Prologue: The Village of Red Eyes (Part 11)

The demon wolves slowly moved through the snow.

Glowing yellow eyes.

Black breath.

Deep growls rumbled between the trees.

Kaien pressed himself against the tree behind him, breathing heavily.

His right arm hung crookedly at his side.

Warm blood ran down his leg.

The rusty knife trembled in his left hand.

And yet he already knew.

He was going to die here.

The wolves tightened their circle.

Slowly.

Savoring it.

The injured wolf at the front limped through the snow.

Even with its half-destroyed eye, it stared hungrily at Kaien.

Kaien tried to stand.

His legs gave out immediately.

"Shit..."

The snow beneath him slowly turned red.

The wolves were drooling now.

Warm saliva steamed as it dripped into the snow.

One of the smaller wolves slowly stepped closer.

Growling.

Weakly, Kaien raised the knife.

His hand shook too violently to hold it steady.

He could barely breathe.

Panic.

Pain.

Cold.

Everything slowly blurred together.

Then...

Kaien suddenly began to cry.

Quietly at first.

Then harder.

Tears streamed down his face.

Kaien clenched his teeth.

"I... don't want to die..."

His voice broke completely.

The pack leader slowly tensed its muscles.

Preparing to leap.

Kaien's vision blurred.

In those final moments...

...he didn't think about Magnus.

Not about the North Wall.

Not even about the demons.

Instead...

...he thought about Mireya.

About the way she had hugged him.

"...come back."

Kaien's chest tightened painfully.

Then he thought of Yun Yun.

Her annoyed face.

Her red eyes.

Her voice.

Her fear.

"Just come back, okay?"

Kaien began trembling even harder.

"...Looks like I couldn't keep my promise...

...Yun Yun..."

The wolf lunged.

Straight at him.

Its enormous jaws wide open.

Teeth like white knives.

At that exact moment...

...Kaien's eyes changed.

The cold blue vanished.

Replaced by blood red.

A black symbol slowly appeared within his pupils.

A circle.

Crossed by four claw-like lines.

Almost like a torn eye.

The snow around Kaien began to tremble.

The air grew heavy.

Wrong.

Kaien barely noticed anymore.

His body convulsed uncontrollably.

Black veins surfaced beneath his skin.

Suddenly, Kaien screamed.

"AAAAAAAHHHHHH!!"

Then...

...his nervous system completely collapsed.

His body fell motionless into the snow.

Unconscious.

The wolf was only centimeters away.

But suddenly...

...it froze.

Silence.

Deep silence.

The entire forest fell silent.

Even the wind stopped.

The other wolves immediately began backing away.

Their growls turned into frightened whimpers.

Then...

...something moved between the trees.

A black mass slowly emerged from the mist.

Not walking.

Not crawling.

More like...

...flowing.

As though living shadow itself were gliding through the snow.

Within it...

...two golden eyes opened.

Snake-like.

Ancient.

Unnaturally calm.

The wolves froze instantly.

Pure fear gripped them.

The injured pack leader whimpered softly.

Then the golden eyes turned toward it.

One glance.

BOOM.

Something black suddenly shot through the air.

The wolf's head vanished instantly.

Blood sprayed across the snow.

The remaining wolves tried to flee.

Too late.

The black mass moved instantly.

Not human fast.

Not animal fast.

Wrong fast.

One wolf was torn apart mid-stride.

Another disappeared into darkness.

Screams.

Cracking bones.

Blood.

Within seconds...

...everything was over.

Only snow remained.

Red snow.

The golden eyes slowly turned toward Kaien.

Then the creature drifted closer.

Stopping directly before Kaien's unconscious body.

The black mass pulsed softly.

Almost like breathing shadow.

The golden eyes studied Kaien's face.

For the first time...

...the creature spoke.

Its voice was deep.

Ancient.

Distorted.

Almost as though multiple voices were speaking at once.

"...Finally."

Silence.

The golden eyes narrowed slightly.

"You have awakened."

At the same time...

...back at the North Wall.

Panic was spreading.

Several guards stared nervously toward the forest.

The howling had stopped.

Somehow, that made everything worse.

One of the older guards was visibly trembling.

"T-That... that's not normal."

The captain had long since stopped laughing.

His beer bottle lay forgotten in the snow.

"...Shit."

Several guards frantically grabbed their weapons.

One had already started running toward the alarm bell.

"We need reinforcements!"

"Those things are probably about to attack the wall!"

Yun Yun felt nothing but panic.

Kaien was still out there.

Alone.

She immediately turned toward the gate.

"OPEN IT!"

Nobody reacted.

"NOW!"

The guards ignored her completely.

Too consumed by their own fear.

Yun Yun clenched her teeth.

Then she suddenly ran toward the outer gate herself.

But before she could get far, someone grabbed her arm.

Lyra.

Yun Yun immediately spun toward her.

"LET GO OF ME!"

Lyra looked at her with unusual seriousness.

No sarcasm.

No grin.

Nothing.

"No."

"KAIEN IS OUT THERE!"

Lyra tightened her grip.

"Exactly why."

Yun Yun froze.

The wind howled between the walls.

"What is that supposed to mean...?"

Lyra silently stared toward the forest.

Her red eyes suddenly looked uncertain.

Something that almost never happened.

"...Something is wrong."

No one spoke.

Then...

...deep within the forest...

...a sound echoed.

Not like a wolf.

Not like an animal.

More like...

...something enormous breathing.

The guards instantly turned pale.

One of them even dropped his spear.

Yun Yun felt her heart pounding wildly.