The dark blanket of nighttime was cast over Prontera. Outside the massive city it was relatively quiet, with insects chirping and Porings bouncing around. Roda Frogs were ribbiting, thief bugs were chirping, and Creamies were flying around. The only source of illumination outside of the city's exit was a single lantern bobbing in the darkness. The trio walked out into the forest, Reev and Ceilu both knowing there was nothing dangerous out there, but Mythiel clinging onto Reev in fear. A Roda Frog jumped out of the bushes and let out a ribbit, causing Mythiel to scream and hide behind Reev. Reev rolled his eyes.
"Mythiel, you're a ferocious Cat o' Nine Tails and you're scared of a Roda Frog?" sighed Reev. Mythiel scowled and jumped out in front of Reev.
"I'm not scared!" cried Mythiel. With that, she swung her bell and smacked that Roda Frog against the wall. The creature twitched a few times then became motionless. Mythiel was laughing evilly, running around Reev in a circle once and skidding to a halt.
"Hello?" called Reev. "Anybody out there?" There was no response. "Hmmm...it looks like we'll have to search pretty hard. Ceilu, go right. I'll go forward, and Mythiel will go left." Ceilu nodded and took off into the darkness; nighttime was his thing, so he wasn't visible for long once Reev gave out instructions. Mythiel crept quietly towards the left, and Reev dashed forward.
Mythiel started to get nervous again; she wasn't used to being in this kind of darkness. A creamy flew by her and she stifled another scream, leaping back and raising her bell in a menacing stance. Silently scolding herself, she kept creeping through the woods. She soon found herself shivering. Suddenly she saw a pair of glowing red eyes in the bushes. Mythiel froze inside, and decided that maybe she was just hallucinating. She put her bell down, rubbed her eyes, and looked again. When she looked, the eyes were still there, but her bell was gone. She was defenseless. There was a low growl in the bushes, and the eyes rose. Mythiel couldn't hide her fear anymore. She let out a terrified scream and ran as fast as she could through the woods towards where Reev was going. She found Reev and clung to him for dear life. Reev didn't know that it was Mythiel, so he screamed as well.
"HELP! IT'S GOT ME!" cried Reev, desperately trying to shake Mythiel off him. Mythiel looked into Reev's face.
"R-Reev, it's j-just m-m-me!" stammered Mythiel, shaking in fear. "I...I saw...g-g-g-glowing eyes! They were s-staring at me, and...and...and..." Reev groaned and gave Mythiel a dry look.
"All right, I'll go see these 'glowing red eyes' of yours." groaned Reev. He stomped furiously through the woods towards where Mythiel had been searching. Suddenly the two heard the faint beating of hand drums. There seemed to be a campfire of some sort nearby. Reev was curious, and Mythiel was scared again. She was clinging onto Reev for dear life. When they reached the clearing where Mythiel had seen the glowing red eyes, Mythiel pointed nervously at the bushes where she had seen the red eyes. A Lunatic hopped innocently out of the bushes. Reev turned around and glared at Mythiel.
"You got all worked up over a stupid little rabbit?!" shouted Reev. Mythiel took a step away from Reev, shielding her face with her arms. Reev groaned again in a much angrier tone. "Fine. I'll stick with you and prove to you that there aren't any---"Reev suddenly noticed that the Lunatic was staring right at him, and its eyes were glowing red. "Hmm...maybe it's an albino." Mythiel was petrified with fear. The Lunatic's body started glowing a faint red color. Reev and Mythiel both screamed at the same time, running as fast as they could deeper into the forest. They heard the drums closer and could hear the fire crackling in the black night.
"Let's go see what that is." whispered Mythiel, still shaking in fear. The two quietly crept through the forest and climbed up a rock, laying down to stay out of sight. They peered out from over the rock and were horrified at what they saw.
Sure enough, they were right in thinking that it was some sort of campfire. It was actually a bonfire, and Lunatics were crowded around it, their eyes glowing red. There was a tall wooden pole in front of the fire, and tied to it was a young child with a piece of cloth gagging him. He was squirming frantically. Reev's eyes widened, and Mythiel was even more scared than before, burying her face in Reev's left shoulder. There was a strange man dressed in a black hooded robe clutching a scythe, and he slowly moved towards the trapped child, whose muffled screams were frightened and desperate.
"Children of Arok'Zha, we are gathered here tonight to make...a sacrifice." said the strange man, in a low, smooth, deathly cold voice. "This child's spilt blood will be the first of many to come."
"Wow...talk about a weirdo religion." whispered Reev. The figure started to raise his scythe, pausing, supposedly savoring the moment. He raised it a little further and started to bring it down. Reev's and Mythiel's hearts froze in terror. Just as the scythe was about to deliver a fatal blow to the innocent child...
"HI-YAH!"
Suddenly the figure froze. A figure dressed in all black had jumped out of the shadows and stabbed something into the figure, who slowly dropped the scythe and slumped over, purple-ish blood spilling onto the ground. The Lunatics all began bouncing in unison, chittering in unison as well in a creepy tone. The new figure cut the child loose and picked him up, dashing into the shadows. It took Reev a minute to realize that it was Ceilu.
"Well, what do you know? Ceilu saved the day." said Reev. "Let's go in and help him out!" The Lunatics, who had all begun to follow Ceilu, suddenly froze when they heard Reev let out a loud and slightly embarrassing battle cry. Reev jumped down off the rock and kicked one of the Lunatics into a tree. The other Lunatics all tried to dogpile Reev, only to figure out that the young monk was much too fast for them. Mythiel saw her bell leaned against the tree and darted down from the rock to go get it. When she grabbed it, she swung it like a baseball bat and hit one of the Lunatics into Reev, doubling him over.
"Ow! Watch it!" cried Reev, clutching his stomach. The Lunatics all took advantage of this and knocked Reev to the ground, piling on top of him and all chittering in unison, as if they were saying something in Lunatic language. Reev screamed and suddenly burst up, throwing them all off him matrix-style minus the slow motion part. He and Mythiel all ran through the forest, trying to find Ceilu and/or the city entrance. All the Lunatics all made a loud cry, and suddenly they all started glowing purple. Reev and Mythiel stopped in their tracks and watched as all the Lunatics were raised in the air and brought together to form a giant Lunatic demon.
"This isn't good..." said Reev.