Prologue
Pale silver rays of light shone dully on a sparsely wooded clearing, illuminating the dying embers of a hastily made fire. Tall oak trees ringed around it, the branches reaching towards the overcast skies as if in prayer. The dark bark pieces lying next to the fire seemed to absorb the faint light it gave off, the darkness greedily devouring the fading light. Two figures were barely illuminated by the soft orange glow, clad in dark thick clothing to ward off the cold. Barely standing at the far edge of the light, the tall man looked impassively at the slumbering boy; that is if not for the messily wrapped bandages around his chest.
A low hiss of pain echoed through the densely wooded forest, as a young man inhaled deeply as his bright green eyes slowly began to open, hissing in pain as light reached them. He slowly blinked, the effort taxing his body and mind, struggling to find the hushed whispers near his prone form. His short blonde hair covered one of his eyes, the emerald orb slowly adjusting to the faint moonlight. A silver ring on his right hand glinted in the faint light, his fingers slowly clenching the soft dirt. Tattered pieces of dark cloth lay strewn around him, some lighter in color than others.
The whispers ceased as the clouds shifted above the clearing, illuminating a well-toned man with dark sapphire eyes. His breathing paused as he registered the slow even breathing of the fallen figure, and his jaw clenched in fear. His long silver hair flowed gently around his broad shoulders; muscles tensed painfully as he stopped speaking. His pale blue cloak lay forgotten near a dying fire, the soft orange glow barely reaching his frozen form. A dark set of what appeared to be fine garments was now slowly drenched in sweat, the black fabric cooling far too quickly.
The young man began to sit up, hissing in pain as he struggled to inhale the cool night air. He gently touched his chest, a dark look crossing his face as he registered the dark crimson fluid covering his hand. His eyes darted to the frozen man, who had begun to back up into the waiting darkness beyond the small clearing. Memories began to flood his mind of the day before, his gaze darkening as he recalled the man.
"Where is she?" Sai's soft voice echoed in the unnaturally quiet air, the gentle airy tone sounding devoid of feeling. He stood with some effort, and slowly advanced toward his unwilling companion. "Marcus where is the girl I was travelling with?" he spoke again to the terrified man, his breathing evening out.
"Sai, who are you looking for?" the man squeaked out, the pitiful sound barely reaching the boys ears. Marcus backed away further, only to freeze as his back hit the cool bark of a tree. Slowly turning his head, he looked up into the dark branches of the ancient oak and his widened. "There was no one here when I found you unconscious losing a lot of blood. I am amazed you are even alive, much less moving around so soon after such a deep wound."
The boy's eyes closed for a moment, as he inhaled slowly, collecting his thoughts. Flashes of the man now trembling before him ran through his mind, as his jaw clenched in anger. How dare he try to lie to me, Sai thought venomously. His senses ceased as he delved into the last time the two had met. With a faint hitch in his breathing, he felt his rage dissipate, the scene in front of him calming in a sense.
A young woman smiled at the boy; her bright sapphire eyes gleaming in the empty room. Pages of parchment were strewn across the floor, the young woman wearing a plain white lab coat unmarred by dust. The name Veronica was carefully stitched into the fabric just over her right breast in black thread, her mouth moving in slow motion. The girl's gaze fell to the floor, her long silver hair covering her eyes as she began to sob. Blots of wetness began to hit the floor below her, her red leather boots stopping her tears from disturbing the grime.
A man's voice echoed through the silent room, the words reverberating in his ears. "Veronica, you have grown too close to this project." The faint candlelight in the room illuminated the voices owner, the same man that now trembled in fear before him. The pale youth felt his temper storm forth in a surge, his eyes shooting open. His eyes analyzed his surroundings rapidly, seeing the reason for his ire rooted in place.
"Save it," Sai scowled angrily, his thin fingers clenching into a tight fist, short nails biting into his palm. "You know where she is, and you will tell me, "He spoke icily, gaze dropping to follow the whimpering man. He dropped a hand into his pocket, the dark denim jeans illuminated better in the clear moonlight. After a moment of pondering, his eyes closed slowly, and Marcus exhaled in relief. The next words he heard caused his heart to almost stop, the soft threat registering in his mind.
"If you don't tell me where Vernoica is now, I take no responsibility for what happens next," Sai pulled his right hand out of his pocket, the silver ring now missing. His eyes began to glow with an unnatural crimson light, and his pupils slowly mutated. The fearful man began to weep uncontrollably, slowly meeting Sai's gaze. He fumbled in his breast pocket, a tattered piece of parchment falling to the ground. The boy looked down at the note impassively.
The older man felt his blood run cold as the sheet hit the ground. The boy in front of him fixed him with a frigid glare, the cat like slits of his pupils narrowed. A single swift jerk of his head towards the sheet had the older man slowly reach towards it. Sai wordlessly held out his hand, silently demanding the page. The man shook violently as the decision was made rapidly, to spare his life or lose it.
Marcus grabbed the parchment piece with trembling fingers and hesitantly put it into the boy's outstretched hand. "This is all I was told, and that's all you'll find out from me," he growled, fear giving way to rage. "By now, that little harlot should be about to Felrize. And we both know what is going to happen then, don't we?" Marcus sneered, the young man's gaze returning to him.
His gaze growing colder, Sai paused in his thoughts as he looked at Marcus. The man was finally showing a backbone after losing the only piece of leverage he had over him. An amused chuckle echoed in the overwhelming silence. The sheer audacity of the former scientist to threaten someone close to him was simply too hilarious to fathom. Letting his shoulders drop in fatigue, the youth let the laughter spill from his lips for a moment before cutting the sound off.
Sai inhaled deeply, his chest rising with the cool air flooding into his lungs, before slipping his right hand gingerly into his pocket. Marcus watched in relief as his eyes returned to their earlier emerald shade, pupils shrinking and rounding out. The middle-aged hunter knew that whatever this boy really was, was not human at all nor even a Shadow. His features were far clearer than before, the sharp jawbone coupled with a sculpted facial structure seeming ethereal. The boy did not look to be any older than sixteen summers, yet the older man could almost feel the dread from even looking at him.
The man's reprieve was short lived as he heard a gentle hiss from behind the tree his back rested against. Pausing in his thoughts, he glanced over his shoulder and his face blanched, the color draining rapidly as he saw the source of the sound. The young man simply smiled ruefully as he watched the massive four-legged creature bare its teeth, and it lunged for the stocky man. "Well, I do believe it's time to do my job, wouldn't you say, friend?" Sai sneered the last word, grabbing Marcus by the arm and tossing him away from the growling beast.
Marcus landed near the dead firepit, smoldering ashes burning his back as he backed away from the scene in front of him. Sai wore a malevolent smile, as he inspected the wolf like creature, its shoulders reaching his own, and it howled. The sound carried through the silent forest, a long echoing call to its packmates, its glowing yellow eyes reflecting the faint light. Its muzzle opened slightly, showing a set of jagged teeth meant for ripping its prey to shreds, its lean muscled form crouched low to the ground. Its pitch-colored fur bristled with rage as it slowly advanced toward him.
The older man looked in terror as Sai simply took off his jacket, the black leather torn and cut in spots, and tossed it to him. The faint shine of dull grey metal glinted in the light, the youth drawing a short blade with a serrated edge. The crimson outline of a crow gleamed unnaturally brightly as he drew the dagger, and Marcus realized just what he had done. "Of course it had to be one of those abominations," the man whispered to himself, the faint sound reaching the boys ears. "It just had to be one of their dogs."
Sai ignored the man and lunged for the wolf, cursing as his chest clenched in agony. He glanced down at the ground when he heard the faint drip of liquid hitting the packed dirt. The wolf bared its teeth again, and launched itself at him, grabbing his arm in its powerful jaws. With a savage growl, the boy neatly slid the blade under its throat and yanked it across the soft flesh, fur becoming soaked with ichor colored blood. Instead of releasing his arm as he had hoped, he felt searing agony as the beast seemed to bite harder.
Sai froze for the briefest of seconds, his mind racing, before it came to the truth he had barely remembered. Of course, a blade would not work on the creature in front of him. It was not a wolf at all, but something far more dangerous. It was the same thing that had put its paws into his chest before he woke up. The situation he was thrust into, his confidence wavering, was not one he could handle alone.
The beast using his arm as a chew toy was referred to as a Shadow, a creature that preyed on humans like cattle. The issue was not that he could not take it down, Sai thought. The issue was that there was a witness, a criminal in fact, that took someone precious from him. The boy would rather let the man behind him die as punishment for breaking the rules. A sharp pain in his forearm reminded him that the Shadow was going to rip his arm off if he did not do anything and fast.
As the blood dripped to the ground from his wounds, the bloody teenager looked at the cowering man in disgust. With a yelp of pain, the monstrous beast threw him into the tree behind it, its neck bleeding profusely. As his vision darkened the last thought he had running through his mind was a simple one. "You will take the punishment for this, won't you, Marcus?" The boy's soft voice was barely a whisper, his breathing ragged from the searing pain.
Marcus froze momentarily as the implications of the question registered in his mind. There was no way it was possible this was the same boy he had known over a decade before. The boy had to be some sort of Shadow, or something else he had never even heard of. The punishment Sai spoke of couldn't have been the same one he thought it could be, but the low growl snapped him from his thoughts. He fumbled with the words, as he gazed towards the ground Sai bled out on.
"I will deal with it!" The man yelled at the youth, watching as the silver ring from before dropped from his hand. A cold chill raced through the small clearing, and the massive beast froze, instinctively. It looked towards the dying boy, backing away as if sensing something. Marcus felt his heart plummet as he saw the reaction from the creature, terror gripping him in a tight embrace.
The only sound heard in that moment was the faint splash sound of rapidly cooling blood, the dark liquid staining the grass. The Shadow began to growl as it paused its movement and seemingly made a decision. The faint sound of Sai's heart ceased; his body covered in darkness for what felt like hours, the clouds above halting the moon's pale light. The shadow began to advance toward the young man cautiously, eyes glowing with a form of twisted malice toward the one who had injured it. A lower growling had Marcus frantically looking behind the boy's corpse, as two more Shadows appeared from the tree line.
The pair each grabbed a limb of the body, dragging it closer to the leader of the pack. After a few feet, the pair threw the bitten teenager toward Marcus, watching as more of the precious life blood slowly oozed from new wounds. In unison the small pack advanced towards the man, eyes gleaming. They would enjoy the taste of the older man's flesh, and they preferred it seasoned with fear. A small movement, however, caught the pack's attention at once distanced from their coming meal.
A small groan emanated from the boy, his fingers twitching violently as he grabbed at the dirt he lay in. The pack paused, shoulders tensed, and Marcus barely stifling a note of surprise at the sound. The implication was clear now, the research he had been doing before retirement now had borne results. Results that now defied logic and even the natural order of the world. Results that would now deal out a punishment far worse than anything his country had given him for not strengthening the military.
The project he had worked on kept a great deal of promise when he was given the green light for human trials. Of course, with humanity on the verge of extinction, many safeties were ignored or just outright dissolved to give even the faintest chance at survival. The monsters before him had torn his entire family to shreds right before his eyes, making his desire for vengeance grow with each failure. Time after time, every test subject had died or gone insane within the first two days of their injections. That is until they isolated the gene that triggered the rejection and began to change it in hopes of at least preventing the deaths.
"Bas was a success after all," Marcus whispered to himself disbelievingly. This meant of course that his chances of leaving this small area had effectively been reduced to nothing. "No, that's not quite right," he mumbled, watching as Sai slowly opened his eyes. The wolves froze as they recognized the same feeling Marcus had felt. The sheer primal fear they showed was no doubt paralyzing them in place, rows of teeth marks burning away from their quarries flesh with audible hissing.
As the wounds were sealed, Sai got to his feet, the only evidence of the injuries being the blood dripping from their pack's mouths. The previously dead man simply cocked his head from side to side quickly, a series of sharp pops echoing loudly. His eyes slowly changing to a dull crimson color, pupils extending into a catlike appearance, while his hair darkened to a maroon shade not unlike the carnage surrounding him. A faint moment of darkness had the young man's clothes fully restored, the final nail in the proverbial coffin. The wolves turned and ran away into the darkness, yelping and cowering to escape the monster now left alone with him.
A cold laugh escaped from Sai's lips; the sound hauntingly cheerful amidst the dark crimson painting the ground. A stifled gasp from the prone man had the youth turn towards him. Marcus looked at where Sai had been just a moment before, his heartbeat echoing in his ears. The dense woods surrounding the clearing did nothing to stop the screams reverberating through the darkness, a blood-covered ring lying forgotten in the grass.