Even the joy in Zeral’s face as he ate the bear’s flesh and bathed in his blood couldn't mask the tears coming down like rain tears are coming down like rain...

He jumped into the nearby river to clean the blood off of his body. He tried to sink under the water in an attempt to drown himself, despite knowing that his immortality prevented him from dying. He remembered the beautiful faces of his son and his wife.

"Why? Why can't I just die? Why can't I join my family? Damn, I miss them.” He fished himself out of the pool, putting his clothes and his swords back on. Preparing to move on, he pulled out his wife’s necklace and kissed it.

"I promise you, I will be with you soon, just wait for me to find who killed you and our son." He put it back in his pocket and continued on his way...

Meanwhile, at King David the 7th’s castle, one of his generals briefs the ruler on the events of the war.

"My majesty, I have to inform you that we managed to stop the invasion of the monsters in the cities of Marax and Sakon, but we lost many men in the process."

King David said, "That's good, those men will be in heaven as our god promised if they protected the kingdom under His name. So don't worry - with their sacrifices, they stopped those evil, filthy creatures from coming through our doors."

The general replied, "Yes, my dear king. Now we have to focus on the cities in north, because those are the main ones being attacked by the monsters."

“Damn them, no matter what, they keeping coming to kill us!” a second general exclaimed. “Why do they kill some humans and transform others?"

The King answered, "It's obvious, they want to end our race and start their own to control this world...They also fight to get my head; that devil Hirvan wants revenge on me after what I did to him 10 years ago..."

The general commented, “That damned Hirvan is responsible for all this."

The King corrected him. "Not only him, but I too, am a reason why many people are being eaten by those horrible monsters. If I had kept my word, this war may never have happened."

"Don't blame yourself for this my lord, it was right for you not to trust that filthy snake Hirvan,” the general reassured the king. “What if he was going to betray you first?"

"In both cases, we will be in the same situation - but what if he didn't betray me and brought me that blood? I would be a monster like him, and all humans would be dead by now..."

The other general hurriedly said, “Yes, that most likely would have happened, so thank god that you didn't. Now you have a chance to correct this by fighting and killing those monsters..."

King David looked sadly over to his generals.

"By making my people live in fear while others die every day? By letting them watch their loved ones get devoured? I pray every day that I can find a way to win this war without seeing so much sorrow near the castle..."

Suddenly another general slammed open the castle doors.

"My dear king, I have important news for you."

The king asked, “Why the hurry? What happened?"

"Oh, it's horrible, one soldier came to the outpost near the city of Bartak reporting that..." He stopped talking, and the shock on his face made it obvious why.

The King repeated himself. "Tell me, what happened?"

"I can't believe what that soldier said, my lord. An unknown man killed his allies along with their leader…”

"WHAT?" The king’s surprised voice boomed through the room.

"Yes, it's as I said, my lord; a mysterious man interrupted the soldiers patrolling the area near the dead city of Bartak. When they tried to verify his identity, he killed them all by himself."

Everyone was stunned. "What? How did he kill them by himself? Is he really that good in his fighting skills?"

One of the generals claimed, “I have to admit that must be one of best swordsmen in world to kill entire group of highly trained soldiers by himself."

The general who brought the news said, "I'm afraid to tell you all that this man might not even be a human, I can't believe it, but the soldier said he killed them with his bare hands after dropping his swords and asking them to fight as if they were in a war...Then he killed them one by one, eating them alive...He is a monster, but in human form or something like that."

The king trembled. "Huh? Did you say a monster in human form? Did he kill them with bare hands? What is this? a joke? How can a monster can transform into a human?"

One general suggested, "Maybe that devil Hirvan found a way to transform monsters into humans, and is now using it as a weapon to kill us from the inside..."

Another said, "I agree, my majesty, if this is true, then we are really in deep trouble...Now we have to face monsters among the humans! How we will know if a human is a monster or not?"

"No, I don't think so,” the third countered, “for in the 10 years of war with them, we never fought something like this. So how do you think Hirvan could find a way to transform monsters into humans? If he did and sent them as spies to our kingdom or as enemies to use against us, why is he only doing this now?”

The king took all of this in. "I'm not sure about this, but maybe you’re right. If he really found a way, I guess he could have use it back then. Or maybe he only just found it recently, and he started using it against us immediately?”

The messenger cut in, "My lord, the soldier who barely ran away also told us he survived because a huge bear attacked them. So the mysterious man focused his attention on the bear, but the problem is monsters never kill wild beasts right?"

Another general said, "Oh, that's right, I heard they respect animals and never eat or kill them.”

The king replied, "Yes, I know this...So if he fought a bear, then he may not be a monster. But if he is not a monster, then what the hell is he?”

"I don't know, my lord, so what do you think? Do we need to stop him, or do we need to have him on our side? After all, the soldier claimed he looked and spoke like a human, just with amazing strength."

"If he really is a human, then maybe he could be in our side already. And even if he is not, I'm sure he’s not on the side of monsters either. So why not try to talk to him and convince him to join us in the war? I would even pay him for his help."

Everyone in attendance agreed, so the king ordered them to send an army to find the man (who is obviously Zeral) and bring him to his castle...But the king is not the only one looking for Zeral, as the monsters are too...

Everyone starts looking for this powerful man, but what side will he choose?

Meanwhile, Zeral was heading to a small city in the mountains called Palin. He killed anything that came in his way while he walked. He found a young boy on the cusp of death, pleading for help.

Zeral drew his sword. "What do you want?"

The injured boy cried in agony, "Please sir, I just need water right now!”

"Here! Drink!" He allowed him to have a drink of his water. "What happened to you? Who did this?"

The boy replied, "I was going with my father to Palin city, but we were ambushed by - euuhh - some terrifying monsters...My father fought them but they still managed to hurt me. So I ran away and ended up here, and I can't move, and my my legs hurt, and it's hard to breathe - euuh - please help me!"

"Oh, I see. So do you think your father survived or died?"

The boy seemed to wonder as well. "I'm not sure, I've been stuck here for nearly an hour now, and he hasn’t come yet. I'm afraid that he..." The boy burst into tears.

Zeral replied, "Oh, so wait for him. Maybe he will come back to you, or maybe he will be like me, not going back to my own son while he was dying. I'm sorry, but I have to go, I have to search for answers beyond your reach. I will tell the first human I meet in this city about you and they will come to you."

Zeral continued to walk without looking back at the boy with a hint of feeling. The picture of the boy would have torn anyone else’s heart to pieces and compelled them to help him.

But it was nothing to Zeral - he is a man with no heart, after all. He kept on going to the city of Palin, seeking for answers that no one would ever give.

The End.