1 PROLOGUE

The environment was quiet when a loud rustling sound was heard. A wild boar was running through the forest leaving behind a blood trail in its presence. From looking at it one saw the boar was wondered, and it was trying to escape from the hunters who were behind it.

It had a gaping hole near its right front leg which rendered the leg useless, thus it was using the remaining legs to propel itself as far and quickly as possible. However, the only downside to this was the hunters who were not too far behind it.

"Flame wall," chanted a woman

A wall of pure flame appeared in front of the boar which caused it to halt its movement and turn behind the flame wall. Now coming towards it were two dark creatures, one of which was wielding a short sword. The boar did what any cornered animal would do and charged towards the beings hunting it.

The boar saw the man was unarmed and decide to attack him rather than risking a fight with the other one. The man saw the boar running towards him to attack. When the boar was close enough, he dodged it and began his chant.

Earth prison silently chanted the unarmed man.

When the boar missed him, the spell had already activated and the ground it was standing on sunk together with it, thus trapping it inside the ground. The hole was deep enough that it just couldn't get out.

The two people walked to where the boar was trapped. With nowhere to run, it looked at the two beings walk towards it. Its eyes still had flames in them as it didn't accept this fate to which it was lured.

"Flame chain, Ice lance," shouted the lady.

Chains made from flames held the boar in place while the air around it started to become cold which caused the water in the air to freeze and create multiple lances of ice which stabbed the boar all over. This killed it instantly without giving it the chance to cry out in pain.

They dragged the boar out of the hole and the lady helped heave the boar onto his shoulder's as they started walking back towards their village.

As they walked through the forest it started raining and suddenly a large cry filled the vicinity with their environment. They both held on to their weapon and prepared themselves for the worst. However, when the crying continued, they listened to it carefully and found out that it wasn't an animal cry. Both slowly listened to the sound and concluded it was coming from far ahead north.

It would be in their best interest to walk away now. Many a time they had been told not to disturb anything rather than the food they were hunting. The elders of the village had always let nature takes its course by taking only what they needed and nothing more but today was different.

The elders had sent these youngsters today to hunt which served as a lesson and both as a reward. By hunting, they would learn how to work together and also develop their own individual's roles. They would also learn about the forest terrain and in the process, they might be acknowledged and gain some new skills to their collections.

However, the two were caught by their adventurous spirit and decided to find out what the cry was. They put the boar down and tied it near a tree for safekeeping. As they walked towards the source of the sound the usual terrain they were used began to change vastly, and now they had entered where they weren't supposed to.

By approaching the sound, the air grew heavy and cold accompanied by an ominous feeling which slowly began to manifest itself as fear and malice. Both of them didn't notice that most of the animals and birds were heading away from the sound because these animals had developed such that they could sense evil presence targeting them. This time they were not sensing evil but instead, they were sensing the devil among them. Most of them were able to escape the presence but the few unlucky ones collapsed on the spot with some of them dying.

Suddenly the crying sound was heard and this time it was just a few trees in front of them. When they approached the tree where the sound was coming from, they noticed that the surrounding trees had begun to wilt and some were oozing a black asphalt like liquid from their stems which flowed to the direction of the tree from which the sound was coming from.

When they came close to the tree the crying stopped and after inspecting the tree, they found something warm which was wrapped in old dirty rags.

"Nini, let's leave now," shouted her partner, Koji.

Koji had felt something glide just past him and none of his sensory skills had picked up on what it was. This made him afraid and thus he decided that both of them should leave whatever Nini was holding because their presence wasn't welcomed in this place.

However, Nini didn't follow through with Koji's plan but instead, curiosity took hold of her and she opened the rags.

Instead of being met by something ominous she found inside what appeared to be a baby.

It was dark just like them and suddenly the baby stretched its tiny arms after feeling the warmth was gone which was replaced by a cold breeze.

"Koji, look it's a child that looks like us," shouted Nini to Koji who was walking away after seeing that Nini wasn't listening to him.

Naturally, he went to take a look and indeed the child looked just like them. As they were observing the child it opened its eyes to reveal a unique combination of colours.

Its left eye was red but its right eye was black just like the ooze coming out from the nearby plants. The baby was intrigued by the people who looked just like it thus it raised its hand and firmly squeezed Nini's index finger.

Nini looked around the area to see who might have left the baby but found no clue as the visible are looked undisturbed. She put the baby back where she found it as she recalled the elders' warnings of not disturbing nature and she started to walk away.

When she started disappearing beyond its view the baby cried as it didn't know what else to do. Somehow the baby couldn't remember how it got here but after seeing Nini it felt somehow attached to her who was now leaving it to nature.

Nini felt the baby's cry but she decided to walk away but suddenly she saw Koji change his direction and walk back towards the baby. He didn't know he was acting this way but only felt an obligation to protect it. So, they both walked back towards the baby with Nini carrying the baby. Koji went and retrieved the boar they had tied down at the tree and both walked towards the village each with something to show they had acquired.

As the two walked away something profane and ominous came into view. Its existence was a blurred mess of reality portraying evidence that gods didn't always know everything. Wherever it walked only death and chaos followed in its footsteps. This creature was an abomination that roamed the world without belonging.

However, it watched its saviour vanish from sight while seated on an old tree branch and it let out a long happy sigh. This was everything it had wished for a long time as her fate and the boy were tied by strings thicker than fate. The boy was its source of redemption, her only source of happiness and her existed wholly depended on that boy and it swore to never let anything get between her and the redemption she was promised long ago before the ages of the kingdoms

"Lachesis, everything has gone splendidly," the shadow conveyed the message in the dark. If one listened closely enough, they could hear the sound of joy from them.

Lachesis, who was called evil and vile was conveying so much joy it almost encompassed her divine realm.

"Tremble heaven and hell for the awaited end is here. The gods' death march if I may say so," Lachesis said while happily drowning in laughter, recalling her troublesome past.