"It"s been ten years since that day hasn"t it?" Vice thought to himself as he walked past where a large brown tree used to stand. The forest which had burned down back then was already flourishing even more than it had previously done. The trees were also much bigger now, and even st.u.r.dier then before.

On that fateful day, Vice had gained something he found to me a priceless treasure, something he"d hope to never part with for the rest of his life. He found a friend. Alas, this "friend" of his was actually only present in his own mind.

"Ten years? Wait until it gets to a thousand years, then you can be all sentimental about it," a cold voice said.

"Sure," Vice replied as he continued walking through the tough weather. He was now a relatively tall boy, standing at 6 feet tall despite only being 16 years old. This height was far above the average man"s in Restok, who was only about 5 feet 8 inches. His head was still the same, covered by a purple skin that looked more akin to an artificial mask than it did a face. The two horns on his head had grown much larger, and made it difficult for him to wear any hoods to hide his face.

Due to his "deformed" face, which only other people thought, Vice would only travel in large cities at night, and instead made the forests and wild lands his home during the day. Vice took a map out of a small pouch hung to the side of his belt, and studied the location marked with an "X" for a moment.

"If we"re here, that means the treasure is there," he mumbled to himself. Vice studied his surroundings as he continued walking through the thick forest, and about an hour later he reached his destination.

A small opening was dug into the walls of a hill. There was no lighting that shone far enough inside for Vice to see what was there, but he knew that his target was hidden somewhere inside. As he walked closer to the cave opening, a pungent smell pervaded his nostrils. Where any regular human would wretch in disgust or cover their noses, Vice simply continued walking, the stench unable to shake his composure. He walked with his back straight and his chest up, like a dignified emissary.

"There is trouble up ahead, want me to tell you about it this time or are we just going with the same old routine?" the voice asked.

"We"ll go with the routine Favian," Vice replied. He took out a torch from his pouch, and quietly lit it. With a burst of light, the insides of the cave were revealed to Vice. The inside was many times larger than the small entrance outside would let on, and the ceiling stretched up so high that Vice"s torchlight didn��t reach it. Despite Vice"s ability to see unhindered through the dark, he still used a torch to deter any incoming beasts. Flames were useful for not just sight, but also for fights.

The smell of death intensified as Vice walked further in, and the bones of both human and animal corpses were strewn about the rocky floor. Out of the corner of his eyes, he saw something of interest, glinting at him. Vice slowly bent down and crouched onto his knee, inspecting an silver amulet that was laying on the floor, half broken. Despite it"s insignia being torn apart, Vice knew exactly where this was from, as he himself wore a similar necklace.

"So the three from the Treasure Hunters Guild who went missing weeks ago died here? But why, this wasn"t their mission," Vice thought, frowning at the necklace as he rubbed his chin in confusion.

"Who knows? Human greed can be used to explain any and everything possible," Favian said, his voice a whisper.

"Heh, wise as always aren"t you," Vice retorted playfully, something which he only ever did with the voice in his mind.

More and more bones were strewn about the room as Vice made his way through, yet fear never gripped him even once. Such a feeling was only but an afterthought, and couldn"t usually affect this boy. After walking for a while, the cave opened up into two different paths, forking either to the left or the right.

"Huh, what"s that sweet smell?" Vice thought as he tilted his head to the left path. He stared on into the darkness of that path, thinking about what to do. The path to the left smelled sweet like honey, whilst the right path smelled like the death and rotting corpses.

Vice momentarily wondered which path to take, and decided to go with the right one. "Everyone would have taken the left path, and I also feel some sort of magic imbued into that sweet smell. No wonder none have been able to make it out alive, they were fooled by their sense," he thought as he made his decision. His instincts and gut feeling had also told him to take that way, something which he trusted wholeheartedly. Whenever he couldn"t think of an answer, his instincts would help him out greatly. The fact that both his mind and gut told him to take the same path made him sure it was the correct way to go.

"To think I haven"t taught you much, yet your senses are already so sharp. You truly amaze me little one," Favian said. He sounded like a proud father whose child had walked without needing their help.

The path went on for longer than expected. The walls were damp, and a sticky substance oozed out of them. Despite the crunching sound underfoot, which Vice knew to most definitely be bones, he continued walking undeterred. A small cave opened up at the end of the path, and a stagnant pond was all that was inside. The green water glistened under the light of the torch in Vice"s hand.

Vice took the torch and blew it out, after which he put it back into the pouch by his belt. He didn"t take off any of his clothes before jumping into the pond, as they were all made of special materials that were waterproof. The pond was a lot deeper than he expected, however he continued to dive. The murky water obstructed his vision slightly, yet Vice was still able to make out what was in the water.

After taking a look around for a dozen seconds, he found exactly what he was looking for. At the bottom of the pond, about 100 feet down, there was a large obsidian tooth, about the size of Vice"s whole arm. He tugged at it strongly, but wasn"t able to dislodge it from the sediment.

Deciding against brute force, he instead pushed away the muck and sediment that had acc.u.mulated at the bottom of the pond, using his two hands to shift it away. After almost a whole minute of that, he was finally able to pick up the heavy tooth. He then placed the tip of the tooth into the pouch to the side of his belt, and the ma.s.sive tooth magically disappeared into it. Vice immediately swam back up, and gulped at the air when he finally resurfaced, filling his lungs with the sweet remedy he needed. However, once he got to his senses, his face darkened in worry.

The whole cave was shaking like crazy, as if an earthquake had just happened, and tiny pieces of rock was falling from the ceiling. The water from the pond splashed out into the pathway. Vice jumped out of the pond, and sprinted out of the cave. Larger rocks were falling onto his head, however were crushed by his two horns, fortunately for him.

HISS HISS

Just as Vice jumped out of the cave and got back to the forest, he heard a deafening cry from inside the cave. The screams became louder and louder, until finally he was able to catch a glimpse of what monster resided within the cave, that had made his fellow treasure hunters its prey.

A large snake slithered frantically out of the of the small opening of the cave. It"s green scales were dyed red and there were many sharp rocks lodged into it. All over its body there were numerous stalagmites piercing into its flesh, and it hissed out in pain. It"s dark green eyes stared at Vice, who was stood only ten meters away from it with a greatsword in his hands, purple energy buzzing and crackling off the weapon.