Prologue

-Several years earlier -

Under the first new moon, marked the night before the Atlas Terror, an annual seven-day long hunting tournament where the sons and daughters of nobility came forth to participate. This year, the youngest son of the Royal family of Dremine was no exception, drawing the watchful eyes of spectators eager to see how he would follow in the previous generation's footsteps in such competition of strength and endurance.

The name 'Atlas' is also known as endurance, which played a major role in what the trained teenagers needed to pass throughout this game of survival of the fittest. For a whole painstaking week, they must roam the Ghostly Hallows, a forest notoriously known to create hysterical illusions to the weak-minded, and thus hunt down as many Despair as they could muster. The more hunted, the more merits the family would receive. This being it was simple to assume why the tradition was widely referred to as 'Terror', though the real reason was how, every year, not everyone would return.

In the forest, a young boy carelessly ventured through the trees, rapidly hopping from one branch to another whilst the distance between him and his home grew farther. The stress did not stay long, as a wide grin formed on his face, racing the bird-like shadows that he made to play with. Freedom never felt truer here. By being so far away from everything else, no one heard the carefree giggles that would escape his lips but himself, or complain at the reckless pace he went. As night became fuller, the prince gradually slowed down to walking, taking a temporary break. Despite how late the hours have passed, the prince was not a single bit worried or frightened of getting lost. This was home after all. To be afraid of the dark in this realm was considered taboo anyways.

With youthful, wide, ruby eyes, the boy scanned the area and merrily strolled to nowhere in particular, "Why do they care so much, whether I will make it back alive? Of course, I will. It's as if they haven't been watching us train for the last several years just for this day,".

Marshall walked a little more, passive of his surroundings when he heard an abnormal sound from closeby, to which the prince halted and went silent for a quick second. At first, he listened and waited. Then, he struck. With a single hand gesture, he summoned a wolf shadow from the dark as it jumped at whatever was near. His glowing eyes stared with hostility, "Who goes there?!". While the wolf kept on barking, he hurried on over to see what it could have been, before having been left in sheer shock at what appeared to be a person. Their gazes met for what felt like the longest moment was only a few short seconds. Time stood still. Only until the wolf was on top of them for long enough, he flinches and immediately renounced the summoning after determining they were not dangerous, "Ah! Sorry, are you alright?". He reached a hand to help them, "I didn't mean to attack you. Well, I did- but that's only since no one ever appears in these woods. I got carried away."

Once they stood at a normal talking distance, their hands were still together and he now, asked again in a gentler manner, "Are you alright?". In doing so, he also saw their face properly as well, which sparked an instant connection between the two.

Never had he seen someone look so elegant and pure, full of presence that brought a warm air around them. What stunned him most was the calming softness behind their rosy eyes, a colour that he had never come across before. The prince was not short of boldness and gave a genuine smile, "Wow, you have beautiful eyes," he complimented.