"Do you see it?" someone whispered.

"What am I looking for?" Artemus whispered back. The wind blew snow into his eyes as he peeked through the branches, but he did not blink.

"You call yourself a lycanthrope?" another whisper came from a branch above him, "There a dark yeti up by the cave." Artemus kissed his teeth at the insult and squinted, his vision piercing through the snow and boughs.

"I see it. How do we sneak up on it?" he took his hand off the trunk, and tightened his headband. They responded with a poorly suppressed chuckle. Aeton jumped down from the branch above, only his flaming eyes visible under his plain white mask.

"We're here to see you battle, my dear Artemus, not play hide and seek." he pushed his long black hair back, and popped his collar. He turned around to look at the yeti, and looked back several moments later. "Are you still here?"

"Hmph," Artemus retorted. He tightened his arm guard, and pulled his Dragon Tail out of his belt. He never got accustomed to the mere beauty of it; it's jagged white steel curling elegantly around his fist and up his elbow. The embedded gold towards the inside of the blade only added to its lustrous beauty. He took a deep breath, and let the mana flow through his veins, into his arms, then into the blade and armguard itself; glowing a soft teal as it traveled.

With a grunt, he jumped off the tree, tumbled, and dashed towards the yeti; each stride covering yards. It didn't take long for the yeti to acknowledge his presence, and it charged in his direction as fast as its little legs could carry. As soon as Artemus was close enough, he jumped into the air and drew his blade back. The yeti, however, read his movements and swung its arm in his direction, palm wide open. The devastating blow had him fly straight into a boulder. Immediately Artemus felt a warm viscous liquid trickle down the bottom of his neck. He snarled and looked up in time to see the beast drawing its colossal fists up in the air. Thinking quick, he sidestepped past its fists as it smashed the ground, sending snow and pebbles in all directions, and slashed its side as he ran past it.

"What the hell is he doing?"

"…He's playing with it," Aeton replied with disappointment.

It bellowed deeply every time he slashed it; and it kept pounding its fist as if playing a game of whack a mole in the ground. However, it could not keep up with Artemus's speed. He sliced and diced it, running in circles. The yeti's blood and the falling snow competed to stay on top of the ground. The beauty of the Dragon Tail was soon drowned in his adversary's blood, and it somehow pleased him more than the dagger itself. He flashed my fangs as he ran; each slash weakened the yeti's resolve and strengthened his. It was no longer a fight for survival, but a sport to him. Moving with the wind and with a clean swipe, he decapitated the yeti's arm from the elbow down. He couldn't help but chuckle at the helpless and pained look the yeti bore as it stared at its lifeless arm bounced on the ground, seeping blood in gallons.

As he admired his beautiful gruesome work, the yeti's despair turned to frustration. With blinding speed, it turned and punched him to the ground, its furry knuckles pinning him down. He felt a crack in a different part of his body accompanying every blow, and his vision soon became blurry. The excruciating pain only increased with every passing moment, and breathing became difficult with the blood oozing out of his nose and mouth.

"We should end it."

"I liked him, let's give him a chance to redeem his'self," Aeton said as he readied his own daggers. The rest of the masked figures did the same.

Please,

Artemus thought to himself as the titan rained blows down on him relentlessly. It punched him again, and he lost grip of my dagger. -His vision clouded more with every blow.

"This has gone on long enough."

"Alri—wait. Do you see that?" Aeton squinted.

Artemus heard howling, but couldn't be sure if it was the wind or it came from within him. I won't allow them to return only to see their son dead, he snarled. A fire raged in his eyes, and his claws and fangs grew simultaneously. He snarled viciously at the yeti, which paused its berserked one-handed pounding. White and black hair began erupting from his skin, and the last thing he remembered was the yeti drawing its fist back for one final blow.

A/N: First author note ever. Sorry for the really short chapter, I really lack motivation. I know this chapter doesn't answer many questions, if any, about how the story develops but I guarantee more in the next chapter. This one was about two pages on Microsoft Word; the following chapters will have ten at the least, as long as I decide to keep updating.

Oh, and if this story gets good feedback, I have another one I titled "Sands of Equilibrium". It's based on the Red Scorpions and Sand Bandits of Ariant. If someone wants me to post that up, I could do that, but you'll have to review.

Thanks for reading.