Remus ran through the woods, eager to see his family in all but blood before having to return to his luxurious prison.

...

He had met them 5 years ago, when he was running from his father, no, he was running from the king. He had decided to run into the Forbidden Forest, one the only places the king did not dare to enter. Being the naive kid that he had been, Remus had not thought of the reason the Forest was Forbidden. Well, not until he had been attacked by a Jorōgumo, a beautiful yet absolutely horrifying spider-woman-thingy. Normally, Jorōgumos use their beauty to seduce men, and sometimes women, into their web where they would eat them but those creatures will not say 'no' to weak, innocent and defenseless children.

The Jorōgumo had pinned him to a tree, its long sharp fingers digging into him. It had opened its mouth, a mouth bigger than it should be, a mouth filled with rows upon rows of sharp teeth. Just when the monster was about to take a bite out of Remus, a rather large one, an enormous icicle crashed into it, knocking it away. The spider monster crashed into several trees, breaking them. The trees fell on it, burrying it underneath.

Looking in the direction the icicle had come from, Remus saw a magestic wolf. The wolf was huge, at least 5 times the size of a normal wolf, with fur as white as snow. There was ice covering the upper part of his head, looking both like a battle helmet and a crown. The wolf's tail seemed fluffy, almost like a cloud, flowing in the wind. It turned its gaze to Remus, looking at him with those piercing blue eyes. And it spoke:

"What are you doing here, human child?"

"Escaping." He had said that day. "From the king and everything else."

"And why would you do that, young prince?"

"How d-?" He had asked but was cut off.

"It's not hard considering the clothes you are wearing."

"But I could be the son of a duke or..."

"But you're not, are you, child?"

"No, I suppose not."

"You still haven't answer my question yet, human cub. Why were you running away from your father?"

Remus remained silent.

"You don't have to tell me if you don't want to... But you know you can't remain here forever, don't you. He's a king. He and his army will find you."

"Like he cares." Remus spat hatefully. "I am never good enough for him."

"How are you so sure?"

"Of course I'm sure!" Remus snapped. "All that bastard ever cared about were himself and Alexander, his perfect heir! Nobody cared for useless Remus!... Only mom did and now she's gone..." He broke down in sobs.

"Even if your father was to be such a horrible being as you thought him to be, he still cares about you... Whether it be because you're his son or because you're the replacement should anything happened to his, as you said, 'perfect heir'."

The wolf picked Remus up by his collar.

"Come on", he said. "I'll get you out of here."

After that, he carried Remus away. Once they were close to the entrance to the forest, the elemental wolf put him down, said goodbye to him and went back into the depths of the Forbidden Forest. Remus was later found by some guards the king ordered to find him and was brought back to the castle.

Not long after, he returned to the forest, was attacked in said forest and was rescued by one of the elemental wolves living there again... and again... and again. So many times that he just became friends with all of them and was considered part of the pack. It only took him 259 tries. Persistence! It pays off!

...

Shaking his head fondly at the memory, our young prince continued running to find his pack.

Snap!

A twig snapped, signaling that someone or something was stalking him. Not a second later, a block of ice was sent his way. He barely dodged it before he was pinned down by some giant creature... with fluffy fur.

"Too slow~!" The creature said in a slightly mocking voice. "You're lucky it was just me and not something else."

"Luka!" Remus exclaimed, recognizing the voice of one of his pack's members.

"The one and only!" Luka said with a laughas he let the little prince go. "You really need to improve your reflexes. In a normal fight, you do pretty well but when you're ambushed..."

"I know, I know. But you are just sooooo great!"

"Of course! Who do you think I am." Luka raised his chin, looking proud before laughing and playfully hitting Remus in the back of his head with his tail. "But flattery is only gonna get you so far...brat."

And he laugh again, this time with Remus joining him.

"There you are!" A femine voice was heard.

Following the voice, it appeared that the owner of said voice was another wolf from the pack who was standing on higher ground.

"Shenko!" Luka greeted her.

"Hello, Shenko." Remus greeted. "How are Sol, Luna and Talia?"

"They're doing well, thank you, dear." The female wolf responded with a soft voice before turning back to yell at Luka."You are a father! Get your ass back to camp right now! Sol, Luna and Talia need a father so go take care of them before I beat your ass!"

"See, kid. This is why you don't want to marry and have children." Luka 'discretely' whispered to Remus.

"Are you coming or do I have to get over there!?" Shenko yelled.

"Coming, love!" Luka said with a nervous laughter before lowering his body. "Come on, kiddo, climb up." He said to Remus. "I'll take you to the camp."

And that they did.

...

"Mom!" Thre slightly bigger than normal wolf cubs ran towards them the moment they reached the camp. It's surprising how fast elemental wolves grew considering that the adult are at least 4 times bigger than the average adult wolf.

"Hello, sweeties." Shenko greeted her cubs with a gentle smile and cuddled them.

"Who am I? The neighbor next door?" Luka chuckled while Remus greeted them with a "Hey, guys."

"Dad! Remus!" The cubs greeted.

As soon as he got off Luka, Remus was tackled by the three cubs - Sol, Luna and Talia. They asked him to play with them, giving him the biggest puppy dog eyes ever... even though they were wolves. It was super effective. And so, they ran around and sparred. Well, it was more like Remus, Luka & Shenko helping the cubs control their magic. Remus would never admit it out loud but he was slightly jealous of them. Magic was something he would never have.

Magic a wonderful thing. It can do amazing feats like control natural elements, heal the injured and even manipulate time and space. However, it was something that not everyone has. In order to be able to preform magic, a magic core was needed. Some were born with it, others were not. It was not a choice... Of course, with magic being part of you, using too much magic can lead to exhaustion, just like what happened when you do excessive exercise. In addition, the majority of the more complex and powerful require a lot of precision and/or some sort of trade. For example, the low level healing spells that heals small wounds don't really need to be careful but with high level ones that deal with graver injuries, ailments and the like, tumors for instance, need a lot of exactness or you will cause way more harm than good and, you know, the patient might die.

Monsters, like elemental wolves, all have magic cores. There is no monster without a magic core. Although they are a bit different from the ones possessed by the Races (Human, Beast, Undead,... etc). Magic cores belonging to monsters can only do one type of magic. It differs from species to species. The elemental wolves residing in this forest, for example, can only use ice magic.

Of course, when talking about magic, we can't forget about a subtype of magic: The Dark Arts. The thing that sets them apart from other types of magic is that anyone, with or without a magic core, can learn it. They are, however, extremely complex, extremely dangerous and extremely easy to mess up, not to mention the high costs. You need to have like max level precision so as to not mess up the rituals and end up losing literally an arm and a leg, even your entire body, without achieving anything that you wanted at all. Despite this, Demons and Undeads can easily preform these feats of magic without losing too much. Take the Black Rose Curse, a curse Undeads usually use during The War, for example. It causes thorny vines with blooming black roses to grow from a certain place on the victims' bodies (wherever the curse was placed, usually in the middle of the chest) and wrap around them, causing excruciating pain and ultimately death, a slow and painful death. In exchange, the same black roses will grow inside the casters' lungs if they were to love someone who do not love them back the same way (romantic love is only one example; brotherly, sisterly love and the like also count). But, the Undeads are completely unaffected by this since they don't need to use there lungs so they will still function as normal no matter how much the roses grow...

...

...

...

After a couple of hours of running around and sparring, it was time for Remus to go home. Just as he was climbing on Luka, he remembered what the necromancer asked him.

"Wait! Could you take me to the Elder first?" Remus asked.

"Sure" was Luka's reply. "What do you need him for?"

"There's a new necromancer in town and he was able to see through my commoner disguise. He even found out about you guys and your relation to me even though I didn't tell him anything. All he said was that his demon smelled it but I doubt that's the case considering that I am cleansed everyday with magic. Your scent could not have lingered for the demon to smell."

"Everyday?" Luka asked incredulously. "Isn't that a bit too much?"

"You know how the king is with maintaining a perfect image even though he is completely rotten to the core."

"Yeah..." A pause. "Well, hop on. I'll take you to the Elder."

After Remus secured himself on Luka, they sped off to see the Elder Wolf. The Elder Wolf, whilst being the leader of the pack did not live with the rest in the camp. Instead, he lived in a cave not far from it, with view of the entire camp.

Entering the cave, Remus was completely amazed. Stalagmites and stalactites rising from the ground and hanging from the ceiling created beautiful sculptures. From plants to animals, from demons and angels, they created a picturesque scene. In addition, the sunlight from outside reflected on the crystals and ice, illuminating the whole cave, creating a mystical spectacle of light and wonders. No wonder the Elder rarely left the cave! (If his memory serves him right, he had only seen the Elder Wolf outside the cave twice before.)

"Luka? Remus?" A solemn voice was heard. "What brings you here?"

"Elder Cennäya." Luka said as he and Remus bowed down to a giant white wolf. He was about 7 times that of your average everyday wolf, with ice encompassing the upper part of his head, his legs and his back. He gave off an aura of someone wise and calm yet deadly as well.

"There is a necromancer in town and he seemed to have known about us and our connection to Remus even when he shouldn't." Luka continued. "He had a message for us, sir."

"Is that so?" Elder Cennäya mused. "And what did he have to say?"

"Sir," Remus replied. "He said something in another language. It sounded like 'Dan tah lee on vah Mah Ket gooey loi ciao' or something like that. It's difficult to pronounce."

"Đan-ta-li-ông và Ma Kết gửi lời chào." Elder Cennäya said, deciphering what Remus said.

"Yes! Exactly like that."

"I see..." The Elder Wolf contemplated. He turned to Luka and ordered: "Luka, call the council. Quick! We have no time to waste!"

"With all due respect, sir," Luka questioned, "what's so special about the message?"

"If they truly are who they claimed to be," the Elder responded, "then they are not only powerful but incredibly dangerous. They either could bring triumph to this kingdom or be its very own downfall... Now go!"

Not wasting anymore time, Luka sped away.

"Sir, if I may ask," Remus asked, "who are they? What did the message say?"

"They simply sent their greetings. As for who they are, let me ask you something, what does 'Đan-ta-li-ông' sound like."

Murmuring to himself the name various times, Remus finally seemed to realize the answer.

"Dantalion?" Remus asked, uncertain.

"Precisely." Cennäya said. "The demon is Dantalion, one of the Demon Kings and the owner of the Dantalian Library of Forbidden Grimoires."

"But... but..." Remus stuttered in shock. How could this happen? He was supposed be sealed away. Remus knew that the Seal was starting to deteriorate and crack. If the cracks were already large enough for Dantalion to escape, what else had gotten out? Oh god! They were all gonna die!

Millions of thoughts ran in Remus's mind, drowning him until the Elder's voice brought him back to reality..

"Remus, return to the castle. We will deal with this." The Wolf said. "We still do not know if they mean harm or not as of yet. There's a chance they might not choose to be our enemy."

"A-And if th-they do?"

"Then we are all doomed."

...

Riding on Lykox, another wolf from the pack, Remus can't help but feel a sense of dread creeping up. It didn't disappear anytime during his journey back to the castle.

...

In a small shop in the Shady District, a young shop owner smiled as he watched a couple walk out. A couple that was just a guy and a corpse moments ago... He wondered what part of herself the girl left behind in the endless Abyss. Was it her forgiveness, her apathy or, even better, her morals?

"The wolves should be discussing us right now." A voice interrupted his train of thought.

"Excellent." He responded. "Now, let's try our best to appear as nice and harmless as possible, shall we?"

The crows cawed as the sun bled red and slowly disappeared behind the mountains.