The Unison Mountains rose like ancient titans, their jagged crowns tearing through the pale morning sky.
Every scar along the rough stone caught the crimson light, casting a quiet, living radiance across their edges.
Deep within the fourth mountain, where the trees swayed with the grass and flowers, a handsome man walked in calm silence.
His long black hair hung loose, falling to his lower back. Blood and dirt streaked his face and his dark grey robes were torn.
Despite his tattered state, his golden eyes still held onto sanity, though the smile he wore looked inhumane.
Looking at the abundance of trees around him, Oren Xianrath let out a wistful sigh.
Weren't there five mountains? He thought, glancing back toward the third peak he had come from.
He had been certain there were five, or was his vast age finally catching up to him?
Then again, he had felt an odd familiarity when entering this place, as though he had been there before.
Had he visited Everdream before? No...
Shaking his head Oren chuckled.
"Oh well, it all must have been a vague dream, if not many. I have never visited Everdream City, nor seen a fifth mountain."
Oren's golden eyes jumped to a tree whose shadow stretched too long.
He froze for a moment, then continued walking as normal.
It seems I am being watched. Ah, what a grand entrance this is, my entry into the revered Everdream City, that is.
But to think they are so suspicious of me.
Oren smirked faintly.
Before he could announce they were there, four shadowy figures appeared in the distance, walking slowly, trying to encircle him.
But Oren knew that whatever circle they were to make would be pathetic.
Who organises an ambush with only four people? Do they really think four people is enough to take me down?
But thinking about it, no number of people in the world could take him down.
Shaking his head, Oren looked at the four hitmen.
The first stood slightly forward, ahead of the rest, the oldest of the group.
His shoulders were relaxed whilst his head was tilted in an amused manner.
To his left lingered a shorter figure. It was a youthful girl in her late twenties, it seemed.
Her long auburn hair spilled down her face like ink. Unlike the others, she seemed happy there, eager to face him.
That realisation stirred Oren the wrong way, but for some reason it made Oren tremble with excitement.
The man at the very back shifted restlessly, taller than the others, his fingers twitched at his sides as though he could barely restrain himself.
And lastly, to the far right, walking beside a narrow tree, was a broad and silent man.
His presence felt unfathomable and off.
Oren stared at the man for a moment longer than necessary. If this goes wrong, I will take him out first.
"That's him, the demon who came from nothing?"
Oren heard the enthusiastic girl speak to the short, grumpy man from across the expanse.
Before the man could reply, Oren smiled and shouted, "Yes, that is me. I am the so called demon you speak of."
Looking at their weapons, Oren frowned.
"But I am afraid you cannot bring this pitiful demon his end, can you?"
The girl's blue eyes shone in confusion as she raised her emerald dagger in excitement.
"Come on, boss. Do we really have to kill him? This so called immortal demon looks harmless."
The words fell out of her mouth as she stared at Oren with a concern the others had felt far earlier.
Oren chuckled lightly, then looked at the boss. He was the one ahead of the entire group, in the centre of the circle.
Despite hearing her words, he did not reply.
No one did.
She continued anyway, "Heh, I don't care anyway. He is not much after all.
Just look at him. His beautiful eyes are what make him look somewhat remarkable.
Other than them, his hair is awfully messy and his face is marked with countless scars and is that blood?"
What? Oren shook his head as she shook hers.
Was she trying to undermine him?
The woman continued.
"What I mean is he is nothing much."
Oren bit his lip, waiting for them to get closer. It was as though he was taking his time thinking of a reply.
He could not just allow it, his name to be belittled this way.
A dry laugh escaped Oren's mouth, making her wince.
"But it is exactly because I am not enough that I am.
There are many places, many things that are much more than meet the eye."
Oren winked, then lowered his hand into his dark, faded black robes, clutching something.
"Me, I am like one of those places. There is much more than meets the eye."
The oldest snarled, his long grey beard flowed in the cold breeze as he stared at Oren.
"Those golden eyes of yours, I will gouge them out if you continue talking, and then I will crush them and burn them into ash."
Oren replied with a dark smile.
"Your animosity is palpable, why is that, why do you feel such hatred towards me."
Oren laughed, then tilted his head, slightly dazed.
"What is it I have done to deserve your condemnation?"
Oren was not confused because he had done nothing.
It was that he had done so much that he did not know what thing in particular he had done.
But even he had reasons. He was not some immoral deranged madman.
Suddenly Orem heard a shout. It was from the man from the back of the pointless circle formation.
"You demon, you immortal demon, how dare you spout lies. We know what you have done. We know you are one of the leaders of the Rosain Village in the second mountain.
"You stole, starved, killed dozens of men and women. Then, if that is not bad enough, you sacrificed them for your malevolent deeds."
The girl chuckled, yet this time all emotion had left her voice.
"Wasn't he trying to force the life of those creatures, erols, by using the world energy?"
Oren sighed inwardly.
These people were informed.
It made Oren wonder whether they were really from Everdream.
Trade had been getting difficult lately, so information from outside one's village was scarce.
It was rare for someone from one village to hear about another. Even if they were close. Even if they were both on the same mountains.
The mountains were just that vast. It could take a few weeks, maybe even a few months, to get from one mountain to another.
So who were these people, really? Had he killed one of their friends? Were they seeking redemption?
Oren did not believe they were in cahoots with the Everdream people.
He squinted in confusion.
They were right, though. Those erols. That was what he had been doing, wasn't it? He was slowly forgetting.
But they were also why he was here in Everdream. The supernatural occurrences, and the erols tied to its name.
What he had heard were only rumors, and he knew how easily rumors could be exaggerated.
Especially since he was officially called the immortal demon.
And despite not being of the enlightened rank, he had used an erol... a rare one.
The one he had eaten long ago was the erol of immortality.
He called it that since, over the vast years he had been granted upon eating it, he knew that there was rarely an erol with an assigned name.
Oren glanced at the leader then, the older man to the right, and stepped back once.
Noticing his movements, their steps hastened.
But Oren's thoughts continued unbothered.
He did not know where it came from, and that was the issue, since he was searching arduously for what he called a mortality erol.
The one that could reunite him with his old mortal state.
So that he could finally obtain peace.
Over the years he learned, and if he did not know, he acquired the knowledge of what he termed them.
And he knew the birth of an erol was tied to the world energy and another reactant to produce an erol.
Oren, after being attacked by many, had indeed sacrificed them to try and birth an erol.
Pondering, Oren grinned.
"Well, I may be immortal, but I am still human. Being immortal does not change the fact that I am a mundane human.
"Still, I can agree with that statement. Your others however, are wrong.
"Firstly, I am not a leader. If I was, then the people who I killed would be killed again for the commitment of regicide.
"I have killed many, yes. But do not jump to conclusions. I am not a heartless beast. I do not kill without reason."
Smiling sincerely at the four people, Oren raised his voice.
"If everyone you knew turned on you, would you not use it to your benefit."
As he continued speaking, Oren's golden eyes darkened, and the playful innocence in his voice gave way to a tone filled with hatred and sorrow.
"Betrayed, condemned, sacrificed. If you were met with one of these, let alone all of them and more, what would you do?
Tell me, what is it you do when even children hold knives against your back at dawn, your kin armed to take your life, even your closest friends abandon you, raise their daggers, swords and spears to strike you down.
But they can't kill you becuase you are immortal. Do you let it happen or do you fight back."
After hearing his words each of the adversaries were stunned, however, the leader replied hesitantly.
"You run," he gritted his teeth.
"You run away and never return."
"Run away," Oren could not help but laugh hearing those words.
Only a whisper escaped his mouth.
Oh but I have tried so many times...
He looked at the other three and paused. They did not speak, but he already knew their answer.
Their job, if affiliated with some larger source, was most likely to kill him, and they would try and fail and try again until they were no-more.
If they obediently chose to ambush a person like him, if they were to be betrayed, condemned, and sacrificed, they would not develop.
They would accept it.
Oren suddenly heard a shout.
"Surrender at once, immortal demon. Do you think pity your lies, you killed and still dare make excuses. Do you think we fear you, we don't.
"You have reached your end."
The eldest shouted.
With his words, the four adversaries continued towards Oren.
But in less than an instant, they surrounded him.
Their circle formation was no longer usless up close.
They stood briefly, but in those short moments, with his somehow calm thoughts, it had felt like hours.
Maybe it had been.
The faint smile on Oren's face trembled slightly as he noticed the young woman raise her emerald dagger.
Making her freeze, Oren raised his hand suddenly and spoke.
"No, no, no. This won't do, will it?"
He smirked faintly, then added, "This is waste of time, there is no point in fighting, is there? But..."
He looked at the three men, then the women, his gold eyes gleaming brightly.
"Killing you serves a purpose."
They snickered mockingly, hearing his words, but Oren waved his hand and continued calmly.
"What I mean is, defending myself from malicious people who harbour hostile intentions serves a purpose. You trying to kill an immortal serves nothing but pointless suffering."
The girl opened her mouth, then shut it, noticing the ominous glance of her eldest companion.
The leader nodded for Oren to continue, and so he did.
"I have a proposal. What if I allow you to take me? No fight, no pain, no loss. That is, if you allow me to enter the fog of Everdream and continue venturing."
"You won't just let us take you, so what are you getting at?"
Oren's smile froze subtly, as though he had momentarily forgotten something.
"Oh yes, indeed, I won't allow that, so..."
He raised his right arm from beneath his robes and revealed six equally sized, thick, golden brown sticks.
Looking at them somberly, Oren noticed the intricate pattern each held delicately.
It had taken him a few days just to acquire them, if they were to break unexpectedly.
Oren frowned briefly, then shook his head, hearing the eldest of the opposers speak.
"Six?"
Oren replied instantly, "Yes. I did not know how many of you there would be, so I brought six with me. We will use the other one as a spare."
They nodded.
Then the girl asked curiously, "What would you have done if there were ten of us, or fifteen? There are not enough rods."
Oren's smile froze on his face for the second time as he gestured broadly to the forest.
"What a dull question," he said calmly.
"We are in a forest, for heaven's sake."
Her three subordinates gave her what seemed to be a reproachful look as Oren asked the supposed leader solemnly, "Do you agree to this arrangement?"
Walking forward deliberately, the leader nodded and replied with a dark grimace, "Yes."
With those words, Oren chucked him, and only him, a rod as he added deceitfully, "These fights, however, will be one on one. If either of the sides, mine and yours, dishonour our agreements, the deal will be forfeited and I will be allowed to walk freely, whilst whoever surrenders first wins. What about us?"
Oren's voice rose sharply.
"Me? No. I am already at a disadvantage, so I will not dishonour the agreements. Otherwise, why would I have set them?"
The four nodded cautiously as the three stepped back away from Oren and their leader.
Without a second thought, Oren dashed at the man they called their leader, catching him completely off guard.
And yet, despite Oren's sudden movements, he also raised his rod and lunged at Oren.