Escape From Evil

Chapter Four

Sunrise found Acheron already awake and clearing out his camp. He'd been awake for a few minutes now and he was eager to start the day. He'd already put out the fire with a wave of his hand and had gathered up his things. However, when the sun had come over the horizon, he'd stopped and stood there basking in the warm light. It had been more than one hundred years since he'd last seen or felt the sun on his skin and he decided at that moment to take it in as much as he possibly could. After all, who knew when he would be able to pause and take in the beautiful feeling of the sun again?

After a few minutes of basking in the sun, the Command Assassin sighed and lowered his head. Then, he opened his eyes and he stared at the blue sky. It was beautiful, and now that he was seeing it once again, he never wanted to leave it. Never again would he live under a blood red sky with black lightning cracking. Never again would he serve his brother as his personal killer. He was his own person now and he was loyal to only three people: himself, Trissieal, and her son.

He didn't know the Prince of Paradise, but she was her son after all. With a mother like her, he had to be a trustworthy and powerful man. How could he not be when she was so gentle, so kind, so accepting? After all, she'd accepted him upon first meeting him and she'd never distrusted him. He'd met many people over the years who had distrusted him upon the moment that they learned or sensed that he was a Demon, but she wasn't one of those people. She was the only person who had fully and wholeheartedly accepted him for who he was without a second thought.

That was why he cared for Trissieal and that was why he was going to make sure that she was safe.

With that thought in mind, the Chaos Demon turned his attention to the tall trees of the High Forest in the distance and he began to walk. His long legs ate up the distance quickly, and in only a few minutes, he was standing before the tall mahogany trees of the High Forest. This was the eastern most part of the Wilds and he knew that once he stepped into these trees, his life would change forever. He would be taking a different path than he had done in the path and he would do so without a second thought. He smiled.

There was no clear path through the trees, but he'd expected nothing less. After all, who would enter a land of anarchy? The only people who were known to willingly come to the Wilds were those attempting to escape from bounty hunters and other forces that sought them. Only the most hardened people came to the Wilds to escape, but he knew that people actually lived within the confines of the Wilds. They'd been born in the Wilds, and because of that, they ignored the rest of the world as irrelevant.

They had their own problems to deal with and they were immense ones.

Acheron took a deep breath and blew it out. Then, with his nerves calmed, he took a step forward and he entered the High Forest, the eastern Province of the Wilds. Several minutes of walking found him deep in the High Forest, surrounded on all sides by the huge trees that rose so high and so close together that they blotted out the sun. The foliage was thick and filled with unknown wildlife, but he wasn't concerned with any of that. He was concerned about the sentient life forms that he knew lived within the High Forest and that was why he had his aura extended for several miles in front of him, searching for anything that might mean him harm.

So far, he'd found nothing of the sort, but his luck was bound to change before he got through the massive forest.

Just as suddenly as he'd thought that, he felt it. There were several auras up ahead and they were differing. Over two hundred of them were sentient and driven by not just their emotions, but by their logic. However, the other side was much different. They were driven by their immense hatred - hatred much like the Bloodgoyles from before - and their need to kill. He frowned as he felt those auras and he wondered just what the hell was going on. The two forces weren't together. No, they were fighting one another, that much was obvious from the disappearing auras. He had to see for himself just what the hell was going on.