Darkness swirled around a young man's body, causing him to open his eyes.

He got to his feet and winced as he felt a sharp pain coming from his right leg. A glance down at his naked body revealed dark purple runes that snaked around his right leg like tribal tattoos, before climbing up his body and ending at his hip.

Although he couldn't remember jack shit, a faint memory bubbled up in his head and he somehow identified these runes as a Curse.

He looked around his current location and was surprised to find himself standing in the midst of corpses. Most of these corpses had been killed in macabre and horrendous ways, and some were even just skeletons in armour– their flesh and organs devoured by an unknown magic.

The young man sighed softly and picked a sword from a dead man to use as a walking stick. He had only taken a few steps, when the sword suddenly crumbled into dust.

He frowned and picked another weapon; a spear that was of better quality and seemed to radiate a powerful magical aura.

It had a black, reflective shaft made from Ryeen Steel– a very tough, nonconductive metal that was a perfect conductor for only magic, as it was highly resistance to all forms of energy. Its head to was made of High Steel– another magic-conductor that was also very durable, however it was leagues beneath Ryeen Steel. The head was an ornate blade, with a single prong on either side, causing it to resemble a trident.

Holding it in his hands, the young man felt the Ryeen Steel lose some of its durability from being in contact with him. However, the metal seemed to hold for the most part.

Satisfied with his new form of support, the young man leaned slightly against the spear as he turned towards a large encampment in the distance and slowly made his way there through the harsh winds and heavy snowstorm.

How he managed to see the encampment from so far away in such an unfavourable weather condition was a mystery.

.....

Although it was snowing heavily, and the temperature was most likely in the negative, the young man had no problem wading through the frost naked, and even seemed to feel... Comfortable.

Not long after, he arrived in front of a tent within the encampment and opened his mouth to speak. However, he shut his mouth a second later, as he decided to take a stealthy approach.

He quietly snuck into the tent in front of him to see what he was dealing with. He had barely gotten half of his body into the tent, when the loud, raucous noise from two tangled bodies entered his ears.

With a frown, he ignored the two figures underneath the sleeping bag who were loudly and openly displaying their love or passion. Silently, he entered the large tent and casually walked around. Even without trying to conceal himself, the young man barely made a sound as he moved around the room.

He noticed a wooden table and a wooden chair a few feet away from the sleeping bag. Many parchments and letters were scattered all over the table, and even the ink pot and quill pen had been sent to the floor– presumably due to the activity going on within the sleeping bag.

As he searched, his eyes suddenly came in contact with a mirror. He froze for a second and approached the full-length mirror cautiously.

Staring back at him was a tall, slender young man with pale skin and light blue eyes. He had chin-length, natural white hair with long bangs swept to right, which obscured his right eye.

He hesitantly stretched out a hand towards his reflection in the mirror with fascination and caution in his eyes.

"Oh... Ultio*... Yes..."

[A/N: Ultio is pronounced All-tee-oh or \\ˈȮl-tē-ō\\]

Hearing the voice of a woman coming from the sleeping bag, the young man frowned and repeated the name he heard.

"Ul... Tio,"

The two people who were making love suddenly stopped and carefully extracted themselves from the sleeping bag, only to find a handsome, naked young man staring at them with curious blue eyes.

"One of our men, Ultio?" The green haired woman asked as she covered herself with a white shirt she had snatched the moment she left the sleeping bag.

The dark haired youth beside her, who was barely even nineteen years old, known as Ultio shook his head and cautiously reached for a sword leaning against the wooden table. "I don't know this man,"

"Oh, what a pity... He's really handsome," The woman said as flames began to bloom in her eyes.

The young man frowned slightly as he identified the use of magic, and began to walk forward, frightening Ultio, but fascinating the green haired woman.

Ultio drew the longsword from its scabbard and pointed its tip at the young man. "He must be a member of the Baal Shur army- a spy, I presume," He said as he took a cautious step forward.

"Do you really want to fight him? You're just a useless messenger, Ultio. Just go and inform the captain that the Baal Shur are approaching our location. For one of theirs to be here, it means that Barry's army has been wiped out entirely," The green haired woman said, as a ball of flames appeared in her right hand.

"Y-yes, Miss Hans,"

After speaking, Ultio turned to run our of the tent as deliver the message. But he had barely taken a step, when a spear shot through his head, splitting it in half. Blood and brain matter was spilled in the air, and the man's brain peeked out through his broken skull.

The dead man fell to his knees before laying flat on the floor, never to know what had killed him.

Hans, the green haired woman, turned to glance at Ultio with wide eyes. She hadn't even seen the spear going through the air– Seven Hells! She hadn't even seen the handsome man move.

Speaking of which.

She turned back to face her opponent, just to find that he was standing right in front of her with an amused look.

Frightened by the man's speed and stealth, Hans took a step back reflexively. However, she felt all the strength leave her body, when the young man placed his hand on her face. She couldn't scream as her face instantly crumbled into dust. The rest of her body followed a second after, and she was no more.

Staring at his hands in confusion, the young man furrowed his brows as he felt a strong force of attraction coming from somewhere beside him. He turned, and discovered that the attraction was coming from the corpse of Ultio.

Feeling something deep inside of him guiding him, the young man stretched out his hand towards the corpse and spoke his first full word.

"Rise."