(Still twelve years ago)

All of his pack members must have thought he was crazy. Cadmar, the third in the ranks of the pack, was standing up to the pack's ruthless Alpha, Eyphah. Challenging his authority over the rest of the pack.

No one had ever done that before. Well, no one had done it, and lived.

"You'll make me?" Eyphah questioned. He gave out a short laugh and grit his teeth. "You couldn't make me stop pummeling you when I challenged you as a newbie. What makes you think you can stop me from breaking them?"

Cad's face was stone. His eyes bore with intensity and hatred into Eyphah's. Baring his canine teeth, he snarled, "Because you're not strong enough to keep me from ripping you to shreds now."

The thought had come across Cad's mind more than once. Eyphah seemed to only pick fights with people who were so low in the ranks of the pack that it was easy for him to beat them. He hadn't fought Cad for two years, and he hadn't fought with Ares – the second highest in the pack – since the day of Cad's first fight. Both Cad and Ares had grown strong, and neither of them had challenged Eyphah for fear of loss of limb.

Now, Cad had realized something vital to his strategy. Eyphah's hadn't fought or trained with anyone close to him in the ranks of the pack. Only by himself and with the pack's lowest ranking members. He took pleasure from picking on those who were too weak to stand up to him.

But that had left him vulnerable. Because he hadn't fought with anyone who was as good as he was. He was used to weak attacks and slow reflexes. Cad had trained with Ares for months now, and he had fought him with agility and strength. The two of them trained in hopes that one of them might outgrow the Alpha and take his place.

And Cadmar knew that today would be that day.

As if the adrenaline that was constantly running through his veins and his advantage over Eyphah wasn't enough, his rage inflamed as his thoughts riveted on Goldinia. Cad had pushed her out of his mind for his own good. In his first years in LSOP, all he could think about and all he dreamed about was seeing her face again. Even as a young girl with only one arm, she was beautiful. In Cadmar's mind, Goldinia's radiant glow rivaled that of the queen's.

His pack members had been onto him, teasing him about what he fantasized of. Some of them knew it was a girl, and crushed his dreams of being with Goldi again by telling him that once you entered LSOP, you'd never see anyone in the outside world again. It wasn't allowed for any reason. They also posed the question, "Do you really think she would want to see what you've been turned into? It would probably give her nightmares."

That's when Cadmar decided that Goldi had been through enough. That too many people had destroyed what was left of her happiness for him to partake in doing so as well. Her sister had been cut out of her arms. Her mother treated her like a freak that never should have been born. Worst of all, her father had killed himself, abandoning her.

Now, Goldinia had lost more of her family. Her little brothers were here now, and that made Cadmar think, what was happening to Goldinia? If Cad remembered correctly, she would be at home, with her older brother and mother. She'd lost more siblings to the Lunar Crown. Her family could break more still.

She'd been through so much. Yet, the world decided that it wasn't enough. That she would never get enough. Cad wouldn't have been surprised if Darien had been stolen away from Goldinia as well. Leaving her to be with her mother, alone. Forcing her to endure her mother's grief at the loss of her children and husband.

Cad loved the Darnel family like his own, he really did. But when it came to Goldinia's mother, he knew she had a few screws loose when she was talking about Goldi. Her mother did everything to please the crown. Anything, including condemning her newborn baby do death because she'd been born a shell. Not to mention standing idly by as a Thaumaturge glamoured Goldi into lopping off her own arm.

That woman had some nerve, but could be a good parent when she tried and no one of relation to the Lunar Crown was watching. She nursed her sons and did show some mercy to her one daughter.

Though, that wasn't enough to satisfy Cadmar. Goldinia deserved so much more than that. Why was she the one the world harmed the most? Why was she the collateral damage of everyone's plans?

It was always Goldi. It would always be Goldi.

Like Cadmar said, he used to fight for the honor of his family name and his country.

From that day on, he fought for Goldinia. He fought for the idea of protecting her from those who would do her harm. He fought to keep her from being broken down in a heap due to the loss of more of her loved ones. He fought so that someday, he could bring Corvus and Cygnus back to her, proving to her that she didn't have to loss anyone else. He fought so that he could find Goldinia again, and tell her that she was what saved him from death and terror.

He fought so that one day, he could see Goldinia smile ... even if it was for the last time.

The members of the pack drew around Cadmar and Eyphah in a circular shape. Eyphah had a deadly glare in his eyes that he directed at Cad. Though unlike every other day before this, Cad didn't shrink under it. He'd grown far too strong to be afraid of Eyphah anymore. He was simply the darkness in the corners of Cad's mind. Only the idea of what could be in it was fear inducing. Not the actual darkness itself.

Now, Cadmar was too old to be afraid of the dark. After all, he'd already been turned into one of the monsters that resides in such a habitat. He was used to the abyss, and he reveled in it now.

He owned the darkness. He owned his mutations. He owned Eyphah's fear.

Soon, he would even own Eyphah's position in the pack.

Pressing his knuckles into his palms, Eyphah cracked them all. He snarled at Cad once more. "You're dead." An empty threat. Cad could only grin coldly at the Alpha before him. His confidence is a shell. The real soul beneath was terrified and putting on a show. Eyphah was believing his own act.

Cadmar's outer appearance was not an act or a facade. He truly was full of hatred and a thirst for blood. Seeing Eyphah's limp corpse was a pleasant daydream to Cad. He deserved nothing but the worst of humiliation and a quick death – if that.

The whole pack was cheering. Most of them for the Alpha of the pack, since doing otherwise would cost them their heads if Cad lost. While marching around the rim of the circle, mirroring Eyphah's motions, Cad caught Ares watching him like a hawk. Ares gave Cad a brief nod, saying to him, "show no mercy". He made the motion back, but with a differing meaning, "I know".

Eyphah made the first move. He lunged for Cad, his clawed hands reached out to rip him to pieces. Cad was quick to move out of the way, leading Eyphah into a stumble. A sloppy first mistake. Cad spun on his heels and shoved down on Eyphah's back. Like that, Eyphah was getting up off the ground. A grim smirk played on Cad's lips. This would be easier than he thought.

Once he was on his feet again, Eyphah took more caution in his tactics. He was less reckless and emotional with his actions. Still, he was far too confident in his moves. He threw punches that Cad dodged with ease. The fight was like a matador and a bull. One was always charging at the other, who moved out of the line of fire just before the horns impaled.

Only a minute or so into the fight, Ares was shaking his head in amusement, refraining from chuckling. All Cadmar had been doing was deflecting and dodging. Eyphah was partially out of breath and the pack members were still rooting for him.

Cad thought he might just wait for Eyphah's to get too exhausted to continue, then acquaint his jaw or nose with a knuckle sandwich.

That's when Eyphah's big mouth made the biggest mistake it'd ever made.

"Wait a minute," he gasped, a grin developing. "Those kids-" He pointed over to the Darnel twins, standing near the back of the crowd. "They're that girl's little brothers, right. What was her name .. Gold? She was the freak with only one arm, right?"

Cad's enjoyment in the fight had been frozen over in that instant. A jagged blade cutting into his chest at the association of the word "freak" with Goldi. His lips pressed together as his eyelids narrowed. Showing Eyphah that he'd hit the right spot.

"Ah, I thought so. They look just like her. Well ... that girl looked like a boy, anyway." The more Eyphah went on, the more smug he became. On the other hand, Cad was growing tempered. His throat was so tight he could barely breathe. Still, his lungs sucked air down to them anyhow.

The Alpha knew he'd hit home with his insults. But he had no idea how far he was going and where the breaking point of Cadmar's mind was. A point that he was coming up on faster than he could anticipate.

"I bet you really liked her, back when you were a normal kid. The two of you would be the perfect couple now, since both of you are monsters. And .. wait. Didn't that girl's father commit suicide? Oh, I bet he did it to get away from her. I mean, I would too if a girl like her was my daughter," Eyphah rambled on.

As quickly as this fight had begun, Cadmar found himself snapped. Suddenly, he was aware of his pulse in his head, his thundering heartbeat in his chest. His sharply filed nails burying themselves in his palms. The sounds of the pack faded from his hearing. All he could feel was pure rage. A drive that would devour his moral compass. Cadmar would stand by what he agreed to do for Ares.

He would show no mercy. Not one sliver.

A sort of second nature took over in Cad's mind. Cold and calculating, Cad figured out Eyphah's next moves before he even flinched to make them. Like Cadmar, something inside Eyphah had changed. Actually, it was more like something in his exterior changed.

A crack had formed in his eyes. It was an emotion Cadmar knew well. Remorse. But Eyphah's realized his mistake far too late. He never should have even spoken to the twins. There was no going back to their previous situation now. He'd taken it too far, and Cadmar was going to finish it.

Again, Eyphah was the first to throw a punch. It went over Cad's shoulder, allowing him to deflect and grab Eyphah's wrist, yanking it unnaturally behind his back. Beneath Eyphah's skin, Cad felt snap of joints that was not normal. He guessed that he'd broken his wrist or fractured part of his forearm.

The Alpha threw his head back and managed to conk Cad in the head, banging his forehead with great force. This didn't throw Cadmar from him though. He held firm and somehow found a way to bring his foot down on Eyphah's knee in a way that dislocated it. Eyphah fell to his knees with a howl. Anger still coiled up inside Cad's chest. For a moment, he forgot that he was only fourteen. He was only a teenager, a boy, a kid. What he was about to do was no fit for the tasks of a child.

Slamming his fist down onto Eyphah, Cadmar brought his built up rage down on his opponent's shoulder. Another howl of pain emulated from Eyphah. The sound like a victory cry in the ears of Cadmar. Eyphah's immediate reaction was to grip his now dislocated arm with his one good one. Just as Cad had anticipated.

Directly behind him, Cadmar stood over Eyphah, still burning with hatred for what he'd said about Goldi. Nothing could change what Eyphah had said or done. Nothing could redeem him or bring Cadmar to forgive him.

A semi-permanent scowl had taken a place of residence on Cadmar's face. The pack was still bewildered that Cad had beaten Eyphah. Soon, they would be dumbfounded at what Cadmar was about to do.

He would fully give up his innocence.

In one fluid motion, Cadmar reached out for Eyphah's head and held it firmly be his jaw and the back of his enemy's head. With one last show of strength, Cad twisted the Alpha's head in a 180 degree spin. Snapping his neck too far to paralyze him.

The pack was silent, the twins enveloped in shock and fear. They watched him from that day on as a dangerous creature that would barely be trusted. Ares feared him as a superior figure to himself.

That was the day of Cadmar's first kill. And worse still, it would not be his last.