Dark billows of clouds draped the earth in eerie shadows. Thunder reverberated across the sky in a low requiem.

  Daisuke stood silently atop a hill at the vilge’s edge, his grip tight around a familiar pair of hairpins. His expression was one of mencholy, his gaze fixed on a simple tombstone bearing his mother’s name.

  Opening his hand, he gazed at a gss fragment from a vial that once held deadly poison, p who might have wanted his mother dead. Yet, despite his efforts, he couldn’t jure a name or face.

  The unforturuth was that he hardly knew anything about Evandria Starfrost; her past was veiled in mystery. The assassin was just the same—a specter that had vanished as mysteriously as he came, robbing a poor woman of her cursed soul in the process.

  In the depths of his frustration, Daisuke’s brows furrowed into dangerous slits, his face a vas of pure loathing. He balled his fingers into a fist so tight that his knuckles turned white. Crimson droplets pooled and dripped onto the parched earth below, a tangible testament to the iy of his silent vow for vengeance.

  As if sensing his unwavering resolve, the wind surged around him, a silent wito his fierce vi. It whipped at the edges of the e scarf ed around his neck. It was the st token of affe from his mother, a tangible reminder of her enduring love. As he tenderly ran his fingers over the fabric, a bittersweet calm washed over him, soothing the fires of ahat had ed him moments before.

  But his reverie tly shattered by the arrival of an unwele group, jolting him back to the harsh reality of his surroundings.

  With a mere gnce from the er of his eye, Daisuke could easily ascertaiuation: April’s tear-stained face; Brek’s inability to look in his general dire; and the triumphant chuckles of the four men as they forcefully restraihe children.

  Betrayal hung heavy in the air, as pin as day.

  , Daisuke saw the swords—

  “Don’t even think about it,” one of the men warned, brandishing a knife perilously close to April’s exposed neck.

  “Hic!” she gasped, her eyes widening in fear.

  Without a word, Daisuke raised his hands in surrender and bowed his head i. As, even after starting anew in a virtual world, he couldn’t shake off the shadow of misfortuhat trailed him.

  Hag the greatest game of all time, stealing from the middle-css to aid the poor—perhaps, in the end, he was destined for nation.

  “B-Big Brother! Big Brother!” April cried out as she was being forcibly dragged away, her toy bear tumbling to the ground.

  “You bastards!” Brek yelled. “You promised to let her go!”

  He tried to resist, but was swiftly brushed aside like a mere i. With desperation in his eyes, he searched for Daisuke’s gaze, ging to the hope that their leader would miraculously intervene as he had done tless times before. However, Daisuke remained impassive, refusing to spare even a fleeting gn his dire.

  “The only reason you’re not being dragged off with them is because we want you to rey a message to your pals: scram, or brace yourselves for a world of hurt,” one of the men snarled with menag i.

  With those parting words eg in his mind, Brek remained rooted to the ground, watg helplessly as his world unraveled before him, the sequences of his as crashing down without mercy.

  Meanwhile, a few meters away, a pair of bunny ears poked out from behind some brush, unnoticed amidst the chaos.

  ***

  HWIIIING~~

  The wind gusted atop a distant mountain.

  At the edge of a cliff, a familiar shopkeeper stood in solemn solitude, the gravity of his evil deeds bearing down heavily upon his shoulders.

  His gaze drifted out into the horizon, but his thoughts remairapped in the past. He remembered his loving wife, her warmth, her smile—a treasure now lost to him forever.

  Regret cwed at his heart. His mind was filled with the thought of the slum kids who stole to relieve their hunger. He couldn’t fathest the idea of being the cause of their deaths or e, and the guilt weighed on him like an anching him into the depths of despair.

  The bitterness of his anger had led him down a dark path, ohat he couldn’t bear to tinue upon. And tears filled his eyes as he thought about the demon he had bee.

  He missed his wife terribly, and the idea of fag life without her, tainted by his rage and possibly murder, was unbearable. With a heavy heart, he made his decision.

  He wao be with her again, in whatever y beyond. With a deep breath and a step forward, the cliff took him, swallowing him in its depths.

  ***

  Around a sm fire, a group of rowdy men louheir ughter carrying through the crisp afternoon air. One among them, hat tilted low and reed on his back, zily observed the se. In the distance, a mile from Dusthaven, a procession slowly came into view.

  Beh the sprawling branches of an oak tree stood a horse-drawn wagon, its cargo bed housing a sizable barred cage. Within the enclosure were children of diverse ages, genders, and races. Some looked on with ashen faces, their eyes devoid of aion, while others dispyed a flicker of curiosity at the newers’ approach.

  This marked Daisuke and April’s maiden voyage beyond the vilge, a somber introdu to the world beyond its boundaries.

  “Eh~? Boss, don’t tell me that’s all the brats you guys mao bag?” one of the men teased.

  “It couldn’t be helped,” another man expined with a boisterous ugh. “The little rascals were pretty crafty.”

  “Ha-ha! You let yourselves get outsmarted by a bunch of kids?”

  “It’s fihe leader finally said, not at all offended. “If we trim the weeds all at once, we won’t be called in for another job, now will we?”

  “Smart.”

  “In the meantime, we mao capture their leader so we got a hefty bonus from the vendors,” he expined with a satisfied smirk.

  Daisuke half turned his face at the mention of the perpetrators, his eyes narrowed with disdain. One of the heartless men noted his sour expression and shoved him, causing him to stumble. He nearly tripped over April, who had her face buried in his chest.

  “Don’t just stand there,” the man barked. “Get in there, the both of you!”

  Daisuke’s heart skipped a beat as the gate of the cage swung open with a metallic screech. He swallowed, sensing an unforeseeable future the mome foot inside, but he didn’t have the power to ge his fate. If there was oainty, however, it was that defying his captors would mean perishing right where he stood.

  April buried her fa his chest again the moment he found a spot at the back of the cage. Her body trembled with fear, and Daisuke gently patted her head, whispering words of fort as he observed their captors.

  In total, there were seven men—nine if the odd-looking dogs they kept were ted. Each man was armed with a sword, and except for the an, they formed a tight-knit circle around the carriage, vigintly sing their surroundings.

  Are they on the lookout for monsters? I guess that makes sense. I never left the vilge because I was warned about the mobs that roam the nds nearby.

  As the carriage began heading northeast, Daisuke took a moment to study the panoramic view. The open grassnd unfolded as far as the eyes could see. Unduting waves of emerald-green grass stretched out in every dire, swaying gracefully in the gentle breeze.

  The sun bathed the ndscape in warmth, illuminating every bde of grass and revealing the intricate details of the sprawling meadow.

  To the horizon’s edge, a majestic sea met the distant forests. Beyond them, the nd rose, giving birth to the rugged grandeur of the steadfast mountains. These t giants stood as silent wito the passage of time, their peaks toug the heavens, adorned with snow-kissed s that shimmered like precious jewels.

  Daisuke shifted his focus back to the cell in time to catch a human boy btantly ogling April without any regard for his presence. He looked arou years old, just a year older than April. His rge, round eyes were sincere, his cheeks flushed.

  Daisuke’s expression tightened into a disturbed poker face, a single bead of sweat f at his temple. Is he just going to tiaring like that? Is he one of those ily deypes?

  A slightly older human girl palmed his fad calmly pushed him away with a poker face of her own. “Sorry about that,” she apologized on his behalf. “He’s still learning about the existence of personal space, but he means well.”

  Daisuke’s eyes narrowed suspiciously, and the girl raised her hands in surrender with a kind smile. “Rex. I’m not your enemy; none of us are.”

  Daisuke gnced around at the somber expressions on the children’s faces. Like him, they all bore the weight of their own traumatic experiences. He felt foolish for ever suspeg them of anything other than being broken and afraid.

  “My name is Sheba,” the girl introduced when Daisuke’s shoulders sagged. “And this is Aldric—he’s a bit of an oddball, but he’s a good kid at heart.”

  “I’m Haxks, and this is April.”

  “Haxks and April… I wish we could’ve met under different circumstances, but it’s o meet you both.”

  Upon hearing the soothing voice, remi of Mia’s in its passion, April rexed her grip on Daisuke and turned her head slightly. Large, chestnut eyes peeked out, assessing the owner of the voice.

  PUOK!

  With the ferocity of a Spartan warrior, Cupid forcefully plunged his arrow into someone’s heart. Aldric’s eyes widened in awe, his face flushing to his ears as he admired April’s beautiful dress and adorable features.

  He was hopelessly smitten.

  “Y-You don’t o be afraid, April!” he excimed, smming a fist to his chest and standing up straight like a soldier. “I’ll protey father was a great smith, so I know my way around a sword. I’ll definitely free you all one day.”

  In a flurry of panic, April hastily cealed her face without uttering a word, leaving Aldric’s once rigid stao wither, his face twisting with disappoi.

  Daisuke ged, his smile awkward. I’m pretty sure you’re the one sg her the most though…

  He averted his gaze just in time to feel the weight of a girl’s stare from the er. She was cealed beh a dark hooded cloak, her features obscured, yet her presence seemed to and attention more than anyone else in the cage.

  “I’m as clueless as you are,” Sheba admitted wheiced his curiosity. “She was here before me, and she doesn’t talk or show muterest in iing with anyone.”

  “Maybe it’s due to the trauma?”

  “Most likely.”

  Fear of monsters & the unknown: 66.4%