Under the starry sky, an ancient forest stretched out like a sea of shadows. Somewhere deep within its heart stood a tall castle.
It was a place forgotten by its maker. Nature had long since claimed it, wrapping the stone walls in wild grass, thick moss, and choking vines.
To anyone passing by, it looked completely abandoned.But it wasn't.
High above, looking out of a fractured stone window, a pair of brown eyes stared into the vast wilderness.He was looking out at the sanctuary.
It was a brutal world where ferocious beasts roamed, hunted, and constantly evolved to survive. And with them evolved the humans, who hunted those very monsters, consuming their meat, flesh to force their own evolution forward.
Alex, too, harbored the deep, burning dream to evolve into a supreme human. But it was as if destiny had been fundamentally unhappy with him from the very start. He could never touch that dream. To him, it was a fantasy that remained trapped on the other side of the window, forever out of reach.
Alex clutched the rough edge of the window sill. He was only twelve years old, with a thin, frail frame and messy brown hair. His clothes were nothing more than ragged, torn cloths stitched together, barely keeping out the night chill.
He was waiting. Waiting for his owner.Yes, his owner. Alex wasn't a servant; he was property. He had been bought by a man named Rerega five years ago, when he was just a seven-year-old child.
The price for his entire life? Three and a half bags of rice.
Before that day, Alex had believed he was a normal boy with a normal family. He loved the couple he used to called Mother and Father. But innocence is a fragile thing. It shattered the night he overheard them whispering in the kitchen, casually debating what a "good price" would be to sell him off.
When the trade finally happened, Alex didn't cry. He just stared.He looked at the man and in his cold and calculating eyes, whom he had called Father—the same man whose vomit Alex used to wipe clean whenever he stumbled home from a gambling and drinking party.
Alex had endured the stench, the anger, and the neglect, thinking it was his duty as a son.But as the three and a half bags of rice changed hands, the man looked at Alex's cold, questioning gaze and scoffed.
There was no guilt in his eyes. Only a twisted, parting truth."Don't look at me like that," the man had spat, tossing a bag of rice onto his cart. "You're not my blood anyway. Some men dropped you off years ago and paid me to look after you. I've fed you long enough. Now, you're on your own."
His so called mother didn't even came out of that small room to see him last time, He felt empty, he was hollow form inside. It was the last time he heard his little sister cry for him but he could do nothing, he was but a weak seven years old boy.
In that dark moment, the truth settled heavily into the seven-year-old's chest. He had no family. He had no father. He didn't even know if his name was real. He only had an owner.
Five years had passed since that day. To this day, Alex knew absolutely nothing about himself. But he knew Rerega.
He knew the exact, precise temperature at which Rerega preferred his tea. He knew how his owner liked his biryani, and how to cook the tough, heavy meat of a red-eyed demonic boar. He knew how to prepare a scalding hot bath just the way Rerega demanded it.
And, above all, Alex knew Rerega's ultimate obsession: to slaughter the all powerful Montana family, each and every member.
None of this information had been taught with kindness. Every single rule had been brutally beaten into Alex's flesh by Rerega himself.
Whenever Alex made a mistake while serving, the blows would rain down. Even when Alex did everything perfectly, Rerega would still beat him, simply using the boy's fragile body to satisfy his own twisted anger.
Frush..... A sharp, grating sound suddenly resounded through the ancient stone corridors of the castle. It was followed immediately by the heavy, rhythmic thud of approaching footsteps.
Alex knew that sound all too well. It was the sound of the heavy stone slabs shifting and moving apart. It was a strange, magic Rerega always used to appear out of nowhere.
Then he heard his name in that old gritty voice calling him, there was one of many rules Rerega had Alex follow which is to appear in front him once he calls his name within ten seconds or the burning candle wax would be poured in his ears so he can hear clearly the next time.
The sound instantly snapped Alex out of his stupor. A jolt of familiar terror flooded his veins.He didn't waste a single second. He spun around and ran as fast as his thin legs could carry him toward the main hall.
He had to get there before the footsteps stopped. His owner had arrived.
Alex ran as fast as he could swiftly arriving in the hall.
Standing in the center of the hall was Rerega. Every single inch of his exposed flesh was branded with dark, glowing runes—curses designed to choke and restrict his inner magic. His face was a map of deep, bitter wrinkles, framed by a messy, uneven beard.In his trembling, skeletal hands, he gripped a heavy staff.
Alex had never seen Rerega let go of that staff. It had always astounded him, because he knew just how much Rerega despised it. Alex had heard him screaming curses at the wood countless times. Yet, he always held onto it tightly, as if his very life resided inside the artifact.
Once Alex was close enough, Rerega's eyes locked onto him. A twisted expression crossed his face."I see, I see. So you are all patched up again," Rerega said, a sickening smile stretching across his wrinkled lips.
The old man stepped closer, his grip tightening on his staff."All your wounds have healed.
You are a perfect specimen. My perfect little worm." Rerega let out a manic, raspy laugh. "Come closer. Come on, let me take a good look at you."Alex felt a shiver run down his spine. Keeping his head meekly down, he forced his trembling legs to take a few slow steps forward.
Only you are left for me to try that ritual on, promise me you won't die like those pathetic insects said" Rerega, you always make me happy.
Rerega's mad smile widened as he stared down at the boy. Slowly, he reached into his tattered robes and pulled something out, holding it up between his wrinkled fingers.It was a small, stone-like object, shaped like a bead. It caught the dim light of the hall, looking deceptively ordinary.
Alex stared at the tiny bead, his heart hammering violently against his ribs. He knew whatever Rerega brought back was never a true gift.Rerega leaned in closer, the dark runes on his flesh pulsing faintly as his manic eyes locked onto the boy's terrified gaze."I will personally hammer this into your skull."....... before I take over your body.