Satyr’s Children | Book 1: Siren
The metal sliding door of the Supply Point gave a dull scrape as it slowly slid open, leaving a narrow gap.
A tall, slender figure stepped inside. He wore a plain black cloak, his eyes completely concealed beneath a strip of black silk embroidered with dark runes. Beside his face, strands of metallic hair cascaded down like molten silver. Fastened at his collar was an exquisite circular insignia: a brown outer ring edged in gold, enclosing layer upon layer of six-petaled starflower forms. Against its interwoven black-and-white field, a scorpion outlined in mithril lay curled at the center, its tail arched slightly, as though a drop of venom was glimmering at its tip.
Two cloaked figures followed closely behind him. Judging by the gray Trailblazer badges they hurriedly tucked away, they appeared to be two Apprentice Trailblazers.
“You are…" David paused for a moment, then recognition dawned. “Sir Ivgra?"
“Mr. Featherflight, please pass on my regards to your wife." The man's voice was soft and clear, its timbre sounded like moonlight slipping across ice. “Please, call me Argentum. May I call you David?"
He inclined his head with effortless elegance. Though his eyes remained hidden behind the silk, his “gaze" turned toward Ali and Triton.
“I assume this is our first encounter. Greetings, I am Argentum Sikles Ivgra, your mother's colleague at the Guild. It is a pleasure to meet you, Triton and Aliferous."
Ali reached out to shake his hand. His long, slender fingers, knuckles sharply defined beneath his black silk glove, were cold, unnaturally cold, as though they belonged to something that was not quite alive. At a glimpse, something silver flashed through the shifting shadows beneath the hem of Argentum's cloak, quick and nimble.
Ivgra. The name gradually came into focus in Ali's memory.
When her mother, Solin, had first arrived in the Northwatch, she had stayed at the Morningdew estate for a while. It was Argentum's residence as well. It seemed that, in all of Polaris, only an estate with the heritage and prestige of House Morningdew's could have served as a temporary home for a guest of such standing.
After all, he was a Serket—the only Serket in Halcyon.
The Serkets, also known as the Clan of Scorpions, were the “shadows of history who walk among the living." Like the Sirens, Felins, and Satyrs, they were one of the races of demonic blood. Legend held that their progenitor was born from the union of an ancient demon and the embodiment of the laws governing the Material World. This gave the Serkets an innate affinity for forbidden knowledge and higher-order magic.
Although they, like the other demon-blooded races, were once shunned by angels and humans, the absolute power of the Serkets soon won them a position of distinction unlike that of any other demonic race. At the dawn of Halcyon's founding, they served as a principal fighting force in several crucial battles over resources. From then on, the value and the threat of their kind were permanently inscribed upon the first page of the kingdom's highest archives.
Serkets are long-lived and have few offspring. From the wars of the kingdom's founding to the present day, only one adult Serket is known to have remained in this “Kingdom of the Kingfisher": Argentum.
But why cover his eyes? Ali watched curiously as Argentum turned away and began speaking with Triton, trying to discern some clue from the parts of his face left uncovered by the silk. Is he blind? Or does the cloth conceal something no mortal could look upon without being driven mad? The books said that Serkets possessed four pairs of eyes. What that actually looks like, Ali could not begin to imagine—and did not particularly want to.
“What brings you here, Sir?" David's expression seemed to soften somewhat, though his posture retained the instinctive vigilance of a Shieldbearer. He rose to his feet without a word, making room for the two cloaked Apprentices and gesturing for them to sit beside the illusion of the magical hearth to warm themselves up.
“I'm looking for my missing student."
With a magician's flourish, Argentum took out several round rolls wrapped in waxed paper from his cloak and passed them to his two Apprentices. The young Trailblazers quietly broke the rolls in half and held them over the heat to toast. The rich aroma of wheat, spices, and salted meat immediately filled the cramped Supply Point.
Those were manchets with filling, made from refined wheat flour and yeast—the finest white bread available in the Northwatch.
“…Her name is Vivian Ville. Ophion. She went missing in Stone Church Sector 3. I've been looking for her for a very, very long time."
Argentum continued rummaging in his cloak before fishing out an elegantly crafted silver flask. He took a few delicate sips.
Ali tried desperately to keep her attention on Argentum's words, but the vivid, warm scent of the fresh meal kept tugging at her attention like a mischievous, invisible hand.
Manchet. Manchet was expensive. Her family only went out of their way to buy it on holidays… How could they possibly have enough room in their packs to carry such luxurious provisions for everyone?
Although Ali had hurriedly forced down a piece of rye bread while Triton was reading the visitor log, swallowing it with cold water—the coarse grains rough enough to scrape her gums—her unsatisfied stomach still gave a tiny, honest growl when confronted with the enticing aroma of “real food."
Last year, when she and Triton were still attending the Guild school, they would bring stuffed rolls made by their father for lunch. Back then, every afternoon when they returned home, David would have a lavish dinner waiting for them: steaming liver pies, crispy fried fish, plump boiled eggs, rich cheese, and sweet bean soup… Afterward, their mother would clean the kitchen until not a speck of stain remained, then lead everyone into the washroom, using warm, damp cloths and oat bran to carefully wash away the dust and weariness of the day from her husband and children.
But all of that came to an abrupt end when the twin turned fifteen. They had aged out of the Guild school and were required to begin accompanying their mentors or more experienced Trailblazers on field assignments, truly stepping into the harsh world of the Northwatch. And so they began learning to live like every adult Trailblazer: swallowing dry, hard rations, wiping themselves with cold water, and measuring every ounce of resource with painstaking care.
“Children, have you two eaten yet?" Whether Ali had been staring at the two Apprentices eating with too much intensity, or whether the faint, traitorous rumbling of her stomach was caught by the keen senses of Serket, Argentum turned toward them, his voice filled with concern.
“I'm not hungry!" Ali blurted out in reflex, her cheeks instantly flushed.
“We have food." Triton immediately chimed in. Without the slightest hesitation, he tore off a large piece of the dry bread in his hand and stuffed it straight into his sister's mouth.
“Sir Argentum, was your party the one following us earlier?" David asked abruptly. “When we first entered Stone Church Sector 3, we noticed a ‘footprint' in the mud. Unlike the ordinary bootprints commonly found in the Northwatch, it had a distinctive rectangular shape. Unless it belonged to some unknown monster with hoof-like feet, it could only have been made by a uniquely designed boot."
“That was probably mine." Beside the illusion of the magical hearth, one of the taller male Apprentices raised his foot and showed them a boot with a defined heel, a black satin upper and a white platform sole.
“These are Yeelan court boots, made in the traditional black official style. They leave neat, rectangular footprints on soft grounds, like a stamped seal. I apologize for the concern it might cause you."
So the pursuer really had been them after all.
Ali swallowed the hard piece of bread, hastily wiped the crumbs from her lips, and felt some of the tension in her heart had finally been lifted.
Yet the relief only made room for more questions: Why had they followed them so secretly? And what, then, was the winged “birdman" she had briefly locked eyes with in the treetops?
“Sir Argentum, we will indeed go over the matter regarding ‘Young Master Bert' with a fine-tooth comb." David's voice had suddenly grown darker, edged with a cold severity. “We understand House Morningdew's concerns, as well as the importance of investigating this matter as quickly and thoroughly as possible, and we hold no objection to any necessary supervision. But if this kind of ‘joint investigation' could be communicated to us in advance, it might help us avoid a great deal of unnecessary confusion and waste of resources."
Of course. Argentum had lived at the Morningdew estate for years. It was only natural for him to act on House Morningdew's behalf. Although regulations prohibited Trailblazers from taking part in missions involving their immediate family members, House Morningdew would never simply stand by while the strange reappearance of their deceased eldest son went unexplained. Having access to firsthand information was an obvious necessity.
But what would their father decide to do next?
Ali cast a nervous glance toward David.
Is he angry? Will he ask Argentum to leave?
“Let's work together, Sir Argentum." To Ail's surprise, David extended a hand toward Argentum, his tone already returning to its usual calm steadiness. “With you on the team, I expect our search will be considerably more efficient. However, I would like you to share the information you have on this area and the target with my party, so that we can narrow down the search area with better precision."
“My pleasure. However, we'll need to move out to an open space first." The silver-haired Serket's lips curved upward in quiet satisfaction. He shook David's hand briefly, as though he had already cast aside the matter of his “missing student" that he mentioned only moments ago.
Then he turned and called lightly to his two Apprentices: “Children, have you finished eating? It's time to get going."
The party stepped out into the open ground beyond the Supply Point. Argentum motioned for everyone to move back several paces and stand behind him.
“Please remain silent. I need a moment to concentrate," he instructed.
Then he stood perfectly still. Yet the air around him seemed to freeze. Light from every direction bent and refracted strangely around his body, like ripples spreading across reality's reflection after a stone was cast into still water.
So this is Argentum's ability?
Ali felt a brief wave of dizziness. For a moment, the world around her seemed to shed its colors and textures, leaving behind nothing but countless strands of energy—streams of light and shadow intertwining and flowing endlessly through her vision.
He had “opened his eyes."
The discomfort lasted only a moment before the anomaly around them receded like a withdrawing tide.
Argentum tilted his head slightly toward David.
“Five hundred meters southeast. Three Fallen Hounds are dormant. We can avoid them. Two kilometers to the northwest, there's a faint life response. Extremely unstable. It may be a severely wounded Trailblazer, or the lingering soul of some other entity. There's also a corruption accumulation point nearby that we should avoid. Other than that, I found no clear high-threat targets."
“Then we'll head northwest." David took command without hesitation.
As they continued on their way, Ali moved closer to her father and asked in a low voice, “Dad… should we tell Sir Argentum about what was written on the visitor log? He's a retainer of House Morningdew, and he had lived with Bert before… He must have known him very well. Maybe he'd have a different perspective?"
“The anomalies he's encountered may outnumber everything the rest of us have ever even heard of,” David said after a moment's thought. “In theory, he should already have read all the files concerning Bert,' but his perspective is certainly worth hearing. Go ahead and ask him, Ali."
Argentum listened carefully as Triton and Ali recounted what they had found in the Supply Point's visitor log. With his silk-covered eyes, there was no way to tell what was going through his mind. Beside him, his two Apprentices held their breath and listened with such intense concentration that they stumbled over their footing more than once, nearly tripping several times.
“A… precise, yet deeply unpleasant imitation." When he finally spoke, his voice was colder than before.
“The Gilbert Morningdew I knew was exceptionally perceptive to the pain of others, and he made that pain the driving force behind his actions. His acts of ‘protection' were rooted in profound empathy. But the entity described in those records merely replicates the behavioral pattern of ‘aiding' in a mechanical fashion. It recognizes distress. It provides solutions. It acts as though following a set of predefined instructions, yet it possesses no awareness whatsoever of the strangeness of its own behavior."
“This is neither a natural creation nor a lingering obsession given form. Such rigid imitation, coupled with its fixation on a particular image… It reminds me of several cases in which souls were forcibly severed from their bodies, bound and distorted until they eventually became tools."
Argentum paused for a second.
“Like I said, my student, Vivian Ville, has been missing for nearly ten years. She was an exceptionally gifted Ophion. I searched all of Halcyon. I combed through the Forbidden Zone. I exhausted every known method…”
The Siren blood from her father had made Ali's hearing unusually sensitive. She noticed the faintest tremor in Argentum's voice. To her, it was like watching a sheet of ice that had been frozen for years crack and splinter before her eyes, revealing for one brief moment the terrible thing that had been stirring beneath that still surface.
“But it was as though she had been completely erased from this world. No dead body. No lingering soul. Not even the faintest trace of energy that could be followed. This makes no sense… A soul—especially a soul as powerful and resilient as an Ophion's—cannot simply disappear without a trace, unless…”
“Unless something—or someone—has ‘covered' or ‘hidden' your student in a way even you cannot comprehend." Ali found herself following that terrifying logic and continued. “Just like…that ‘mimic' puts on Bert's skin, and becomes the new ‘Bert.'"
The moment the words left her mouth, time froze.
This was no metaphor. The whole party's movements gradually stiffened, slowing visibly until they came to a complete stop. The wind, their footsteps, even their breathing—all sound vanished in an instant.
Invisible gazes congealed into sharp, tangible things and snapped toward Ali. Each one burned so fiercely that she felt as though it could bore a hole straight through her. This was different from the “sight" Argentum had used to scan the area before. Beneath the silk that concealed most of his face, the Serket, being hit on a raw nerve, had clearly opened more of his eyes.
“I'm sorry. Did I…say something wrong?"
The frostbite of fear began creeping upward from Ali's fingertips. A chill raced along her spine and shot straight into the crown of her head.
She wanted to scream, draw her weapon, run.
But now she felt as though countless icicles had pierced straight through her body, pinning her helplessly in place. Then, all the flesh covering her body began to peel away from her bones, each piece carefully sliced into countless translucent fragments…
Right… Mom once said… Argentum's rank is… Adamantine. A living legend. Capable of altering the fate of an entire region. And me… I'm only… an Apprentice who never mattered…
Before that despairing thought could even fully pass through her mind, the sensation of falling into an abyss of ice—of having her very soul pierced through—abruptly vanished. It disappeared without a trace, as though it had never existed at all.
“Excellent deduction, Miss Aliferous." Argentum's voice had returned to its earlier warmth and composure, now even carrying a hint of genuine, amused approval. “Though I sincerely hope your guess is wrong."
Ali blinked, still shaken, her heart pounding violently against her ribs. She realized that the party had somehow resumed moving, as though the terrifying pause just moments ago had never happened.
Damn it, that Serket had just “looked" at her.
“Ali, what's wrong?" Triton gently tugged at his sister's forearm, a hint of concern in his voice.
“Did… did he 'look' at you too?" Ali hurriedly whispered into her brother's ear.
“Looked at me? Who?" Triton looked around in confusion, his curved, scimitar-like horns drew a tiny arc through the air. “Haven't we been walking this whole time? Did you see that 'birdman' again?"
“Then why did you suddenly ask what's wrong with me? You scared me, you jerk…" Ali shook off his hand, annoyance in her voice as she tried to disguise the turmoil inside her with a complaint.
“Mm. I don't know." Triton shrugged, his brow furrowing slightly. “It just…felt like something was off. Like my heart suddenly skipped a beat. It made me want to check if you were okay."
“I'm fine." Ali shook her head firmly and denied at once.
For no reason she could explain, her instincts told her that Argentum did not want her to tell anyone about the brief "gaze" that had just passed between them.
“Are you sure?" Triton raised an eyebrow, clearly unconvinced. “But do you remember the last time you—"
“Shh!" David's sharp warning came like a bucket of ice water, instantly silencing the siblings' banter.
The withered bushes to Ali's left suddenly exploded apart. A black shape shot out like a cannonball, trailing a reeking gust of blood and filth. Its massive, fang-filled maw lunged straight for her chest—
“Ali!"
David's roar came with his movement. His heavy frame swept across the gap in an instant, the force of his charge whipping the air as he threw himself between the shadow and his daughter.
CLANG—! The shriek of metal on metal rang out, sparks bursting in every direction.
It was a Fallen Hound—a creature shaped like a huge hound flayed alive, its muscle fibers exposed to the air, an ominous stench of rot clinging to its body. Four pupil-less, ghastly white eyes were scattered irregularly across its head.
God damn it! No matter how many times Ali encountered them, no matter how many of these twisted hounds they put down, their appearance was always impactful enough to hit like a punch to the gut.
“Are those the three that Sir Argentum detected earlier, the dormant ones?" Triton retreated two steps. Mechanisms clicked inside the bracers on his arms as a pair of gleaming curved blades sprang into place.
“The position is wrong!" Argentum's voice remained calm, but his speech quickened noticeably. He made no dramatic movement, yet the field that distorted the light around him flashed into existence once more and vanished just as quickly.
His “gaze" swept across the Forbidden Zone again.
“I see. The 'corruption accumulation point' we detected earlier is mobile. It was masking the presence of every monster nearby!"
“We're… surrounded."
The instant Argentum spoke, pair after pair of ghastly white eyes ignited in the surrounding darkness. Roars brimming with predatory hunger closed in from every direction.
More than a dozen Fallen Hounds had encircled the six of them.
“Back to back! Form a circle!" David's voice rang out as he took command, his shield held firmly across the front.
“By the unseen web, bind these minions—" Argentum's incantation rose through the chaos. Powerful waves of magic began to ripple around him and his two Apprentices, while intricate runes faintly emerged beneath their feet.
Triton lowered his stance, the curved blades of his bracers crossed before him. His eyes were sharp as he searched for an opening.
Ali drew a deep breath and reached to her back to pull out the hexagonal lantern mace strapped behind her. The three-pound mace whistled through the air as she gripped it tightly. Its head was not solid, but an open, cage-like structure, with a green crystal set inside. It now emitted a faint, steady glow in time with her heartbeat.
Come on. All of you. Come at me!
David stood like a reef against the tide, using his shield to block and ram while striking back with his longsword. Argentum and his Apprentices wove spells into invisible shackles and bursts of energy, disrupting and slowing the monsters' movements.
Triton moved like a phantom along the edge of the formation, his astonishing agility carrying him from one opening to the next. His curved blades flashed in silver arcs, always seeking vulnerable points—the joints, the eye sockets, anywhere the creatures were weakest.
Ali guarded the gap between her father and brother. Every blow she delivered carried crushing weight, perfectly suited to stopping a pouncing monster dead. Her lantern mace slammed into the exposed muscle of the Fallen Hounds with dull, sickening cracks of breaking bone, while bursts of cleansing light occasionally erupted from the crystal, drawing agonized howls from the creatures.
“There's something wrong with these Fallen Hounds!" Triton shouted abruptly. “Look at those ones—"
Ali turned at the sound. Sure enough, several Fallen Hounds not only had rotting flesh hanging on their body, their skin also covered in a layer of thick, tar-like black sludge that seemed almost alive, while their eyes had grown murkier, filled with madness.
Before she could react any further, one of the mutated Fallen Hounds—a creature larger than its kin, its body coated in a heavy layer of that “black sludge"—abandoned its frontal assault without warning. It moved with such terrifying speed that it seemed to tear its own muscles apart, becoming a blurred streak of black as it slipped around David's shield line and lunged straight for the young female Apprentice beside Argentum, who was desperately maintaining the binding spell.
The girl's incantation broke off. Her eyes reflected rapidly widening fangs and the breath of approaching death.
Time stretched and warped infinitely within Ali's mint-green eyes.
Triton moved.
He drove one foot into the ground, sending gravel spraying outward, and launched himself forward like an arrow. Without hesitation, he cut across the gap between the Apprentice and the monster, shielding the unfamiliar girl behind his own body.
“Triton!" Ali's scream merged with her father's furious roar, like two blunt blades tearing through the air.
Too late.
The mutated Fallen Hound's head, carrying the full weight and momentum of its charge, slammed into the side of Triton's face like a battering ram.
CRACK—!
The sharp sound of breaking bone rose above every other noise on the battlefield.
Ali watched helplessly as one of her brother's scimitar-shaped horns snapped clean off at the roots, torn from his head and sent spinning through the air. The boy did not even have time to cry out in pain. His entire body was hurled to the ground by an invisible force, like a discarded rag doll. He rolled several times through the dust before lying utterly still.
Blood poured from the corner of his forehead where the blow had struck and from the wound that had suddenly split open across his face, running through his right eye. It spread like a heavy, scorching red curtain, covering his entire face.
The broken white horn, its jagged fracture stained with fresh blood, rolled mournfully through the dust and pooling crimson.
“TRITON—!!"
Ali felt as though part of her own heart had shattered with that sharp crack.
She tried desperately to throw herself toward him, but her legs felt impossibly heavy, as though they were sinking into a thick, sticky nightmare. A Fallen Hound blocked her path, its razor-sharp claws scraping across the plate armor over her chest. She could do nothing but watch as her brother writhed and spasmed helplessly in that rapidly expanding pool of blood, like a fish dying out of water.
The edges of her vision began to darken. Cold fear clenched her heart.
For some reason, over the spreading crimson and the trembling figure of her brother, Ali suddenly saw another scene layered over reality—
The empty platform above the Guild square.
The young man with rust-red hair falling down.
The same blinding red, winding across the ground like a stream.
… Am I going to lose my brother too?
