Eclipse ran through the endless fields, his eyes dead set on the Nether Pinnacles far ahead of him. It was the 10th of December, and winter had already started. The wind was quite strong, and there was an overcast; in short, the worst kind of day to go outside. The long, wet grass and obstacles in his path only made him slower as he tread forth. The only thing he had on him was a gourd of water and a small knife, which he found somewhere in the house.

  He had to get Duozian the Cryptic Amethyst. It resided beyond the Nether Pinnacles, in the Dark Autumn Region. The Dark Autumn Region was a topic Duozian didn't really talk to him about; however, last night, Eclipse snuck into Duozian's room, then flicked through tens of relevant information scrolls, so he knew what he was getting himself into.

  According to the texts, the Dark Autumn Region was a desolate place in which Blood Beasts would roam about. Naturally, the deeper one went, the more dangerous these beasts would be. The texts described it as a 'place in which the sun would never reach', but Eclipse didn't know whether the text meant it literally or if it suggested the Dark Autumn Region was a place of hopelessness.

  It spanned five hundred kilometres in diameter, the borders cutting into the various tribes and villages. Grapefruit Village was located next to the Dark Autumn Region's eastern border, but it was concealed by the Nether Pinnacle Mountain Range, which, for some reason, surrounds the entirety of the Dark Autumn Region.

  After what seemed like three hours, Eclipse finally felt a change in inclination.

  He frowned, looking at the humongous mountain which lay right in front of him. It was large and steep but not impossible to climb. The ground and soil were maroon in colour, befitting of its name: The Nether Pinnacles.

  Eclipse walked up the steep mountain. He had to take each step with caution; otherwise, a single wrong movement could make him roll all the way to the bottom. The mountain seemed taunting, but it didn't frighten Eclipse - after witnessing that strange artwork he saw in Duozian’s private room, no body of nature may be able to intimidate him.

  After three more hours, Eclipse finally made it to the pinnacle. He wiped the sweat on his forehead with his arm, then looked back. From here, he could see the entire Grapefruit Village, even some of the other villages further down, illuminated by the sinking sunset.

  The area below had no end, and the land stretched out as far as his gaze could follow, seemingly touching the horizon. It didn't take long for the sky above to be completely overcast in a gloomy shade of dark grey.

  There were countless leafless trees scattered about, and thin mist hung in the air, giving the perfect vision of desolation. There were occasional patches of vegetation, but they seemed lifeless, dry, and worn out. Cries of beasts echoed frequently from the distance, and the bleak taste of dust hung in the air.

  "So this is the Dark Autumn Region..." Eclipse muttered with an emphatic sigh as he surveyed the surrounding area. Everything seemed so calm and desolate that it made Eclipse feel uneasy.

  Slowly, he walked down the mountain as he recalled the information on the Cryptic Amethyst. According to the scrolls, it was a silver-colored orb that would shine in response to any form of light. They were abundant in the middle of the Dark Autumn Region, but Eclipse dared not go there. That would simply be seeking death. He planned on searching as much as possible in the beginning region of Dark Autumn. Although it would be harder to find one, it wouldn't be impossible.

  Finally, having reached the bottom, he observed the desolate atmosphere around him. He was now inside the Dark Autumn Region.

  Eclipse took a step forward, and his nostrils were immediately assaulted with a very peculiar scent. It smelled like iron, but for some reason, his nerves jolted up, as if they had come in contact with this smell before. Eclipse's pupils contracted as realisation struck him.

  This was the scent of blood.

  But it didn't smell fresh in the slightest. In fact, it was vague, almost as if the Dark Autumn Region always smelt like this. Eclipse didn't bother covering his nose as he took a step forward, the knife readied in his hands. Hesitation overbore his mind for an instant, but it was overcome with resolution as Eclipse nodded to himself and walked deeper.

  Eclipse moved slowly, recalling one of the few things he actually remembered from Duozian’s rushed lessons: Blood Beasts. They weren’t your average bears or wolves. They were misshapen creatures that only emerged beneath the night sky, drawn out by the Red Moon. And it goes without saying that one of the places where they resided was the Dark Autumn.

  Eclipse’s entire plan relied on retrieving the Cryptic Amethyst before dusk. That was the one rule he drilled into himself last night, but so much for that. He has severely miscalculated how harsh the terrain was here, and how hard it would fight against him climbing up and down.

  The Blood Beasts were out.

  A cold weight settled in his chest, but he forced his legs forward. There was no choice. The Cryptic Amethyst lay ahead, somewhere in this cursed region, and he was not going to return empty-handed.

  As he sauntered further into the Dark Autumn Region, the air grew heavier. In addition to this, a sheet of fog was starting to thicken in front of him. As Eclipse noticed the amplifications of deterring aspects in the atmosphere, his eyes hardened.

  Well, this won’t be a walk in the park…

  Every step he took caused twigs to snap and pebbles to scatter, which limited his sense. So far, Eclipse presumed it must have been around twenty minutes since he came into the Dark Autumn Region, but hadn't come across any danger. If he were to encounter any danger... well, he shouldn't otherwise he'd die for sure. His only hope was to not run into any danger while he was on his self-assumed quest of looking for the Cryptic Amethyst.

  'As long as I don't mess with anything, they shouldn't have a reason to come after me, right?' Eclipse pondered, clearly inexperienced when it came to the nature of Blood Beasts. However, he was currently in the eastern part of the Dark Autumn Region, which is supposedly the safest entrance. This is because the Blood Beasts here were simply weaker and lacked senses in comparison to Blood Beasts deeper in, but still deadly all the same. Eclipse looked around but still saw nothing other than the barren and desolate landscape.

  His eyebrows knitted, 'Where are they? "

  After walking for another kilometre or so and having seen no signs of life, he finally let his guard down. "Did I misread something...? Whatever, it works in my favour because there are fewer nests to avoid and-"

  All of a sudden, a very familiar 'crack' resounded underneath his foot. As soon as he heard this, his heart instantly sank to his feet as he subconsciously finished off this thought, '-and less eggs to trample on...'

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  He had crushed an egg. Eclipse cursed in a whisper: ‘Why the f*ck would you leave an egg out in the open like this?!’

  Hisss!

  A diabolical hiss echoed through the crimson moonlit, desolate woods. It was a sinister and devilish sound saturated with both rage and despair. Stunned, Eclipse found himself immobilised, slowly pivoting to face the source of the ominous noise. A bitter smile tugged at his lips as he met the creature's gaze. Before him loomed a colossal, crimson beast that bore a striking resemblance to a gigantic salamander. Its scales appeared tougher than iron. The creature's eyes, a malevolent shade of blood-red, locked onto Eclipse, hungering for his destruction, their feral glint filled with savagery. With a desperate glance at the gooey mess under Eclipse’s feet, the creature's claws sharpened, shimmering with murderous intent, and it lunged at Eclipse with a relentless determination.

  An Emberclaw!

  … or something like that.

  Eclipse immediately snapped back into reality and summoned all of his power to leap back. He tumbled on his knees after he landed and immediately broke into a sprint.

  Eclipse recalled information about this Blood Beast from the scrolls. The Emberclaw, if that name matched the one he recalled, was one of the weakest Blood Beasts residing in the Dark Autumn Region. Weak as it may be, it is extremely agile and fast.

  Hisss! Hisssssss!

  His feet slipped outwards on the soggy earth as he made a mad dash for his life, cold air blasting his throat and lungs as he ran.

  The Emberclaw’s body struck against the obstacles in the ground, making loud crashing noises and causing the earth to tremble, and its oppressive aura was released to its maximum, suffocating Eclipse slightly. It was gaining on him at a frighteningly fast pace...

  ‘Damn it! At this rate...!’ Eclipse cursed inwardly.

  Eclipse's gaze fell upon a huge tree in front. An immediate thought crossed his mind, and he shot forward.

  Eclipse leapt off the ground and used his momentum to climb a few steps up a tree, then he flipped himself back in a somersault. He then flew straight towards the enormous salamander that was in hot pursuit of him.

  He fell from high up in the air to land upon the slippery body of the enormous beast, and pulling out his dagger, he stabbed viciously.

  Hiss! Hissss!

  Lime blood splattered out of the salamander's body as its scarlet orbs vibrated with resentment, then it flicked its long serpentine body, twisting its bulk to surge straight towards him.

  Eclipse saw the tail of the Emberclaw sweeping towards him, and he was about to leap away when the Emberclaw’s body he was on suddenly extended by almost a metre. Its large tail slammed against his body, and he was sent flying before crashing against a large tree.

  More so than the pain, he felt a cold shiver spreading through his entire being. The tip of the tail had grazed his arm. He had been poisoned. His arm suddenly felt numb. He tasted blood in his mouth, but unyielding resilience flashed in his pupils as he fiercely glared at the Emberclaw. Realising that it hadn't dealt enough damage, the Emberclaw hurled its large body towards him. Just as it was about to crash on him, he immediately spun away at an unnatural speed and lunged the dagger under the Emberclaw's chin, the silver tip coming out of the top of its head.

  Another spurt of lime coloured blood shot out of its head before its eyes lost their vigour and its corpse lumped on the moist earth.

  Eclipse breathed a sigh of relief and slumped his back against a tree.

  Suddenly, another Blood Beast’s reptilian shriek resounded in the air, as if it sensed the death of its brethren. Eclipse's face turned solemn as he forced himself up. 'I should get away while I can…’

  After Eclipse arrived at a safe distance away from the Blood Beast's corpse, he stopped by a tree to catch his breath before he forced himself up and took a clear look at the surroundings. Here, the atmosphere was rather humid. The antique air still hovered in the atmosphere, and the fog was still prevalent, illuminated more by the crimson moonlight.

  The night was very dark now. The trees remained barren as if they had already reached the end of their lifespan.

  Not good.

  He slumped down next to a tree, then ripped the sleeve of the arm where the poison had gone, "I can't let this drag me down..."

  Eclipse gritted his teeth. The wound on his arm appeared to have been a normal slash, but it had pierced straight through his arteries, so he was bleeding profusely. Although keeping the blood flowing for a while could minimise the effects of the poison as much as possible, he had already reached his limit. Most likely, if he lost any more blood, it would be fatal.

  A crazy idea suddenly formed in his mind, and he smiled bitterly.

  Desperate straits called for desperate measures. He had no other choice.

  He wrapped the fabric from the sleeve around his arm for now, then gathered a few dry branches and stones. Eclipse then slammed the stones together atop the branches and leaves until a light spark came, which immediately engulfed the vegetation, turning it into a small yet roaring fire. Eclipse then placed the knife over the fire. It glinted in the heat as the flame wrapped itself around the iron, until the glint slowly turned into an orange glow.

  Meanwhile, Eclipse undid the cloth from his arm, and as expected, it was still bleeding. The fabric could only do so much. He then picked up the knife from the fire, which was now a glowing iron. He held it around 30 centimetres away from him, but he felt the radiation as if it were right next to him.

  Looking at the glowing iron, fear poked his mind. The thought of the sweltering iron against their skin would make anyone's scalp tingle. His right arm immediately felt numb all of a sudden, to a much higher degree. He had already lost too much blood; if he stalled any longer, he might die.

  Eclipse bit down on a piece of wood as he disconnected his mind from every bit of hesitation. Then, he pressed the hot, glowing iron against his wound. An extremely loud sizzling sound rang from the trembling iron blade, along with a cry of agony from Eclipse. His adrenaline had long dissipated, so he was extremely sensitive right now. The scorching sensation was so agonising that his entire body started spasming. With his eyes bloodshot, he bit down on the piece of wood so hard, it shattered into splinters. The sizzling sound continued as it vaporised the blood and closed off the wound.

  He had merely kept the knife against his skin for three seconds, yet it had felt like an hour. He pulled the knife out of his wound, and it came out with bits of skin clinging to it. He stabbed the knife into the ground and let out a satisfied shout, after which Eclipse took a deep breath and frowned, and ran a hand over his wound. It stung him with incomparable irritation, but it was nothing compared to what he had felt a moment ago.

  The smell of burnt meat hovered around the cauterisation, but Eclipse didn't seem to mind.

  He staggeringly got up. His greyish-blue hair stuck against his forehead with the amount of sweat dripping down his forehead, and the dark bags under his eyes ran lower. His heart, which had been racing since he had crushed the egg, only started to calm down. He wrapped the wound with the cloth.

  Back on track, he started looking for the Cryptic Amethyst. According to what the scrolls he had read through said last night, it wasn't rare at all within the Dark Autumn Region. He looked around a bit, but nothing other than acres upon acres of desolate land and hollow forests caught his vision.

  He walked deeper into the Nether Pinnacles. It was nearly completely dark now, and the only thing that gave Eclipse the slightest shred of vision was the faint illumination of the crimson moon. After another hour, he still found nothing.

  Eclipse then finally came by a large tree on a hill, then slouched down for a while. He gritted his teeth in frustration.

  He couldn't find even a single trace of the orb despite searching for so long.

  While wallowing in frustration, the wind swept over the landscape, bringing across a very familiar scent he smelt in the nature garden. Following this fragrance, a few pink petals flew past him: Cherry Blossoms!

  Eclipse was surprised. How could cherry blossoms grow in such a desolate landscape as this? Subsequently, a very loud roar resounded in the distance. The pressure from this outburst made his pupils contract in horror, and his entire being started to tremble. He instantly broke into a cold sweat, his heart thumping wildly.

  At this moment, within the borders of Grapefruit Village, Duozian stood in the same position he had been in for the past three hours. His eyes were narrowed in thought, but it was impossible to tell what he was thinking. The sky was unnaturally grey, and faint instances of light blue flashed overhead while the ocean in front of him violently crashed against each other, forming colossal tidal waves.

  After a while, his eyes grew firm. He opened his mouth and muttered, "This long-forgotten battle should eventually come to an end after all...wouldn't you agree? Old friend."

  Standing beside a tree behind Duozian, the mere reflection of a man's shadow smiled.