Once upon a time, in a land far away, there stood a mansion tucked away in a forest and hidden from the outside world. Rumours of this mansion and its owners circled the Kingdom of shadows but few were brave enough to venture close and those that did… were never heard from again.
A young child, no older than seven, gazed out of his bedroom window. The setting sun painted the treetops with its soft red light, the vast forest seemed to stretch as far as the eye could see, causing the child to wonder about what lay beyond.
Two loud knocks on the door brought an end to the child's day dreaming and an aged voice came from outside his room.
"Young Master Ren, dinner has been prepared, your family awaits your arrival."
The child known as Ren sighed, he often requested that his meals be sent to his room, he preferred the peace and quiet but today there was no helping it.
"I'll be down in a bit."
Ren replied lazily, walking up to his window and drawing his curtains.
"Very well, I'll take my leave then."
After saying this, whoever was on the other side of the door seemed to walk away. With the curtains now drawn, the only source of light was a small, flickering flame that came from a lantern hanging from the ceiling.
With its feeble light, Ren made his way to a large mirror with a wooden frame and fixed his clothing. The reflection showed a young boy with short black hair and a piercing gaze, the result of a beautiful pair of scarlet irises. Ren had fair skin and flawless features, giving him a mysterious and almost devilish charm.
Ren straightened out his clothing, he was dressed in all black, as was usual for him. After he was happy with his appearance, he left the room and entered a simply decorated hallway that led downstairs.
The dining room was quite grand when compared to the simplicity of the mansion, it was spacious and decorated with paintings, the most striking of which was depicting a black raven, swooping down on a green serpent. The dining room lacked the cosy atmosphere one would normally associate with a place families sat down to eat, in fact not one of the paintings seemed to be a family portrait.
There was a huge oak table, that seemed to fill out the majority of the room, waiting there was Ren's elder sister Emily, who he shared an uncanny resemblance with. Emily had the same scarlet eyes as Ren but her gaze was a lot warmer, her glossy black hair was tied back into a lengthy pony tail and her features were shapely and delicate.
When Emily saw Ren enter the room, she gave him a sweet smile and patted the seat next to her. It was quite clear that the siblings were quite close.
Due to the lack of a mother figure in the family, the fifteen-year-old Emily had taken it upon herself to support Ren as he grew up, scolding him, nagging him and most importantly being there for him. Ren had grown heavily dependant on his elder sister, so much so that it would be an understatement to say that his whole world revolved around her.
"Sis, is dad around… he called us here, right?"
Ren asked, taking his seat next to Emily, their father was someone who was rarely present, disappearing for weeks at a time with no contact. The only reason he would call for them was if something important came up.
"You should know what that man is like by now… it wouldn't surprise me if he forgot."
Emily replied while chuckling bitterly, Ren didn't fail to pick up on Emily's change in mood, these days it was all too common.
Just as the room was about to turn silent, the door opened and a tall, slim but well-built figure walked in, this man was their father, William. Just like Ren, he was dressed in all black clothing but honestly that would be the last thing you noticed.
Just by walking into the room, the temperature seemed to drop. His scarlet eyes, showed no emotion, there was only ice and darkness in that gaze of his. Despite being in his mid-thirties, his short black hair was peppered with grey and his face held a few light wrinkles but that did absolutely nothing to hide his devilishly handsome features, any onlooker would think that they were viewing a piece of art.
William took his seat at the head of the table, he didn't even spare a glance towards Emily, only speaking directly to Ren.
"Boy, how goes it?"
William asked, his cold voice held a mysterious charm that commanded the listeners full attention. Ren wasn't confused by the vague question, he knew that his father was asking about one thing specifically.
"I just broke into the condensation stage. Mr Carlo thinks that I'll enter Rank Two by the end of the year."
Ren's strange answer seemed to please William and his scary expression eased up a little. He took a silver fork and tapped it against an empty wine glass, producing two crisp clinks. Almost immediately afterwards two maids entered the room, bringing trays of steaming hot food with them. The whole process was seamless with no extra noise or wasted movement.
"Good, if only your sister was half as talented as you are, I would have no worries."
William said, whilst the maids left the dining room. Emily rolled her eyes, it was at times like this that she felt slightly envious of Ren, who was considered the pride and joy of their family. She knew it wasn't his fault and constantly reminded herself of this often, being distant with Ren was the last thing she wanted.
"Since I'm not needed here, I'll eat in my room."
Emily said, clearly annoyed. She picked up her plate and left the dining room, not taking another look at William. The door slammed behind her but this didn't seem to bother William in the slightest.
Ren honestly wanted to leave the room with her, he didn't hate his father by any means but he was indeed scared of him. Now that they were alone, the tense atmosphere only grew.
"Boy, it's been three days since you turned seven, I trust you know what that means."
William broke the silence, causing Ren to realise why his father had called on him, he wasted no time in replying, wanting to end things as quickly as he could.
"Yes father."
"Very well, I'll have Carlo pick you up in the morning, just know that should you fail to produce results, the consequences… will not be light."
Williams words filled Ren with a looming sense of dread, whatever he came back with tomorrow would greatly affect his future. Ren was scared of tomorrow. He didn't want the sun to rise, nor the moon to disappear.
"I… I understand father."
Ren said, struggling to get a hold of his nerves. William didn't speak any further and the two continued to eat their meals in silence.
***
The Linheart mansion, was hidden within a dark and gloomy forest, the trees were thick and tall, only opening up for a steep valley with a fast-moving river at its depths. The valley carved through the heart of the forest, swerving around the mansion, almost as if it was trying it's best to avoid coming close.
A cloudy, moonless night, plunged the forest into darkness, the few lights that flickered through the windows of the mansion were soon extinguished as the servants retired to their quarters.
Ren found himself floating through an endless black void, he couldn't hear, nor see or feel, he would just drift throughout the darkness aimlessly, without purpose or reason.
When morning came, Ren woke up with his sheets drenched in sweat. Nightmares like these were not a rare occurrence but over the years he had learned to deal with them. Ren yawned and drearily rubbed his eyes, waking up had always been his least favourite part of the day.
He sluggishly rolled out of bed and got dressed, before he could even think about washing his face, he heard someone knock on his door.
"Young master, it's time for us to leave."
The voice of an elderly man came from outside his room. Ren took a moment to compose himself, as soon as he stepped out of his room there was no turning back. Ren took a deep breath and opened the door, letting him lay eyes on an old man, who seemed to be in his sixties and was immaculately dressed in the common attire for a butler.
"Morning, Mr Carlo."
Ren greeted the man tiredly. This was Carlo, the head butler at Linheart mansion, he was quite well built for his age but the years clearly hadn't been kind to him, his long hair had lost all colour and his face was heavily wrinkled. Carlo always wore a gentle expression and had been extremely good to Ren in the past.
"Morning young master, shall we be on our way?"
Carlo returned the greeting, after being around Ren for so many years he could tell when the child was nervous, Carlo bent down, showing Ren a warm smile.
"Worry not young master, both the lord and myself believe that you are destined for great things. Today we are merely confirming what we already know."
Ren could feel the pride in Carlo's words, just knowing that someone believed in him so much, gave Ren the self-assurance he needed.
"Thank you, Mr Carlo, I'm ready now."
Ren replied with a little more confidence, causing Carlo to nod his head and lead Ren out of the mansion. The place they were headed was deeper into the forest but it was still considered Linheart territory.
The two of them entered the forest at a leisurely pace, allowing Ren to fully appreciate the beautiful scenery around them. The trees towered high into the sky, their canopies filtering out the sunlight and scattering the ground with spots of light. A cool and refreshing breeze made the falling leaves dance in the air as they slowly fell to the ground. Ren had noticed that the wildlife steered clear of the mansion but after walking for some time, he could hear the birds singing in high spirits and spot the occasional rustling in the shrubbery.
After an hour of walking through nature, they arrived at a large clearing in the forest, in which a huge stone temple had been constructed. The stone walls were heavily corroded and had thick vines creeping around its pillars, suggesting that it had been around for quite a long time.
"Please wait inside young master"
Carlo said, walking up to the entrance and holding the wooden doors open for Ren to walk through. Ren slowly entered the hall, his tiny figure looked even smaller when compared to the huge room, the ceiling was as high as a two-story building and had a single oval skylight that illuminated the rest of the hall. The floor was made from polished marble and a dull looking red carpet that stretched from the entrance all the way to a black altar at the back of the hall.
"I'll be back in a shortly."
Carlo said, bowing towards Ren and closing the doors behind him. Now that Ren was alone, he started feeling anxious again, before his nerves could set in, he pinched his cheek and tried to relax. Ren had a little trick to calm his nerves, meditation.
Ren sat himself down on the floor, he crossed his legs and took deep breaths, making himself comfortable. He closed his eyes and emptied his mind, focusing solely on his surroundings. With his eyelids shut, all he could see was black but as his focused deepened, mysterious golden threads started to light up in the darkness, drifting around him like a spider web caught in the breeze. These threads didn't seem tangible but Ren felt a faint connection to the ones nearby, they gently floated towards him, flowing into his nose and mouth as he inhaled.
Ren continued to meditate in silence, surrounded by the golden strand of light, he was complete oblivious to the surroundings and the passage of time. A light tap on his shoulder broke his concentration and brought him back from his trance like state.
"Welcome back Mr Carlo."
Ren said while standing up and turning around, his gaze quickly falling on a figure wearing a brown hooded cloak, that had entered the hall alongside Carlo, even though both their face and body were hidden by the thick cloak, Ren had been taught to be observant, from their posture and how they carried themselves, he could quickly tell that it was a woman in their late forties.
"Good morning madam, you must be the teller my father hired. It's a pleasure to make your acquaintance."
Ren said while respectfully lowering his head, even though he hated such formalities, at the end of the day Ren was still a representative of the Linheart family, he could at least act the part.
"The pleasure's all mine child."
The teller said, pulling down her hood and revealing an aged face that was far from good looking. She smiled at Ren, showing off a crooked set of yellow teeth that spoke volumes about her personal hygiene, in fact Ren would much rather prefer if she kept her hood up.
"If it alright with you, I would like to get started right away. The process is fairly simple but if you have any questions feel free to ask at any point."
The teller spoke with a soft voice that was surprisingly easy on the ears. Ren didn't get the chance to meet new people very often but her friendliness put him at ease. Ren joined her as they walked towards the black altar at the back of the room.
"Best of luck young master."
Carlo spoke up, remaining near the entrance. Ren briefly turned around and nodded his head. The teller stopped in front of a small stone pedestal, with Ren right by her side. She closed her eyes and hovered her palm over the pedestal.
Ren was curious as to what she was doing but before he could ask, he glimpsed a speck of light fly past him, the whole room seemed to be filled with these rays of light that shot towards the pedestal forming a small ball of light that washed the walls with it white glow. For some reason Ren's eyes didn't hurt when he looked at the bright sphere, instead he was captivated by it and found it hard to look away.
The teller's eyes opened and the ball of light dimmed, hardening and solidifying into a crystal-clear glass ball that seemed to sparkle like a diamond, she saw Ren looking at it with awe and chuckled.
"Pretty, isn't it."
The teller said and Ren couldn't help but agree with her, no gem or piece of jewellery came close to its brilliance and lustre. The teller put her palm on the ball and turned to Ren.
"This crystal ball, is a medium that I use to divine fate, the bigger the waves you make in the future, the clearer my vision will be."
Ren had expected as much, Emily had gone through the same thing when she turned seven, Ren had never found out what had happened but the way their father treated her, only worsened from that point on.
"Let's get started then, all you have to do is place your palm on top of mine and let your energy flow, simple right?"
The teller said, Ren nodded and did as she asked, he placed his hand over hers on top of the crystal ball and a mysterious power welled up inside him, flowing from his chest into his hand. Despite Ren's best efforts, the crystal ball remained without change. The lack of reaction caused the teller to raise an eyebrow.
"That's odd, there's something getting in the way, whatever it is, it doesn't want me to see your future."
The teller said, seemingly confused, she shrugged her shoulders and looked towards Carlo on the other side of the room.
"Not much I can do here."
She said, this obviously didn't make Carlo very happy.
"The lord of this mansion hired you to do a job… if you can't do it, well… I don't think I need to say any more than that."
Carlo said, his voice wasn't threatening because it wasn't a threat, the teller knew this and a conflicted expression arose on her face, she turned to Ren and frowned.
"There is one method but it has its risks… you won't be affected but… never mind, you're better off not knowing, all you have to do is drop some blood on the crystal ball."
Ren could hear the hesitance in her voice, was it really going to be alright. Ren could feel both Carlo's and the teller's gazes on him, he couldn't hold off any longer. Ren placed his thumb between his teeth and bit down hard, he slowly moved his hand over the ball causing a small drop of dark red blood to roll of his thumb and fall towards the crystal ball.
The blood soaked into the glass, completely absorbed it. The ball continued to remain the same, after a few more seconds had passed, the teller frowned and seemed like she was about to say something but as she was opening her mouth, the ball started shaking violently and flashed with an ominous black light.
Soon, inky black spots began to appear within the crystal ball, they grew larger and merged until they engulfed the whole of the crystal ball turning it pitch black. This change caused the teller to jump back in fright.
"d-devil, he's no child… he's the devil."
Ren, who was just starting to feel good about the crystal ball finally showing a reaction, twitched at the tellers damning words. Devil… him, Ren almost laughed at the thought, he did as he was told, never caused trouble and was always polite, the staff at the mansion thought he was an angel.
The sound of cracking glass shifted Ren's focus back on to the blackened crystal ball, which was now covered in web-like cracks. Without warning the black crystal ball burst apart, sending shards of glass flying out in all directions.
Ren shielded his face with his hands, just in time to block the glass shards that sliced across his forearms, Ren winced in pain, but his attention quickly shifted to the teller, who had stumbled backwards, falling to the ground and letting out screams of anguish.
All her hair fell out and her face seemed to age rapidly, from the floor, she pointed a shaky finger towards Ren, looking at him with a mixture of disgust and fear.
"Call the lord, this devil mustn't be allowed to live… if it lives, the kingdom will perish, it will be the end of us al-"
The tellers shrieking was cut off abruptly, causing Ren to glance towards her. Ren saw the tellers head rolling around on the floor, completely separated from her body. A fountain of blood erupted violently from her neck, Ren stumbled back and his gaze left the headless corpse
Ren found the killer immediately, Carlo was standing next to the teller's headless corpse, gripping a long sword stained with red, a rare look of seriousness could be seen on face. Ren struggled to process what had happened, unlike most children his age, he wasn't bothered by the corpse nor the sight of blood, instead it was the tellers last words that worried him.
Ren didn't know how accurate the teller was but no matter how small of a chance it was as long as the possibility of him destroying the kingdom existed, how would his father react.
Carlo remained silent, it looked like he was heavily conflicted about what action to take next, after what felt like an hour, he finally broke the silence.
"Run… don't look back."
Carlo spoke in a strained voice, each word seemed like it pained him. The severity of his tone brought Ren back to reality. His father was not one to take chances, especially when it concerned the safety of the kingdom, when William found out about what happened here, there was a good chance he would be hunted down and quite possibly killed.
Various thought flooded into Ren's mind but he didn't have any time, he bowed his head to Carlo and took off running as fast as his legs could carry him, bursting through the doors, he didn't stop to think, thinking would lead to hesitation, something that would not end well for him. Ren headed for the forest trying to get as far away from the mansion as he possibly could.
Once Ren felt he had run far enough, he started to climb a nearby tree, it would be a simple matter to track his footprints but if he moved from tree to tree the chances of him being discovered were significantly lower.
From young, he had been put through intensive physical training, so something like this was doable. His main problem right now was his stamina, which wasn't infinite, at some point he would have to stop and rest.
Ren heard bells in the distance, chiming from behind him, it seemed Carlo had finally reported his escape to his father. Although he wished he had more time, Ren was still grateful that the old butler had waited this long, Ren knew where Carlo's loyalties lay.
Ren was now filled with a sense of urgency as he leapt from branch to branch. He was quite familiar with the area. He and his sister often ventured into the forest to explore when the suffocating atmosphere of the mansion was too much for them. If he continued in this direction, he would reach a small cave at the edge of his forest that he had discovered along with his sister. If he could hide there to recover his stamina, hopefully he would be able to throw off any pursuers.
After half an hour had passed, Ren finally reached the forest border letting him lay eyes on the black river that meandered around the edge of the forest, if he crossed the river and reached the other river bank, he would be off the Linheart territory, the only way to do this was using a frail looking bridge made of rope and wooden planks that looked like it was falling apart. On the other side of the river Ren could a vast expanse of grass fields.
He finally stopped, once the adrenalin wore off his body wouldn't be able to handle the stress, as much as he would like to leave right now, those fields provided no cover. Without resting he would slow down and be a sitting duck.
After searching around for a while, he finally noticed a small rockface amidst a group of bushes, this was exactly what he was looking for. He walked up to the rockface and found a small crevasse, anyone who passed by wouldn't spare this a second thought but Ren knew better, his small body fit easily in to the crevasse and he wriggled into it. This tiny crevasse opened up into a huge cave that was easily big enough to hold him and a few other people.
The cave was cold and damp but that didn't bother him much, one couldn't be too picky when running for their life. The most important thing was that Ren was finally able to rest and recover his stamina.
Now that he was finally out of immediate danger and didn't have to focus on running away, he could finally reflect on what had happened. The teller had said some shocking things before dying, things that Ren couldn't make any sense out of.
He never had any intentions of destroying the kingdom and he certainly was no devil, his father had repeatedly mentioned to always place the safety of the kingdom above his own life and he had carried out every task his father had given him with that mentality.
Ren was only getting more anxious as time went by and was barely managing to keep himself together, realising he would be vulnerable while resting, he searched around his pockets and found a coil of thin steel string he always carried around for hunting.
Ren unwound the coil and used it to set up a rudimentary warning system, he placed the wire across the entrance forming a trip wire that led back to him and was tied to his finger, if an intruder disturbed the wire, his finger would be pulled, alerting him.
Exactly this happened around two hours later, Ren's rest was interrupted when he felt a light tug on his finger, immediately Ren became vigilant, he hid himself in the corner of the cave using the shadows to hide his presence but soon, Ren heard a familiar voice, it was his sister, Emily.
"Ren, I know you must be scared right now, but I just want to talk."
Ren sighed as relief washed over him, even though he didn't want to drag his sister into his problems, her presence still put him at ease.
"Emily, why did you come here? Go back or da-"
"I know what happened, the whole mansions in uproar about it. We need to talk."
Emily cut him off and Ren started to hesitate, even if he were to get captured, he didn't want Emily to suffer the same fate as him however ,it didn't seem like she would leave without talking to him first.
"Fine."
Ren came out of the corner and saw his sister squeezing through the mouth of the cave. He walked up to Emily and grabbed her hand, pulling her through. Once Emily was all the way inside, she straightened her back and dusted herself off.
"You know for a person running for their life, you're far too sloppy. When I came here, the first thing I noticed was that tripwire. If I didn't set it off on purpose just now, you would have no idea if I came in. Also, hiding in a cave, are you stupid or what, caves only have one exit moron."
Emily started to harshly reprimand him. Ren began to smile, Emily's nagging seemed to sap away all his fear, making him feel like it was just a normal day.
"That all you wanted to say,"
Ren asked with a wide grin on his face. When Emily saw that he wasn't being serious, she rolled her eyes and replied angrily
"You cheeky, little…"
Emily stopped herself mid-sentence, now wasn't the time for idle chatter. Her face slowly turned serious.
"Do you even have a plan, I don't think you realise how bad the situation is, everyone at the mansion is looking for you. Unless you can pull of a miracle, you'll be killed in the next few hours… please tell me you've at least thought of something."
Emily spoke with desperation in her voice, her words were harsh but reflected the reality of the situation. Ren was quickly reminded of the mortal danger he was in, no plan he could think of seemed feasible, his only choice was to keep running without looking back.
"To tell you the truth I have no plan, I will probably die but I still don't want to give up."
Ren spoke slowly, this clearly wasn't the answer Emily wanted to hear, a single tear rolled down her cheek but she managed to hold herself together. After a brief moment of silence Ren continued.
"I would like to spend more time with you but I have to get going. I've wasted too much time already. This might be the last time I ever see you, so all I can say is thank you."
Ren said turning around and left the cave leaving Emily alone in silence with a conflicted look on her face. Ren headed towards the bridge, the abrupt goodbye left him full of regrets, there was still so many things he wanted to say to Emily. Ren started walking across the bridge, just as he was about to take of running, he heard Emily shouting.
"Ren, wait."
Ren turned around and saw his sister running towards him. She grabbed a hold of Ren and pulled him into a tight embrace. She softly whispered into his ears, her voice was full of sadness and grief.
"I'm sorry I couldn't protect you, all I can do is make sure you don't have to suffer for long."
As Ren pulled away from his sisters embrace, he felt something dripping down his legs. Confused, Ren looked down and saw the metal hilt of a dagger protruding from his stomach, blood slowly started to seep out of the wound dripping onto the ground near his feet.
"I'm sorry I couldn't be a better sister."
Ren paid her words no attention as he was already trying his hardest not to black out from the searing pain in his stomach. He staggered back, managing to cling on to the railings to prevent him from collapsing. Ren's consciousness was fading fast but he mustered the last of his strength to tip himself over the railing where he plummeted down into the black waters of the river below.
A large splash could be heard as Emily rushed to lean over the edge and look down but no matter how hard she looked she couldn't see any traces of Ren's body.