Under the humid, gloomy sun, stall owners screamed out offers at the top of their voices to attract customers, who desperately tried to bargain for the best possible prices. This was the Grapefruit market, a place which was never short on people, especially during the afternoon. Not a single empty place could be spotted between the stalls, and this came with its own disadvantages, as a lot of people would steal from the stalls seamlessly. Beads of sweat glistened on everyone's forehead, and many faces turned red due to the heat.

  The bustling crowd’s chatter and noise stalled a little, and they parted, giving way for two figures. A muscular elderly man and a young child. No one greeted them. Not an ounce of courtesy came from the crowd. Instead, the people seemed to be frowning and looking sceptically at Eclipse, who was notorious in this village for being a huge trouble-maker.

  Sensing the unfriendly atmosphere, both Duozian and Eclipse showed no signs of anger or distress; instead, their faces were calm and composed, as if they weren't aware of what was going on.

  Duozian led the way for Eclipse through the distasteful expressions of others into a building which stated, 'Voss Treasures.' It definitely looked far more comfortable than every other structure in this village. Clearly, this place wasn’t somewhere the average villager would go to.

  As soon as he stepped inside, a fat middle-aged man beamed as he immediately got up and greeted Duozian, "Well, if it isn't Uncle Duozian. Come on in, have a seat!!"

  Duozian smiled at the man and proceeded to sit down, "It seems like you're doing well, Beefy. You're as youthfully vigorous as ever."

  Beefy noticed Eclipse's presence and grinned, "You're Eclipse, right? I've heard so much about you from your grandfather."

  Eclipse nodded indifferently.

  Beefy laughed heartily once again, "Not only are you a bright young lad, you're also very handsome. When you're older, I would definitely betroth my daughter to you. She's only eighteen years old now."

  Hearing that, both Eclipse's and Duozian's eyebrows twitched, but Duozian coughed to negate the awkwardness, which seemed non-existent to beefy. "Anyway, Beefy, the reason I came here today is to sell some paintings."

  Saying that, he pulled out six canvases from his bag and spread them out on the table. Looking at the images, Beefy was immediately stunned. He looked at them carefully and even caressed them softly, seemingly full of admiration, "No matter how many times you bring a painting, I'm always left speechless."

  Beefy then raised his brows a little as he noticed a stark difference. “Oh, have you adopted a new style?”

  The artworks displayed the Nether Pinnacles from far away, a running stream of clear water, a white squirrel nibbling acorns, a bed of colourful flowers, the crimson sunset over the horizon, a flock of birds perched on a tree, but unlike his previous works, these paintings breathed unease.

  The brushstrokes were harsher, and the colours were much darker. The supposed clear stream seemed to shimmer with a dark tint as if it were laced with blood. The white squirrel’s eyes gleamed faintly red, and the flowers bent unnaturally toward the viewer, their petals curling inward. Even the birds seemed somewhat eerie. It seemed like they were aware and had turned their heads to watch whoever dared to look upon them. The light of the crimson sunset bled across every canvas, drenching the world in a dark, sinister vibe.

  “I didn’t paint these, Eclipse did.” Duozian smiled.

  Eclipse shot Duozian an annoyed glare. Attention was amongst the things he found the most bothersome and annoying, so he almost felt betrayed when Duozian outed his name.

  “Ohoho, I’d never have expected such monstrous talent from a young boy!” Beefy beamed at Eclipse.

  Eclipse coldly followed up just to take this unwarranted attention off himself, “Will anyone buy these?”

  Eclipse never understood why anyone would buy such useless things. They don’t feed your stomach, they don’t keep you warm, they don’t make your life better in any way. They simply are. Could it be that people bought these just because they looked nice?

  “Well, in all my years in this work, I’ve seen a lot of nice things, but never quite something like this.” Beefy nodded vigorously, taking his eyes back to the painting, and was immediately captivated once more, “So they just might! And for a fairly reasonable price at that!”

  This idea was simply foreign to Eclipse, and he was sure no one in this village would care about such things either, so who was this man apparently selling artworks to?

  “Haha,” Beefy continued, “My boss, Lucian Voss, is quite a fanatic for such pieces. He collects anything and everything which is pleasing to look at, or is a complete enigma. Especially yours, Uncle Duozian. Those otherworldly landscapes that you paint, which somehow make you feel like you and the picture are one in the same… But this boy’s work will catch his attention too, I’m sure. After all, the style is very dark in its aesthetic and pleasing to the eye.”

  Lucian who?

  Eclipse was about to ask, then quickly realised he didn’t care as much. The only thing he learned today was that there existed people who would spend their hard-earned money on things as useless as a painting.

  But Beefy’s description of Duozian’s paintings reminded him of that obscure artwork he found in the room he was not allowed into.

  The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.

  ‘…which somehow makes you feel like you and the picture are one in the same…’

  Eclipse took his eyes up to Duozian, who was smiling away, chatting to Beefy. He then sighed. This old man was far too mysterious!

  But Eclipse didn’t hold it against him, nor did he bother to ever ask. After all, he hasn’t told a single soul about those incidents, either. Including Duozian.

  The three of them lingered around a while longer, and soon, it was time for the duo to leave.

  "Well then, thanks a ton, Beefy." Duozian smiled. “Give Lucian my regards.”

  “Will do.” Beefy beamed, "It's my pleasure."

  With that, the two left the market with Eclipse, once again, marinating under the sceptical glances and silent curses of the villagers.

  Dracoferus Territory, Dracoferus Underground Hideout

  Somewhere in the Bloodmoon region, at this moment, various candles were lit as they hung in different parts of a cold and eerie room. The carpet was made of animal fur, and the room was decorated with bones, invoking a strong sense of savagery and power.

  Sitting atop a stone chair, which had a horse skull stuck atop it, was the silhouette of a lone person; the candlelight didn't reach far enough to illuminate his face, but he exuded a potent and domineering aura.

  Suddenly, the door knocked, and someone's voice echoed from outside the room, "Can I come in, Chief Khali?"

  The man called Khali didn't respond for quite a while, his head tilted down as if he had just been napping. His eyes then slowly opened, revealing golden pupils which almost seemed to glow in the dark. He finally responded, "Come in, Dragos."

  The large double doors opened, and a muscular man walked in, towering over eight feet tall. Behind him, he dragged something heavily across the carpet. When he had come close enough for the candlelight to reach the object, a groan resounded all of a sudden.

  Dragos was dragging a person across the floor, who tried their best to scream and shout, their face filled with terror, but barely anything came out as his mouth was taped.

  Dragos dragged him as he walked up to the silhouette at the front, his red ponytail swaying behind him, but the closer he got, the dangerous aura he was emitting slowly diminished as he was in the presence of the man sitting on the chair.

  "This man was a spy of the Feathered Eyes," Dragos spoke, trying to maintain eye contact with Khali, but the longer he looked at them, the longer a certain sense of dread lingered. He fixed his composure and continued, but not before throwing the man behind forward at Khali's feet, "He acted as a patrol warrior then snuck into our hidden vault. I caught him going through our top secret documents."

  The man sprawled across the floor, trembling as tears poured down his face, his hair dishevelled and his bruises and blood present all over his body. Now that he had been captured, he knew what was coming his way.

  The figure at the front finally got up and took small steps down a series of stairs in front of his chair, his heavy black coloured boots causing an echoing thud, but that was akin to a grim reaper's advance to the man, as he squirmed, dread filling his soul.

  Several mice scurried around the room, their eyes reflecting the orange hue of the candlelight.

  "I know, Dragos..." The man spoke softly.

  Confusion was written all over the man's face as the man knelt down and pulled open the tape on his mouth.

  "Please spare me, Chief Khali!" The spy shouted before even trying to catch his breath. “I'm a Dracoferus Tribesman. I have nothing to do with the Feathered Eyes, I swear!”

  He nodded, "I know... you're free to go."

  Dragos' eyes widened, "Chief Khali?!"

  Khali glanced at Dragos briefly, and he instantly turned stiff, even though there was a three-foot difference between the two. Khali helped the man up, and Dragos could only helplessly watch.

  The spy finally got to his feet before bowing down in front of him, "Thank you so much for your kindness, Chief Khali!"

  Khali, who had kept a straight face up until now, finally arced his lips, revealing blade-sharp fangs. It wasn't a smile that radiated warmth but rather a menacing smile. The spy didn't see, but the moment Dragos caught a glimpse of it, a cold shiver ran down his spine.

  As the spy sprinted across the room, lungs burning, every stone that pricked his bare feet felt like a blessing compared to the man he was about to escape.

  His heart pounded wildly.

  He let me go…? He actually let me go… The thought echoed in disbelief.

  The cold air bit against his face, but he didn’t care. All he could think about was getting out of this godforsaken room.

  Just keep running…

  As he reached the door, his steps faltered.

  For a split second, his vision blurred. His body felt heavy, like the world itself had suddenly become thicker. He tried to take another step, only for his knees to buckle.

  A wet sound followed.

  He looked down slowly, almost mechanically. His breath hitched. A set of beastly claws jutted clean through his abdomen.

  Each finger was wreathed in a crimson qi that shimmered like hot metal. Blood spilt from the man’s mouth as he tried to speak.

  His head turned slightly, and there he was.

  Chief Khali stood towering behind him, silent and unmoving. His frame was a lot larger than what the man had seen earlier, and his golden pupil glowed faintly beneath the shadow of his brow. His entire body, holding more resemblance to a beast rather than a human, was wrapped in a dark red qi. His fangs were bared, not in rage, but rather in cold indifference. His claws dripped with blood as they gripped the man’s viscera.

  The spy trembled, barely whispering, “C-curse you…” before his body went limp.

  Khali withdrew his hand, letting the corpse fall forward with a dull thud. He watched without emotion as the red aura slowly faded from his claws, and his body returned to normal. The room was silent save for the faint crackle of energy dissipating into the night.

  Then, with a quiet exhale, Dragos joined his side.

  “Hehe, soon that man will come to realise that I’ve killed one of his own.” Khali let out a humourless chuckle, “He’ll learn to never spy on me again, and one day I will hold this against him and even make him pay the price.”

  Dragos nodded, then gritted his teeth, “That man… and all the figures of the Avyssos. They’re looking down on us, aren’t they?”

  “Alaric of the Feathered Eyes’...” Khali growled in distaste, “Ghost, Lucian Voss of the Voss Syndicate, Kolasi of Viridian Flame… those bastards have been regarding me with far too much contempt, especially recently with the Dracoferus Tribe falling behind in power.”

  Dragos sighed, "Things were working perfectly fine up until a few years ago... everything went downhill with the disappearance of that woman."

  “Things are no longer how they were like when that woman was around.” Khali crushed the viscera in his hand, causing flesh and gore to splatter all over the entrance of the room. “Her underlings are incapable!”

  Dragos recalled the woman clearly. Her organisation, the Haimos’ Chosen, had been the only one amongst the six powerful figures of the Avyssos that they didn’t have bad blood with.

  “That woman was truly the slyest of vixens.” Dragos simply said. “If she’s been missing for this long, then there’s a good chance that she’s dead.”

  Several images of her flashed in Khali’s mind, particularly her conceited smirk and her lavender purple hair. A devilish glint suddenly appeared in his eyes, and he let out a sudden, spine-chilling laugh, “Well, whatever. If there’s one thing I regret, it’s that I never got the chance to wring her little neck!”