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Chapter 4 Karminrot

"Who are you? W-what do you want with it?!" One of the young, magical creatures shouted out. The other, being the bolder, stood tall against this mysterious assailant. The air was thick with tension. Despite the bravery that the sylvox children were feeling, at least what they thought was bravery, it was slowly being replaced by desperation. Terror didn't just grip their hearts, but the feeling was so palpable that the air itself was almost saturated in it. Only serving to make that menacing mask of this enigmatic figure gleam with a much stronger, more ominous glimmer.

The young sylvox boys trembled with both fear and hatred as they looked helplessly up at the masked mage that stood over them. The larger of the boys clawed at the grass in anger before suddenly leaping up and lashing out at the figure. However, the hooded entity didn't even flinch as he was attacked. With a turn of his heel and almost blindingly fast spin, he gripped the end of his long curved staff and swung wide. It caught the young sylvox in the stomach with a gut wrenching blow that sent the boy flying back and tumbling across the ground. The child choked out strained gasps as he curled in on himself, arms wrapped in on his stomach. He was left trembling and stunned, unable to look at either his love or his loathed in this crumpled and pained condition.

"Tevyn!" The smaller sylvox shouted to his friend with tears in his eyes, trembling as the assailant stepped toward the two of them while humming what would otherwise be a cheerful tune if it weren't coming from behind the sinister grinning mask. Every footstep he made, every bright note that came from the attacker's mouth, every pained breath that came from either of the little victims seem to drain the immediate surroundings of any form of hope.

Tevyn coughed heavily as he grimaced up at the figure now standing over him. "G-give us back... our egg, you bastard!" That threat seemed, for a slight moment, to give the attacker pause. However, the pause was simply met with a small fit of sinister laughter, done with such a weight that it made the boy's words fall flatter than he was likely going to find himself. He open his mouth again for another threat only to be met with a violent stomp to his waist that shook his senses with intense pain.

"Ahahaha, wooow~! Bravo little guy you almost got me off guard! Too bad!" The cruel figure snickered, a single jewel held in his palm which his casually tossed in the air and caught over and over. "You Sylvoxes are a FASCINATING species you know... Able to breed with any species, gender, plant, animal, blah, blah, blah as long as you love each other, right?" His words, despite being mostly correct, felt both condescending and insulting. "D'aww~ Then I'm guessing you boys made this egg together, eh?" The long Cheshire cat smile emblazoned across the figure's mask smiled mercilessly down at its crumpled victim. He bared down over the boy while hunching slightly forward, as if waiting for an answer that he wouldn't give two flicks about.

"Ack..! Rrrg..! T-That's right! Give it back right now dammit!" Tevyn screamed, which only made the foot twist harder into his side. The heel intentionally drilling itself into his flesh, tussing his fur and allowing himself to dig right against his skin, making the boy cry out in pain. "AAAGH! A-Avin! Stay back!" He sputtered out past the tears, forcing what few breaths he had at the moment out, aiming to protect his dear mate.

Young Avin couldn't bear watching his mate being tormented, he had to do something! Raising his paws towards the crimson robed attacker, wind started to howl around his palms before a shockwave of visibly dense air launched from the small boy's palms. The projectile screamed through the air at the mage, but he only groaned to himself as if out of boredom before swinging his staff, connecting with the magical wind and effortlessly dissipating it into the air. Avin gasped and fell back to the ground, trembling where he lay as he stared in fear from seeing his attack simply brushed away as if it were only a gentle breeze.

"Honestly, I'm disappointed. For such a magical species, you don't put up much of a fight... Eh, not like I wanted to fight anyway, especially now that I got what I came for. The power contained in these 'eggs' could level a whole village if used right. Though that'd use up all the magic they got and make it little more than a shiny rock! I could use all its magic here and now!" The mage started, the sinister energy from his voice howling out around the entire forest. "...Or maybe I should just crush it since it'd be worthless anyway!" A small fit of laughter rang out from behind his mysterious mask. "Why not, boys!? Wanna see some fireworks!? AHAHAHAAA!!" the hooded figure laughed with insanity.

"No! Please! W-whatever you do, don't hurt it!" Avin cried out of sheer reflex alone with his hand reaching out, helpless to stop the man. But he knew of nothing else he could do at the moment. The tears stained his cheeks as he finally managed to choke out, his claws digging into the ground, defeated. "Please..." His voice was so low, only the hooded creature could hear his pathetic pleas. "...whatever you do. Just... don't do anything to our egg. I'm begging you..." Whatever fight was left in him had long since disappeared. There was no nothing, no energy, no fight. Just fear and desperation.

The crimson robed villain stopped laughing suddenly, then took his foot off the boys gut allowing Tevyn to gasp air freely once more. He turned his back to the boys and started off through the woods. "Anything huh? Then how about you be good little runts and not follow me? Oh... And if you do, and try and attack me again... I'll be forced to... Defend myself~" He stopped on the last word of his sentence, spinning his staff from the hook at the end by a single finger. With a flick of his wrist his paw snapped to the middle of its shaft and suddenly the gem at the head glowed a menacing red before a great ethereal curved blade manifested into existence, transforming the staff into a terrifying scythe of seething magical energy. "...Understand?" He ended coldly, barely glancing over his shoulder in the children's direction.

With another flick of his wrist the area around the hooded villain danced with red light, entire trees around him suddenly burst into pieces of angular blocks sending splinters, branches, and leaves flying in every direction. The sniffling boys ducked in against each other as they braced themselves from the debris. When the loud noises of flying wood and crashing trees finally stopped, they looked towards where the masked person was to find he had vanished with their egg in tow. The area was littered with the remains of the trees that once stood around them, sunlight now cascading into the hole left in the canopy. The boys could only sob at the loss of their jewel-like egg, not knowing what the figure could possibly be planning to do with it. "I swear, Avin... I will make him pay!" Tevyn vowed with clenched fists and tear-stained cheeks "...if it's the last thing I ever do!"

---

As the hooded figure emerged from the tree line, he clutched his prize tight in his palm. He held it up to the sun and admired the little jewel's intricate patterns that only the magical species that created it could accomplish. His attention then directed to a little village to the north just on the edge of the horizon. "Ahh, Ellenvale~ Such a quaint little town... Maybe it's time I let myself have a little fun. All this sneaking around can get so very boring, keehehehe~" The masked creature snickered to himself, slinging his staff to rest on his shoulders. His arms hooked and came to rest over it as he strolled through the golden grass towards the peaceful little village with a spring in his steps. "Maybe someone there can entertain me! Heee, I can't wait!" He snickered with almost childish glee at the prospect, barely able to force back the unstable fits of laughter hidden behind that faceless mask.