Darvin huffed and panted as he sprinted towards the forest with the red glistening iron bow that he kept holding in his hands, and he kept cursing under his breath as the forest ahead grew tall with his approach. But he braked his feet when he noticed that the Fire Meanian and his companion were gone. 

Darvin stomped and shrieked, "that's even worse!" 

"Where are you going?" a voice asked calmly.

Darvin spun around to see the caller, and he let out a sigh of relief. 

"Kyvan! Thank the Mighty Kings you're here!" Darvin exhaled as he went up to him. 

"You seem to be worried, what's wrong?" Kyvan showed the same concern as Darvin.

"Fearian and I were taking Gholt on his first hunt until those Meanains told us they're investigating the forest for a dark entity, Fearian refused and--" 

"Is he being a Naught again?" Kyvan sighed.

"What's worse is that he took Gholt and Bryan with him! And there's a dark entity in there!" 

Kyvan's eyes widened suddenly.

"He went too far! And he's going to be in a lot of trouble for this!" Kyvan pushed past Darvin and took off quickly towards the forest while Darvin followed at his heels. 

~~~

"Listen carefully," Gholt whispered as he crept slowly and scanned his surrounding.

"And?" Fearian spoke as he followed him with Bryan on his back. 

"Concentrate," Gholt said. "and stay low when I spot it," he added quickly.

"Good." Fearian nodded while Bryan kept holding on to his father tightly. 

They'd been walking around the forest for almost an hour, and they were still searching for a rabbit to feast on even though there was none to be seen. This season was supposed to be fine, and the animals would've been wandering anywhere in this forest, except that they weren't here for some reason.

All they saw and heard were birds chirping and sitting in their nests. 

Strange Fearian thought as he looked around, the animals' disappearance baffled him a little, yet that summoned a hint of concern in his chest. 

As they were searching, they also avoided the Fire Meanian's sight whenever he was nearby. They either snuck out of the area he was in or gave him a diversion by throwing rocks at certain places for him to look at. 

These were the easy steps that Gholt had managed to achieve, but the difficult steps were yet about to come sooner or later from that entity. Fearian wanted to teach Gholt how to prepare and defend himself from these kinds of danger. However, he was worried that his brother might not make it. 

Because the entities that came to the Meanian Kingdom were known for their wild and deadly behaviour and high speed, just in case Gholt couldn't dodge in time, Fearian was ready to summon his sword.  

"It's kinda strange," Gholt said. "we're supposed to see the rabbits hopping by now," he added. 

"Agreed." Fearian looked behind.

"Where are the bunnies?" Bryan whined a little. 

Suddenly, Fearian felt the sickening feeling that clutched his stomach. It was the sick feeling of strong dread that slowed his pacing and muffled the sounds around him. His eyes widened as his vision turned a little dark, and his heart hardened and sunk. 

"What if they were hiding from something?" Gholt's voice seemed distant and echoing even though Fearian was right at his heels. 

Gholt's voice, Bryan's whining and the Fire Meanian's heavy footsteps weren't the only ones that could be heard. Something else was emitting a heavy wave of dark energy throughout the forest; Fearian was the first to feel it. 

"Gholt... Grab my hand." Fearian never looked away from his surrounding as he reached out his hand to Gholt. 

"Why?" Gholt looked up at him. 

"Just do it... Now!" Fearian tried not to raise his voice and grab unwanted attention. 

Upon hearing the tone of his voice, Gholt immediately obeyed and hid behind him. After a few moments in silence, Fearian and Gholt finally heard what sounded like deep moaning and growls in the distance; the sound of it already sent chills down their spines. 

And there it was, hovering slowly ahead in the form of tall vertical black mist. 

Shit, it's here Fearian cursed in his thought once he realised that the entity wasn't that far off as it passed. 

As Gholt and Bryan watched the way it moved, the horror easily took over the boys at the sight of it, which then caused them to whimper in fear. 

"Shh! Don't be afraid!" Fearian whispered. 

"B-B-But i-i-it's--" 

"Gholt listen to me if you don't stop fearing it, it'll come! Because they can detect your fear!" Fearian warned him as he kept watching the entity. 

"F-Fearian... I don't think I can kill that thing!" Gholt shrieked as he began to let his tears out. 

"D-Daddy?" Bryan squeaked. 

Before Fearian could respond to the weeping children, the entity suddenly stopped moving for a moment; Fearian then knew it was the worst moment. 

Immediately the entity turned towards Fearian with blazing red eyes and a deafening shriek as it suddenly charged at him at incredible speed. 

"GO GO!" Fearian yelled as he quickly grabbed Gholt's arm and took off as fast as he could while the boys screamed. 

Fearian didn't run far because the entity reached his heels, so he dodged away while the entity missed as it flew past him. 

Fearian quickly pulled Bryan off his back and gave him to Gholt to hold. "Hold Bryan and stay inside the shield!" Fearian told him and summoned a black barrier over the boys with his shadow magic. He didn't let Gholt have enough time to speak. 

Fearian then turned towards the entity as he summoned his orange sword, built of solid Harcrian crystal with a shadowy mist flowing around the long blade. 

"Hey! Over here!" Fearian called out to the entity as it spun around and spotted him. It let out its shriek again. 

This time the black mist blew away from the entity's body as it lunged at him. 

It first revealed the row of dirty, yellow, sharp teeth on its short snarling snout, while its pale grey skin was hugging tight on its bare body, to the point it explicitly showed its rib cage and hips. 

The long arms with long skinny fingers and sharp claws reached its skinny knees and legs that made the beast tall. Finally, anger was wrinkled on its bald head and brows, followed by its docked pointy ears.  

"Now you're forming?" Fearian scoffed as he positioned himself into a fighting stance, gripping the sword handle with both hands. 

Fearian pulled his sword up to the side as the monster quickly approached and gathered his energy before he stroke on cue. Then in slow motion, once its head almost touched Fearian's, he swung with all his might. 

Fearian easily sliced the upper chunk of its face, and instead of blood rushing out of the open wound, the monster's entire body poofed into smoke and reappeared behind him. However, its head had somehow re-attached back to its body. 

Before Fearian could even turn around to look behind, the beast quickly kicked him from the back without hesitation, which sent him flying forward, and his sword flew from his grasp. 

Once Fearian made a hard landing on his face, the ground knocked the breath out; he then rolled to a stop. Later Fearian stood up in pain and coughed. 

"Ha! Is that all you got?" Fearian spat. 

But the creature shrieked and lunged at him yet again. Gladly Fearian jumped out of the way to let the monster crash into a tree instead, giving him time to run and search for his fallen sword. 

"Come on come on... " Fearian looked around at the green grass for the shining orange blade. 

The monster shrieked again, and when Fearian rotated to look behind, the clawed hand snatched his head and smashed it against the ground violently. "Grk!" Fearian struggled from its strong grasp, but it didn't let go nor stopped smashing. 

"Fearian!" Suddenly a red arrow whistled towards the monster's back. Once it landed, the creature shrieked in pain, and Fearian managed to pull its hand off his face and crawl away. 

The monster turned as it got more shots from Darvin, who approached cautiously yet shot quickly. But the monster poofed again, leaving arrows from its body to fall to the ground and reappeared right in front of Darvin within a second.

It raised its arm to strike, but fortunately, Fearian came in time and sliced its arm with a battle cry. It shrieked yet again as this time it stepped away from the brothers. 

Only to charge at them both, and before they could get hit, Fearian stabbed it in the chest, making its shriek even higher pitched. After a quick moment of twitching in pain, the monster's body finally went numb; Fearian pulled out his sword from its chest as it collapsed to the ground with a thud. 

"Oh... My... " Fearian panted while Darvin watched him with widened eyes of anger. "Glad you made it he--" 

Darvin immediately slapped him in the cheek when Fearian turned to him. 

"That's for being ignorant!" He slapped him again on the other cheek. "And that's for going too far!" He yelled. 

"Okay okay... I deserved that," Fearian groaned and rubbed the pain away from his cheeks. "and thanks for coming here and save my ass." He rolled his eyes. 

"There you are," Kyvan arrived at them. "is everyone okay?" He asked. 

"Yeah, we're fine--" Darvin's eyes widened again and blinked twice, then he darted his head at Fearian. 

"Fearian? The kids?!" He cried. 

"Oh, the kids are--" 

Darvin slapped him yet again. 

"That's for losing them and being an irresponsible parent! Fearian what is wrong with you?!" Darvin yelled. 

"I haven't finished yet! The kids are fine and they're over there!" Fearian pointed ahead and went to them as Darvin and Kyvan followed him quickly. 

Once they arrived at the spot he hid the children, Fearian removed the dark barrier to see the boys hugging each other in fear and sorrow underneath. "It's okay boys, everything is fine." Fearian comforted them as the boys looked at them with tearful eyes. 

"Is it... Is it gone? Are you okay?" Gholt sniffed. 

"Yes we're fine, and we got rid of that entity," Darvin told them as Kyvan helped them stand. 

"But you need to get out of here fast," Kyvan said as the children nodded without hesitation. 

But as they were about to leave, the monster returned with a deep shriek, making the men turn to face the beast they just killed. 

"Oh come on!" Once Darvin cried, Kyvan lifted the boys quickly and ran. 

"Just run--" Fearian was interrupted when the beast lunged at him from behind and let out its deep shriek at his ear. 

"Fearian!"

"Daddy!" 

He heard their desperate calls as he struggled from its grasp again, and Fearian felt its warm saliva drooling onto him from its teeth.  

"Stand back!" A familiar deep voice called, and Fearian gasped when the quick weight lifted off his body. 

When he rolled on his back, he witnessed not only the Fire Meanian but several men in iron armours pulling the beast away with silver chains. Smoke was coming out of its body as it sizzled by the chains' touch and burned in agony. 

Fearian heard something else within its screams as the monster was screaming, and it was difficult to catch the tone. 

"Death... Death... Death upon him... " 

Fearian wasn't sure if the others heard it because the chant grew louder and louder and deeper and rough. 

He didn't know how long the mysterious voice kept chanting until he snapped out of his trance when he was immediately lifted off the ground by a big strong hand. 

"What the HELL YOU'VE BEEN THINKING YOU IGNORANT PIECE OF--" 

"Enough," a calm voice called out, and Fearian recognised the tone, which made his heart sink deeper. "Fearian Onel Grevalon... You're in deep trouble," King Salvador said calmly with his shining golden eyes.