Monk could remember everything that had happened that day well. He was out looking for the beast with the group, and when he saw Martha get grabbed by the strange tentacles in the fog, without hesitation, he had saved her. If he had the choice to do it again, he would have done the same thing in a heartbeat.

  What surprised him though, was when he was being dragged down by the beast he had thought he was done for. He had said his peace and his eyes were closed. All he waited, for now, was to carry on falling until eventually, he felt his bones being crushed by the beast.

  'I'm just upset we never got to make a family together.' Monk thought.

  But the wind pressure from falling and being dragged started to slow down until eventually, he had come to a halt. Opening his eyes, he still could only see the thick misty fog that seems to cover everything. And although he couldn't see the beast, he could see its large outline.

  The very size of the thing looked as if it was a moving mountain. He would have thought it was one if it wasn't for its breathing. It would slowly move up and down as it inhaled and exhaled.

  But then, Monk had spotted something else. Standing on the very top of the beast's head, a slight shadowy figure could be seen again, with the fog hiding any details.

  "Place the boy down." The voice said from above.

  As it was ordered, the beast placed Monk on the floor and the tentacles that held him had been removed. Although he was no longer restrained and was free to move, only a fool would try to run in this situation. The beast would be able to easily restrict him once again, the more pressing matter to Monk was why was he kept alive and who was this powerful man, who could control such a large and powerful, gigantic beast.

  "That seal, who gave you that." The man asked.

  Monk's seal was displayed on his forearms. His arms were mostly bare as he didn't like wearing heavy armour as he focused more on speed than anything else when it came to attacks. The seal on his arm that the man was talking about was the same one that belonged to the Redwings.

  "A friend!" Monk replied.

  The man started to laugh at hearing the response. "A friend? Now why would a friend need to put a seal on them for, does he not trust you?"

  As the man spoke these words, the beast lifted up its strange tentacles and brought him off its head, placing him on the floor. The man started to walk towards Monk, but the fog started to shift with him. Even though he was getting closer to Monk, he was still unseeable.

  'He must be controlling the fog, or maybe it's the beast behind him.'

  "The mark of a dragon?" The man said, looking closer. "Now why would a human choose to use a symbol like that. Something that they outcasted and chased till the end of extinction."

  When speaking, Monk could sense the anger in his voice.

  "No human should bear the mark of this in front of me." The man said as his hand moved forward and hovered above Monk's head……

  Right now, multiple thoughts were going through Monk's head of the many actions he could take. Should he flee, should he try to fight, shoving his blade through the man's hand? If he was going to die anyway, he should do something right? Yet for some reason, Monk couldn't do either of those things. It wasn't because of fear though, Monk could tell from his sensitive Ki training that he meant no harm.

  As the hand was placed on top of his head, suddenly the seal on his forearm started to glow, until a smashing sound like glass was heard. When peaking down, he saw that the seal was no longer on his arm.

  He tried to send a message to the others using the system, but it was no longer there.

  "I have freed you from your chains." The man said. "I saw what you did, how you saved that girl. Think of this as a reward for your brave actions. You are free to go and choose what you wish to do with your life." He said as he walked away.

  Monk was all of a sudden very confused. Was this man not aligned with the shadow, was he not going to infect him or kill him, ask him to betray his friends. What was the purpose of attacking them with the beast?

  The curiosity was starting to get to Monk. Not once while interacting with the man had he felt the evil presence he would often feel. He had felt it in the tunnels underneath Avrion. When dealing with the Dark guild members, but not right now.

  "Who are you"? Monk asked.

  The man stopped before getting on top of the beast

  "I believe you already know the answer, but I like you. If you want to learn more, then come down to the south harbour of the Alure kingdom. Or, you can choose to continue following the person who gave you the marking. But let me give you a little warning, there is only one way to break a seal like that, and that's to have more power than the person that placed it on you in the first place. You can stay out of this war, or you can choose to go against me."

  With that, the beast lifted the man and went off into the distance. After a few minutes, he could no longer see the giant beast or fog any longer and now Monk could see, he was in a valley of some sorts, and behind him was the large cliff that he had fallen from.

  "I'm sorry Martha, but if we want to win this war, we need to find out more about who our enemy is." Monk said.

  As his next destination was the south harbour.

  ****

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