CHAPTER 1: GREY MARE

The light afternoon breeze flowed through Mingyu’s long black mane as his grey mare galloped through the open plains in search of white hair. A mixture of dried burgundy and yellowish-green grass was flattened under his steed's hooves. Enormous age-old boulders were scattered around the field, covered in dark green moss and vegetation. The strands of hair framing the sides of Mingyu's jaw were slightly shorter and blew against his face carelessly, ever so often sneaking their way between his smooth light pink, almost white, lips or into his watery deep cobalt blue eyes. Suddenly, something sounded in a nearby brush that could not pass by Mingyu’s pointed ears.

Pulling his mount to a slow halt with a slight upbringing of his hands on the leads, Mingyu’s sharp eyes scanned his surroundings, his brow furrowing to create lines on his youthful and attractive face. The only sound that could be heard was the leaves ing in the soft wind. It was almost too quiet.

Mingyu slowly reached back to pull his bow out of its hold on his back and returned soon after to slip an arrow out of its quiver. He placed the arrow onto the bow, unconsciously letting the hard steel dowel find its own way into the indentation on the hard birch longbow after using the weapon for so many years. Pulling back the stiff cord with two fingers, Mingyu closed one eye to aim at his small target nestled into the bushes. With one swift movement he released the arrow from its hold, allowing it to soar into the brush and slaughter the hare in a second.

Something was wrong. The hare somehow barely grazed past the arrow, with a doubt leaving a sharp scrape along its right hind leg. It bolted out of the undergrowth with all the energy it could muster and headed straight into the gloomy forests of Moaltar. Despite conditions, Mingyu was determined not to head back home empty handed and, at once, charged into the tall pines after the animal.

Now, usually anyone in their right mind would not venture into the forests of Moaltar unaccompanied, and especially with only two arrows remaining in their quiver. All type of evil was stationed throughout the forest and it was very easy to get lost if you roamed off path for long periods of time. Regardless of any underlying threats, Mingyu reasoned that he’d only be inside the boarders for, at most, two or three minutes and would exit directly after making the kill on his quick target.

He spotted the hare peacefully nibbling on a bit of dying vegetation near the trunk of a large fallen tree. It’s once pure white fur was slightly tainted by the deep red of its blood gushing out of its newfound wound. His sharp eyes and full concentration set on the goal, Mingyu could barely notice the way his mare’s footing was becoming more unsteady by the growing second. Just as he gracefully pulled to release the fierce arrow that would finish off the suffering creature, his steed whinnied and raised its front legs to stand solely on its hind legs, causing the arrow to go off track and piercing the bark of a neighboring tree. Bucking him off in the process, it darted off farther into the desolate wood and beyond Mingyu’s immediate line of sight. Along with his grey mare, the hare jolted and dashed farther into the depths of the dark forests.

His fall was not taken kindly as he had collapsed directly onto a pile of large rocks and tumbled down off them and onto the ground coated in fallen branches and decaying leaves. Mingyu, lying in intense pain, then heard the swish of shuffling leaves and the hum of a low hiss near his left ear close to the pile of rocks. If he was not mistaken by its bright orange scales and pitch of its cry’s, the creature slithering between the greenery was a Gardtenal snake, which also just happen to be highly poisonous.

Struggling to lock his loud and labored breaths inside his lungs, Mingyu lay on the forest ground as still as he could in hopes that the snake would simply bypass him. The large reptile inched closer and closer to his body until it was virtually touching his slightly pointed ear. It let out a screech, almost as if warning him, directly into his eardrum. After what felt like minutes atop minutes, but perhaps, was only seconds, the low hiss ceased as the serpent changed its direction and fled into the cracks between the rocks where it probably resided.

Gasping for a long awaited breath, Mingyu searched for any air he could find as his chest quickly rose and deflated in an unsteady rhythm. One of his hands that was resting atop his abdomen shifted as well. At long last could he finally feel the damage of his plunge. Mingyu’s right shoulder felt dislocated and his forearm of the same side had a long gash along it