Prologue

"Aw, look at 'im – so young and ready to get himself killed." The words left the man's mouth before he could stop them, his brain already chastising his fifteen-thousand-or-so-year-old ass for intervening when he shouldn't've.

But then again, he wasn't one for following rules.

The arachnae tightened the grasp of her silk on the boy as his voice's vibration travelled through her web attached to the tree above. The boy's already pale skin turned purple as the silk cut off his blood circulation. The red orbs she called eyes seemed to narrow, "I followed the rules."

The man stretched his wings, the sunlight which filtered through the canopy shining down on the purple scales. Theatrically leaning backwards to fall from the thick branch, he waited until he nearly hit the forest floor before spreading his wings and landing as smoothly as he could.

For effect, of course.

He rolled his shoulders, stretching the stiff muscles of his back. The man jerked his head side to side, relishing as the joints of his neck cracked with each move. A smirk tugged at his lips when each concealed gasp of terror he elicited from the arachnae met his pointed ears. As his crimson pupils lazily focused on his prey again, the forest seemed to shift slightly more into darkness.

Dramatically, his scarred hand shot out, his claws extending swiftly in that one movement. The silver-stained scars glinted as he admired the shape of his claws. Something too small to be a smile appeared on his face as he walked to the base of the large iron-oak tree he'd sat in, his large palm caressing the hardened bark. The first knuckle on each of his fingers bent, his claws digging deep into the tree.

He began to walk. He never retracted his claws from the tree, no matter how much the piercing high noise bothered him. But he enjoyed when the arachnae flinched, enjoyed when the yellow sparks flickered onto the tree roots. Each step forward he took, the arachnae stepped back, the boy's heaviness restricting her movement. Five thick dark lines rivalled the soft silver of the tree. She couldn't escape him.

The arachnae knew they'd do damage if she provoked him. His velvety voice ripped her focus from his claws.

"Yes, you did follow the rules." The tension in her body melted as he stopped with the high-pitched noise, "But at the same time, you didn't."

A chuckle rumbled in his chest at his own hypocrisy, vanishing the moment she bared her fangs at him, his eyes narrowing in on the hiss of venom that slid down them. Faux confidence bubbled in the arachnae as she tried to sound confident in front of him. "You have no authority here, snake. I followed the rules. The boy is mine."

The vein in his neck became more prominent, his own fangs sneaking their way out into the open as he tsked. "That would be the case… if he were human."

"You see, we snakes," he spat at her, his eyes beginning to glow from the frenzy of stalking newly found prey, "like to keep an eye on what's ours."

His feet planted themselves on the tree trunk, launching him towards the arachnae as he loosened his grasp of the iron-oak. His sharpened claws pushed forward, slicing into her neck.

"That won't kill me, snake. My exoskeleton is too strong." The man simply grinned and reached further into the hard exoskeleton, watching it crack beneath his grip.

The arachnae's eyes seemed to widen, her pedipalps flailing as she struggled to push the man away. Her legs tried pulling herself away from him, her legs spasming frantically as the man wouldn't move. He continued to squeeze her neck, feeling her voice box shatter in his grasp.

Her spines extended, her legs trying to reach him, to slice his human like skin only to open the silk that covered her prey. She screamed silently, the blood that leaked from her neck gurgling instead. Her eyes pleaded with the man as he fastened his fingers on the fragile humanoid vertebrae, a nasty grin on his face.

He ripped his hand back, tossing the dorsum to the side, watching the arachnae's black blood spill onto the forest floor. A shudder ripped through the man, "Forgot how disgusting arachnae are."

He shook his blood-drenched hand, watching the gloopy liquid spray across the scene. A couple drops fell onto the boy's pale face, the purple colour vanishing from his cheeks. The man crouched at the boy's face, scraping the rest of the blood on someone nearby moss. He reached out, his claws retracting as he poked the soft skin of the boy's cheek.

The boy's eyelids flickered, the man chuckling in amusement, "You can open your eyes ya'know. I'm not gonna kill ya."

A cool wind blew through the canopy, the boy's long hair cascading onto his face. He opened his eyes as the man brushed the strands of hair away, his mismatched eyes widening as he took in the man's appearance.

Two dark horns extended from the man's hairline, curling with the shape of his spiky red hair. A thin plait hung over his shoulder, red and purple beads braided into the tie that held i