nocturnal critter. Bored to death, Ruby tries to humor herself by counting wolves jump into her scythe. She imagines their flesh colliding with the blade, followed by the gushing of their blood. Thoughts like this never fail to put a devilish grin on her seemingly innocent face.

Unbeknownst to Ruby, trouble is brewing in another part of The Evil Forest. Six leagues from her village is where three hundred strong wolf warriors gather, all hardened from numerous battles and oozing with insatiable bloodlust. In front of them, stands the Wolf King.