Before Eclipse got near them, Chael tackled him onto the floor. He fell with a loud thud, and then Chael straddled him before he could get up. Eclipse looked murderously at Chael, “Let. Me. Go!”

  “Chill out! You’ll get us both killed.” Chael whispered harshly.

  At this moment, Chael’s pupils contracted as two taunting figures stood one step away from them.

  “Hey, little fuck with the grey hair. What did you just say to me and Vice Chief Dragos?” The shorter man exclaimed.

  Eclipse managed to shake Chael off and then stood up. Finally, having noticed the severity of the situation, Eclipse cursed at his recklessness. Chael smacked Eclipse’s head, “I’m sorry about my little brother. He has a mental disorder where he gets angry at anything and everyone who comes into his sight. Ever since he was little, he’d start picking fights with trees and rocks. If he’s offended you, I’m sorry on his behalf.”

  Dragos and his lackey immediately grew dumbstruck as they burnt off a few brain cells trying to process his explanation.

  Eclipse’s eyebrows twitched, hearing Chael spout all this nonsense about him. He then turned to Eclipse, “Yo, little bro. Say sorry!"

  The lackey clenched his fist, his eyes going dark, “Oi, listen up, you little fucks. Do you take us for fools?”

  Just as he got ready to grab them, Dragos put out his arm and stopped him, “Thorn, that’s enough.”

  “But Vice Chief he-.”

  Not allowing the man to finish his sentence, Dragos swiftly swung out his arm and landed a hard blow to the man’s abdomen. Eclipse and Chael flinched at the sudden movement, and the man known as Thorn dropped to his knees and started puking.

  “That’s for making me talk more than I have to.” Dragos leered at this man with an ironclad expression.

  Thorn coughed as he tried to gasp out the words, “I…m sorry, Vice Chief."

  Dragos then slowly turned to Eclipse, a menacing shadow cast over his face, “I hope I heard that wrong. What you just called me. I don’t feel like killing a kid today.”

  “Ahaha! You definitely heard wrong. Right, little bro?” Chael laughed nervously and prayed that Eclipse would play along.

  Eclipse gritted his teeth, “Yeah.”

  An eerily gentle smile crossed Dragos’ face, “In that case, I guess everything's fine. Thorn, get up.”

  With that, Dragos turned his back on them and carried on his way. Thorn got up and glared at them savagely before running to catch up with Dragos.

  After they vanished from sight. Chael let out a long and hard breath. He then turned to Eclipse and grabbed his collar, shaking him hard, “Bro, what's wrong with you?! That was the Dracoferus Vice Chief! Not any of those slow-witted thugs you can easily outrun after kicking their balls! You almost got us killed!”

  Eclipse simply glared in their direction, “Those fuckers deserve to die!"

  Chael finally calmed down and then slumped on the floor, “So you don't like those uglies, huh?”

  “What I wanna know is why they just left us…”

  “Ahaha! Why don’t you catch up to him and ask?” Chael laughed.

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  Eclipse shot him a fierce glare, and Chael stagnated, a sweat falling down his forehead as he continued smiling awkwardly.

  “Aaaah, whatever. Let’s go back to your place.” Eclipse yawned, “I’m tired as hell.”

  “Same… I’ll need more than just a few hours of sleep to process all the crazy shit that happened today.”

  As they turned to leave, they saw the pile of flesh and blood not far from them. It was already attracting flies, and several rats were sniffing around it. Eclipse shuddered, looking at the scene, and Chael simply sighed.

  They decided not to say anything and walked back to the inn in silence.

  Soon, they arrived at the back of the rundown inn and made their way to Chael’s room.

  The room was almost completely dark except for the dim shade of red coming from the blood moon. In the darkness, Eclipse noticed Shadow, who was still asleep. He walked up to the wolf and ran his palm over its fur. Its eyelids slowly lifted and revealed pupils redder than the moon. Seeing this, the faintest light returned to Eclipse's pupils.

  “You were asleep for ages, Shadow,” Eclipse said as Shadow began to lick his fingers.

  “Oh, your dog’s awake?”

  “It’s a fucking wolf!”

  Chael walked over to the cupboard and opened it, revealing a couple of sets of clothes that he went through individually. Eclipse was shocked, “Wait, where did you get all these clothes from?"

  Chael smiled, "I borrowed these clothes from, you know, washing lines…”

  Eclipse’s brows twitched, then he took his eyes back to Shadow, who finally got up and stretched. Eclipse held Shadow with a single hand and removed the bloodstained cloth around its wound with the other, and sure enough, several fang marks were present, but they had all been healed.

  Chael finally pulled out a black t-shirt and black pants. “Change into these. You smell pretty bad, ahaha.”

  “Shadow, if you're hungry, eat that boy for me,” Eclipse muttered, glaring at Chael with dark eyes. Shadow peered at Chael in curiosity, who just laughed awkwardly.

  Finally, having changed out of his old clothes, Eclipse felt a lot cleaner. He then dropped straight into the pile of rags and slid under the cover, and Shadow followed.

  “Uhm, yo, that’s my bed,” Chael said.

  “Too bad. Just find another room.”

  Chael smiled bitterly, “The other rooms are too dusty. I’ll need a longer time to clean one of those rooms than I’ll have enough time to sleep.”

  Eclipse didn’t reply. His eyes had already fallen into a deep sleep.

  Seconds later, he started snoring.

  Having realised this, Chael sighed and then slouched down against a wall with his hands behind his head. Soon, he was deep in contemplation.

  He looked over in Eclipse’s direction and a slight smile formed across his lips, after which he turned back and closed his eyes.

  At this moment, somewhere not so far away, Dragos and Thorn were seated in the heart of a desolate forest. The trees were leafless, and cold hung in the atmosphere. The air was thick with an unsettling stillness, broken only by the crackling flames of a fire which cast an orange hue over Dragos’ formidable figure. His large, muscular frame moved with a predatory grace as he tore into the flesh of a horse with his teeth, the corpse suspended over a spit roast, the flames dancing beneath it like ghostly apparitions.

  Thorn was sitting beside Dragos, his features obscured by the dim firelight. Both men devoured the horse with a ferocity that mirrored the sinister aura of this forest.

  Suddenly, a haunting cry pierced the eerie silence. It was the cry of a hawk. Thorn swiftly rose and reached for his bow and arrow on instinct and maintained his position, but he noticed something and lowered his bow. The hawk circled overhead before flapping its wings and landing on Thorn’s wrists. There was a small piece of paper attached to it.

  “It’s a message from Chief Khali.” Thorn said as he took out the paper and threw the hawk back into the air, “It’s unlike him to contact us while we’re on duty.”

  Dragos carried on sinking his teeth into the half-cooked flesh of the horse and uttered two words, “Read it.”

  Thorn unravelled the piece of paper and began to read, “The Grapefruit Village is gone. It’s now replaced with a giant hole in the Earth at least fifteen metres deep, like the whole village was dug out. I don’t know how or why, but it may be the doing of that man. Everything is gone. But the cottage Duozian lived in is still there.”

  Dragos’ face grew solemn several-fold fold and he slowly put down a bone, his brows furrowed. Had this message come from anyone but Khali, he’d have a hard time not doubting them.

  “This Duozian obviously died here, but his body is nowhere to be found. Neither his body nor the Nine Lamentations of Conquered Worlds. After talking to Alaric, I was left with one single lead. A boy, namely Duozian’s grandkid. He was last seen in Gravestone Village with another boy of his age…”

  Thorn expressed confusion, but he carried on reading. By the time he was done, Dragos had already gotten up, his large frame sending a bear, which had been eyeing them, cowering away.

  “It’s them.” Dragos said coldly, a fiery glow in his pupils, “My instincts never lie.”