A strange beast he had never seen before, likely of magical origin, and an archer concealed within a veil of darkness he could not pierce, no matter how hard he tried.
The situation was dire, but not hopeless. Confusion gnawed at him more than fear. Where was he, and how had he gotten here?
Only moments ago, he had been in his room, lying in bed, drenched in cold sweat. The image of his father driving a blade through his grandfather's chest refused to leave his mind. His thoughts had been in chaos, his chest burning with a strange pain, and then,
He closed his eyes and opened them here, to a world of snow and silence.
The air bit at his lungs. The ice beneath his boots was real, too real. And that alone told him he was far, far from home. It never snowed within the Rakaru Territories, perhaps at the farthest northern edge, but never like this,
He had a gnawing feeling he wasn't anywhere near his lands at all,
So how had this been done? Magic? No, that shouldn't have been possible. His knowledge of sorcery was limited, but even he knew that no mage could warp reality inside the heart of the Rakaru Estate, not without being noticed.
'Illusion?'
Was this all a test, crafted by his father and those mad old elders? Those lunatics could be up to anything...
If so, what was this? What did it mean?
His thoughts broke as another whistle split the air. Ethan twisted his body right, narrowly evading another silver arrow that cut through the air like a streak of light. From above, the beast reappeared, but this time, he saw it emerge from the arrow itself.
'...'
Its maw opened wide, jagged horns scraping against one another as it lunged to devour his head whole. Ethan planted his feet into the ice and met it head-on, delivering a brutal backhand to its lower jaw. The impact sent it sprawling, its roar muffled by the crunch of ice and bone.
'The beast is not the issue.'
His eyes darted to the dark edge of the clearing. The archer was the true threat. The beast was merely his weapon. The fact that it had emerged from an arrow only confirmed it; magic was at play.
He glanced at his thigh where the earlier arrow had struck, ran Ki through his body once more, and found no sign of poison. For now, he was fine, but that could change at any moment. Who knew what kind of tricks a magical archer hid behind that veil?
The darkness enclosing him, it... it had to be a spell. And the beast, too, most likely a conjured familiar. A wild idea stirred in his mind, but before testing it, he needed to do something.
Evading yet another arrow, he dashed toward the wounded beast still writhing on the ground. With a swift motion, he grabbed its neck and tore it from the body in one rough motion.
'No blood... only...'
Black liquid seeped from the torn stump, viscous and shimmering faintly as it splattered on the snow. Ethan stepped back quickly, throwing the severed head at the corpse. The substance rippled unnaturally.
His experience with magical creatures was limited, but not nonexistent. So he merely observed.
He focused his gaze, eyes narrowing as the headless body began to twitch. The black liquid crawled across the snow like living tar, dragging the head back to the body.
'So it can regenerate.'
He clicked his tongue...
Worse yet, the archer had gone silent. The absence of arrows was louder than any assault; he was waiting, buying time for the creature to re-form. Whatever Ethan was planning would have to wait.
He turned his attention to the dark perimeter surrounding the clearing. It wasn't a mere shadow; it was a wall, thick and deliberate, pulsing faintly like the heartbeat of something alive. Ethan's eyes narrowed as he steadied his breathing and waited.
The next arrow would have to be the last; his Ki reserves were running thin. It... had to be the last.
He stood motionless, focusing Ki toward his ears, heightening his hearing to the point of pain. The beast stirred again, the black liquid solidifying into flesh. Its head reattached, but this time the neck was sheathed in a cage of interwoven horns, a natural defense grown from regeneration.
Ethan did not look much. The beast didn't matter. He listened.
'There it is.'
The faint stretch of a bowstring, drawn tight, aimed directly at his chest. The beast snarled and charged once more, its paws tearing through the ice, but he paid it no mind.
A little closer…
The release!
It came from the right!
Ethan's eyes snapped open. The silver arrow glinted in the dim light as it screamed toward him. In a single motion, he caught it mid-flight and drove it straight into the beast's eye, pushing until the tip reached where its brain should have been, if it even had one.
And before its body could fall, he was already moving, sprinting toward where the arrow had come from, plunging headlong into the darkness that surrounded him.
Without hesitation, without thought, only purpose, and questions... many questions.