I run but I can’t move. I feel the grizzly's horrid presence loom over me as I desperately try to flee. I turn around and it slashes its sharp claws against my feeble flesh. Tearing into me as if I was nothing more than just the fabric I was wearing. I try to scream but nothing comes out. I try to fight it, but my limbs are numb. I look around in search of help, only to be met by the grizzly's inhuman smile and the sea of blood red eyes watching my slaughter. The grizzly lets out a human-like laugh as it gnaws at me. I watch as the snow-covered forest slowly drains of color. Being replaced by empty black sludge. The grizzly slashes at me again and I fall. Falling through the ground into the sea of empty darkness. However, the grizzly's smile and laughter, and the sea of blood-red eyes aren’t close to the scariest thing. The thing that brings me utter dread by just knowing it's there, are those eyes.

Those shining white eyes. Placed on a silhouetted figure that looks down at me, is a pair of bright, shining sliver white eyes. They stare into me, breaking me down and looking right into the real me. Like if they weren’t a dream.

Along with the eyes, a string of whispers echo as fall. I don’t understand what they say until the last sentence, which I hear almost too well. All sound stops leaving me in the empty darkness facing the horrifying eyes as a sentence is said right into my very being. Words that feel like they were being etched into my flesh.

"The sword. Pick it up."

After that I find myself waking up in a cold sweat in my room. My body shaking in pain and fear.

I lay there for a while staring up at the ceiling. Getting out when I started to hear my parents' voices from downstairs. As I leave my room out to the small corridor that leads to the stairs, I notice how my torso is messily covered with bandages. Like if they were done in a panic.

Getting closer to the stairs I started to pick up pieces of my parents' conversation.

"How can you be so certain? We both know that hybrids like him-" I hear my mother start.

"Him being up there has already disproved that!" Father cuts her off.

"Look I'm just as worried as you, I... I just can’t think of that right now. If I do, then I will only start fearing the worst. And he is our boy. We both know he is strong enough to get through this." I hear my father say. His voice is shakier than what I'm used to.

What are they talking about?

Walking down the stairs I am immediately met with my mother running up to me and grabbing me by the shoulders.

"What were you thinking!?" She asks me, her voice a mix of anger and relief.

"What are you..." Is all I can say before Mother continues.

"You sneak out to hunt a fearsome beast and all you give us is a note!? Do you know how worried we were?"

"But...I Killed it..."

"But you returned unconscious with your body wounded!" She says a bit louder now.

She lets out a deep breath to calm herself before continuing.

"Why could you not just have woken us up. Why not wait so we could be there in case the worst happened."

"I...I just wanted to prove that I could hunt something by myself...Prove that I had gotten strong." I say.

"Oh, Arameth. I'm sorry I didn’t mean to yell. It’s just...since we weren't there, I couldn't be sure you were okay. I was just worried."

"He is right though. Soon he won't have us there if things go wrong. However, that doesn't mean we won't worry." My father says as he kneels down and puts his hand on my shoulder as well.

"But for now, let's see the positive in this. He killed a grizzly. An adolescent sure but a grizzly nonetheless" My father continues.

"Yes, but since you made us worry, I will amp up your training from today on. You could see it as a punishment or reward, and you are right Fendriks. Let's see the positives." My mother says.

"You did well, my son. I want to make sure you know that." my father told me to lift up the mood.

"So. What shall we do with the grizzly? We already have enough food to last and this will only spoil if we wait too long." Father asks.

"What if we sell half? Berkton is starting the end of the year celebration today. So, we might get some coin if we sell it." my mother says.

"We enjoy half the grizzly, and we sell the rest." she says.

"If we are selling it, I want to do it! I mean I killed it so I will do what I want with it. It’s hunter’s rights." I exclaim.

"Who told you about hunter’s rights?" my mother asks, sounding annoyed that I knew about it.

I look towards my father, who is currently looking the other way, acting like he is clueless.

"Aha... I see, well you are right though. It is hunter’s rights, it’s you who will have to be the one to sell it. But that also means you will have to be the one to skin and cut it as well." My mother says acting smug.

"Uh-what!? come on really?" I say displeased.

"Oh no no no, it’s as you said. Hunter’s rights. It should be you that does that, what right do we have to take away from you." She says, a grin starting to form on her lips.

Accepting defeat, I reluctantly go towards the small closet full of different blades, shields, knives and swords. Some from my parents' past and some for daily use.

Stepping closer I notice something. A buzz. A faint buzz that slowly got more detailed as I stepped closer to the weapons closet. Slowly the faint buzz sounded more like voices. All whispering murmurs that I either couldn't understand or simply didn't want to.

As I laid my hand on the door handle, I felt like something was dragging me towards it. Opening the door, I could see it.

The night black sword I had gotten as a gift from my grandfather. I reached out to touch it and when I did, it stopped. The faint whispering buzz was gone along with the feeling of being dragged towards the door. Snapping back to reality, I look around for the skinning knife.

As I'm about to leave the closet I get an uneasy feeling. I turn back towards my gifted sword.

"Well, I did accomplish the first task. So that must prove I can use it right?"

I reach for the sword and a sheath. Letting the sword rest in the scabbard on my back I headed out to the backyard.

I sat out there skinning the grizzly's warm fur of its tender meat. I tore its flesh from the bones and cut them up into even slices. When I was done it was past noon and I had divided the meat and guts into two piles of equal sizes, I had washed out the blood of fur and I let them hang to get dry. Leaving only the bones. With help from my father, I dried and prepared the meat and fur that we were to sell.

Eventually, it was time for me and Mother to set off to Berkton, to sell half the spoils during the start of the end-of-year celebration.

"Should I get the necklace that Madeline got me? You said you wanted to use it for something the next time we leave." I ask my mother.

"No need. It seemed the glasses worked fine last time."

We walked our usual path to Berkton, dragging the food on a sled behind us.

As we walked, I decided to ask about what I heard.

"Mother? May I ask you something?"

"Go ahead." She says.

"I... Heard what you and Father were talking about and I... what did you mean by Hybrids like me?"

"It's nothing you don’t have to worry about it." Mother says not even looking at me.

"Why would I be worried?" I ask, getting concerned.

"You standing here now has already disproved it."

"Disproved what?" I ask.

Mother lets out a sigh and tells me.

"Hybrids aren't made to live long. The blood from both species clash and it’s often fatal. Most hybrids don't become more than four years old. The clashing blood makes it tougher for hybrids in general, usually if they live past four, they get a sickness that slowly boils their blood, killing them slowly. But you standing here has already disproved that it will happen to you.

I only listen. Taking in what she says, in shock. I could never have guessed that such conditions could have affected me.

The rest of the walk to Berkton was silent. I didn't know what to think.

The streets were full of people setting up stands and decorations. We kept on moving until we found an empty spot next to a giant wooden structure clad in different fabrics and metals. Where we set out a piece of fabric where we displayed our wears.

Time passes without anyone passing by, but as more and more people flood the streets people start to show up.

An older pair, probably around their 60s, were the first to stop by.

"How much for one of the pelts?" the older woman asks.

I look at my mother with her only giving me a nod in responds.

"Eh... 20 Oura." I say.

The Older woman then hands me two octagon coins that have a small "10" etched into them. I then give the pair one of the pelts and they move on.

There kept coming customers wanting to buy either the dried and cooked meats or the pelts from the grizzly.

"Did you kill it?" I hear a voice ask.

I looked to my side to be met by a group of four kids. Where only two of them looked to be around my age.

"Oh, yes I did." I respond to a kid that seems to be younger than me.

"Wow" The kid lets out.

"*humph* Thats nothing. I bet my big sister could kill at least 10 of those without breaking a sweat" The boy around my age says in a snarky tone.

"I bet she can. I mean I didn't really leave unscathed either." I say lifting up my fur coat and tunic to show the bandages on my body.

The boy my age seemed more flustered that I didn’t retaliate so he just stood there awkwardly quiet.

"Now would you like to buy something?" I ask. Presenting our wears of pelts and of dried or cooked meat on skewers.

The kids took a skewer each and wandered off, the boy my age looking quite mad that I didn’t fight back.

After some time, I hear another voice. This one though being more familiar.

"Wow! Looks like the little bookworm can kill a beast." The voice says.

I looked to see Sebastian walking up to us.

"I haven't seen you in a while Adam. Here I thought I had finally gotten some good customers." He says jokingly.

"Well, he has had his hands full with his training." My mother tells him.

"I guess it paid off. Seeing that you killed a grizzly no less." Sebastian says.

"Do you want some?" I ask.

"Well, I would love some. Not every day you find fresh grizzly meat."

He hands me a coin while I give him the skewers.

"Oh, and by the way Adam. Did you like the book?"

"Yes, it’s captivating" I tell him.

"Did you know it's not just fiction?" Sebastian asks.

"It's not?"

"It's based on the story of the real king of the world. The books retelling is a bit dramatized compared to the true story though." Sebastian explains.

"So, Ezekiel was real?" I ask excited.

"Oh, indeed he was, as well as the mysterious obelisk at the center of the world. Where he became the king of the world, it is all real. But it all happened some 500 years ago, and the obelisk has not yet been located." Sebastian says.

"B-but it's out there, right?" I ask even more excited.

"Oh, I'm sure it is. Since this seems to have intrigued you, why don’t you come back to my store sometime and I can tell you all I know." Sebastian says with a smile.

"I’ll have to go now, I also have business to take care of." Sebastian says with a bow.

"Oh, and Miranda, could you come help me set up my stall? You see I have so much to carry I would appreciate some help." Sebastian asks my mother.

She nods her head and stands up. She looks at me and says.

"I’ll be back soon. If you sell everything while I'm gone just wait for me here."

The two walk into the sea of people heading to Sebastian’s stall.

As I sit there selling our products to whoever wants them, I notice some hooded figures have started to appear in the crowd of people.

"Was It you who killed this?" A cold stale voice asks.

I look up to be greeted by a pair of green almost snake like eyes. Staring down at me.

"Eh...y-yes" I say feeling a chill run down my spine.

The man who stood in front of me bore hood like the one who was in the crowd. His face bore no emotion. Between his eyes, a scar traveled up to his bald head. Ending right where a golden like metal piece was pierced into his skull. He had a row of gold metal pieces etched into his skull going around his bald head. From the piece was a thin chain that went from piece to piece, almost resembling a crown.

"A bit dark out to be wearing such tinted glasses, is it not?" The man asked, his voice cold and almost more emotionless than his face.

"I-I'm very sensitive to-to light so I ne-need to wear these." I lie, my voice full of fear.

I don’t know why but his mere presence felt overwhelming.

"How much for a pelt and skewer?" The man asked.

"40 Oura in total." I tell him.

He doesn't break eye contact with me as he hands me the four coins and takes a skewer and a pelt. I noticed how much my hands were shaking when I accepted the coins. I could barely hold them still.

He then slowly turned around and walked away taking a bite from the skewer.

Even after the man left, I couldn’t stop shaking. Even after Mother returned, I couldn't stop thinking of him.

Even as we walked back home, I didn’t feel safe. It felt like those eyes would follow me into my deepest nightmares.