Chapter 10: Unsealing

Chapter 10: Unsealing

Lying on the ground, Hei Long curled up, as he firmly grasped his head trying his best to suppress the painful memories, that he had already long sealed into the deepest depths of his mind, from coming back to him, bringing him more pain and sufferings. Memories that reminded him of who he was before, and the memories, that forcefully molded him to become what he was now, were gushing out from its blockade, flooding his mind to destruction. He didn't want this to happen, and he—certainly!—didn't want to suffer the agonizing torments of Sadness and Agony, searing through his mind, breaking the walls that had blocked the memories, and making him remember what he didn't want to remember. But he can't stop it from happening.

"Stop!Stop! please!" he shouted.

He could vividly see the varying faces of everyone—the criminals he killed, the orphans that he adopted and later on became his comrades, who died, unwillingly and young, in a battle against the bandits, and lastly his family from Peach Evergreen. They looked at him with red eyes, telling him to accept death and damnation. Stretching his hand above the sky, and gasping for air, he could hear the cries of the people who were screaming out of pain and anger, and some of them begging him mercy. And not a single one of them offered their thanks—not even his family!

"Why did you kill us!" A man clad in a damaged black suit with wounds all over over his body, pointed at him.

"You deserved death!" Releasing frustration, Hei Long shouted at the man. "You killed a lot of people when you were still alive, Bandit!"

"I did that for my family!" the other strongly protested. "They were starving, and, as a father and the bread winner of the family, I had to do what I have to do—even if it's wrong! Had I not become a bandit, they would've be long dead! But since you killed me, who will they rely on, and who will feed them!" He vanished. But the things he said still lingered around his mind. Thinking how he indirectly killed someone's family, he became muddle head, and his eyes became lifeless.

A skinny child, who was barely eight, limped over to him, and asked, "Big brother why did you leave us?" To Hei Long, it was like the world was thrown into chaos after the child had asked that question.

He could still vividly remember the day when he picked the poor little child, who was probably disowned because of its deformity on its legs. It was crying its eyes out, in the cold winter snow. At that time, the temperature was cold enough to send even the healthiest man around to an endless sleep, much less a child, who was only placed in a thin box like it was some cabbage, and with barely anything to keep it warm. Having failed his bounty hunting mission, which he spent most of his time and money planning, Hei Long was left with nothing to eat.

"Poor thing," he said. "What am I going to do?"

The poor child cried, so he had to nudge the box, where the child was placed, and swayed it back and forth to make it stop crying. "Everything's gonna be alright." The child became quite after being swayed in a gentle way. As a matter of fact, it actually laugh. Although, it was quite weak and feeble. It still made a difference, He thought.

Looking at it with sad eyes, he contemplated. He place his hand onto the child to check if something was wrong. And to his dismay, there was, indeed, a problem. The child was probably left here long enough in order for it to catch a fever, which was why the child's body was burning hot... After another deep but quick contemplation, he decided to end its suffering. With his hands shaking, he tried to place his hands over the child's nose and mouth. Then, he pinched its nose closed. Only the mouth's left, he said to himself. When he was about the to do the same thing to the mouth of the child, the cold winter winds blew the box lifting it for a moment. The winds were so strong that it almost blew the box away with the child on it, but Hei Long was quicker than the wind and snatched the child back, from the winter winds. "Gotcha!" he said while holding the child tightly on his arms. The child bubbled some words that weren't very understandable, but that made Hei Long more guilty. He took off his winter clothes—long, blue scarf, a jacket made from thick a leather, and white T-shirt—and wrapped it around the child, who gasping heavily, and moving it a very weird manner.

"Don't move child," he said. "These will make you warm, and happy."

With his bare upped body, he ran across the town, and down the aisle, screaming, "Someone help! My child needs help!" While running, he could feel that the child doesn't have much time left. He blamed himself for hesitating. Feeling guilty, he screamed and screamed that he didn't realise that his voice was gradually fading. He knocked every door he sees, but every single person that came out of those aforementioned doors had quickly denied his entry without even bothering to hear his request, thinking he came to their doors only to beg for money while bringing a skinny child to gain their sympathies, which actually just made them angrier for destroying their good evening. In the end, they had the same statements—the soft ones would say, "Sorry, we don't have much to give." And the rough ones would say, "Please leave!" then with a slamming door at the end. With head lowered, and dry eyes, he thought that maybe hope was already lost by the time he hesitated back then.

With a growling voice he said to himself, "You fool! You should have taken him right away!"

If only he didn't indecisively decided what to do with the child, he sighed. Walking in the cold winter, without much energy, he was feeling dizzy, cold, and very exhausted. Then, he tripped, and fell on the ground. Putting the child on his bare chest, he fell with his back facing the ground. Breathing heavily, he cough and made a worrying smile. "What am I going to do with you?" he said. "Help us! Please! Anyone!"

Then, the rumbling of the winter night became serene, and temperature seemed to drop as patches of ice slowly melted.

"Boy," someone said, "stop shouting, you're ruining my winter sleep!" The voice was old and had this authoritative influence to make anyone listen attentively.

He turned his head, only to see a old man, who was a hunchback. He wore faded suit with holes with varying sizes everywhere around it, black hiking boots, and he had an old cane, which was made from a skeleton of some kind of animal, on his hand supporting his weight—whatever kind of animal it was, thought, he wasn't familiar.. His winter-white hair was long and braided beautifully, with thin strands running down his back. Wrinkles ran across his face making him looked really old, and sickly. Which might be the truth if we based it according to his looks. And the most eye-catching "feature" of all was that his eyes were red as his, and fierce as a tiger, that it brought chill on Hei Long's spine, though, it might be because of the wind that the snow had brought. He wasn't entirely sure, but he had this feeling, telling him that the old man was not a normal being, and that he needs to run away as fast, and far as he could—or else he would be damned, and it would the end. In the end, his concern for the child outweighed the danger he felt from the old man.

"Sir," he fell onto the ground, on his knees. "please save this child! I beg of `you!"

The hunchback didn't reply. He only stretched his arm and snapped it. Then, a book, that was very thick, big, and wide appeared, and floated in front of them. Opening, and flipping it with a flick of his flimsy hand, he looked at the book, Hei Long, and, lastly, the child, who was still on Hei Long hands. He said, "If the price is right, we'll make a trade."

"Sir," he said while feeling troubled, "I don't have money to pay you sir!"

He stopped flipping his book, and looked at Hei Long.

"Money?" he laughed. "Money doesn't bother me, boy. And first let's me fix your voice. Can't you see I'm old? It's giving me a hard trying to understand what you're saying, Boy." He smiled at him, and a faint golden light burst out of his hand, and onto Hei Long's body. "You okay, kid?" he asked.

The light had bathed him, made him float for a while, after that it made him feel much better. He felt like he had just had a good day rest despite of the things that he had done today. Touching, and feeling his throat, he knew that his voice before was very strained from all the shouting, but now it was different, the pain was gone. Confused, he stretched his body without feeling miserable. My body was even healed. I thought the Great Tree would be my only healer, he thought.

"Thank you, sir." He took a bow.

The old man laughed, and then he started flipping his big book once more, at a much faster rate.

"Small thing, small thing to do, Boy."

"Sir, what are you looking at that book of yours?" he politely asked. "Can you please set some time aside and help this little one, sir?"

"Oh, don't worry, I'm on it—I'm looking for his time, boy, the record of his time." He pointed at the little one. "If it's not his time yet, I will save him. But the same goes vice-versa—Oh, peculiar, indeed!"

Anxiety surged his body, he came closer and asked. "Can he be save?" he'd already forgot his manner.

"I—actually don't know. This "thing" should be dead long ago."

"Sir, please save this boy. I'll do anything and pay you anything, just please save this child..."

"Okay, deal!" he said. "I guess I can break some rules for you, boy!"

Hearing that, Hei Long kneeled down and said his thanks.

"Thank you, how can I repay you, sir?"

"You have already paid it, Boy. You may have forgotten but I have not." He smiled, and vanished. Then, the silent child began to cry. "Uwaa, Uwaa…"

"Forgotten? Who are you?" he mumbled as he gently swayed the child.

"There, there child, everything's fine now," his face was full of love and confusion."From now on you'll be called—hope!"

Recalling the memories he sealed.

"I-I…" he stuttered with tears streaming down cheeks. "I'm sorry, I didn't wish to leave—." Hand shaking, he tried to hold the child. And so he did. The child smiled, and kissed him. "We miss you."

"I also miss you lot." He smiled and closed his eyes to try to feel the warmth he longed for… Feeling the tinge of warmth on his cheek, he feel asleep on the ground. Seeing Hei Long sleeping, the dog on the child's hand leaped on the ground, and transformed into a hunchback man. He said to the child, "You're pure soul in exchanged for his soul, are you satisfied with this?"

Hope smiled at the old man, which made the old man sigh.

"Yes," From head to toe, they gradually turned into clouds of fine particles, flew around, and entered Hei Long's body.

Chapter 9: Curse

Chapter 9: Curse

Enraged by the feisty little beast—that had come to rescue the already injured nymph-like creature who was covered with a sturdy, green armor from head to toe, and was curled up, lying on the ground—Hei Long tried his hardest to resist the burning urge to destroy, and to kill whatever he could see in the world around him. Gasping for air to breath, he kneeled on the ground with his bare hands on his head. He shouted,

"No, no! Not here and not this time!"

But Hate and Anger had already began to grow inside his head, and heart. They were very gentle when they whispered on his ears, as a matter of fact, it was just like listening to the sound of water flowing down the stream, from the river to his thoughts.

"Yes, you should destroy everything you could see, Boy—that is the only thing that could appease the pact that we've made. The more you kill the stronger you get… have you already forgotten?"

"Begone! You devil! I have already offered, and fulfilled the required deeds to undo the pact! Yet you are still here?"

"Oh, I ain't no devil," it laugh, but the gentleness in its voice it had once had, was gone—replaced with an eerie, twisted voice that most people could only, and probably hear in the midst of night where the vicious devils likes lurk and to feed on the people who are in their direst state.

"You are right, the pact has been undone. But I ain't dead, I'm you, and you are me—we are one!"

Feeling severe pain in his back, Hei Long had to bend low with his limbs close to his body just to relief the pain a little bit. "How could that be! I already have Shadow!"

When it heard Hei Long questioning its existence, and even comparing itself to Shadow, it snorted.

"That inferior being is only an innate ability—but I, on the side of the spectrum, am different!"

While he was confused by his own thoughts, the severe pain in his back was getting worse. Then, within a matter of time, two lesions were bulging out-wards on his back. "It's coming out!" turning his head, he saw two lesions. He shouted. "Shadow where are you, come and restrict me!"

"Don't try to evade the inevitable, Boy. You will never overcome this ordeal. Quickly embrace destruction, that is the only way for you to no longer feel pain!"

"Shut up, you lying bastard." he said. "Shadow where are you, come out fast!"

The evil voice laugh inside his head, and said, "You are alone, once again. Come embrace me!"

"You—you better shut the fuck up, or else you're going to be the first one who's going to be destroy."

To what Hei Long had said had actually made it laugh. " Destroy?" it asked. "Me? You can only dream of it, Boy!"

"I will! Just you wait."

He had never expected that the voice would actually quite down, and unless he had some kind of ability to block that certain kind of voice from travelling to his ears and mind—which was something he's not sure if there are something like that out there, but ever if there were, it would certainly be expensive for poor bloke like him— he was certain that he could never make it quiet down unless it wants to.

Feeling troubled by the severe pain caused by the two lesions growing on his back, he frowned, and thought, "Where are you shadow? Why are you not here?"

Dismayed, at the same time, feeling betrayed, he swayed and felt a drizzle of vertigo. He had never thought that the only person—in whom he had always placed his trust—would gone, just like that!

If only he had time and ability to reminisce the things he did before, he would certainly cry, for he would have never thought that the person, who had been his friend for as long as he could remember, was actually swatted like fly, and sent flying through the woods, making him land in dirty marsh.

Flying not far away from Hei Long, Shadow was in deep contemplation. "What am I going to do?"

After trying to restrain Hei Long—in which he failed—in the "soft" way, which he had vowed to never-ever try again if ever he got to come in a situation like that, Shadow decided to restrain him in a hard way—the only way—since that was the only best thing he could ever think of after falling into a deep contemplation, in the myriads of ways.

Knowing that Hei Long could never hold long after being corrupted by his emotion, he flexed his big pair of black wings—which were spanning a staggering 5 meter-long—picked up his speed, and sped past the slight elevation ahead of him. Dry leaves swayed side by side as he flew in between with great haste.

He said with grave expression on his face, "I'm coming, just hold on!"

In the direction where Shadow was flying to, a person could be seen from away. Sweating profusely, Hei Long lied on the ground while shaking from time-to-time.

Writhing, he mumble weakly, "Shadow where are you?"

But before anyone could answer his weak calls, someone said, "Give in already! This is fate!"

Having heard the demon again, he replied, "I will never let you get the best of me. And the only person who can decide my fate is me, and not, nor anyone!"

He laugh at Hei Long's stupidity. "Foolish mortal!"

"Foolish old man!" he replied with a laugh. "Die then!" His voice disappeared once more.

At his back, a half-meter black wings were already growing and having a unprecedented level of speed. It would only be a matter of time when it grows as big as Shadow's wings, and by the time, that happened, he would no longer be able to control himself—and that would spell disaster to the beings that were living here.

Years ago, back in the time when he was still starting to make a name for himself as a subjugating enforcer—or what he personally called bounty hunter—he once stumbled upon a unconscious person, which was a actually a wounded soldier, at a closer look, on the mountain, that he was scouting. As soon as he saw that the soldier had multiple inflicted wounds, that was big and scary, littered around his body, he decided to help him. So he bend down, and slowly and carefully put the man on his back. After that he climbed down the ravenous mountain with difficulty, considering he was he weak and small at that time. Climbing down the mountain, he brought him to the place where he was staying. He tended him for days, feeding him with the food he procured with great difficulty, and yet the soldier was still unconscious and weak. And when the time Hei Long had no longer food to eat for himself, he decided to pick some in the mountain, thinking the wounded man in his place would die without drinking and eating. In the end, he did a lot of things in order for the soldier to survived, but, unfortunately, in the end, the soldier never regained his consciousness and died in the winter snow. The time he came back with raw material on his hand, he made porridge—consisting of the herbs and spices that he found on the mountain—for the two of them. He would always check the pulse of man in front of him once in a while, but while checking the pulse of the soldier, the bowl of porridge he was holding dropped.

Unknowingly, he had treated the man as his only kin, but to suddenly know that the soldier died on his bed all alone. A drop of tear dripped on his rosy cheeks—he cried and cried till he can't cry no longer. Then blood started to drip from his eyes, wings started sprout from his back, and darkness took over. Burying the man, and everything at the time of winter snow, Hei Long saw that the mountain and its surrounding were wreck, he clearly knew that grieve overcame him once more. By then, he discovered that every-time his emotions would fluctuate beyond his means of control, disaster would absolutely follow.

Chapter 8: Fight It

Chapter 10: Unsealing

Chapter 8: Fight It

Chapter 8: Fight It

Feeling the wild surge of power from his surrounding, coming straight at him, Hei Long clenched his fist, and took a single step ahead with his left foot. He bend his foot while mustering his strength and gathering the energy he accumulated from his surrounding and directing it to his hand. Glowing with energy, then he looked at the creature, that was floating several meters away from him while avoiding his variety of attacks. He then released the accumulated power, that he gathered, out in a form of a single punch. As he unleashed his move, a colossal green fist burst out, sped straight to the beast ahead.

"Disintegrate!"

Perceiving danger, and seeing the incoming attack, the beast let out a cry, and hurriedly made a grabbing motion while floating mid-air, and crossed its arm towards its chest. As fast as the wind itself, the surrounding air current rustled through out the deep forest while making a crackling sounds from time to time. And around the creature the vigorous wind had formed into a revolving shield, which were about the size of a car. With its revolving nature, the windy shield had sucked, and cut the giant, razor sharp vines and roots around the radius of 3 meters—destroying them in the process with great ease. With the shield at the front ready to take the incoming attack, the creature curled up like a ball.

The gigantic fist and the revolving shield made a head-on collision.

"Bam!" The earth and trees burst asunder. The collision was so strong that it made an exploding sound when the two collided. Shock wave burst forth, blowing away, and scattering the dust of the earth, splinters of the trees, and the leaves and vines into the battlefield. In the center of it, a huge crater as the size of a big truck could be seen curving inward, and a crisscrossed wound the earth stretching across the forest and unto its trees. The once paradise of the beast was now wrecked with havoc and full with wounds… The solemn beasts, which was the resident of the place, made an agonising cries, that could invoke a intense emotion of sadness and grieve.

Covered with multiple damaged black wings, Hei Long came out unscathed after the ordeal. When he first fought the beast with his nature magic, he had never thought that beast would be this strong—and neither did he thought that his attack would be this strong, After hearing the cries of the beast, Hei Long felt ashamed for he had never wanted this kind of conclusion. He walked towards the center of the collision, trying to see if the beast was dead or not. And by the time he arrived at the center, he saw that the humanoid beast was lying down, curled up and unconscious, on the very center of the crevice. When he first saw the humanoid beast, it was covered wind-based magic forming as full-body green-armor, so he never saw what "it" really looked like. At a closer looked, Hei Long thought that it might be a bandit—which is really bad for that poor thing if it really was the case.

He bend down, and grabbed the person in question, on the neck.

Feeling the pulse of life from its neck, he frown while contemplating, "Although it may seem weak and unconscious, this thing is dangerous."

Then out of sudden, someone nudged his head and said, " Get your hands off of her!" A voice so small and weak that he barely noticed it. He turned out to see what kind of vile beast it was—to suddenly appear at his back and nudged him without noticing anything peculiar, at all! But when he turned his head, the first thing he saw made him yelped. "The heck, it was actually a fish?"

When the little one heard him say fish, it glared at Hei Long and said, "Me? A fish? Hmmph!"

"Then what are you, if you're not a fish?"

"I'm a Dragon, the future of the great Dragon Race, and great Dragon!"

"But, you're so small, and you don't like one." Hei Long had this cynical tune when he spoke with the small thing. The beast was fuming in anger, and fire like sparks appeared on its nose, with a snort, splinters of sparks and smokes emerge out from it mouth and nose. Opening its gapping jaw, and revealing its razor sharp teeth, the beast puff a ball of fire at Hei Long's face. Scared by the sudden outburst of the beast, Hei Long covered his face with his two hands and jumped at his flank, to avoid the attack. Breathing a small fire, and seizing the advantage of the current situation, the small feisty beast flashed beside the curled up figure lying on the ground, and the small one quickly grabbed the big one on its collar—using its mouth—and sped past the crevice with its small scaled legs and with a big load on its back. Having past the crevice, the small beast released a sigh of relief when it got out of the hell hole.

"What a beast! To call me a fish when I really look like a dragon. Although a smaller one, a dragon is still a dragon." Triumphed with the feeling of success, the beast snorted, and sparks and smoke flew out of its orifice.

Back at the crevice, Hei Long mouth's twitched, and blood veins were starting to form on his head. Feeling tricked by that fish. he shouted, "You can run but you can't hide, Fish."

When the fish several meters ahead of him heard that, it replied with anger and mockery. "Come and get me dumb ass!"

The bulging and twitching of the veins on the forehead were becoming more pronounce. Someone said,

"Hei, are you aware that you're getting angry?"

"I'm not angry!" he shouted at his side.

"But you certainly are, look at this mirror." The black-winged Hei Long emerge out of his body, and waved it sleeves and a mirror took form. He added, "Look! You angry—remember what we are. We must not let our emotion overcome us, or else—"

"I know!" seeing the figure in the mirror, Hei Long shouted in a smaller voice. "I know—we must not let out emotion—" Before he can even finish talking, the vile beast shouted—yet again!

"Come to papa, slowpoke!"

"Arrrggg," he let out a bellow so strong that the world shook, the black-winged version of him tried to stop him. Unfortunately, his efforts were fruitless and futile—Hate and Anger had already consumed Hei Long.

"Don't let anger over—"

Hei Long didn't let him finish what he was going to say, so he slapped, and sent him flying 50 meters away from him. Having been sent flying through some trees, and rocks, before stopping in the marsh, the black-winged one's eyes were glimmering with great hate and anger. "No! I can't let this anger overcome me as well! I cat let him affect me or this place's going down…" Having found no solution, the winged Hei Long screamed while pulling it hair in the process. "Arggghh, I'm going to eat that fish! Oh no! Lily's still there!" He flew as fast as he could, and he spotted that the black cocoon wasn't touch , then he heave a sigh of relief.

"Thank the gods! Nothing happened to her!" Seeing the cocoon wasn't damage in the very least, he took it with a flip of his sleeve, and it floated at his side. Then he flew far away from that place trying to find a safe spot to put the cocoon before he starts waking Hei Long up.

"What a dunce," he said. "I said don't let that lowly creature anger him, yet he still did, and he ever punch me!" Tracing the bulged on his face, he came to a stop to put the cocoon down. "This place is good enough far away from him—and the opposite side of where he's heading." Looking at the cocoon, he bend down, touched it on the center, and dark energy like substance appeared from his sleeves, and covered the already covered cocoon once more. Having seen the cocoon covered once again, he said.

"This should be enough, no one can break this unless I want to."Preparing to fly away, he looked at the cocoon, and plucked a feather from his wings, and attached it to the center of the cocoon. Nodding his head, he saw the feather enlarged, and wrapped the cocoon making it look like a big-black-feathered-egg, which is true.

"Now, this is a master piece—" Having been mesmerised by his own protection piece, and narcissistially appreciating it, he almost forgot that a beast has been unleashed in the wild—a few moment ago.

"Bam!" exploding sound reverberated from far away onto his location, but with his enhanced hearing ability he could hear it quite clearly.
Chapter 7: The Wind Stirs
Chapter 9: Curse

Chapter 7: The Wind Stirs

Chapter 7: The Wind Stirs

Unknowingly, she began to gradually treat Hei Long like an illiterate person but a kind who was thirsty for common knowledge, which she found very outlandish.

She looked up at him, and asked, "Do you really not know any of these "common knowledge?""

Feeling troubled, Hei Long glared at her for a moment. "Would you really think I would ask such questions if I had already know about it?"

"Okay," she sighed, and raised her hands up. "I give up. Let's continue, shall we?" Seeing Hei Long nod, she continued. "The beast of the wild also known as the demon—"

"Such as short one, why did you have call it "the beast of the wild?" when you can call it demon?"

"—Because the old people, and the elders preferred them as such. We just simply followed the traditions—but most of the time we call them demon cause it can cut us some slack."

"Oh," he said. "Such thing happened?"

"Yes," she said. "It happened. Time changes people over time. Just like it did to my father."

Suddenly, He felt the changes in Lily when she mentioned her father. So he asked, "You alright?"

"Yes," looking tired, she said, "Just a little tired from the journey, and looking out for Mr. White."

"Well, we'll take a rest here if you don't mind."

She smiled at him and said, "Thank you."

He said, "I'm tired as well." He lied and the truth—he was never tired in the first place, and he will never be tired unless he wants to. He didn't know why, but he had this hunch that he felt it that way.

Time passed by as the wind rustled throughout the forest, and down into the beautiful valley ahead of them. Lily had already fell asleep in the laps of Hei Long, who was sitting under the shade of the tree beside the river. He had never expected to be in this situation—transferring into an unknown world, fight monsters he had never heard or seen before, and most of all—having a beautiful lady sleeping on his lap, which he would definitely say if she wasn't around, it ain't bad at all, ain't bad at all!

But good times never last long, and he had always believed that they were going to get separated from each other once—and after this journey was completed.

But wouldn't it be good for things to stay as it is, he asked himself.

A dark light of ball flew out of his body, and appeared in front of him, and said. "You are a demon—a fallen—monsters like us don't belong here!"

He looked up at the person, who looked exactly as him but with a black wing on his back.

"I know," he said. "I just wished we can live a life free of trouble. How good would that be?"

The winged-one sighed, Free of trouble? Don't mock yourself, our existence is—

Hugging the sleeping white rabbit, Lily, who was currently asleep, began to shiver restlessly, she murmured, "Don't leave, I'm scared."

The two of them looked at each other as if saying what to do? But as fast as Hei Long, he showered her with his gentle caress. "Even if the world falls down, I'll be there to hold it you." The winged-one came closer and said. "Don't worry, little one, everything's alright." Smiles covered their faces. Hei Long said, "The world brought us pain, but we can handle it. But if the world brought pain to our family, I will never tolerate it. The world may fall but I will remain standing to hold it up for them, but where are they, our family?"

"I bet they are worried about you—"

"Us," Hei Long corrected.

"Yes," the winged-one smiled. "Yes, us. Indeed. I bet they are worried about us right now. Wherever they may be, I hope they're happy, and worry less for us."

"They are, and don't worry." Hei Long shrugged. "You shouldn't stay outside, it's bad for you."

"Okay…" he looked at Hei Long for a while. "Careful, this world is very—"

"Beautiful?"

"—Dangerous as it is beautiful." He added. "If you come to a point where you can't handle any of these, call me as soon as possible."

"I understand." The winged Hei Long warped into a small black speck, and fussed with Hei Long. Hissing sound was brought forth as he absorbed the black winged version of himself. "Come out and play you feisty creatures." Eyeing his surroundings, he whispered. "Haven't you seen enough of this?"

No one answered his calls, but he didn't stop. "Black, make this two sleep nice and easy." A black shadow appeared, and covered the sleeping beauty and the white rabbit. After covered the two with its shadowy magic, it nudged Hei Long, who was staring ahead with his fierce eyes, as if saying, "It's done."

"Hey, why don't you come out and play?" Hei Long said as chill covered his eyes. "Don't try to hide from me, I can see you."

The winds rushed through the forest, and down into the valley as the dry leaves rustled in the cold breeze. Hei Long frown. " Sending another storm, aren't we?" The winds became stronger and stronger as the he kept on talking. "Send me your strongest winds, let's see who's stronger than us!" he let out a bellow and cast an incantation with his arms wide. "O great nature, I call forth—Divine Fury!" The volatile winds stopped, the tremors stopped, and so did the time—everything stopped at the moment in time. Then an explosion burst out in the deep, luscious forest ahead. A beast brought forth its windy presence with its eyes closed. When Hei Long sensed—that the creature he had felt the time he first set his foot here—had come out of its lair, he punched the ground, and gigantic earthly roots shoot out from the ground and straight to the creature, who was standing mid air, the surrounding tree vines started to sway and eventually it attacked the creature with its sharp, green poison-needles like vine. But the humanoid beast didn't let any of his attack brush it, so it avoided his attacks, roots and vines, with ease. Then it whipped its hands across and a sharp flashing light appeared and headed toward Hei Long's long. Somersaulting, he avoided the attack and saw a huge vertical line, where he once stood. He smiled and said at the ghastly creature. "Not bad for a stalking fellow. Now it time to get end this!" He let out a bellow, then a sound rang into his head and ears. "War Cry—gift from the gods above—activated!"

Chapter 6: The Other Side

Chapter 6: The Other Side

Avoiding the vicious, wild monsters that resided the dungeon for many eons, and eons to come, the couple had unknowingly avoided some nuisance, and saved themselves some precious time, and energy.

Lily had said that the resting point is a special place. But regarding the truth of the claims she made—it was still in doubt since she'd only heard it from the rumors spread by some mysterious organisation, and she hadn't really come to one before.

In the end, the matter regarding the things that she had said were all nothing but the truth and without any blemishes by falsehood, at all. And since they don't have a choice to choose from, rather than leaving Hei Long with the blood-thirsty monsters, and probably dying a unsightly, horrible death. Even if she knew the things weren't exactly real, she would still rather made it the truth and be with him in the trouble that might come, though, that was really her point—to be with him period.

So she thought she might as well trust the rumor, and indeed she did. After they passed through the wall between the danger zone, and the safe zone—or so she thought, they could feel the air changing from the foul putrid smell of a corpse, which littered the dungeon, to a freshly delightful of different kinds of floras around. When they'd got through the other side. "Finally," Lily breathed in the surrounding air. "Some fresh air to keep me calm and steady."

"What a fresh air," Hei Long said. "Indeed, it also calms me down."

They saw the that wall which they had had passed through had mysteriously became a colossal tree with its branches spreading wide and free throughout the place becoming a forest of its own. Small creatures like critters were roaming around, and climbing up and down the tree, and while the bird-like creatures flew over the blue sky, the fishes were swimming around the miniature falls. They were everywhere, and definitely weren't afraid of the people of the outside world as they stared at the incoming people—Hei Long and Lily. The couple stared at the weird sight before them. The residents of this particular, and peculiar place became quite as the chirping, bleating, and the bubbling of the fishes seemed to stop. Hei Long asked," What the! The fishes can also make a sound?"

"Obviously," she said," can't you hear them well?" He seemed baffled that it made Lily think, You weren't even baffled—seeing and fighting a minotaur!

She urged him. "Let's look and find out about this elusive treasure vault."

"Wait," Hei Long said," don't you find this place very peculiar?"

"Not much," she said. "According to the people who were spreading rumors in the kingdom, it's been years since they'd last heard of someone stumbled into one. They'd also said that this place was ever changing."

"Then," Hei Long said," how did you know that this place is one of those things in the rumors?"

"It was said that in every dungeons—" Hei Long glared at her, then she grumbled and pouted, then she continued. "—okay, I know that the rumors aren't reliable as it sound."

"They really aren't reliable, Lily," he said.

"But I—we didn't really have a choice, don't we? I can't always rely in you—"

"Ohhh, can't rely on me?" he asked, "cause I'm a stranger, is that it?"

she said,"No—no—no, you don't understand—"

He cut her short. "Don't worry, I understand it quite well." Silence overcame the two of them. By the time Lily had tried to reason with Hei Long, a strong storm raged on the vast luscious forest, and the animals that were silent as a rock—whimpered, bleated, and chirped. The hairy ones scurried into their bushy bushes, some hid onto their trees, and the others hid in some holes beneath the ground. Although they may have seemed fast, but in-truth, some of them had failed to find a ground to withstand the strong gale. And so they lost their grounds and flew where wherever the winds had planned to take them. The anguished cries of the animals brought Agony throughout the peaceful forest. Having washed by the raging vigorous winds, the forest seemed untouched.

Time passed swiftly, calmness once again overwhelmed the forest. And the curtains of mystery hasn't been lifted yet—but the couple will.

Hei Long held Lily in his hands, and concern overpowered the fear he felt during the calamity that had passed them.

"Ouch," Lily said.

"You," he said, "alright?"

"Better than ever," she said. "But can you please unfasten you hand, it's hurting me."

"Sorry," he said. Then he put her down, and he began to stick to her as close as he can fearing the mysterious force might strike at any time, and try to take her away from him, which he didn't want to happen— not on his watch! "Don't try to stay away from me," he added.

"Thank you," she said. She fidget for a while while turning her head left and right. Seeing her acting like that made Hei Long confused, so he asked,"Where do you think that vile wind had come from?"

"I don't know," she said. "I didn't hear strong gales would come and go inside this place whenever it want. At least not as strong as that one."

"Oh,Lily!" he pulled her. "Look at them, they're starting to come out of their holes."

"T—they looked as if nothing happened," she said.

The beasts of the wild started to go outside of their safe zone—or holes. They looked dazed and dreamy. When they saw the two strangers, they acted the same they did when they first saw the two of them. They simply stared, and stayed quite the whole time, which weirded the two of em.

Being a veteran, Hei Long felt a prickly feeling at his back, like a needle poking at him, and screaming at him—Danger! "Let's get out of here," Hei Long said. "This place is not for us."

"But," Lily said, "the treasure might be around the corner of the place."

"Lily," Hei Long said, "this is not a normal place. And I don't want to take any risk with you here—besides, do they look any normal to you?"

"If you have tried to compare the wind with these furry friends, I'm might have been convinced. But them?"

"You don't believe me?" Hei Long asked. He caught a white-furry bunny—which he was eyeing, in the first place, because of its appearance—without any resistance, and showed it to her.

"Look at this,"he said as he heaved the white rabbit to Lily

Seeing the cuddly dazed rabbit, Lily, who had this glimmering wet blue-eyes, said, "It's quite cute at a closer look." She added. "Can I hug it, please?" She tried to resist the urge to hug it, but in the end, she couldn't even wait for a moment's time—much less, Hei Long's permission. And so she hugged it after asking, which happened in a breeze that Hei Long can't react to it. The rabbit yelped, and struggled out of her, but to no avail. Having failed to untie those scrambling demonic hands, the white rabbit eventually stopped struggling, and crossed its arms like a pouting kid on Lily's hands as she nudged its head back and forth. Although, the action it made was rather baffling in Hei Long' eyes; on the contrary—to Lily—it just made it more irresistibly cuter.

"Cute?" he asked. "Although you have a point—but that's not really the point here! And can you please put it down."

"No!" She turned her back at Hei Long. "I don't wanna put Mr. White down, and Mr. White doesn't want be put down either." Caressing and hugging the white-cuddly rabbit, she almost forgot that there was actually a man besides her in this world. She added, "What's your point then?"

"Look," he said, "I've been trying to speak with them—

"What! You can speak to them—the animals?" Although she sounded surprise, she actually wasn't, and her eyes was still focused on Mr. White, the rabbit.

"Let me finish first," he said. "Yes, I can."

"Wow, but these are not animals—they're beast of the wild, a being with a much higher level than those found in some towns. Those and these are different a matter. Although it might have been a useful ability, it doesn't really count much here. Just a lower-tier ability, thought, not everyone can have them. The thing is, maybe you can't talk with either one of them because the level of your current ability isn't par with the levels of these beast…" Shock by her foresight, Hei Long became silent.

"What's this ability level you speak of?" Hei Long asked in a very formal manner, which made Lily widen her eyes. She tugged his shoulders—while tiptoeing because the difference of their heights were shown at the moment. "You also don't know this? Were born under a stone?"

He didn't answer the question and shrugged his shoulders, and stopped her from asking him like—what kind of stone was it?

"What's this ability you speak of, and can you please elaborate?"

She let Hei Long go, and it was then that she realized her rabbit—Mr. White—was gone. She yelped while turning head anxiously, "Where's Mr. White!" Her face was turning red from screaming, and her eyes were forming mist. Hei Long couldn't bear to see any of it, so he said, "At the back of that tree."

Looking all over the place, she asked, "Which tree and which one, can you please point it out?" Seeing that there were many trees at her back, she flooded Hei Long with varying questions in which all of them can be translated into "Can you get it for me." Feeling helpless, Hei Long scratched his head. "The one on your "very" back." Lily turned her head, and looked around the tree—which was facing her back. It was probably hundreds of years old as the trunk of it were very big that Lily had to run all around it to see if her Mr. White was hiding in the back of it. "Mr. White, where are you?" she repeatedly shouted while looking for Mr. White. Disbelieving that a creature can be so smart, Hei Long saw that the rabbit was cautious as it repeatedly run around the tree as if it knew that the Lily was the other side of the tree looking for him. Whining, the rabbit looked at Hei Long with pleading eyes. Hei Long thought, "Smart, indeed!" When it stopped moving—Lily smile and grinned as she spotted a white tail twitching from time to time and whipped from side to side. She tried to catch it. "Gotcha, Mr. White. Don't you try to run away from me again." Seeing the rabbit struggled no more, she smiled and the smile blew the anxious air around her. Punishing the rabbit, She said. "Bad, Mr. White. Bad." The person at the other side of her smiled, and shook his head in defeat. "You were played by Mr. White, he was playing hid and seek that's all."

Awoken from her short-lived fantastic adventure from finding the mischievous white rabbit, which she called Mr. White. "What were you saying again?" With flushed face, she asked.

"Were talking about this ability thing."

"Oh, okay," while scratching rabbit's ears, she said. "Abilities are the deciding factor of the warriors in the empire—and in any empire to speak of. It can also either be innate or an imparted one—but most often they are innate. Although, some of ability may differ from person-to-person, but some of them are quite common that they appeared frequently from one person to another, especially for the low-tier ones." After a long speech, she gasped, then she added. "And I think you have a low-tier, Spirit Of The Beast."

"So, can I train it, and make it a higher grade one?"

"I always thinks it is possible, but I haven't heard anyone attaining such achievement."

"How about the imparted ability?"

"Oh, that one is quite a creep's way of giving an ability to a person."

"Why is it?"

Chapter 5: Resting Point
Chapter 7: The Wind Stirs

Chapter 5: Resting Point

Chapter 5: Resting Point

Inside a cave in a certain part of the empire, a young man sped past the boulders with a girl on his back. It was like a scene where the hero protected the girl from the wicked monsters that tried to hurt her.

"Time is of the essence, we need get out of this place fast. And find out what happened to me."

Hei Long kept running, glancing at his back to see if the girl was fine. However, much of his concern was unnecessary. Lily slept like a log on of his back. Although she'd put a smile from time to time, he remember the time when he'd first saw Lily smile—the very first time. The glimpse he caught made him think that being stuck in this dark place wasn't so bad.

"It keeps on coming back," he said.

He became dumbfounded because of the new sensation that he had not felt for so long since his parents died.

Hei Long grabbed his chest and pounded it, confusedly said.

"What is this feeling?"

He glimpsed at the girl on his back; he was so enchanted that he forgot that he was transported to another world.

"What is this feeling, it hurts."

After a few hours of running, he'd noticed something weird was happening inside the cave. He said, "I'm running in circles here, if this continues to happen… I'll be stuck in this place with her."

He stopped running, and started to look around for a corner, place where they can rest for a while. He believe it would futile to navigate this maze like place.

"I will just wait for her to recover, and have her navigate this place out," Hei Long said.

….

Dragon forest, Champion Country, Solar Continent.

It was already afternoon, and the dusk's sunlight covered the entire forest. Outside the cave, many people were on patrol, they seemed to be waiting for someone, or something to emerge out of the cave. A middle-aged man with a warrior's clothes stood near the cave without moving, his hands were subtlety shaking as he stared at the cave. Facing the man's back, thousands of warriors awaited his orders. He faced them with his hand cupped behind his back. His were deep, and rough. He said, "Men! Check the perimeters of the Dragon Cave. If anyone of you spot a monster… Kill it! We cannot afford to be careless, so kill it silently if you can—don't let it cry for help. Also avoid making the old beast of the forest go awry." He paused and looked around his men, with his raging eyes. "Do you get me? If you bunch of morons mess this up, I will let you patrol this cave for your entire life as a soldier of the empire! Do you get me?!" The poor soldiers' spine turned cold, but they still answered in unison. "Yes, sir!"

"Say what? I didn't hear you!"

"Yes! Commander!" the thousand soldiers' eyes turned savage.

"Well, we will play a game," he said. "What do you think about it soldiers?"

"Yes! Commander!"

"If anyone of you could kill a monster, cut its right ear."

Every ear that you have collected will be exchange for one silver."

"Furthermore, for those who can kill the most in this mission. His

Majesty promised to reward that person with [Grade D] Ability. So, get your lazy asses moving!"

The soldier became restless when they heard the commander said that "the King will reward those who can kill most of the monsters in this mission." For the soldiers, who loved their King, meeting him would be an honor that would be engrave into their family. Even after their death it would still be an honor. The ability however, could change their lives, from a commoner to being a noble. Having had an ability in the kingdom symbolizes honor, and power of the family, so if a household have a person—who gained an ability over time, or a much rarer one which is being born with it—with such an ability; they would be send them to the Elder's assembly to be assessed as to what grade of ability they have, if the person's ability is categorize in the lower tier, then that person will become a noble. However, if it goes beyond the lower tier and become middle tier ability, that person will either become a count or duke and so on, depending on his ability's grade. In the kingdom, strength and intelligence had always been the bases of having a higher position in life.

The commander looked at them with his demonic eyes, which could probably even send the strongest lower-tier beast trembling with fear if they look at it.

"Do any of you object?"

"No, Sir!"

"Then, what the hell are standing there like a group of lethargic person, are all you dumb? Aren't you supposed to be killing those beast out there?" He looked at them once more, and shouted, "Scram!"

The sudden change of attitude of their commander left them dumbfounded in the field, a young man around the age of 18-20 came forward to their commander and bowed,

"Sir, why are you anxious?"

"Oh," when the commander saw that the young man came forward and tried to ask him—the commander—a question, he almost shouted at him for questioning his authority. Until he saw the one who spoke to him was Mark Gonzales, the 3rd son of Duke Gonzales. He calmed down his fiery attitude, but he didn't directly answer the young man, and instead he faced the soldiers, "We are currently looking for the 1st princess, if the princess cannot be found today. Our heads will be served in a hot plate in front of his majesty." He turned his gaze at Mark, who had a pale appearance, and said,

"Lad, will you still ask me? What I'm getting worried for?"

"This lowly one will not question sir again," Mark said. "But what are we supposed to do right now, sir?"

"Just follow my plan and we will eventually go through this predicament, and enjoy some fine drink after." the commander said. "Soldiers, since we are in the same boat we need to help one another, or else we'll be buried together."

"United we stand, united we fall!" they cried.

The soldiers crazily shouted this phase repeatedly until they slowly disperse to look for their '1st princess' in the forest.

"The morale is high," said the commander. "Good!"

...…..

Lily's point of view

I kept on glancing at the young man's back, but because I knew how things works in a dungeon, and it was fundamentally dangerous to distract one-another's concentration when fighting against these stacks of monsters, which could probably surround us in any seconds if anyone of us gets distracted. 'But still, he should have asked me if I'm okay, like a handsome gentle-man should do. Humph! This man is a no-no!' she coquettish grumbled inside her mind, before involuntarily stomping her foot to the ground— mentally— like an anxious child would do if they're anxious.

"But he's strong, stronger than me!" the girl had a yearning look on her face, when she saw how the man defeated the gigantic Minotaur barehanded, "But such a cry-baby, minus points! Hmph,hpmh"

Unexpectedly, when she thought, how she acted back then, her complexion began to turn red like a ripe cherry ready to be pluck.

"But, what a handsome man, it would be great if he were my fiancé, unlike that brainless noble brat who keeps on irritating me..." Her thoughts were disarrayed when a fascinating voice reached her ears,

"Lily, are you hurt somewhere? I can carry you on my back if you like." Such gently voice would melt anyone's heart and mind.

...….

Seeing that Lily was daydreaming, Hei Long decided to make sure, if she is okay.

"You look pale."

"N-n-no, I can still walk, I-I will tell you if I can't walk any farther. So you can rest assured." She looked like a scrambling lamb when she tried to answer—which Hei Long found so lovely.

He genuinely smiled at her.

"You don't have to be polite to me," he said. "I'm just an unintelligent man, did you know that all I know is how to fight and nothing more..."

When Lily saw him smiled at her for the first time, her pouting heart began to soften, and as to why it happened—she did not know. All she knew was that his smile could melt even coldest heart of hers— he was like the sun, which illuminated her world when everything seemed to be hopeless and dark. Lily wasn't able to reply verbally, thought, she voluntarily nodded her head while savoring his radiant smiling face.

Hei Long knelled in front of Lily as he spoke in a gentle manner,

"Come, I'll carry you all the way outside."

"Why are you so good to… okay~ I'm also tired, since you're so earnest. I'll give you this honor to carry me."

Hei Long could only scratched his head when he heard this, and smile at her before picking her up on his wide back.

After a few minutes, Hei Long asked,

"Lily, I've been circling around this cave, why can't I find the exit of this place?"

"This isn't an ordinary cave?" She spoke to him seriously, "this place is a dungeon, where monster are commonly summoned to block adventures in going farther down. The farther you go down, the stronger the monster you'll encounter."

"Ohh," Hei Long absorbed what she had said to him, and asked her a question.

"Where are the monsters in this dungeon, why haven't we encountered one after we finish the first wave of them?"

"That is also what I'm thinking right now, where are those monster? We've been walking in circles."

"Thomp, thomp,"

As the loud treading sound reverberated across the dungeon, Hei Long and Lily suddenly found out, that the things they were looking became a horde of monsters!

Lily's facial appearance turned pale, her hands were subtlety shaking—she was scared. Hei Long grasped her hands, and told her while he smiled, "You don't have to be afraid, I'm here. We just have to find you a place where they cannot see you."

Lily shook his hand, and thought that he was turning crazy, "Are crazy how can you face those monster, and what right do you have to order me to hide?"

Hei Long spoke with a very icy tone, "Then do you want to die with me?" he stared at Lily, whose hands were turning cold, and spoke gently, "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to scare you. You hurt your leg, and you're exhausted. You cannot even fight the weakest of them—much less, all of them... You just need to hide behind me."

"I insist, I will fight with you, whether you agree or not. I am a noble with a noble heart. So how could I just stand there and watch you suffer alone?!"

"I don't know what you're talking, but fine."

Seeing that Lily was a girl hard to please— Hei Long could only helplessly shook his head, letting out a sigh. "However, you have to use your bow and quiver, use them to cover me… Wait! Are you proficient on using it?"

Lily stared at him, like looking at an idiot, "Yes! In our empire, I am rank seven of the top 10-bow user, Lily the Sharpshooter," she glanced at him, who had a question mark on his face, and said. "Haven't you heard of me?"

"No, I haven't."

"W—what! You haven't? Where did you came from then?"

"…" after a long pause, Hei Long answered with a bitter smile on his face.

"I don't know… I was already here when I woke up, then you came."

"Never mind, you don't have to lie if you don't want to." Lily continued, after she looked at the surrounding,

"I can't see well here,"

She looked at Hei Long with genuine gleam in her eyes.

"I can see everything in this dark cave." Hei Long said.

"Y-you could actually see?" she asked. "I-I thought you were just lucky enough to not encounter any walls on the way here. But, to think that you could see through the dark like some dungeon monsters—remarkable." Lily came back to reality and shook her head.

"No! It's unbelievable!"

Hei Long ignored Lily who had been having her own serious discussion with "herself", which was rather normal for a person who and 'would' encounter Hei Long, the son of the Great Tree. While Lily was having a debate with herself, Hei Long had decided to dig a hole beside the wall where they're having their rest. Tapping the wall, he tried to find if there was a supple wall near. When he touched something smooth like water, he asked Lily beside him.

"What's this? What kind of wall is this, Lily?"

Lily woke up from her contemplation, walked beside Hei Long, and touched the wall.

"This is the "holy" wall of the dungeon—the resting point." She smiled and cheered merrily, "A resting point, a resting point."

"Ohh," Hie long poked the wall, and his hand went inside, he asked, "what is a Resting Point?"

"A resting point is a special place inside the dungeon— a lifesaving place. It's a place where you can recuperate endlessly, and considered to be a treasure vault by many."

"Ohh," Hei Long said, "good. Since, we're tired and exhausted."

Lily said, "Let's go before the monsters gets here."

Cheering excitedly, Lily subconsciously grasped Hei Long's hand hard, and went inside.

When the monsters arrived, the earth trembled as flocks of gigantic beast searched the area, where they disappeared.

A 4 meter-long wolf-like beast sniffed the ground. Having found nothing on the area in questioned, it started to howl. Then the other beast followed. The beasts eyes', red and maddened, shifted from time to time.

Chapter 4: Purpose

Chapter 4: Purpose

In a dark, cold cave in which even the light of the day struggled to reach, a young man appeared out of nowhere. The man's eyes were unusually eye-catching with those two-different colors made a quite odd combination: Left golden-white eye which could probably devour anyone that would block its way, and his right green eye which almost transpired nature itself was just as beautiful as the other one, the Golden-white eye.

"Where am I?" Hei Long asked his surrounding with expectant eyes present in his eyes. "Is this hell, or heaven?"

Before anyone could even answer his questions, the dark, cave that he was currently resting in, shuddered.

"In god's name, is it going to collapse?" Hei Long frantically turned his head left and right. If anyone could see the world through his eyes, they probably wouldn't believe that they can see the tiny crooked places inside the cave, it was as if a cave so dark itself, was as clear as day in Hei Long's eyes. The eyes that could see even in the darkest of place in "any" world were one of his most outstanding abilities. He acquired this skill when one of his enemies made him blind after a fight. The Great Tree was distressed to see that he became blind at such a young age, so it healed Hei Long when he was still recuperating. By the time he woke up from his long slumber, his brown eyes, turned crimson in color, while the other set green. He didn't know, that every time he got wounded or ill, the Great Tree would sacrifice great thing—its life-force— to heal and nourish him, but while doing that. The Great Tree itself did not know that Hei Long's body was changing over time; he became stronger and smarter, 'what doesn't kill you makes you stronger!' was Hei Long's favorite phrase. Sadly, he didn't know that every time 'The Great Tree' helped him, it would also kill its own-self— It's love when a person who helped you, and doesn't expect something in return.

He only sat on the ground, even when everything seems to be chaotic, it as if everything was normal for him. "What am I getting flustered? If I'm dead, what's worse that could happen?" he looked around at his body to find if the things that he'd always carried were still there. However, to his dismay, his clothes were the only thing that was present, and the sword that he'd always held dear wasn't there. After looking for a moment, he gave let out a sigh, "Ha, Father and Mother, I thought we're going to have a family reunion after everything that happened, but who would have thought that I'll be in this damned place..." Sadness gripped his heart.

After the shaking of the ground had stopped, an angry-thunderous growl had reverberated 10-meters ahead of Hei Long. "Moooooo!" The echoing sound of footsteps of the infuriated beast rang through his head as it went "boom, boom!" His penetrating eyes looked in the direction of where the sound came from; he frowned and said in a rough voice, "Now then, what's this, a battle?"

It was getting nearer and nearer by the second. The dusts had yet to settle when the beast that was slowly making its way toward him had shown itself. The first thing Hei Long saw through the dust were its two giant horns protruding on its head, then its eyes which turned out to be red(it was probably thanks to that red eyes that it could see through the dark place). And in moment time, the face of the creature finally appeared, a cow—similar to a cow—yes, a cow that can stand on its two truck-like hooves. The creature standing in front of him was 5 meters in height and 3 meters in breadth, it was humongous compared to Hei Long who was only 2 meters tall. Its arms and legs were black as an ink, yet some of its hide was spotted with white. When it opened its mouth, white gas came gushing out of its mouth as it formed white clouds above its head just below those white horns. It bellowed. "Mooooo!"

Good, now its horns looks like a mountain, thought Hei Long.

Without a weapon in hand, Hei Long took up a fighting stance; he lifted his hands up, and prepared his feet to run to the creature whose mouth was drooling like an open faucet. When he'd tried to run at it, he'd heard a feminine voice saying,"

"Don't fight it, how can you even fight it without a weapon?"

Hei Long turned his head left and right in search of the owner of the voice. He saw a woman around the age of 16-18, and a group of Orcs was chasing her. Hei Long only gave her a glimpse and thought. What are you doing by bringing those things over here, aren't you trying to kill me, indirectly?

By the time he'd saw the girl who didn't stop running to his direction. He said, "You should be concerned about yourself first!"

The girl didn't understand what he had just said, and she shook her head in dismay. "Another person is playing hero again, why is there a lot of "Hero" in this place?"

Hei Long who was barehanded ran straight to the Minotaur that was eyeing him in the first place. The minotaur didn't wait for Hei Long to lauch his attacks, so its left hand—which was as big as a Hei Long's body—came crashing to the ground where Hei Long stood earlier. The ground shook gazillion times, when the minotaur's fist reached, and punched a hole through the ground, Hei Long was already at the right side of the minotaur's, then with its right hand, it tried to grab Hei Long, which, had also failed to even touch the single strand of his hair. After those two attacks, the dust of the first two blows had already scattered, a gaping hole marked the ground. The Minotaur slowly retracted its fist and launched its new barrage of attacks; nevertheless, Hei Long avoided everything the beast had thrown him by a paper-thin margin. In spite of the fact that he'd evaded all those attacks without much problem, he knew the pressures of the minotaur's punches gave him a scratch on his left shoulder despite having evaded those fist. He looked at the hole where the minotaur's punch landed, and unconsciously simulated a plan in his mind. It is stronger than I thought, though, I overestimated its speed.

After missing its target multiple times, the minotaur let out another angry cry, "Moooo!" The minotaur's fiery fist had started to shake things up again. It was louder than the first one, thought Hei Long as he covered his ears with his hands.

"Bam!"

This minotaur's punch is basically like a dynamite explosion. A punch could deal a lethal blow if it hits me, thought He. Before the dust dispersed through the air, Hei Long decided to battle it head-on. The Minotaur released another punch, "Bam" the punch missed Hei Long yet again. He ran over the Minotaur's hands and climbed on its head. Then he grabbed one of its protruding horns that were roughly half his size. Hei Long gave out a cry, "Haaa!" a mechanical voice resounded through his head, it was unknown if the voice belonged to a man or lady's mouth, the only thing he's sure was that it was mechanical voice, and it gave an overwhelming power.

"War Cry—gift from the War gods above—activated!"

However, Hei Long didn't bother thinking anything about it, as he felt his body surged with energy beyond what he had had before, and even anyone wouldn't bat an eyelid because of some gibberish he thought he'd misheard—particularly, in an important fight, which determined his life and death. Without further ado, he concentrated all of his strength in his ballistic like arms, and he tried to pull one of the protruding horns off of the minotaur with everything he'd got. "Crack~" the horn he was pulling out made a crackling, breaking sound. As he struggled to pull the horn out of the minotaur, the horn shone, and the beast let out a painful cry, "Moo!" It staggered as it tried to swipe Hei long off of its head, or even better, grab him with those metallic-steel like hand, but Hei Long knew its actions were acts of a creature in desperate struggle for survival. In the eyes of the great hunters, the struggling beast that was at the last line of it life was at its deadliest state. The minotaur tried to grab Hei Long, but Hei Long wouldn't let those truck-sized armed reach him. Dodging those truck-sized arms, he started to rain the minotaur's horn with his own fiery-fist again and again as sound "Bam Bam!"

And his barrages of attacks didn't seem much weaker compared to the Minotaur's—as a matter of fact, it was even deadlier as it was aimed at the weak spot of the beast, its horns and head. He kept on bombarding the massive beast on top of its head. After a few seconds, he finally tore out the horns out of its head. Before it died, the minotaur gave out its last anguish cry as blood covered its body. The monster's body was slowly dispersing in the form of black smoke, and from smoking black-air to a bright white light. The white light moved towards Hei Long; he tried to grab it. However, it passed through his hands as if it was intangible. He didn't know where it went, so he became worried. After a few moments of being baffled, a bell sounded continuously in Hei Long's mind. "ding~!"

Level: ?; Exp: 67%; Strength:?; Agility: ?; Dexterity: ?

Intelligence: ?; Magic: ?; Battle Aura: ?; Life-force: ∞- (Unless your heart and head is cut into a thousand pieces, you will not die) God's Gift—

"What's this?" he asked. "I'll check it later after I finish this mess."

He picked the horn on the ground, and ran straight to another fight.

Before Hei Long could even try to check if anything-peculiar's happening inside his body, he was already running straight to the girl's location, which was currently the venue of the fight. The beautiful girl against the massive number of Orcs. With great haste, he exterminated many Orcs on the way; using his newly acquired weapon (the minotaur's horn) he gave out an awe-inspiring air on the battlefield. At the same time as Hei Long, himself, had wreaked havoc on the battlefield like a beast on the loose, he slaughterer that could use anything in his arsenal and annihilate anything that blocks his path; he was unconsciously letting out an overwhelming and domineering aura around him. The surrounding monsters grew stiff upon seeing that their own kind slaughter like a fish on a cutting board —waiting to be gut helplessly.

When he came near the girl, he had already killed all the nearby monsters that encircled them. With every swung and smash of his great weapon, and every time it hits its target—it would either sent the enemy flying straight through the roof of the cave, or smashed them to the ground like grounded pork.

After a few minutes of fighting, he had already killed all of the enemies—that he had lost count after scoring 50. His penetrative eyes stared at girl who was recovering on the ground with her face—pale, and panting. By the time, he'd saw the girl's complexion was ashes, he knew the little lady had been exhausted in the fight against those numbers. Without saying anything to her, he looked around the place and thought that it was safe, so he decided to leave the girl right there.

However, before he left, he did something, which was out of tune if you based it according to personality—an introvert.

"If you want to survive in this place, you need to follow me," he said. "This is not a good place to die."

He pat his head in confusion beyond imaginable, thinking that he never said something peculiar ever before, so he tried to throw it away farther to the back of his head. Am I familiar with this place to begin with? Never mind, I'll just deal with those whoever block my path- politely, thought Hei Long. Searching for something, he glanced to his left and right side; nevertheless, it slowly sidetracked, so his vision landed at the girl who was sitting on the ground, her face pale. Then his imagination went astray as he started to question himself when he had seen, and imagined how pitiful the girl would have felt all alone in this dark cave.

Is she really-really injured or exhausted? Is she sleepy? Is she hungry? Can't she stand up? A plethora of question started to fill his mind. He put his right hand underneath his chin, and carefully thought to himself, What would Dad do if Mom can't stand up on her own?

If it was years ago, he'd never would have imagined that he'd asked himself questions like: what if(s). Particularly, when it's not about killing bandits and such, but for him to ask and speculate the things his dad would do for his mother made him feel the sorrow of being alive, and happy at the same time. The first time he arrived in this place, he thought he'd finally met his family and friends, but what came to greet were the beasts of the unknown land. As sad as he was glad that he was alive, he really had hope a lot to met his family, yet, god gave him something worst—than meeting a bandit on a vast battlefield—a girl, yes, a girl and an attractive one at that. Although she looked pale and lonely, it only made her look more attractive. When she subconsciously tried to fix her resting position, her golden-white hair cascaded over her shoulder, and her long eyebrows fidget—once in a while—making her look like a small yet lovely animal.

After a few moments of thinking, he moved forward. After he arrived, he knelled down with one leg, and carefully placed his right hand towards the girl's neck to check if she was ill without waking her up. But, by the time, he tried to place his hand on top of the girl's neck. The girl suddenly opened her blue-eyes, with a cold-gleam, and sprung up away from him. Then she hurriedly took a dagger out of her sleeves and pointed it toward the young man with her hands, trembling. She'd already seen how the man had fought the minotaur, and she knew how hard it was the bring down such a giant beast—single-handedly, and without a weapon! She could even imagine the looks of the people, who would never believe her, if she told them what she'd seen in the cave.

"What are you doing?" she asked.

"I'm sorry for scaring you," he said. "My dad once told me to protect the weak and that once you started to help someone, you must see it through the end. I thought you were in great danger as you looked very pale... Therefore—I—I thought maybe you were injured, weak, and cannot stand up. I also wanted to check if you had a fever, you were panting a lot. But, when I tried to, but you suddenly woke up and pointed that thing at me..." he paused for a moment, to stabilize the awkward atmosphere he'd currently face. Glaring at him, she didn't know what he was currently thinking—specially, when she very, very weak and all. He continued, and clapped his hands, "I think you're quite well, alright, so I'm going to leave you here." He waved his hand, he said, "Careful."

Although he'd sounded very concern, Hei Long's face remained cold, and stiff. He looked at the direction where he thought the exit would probably be. Without waiting for the girl to reply, Hei Long walked on the way to the opposite side of the girl. Before he could even take his 3rd step, a soft hand had suddenly reached his right. He faced the owner of the hand, he did not speak. The girl pulled his right hand and put it on her neck, with a reddened face, she spoke as she staggered and almost fell to the ground. Looking at her struggle, Hei Long caught her on the waist, he said, "Are you alright?"

"Lily... you can call me Lily, c-could you carry me, and bring me outside of here?" her crestfallen face took Hei Long's breath for a few seconds,

"Thump," His heart was beating frantically, but he didn't know how or what he felt at the moment, he just simply took Lily's right hand.

"I can carry you as long as you are willing to fulfill one of my wishes."

Lily was taken aback by what he had said, and she struggled to free herself, and covered her ample chest, and shyly said, "What do you want me to do? A—Are you planning on doing something to me?" Her head was full of exquisite-imagination—that only she, herself could ever understand. However, the action of the man in front of her made her thought otherwise, and that maybe she was merely overreacting, so she tried to cover her reddened face. She said,

"What do is you wish?"

Nevertheless, to her dismay, Hei Long only grabbed his chest that was madly beating; he panted that he'd scared the pitiful Lily.

"As of now, I don't know... I am not sure if it is a sickness, but my heart is beating like crazy after you touched my hand. It hurts. Did you poison me? Why?" He gave her a questioning look. However, Lily also had an amazed look across her face, and secretly thought,

Is he hitting on me? she glared at him. "What poison? What is there for me to poison you, my savior?"

Hei Long grabbed her hands, Lily's face started to turn red like a ripe tomato. She moved her head down when she suddenly felt her hand—which Hei Long was holding— received a drop of water, "Is there leak inside the cave?" She asked. Without waiting for the answer to her question, she decided to look up, only to see Hei Long's crying face. She asked in panic manner. "Why are you crying?" she was so entranced when she saw that sad figure crying in front of her, Lily's heart shuddered when she saw how miserable Hei Long was. She was confused as to why he suddenly changed from a powerful man into a helpless chap.

Maybe he is powerful as lonely he is right now... Weird how can he turn like this? she thought. What a turn of event.

"It hurts. I do not know why it hurts... Father, mother, please forgive me. I cannot protect you... I'm tired, too tired" His hand continuously trembled as he held his chest. His mind went blank. Lily caught him when Hei Long was about to fall to the ground, and slowly laid him to her lap, which was much better than to be laid on the floor. Lily—who had been two head shorter than Hei Long—stayed close beside him, comforting him from his nightmare.

"Dad, mom sorry... can't protect you..." Was all he said in his sleep, over and over again. The pure-child Lily sympathized with Hei Long for she knew that he had indeed gone through many trials in life, and carried a weighty burden on his back—every single day of his life.

"There, there," said she as she slowly, and gently caressed Hei Long's head. "I'm still here, you can protect me instead."

Unexpectedly, when Hei Long heard those words of hers—his nightmare and trembling had come to a stop, and he began to sleep soundlessly. Although it started her. She'd released a sigh of relief. "What an unexpected day," she said.

By the time she thought of what she had said and everything she did, her face began to turn red, Lily you brat, what are you doing, how can you take advantage of this pitiful man? She hid the knife inside her sleeves, and thought of how wicked she was.

Unlike Hei Long who could see through the dark, Lily, however, didn't have the ability to see in the dark. She didn't have the impression of whether he was a prince-charming on a white horse, or otherwise. The only impression she had on him were that he had a big build, and had a beautiful white hair, which hid most of his face. Out of curiosity, Lily's right hand tried to move the glossy white hair which was covering Hei Long's face. But Hei Long—who was sleeping—suddenly woke up, and caught Lily's hand.

Their faces were so close to each other that their hearts began to fluster in unison. She was so attracted to Hei Long's eyes: the left golden-eye and right verdant green eye of his were so beautiful that she became flabbergasted. Hei Long's face was so beautifully-handsome it definitely wouldn't lose to a girl's beauty and charm, especially with those eye-catching eyes of his. She bet that any girl, who would see him and his eyes, would find it hard to resist his charm. She touched his face, thinking that it was only a dream, 'How could a man like this become so beautiful?' But, it wasn't a dream, it was genuine... it was her who started to become delusional, believing it was only a dream. Fortunately, someone brought her back from her delusions and spoke to her in a very gentle manner.

"What exactly are you doing?"

"..."


Chapter 3: Encounter
Chapter 5: Resting Point