Moonlight spilled over the dark forest, bathing the trees in a buttery silver glow. At this time of night, no birds sang, no insects chirped, everything was silent. The silence however, was rudely shattered by the sound of feet quietly treading over dead leaves. The figure responsible for the noise darted in and out of the shadows, never once stopping until nearly in the heart of the woods.

"Hiroshi? You can come out now." At the sound of his name, an enormous silver wolf stepped out from behind a gnarled tree. The animal gave a little nod to acknowledge his friend before turning into a dark haired, cobalt-eyed forest sprite wearing a silver tunic.

"Triton, you�re late." Triton pulled his cloak from his head and shrugged.

"Couldn�t be avoided. I couldn�t just ditch Shin or he would�ve followed me." The forest sprite sighed in exasperation but said nothing.

Triton raised an eyebrow at the sigh and asked, "Hiroshi, are you sure you don�t Shin to come with me? I mean, he�s good at keeping secrets-"

"Someone who talks that much, that fast, surely can�t be trusted with a secret." snorted Hiroshi. "If he sees me, half the Mystic Hunters in Seireen will be after me by next morning." Mystic Hunters were poachers of mystical creatures, hence their name. Every creature was a target, dragons, unicorns, fairies, nymphs, anything that wasn�t considered a common forest creature. Of course, certain types were harder to capture and were therefore left alone; for this reason, dragons were still very much alive and well in their secluded valley, because no one in their right mind would take on a dragon of any sort.

Fairies and sprites, on the other hand, weren�t quite so violent and dangerous, but they were still possessed incredible powers and could put up a fantastic fight; Hiroshi was a prime example of that. Such creatures were choice targets for Hunters, which was why Hiroshi refused to let Triton bring anyone with him.

"You�ll like him, Hiroshi, trust me. Shin won�t tell anyone." Triton pleaded. Dragging Shin out to the woods at night was certainly easier than finding a legitimate excuse to leave his best friend. Shin was half-Dark Fairy and had all the abilities of a pureblooded one; anything would�ve been easier than trying to ditch someone who could outrun a unicorn. "Besides," The taller boy said, "He�s half-fairy. If Shin says anything to a Hunter, he�ll be a target too."

Hiroshi cocked his head and thought for a minute. Finally, he looked up at the taller boy and said reluctantly, "Fine. You can bring him tomorrow night if you want."

"Thanks Hiroshi."

"Hn."

Triton smiled when suddenly a blur of gold crossed his vision. "What was that?"

"It was probably the moonlight reflecting off the lake." Hiroshi said matter-of-factly, "We are pretty close to the lake anyway." But Triton had already started off, sword drawn and he groaned, "For Christ�s sake�"

"Relax," the boy replied, looking over his shoulder, "I�m just going to take a look, that�s all."

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Carefully, Triton pushed aside the shrubs and looked around. There was a strange glow coming from the direction of the lake and the air was filled with the most beautiful music he�d ever heard, sweet and light, almost like a bird�s. He went on a bit further and stopped suddenly, his one visible eye going wide.

The lake was lit up with golden light, so bright it could have been day. Standing waist-deep in the water was a young nymph, singing as it bathed. Its skin was as pale as the moon and looked petal-soft; long golden hair dappled with silver hung down its back and into the water. Without thinking, Triton stepped on a twig and as it broke, the nymph turned around and stared with the largest, bluest eyes he�d ever seen.

"Triton?" At Hiroshi�s call, he turned and when he looked again, the light was gone and so was the nymph. "What was it?"

"It was a nymph," Triton said, swearing under his breath, "It was bathing in the lake."

Hiroshi snorted and replied, "You probably saw something else. With all these stupid Hunters around, there hasn�t been a single nymph here for decades."

"But I really saw one-"

"Triton, there aren�t any nymphs here." Hiroshi�s voice was quieter this time. "It isn�t safe for them and they know it. There are no nymphs in this forest."

The boy sighed and nodded; better to just agree than argue with someone who had lived in the forest since their birth.

"Let�s go."

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At the darkest section of the forests, there was an ancient temple, crumbling and covered with creeping green vines. An unearthly green glow radiated from it, beckoning to the two boys.

"Tell me again why we couldn�t just go to the temple near the town?"

"Hiroshi, this is my birthplace and I plan to pay respects to my mother here for the rest of my life." Triton replied, "Besides, there�s less chance of anyone seeing you here." The sprite snorted, but had no reply.

The inside of the temple was covered with the same vines, some blossoming with gigantic white flowers. The glow came from a statue above the altar; the statue had long hair and wore a short tunic; the only color on the statue was from the two green emeralds that were her eyes. This was the temple of Gaia, the goddess of the earth. Triton was one of Gaia�s many descendents, a demigod. He was unusually strong and agile and could talk to animals, mostly the ones with which he shared traits.

As a babe, Triton had been raised in that very temple by the priestess, who was said to be a child of Gaia herself. In addition to enhancing his natural abilities, Catherine taught him the secrets of magic and sorcery. Even though he�d left several years ago, he always came back to pay respects to the mother whom some said never existed; as for Catherine, she�d just disappeared, although he would sometimes wake up at night to see a dark red fox watching over him.

Kneeling by the crumbling altar, Triton pulled out a green candle and lit it. Hiroshi leaned against the wall and closed his eyes. They were in for a long night�

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"I never thought you�d finish."

"You wouldn�t be saying that if you had a mother."

Hiroshi sniffed and said with a smirk, "I wouldn�t want to pay respects to someone who left me when I was a pup." Triton, in response to this, could only roll his eyes.

"Be safe, Hiroshi," he called, as the large silver wolf took off through the underbrush. As Triton started home again, he heard a faint rustling from the bushes to his right. Lunging, his hands closed on something soft and a second later, he had pinned his would-be attacker under him.

The nymph he had seen earlier that night was struggling in his grip. Triton immediately released the creature, who sprang to his feet and ran, throwing frightened glances at him over a pale shoulder. "Wait!" He shouted when he realized that the nymph had dropped something; but it was too late, the nymph was already gone. Triton bent down and picked up the thin band of gold glimmering against the dark earth; it was delicately shaped, like a bracelet, with something engraved on it. Squinting at the characters, he found that he couldn�t figure out what it meant. Putting it in his pocket, he made a mental note to give it back if he saw the nymph again, and maybe ask Shin what it meant.

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Triton had just fallen onto his bed at sunrise when he heard a knock on his door. "Who the hell-" he practically snarled, running his hands through his bangs and pulling his shirt on.

A sandy haired man was standing on his doorstep; he had pale blue eyes, almost white, and a dark scar running down the left side of his face. "Good morning, Triton." he said pleasantly, holding a hand out, "I am Lord Xander Ashai."

The young demigod didn�t accept the hand and instead said flatly, "You�re a Mystic Hunter."

"So you�ve heard," Lord Ashai chuckled and stepped in, even though Triton hadn�t asked. "I suppose you want to know why I�m here."

"Yes," Triton said curtly, not bothering to try and be polite. "What do you want?"

"I�m offering you the chance for riches and adventure, Triton-"

"You mean as a Hunter."

Lord Ashai was quite taken aback. "Well, er-"

"My answer is no."

"You would actually pass this up?" Xander asked, as though it was everyone�s dream to hunt unicorns and fairies for a living. "Triton, you have abilities that would make you one of the top Hunters in the land-"

"So you know I�m a demigod," Triton said, voice flat but still carrying fury, "My answer is still no."

"I�ll give you a day to consider this," Ashai went on, as if Triton hadn�t said a word. "If you are wise, you won�t pass this up."

The brown haired boy looked ready to quite literally show the man the door, when he saw something perched on his shoulder. He blinked once, twice, to make sure it wasn�t just some illusion, but it was real. A small bird, with pale gold feathers, was perched on the lord�s shoulder, warbling softly. But oddly enough, it had large blue eyes, instead of the normal black. There was a delicate chain around one leg, keeping it from flying away.

"I see you�ve noticed my little pet," Lord Ashai said, "A very rare breed of songbird from a far off Eastern land. Extremely rare and expensive, but worth every piece of gold."

Triton nodded; for some reason, he felt drawn to the bird, as if he�d seen it somewhere. He couldn�t help but ask, "Male or female?"

"Male," Ashai held out a finger and the little bird obediently hopped onto it, still chirping. "They are the better singers."

"Oh."

"So you will take some time to think about this, won�t you Triton?" Lord Ashai asked as Triton opened the door.

"���." Triton simply slammed the door in Xander�s face.

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"Triton, where are we going? It�s pretty late, you know."

"To meet someone. I think you�ll like him, Shin."

That got Shin�s attention; the violet-eyed half-fairy began to walk faster. He turned and faced Triton, so that he was walking backwards as he talked. "Really? What�s he like?"

"Er�" Triton paused for a moment; there really wasn�t much to say about Hiroshi without making it sound somewhat negative. "Well, he�s quiet� likes animals�"

Shin looked crestfallen and he slumped, his long chestnut braid drooping like a withering plant. "Is that all?"

"He�s also a bit on the homicidal, self-destructive side-"

"SO WHAT ARE WE WAITING FOR? HURRY UP!!!" Shin grabbed his friend and practically hauled him through the forest, cackling gleefully. His progress was abruptly cut short when a growling wolf came exploding from the shrubs and landed on his chest. "AAAAHHH!!!"

Triton sat up, brushing leaves and twigs from his clothes. "Hiroshi, get off him. It�s just Shin." The wolf reluctantly climbed off as Shin wiped saliva from his face and neck.

"YOU WANTED ME TO MEET HIM?!"

"No wait, Shin, just give him a minute." The wolf reared back onto its hind legs and transformed into a brown haired, blue-eyed man. Shin�s goofy grin was back in place and his violet eyes glazed over.

"Hey there! The name�s Shin!" The forest sprite looked at him oddly.

"Shin?"

"Yep, short for Shinigami." Shin winked and grinned toothily.

"Ah, I see." Hiroshi then pointed to the bracelet around Triton�s wrist. "Where�d you get that?"

"Oh this?" Triton held it up. "Found it last night. Hey Shin, do you know what this says?"

Shin took the piece of jewelry and looked closely at the engraved words. "Yeah, it says-" At that moment, an arrow shot past his head and into a tree, leaving a smoldering spot where the arrowhead had been.

"HE WENT THIS WAY!"

"THERE�S THREE OF THEM! GET THEM, YOU IDIOTS!!!"

Triton stared at Hiroshi in shock and disbelief. "Hunters?! They were following you?! Why didn�t you say something?!"

The sprite shrugged with a simple, "You didn�t ask," before transforming into the silver wolf and tearing off through the forest, Triton and Shin at his heels.

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Yes, another series- I can just hear the groaning� ^_^ V