On a lonely hill at the far edge of Fraire, the capital of Caelum, stood a modest wooden house beneath a weathered thatched roof. The vast forest pressed in from every side, its dark green walls swallowing the little dwelling whole.
Nearby, the sharp whistle of steel cutting through air echoed between the trees. Again and again. Steady and unwavering. Each swing flowed seamlessly into the next, polished by countless hours of practice and stubborn refusal to quit.
The source was a black-haired boy clad in worn leather armor. He wore it proudly despite its age, as if every scratch and tear were proof of effort well spent. In his hands rested a katana nearly one and a half meters long, its blade flashing silver whenever stray beams of sunlight pierced the canopy.
'Repetition breeds perfection. Father always said that.'
The words echoed with every strike.
'If I keep this up, I might finally break into the top ten trainees when the tournament arrives. Maybe then all this training will actually amount to something.'
After another hundred slashes, he finally lowered his blade. Sweat clung to his brow. His arms ached pleasantly. Satisfied, he turned and headed home.
The interior was as plain as ever. A bed that looked one rough night away from collapse occupied one corner; a surprisingly decent bathroom sat in another. To him, that was luxury enough. A place to sleep and a place to wash — what more did a person need?
The moment he stepped inside, a dreadful realization struck him.
"Damn it. I forgot to hunt."
He rubbed his forehead and glanced at the bed.
"At this level of hunger, I probably won't starve," he muttered. "I've survived worse."
He threw himself onto the mattress.
A few peaceful minutes passed.
Then a violent growl erupted from his stomach.
He stared at the ceiling.
It growled again, louder.
"Traitor."
Grumbling, he dragged himself upright, grabbed his katana on the way out, and shuffled back into the night. "Why does hunger even exist? Training is important. Sleeping is important. Eating just gets in the way of both."
A narrow trail worn into the earth by years of travel led him toward Fraire's designated hunting grounds. Several others moved in the same direction. Unlike him, many hunted for more than survival — meat, hides, bones all fetched decent coins.
The thought barely interested him.
Let's just get this over with.
He pushed through the dense undergrowth. Shadows pooled beneath the thick canopy, and the air carried the scent of damp earth and moss. The perfect place for prey to hide.
Levi's eyes swept the forest and stilled.
Not a single Nascent beast remained.
The silence gnawed at him. Too complete. In Caelum, beasts were ranked by their mastery of aether — Nascent, Waker, Seeker, Awakened, Transcendent, Primordialis, Caelastis, Astralis, Solare Maximus. Nascent occupied the lowest rung, barely capable of drawing upon the mysterious force that governed the world. Yet now they were nowhere to be found.
Levi tightened his grip on the hilt.
Either a powerful predator had driven them out, or something strong enough to dominate the entire region had passed through. His instincts leaned toward the first.
"Levi?"
Steel flashed.
He spun on instinct, the katana already at the speaker's throat.
Mika, Levi's rival and one of the strongest trainees, didn't flinch. He just looked at the blade, then at Levi, with the particular patience of someone who had been nearly stabbed before.
"You're jumpy."
"You're quiet for someone in armor." Levi lowered the katana. "What are you doing out here?"
"Same as you, probably." Mika's gaze drifted past him to the empty forest ridden with half eaten monster corpses.
Eventually, Mika gestured toward the unnaturally empty forest. "Was this your doing?"
Mika's grin vanished.
Without a word, he drew the longsword at his waist. That alone was enough to answer enough.
Levi unsheathed his katana.
"So it wasn't."
"No." Mika's eyes swept the dark trees. "The hunters who entered before me have gone silent."
Silence in a hunting zone meant one thing.
Death.
"Whatever killed them can't be far away," Mika said.
The forest went utterly still. No wind. No birds. No insects.
Then Levi felt it — pressure, raw and suffocating, pressing down on him from every direction at once. Every instinct he possessed screamed a single word.
Run.
"Move!"
The world erupted.
A colossal shape burst through the canopy. Levi threw himself sideways as a massive fist detonated the earth where he'd been standing — soil and shattered roots blasting outward, trees snapping like twigs and toppling in every direction.
He hit the ground, rolled, and sprang back to his feet.
Towering above them stood a monstrous creature cloaked in black scales, vast wings unfurled to swallow the moonlight. Golden eyes gleamed with unsettling intelligence.
The beast opened its maw.
Fire exploded forth — a roaring torrent that swept through the forest and reduced everything it touched to blackened husks in seconds. Levi wove between the spreading inferno, heat searing across his cheek.
"Damn it." His heart hammered. "At least a Waker!"
The creature's aura alone made his skin crawl.
"We're Nascent!" he shouted. "This isn't a fight we should be taking!"
Mika drove his sword into the ground and grinned.
Of course he was grinning.
"If it's only a Waker, we can win." He yanked the blade free. "Wakers can't properly wield aether. Stronger, faster, tougher but still beasts."
Levi's jaw tightened. He had a point. Together they had beaten opponents stronger than themselves before. But something was wrong — something beyond strategy or odds. Every instinct he had was still screaming.
The creature slowly turned its head toward them.
Then it smiled.
Levi's blood turned to ice.
No beast could do that.
"…Mika."
The prince's grin disappeared. "I know."
The monster's body began to glow, aether surging through its scales like rivers of molten gold. Levi felt his stomach drop. A Waker couldn't do that. Neither could an ordinary Seeker.
"Curses." Mika's voice had gone cold. "It's a Seeker."
The beast spread its wings wider. The forest trembled beneath the crushing weight of its aura.
Mika tightened his grip on his sword.
"No." His expression darkened. "An advanced Seeker."