Carter stared forward toward the shimmering white teeth hiding just behind the twisting darkness, the only thing his dull eyes could lock on as the familiar voice taunted him with its broad smile. The figure didn't move and just stared at the unmoving child when the sudden sound of creaking crystal echoed in the room, and a sudden force pushed on his jaw, sending him tumbling through the air and crashing through the walls, freefalling down the side of the Central Building.

  Carter watched as the event unfolded. Arc, who came from nowhere, suddenly appeared through the shattering crystals of the closed window overlooking the front plaza. He flew through the air feet first and his back parallel to the ground as his feet made contact with the only thing that Carter could see of the figure: the mouth. The pair of Arc and the figure then continued their momentum, crashing into the wall where Arc's hand glowed an ominous silver purple glow before the wall, and the pair tumbled down into a free fall.

  ***

  Arc and the figure fell from the broken walls of the building, steadily descending towards the grassy ground below. The figure attempted to twist his body to land more gracefully, but Arc smiled as his glowing hand moved to adjust the figure's position in midair, not allowing him to land on his feet.

  With a thud, the figure hit the ground on his back, releasing a grunt of pain as he rolled to his feet. In contrast, Arc landed safely and effortlessly, as if he had merely jumped a short distance instead of falling several stories from the building.

  With a smug smile still on his lips, Arc spoke, "Who are you, and what do you want here?"

  "It has nothing to do with you!"

  "You made it my business the moment you approached that child."

  "Child? I see..."

  The figure tried to push himself up, but Arc just scoffed and jumped toward the man, landing on his back and pushing him back to the ground.

  "Answer my question! Who are you, and What do you want?"

  "And I said it has nothing to do with you!" The figure screamed as he merged with the ground, becoming one with the grass and soil below.

  Arc clicked his tongue as he looked around for the figure, knowing that he could not have gone far, not with himself so close and being a threat. Seedlings were nothing like Feyrisians who plotted ulterior motives with everything; no Seedlings were much too simple-minded like beasts. So now that Arc has provoked the proverbial beast, it should attack.

  Following exactly as Arc predicted, several daggers flew through the air, which Arc effortlessly diverted with minimal effort. However, the direction the weapons came from was also empty, causing Arc to click his tongue again in annoyance.

  "Stop cowering and come out and fight! I won't hurt you much if you answer my questions!" Arc shouted

  "Do you take me for a fool?" a voice echoed around Arc as another wave of daggers flew towards him.

  "A fool? Yes, I do! If not foolish, how else would you explain a Seedling attacking a Feyrisian?"

  "I was told I had nothing to worry about with you, so it seems the only foolish thing is trusting your kind."

  ?Hearing the figure's statement caused Arc's brows to furrow, "What is that supposed to mean? Am I to believe that one of us sent you here? Do you take me for a fool, you Seedling?"

  Another volley of daggers flew towards Arc, who now seemed not only annoyed but frustrated, a considerable departure from his joking and teasing from before. More and more daggers flew from strange angles and locations, none managing to get close enough to make contact with Arc, but every dagger seemed to grate on his mentality.

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  "Stop wasting my time, cowardly Seedling! If you want to hide, then run! If you want to fight, then fight!" Arc screamed

  The only response Arc heard was a laugh, although creepy; it was more annoying to Arc, who was already exhausted long ago, let alone now he just wanted to be done with everything and rest, maybe have something to drink and play with his little shrefin, but no that child had to be attacked now of all times.

  The stalemate continued: daggers would fly, and Arc's hand would glow; the daggers would miss or fall, and the process would repeat. As Arc moved around, so would the placements of the daggers, never coming from the same place and never aimed at the same point. At some point, Arc noticed how precise the daggers were, and he figured that the figure was pushing him somewhere, but it was hard to guess where, so Arc played along, curious about what this Seedling could actually do to him.

  Suddenly, the daggers stopped, and silence ensued in the area. Arc, who still had his brows furrowed and hands ready for another sneak attack, glanced at the building where the figure began to walk out of the shadows of the building. Although the sky was dark, the glowing blue flames lit the entire village and cast shadows. That was when Arc finally realized what was happening, and almost everything clicked inside his head.

  "You're holding back?" The figure asked with a pause as he stared in the direction of Arc, whose eyes seemed to dart around in thought, "Am I just a toy for you to play with? Are you not taking me seriously?"

  Arc's gaze regained its focus as he looked over the figure, still hiding parts of their body inside the shadow, "You're a Seedling; what else are you good for?"

  "Haha...HAHAHA! I'll show you what a Seedling is capable of... No, what WE are capable of!"

  The shadows on the ground twisted, grew, and writhed as if they were alive, clawing toward Arc slowly. Arc stared at the shadows with a sneer, at this point, it would be safe to assume the figure was someone from the Shadow Race, which would explain the daggers coming from so many locations but not the amount, but that would be answered very shortly.

  The figure reached into the shadow around his feet and pulled out a black mass that suddenly shaped into several daggers, their dark metallic-like glistening in the faint blue light from the distant flames. Arc had missed the key detail of the strange metallic color when they flew towards him, his thoughts never lingering on such minute detail as the color, but this brought about a few more questions. The Shadow Race has never had such an ability as this, so it made no sense that they would have it. Did they recently create it? That thought also stopped. Seedlings were traditionalists and hated any form of change, no matter how small it might be; could it be a trait of this figure or a unique ability, or was Arc missing something important?

  Arc shook the thoughts away as he watched the figure throw the daggers towards him. He lifted his hands, and they began to glow their silvery-purple glow when his hand suddenly jerked itself to the side, allowing a dagger to pierce into his right shoulder; another pierced his gut, his chest, his leg while the last sliced the side of his neck although the pain stung it was not so painful that was until the daggers began to sink into him.

  Arc watched as the daggers slowly melted, and the pain increased. Although the pain was distracting, he was more obsessed with his arm not listening to him. "What did you do?" Arc shouted.

  "Showing you the difference..."

  Arc felt the pain radiate out as he lost control over his other arm, then his left leg, then his right. He felt like a puppet on strings as his feet carried him closer to the figure who smiled under the twisting darkness.

  "Who is the fool now, Feyrisian?"

  ***

  While the battle behind the back of the Central building happened, another guest came to greet Carter. Like the first, they seemed subtly surprised by the child, but after seeing him, they couldn't help but smile at the glazed appearance.

  "Here I was wondering how you were, you useless brat." The new figure said, walking towards the boy, "I sure have missed you and our fun. Did you miss us?"

  Suddenly, something came from the side, effortlessly slicing through the wall or, more so, melting the walls as if it sliced through the wooden and stone structure. After whatever had just come through the wall, it bounced toward the figure, who jumped back, not wanting to chance to touch the strange object.

  "Carter, are you ok?" Zindra asked as she ran beside the object holding several vials, one of which was empty. She then positioned herself between the figure and Carter, glaring daggers at the hooded figure.

  "Who are you, and what do you want?"

  "You don't remember me?" The figure asked, seeming agitated.

  The figure began to rub the side of their neck and shoulder, pulling at the cloak they wore as the agitation worsened.

  "HOW DARE YOU FORGET ME!" The figure shouted as he pounced toward Zindra.