It was a fine summer day, warm sun and gentle breezes. There was no better weather to be hunting in Grey Forest, one of the forbidden areas in Soris. Even without the restriction, no one would willingly enter the area. It was a dreadful place - the trees, the earth, and the water, they were all grey and sickly. It was a place where you would leave with dread clinging on to your back.
But today, Grey Forest was lively with people on horses, carriages, and in tents neatly pitched around the guarded entrance to the forest. Only the nobles were invited to participate in the hunt, but common folks were welcomed to spectate from a safe distance.
At least one person from every noble house came this year to pay their respect to the King and the two princes who had just came of age. Many brought along their eligible daughters in hopes they would catch the eyes of one of the two princes. Even the common girls put on their best dresses and dolled up for the slightest of chances.
And this irked the hell out of the two royal brothers.
"Did you see the look she was giving you?!" Dorian whispered while trying to hold in his laughter. "I swear if they had stayed any longer, she was going to pounce on you then and there!"
Ezra smiled at his brother's exaggeration. He did caught the count's daughter staring in his direction here and there, but it was not as obvious as Dorian made it out to be. On the other hand, it seemed that his brother was the one oblivious to his own charm.
"It was just a few glances," Ezra said, glancing at the pile of neatly folded handkerchiefs at Dorian's side. "And I believe she chose to giver her handkerchief to you for a reason."
"What? It's just tradition," Dorian answered without a second thought. "I did scored the most arrows this morning. Wouldn't it make sense to give your handkerchief to the person most likely to bring in the most kills?"
It was true, Dorian did showed impressive skill in the archery field this morning, forty-eight hits out of fifty, twenty-nine bullseyes. Ezra, who was more at ease with a sword, came close in second to his younger sibling. Still, Ezra was not convinced the ladies would share Dorian's logic, especially with how popular he had proven himself to be with the crowds.
"You're not wrong," Ezra said. "But if you're doing for the tradition, how come I still don't see any handkerchief in that pocket? Also, remember, it's not just about the number of kills, it's also what you kill."
"Right, right. The bigger the better, I remember that. And cut me some slack, will you brother? Those ladies will kill me if they see it's not their handkerchief in this pocket. I'd rather compete without one, if I'm being honest."
"Well, you could. There's no tradition saying you can't decline a handkerchief from a lady. It'll just make you look like-"
"An asshole. I get that."
"Not my exact word, but close enough."
The two brothers shared a good laugh before they heard footsteps coming into the tent. It was King Aureus, a grey man built like a bear even in his old age. He seemed pleased to see his sons enjoying themselves. Behind him were a few of his close counsels and the captain of his knight order. The two princes quickly turned to greet their father.
"Greetings, your majesty."
"It seems you two are enjoying yourselves here," King Aureus said with a smile. "Are you prepared for the hunt?"
"Yes, your majesty," Ezra answered. "We're just about to head off. Will you perhaps do the honor of joining us?"
"No, no. I'm afraid my years of hunting has since passed. Julian here will do the honor on my behalf. Hopefully, he won't lose out to the youngsters."
King Aureus laughed and patted his knight captain, Julian, on the back. Julian cleared his throat and glared at the king. "Manners, your majesty."
Julian then leaned into whisper in the king's ears, perhaps to scold him for not upholding proper etiquette in front of the counsels. If so, it would not be the first time Ezra and Dorian had seen Julian told off their father. Perhaps the knight captain was the only one in the kingdom with the balls to do so.
It was well known that the King and his knight captain were close when they were very young. At first glance, they would make an unlikely pair - a benevolent king and an uptight knight. But there was no one King Aureus trusted more than Julian, and the fact that he was appointed captain of the king's private knight order more than showed as much.
"Ahem, well, you two enjoy yourselves out there. Take a few of Julian's men with you. They should be of assistance should you run into any unsavory situations."
Ezra and Dorian acknowledged their father's order and bid him farewell. But just as they were exiting the tent, King Aureus halted them.
"Ah, I almost forgot. Duke Orem came as well today. You both should go and give him your greetings if you see him in the forest."
"He left already?" Dorian asked.
"He took off with his son and daughter as soon as he arrived. Can you believe it? He barely even came to greet me!"
Seeing how his father was saying all that with a smile, Ezra felt this Duke Orem held no animosity towards the crown. At most, he was perhaps a peculiar character. Although Ezra knew of most noble houses in the kingdom, there were a few from farther territories that he had never been familiar with, House Orem being one of them.
"We'll be sure to give him our greetings," Ezra said before he and Dorian left for the stable.
"Do you recognize House Orem?" Ezra asked as they waited for their horses.
"They're from the far North. That's all I know. But this duke seems quite the character."
"Well, you're not wrong. Father normally doesn't tolerate rudeness from anyone except Julian."
"Yet don't you think it's strange, brother? You and I, we barely knew of him, nor House Orem at all!"
"Well, we'll know once we get to meet them."
"Hopefully, he's not another Julian."
They both shared a laugh at the thought of another uptight confidant of the king. A stable boy soon brought two grey stallions for them, and both princes set out together with six other knights in tow.
The afternoon hunt started out pleasantly for the two princes. The knights have brought along a pack of hounds to chase out any games that might be hiding in the thickets of the forest. Thus, it was just a matter of who was quicker to make the kills once they fled out of hiding.
There had always been a friendly rivalry between the two princes, especially when it came to sportsmanships. Today, Dorian started off strong with three successive kills in the first chase. However, as they went deeper into the forest, small games became scarce and their targets shifted to larger carnivores. Ezra was more composed when dealing with these ferocious beasts, and he soon made up for his slow start.
"I think we should circle back from here," Dorian said. "We won't make it back before sundown if we keep going deeper."
Ezra nodded and beckoned a knight over. But just as he was about to give an order to call back the hounds, screams and shoutings echoed from deeper within the forest, grabbing everyone's attention. Ezra and Dorian glanced at one another for a brief moment, and silently came to a decision to go see what was going on.
Dorian took off first towards the commotion with half of their knights, while Ezra made sure to give an order for the rest of the knights to return with the kills and bring back reinforcements, before hurrying after his brother. Although he knew Dorian was capable of holding his own, Ezra was still worried since they were now well within the inner depth of Grey Forest.
Although Grey Forest was dense and hard to traverse, that was not how it became one of the few forbidden places within the kingdom. The things that have kept people away for centuries were the dwellers of Grey Forest. And just as Ezra feared, as soon as he caught up to Dorian, he knew they were all in for a lot of trouble.
Before them stood two towering beasts, grey-scaled, eyes sickly yellow, bearing bloody fangs and claws. There was blood pooling on the ground beneath them, and mutilated body parts scattering about. The beasts snarled and lashed their tails at the nearest men, their serrated scales tearing through the bones.
It was a gruesome scene, but it was not the worst neither Ezra nor Dorian had seen when it came to mana beasts. Towns and cities have been completely decimated by mana beasts in the past, and people have learnt to avoid areas where these creatures have been spotted. These dangerous and terrifying creatures grew abnormally strong and aggressive in their mana rich habitats, and Grey Forest just so happened to be one of these places.
"Everyone! Back away!" Dorian roared, drew three arrows, and let them loose towards one of the beast's head. The creature screeched violently as the arrows found their target in its eye, and Dorian did not let up. Shots after shots, three at a time he fired, aiming for the vulnerable soft flesh.
But as Dorian was fixated with his target, he failed to notice the other beast had turned its attention towards him. It suddenly rose up on its hind legs and green liquid began oozing from its fangs. Seeing this, Ezra urged his horse forward, grabbed a surprised Dorian by the collar, threw him on the horse, and leaped away just in time as the beast sprayed its corrosive venom at where Dorian was just standing.
"Thank, Ezra! I owed you one!" Dorian gasped as he struggled to hold on to the galloping horse. "But a little less heavily handed next time please."
"Tell that to them!" Ezra said, glancing back at the two angry beasts they had left behind. "Think you can get them to follow us? There're too many people here for me to go in."
"What? You think it'll be hard to piss them off?" Dorian smiled and gave Ezra's shoulder a good grip, half assuring his brother, half supporting himself as he twisted around to face the beasts. "Just go easy with this boy, will you? Man, if these beasts aren't gonna get me, my sore bum will surely finish the job tonight!"
Ezra could not helped but smiled at Dorian's ability to find humor even in dire situations like this. Still, he decided to ignore his brother's complaint and urged his horse faster through the trees, dodging branches and boulders as they passed.
Despite being on the move and having his targets being further away, Dorian seemed at ease as he drew an arrow, fired, and drew again, his actions flowed seamlessly like water. Although the the first few shots missed, most of his arrows found their targets. The once quiet forest now echoed with roars of the two angry mana beasts.
"Strange," Dorian said, barely loud enough for Ezra to hear through the rushing wind. "They're not following…"
Hearing this, Ezra slowed down and glanced back to see the two mana beasts circling around in the same area. They appeared to lose interest in him and Dorian and instead, were searching for something. From afar, Ezra and Dorian could see the knights carrying those who were badly injured on their horses, keeping a good distance from the beasts, but just within reach of those who were fleeing on foot.
Just as Ezra was about to call one of the knights over, the two beasts suddenly roared and rushed towards a knight who had a girl and a boy with him. To both of the princes' horror, the mana beasts have turned reddish in color, now looking more like the ones they had seen before - crazed, almost rabid and most certainly fixated on destruction.
"This way!" Dorian called out to the knight who hurried his horse in their direction, leading the beasts towards them.
Ezra reared his horse and charged towards the beast. As the distance between them closed in, he grabbed Dorian's hand and shoved the rein into it. Instantly, Dorian knew what his brother was intending to do and groaned in dismay. The last time Ezra pulled this on him, Dorian almost died of fright.
"Ready yourself for a turn," Ezra drew the sword he had spent the night polishing out of its scabbard. "Make sure to get them out of the way."
Before Dorian could say anything, the knight flew by on his horse and they were face to face with the charging beasts. With one swift movement, Ezra leaped off the horse, sword blazing blue, straight towards the oncoming beasts. Dorian barely had enough time to rein in the startled horse and veered out of the way. Dorian's heart was at his throat as he barely dodged the stomping claws and pulled himself away from the midst of chaos.
"Everyone! Back away!" Dorian tried to rally everyone as far away from Ezra and the beasts as quickly as he could before things fell into absolute mayhem.
A thunderous roar shook the depth of Grey Forest, followed by rapid crashes of trees hitting the ground. Yet one of them was not a tree but the head of a grey mana beast, its body still thrashing around. The other beast was quicker to react, but still lost a leg and its tail. It screeched in pain, looking for its attacker. Finally, it spotted a human standing on top of its mate's severed head.
Ezra was panting and leaning on his sword for support. Blood dripped down his chin, but it was nothing compared to the searing pain in his arms and chest. It was a brutal recoil, and one that he did not foresee. His body simply could not handle the dense mana of this place. Had he not noticed something amiss and reeled in his aura, Ezra was sure he would have entered a gamble with his life.
The injured beast snarled at Ezra, hesitating to move. But only for a second. It suddenly lunged towards him, clawing its way clumsily without a tail to balance itself. That gave enough time for Ezra to muster up the strength to dodge the attack and landed another slash at its heel. The beast lashed out in pain, and Ezra was not so lucky to dodge a swipe straight across his torso, sending him crashing into a tree. Digging his sword into the ground helped broke the impact, but the pain was still enough to knock the remaining strength out of his body. He could only hope he had bought enough time for Dorian to get everyone to safety. There was nothing more he could do in this state but watched as the beast again charged towards him.
At the very last moment, the beast suddenly came to a crashing halt just meters away from Ezra. It convulsed violently as Ezra watched the unexpected turn of event in confusion. But then, he felt it. The air. It had became so heavy and suffocating that Ezra felt he was being pressed to the ground by an invisible weight.
As Ezra struggled for breath, a shadow casted over him. Panting, he looked up to see her violet eyes, soft and serene, looking straight into his. Ezra felt he could breathe easily again as a breeze passed between them. Right then, everything seemed calm and pleasant. But only for a moment. Ezra's vision grew blurry and he felt a cold hand on his head.
"Sleep, my prince."