Evening.

The Clear Forest was a small forest situated between the centre of the eastern districts. The cleartrees, the most dominant species of the forest, lived up to its name. The red evening sunlight refracted through the transparent greenish leaves of the forest- illuminating the ground with a hue of red, green and brown.

A dusty road trailed through the forest, under the lights ‘of’ the leaves and the shadows of trunks and branches.

*Creak* *Clip-Clop* *Neigh!*

Four strong horses tugged a grand carriage clad with gold and embedded with precious colourful jewels through the road. The thunderous hoof steps of the horses and the rapid gyration of the wheels blew off dust everywhere.

A strong looking moustached man was sitting at the front, acting as the coachman. But he was more than that; this strong man was a high level circler whose duty was to protect the Marquess of the East.

*Bam!*

A thumping sound came from inside. But he did not mind. It kept coming every few minutes, or seconds for the last six hours.

Inside the carriage sat two men- one middle aged and the other, young. Sitting with the middle aged man was a bewitching and curvaceous woman.

*Bam!*

The middle aged man stomped on the wooden floor of the carriage- again.

“Why?!”

*Bam!*

*Creak*

“Stop it.” The lady squinted. “The carriage costed us six hundred thousand coins of gold.”

“You are still caring about gold, woman?!” He blurted. “Do you know what we are, now? Traitors!”

“Calm down.” She softly said while gently rubbing his arm. “It’s not as if the princess will send someone to kill us, right?”

“That bitch!” His eyes turned bloodshot. “If only she had told us that those monsters would be joining her. Let alone asking for anything, I would have gave her gifts worth hundreds of thousands of gold.”

“No use crying over spilt milk.” She consoled. “You are the minister of trade of this country, not to mention- one of its richest men. She is bound to forgive you.” She took her mouth to his ear and whispered, “Besides, I have something special prepared for you tonight.” Her bouncy melons pressed against his arm.

“Hmph!” He snorted but did not say anything further.

The burly youth sitting before them was silent; that had been the case since they left the event.

Suddenly-

*Rumble* *Neeeeiigh!* *Creeeeeak*

The carriage quaked; it felt like it bumped into something at front hard. The cries of the horses emanated that the extravagant coach hit the very horses pulling it.

“What the fuck happened, Ryan?!” The marquess bellowed.

*Screeeeech!*

A shrill shriek pierced through their eardrums, prompting them to cover their ears and close their ears. But blood trickled down their cheeks nonetheless.

“A Griffin?” The man let go of his bloody ears as he squinted.

He barged out of the carriage, not caring about the cost of the door- something more important was at hand. What he feared might be coming, that too- much sooner than expected.

The mother and son looked at each other before stepping out through the broken door.

They both gasped in chorus. The scene in front of them was right out of a dream- no- a nightmare.

A valiant young noble blessed with otherworldly looks and clad in black was standing on top of a mighty Griffin armoured with golden ornaments. His right hand was holding the hairs of a head whose face betrayed shock, awe and horror. Blood rained from its neck as the head swinged with the summer winds. The red and green lighting formed by the nature only added to the scene.

What made this dream a nightmare was the fact that that head belonged to their protector- a high level circler. But what made it even more of a scene from a nightmare was the ghastly black claws protruding from each and every fingertips of the ‘devil’ and the blood drops that dripped slowly from them to the dusty ground.

“What’s the meaning of this?!” The man was the first to wake up from the ‘nightmare’.

“I am extremely sorry for the inconvenience.” Adrian spoke in his ever charming tone as he jumped to the ground, whirling dust around his feet. “I had to come to deliver something you forgot.” He smiled, and dropped the dead head to the ground.

“Vengeance.”

Silence ensued.

“Hahaha…” A low pitched but loud laughter began to echo through the forest.

But the mother and son duo behind stayed silent. They did not have the courage to laugh, nor the status to. The one standing in front of the might be the future king. Moreover, he was able to defeat their guardian- who was a level 6 circler- that easily. Even if it was a surprise attack, it was still a magnificent feat considering the age of the young man.

“Ha…” The man finally stopped laughing. Two drops of tears sneaked through his eyelids.

“Done laughing?” Adrian had the same smile on his face.

“Child.” The marquess composed himself. “We admit- the fault was ours. The death of our trusted guardian should be enough as a price. Why don’t we just forget about this matter and go on our own way. Or else…”

“Or else- what?”

“My country of Nemphis ‘might’ lose a genius.” The man’s voice suddenly turned cold.

The woman behind panicked. This was something a mere Marquess family like them could not afford to do. That young man was backed by the Royal family, the Academy, the Lochtear house and worst of all- ‘the Duchess’.

“Hon-“

The man raised his arm, prompting her to stop. He knew what he was doing.

“Today, Nemphis will lose something alright.” Adrian had the same carefree but charming tone. “Not a genius- but a traitor.”

“Hmph!” The man scowled. “Child, do you think I had Ryan around because I needed his protection?” He scoffed. “I did it to show everyone that I have enough money to keep a high level circler as my dog. I will show you what a true high level- a level 7 can do.”

He charged towards Adrian like a battering ram, all prepared to break through the defences with one single push. But Adrian stood there, like the calm spring lake- devoid of waves.

But his calmness did not make the marquess complacent, rather it added oil to the raging fire in his heart. His heavy punch connected, or at least it seemed to.

But alas- it did not.