The night forest was cold. Silent. Dangerously still.
Except for the desperate, staggering footsteps echoing between the trees.
A young woman ran for her life under the pale light of the moon. Her once-elegant dress was torn in several places, ripped by branches and rough hands. Dirt smeared her arms and legs, but even through the grime her beauty shone unmistakably.
Her silver hair shimmered like liquid starlight, messy and tangled.Her red eyes, glowing faintly in the dark, were filled with tears and terror.
"Haa—haa—p-please… help…" she gasped, clutching her side as she sprinted.
The night air bit at her skin. Her breath came out as white puffs. Every step felt heavier than the last.
Behind her, torches flared and cruel voices tore through the darkness.
"Don't let her escape!" "She's cornered now!" "The youngest princess dies tonight!"
Her heart clenched.
They were close... too close.
Branches whipped her face as she desperately pushed forward, stumbling blindly through the shadows.
Then-
Her foot caught on something soft. She cried out and fell forward, crashing to the forest floor with a sharp gasp.
"N-no…"
But when she looked down, she froze.
Lying on the ground beneath her was a naked man with white hair, barely illuminated by moonlight filtering through the branches.
His long, snow-white hair fanned across the moss like fragile silk. His pale skin seemed almost luminous in the dark. His face… calm, serene, and too beautiful to be human.
"W-what…?" she whispered, confusion mixing with fear. "Why is there a man here…? A naked man… in the middle of the forest…?"
She swallowed hard. Her trembling hand reached out, hesitant yet drawn to him.
He was ice-cold to the touch.
But alive.
She barely had a moment to process this when the woods erupted with crude laughter and stomping boots.
"There she is!" "Found the princess!" "Well, well… what do we have here?" "Looks like we get to kill her and sell this man's body- easy coin!"
The girl flinched, scrambling to her feet with trembling legs. She instinctively stepped in front of Ginro's unconscious body, shielding him despite her own helplessness.
"M-move back!" one bandit barked, brandishing a rusted blade. "You're dying tonight, princess!"
Her tears shone like blood under the moonlight.
"P-please… someone… anyone… save us…"
Her trembling voice vanished into the cold night air.
For a moment, nothing happened.
The forest was still... Too still.
A blade pressed against the princess's neck... cold, cruel, inches from spilling royal blood.
"Heh. Pray all you want," the bandit sneered. "No one's coming—"
CRACK!.
The ground trembled.
A wave of pressure burst outward like a silent explosion, scattering leaves and snuffing out torches in an instant.
The bandits staggered. "W-what the—?!"
The princess gasped, freezing as the body beneath her hand twitched.
Ginro's fingers curled. His breath deepened. Shadows pooled beneath him... thicker, darker, alive.
Then-
His eyes snapped open.
Not the calm, silver-gray from his human dream life. No. They glowed a deep obsidian red, swirling like a living abyss.
His pupils were slit, predatory. His expression was wrong... too sharp, too cold, too hungry. And then…
He smiled.
A slow, wicked, bone-chilling smile that didn't belong to any human. "H-h-hey! w-what is he-?!" a bandit stuttered.
Ginro's shadow erupted.
Not like darkness. More like a living creature... spreading, slithering, swallowing the ground beneath them.
Before a scream could even leave a throat-
SLASH.
CRUNCH.
TEAR.
The forest turned red. Bodies fell in pieces. Heads rolled. Limbs scattered like broken dolls.
No movement. No mercy. No sound except the wet, sickening drip of blood.
All done in a single second.
The princess hadn't even blinked.
One moment she stood between blades... The next, the bandits were nothing but red stains in the moonlit grass.
Ginro stood in the center of the carnage.
Barefoot. Unsteady. Dripping in crimson.
He lifted his face toward the full moon, letting its pale light wash over him. Shadows rippled along his skin like armor forming and dissolving.
The princess stared, frozen in awe and terror.
The way the moonlight hit him... The way blood slid across his pale body... He looked like something sacred and cursed all at once.
"A… monster…" she breathed.
Ginro's blood-red eyes dimmed. His smile slowly faded.
Then, as if someone pulled a plug on the world, his knees buckled.
His eyes rolled back.
He collapsed beside her... peaceful again, as though he hadn't just slaughtered a dozen men in a heartbeat.
"W-wait!" She rushed to his side, catching his head before it hit the ground. "H-hey! Don't… don't leave me too…"
But he was already unconscious.
His breathing was calm. Almost gentle. The princess held him tightly, trembling from both fear and relief.
"He… saved me…" Her voice cracked.
Her body was shaking uncontrollably now- The terror, the running, the wounds on her legs, the adrenaline that had kept her alive… It all crashed down on her at once.
Her vision blurred. Her limbs felt heavy. Her heartbeat slowed from panic to pure exhaustion.
The moonlight shone on the two of them- one drenched in blood, the other trembling like a fragile flower.
The princess tried to stand, but her knees buckled.
"Ah…"
She collapsed beside Ginro's unconscious body, her silver hair spilling across his pale arm like moonlit silk.
Her fingers brushed his.
A small, tired smile softened her lips.
"Thank you… whoever you are…"
Her eyes fluttered shut.
And under the quiet glow of the moon,both the princess and the Abyssborne fell unconscious together,lying surrounded by the corpses of their enemies…
Unaware of how their fates had now become intertwined.
From the trees above, the darkness moved- watching, waiting, whispering:
"The world won't be ready… for when he wakes again."