I had moved away from my mentor because I had felt an awkward presence that perhaps Saiyo was willing to ignore. Perhaps I had also decided to move along with her because it meant to go and face Maverich once again. I abhorred him not, but it was just natural to grow hatred for his personality towards me. Slowing down by the bridge connection the village to the woods, my skin felt the cold wind start to grow. It seemed like rain was coming once again before the season ended. The river below the long bridge entrance created the most relaxing noise of water flowing and thanks to that I was able to hear the screech in the distance.

My ears reverberated with that noise and my curious and cautious self was not to let it pass. The sound seemed familiar somehow, I was afraid I was about to meet someone who I had known before.

Finally at the end of the marble and stone bridge I looked up taking notice of the mist grow thicker and also in number. Oh, I sighed. And in that short time, when I was distracted, I was struck in the chest with extreme pressure. The presence was there now, but it had been so quick that I did not felt any aura come towards me. My golden hues looked around as my hand was gently raised to grasp my aching chest. Now I knew it was someone rather than something moving around, but I had no need to come to conclusions because maniac laughter exploded besides me some feet away.

"So alone you come to walk into the mouth of the wolf?" the penetrating voice of a woman I heard.

My eyes widened slightly as I looked at the silhouette coming towards me. It was she, with her raven black hair and just a strand of dark violet color. Her red-orange hues met my own to give me a challenging glare and invitation to die. Her fingers formed a fist and I heard her bones crack in several places while her red dress swayed with the wind for just a slight moment.

Long red gloves covered her arms, but her garments were more than what met the eye. It was some kind of armor that would shield many spells. This was not the first time I had to confront her alone.

“What do you want, Lydia?” I asked watching her cross her arms now and shift her weight to a side slightly.

“That is a stupid questions, Rashad, dear,” she grinned and then continued her statement with that arrogant expression of hers, “I want to kill her.” Lydia meant Saiyo of course, even though that was not her original goal. “You are here in her place though so I suppose you get to slumber first.”

Slumber. That was a pretty word to put it, but I had no time to think on that because Lydia was sending a rampage upon me. After she had finished her statement, her teeth clenched and she dashed at me with her ability to manipulate the speed. At the same time her arms and back was growing thick and that is one of the things I feared Lydia for. Her mega-strength.

“Pallor cum ventus. Animus oportet tormo. Permitto ipso ut sum pars cum aer,” I whispered in order to fade for just a second into the air and prevent her attack.

At this action she snorted with anger and swung past me, but to my surprise her speed was so incredible that she had managed to hurt me somewhat before I had faded. My body was tactile again crouching in the gassy sand when I felt the bruising pain of the little that Lydia did to me. My now silver hair untying from the fastened band holding it and slightly dripping by my shoulders.

My golden eyes glanced at both my arms and little by little, red and light purple tints started to mark my wrists as thin unparallel wounds started to bleed. I glared at her and once again the thought she was a savage lunatic crossed my mind. Her mega-strength had allowed her very human nails to claw me like those of a grand ferax – a gigantic beast with several horns and thick bone claws! I sighed while my golden yellow cape flapped loosely with the windy atmosphere as the thunder in the sky started to roar and lighting came to shine.

A long night this was about to be; my arms were burning, but the pain was something I could stand when my challenger had stamina. I stood up as Lydia gave a short chuckle as she enjoyed her small triumph over my spell. I, on the other hand, had something to offer.

The sky flared again with a pink and white tone as the lightning passed by once again. I would let my body become one with that element then since the odds were in my favor. I opened my mouth to yell as I felt the surge of electric elemental flowing within my blood. My silver hair flying with the brusque wind as my eyes dimly closed. Of course Lydia noticed the change in my status and I could notice the shift in her confidence and arrogance. She was not going to let me have pleasure over her fright though and so she decided to charge at me once again as I kept calling upon the powers of the wind and thunder.

“Ventus elementum!” I snapped and saw Lydia strike towards me to no avail since there was a shield in between us now.

Her orange eyes expressed so much anger when her thick nails clashed into a crystal wind shield. Lydia clenched her perfect teeth and stepped away with a light trot. There was an wind elemental creature, ghostly standing between me and my opponent. I could see that her hand was burning by the electricity that fused with the elemental. My spell was hurt by that attack though, the crystalline shielding arm was torn into several shards of crystals that banished into the winds as soon as they touched the ground.

There was an electric current connecting me to the wind creature; several bolts would spark every now and then between me and the air currents around the elemental.

“The odds are in my favor, Lydia,” I warned.

Raindrops started to fall; little by little the droplets would form a storm. Lydia frowned with disgust and anger at the truth of my statement. Her body started to wither the strength away, her arms and shoulders slowly gaining their real size. She was not to use mega-strength anymore, but she still glared at me with a grinning smile as she started to walk around me just like vultures follow death.

"I do not wish to fight you, for the last time," I stated recalling to the many other times I had said that to her in past encounters.

"Of course you do not, Rashad. You are a lion with no fangs or claws," Lydia mentioned with a subtle and cruel voice. She kept circling the wind elemental by my side and me, "Lucky for you I hunt for the mentor of your mentor primarily."

"Sad that Maverich is not an easy prey," the voice of my mentor was heard, like a monotone hiss.

Saiyo
I found Rashad at the south entrance of the village, and Lydia was there too. I noticed those wounds on Rashad that had also marked me. From my distance I could also notice his mouth stained by drips of blood just like my own. The bonding spell I had used would go away when my apprentice and my came close to each other. The rain had started to pour from the sky, turning into a heavy storm. My long, red hair soaked with water as well as my blue clothing rags.

I was walking towards both Rashad and Lydia at the same time I said, “Umbra evanidus obviam vere regnum,” and my body started to loose pigment of colors. I was invisible as long as I remained in the shadows and the night had little light since the clouds had covered the moon and most of the stars.

Step by step I moved, the water on the ground of the bridge rippling and breaking every time my cold feet met with also freezing floor. There was little noise out of it though. When I stepped away from the bridge and into the territory of the forest and woods the water was not abundant since the green plants absorbed it quickly. I saw and heard both Rashad and Lydia speak, and when Maverich was mentioned indirectly I thought it was a good time to let myself join.

A little aggravated I let Lydia know that Maverich was the wrong person to be hunting. She looked around with big, anxious eyes trying to find me.

I allowed the spell to fade away as I stepped into the little light from the shaded moon. Slowly the color of my skin filled in as well as the red tone of my hair. My eyes visible now with a blank olive gaze. Now I stood no more than 3 feet away from Rashad and his elemental, Lydia was some distance away just glaring into my hues with so much hatred. I could feel that Rashad wanted to pout about the situation knowing that he always tried to end things in a peaceful manner; very different from his true occupation as an assassin.

"You have no reason to threaten Rashad," I stated to Lydia with little care.

"But it is my job, Saiyo. You see, he is a mage; of course, not as devastated and cursed like you," A lovely smile of demons was formed upon her face as she stated the fact and then finished, “…but a mage still.”

Rashad slowly took a step forward and the wind elemental followed his actions like a marionette taking the master’s lead. I on the other hand remained in my place almost expecting her to dash and try to pry my ligaments and bones free from my flesh. The hunter Lydia became was a terrible thing. She was like me, with no family or past it seemed, but instead of an empty heart like mine, she carried a heart full of hatred. Lydia hated my mentor the most out of everything possible in this world. I did not know why that was because in the process she hated me just as much for being the apprentice of Maverich who succeeded to keep the flesh beast alive.

“You wretched magicians…” she whispered while a frown was taking place in her forehead. “Things like you were never meant to exist in this glorious world,” she snapped and glared directly into my eyes. The rain was slowing down with little speed and the elemental shook its massive, yet weightless body. I now held my short dagger tightly on my right hand, but Lydia was not to challenge Rashad or me today.

“This is not a victory for you, Saiyo dear, but it is true the odds are not in my favor. The next time I see you or your pup, I will not step away.”

With that said Lydia turned away from us and started to walk away into the abandoned and remote part of the village. She had the courage to give her back to both me and my apprentice because she knew well that we would not backstab, it was the code of a mage. Hunters, in the other hand, had absolutely no rules or even a real territory. If Maverich had been here tonight, she might not have gone away so quickly. Tonight it appeared as if our hunter fiend was searching and not hunting. Maybe she only wanted to play around with Rashad.

Rashad looked at me tilting his head slightly, but I did not turn to him, instead I just started to move towards the village because the beast within me hungered and if I did not comply, then it would take over me again for this night.

I ached for some time in our way back, and Rashad remained silent because he knew the reason of my quick retreat. My apprentice was not against the whole process of assassination I committed almost every single night, but rather, he hated the fact that I was feeding that putrid demon inside me. I never really spoke to him about what I felt because little by little I had just lost interest in everything. My red strands of hair slowly dripped over my shoulder when I stopped and scanned the area. My eyes told me that only the guard at the door was the only person around and so I started to step towards this dark skinned man.

“Saiyo, wait.” He said as he tugged at my arm. His golden hues focused on the dark corner of the area.

My headache was causing frustration in me, but then I saw what Rashad had glimpsed at. In that corner a shadow stood mighty and proud, like that of a dragon. My aura sensing told me nothing and though there was a firm and solid shadow there, I could not feel the presence of it. Everything in this solid world had an aura of presence so it could not be anything.

“It is perhaps just some mind trick.” I calmly said with no emotion.

“Maybe,” he said without letting his gaze turn away as I started to gain speed towards my victim.

In my furious dash I heard the man whistle and soon after his crackling voice as my claws dug into his backbone. His eyes were wide with pain and agony and perhaps even full of regret; as for me, I could feel the beast rising quickly to take over me in order to tear at the throat of the poor man. My deadly fangs clenched with a big grin now that the flesh beast smelled the blood and with striking force my jaws had clamped onto the now oozing neck of the guard. Like a wild hyena I bit until bones cracked and quickly tore whatever was in reach. The grasp from my hands had allowed me to cut through several arteries on his arms and back leaving this man with treads of hanging tissue and horrible gashes. The gore and bloody mess had tainted my garment once again, but this time it was in a great amount.

The beast was satisfied now with the life of the old guard and with that done, the demon rested within me. I had my eyes closed as I knelt down while I stopped licking at my blood stained fingers. My hair, fangs, and claws slowly dripped blood at every little wind current; I could hear the sound of the blood splashing on the cold floor and that would forever haunt me replacing a memory of happiness that used to be in my mind before this incident.

That was my curse, to forever loose everything life had given me with rights and replace it with visions of death and torture.