There are three things I know for sure. One, it is August 18th, 1479. Two, it is night time, maybe early morning. Three, I’m hiding.
There is a single window in the shadowy confines of the cold stone cell. It is half of a perfectly round circle. A blue moon illuminates my face from the window. For some it’s too small to fit through, but being as small and wiry as I am, I could squeeze through without a problem. Shadows flicker across the window, and my eyes dart up. They’re only birds. I reassure myself. They haven’t found me yet.
My dusty golden hair sways in the gentle breeze, granted by the window. My hair is swept across my face, short and wild in the back, while my bangs are long and jagged. They hang over the bare top of my right eye, while half covering my left. My face isn’t round, but it isn’t slender. In between, perhaps. My pale skin is sprinkled with a faded gray dust, giving me a ghostly, dead look.
I am all skin and bones, the only muscles I have are as thin as paper but as hard as steel. I am wearing simple, inconspicuous clothes. Clothes they won’t find me in. My faded, grayish-cream t-shirt hangs off my bony frame like I’m a clothes line. The simple cloth shorts I’m wearing are only slightly darker. My feet are wrapped in gauze, my toes exposed to the cool stone underfoot. My hands too are wrapped, my fingers left open and available to use. There are two gaping tears in the back of my shirt, but I can’t feel them. Something blocks my back from hitting the wall.
The lips adorning my face are thin, almost nonexistent through years without use or pampering. I can hardly feel them, maybe I can’t. Would it count to say that I don’t notice?
My eyes are pitch black, the whole thing. Just hollow, coal black darkness swarming my eye. Cutting through it is a faded, pale green iris, cut in half by a cat-like pupil. My inhuman eyes are trained on the window, narrowed in focus. Surrounding my body is a dark, shadowy aura that has taken the form of smoke or fire.
My pointed ears twitch, listening for even a breath of sound. None. I’m alone. They haven’t found me yet. I remind myself.
I’m cringing. My long, pointed teeth poke out of my mouth when I close it to swallow down whatever sounds want to come out. I can’t make a peep, they’ll hear.
Behind my teeth is a dark, forked tongue, flickering nervously so it won’t show on my face. Two large, jagged black stripes mark each of my cheeks like I’m a flag.
Finally, I find it in my legs to stand, walking over to the window with ghostly quiet steps. My hands find the window sill, and soon I’m looking out across the desert town called Varth. The large clock tower in the center glows brightly, shining out the bold time. 5:16 a.m. It seems to say. You aren’t safe yet.
My wings lay calmly against my back, tips a few inches above the stone floor, and hook-like claws about a foot above my head. They are black, with several green stripes the color of my eyes.
I can’t see much from within the confines of the bland space. Just pale stone and blue moonlight. My mouth tastes like sand and rust, maybe smoke. I haven’t eaten for weeks, I remember. The only thing I could possibly taste is sand and smoke.
Suddenly, my sensitive ears pick up sound from the door behind me. I know it’s them, because only they know I exist.
They are a group of Demon Hunters. I can’t remember what they are called, but ever since a promise when I was little, they’ve been after me and my ‘family’. There are groups of them spread across the land. Wherever I go, a new squad is after me. Right on my tail and breathing down my neck. I can’t escape them, but it’s increasingly getting harder to fight them.
My dark wings flex, expanding the faded green webbing, and dive out the window just as the door slams open. Black mist trails off my body as I fly, dissipating into the night air. As I zip through the torchlit streets, wings twisting and turning with the roads, I appear as transparent. I am, I know. Only they can see me, and unfortunately, they are hunting me down.
Varth is a fairly big town, but I can’t lose those who follow me. The fire from the angry red torches only lights up a minimal space, allowing me more secrecy in the passing shadows. Torches are the only way to light anything anymore. They know my tactics now. Once I get away, I’ll need to change my plans of escaping the norm.
I lurch to a stop once I’m out of the small town, and land in a dried-sand clearing. Ahead of me is one of them. I can easily recognized the deep maroon cloak, concealing all but their dark leather-booted feet. I could see the intricate white designs on the edges of the cloak from a mile away. Mist continues to flit off my body. The man, I know it’s a man, steps forward. The shining red glow of the famed goggles catches my eye, and I shift into a fighting stance.
Nothing moves for Thenan knows how long. It’s a stare-down. The eyes of a ghost VS. the darkness beneath a pair of goggles and a hood. Then the man pulls down his hood.
He is older, with peppered gray hair and a chiseled beard. He has thin, pursed lips and eyes hidden by shiny red goggles. I can’t see anything about the rest of his form, as it is hidden by the cloak. He has pale skin, almost white with my nocturnal eyes.
“Nyxx,” He starts, voice low and worn. My stomach twists. There it is, the name only few know I go by. I know how this man knows it. He used to be an old friend of mine.
“What is it, Munoc.” I reply, just as coldly. I have no need to be polite with him. We both know it. My voice sounds like my throat is coated in sandpaper and my vocal chords have grown rust. A demonic tone underlies my natural voice, sounding like two people are talking in sync.
“Stop this madness, Nyxx. Otherwise I will be forced to eliminate you permanently. We have you surrounded, and the Circle of Thenan is drawn where you stand. You can’t escape this time, just give up and we will have no needs for violence.” Violence?! After 38 years, I finally see you and all you have to say is a lecture about VIOLENCE?!? And what’s better, you made a special Demon killing trap just for me! I feel so honored.
“I’m not just going to give up the Bloodred Oath, Munoc. I agreed to Tanook’s terms. Submitting his blood to you would make a Gateway to Kaiden for me.” I snap back. That was right- I made the oath. The forbidden oath that makes you almost invincible, so long as you do what the master commands. The forbidden oath that your parents tell ghost stories about to get you to sleep at night. I made it, and I don’t regret it. I serve under Tanook now. Tanook was the king of Kaiden, or as mere mortals call it, the Underworld. Just like Thenan to them is Heaven.
“That’s why the Red Marauders were formed, Nyxx. We can reverse the Oath and keep you alive, but only if you let us help you-“
“You think I want to take it back?!” I interrupt. “I’m tired of your rants. I’m tired of you in general! I don’t want to return to normal! I’m perfectly fine being Tanook’s prized pawn. Most importantly, I don’t want to be sent to Kaiden. Kaiden is worse than simply dying, you should know that!” My irises have turned into a flaming golden color. The stripes and webbing on me adjust to this color as well. Munoc frowns deeply. I can hear shuffling from behind the rocks surrounding the clearing. I can tell they just want to exorcise me and be done with it, but Munoc is the Sentinel of the Marauders. They wait for his signal like slobbering puppies.
“Nyxx, I know this is hard. But it’s the right thing to do. It’s what Tanrin would’ve wanted. Don’t you want to join him? You have no one left, after all.” How dare he. How DARE he bring my dead brother into this! What would he know? Tanrin was the one who originally convinced me to do the oath! My eyes turn to the color of a wildfire, along with the webbing and stripes. My muscles are tense. My body wants to let Tanook take control, but not yet. Not until they start the mantra they use for world-threatening demons alone; the Chant of Thenan’s Gate.
I can hear the other 10 Marauders file into place around the circle that has been painted on the hard ground of the Rern Flats. I grit my sharp teeth, wings twitching in eagerness to escape. I swallow down my anger, just enough to force out a few calm words.
“You know I will escape, Munoc.” I hiss. My clawed hands are out at my sides in an attack position. The cool night winds brushes against my skin, and I repress the shudder that wants to snake down my spine.
“Oh? And where do you think you will escape to?” Munoc replies, tone skeptical and disbelieving.
“I have somewhere in Zeth you don’t know about. I have a meeting with the rest of the Bloodred there.” I snap back quickly, patience thinning as fast as rain falls.
“Even if you do get out of here and fly North to Zeth, I have a tracking squadron in Storrik that will find you in mere minutes. What then, Nyxx?” He tries to reason. I shiver, the orange in my eyes slowly fading to a darker, brighter shade. Soon they will be red, and then, I will unleash the onslaught of Kaiden’s Gate.
“I don’t know…” I start, my eyes now a hungry scarlet shade. I spread my wings, flexing the claws on my fingers. “I’ll decide when I get that far.” I release control of my limbs, letting Tanook move my body like a wooden puppet. I take to the sky with a thunderclap of sound, leaving a crater-like shape beneath me. Below, I can hear them hurriedly murmuring the mantra, voices linked together in perfect harmony and exact timing.
“Thenan altra ovanae linco reshin hulrice aran xeodi loras xunoke ETALOS!!!” A pillar of blinding white surges up into the sky, bathing me in its disgusting, pure color. I can feel Tanook’s darkness form a shield, protecting us from the white hands that grab at us from an opening in the ground. My ears are ringing, and I can hardly move. Then, the light around me explodes into shards of clashing black and white.
I’m shrouded by dark mist, flicking off my body like fire. I feel weak, my conscience granting all it’s power to Tanook. My body is wounded, I can see the dark cuts. But that won’t matter as my body begins to eliminate the eleven Marauders, one by one. When the remaining few begin the mantra again, Tanook releases a powerful pulse of dark fire, that fractures everything within hundreds of meters from us.
I have control of my body again, and instantly pain seizes up my limbs. I refuse to look at the wounds, because they’ll be gone soon. I quickly pick out Munoc’s limp body in a pile of rubble, and his faint breathing. I won’t be able to bring myself to remove him, so I mutter a few words, before the ground beneath me caves in, and I am welcomed into Kaiden.

My body is slowly healing itself in Kaiden, with Tanook’s powers stitching the skin together again. I walk along the pitch black, glass like surface of Kaiden that is neverending. The sky is a blood red shade. With no danger, my thoughts begin to wander as I feel invisible hands working on my torn up arms.
I let Munoc live. Why would I do that? Now he knows what I am capable of, and will report to the Red Council. Then they will capture me and use me to get to Kaiden. I know how their pitiful minds work. If they get into Kaiden, they will hunt for Tanook’s true form, and eliminate him. Then the world will be pure. I can’t let that happen. I swore my life to Tanook… So if worst comes to worst…
Well… I’ll figure it out when I get that far.