Hope coiled himself around the back of a dead tree. Smog swirled around his feet and blurred the forest, making the entire scene hazy along with Hope's adrenaline and rapid panting. Sweat dripped down Hope's forehead and he struggled to keep quiet. His heart pulsed his entire body, making him shudder in fear. A loud cry made Hope inhale sharply.

Gornorspids. Ravenous, man eating wolf beasts. And they were close by the sound of it.

A whole pack had sniffed sweat and fear swirling along with the air and licked their colossal chops in delight. A young, frightened, running, easy kill. How exciting! They'd eat well tonight.

Hope heard rustling amongst the tree roots behind him on the other side of the trunk. He swallowed hard and firmly gripped his basket. He heard the low, deep breaths of a Gornorspid on the other side. It went in a haunting rhythm, breathing in...then out... Hope shut his eyes tight, wishing that something would make it go away.

Then he blinked. An idea formed in his mind.

Quick as a wink, Hope chucked his basket away from him and down the path. It bounced loudly amongst the silence and disappeared into the mist. The Gornorspids looked up with low grunts then sped off into the mist.

Hope held his breath until the thumps of the beasts' feet were inaudible. He slowly moved his head to look back. Seeing nothing that could eat him there, Hope turned his head forward again.

Only to catch a glimpse of a pair of blue eyes flash before him.

Hope gasped as he staggered back and pressed himself in to the tree trunk. His arms flung up to his face and he prepared for the worst. When nothing but silence came, Hope warily looked up.

A silver owl stared down at Hope with a pair of hypnotizing blue eyes. Hope slowly got back to his feet and gazed up at it. The owl scanned Hope without a single movement, its eyes hard and empty. Hope swallowed as he kept the stare up.

Without warning, the bird sliced through the air, barely missing Hope's cheek. Hope turned in awe as the bird landed on another branch and cocked its head towards a path. "Do you want me to follow you?", Hope murmured. The bird nodded its head. Hope stared up in surprise, blinking a few times. The bird then flapped its wings again and headed down the trail. Hope raised his hand after it, "Wait!" He took off running.

Hope stopped as the haze thickened and the trees thinned. He looked up, gaping in awe at the sight before him. A crescent moon washed silver light over the crumbling ruins of a towering castle. It was frozen over with a layer of blue crystal, as if the crystal was a tidal wave that washed over the castle then instantly froze mid way through impact. The stones of the castle were worn out, gray and full of cracks. Dark vines snared up the walls of stone and crystal, breaking into broken, colorless stain glass windows. One of the many towers' roofs had crashed in on itself and debris littered the crystal dust covered ground. An eerie glow came from the crystals and around the castle walls and a towering, gothic metal gate looked down on Hope.

The owl stopped at the top of the gate, looking down at Hope expectantly. Hope swallowed and looked down at his feet. Here was his only chance to experience something he could only read about. But would he regret it if he did touch the gate? He'd soon find out.

Hope raised a shaking hand to the cold metal. He pushed the creaking gate open, flinching at the scratching hiss it made. Hope took a step forward and blinked hard. A whooshing shiver ran up and down his body, chilling him to the bone and making him shutter. Hope took another step forward, another pang of frigid force traveled through his soul then vanished in an instant. Hope clenched his teeth. What had just happened? He shook his head and hurriedly kept walking to avoid thinking about it.

Hope put all of his force onto the heavy, wooden doors of the castle. They slowly inched forward, letting out a rasping, gritty sound as it rubbed against the dirt. When Hope had finally opened it enough so that he could squeeze through, he ducked inside and looked back. The owl had disappeared and the iron gate had closed by itself. Hope swallowed hard again then looked forward.

A fine crystal dust covered the tarnished marble floor of a grand opening hall. Pillars stood in rows on either end, and a dank swirl of darkness was tangible in the dimly moonlit room. Hope felt cool pressure on his tongue from the ancient, tense, thick air. Hope wandered forward, his foots steps muffled by the sandy dust.

Hope turned his head back and forth, taking in the scene. The pillars had strange marks on them, like some sort of huge monster had sank its claws into the stone and raked them down the sides without resistance. Hope hugged his arms close and looked down at his feet. The crystal dust softly crunched under foot, raising into the air around his foot from the disturbance and glowing a blue green in the moonlight. Hope's eyebrow raised as he saw gigantic imprints in the sand, apparently made from the feet of some large, tottering thing by the way the prints wobbled in a drunken line. Hope looked up and began to quietly shuffle onward, carefully thinking out every breath.

Hope pricked his ears up as he neared a stair well. Nothing had stirred on his way through the hall and the creepy silence was not a good sign. Hope froze and listened closely to beating of his heart, the rush of blood to his head, the lazy cascade of nervous sweat down the back of his neck, and the slur of darkness. Hope jumped as a drawn out creak came from the door. He pivoted in fright, raising his fists into the air. As the last of the light from the door disappeared, Hope had managed to make out a hulking, human like figure lurching towards him.

A pitiful low moan resounded from the gut of the figure and against the darkness. A shiver rattled Hope up and down and he whispered, "Wh-who's there?" This time there was no sound of then the shuffling of unbalanced, heavy feet against the dust. Hope raised his hands up, "Don't get closer!-" The shuffling stopped and Hope's heart lurched in his chest.

A splitting scream echoed from in front of Hope, so loud that Hope's ear drums popped. Hope cried softly out in pain, raising his hands to coddle his ears. The blood curdling sound still roared in his head, along with a more hurried shambling of bear like feet. Hope shuffled back in panic, shielding his head in his arms. He tripped over the bottom set of stairs, falling backwards and into a gap of moonlight. Hope's eye lids trembled open and his heart stopped from horror at what he saw.

A crystallized, humanoid zombie slumped into the light. It towered over the cowering Hope, its body weight unevenly distributed, favoring the left side due to the gross mutation of one of the thing's arms. The arm's muscles were unraveling on itself, creating a curled vortex of thick, twisted, almost finger like claws with pointed ends ready to rip into flesh. The other hand was smaller, but still dis-formed into a oversized bear claw. Both arms were thick and spines of sharp crystal jutted out in layers. The shoulders and neck had disappeared, leaving two hulking crystal spikes where they should be. What was once the face of a person was now discolored a sick blue, crystals encrusting over the eyes and almost foaming out of the mangled mouth. Two lanky legs bulged out of the central mass of the being, barely stable enough to keep the monster from toppling over and smashing into pieces. At the center of the ghastly ghoul was a red sickening, pulsing eye; empty and menacing; filling the role of where a warm heart should be. Woe and regret rolled off the being in waves and its breathing rumbled like a broken machine.

Hope had seen his first nightmare come to reality; a petrifying, unrelenting demon known as a Cie'th.

Hope was frozen in terror, just staring up at the Cie'th like the symbol of death it was known to be. The Cie'th seemed to be observing Hope, although it had no eyes to do so. It raised its heavier arm into the air and Hope moved up a few stairs out of the way without thinking. The arm slowly slammed down where Hope just was, leaving a deep hole in the stairs. Finally snapped out of his panicked trance, Hope skidded away up the stairs like a cat.

Fear made Hope's head spin in confusion, his body acting on its own. He could feel his feet hit the ground, his heart threatening to burst right out of his chest, his muscles barely steady from aches, his throat burn from deathly screeches that he made but couldn't hear, and the dark rooms blurring all at once. Hope turned corners and up stairs only to find himself confronted by more shambling Cie'th. They were a colorful variety, some with long necks and thinner figures; others with hulking bodies that were a mystery as to how they could stay upright; some that were tiny and ball sized with one arm that snapped at Hope's ankles; and even some that seemed to levitate in the air with flapping limbs instead arms. A flurry of bat-like Cie'th dive bombed at Hope's head and he raised his arms to bat them away. Hope finally found an open door and slammed it closed with craze-induced strength, locking the Cie'th out and away from him.

Hope looked around in a daze and spotted an ancient grand piano. He slid to the ground and huddled underneath it. Hope buried his face in his knees, holding back tears from physical and emotional scars. He could hear the slams of Cie'th limbs as they cracked their crystals on the door, attempting to burst it open. Hope sat in dread as the door made sickening shrieks that grew louder and louder; he knew that when the door finally gave in to sweet violent death that he would have to surrender too.

Hope's heart stopped as a bang came from the door as it broke of its hinges and the dire screeches of Cie'th echoed into the room, closing in on the piano. Hope didn't look up but could hear the smooshing of the Cie'th feet on the dust getting closer. Then it stopped and a low grunt came from above Hope. He barely looked up when-BAM-a deafening crash came as something splintering and wooden caved in over the top of his head, then nothing as he instantaneously blacked out.

An upright Cie'th dug its claws into Hope's ankles, dragging the fainted boy out from under the piano. The boy's head was bleeding from where Cie'th had smashed the piano in over him. The Cie'th encircled the defenseless kid and began to beat on his body, causing dark bruises to appear on the boy's pale skin. A flying Cie'th pecked at the boy's bleeding scalp, a clubbed Cie'th hand smashed into Hope's thigh, a lanky Cie'th cupped Hope's shoulder in its cat claws then flipped him over and left long scratches, the largest Cie'th raised its arm up, aiming for Hope's head laceration-

"That is enough!", an ancient, brutish voice roared from the doorway. The Cie'th all staggered back, leaving the broken body of Hope on the floor like a discarded rag doll.

An immense Cie'th stalked regally forward to Hope. It snagged some of its gigantic lion claws around one of Hope's arms and lifted him up off the ground. Hope hung limply, with his still handsome face in a pained sleep and blood seeping down it. It held Hope's closed eyes to its eye level and examined his dirty and pained expression. "This could be the one.", it whispered in a hushed tone. Blood dripped from Hope's chin down onto the Cie'th's claws but it didn't flinch at all.

"All of you, do not follow me.", the Cie'th commanded and rushed out of the door with impressive balance. It dragged Hope across the dusty floors by its claws without a second thought, leaving a trail in the dust.

The Cie'th busted open the door to a room and called out, "Mistress, I've found the source of the disturbance." A figure in the dark said with a cold, strong feminine voice, "What was it Dysley?" The Cie'th known as Dysley threw Hope onto the ground in front of the figure, dust clouding up the scene. The figure didn't move but it's piercing blue eyes narrowed, "What kind of cruel joke is this?" "I am not jesting Mistress. This boy trespassed into the castle grounds." The blue eyes looked back down at the boy and whispered, "Not possible..." "Apparently it is Mistress. Mynerva found him and thought that he was perhaps the one we've been waiting for.", Dysley said in a croaking voice only an old diplomat would have. The blue eyes scanned the boy without showing any emotion. Then it quickly snatched the boy up and raised him to its eyes. The boy didn't move and the eyes continued to stare on without any trace of feeling but an immense amount of thought.

There was a flash of dark pink light from the figure's grasp and the boy let out a screech. The boy kicked wildly, half conscious from the shock the force of the light had burned into his skin. "Mistress!", Dysley cried out in surprise. The boy struggled to be free of the grasp, but it was to no avail as the pain drained him to unconsciousness again and he hung limply by the strong figure's hold. The light began to fade and the figure threw the boy aside and back into the moonlight.

"Mistress, what possessed you to brand this child?", Dysley raged as he shambled forward and examined the child's wrist. The wrist was faintly glowing with the same dark pink color. Then the light faded away, leaving a dark mark on the boy's pale skin. The cold voice answered, "He is never to leave these grounds. The brand will make sure of that." "But he could-" "No contradicting my word!", the figure cried out, "Now go lock the boy in the dungeon for now." "Mis-" "I ordered NOW!", the figure shouted so powerful the room shook.

Dysley murmured, "Indeed." as he took hold of the boy again. He spotted a Cie'th and said, "You there! Take this human down to the dungeons and make sure to bind him up in chains. The Mistress doesn't want him to escape." The Cie'th gave a respectful nod to Dysley, "Of course." It heaved the boy off the ground and over its sharp shoulder, not caring to think of the damage it could do. It hauled the child off to the dungeon and shackled him up, raising a non-existent curious eyebrow when it saw the mark the child bore on his wrist. The Mistress was up to something, and that meant a storm was brewing on the horizon.