Your Human And You: The mask we wear.

Chapters

To Anyone Receiving This.
Familiar faces.
First Blood.
Symbiotic Relationship.
Arm for an Arm

To Anyone Receiving This.

Testing....testing...good its working. Hello to whom may be receiving this. If you seeing, reading or hearing this then you have arrived in the world of Equestria. My name...what was it.....J..Jax that's my name. Forgive me its...hard to remember theses days, anyway back to what I was saying, you have arrived or are interested in this world...welcome to hell....maybe its best that I should start from the beginning...yes that could help me remember who...and what I am. Let me explain how and why i'm doing this but first lets go over my personal arrival, encounters and understanding of this twisted world.

Let me begin.

Fear. To be afraid of (someone or something) as likely to be dangerous, painful, or harmful.

Fear is a....strange emotion. It can keeps us alive. It can kill us. It can drive us. It can divide us. Fear can come in meany forms, from being startled to a traumatic phobia. For meany victims of phobias help is never far away and talking to someone and receiving support, meany can overcome it. But what if what you fear is society itself. No one can help you, no one can support you because you won't let them. I am one such unfortunate individual. From a young age I was diagnosed with Anthropophobia which is the fear of people and Scopophobia which is fear of being looked at. I lived a hard life back then, my mother died at child birth and my farther left me not soon after so I was taken in by a scientist but it was still hard especially at school.

My mental state made me avoid my class mates and teachers on a daily basis. It was hard for me to make friends and the teachers couldn't give me any support for my phobias. To make matters worse there was a particular group that harassed me for the rest of my school days. A group of bullies lead by a guy call Tom who knew about my phobia and took advantage as much as possible. He would make me the center of attention and I would have a panic attack or make his gang crowd around me and reduce me to tears. After a few years of this I began to become better at avoiding him. I became faster from running all the time. I became better at hiding and sneaking around. I could walk into a room and no one would notice thus I earned the nickname "ghost of the classroom". Also because I hid in dark places a lot I gained a natural like night vision and impressive hearing and awareness.

Tom and my phobias had shattered my chance at getting any friends so naturally I had a lot of free time. I studied without distraction so I was at the top of my class, I also watched a lot of nature and science on TV so I was particularly gifted at chemistry, biology and workshop. That leads me nicely to my unique feature, in workshop at the end of the year we could make anything using the stuff in the room. After watching a documentary one time on tribal masks I decided to would be cool to make one. So I did. It was rather....unique, the mask is round and covers my face completely with two rather intimidating eyes cut out and a creepy grin adored the bottom.

Funny thing is that when I wear the mask both of my phobias lessen considerably meaning I could be in the same room as people without having to sit at the back in an corner. Of course I still felt uncomfortable but it was a big leap for me. Then came my graduation from school into college. My adoptive farther was thrilled with my progress and helped me get into a mechanic course that involved lots of work with machines and metal.

I still wore my mask back then as well, It had become a part of me and over the years I had to make and add to it again and again to fit my face and needs. For one it was a lot bigger now naturally but I had added some red light to the eyes, a voice changer and made a hinge on the mouth so I could eat and drink without having to move my mask. After acing my course I then worked with animals and then an alchemist course, and then came university and this is when my life was changed forever.

***

*BEEP*...*BEEP*

"uuuhhh" I sighed as I hit the snooze button on my alarm. My eyes slowly opened but then closed as light stung my eyes. Wating a few minutes later I opened them again and gave a yawn. I pulled the covers of my legs and was greeted by the morning cold. Geting up and out of the bed I made my way to the bath room to freshen up. I took a warm shower and then went to brush my teeth, while brushing I glanced at the bathroom mirror. I saw a 19 year old guy, with white hair and a deep green pair of eyes and some awful bed hair. "got to brush that too" I though after spitting out the toothpaste and washing out my mouth.

One hair brush later I made my way downstairs and began to make my breakfast. Siting at the table with my boll of porridge (not the most exiting breakfast but its good) I heard my farther coming down stairs.

"Morin Jax" he said happily

"Morning dad" I replied in kind.

"Hows your bat project coming along" he asked, siting down with some cereal and a glass of apple juice.

"Should be good to go I just need to test it out later" I said, running over the specs again in my head.

"Good, good" he replied.

The rest of the morning was uneventful as I left to go to uni. I was studying robotics so I could work alongside my farther and take over when he retires so after a short bus trip I arrived and began my day. Most of the day was like any other but my bat project worked like a charm.

I should explain. Just because I go to university doesn't mean I got over my phobias, I still hide and run frequently but one day I decided to take it further. My project is essentially is pair of metal claws and talon boots which let me cling onto and climb walls and ceilings. A little strange yes but like I said I have a lot of free time and I need something to do to distract me from my loneliness.

After my class and lectures we were informed that there was a costume party charity event later tonight. Being my first party ever besides my birthday I was rather excited about it. I designed a costume and got the necessary materials. My mask was still a part of my costume so when I got home and got permission to go I went to my room and got to work. My idea was a red worn hooded cloak with my mask and gear added into the mix. Once I was done I packed a few things into my backpack: Wined up touch, some shacks, binoculars, a multi tool and a worn machete (don't ask).

After receiving some uncomfortable stares on the bus I made my way to the party. Once I was there I looked at the scene. Lots of people...lots and lots of people...I'll be blunt...I chicken out. It was too crowded and I can't do crowds even with my mask so I wondered the campus for something to do when thunder rang through the air. Looking up I found it strange to find a circular storm cloud hovering above me. Without warning a bolt of lightning struck a nearby bench, the bench glowed slightly and cracks appeared on the surface before it exploded into small orbs of light. It was quite beautiful until the orbs quickly clustered together and then imploded in a flash. Another bolt struck the ground by nearer to me this time. Fearing for my life I ran as bolts of energy crashed around me before felling a spike of heat hitting me in the back. My body felt like it was on fire as I fell to my knees in agony. Cracks soon formed on my skin as the pain intensified and then giving one last cry of agony I felt myself explode.

***

I awoke to the smell of grass and moss as I opened my eyes. I lazily sat up and rubbed my head to ease a brief headache before taking in my surroundings. The first thing that hit me was that I was on a hill side, the second that there was not sign of civilization for miles around and third was that it was now day. Looking at the sky I saw a bright blue sky with strangely shaped clouds that looked like it was out of a cartoon. Paying it no more mind I soon remembered what had happened, panicking I checked my body for any damage. I was relieve I still had my backpack and my climbing gear still on and I was unharmed. After accounting for my stuff I spotted a forest nearby. Deciding it was a good idea to clime a tree to asses my surroundings I briskly made my towards it.

Upon entering the forest my body felt strange. My exceptional awareness made the forest seem like it was...well..alive. Not in the typical sense it was a forest after all but as if it had a presence..a being.. a mind. I see the world differently to most people, one would simply see a tree but what I saw was a guardian with a story and history to unlock. I sought of had a understanding with nature as it did so with me. Animals were strangely were attracted to me and I could understand them and talk back. Meany of my teachers asked how I could understand them. I said that with human communication that the verbal component of a face-to-face conversation is less than 35% and that over 65% of communication is done through body and facial language. With animals verbal language is considerably lower than humans and that they communicate more through body and facial expression, all you have to do is decrepit the language. But like I said before I had a lot of free time.

After tracking through the woods I found a nice tree to climb. My climb gear like I said before allows me to cling to meany suffices with ease. The claws dug into the cranks and lumps of the tree and the boots which had three long talons (two at the front one at the back. Like an eagle) grabbed the trunk to support my body. Once at the top I scanned my surroundings and saw a small town. As much as I fear towns I didn't have much of a choice. Using my boots to slide down the tree I walked in the direction of the town.

It had been a while since I had scouted from the tree but the forest didn't seem to be letting up anytime soon so I finally came to the conclusion that I was lost. Giving a rather melodramatic sigh I decided I needed a rest. Luckily the forest opened out a bit and I found what looked like a dirt path I then decided it would be a go idea to see were it leads. Further up the path the forest seemed to change it became less...heavy I suppose, the air seemed lighter and surprisingly clean. Where ever I was it was a stroke of luck that I found myself in such a peaceful place.

Then I heard singing.

Instantly on alert I dove rather pointlessly into a bush. Ignoring the pain in my sides I climbed a nearby tree and began to make my way towards the voice. Several trees later and I came to a clearing and that's when stuff got strange. What I saw was a rather nice cottage with bird houses littering the place and animals everywhere. It was like a zoo. After taking that all in I looked for the source of the voice but couldn't see anyone. It wasn't until a yellow thing flew up and began a duet with some birds. It was horse or pony like I thought but the eyes were huge and she (jugging by the voice) had a smaller frame than most ponies I have seen. She would barely be waist height. But it took me a few seconds to realize something.

"It can talk" was what I wanted to say but an immense burning pain flared in my throat. It took all my willpower not to choke and give away me vantage point. Recovering soon after I heard a chirping beside me, looking next to me was a strange pastel looking bird who seemed to be studying me in turn. Another flew beside it, then another and another, I knew animals were attracted to me but this was beyond what usually happened. I tilted my head in confusion and to my surprise they did to so the birds and I sat in the silence looking at each other.....SILENCE

Only when I realized this could I hear a very very faint flapping noise.

"Oh my" sharply tuning my head I was almost face to face with the yellow pony.

"She snuck up on me. NO ONE CAN SNEAK UP ON ME" my mind screamed as I began to adjust my footing slightly.

"What are you" she asked.

Too bad she wasn't going to get an answer. Using my talons I griped the branch and turned upside down and dropped from the tree. As soon as my feet touched the ground I pegged it down the path kicking up dust and dirt. No longer feeling her eyes on me I stopped and climbed into a tree to asses the situation:

Everything here is striking and cartoon like.
The animals seem more sentient than before.
Yellow talking pony.

Now someone faced with a situation like this would freak out or try to convince themselves it was a dream or they were in a coma. To me everything almost added up. The forest felt different, my phobias kicked in with the yellow pony and my still aching sides gave me enough evidence. My phobias kicked in and I could feel the forest. You can't do that in a dream.

I then heard a scream. Snapping out of my thoughts I lept from tree to tree to find my yellow ponies being stared down by a...wooden wolf like creature. Miss yellow was shacking violently and frozen in place by fear as the wolf slowly closed in on her, enjoying every moment.

I let out a roar and jumped the wolf

NOT ON MY WATCH

Familiar faces.

"WHY DID YOU FOLLOW ME?!" I thought in mid-air, as I jumped at the wooden wolf thing. Extending my talons, I landed on the wolfs back and gripped it..HARD. The wolf gave a yelp of pain as my talons dug into its wooden hide. It tried to shake me off. My talons kept me firmly in place, as the rest of my body thrashed around until I dug my claws deep into its hide. Raking its back a few times with my claws the wolf realized that I wasn't letting go any time soon, so it decided to roll over with the hopes of crushing me beneath it or making me let go. However as the wolf began to tip over I let go with my talons and used the wolf's size and momentum to cause it to crash into the ground instead. Its tail however caught me on my descent knocking me back and causing me slam hard against dirt floor.

We both got up and stared at each other. I could see that the wolf was hesitating once it realized what it was dealing with. It lowered its body to the ground and snarled at me. I dragged my talons across the floor and got on all fours as well. We then began to circle around each other. Our eyes focused on each other. Wolves are pack animals and only respect strength so I refused to show any weakness and tried to appear as intimidating as possible. We rotated our positions about three times before the wolf leaped at me. Returning my stance to two legs I raised one and waited for the wolf to come close, once it did I delivered a solid roundhouse kick to its jaw and used my remaining momentum to kick it in the face. The wolf only backed up a little, which was no surprise with it being three times my size and weight. My roundhouse kick, however had caused my talons to give it a rather
grievous wound to its left eye and my other kick knocked some teeth out.

Fearing, I needed to finish the fight quickly as I didn't attract too much attention from the distant town. Now that the wolf knew of my strength, it needed to fear me, so I turned on my voice changer and gave a ROAR.

As I finished, I was stunned at the sound of my own voice. Even Godzilla would think twice after hearing that sound. The wolf hesitated again, which I use to my advantage and jump back on its hide. Once on top of it again I searched for any weak spots, while clinging on for dear life. Spotting a patch of moss on its left shoulder, I unsheathed my rusty machete and began to rub it against my talons. The sparks fell onto the dry moss and after a few moments of frantic rubbing it burst into flames. The wolf bucked me off and began to flail around before retreating into the forest. I fell onto one knee and breathed heavily with exhaustion. Questions swam around in my head. "Why was that wolf made of wood? How was my voice capable of such animistic growls and roars even with the voice changer?" Thinking back on my performance, I looked for the yellow pony, only to see her on the floor. I thought she must have fainted.

The ground began to vibrate, indicating help was on the way. Deciding it would be a bad idea to be out in the open, I picked up Yellow and ran back to her home. Hundreds of animals swarmed with me to her house. "WHY ARE SO MANY BIRDS FOLLOWING ME" I thought, I brought her inside and set her on the couch. Once I had escaped the fight scene, a small flock of birds had decided to follow me and their numbers grew larger as I retreated. After running around to find a bath room, I looked in the mirror cabinet for anything that would help wake her up. While searching, I did find a bottle of vodka, pausing a moment as I reflected how fucked up this was, I took a swig and came back downstairs. Deciding that she was safe enough, there was no point in staying so I descended back into the forest. I took out a small ration of my food and found a large branch to perch myself on and fell asleep because, God help me I needed it.

*******

I slowly woke up with two problems. One being a pain in my neck, from my awkward sleeping arrangements and the other, was from some weight on my chest. Opening one eye, I saw a shape of a bird on my chest and now opening both eyes, I saw my entire body was covered in birds. Looking around, I found that every tree within about fifteen meters had birds on every branch available.

"What....the....fuck"

I shifted slightly and woke up the birds on my body, who then chirped loudly as to wake everyone else up. Then they all looked at me, thousands of eyes....looking at...ME. Even with my mask, I felt a cold sweat and my hands began to shake violently and I started to feel sick. I then fell out of the tree and ran for my life. I couldn't take it...it was too much. Racing past trees and bushes, I soon burst through the thick foliage to find a lakeside. Currently exhausted from running, I sat down by the lakeside and rested. Nearing the waters edge, I looked at the water and I saw a figure. It wore a dirty, red rag cloak. Its face was covered by a scratched up, dirty and worn mask with small waves of silver hair hanging over it.

"Just what am I now?" I thought, as the possibility of never going home hit hard. "With no other humans around how will I survive." My mind was conflicted. "On one hand, I didn't have to live in fear as much, with no one around, but is that a good thing?" The talking yellow pony then popped into my head. "She seemed to be on an intelligence level similar to humans.Would it be a good idea to introduce myself or will she or any others shun me?" I then did something I very rarely do.....I smiled. Remembering the event with Miss Yellow, I felt quite proud of myself. I had saved someone..it felt strange....as much as I didn't want to get involved...I had saved someone...so will their impression of me be?

Pondering on the question, I got up to eat something but realized I had left my pack back at my sleeping spot. "Well shit!" After wondering a great deal, I soon found the dirt road I had fought the wolf on. I then began to walk along the path towards the cottage where Miss Yellow lived. The trip was uneventful, except for the birds who had found me again. One of them had my backpack in its claws and I took it and also received an apologetic looks from the group.

*******

Once I neared the outskirts of the cottage, I climbed into a tree and observed, from a distance, before catching sight of Yellow leaving. An uneasy feeling pitted in my stomach, so I decided to follow her just to make sure she was going to be alright. How she didn't notice a huge flock of birds following her, I will never know. Soon the path began to lead out of the forest. With little cover around I had to zig-zag from bush to bush and anything I could hide behind or in. I then saw the small town I had spotted yesterday and it seemed busy. My body began to shake but I managed to take my mind off the crowds and followed Miss Yellow. Once she had arrived near the town, I swiftly climbed up the side of a building and onto the roof. I then looked at the town with my binoculars.

What I saw made me freeze. I saw a human, who sat outside some sought of a shop, but what struck me were three things. First... the human looked strange, his back was hunched, his teeth were uneven, pointy and dirty. His body was scratched, muddy and seemed very malnourished. Second...the human was wearing some sought of a collar, with a lead tied up to a post beside the shop. Third...was his face. His eyes were glassed over, looked dead and his face was tired and featureless.

Fear welled up inside me, as I tore my eyes from the binoculars and breathed heavily. "Was that a human? No...its too feral-like. But it looks the same as a human. It looks dead inside with nothing but animalistic instincts. Is it intelligent? No...it cant be" my mind was on full scale with questions and possibilities.

After I had calmed down a bit, I slowly looked through the binoculars again and saw a few more humans, dotted around the square, most were silent and still. Others were looking around and growling at anything that came near. From their behavior they didn't seem intelligent or even capable of complex thought, meaning my animal instinct theory was correct. As painful as it was, I decided to check one of the humans out to see what they were like, up close.

*******

Carefully, I made my way though some alleyways to reach my target. I spotted a red haired girl near one of the alleys and decided I could observe and interact with her, but could hide quickly if necessary. My boots and gauntlets worked wonders, as I climbed and clawed along walls, too I reached the girl's alley. I peeped around the corner to check for any other ponies or humans. Thankfully there were none so I proceeded with my test.

The first test was to get her attention. I scraped my claws against the wooden wall and caused her to look at me. Despite being different, she had a nice face and figure, her eyes were more colored than the other humans and she seemed well fed too. Upon looking at me, her eyes widened and she rather quickly scurried towards me. Needles to say, this caused me to back up a bit as she came to the end of her leash. She whined, as her arms were outstretched as if to touch me in some way. Slowly and carefully I reached out my hand and touched hers. Her struggling stopped instantly and she regarded me with curious eyes. Her hand closed around mine and rather embarrassingly, on my part, this was the most contact I have ever had with a girl. Behind my mask I was blushing quite a bit. She stared at my hand enclosed in hers, for a while, before pulling me towards her.

She embraced me tightly, as her chest pushed against mine, causing my mind to overload for a few seconds. She then sniffed my head before hugging me tighter, causing me to put my hands on her shoulders. To make matters worse, she mistook the signs and hugged me tighter still as if I was going to disappear. After distracting myself from her rather big chest, pressing against mine, I managed to push her off. She whined slightly but didn't try to hug me again. After my face had cooled off and my brain returned to working order, I saw her rather pained expression.

I reached out my hand and began to pet her head, which she leaned into and gave a relaxed purr. I heard what sounded like pots crashing and sharply looked to my left were I saw one of the towns female residents. I instantly ran for the alley and climbed a wall, to search for a place to hide. I could hear some commotion below me as a mare shouted something.

Getting closer, but still staying in the shadows, I saw that a large crowd had gathered at the square. The mare, I had encountered, began to frantically tell them something while standing on a wooden platform. Two individuals, however, stood out. Both were taller that the rest but I was still slightly taller than them. Both had horns and wings. One was a pure white colour with a multi colored flowing mane. The other was a deep blue colour with a starry-like mane. Upon their heads were some sort of crowns. "SHIT...SHIT!" Were they their leaders or something. This was bad. If I got caught....what would they do to me. Looking through the binoculars, I took a mental note of what they looked like.

I then almost pissed myself, as the blue one turned her head and looked me dead in the eye. "THERE IS NO FUCKING WAY!" She couldn't see me, that was impossible, I was wedged by my talons between a wooden wall and the overhang of a tile roof while covered in the veil of darkness. She didn't seem to notice my presence and if she did, she didn't show it, before turning her attention back to the crowd, which were listening to the white mare. Once she had finished whatever she was doing, both the mares horns glowed. "What..the-?" I wasn't given time to think of an answer when a bright light blinded me before my back came in contact with the ground. Groaning with the voice changer on, made me sound slightly synthetic and wispy, as I picked myself up and turned my head see that the blue and white mares had vanished.

First Blood.

“There will come a time in your life when you lose something that matters to you. You'll fight for it and you won't win. But what really matters isn't the war you're waging, it's that you don't lose the person you are in the midst of the battle.”

It had been three days since my visit to the town. Call me paranoid but I didn't feel comfortable in and around the town. Whether it was the blue pony that had vanished, the humans or the fact that everyone in town were ponies...I still can't be sure. For three days I had been familiarizing myself with my new surroundings, thinking and just trying to survive, but as long as my mask was on and my equipment was holding...I was doing fine. Rumors of my appearances had spread about a little because I heard several passerbys on the dirt road talking about me. Apparently, I was a mysterious phantom of some kind, that appears and disappears without a trace. Or maybe an apparition of some Nightmare Moon pony, but whether or not I was a threat or even existed to them, was still debatable, to both them and to me. Not that I wanted to hurt any of them but if it came to it, I would defend myself.

The shock of seeing my own kind still lingered in my mind, like some cruel joke, however I decided it would be best if I moved on...which was hard. Right now however, I was moving through the tree tops with my flock of birds not far behind. Most of my day had been spent foraging for food and making a flint axe. Since my fight with that wolf, I had woken up to the dangers of the wild and needed to arm myself with a better weapon. The land, itself, was like a double edged sword. This place... Sometimes it welcomed you like the warm bed of a lover....sometimes it felt like a cold knife at your throat. But right now, I was making my way through the thick line of trees and bushes, hacking through the vines.

The trek was hot, exhausting and the fact that the forest was unnaturally dark didn't make it any better, as I stumbled around aimlessly. After a few hours of walking, I noticed my bird flock had all but dispersed. As I delved deeper into the forest the air around me seemed to become heavy and thick and all of a sudden I found it hard to breathe. As if out of nowhere voices seemed to echo around me, whispering loud enough to hear but not to make out what they were saying. Afraid and exhausted, I ran through the forest as the voices still whispered and echoed around me. The tree trunks seemed to form twisted faces. Running even harder now, I was afraid I was going to pass out with fatigue. Then I saw a light ahead of me were the treeline ended....and I jumped through! Rolling on the cold grass, I breathed heavily. Looking up, I saw that the sky was taking on a dark orange hue because the sun was already setting.

Getting up, I looked around the clearing to see what appeared to be some ruins. Walking over, I almost failed to notice a crevasse that surrounded the ruins and nearly fell to my death. With night approaching, the ruins did look like a good place to spend the night but unfortunately the bridge traversing the crevasse was wrecked. Looking around, the only way I could cross would be if I chopped a tree down to span the gap. Sighing, I started to hack down a long but thin tree. Once it collapsed I began to drag it to the crevasse edge and started to slide it into position. With the tree in place, I started to belly crawl along it to the other side, trying my best to not look down. Five tantalizing moments later I was safely on solid ground. Taking a moment to calm down, I started to make my way towards the ruins.

***************

Upon closer inspection, the ruins looked like some sort of castle, that was abandoned and hadn't been used in centuries. Walking to the entrance, I noticed that door was open slightly and the dust on the handle had been disturbed. Being cautious, I spotted an opening in one of the walls and began to climb up to it. Once inside what appeared to be servants quarters, I instantly felt very strange. The air felt different, not like last time at the forest, but it seemed to have a presence about it. Faint traces of anger, jealousy and spite were present, sending shivers up my spine. However, there was also a feeling of sadness, loneliness and regret. It was as if the ruins were haunted by someone or something! This did little to calm my nerves but I quietly left the room and went into the old dusty halls.

I wandered for what seemed like hours, with only the silver moonlight to guide me. Turning a corner, for what felt like the tenth time, I was greeted with a large rotting wooden door. How was it that after all those years the door remained intact, I didn't know, but I slowly pushed it open. The door led, to what appeared to be a throne room with large worn tapestries on the walls and two large thrones, standing at the back. To one side of the room was a cage of some sort with a cloth inside that looked more newer than the rest of the place. For a moment I thought the cloth moved slightly....and then it did. Unsheathing both my machete and axe, I hastily made my way towards the cage. Coming closer, I could see that dirty cloth had a lump underneath it indicating life. The lock on the cage door didn't seem very sturdy and I thought I could probably knock it off with my machete's hilt.

However before I could knock the lock off, I heard a small clicking sound behind me and I dived to the left, as a large steel axe-head missed me by inches. Rolling onto my feet, I almost dropped my weapons in shock, as I faced my attacker. Wielding a large double handed, double edged axe was a griffin...Boy was he a big fellow. On all fours this griffin was about my height. His plumage was a smoky grey colour and the rest of his feathers, below his neck, were black. On his right shoulder was a leather pad and on his left fore leg was an arm-guard. A few straps and pouches adorned his chest, with welt stones and what looked like hunting equipment. He wasn't wearing a helmet, he looked at me with piercing yellow eyes...the eyes of a fighter...the eyes of a predator.

With a small battle cry, he lunged at me, swinging his mighty axe with great force. I barely blocked his attack with my machete in an underhand style. With my axe in my left hand, I swung at him, but he backed off before I could make contact. Smirking, the griffin looked me over before taking his axe and thrusting it at me. The weapon had a long reach of about 6 feet, which I quickly blocked by crossing my weapons catching his blade. Taking a risk, I grabbed his axe-shaft and I pulled the Griffin forwards and tried to slice him with my axe again. He ducked and rammed his shoulder into my chest, emptying my lungs of oxygen and making me splutter. Gathering together my strength, I punched him in the face. I was knocked back. Separated from him I coughed violently and breathed in vital oxygen.

The Griffin looked at me and spat out a bit of blood, before laughing. He knew he was battling an un-experienced fighter and was loving every moment of it, revelling in the heat of the battle. He eyed me again. Lifting the heavy axe onto his shoulder he regarded me.

"Interesting! At first, I thought you were some lost human but I see you are something else." Sniggering, he raked a claw against one of his axe-heads. "You're not new to this, but far from experienced. He..he..he, I look forward to having you as my dinner" he declared, as he started swinging his axe at me again.

Doing my best to block and dodge the Griffin, who was unleashing a relentless assault of blows, swinging his axe wildly. Although he could hit hard, due to his size and the weight of his weapon, I had the advantage in speed and dexterity. However, if I was caught by his sharp claws they could leave a serious wound and if the axe hit any part of me, I was sure it would shave through bones with ease. He seemed to underestimate me as his axe blows were less forceful than he could have delivered, but I wasn't complaining. During his attack, an opening presented itself and I managed to cut his chest and draw blood. Backing off, the Griffin examined his wound and grinned. The wound was bleeding quite heavily but this only seemed to egg him on. He wiped his blood across his chest, caking his once black feathers which were now a dark red.

"You little devil!" he laughed, smiling maliciously. "First blood to you then but this is far from over." He licked his bloodied claws and adjusted his axe. "Perhaps you will give me the glorious death that I seek and send me to the Holy Battle Grounds of the Ancients" he said, pointing at me and still grinning.

Using his wings this time, he took to the air for a few moments, before lunging at me and knocking me to the ground. Bringing his axe-head down on me, I managed to move my head to dodge it before giving him a low kick, knocking him over. I readied my machete and attempted to stab him with it but he was faster than I thought and grabbed my arm, lifting me clean off the ground. I felt his claws dig into my soft skin causing a searing pain and spurts of blood. Laughing, he threw me across the room and I landed heavily on my right shoulder, dislocating it. With one arm out of action I could only hold my axe in my left hand and the Griffin was beginning to walk towards me.

Laughing, he smacked the ground with his axe. The sound echoed around the room and cracks appeared on the ground. I fixed my dislocated arm, grunting in pain as a click indicated it was back in place. Laughing again, the Griffin swung his axe around in the air. He displayed his skill as he fed the hilt between his claws. The steel axe seemed to sing as it glided effortlessly through the air and shone in the light of the moon.

Seeing that I was ready to continue, he brought the axe-head to the ground and raked it around in front of him. Sparks flew and the screeching sound it made was deafening as he prepared to strike. Clenching my teeth, I arranged my weapons in a guard-like fashion.

We both charged at each other with weapons raised, as steel, flint and rust collided. We both headbutted each other. Glaring eyes met, showing no sign of weakness or exhaustion. Both bodies were filled with adrenalin and were losing blood. Both minds were set on domination. This was no ordinary battle. Their weapons were ready, their minds and bodies prepared, their eyes were focused and unwavering. This wasn't just a fight, it was a death match. The first to fall....me or him?! Someone was going is die tonight.... "A҉̟̝̳N̵̪͚̞̪̘̰̠Ḓ̩͎ ̼̥̤̠̪͓̜A̝̗̞̼͍͇͘S̨ ̻̤̝̗̯SU̙̖̼̣͕͞R̖Ḙ̞̲̖͕͠ ͇͞A̡S͏͙ͅ ̶̗̯͖̞̬Ḥ̵̪̮̖È͖͖̩̬L̡̦L̨̬̠̺̘̹̺͕ ͍͙͉I͈T̯̭̰̬͖͍̯ ̹͢Ị̴̰ͅS̗̻̮͙͎̖N͢'̮͚̜̞͍̜ͅT͕͕ ̟̮͓̝̰G̵̲̥̪̺̞̞ͅǪ͙̙I͇̪̜N̮̪G͏̙̣ ̫T̜̥̝̦̳O͏͎̻ ́B̤̱̺̪Ẹ̟͉̤̪͙̟ ͎̱̜͕̫Ú̮̠S҉͉̗̝͙̩̲̳!̸̻ͅ."

At that point I felt, something mentally push me and suddenly I could not move. No matter what I did, my body would not respond. "T̝̺i͕͉̮̯̠m̱̱̣͜e̼͈̪͓̭̤ ̶͙̙t͔͕̠̖o̞͉͕̝̪ ͎͕̤̬͡ḩ̻̬̺͇̞͚̮a̗̼̱̳͎v҉̯̱̩̳e̞̻ͅ ͚̣͈͉̙͓ͅs̬̻̖͟ọ̵͓̗͕̮̼m̰e͙̫̬ ̫͍̠̠̺f͚͇̱̗̯̳̦͝u̠̙̞n̛̗̼̦.̜̱̟̞"

I gave a roar as I overpowered my foe, making him take step backwards, my bloodshot eyes now looking down at him, as I was now practically leaning over him wearing a twisted grin on my face. I knocked his weapon aside and tackled him to the wall. He clawed my back but the pain didn't register. I punched him in the gut and felt several of his ribs crack. I grabbed his head and slammed it into the wall. He coughed up blood, before I dragged him the length and then threw him across the breadth of the room. He coughed and spluttered large amounts of blood. Getting up, he tried to claw me but my body reacted quickly and I grabbed his neck. Lifting him clean off the ground this time, my right arm started to attack his already broken ribs and then whoever was controlling my body slammed him into the ground. Before he could get up my body pinned his shoulder to the ground as my right arm prepared to do a massive attack!

He moved his head, just in time, as my right fist slammed into the stone floor, causing a huge crack and unfortunately it also cracked the bones in my hand and a painful recoil shot through my entire arm. I wanted to cry out in pain but my controller didn't seem to care, as he picked up the Griffin using my left hand and threw him across the room again.

He then drew my axe to finish the job. "Į͇̮͈'͎͡m̹̬̪̝̲ ̛̻g͡o̢͙͎̭͇̫̰i̢̖̦̙͎̙͇ng̵̩̯̮̭̬̩͔ ̣̯̺̮͙t̶̰̰o̻̣͚̹̹͍̤͜ ̢̦̦̩̬̝͉s̠͙̟p͎̩͙̻͚̀ļ̭̱̥̥i̸̦̤͚̳̫t̢̳̰̣̤̘ ̳̞̩͔̗̜̯h̰̣̟͙̤̀i̭̘̳̻̳s̡̞̠̝̜̗ ̕he͈à͓̼̬̣̱̙d͟ ̹̟̙̯̳͚l̬̫̹i̤̜̝̩͉̭k̢̳̳͈̱̠̘e̞͠ ̸͇̟̼̫̪̩a̫̘͍ ̗̜̼̭̠̣̗w̷͚͎͚͇a҉̳̯͖͖̯͈̼ṯ̡͉͉̩̲̱e̷r̵͔̙m̘̻̪̭̗è͍͙̯̹̤̮l͖̮͚̮͙̥̜o̷̬͔̹n̡̺͍͎̘̦̩." I walked over to the Griffin grinning, as I saw him crawling towards his weapon. I gave a laugh that you would expect to find in an insane asylum. He managed to get up and grab his weapon but I was already upon him. He raised his axe but I was the quicker. I closed my eyes and swung. There was a cracking of bone followed by a gush of blood showering my face.

As he died he mumbled "Ancients take me".

As I regained my senses, I felt a weight in my hand and I opened my eyes. The Griffin's head was split open to his beak, giving me a ungodly sight of his brain. My hands shook violently as I realized what I had just done. Seeing that his body was being held up by my axe, I let go and the body fell to the floor with a thump. I looked in horror at his corpse and fell over and backed away. My breathing was fast and heavy. My skin was drenched in sweat. My back and right arm were burning with pain. Taking another look at his body, I threw up...heavily.

I spewed enough to fill a bucket and then to make matters worse, once I had emptied my stomach I began to throw up bile, which stung my throat and chest. After that ordeal, I just sat there in shock. Ever since I had made my axe and started that fight, I had been mentally preparing myself for when I had to kill. Nothing can prepare you for killing the first time. I was still coming to terms with the fact I had just ended a life. A part of me died inside and felt cold while mentally I felt the fires of rage burning.

After what seemed like hours, I shivered myself to reality and walked slowly over to the dead body. I knelt down beside him, closed his eyes and covered his head. I removed his armour from him and my weapon from his head which made a splatting sound. This almost making me throw up again. I then began wrapping the rest of his body in some tapestry which I tore down from one of the walls. I carried the body outside and then used his axe to dig his grave. Once the deed was done and the body was buried, I gave a prayer. I was never religious back home, I never bought into it, but now I prayed to whoever his god was to take him to the battle grounds that he deserved to go to.

******************

I walked back into the throne room and put my right arm in a sling from a piece of the remaining tapestry. I walked cautiously over to the cage, were this had all begun. Breaking the lock, I removed the cloth and was shocked to see what was underneath. It looked like a pony in form but was quite different. Instead of fur it had a black shell with a faint green sheen. Its legs had holes in them at here and there. It had insect-like wings and a small pointy tail. It had a small jagged horn on its forehead and two fangs poking out of its mouth. What was most shocking was how young it looked. If it was the size of a pony it couldn't have more than four or five years old.

Once I had taken the cloth off its small body, the creature stirred before opening its eyes. Again, I was surprised to see it didn't have an iris in its eyes as they were all one green color. This nymph, seeing as it closely resembled an insect, looked at me with its strange eyes, somehow filled with curiosity, as it made chirping and clicking noises. I carefully reached out to touch its head, which was rough from the dirt sticking to it. The little nymph leaned into my hand chirping happily and even more so I picked it up as cradled it in my arms.

After what had just happened, I burst into tears and hugged the nymph, not wanting to let it go. Clinging to what remained of my sanity, I needed something to fill the void I had lost at my first kill. I wept for a while, until I ran out of tears and looked down at the nymph again. It looked sad as it licked the tears from my chin. A soft smile adorned my face at the sight of such innocence.

A shiver went up my spine at the memory of the apparition that had taken control of my body....or whatever it was. Holding the nymph close, I made my was back to the servant's chamber and started attending to my wounds with some more cloth from the tapestries and water from my bottle. I used the remains of the cloth to use as a makeshift blanket to shield the nymph and myself from the cold. Nibbling on my left finger, the nymph began to drift off to sleep and soon after....so did I.

Symbiotic Relationship.

Strength. Weakness. Fear. Bravery. Words we take for granted. One can easily say they are brave or strong, weak or afraid and while there is a universal understanding, the real meaning of such words remains a mystery. To say one is strong can mean many different things to different people. Strength gives you the ability to overcome obstacles or to crush them completely. Bravery gives you the power to charge through seemingly impossible odds without fear. The weak don't have the ability to act upon or to defend both themselves or others. To fear is to run or hide from things we don't understand or make us uncomfortable. To me these words mean something very different.

To me, weakness is not a flaw or a disability it is the very opposite. Weakness is the driving force to make one who they are, define themselves as an individual and to grow as a person. The weak become wise as their struggle teaches them and molds them into the very beings we see each day. To me, to be weak is to be strong.

Strength is not about power or to overcome an obstacle. It is to take your flaws, your failures, your very life, embrace it, use it to break the rules and make them your own. To say 'fuck you world, just because I can fail doesn't make me insignificant...it makes me human'. To be strong you must know weakness.

Fear is the word.....an emotion I know better than any other. To me fear is simply the force for preservation. We naturally don't want to die, we wish to live our lives wherever they take us. Fear is not a burden. Fear keeps us safe, secure, alert and alive. But, so what is bravery, I hear you say? ...Well! To me, bravery is not the act, it is the motive. Bravery is the willingness to put your life at risk for someone else and to protect ones close to you. How can a man be brave if he is afraid? It is the only time a man can be brave.

Strength cannot exist without weakness.
Fear cannot exist without bravery.
Both rely on each other like fish to water. One cannot simply be without the other.

Most would call this wishful thinking, that I need to wake up and see the truth. They think they are right and I am not, What I see is possible, to them is impossible. Nothing is impossible...not really. Life is a game of change and chance. All you can do is roll the dice .....you are wondering why I say this.

To be honest I'm not sure myself. So much has happened to me. It's not every day I get to wake up and ...smell the ashes. It's good to cling onto such ideals, it means you're still human inside. Still not sure which type of human now. Everything I knew about myself has changed so much that I don't even know what I am any more. This world breaks down any sense I had of life. Am I to simply bow down and accept this worlds nature or continue to strike against it.

As long as I have the spark that carries me forward, I like to think of myself as simply human. Nothing more. Nothing less.

.....But do I want that?

Hehe.... look at me ranting on ...let me continue.

****

I opened my eyes and was greeted with darkness. Everything around me was pitch black and empty. Getting up, I scanned the area but it seemed meaningless as nothing was around. I wasn't sure what was going on but it didn't scare me, it was unnerving. I heard the rattle of chains echo through this empty space causing me to turn around. In what looked like a spotlight was a figure, who was restrained by an absurd amount of chains. Upon closer inspection the figure looked like me, in a way, but with some disturbing differences.

Like me, it was wearing a dark red cloak, but unlike mine its cloak was worn and poorly patched. Its mask, however, disturbed me the most. While mine was round and white with an intimidating look, its was downright psychopathic. Its shape was that of a triangle with the point facing down and the end shaved off slightly. It looked like it was made of metal, hastily welded and clamped together. Its eyes were different sizes, one being bigger than the other and the lenses had spirals on them. Its mouthpiece, like mine, could move independently and had sharp looking metal teeth that could do some huge damage.

As I got closer, the eyes suddenly lit up a yellow flickering hue as the face lifted to look at me. What immediately caught my attention was that the spirals on the lenses were actually its eyes, as they moved around to look at me. I froze as we stared at each other before it spoke to me.

"Its about time you got here. We need to talk...... hehehe" he said, in a strangely familiar voice.

"....."

"Whats the matter?" he said, somehow making his mask grin as if it were his actual face.

"W-who are you?" I managed to get out, surprised to hear my own voice at last.

"The one who saved you in that fight" he said, chuckling.

I looked in horror at his figure, as the pieces fitted together in my mind. HIS voice was the one that I heard as my body beat the crap out of that Griffin.

"Oh. Come now. Don't give me that look. He had to die, one way or another. What difference does it make if I did it?One of you was going to die whether I had intervened or not. The way things were going were not in your favor" he explained, getting slightly excited. As much as I wanted to deny it, he was right.

"Did you have to go that far?" I asked.

"Hmm? Does it matter? He's dead, you're not" he laughed, madly. Seeing as this conversation was going nowhere and making me uncomfortable I changed the subject.

"So who and what are you?"

"Doooooooooon't know" he said, childishly.

"To who or to what you are?" I asked again.

"Both" he said, with a nod causing the chains to rattle. "But as to where I came from...." he trailed off.

"Go on" I said becoming impatient.

"Wellllll. This place you're sleeping in... can you feel something in the air?" I shifted slightly. "Thought so ...well....that energy is made from living emotions and a consciousness... minds of their own. In that fight I began to manifest in your mind and somehow I took on form and life. Such odds are extremely low" he explained.

"So it's like a possession?"

"No..... not quite....no. More of a second mind ...another personalty shared in a body, except I was born only two hours ago" he explained further.

"How do you know all this then? How can you even speak?" I asked.

"Being in your mind, I have access to everything you know." I tensed. "Don't worry, I only glanced at your knowledge, not your memories. It was like a huge library and I've only learnt a few things so far."

"So where does this leave us?" I pondered.

"Not sure. You seem relatively calm about me sharing your body and mind" he wondered, tilting his head.

"After being thrust into a strange world, where everything makes no sense, I'm willing to believe anything for now" I said taking a sigh. "You're quite the riot aren't you?"

This seemed to get his attention, as he looked down in thought, his eyes glowing yellow, flickering still like search lights. He then grinned and got to his feet and began to tense his arms. The chains around him broke and snapped and before I knew it, his face was right up to mine.

"That's a nice name ...from this moment on, I am RIOT. GAHAHAHA" he said happily, taking my hand and shaking it.

"T-the chains" I began.

"Oh them? It was to make you feel more comfortable" he said, slinging an arm over my shoulder "What's your name?"

"Jax" I replied hesitantly.

"Well Jax this is the birth of a new friendship. I hope it lasts. Hehehehehe..he.he...." He began, but stopped half way.

"Whats wrong?" I said, getting concerned.

"Someone's trying to get in" he said, quietly. "My my..... persistent aren't they?"

"What do you mean?" I said, not too comfortable having this Psycho so close to me.

"Someone has tried to enter this space of your mind ...your dream to be precise" he explained, looking up.

"My dream? How can someone look into my dream?" I said, skeptically.

"Magic" said Riot.

"Magic ...really?" I deadpanned.

"Well ....believe it or not, yes, but anyway to business." With that I found myself in a gangster styled pub, sat at a large round table with a swinging lamp above.

"Ok ...so what do you bring to the table" I said, not sure about the situation and deeply confused.

"Well right now we're not quite in sync with each other, making me weak. In time, however, we will become more in sync, but at the moment I am making you recover a little faster" he said, sitting at the opposite end of the table.

"Recover faster?" I said, becoming a little intrigued.

"Didn't you notice your back and right arm stopped bleeding, when they were, quite heavily, in fact" he said, grinning at my face when I saw that he was right.

"What happens when we fully come into sync, then?" I said, letting myself get a little too excited.

"Oh, something amazing will happen but we're a bit ways from that for now. Let's just get acquainted" he said, grinning still. I remember thinking.... this was going to take a while to convince myself I was not crazy and that I just had an insane voice in my head, which in itself made me sound crazy.

"Deal" I said, slowly showing my hand.

"Splendid" he exclaimed, before hitting me with a frying pan, making my world go dark.

****

I awoke again to the sight of stone and the smell of dust. Hoping that what had happened was all a dream. I looked at my arm, was shocked and felt a sense of dread, when I saw my arm was almost completely healed.

"It's not a dream, roomie." Oh god, he was real.

"Morning" I thought, grumpily.

"Morning, neighbor" Riot replied, with enthusiasm.

"This is going to take a while to get used to" I thought, sitting up slightly, stretching my arms and popping my joints. Feeling an uneasiness, I looked down to see the small nymph again, looking at me with wide green eyes. Pushing away my phobia, I began to scratch its head, causing it to chirp. I inspected my injuries, only to see that my cuts were almost healed and my right arm, while still painful and stiff and though still broken, it was not as bad as before. Looking back down at the nymph, I wondered what gender it was. Its head had a similar shape to the yellow pony I had encountered, leading me to believe it was female. It seemed to enjoy my scratching a lot so much so, that it lay down on its back wanting me to scratch its belly. Its tail swished happily and....unfortunately I saw something very....intimate.

"Pervert."

"FUCK YOU."

With my face still burning, I was carrying the nymph in my arm sling, as I made my way out of the now well-lit ruins. I walked past the grave I had dug the night before. I used the axe as the head stone, as it would be too heavy for me to use and would only slow down my movements. Giving a quick salute, I very carefully made my way back across my makeshift bridge as I had a extra passenger ....well physically anyway.

Retracing my route through the forest, with the help of some birds, I found the dirt path again that led into town. Why was I back here? Well, out of the corner of my eye, I swore I saw what looked like train tracks. That's right! Today I'm a hitch hiker ...not sure if that's a good thing.

Arm for an Arm

All was peaceful in the Everfree. The sun was out, the birds were singing, it was a beautiful day.

"ARRRGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHAGGHHOHOOH"

Until that happened.

"Holy mother of all that is sane HELP ME"

"*yawn* morning dude" Riot said half asleep.

"Riot help me" I shouted in my head.

"Whaa?" Riot yawned again.

As if right on que a large creature busted through a line of trees while I was sprinting for my life. What ever it was it is huge and some sought of lion scorpion bat...thing. I had unfortunately stumbled upon this rather...aggressive chap while I was working on something unique. I don't know what I had done but the universe decided I was going to have a bad day. A really bad day.

***

One of the most tragic things I know about human nature is that all of us tend to put off living. We are all dreaming of some magical rose garden over the horizon instead of enjoying the roses that are blooming outside our windows today.Dale Carnegie.

Despite having to run for my life, avoid eating poisons plants, hunting for food for the first time in a while I felt a sense of fulfillment. The clean air, the beautiful green fields and forests truly a place of fantasy and mystery, untouched by the unclean hand of civilization.

You must be wondering what has happened since my last log. The plan was to get a train but I had ran into a few snags. For one the station and train are out in the open and with the flyers around it was difficult to even approach the place. The ponies themselves have better hearing than humans and I was almost busted a few time because of a small noise I made on the dirt road. Why not wait at night to get a train? Well for one the place is locked up pretty tight and they have a small but effective guard force stationed around town at night.

Since then I have been living a green life biding my time. Riot who had now joined my little group had made himself clear about my lack of close quarters skill. True enough I was bad so I decided to take a different approach. A bow would seem ideal however the wood around the forest wasn't ideal for the strain a bow takes and for a simple blowgun I would need something like bamboo to make half decent one but the one I had made bagged be a few rabbits and birds.

While the large monster was still chasing me I pulled out a small grass pouch from my sleeve and threw it in its face. Upon contact it a white power burst forth. The monster groaned before slowing down and eventually collapsing in a large pile. The powder was from a special type of mushroom that makes it when agitated and acts as a powerful sleeping agent which I had learnt the hard way. Best four days sleep EVER.

***

Once I had cleared the beast by a large margin and taken some poison from its tail I began to make my way to my recon spot were I could observe the town from a safe distance. On the way however something felt wrong. The birds were silent, not a creature dared move, it didn't take long before I realized I was being followed but from were? Sneakily slipping another power bomb in my hand inside my sleeve and stopped moving.

"ARGGGGGGH AHHAHA" Riot screamed in my head as a huge headache spiked in my head. A huge pressure was assaulting my mind making me fall to my knees. Strange whispers filled my mind as another wave of pain surged through my head. Suddenly from the bushes bust a large insect like creature, its scythe like talons aimed at my head. I managed to roll my body out of the way as the large insect scuttled around me and soon two others joined. They came to about my chest in height, there carapace was black with a green shear, six eyes and large sharp mandibles slashed and scraped against each other.

They circled me like sharks, clicking and chirping aggressively. Another burst from the bushes and pined me on the floor, its large talons tried to slash me as I barely moved my head in time getting a large wound on my cheek and I felt the warm blood trickle from it. The other seemed to get restless as if they were cheering it on as I continued to slash at me. Taking a deep breath I threw the power in the insects face causing it to recoil of me and fall to the ground as it slept. The others looked ready to take me on as they started to scuttle quickly towards me. I felt movement in my chest as the nymph poked its head out of my coats top. The beetles froze, motionless as they stared at the nymph. Another blast of pain rose in my head as one more insect came out of the bushes but this one was different.

While the others were more armored and had talons at the front this one was more smooth and thinner. Like the others six eyes looked at me with a mixture of curiosity and caution. Six legs and a long slim torso rose to my height as well, and a pair of claws held together like a clamped hand. The nymph seemed to almost stare the other insect down as they seemed to be talking to each other silently. The nymph suddenly bit me softly and my head aches seemed to get worse for a moment.

"ɘno ƨƨɘlɿomɿɒ ɘm ɿɒɘʜ uoy nɒƆ" a voice from nowhere spoke, in absolute gibberish and a skittering after tone.

"um" I dumbly replied.

"bliʜɔ ym bniʇ uoy bib ɘɿɘʜW" It said again. Were they speaking in revers?

"Your speaking in revers" I replied.

"Where did you find my child? the voice said in a way I could understand.

"Child?" I thought looking down a the nymph.

The insect in front of me nodded as it got closer, when it did my head began to hurt again.

"May I have her?" It said as the voice sounded clearer and had a feminine tone to it.

With out doing anything the nymph made its way to what I assumed to be a queen of sorts judging by the insect solders surrounding us. Once the nymph got close to the queen its shell cracked and the nymph shredded its shell looking more like the queen now. With the two now together the queen looked at me and got closer making me feel very very uncomfortable. a talon touched my chin as she began to inspect me.

"I thank you for returning the future queen. She was taken from us. We observed you in the forest as you made your way to her. Forgive my solders they wish to eat you" She said, as the last part me me gulp. "Will you receive my blessings?" she asked.

Given the situation It seemed unwise to say no as the solders or even her could tear me to bloody ribbons. I nodded slowly as her mandibles clicked together. It was at that moment time slowed down it was brief but her claw shot forward and retraced at an insane speed. I felt no impact or harm until a spot of red came into view. The red drop slowly flew through the air as my head slowly turn to my right.

My arm was missing.

Everything went black.

***

They said it's the fatal wounds you can't feel. That statement is a lie.

"ARGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH. OH OH GOD THE PAIN WHYYYY WHYYYYY" were my first thoughts waking up in a damp dark cave. I reached over to were my arm was rather rudely lopped off by miss psycho beetle only to find some large black cocoon thing were my arm once resided.

I freaked out. I freaked out hard. Many minuets of screaming and trying to get what ever this thing was were my arm should of been, did i mention my arm was missing. Yes. Good. Moving on.

After my break down I then took the time to look around. I was in a cave....which sucks, I was hungry too and had a sore throat. I began to walk down this cave with this thing on my arm getting any water I could that was leaking from the walls and eating small lizard like creatures. They tasted horrible and were crunchy.

Eventually I noticed that Riot was being quiet which was not like him. I don't know how but when thoughts beetle things showed up he seemed to cry out in pain as if being assaulted. Mentally at least, the beetles have a strong type of telekinesis or hive synapse. I tried thinking to him but I got no reply and soon I felt a faint scratching in my mind.

It was like a itch on the back of my head but i couldn't scratch it, it was driving me insane. It wasn't until later that I had a rather big headache and the cave started to change. Large green crystal like structures started appearing that seemed to radiate a strange energy my strange appendage itched the closer I got to them and a strange sensation filled my head. The further I went down the cave the more concentrated the crystals became and my mind once again felt assaulted.

The cave tunnel then suddenly opened up into a huge cavern witch was filled with the strange bug like creatures i had meet. A creepy experience for sure, but I had hiked for what felt like miles with nothing but small reptiles and drops of water to keep me alive. Also my right arm was gone too so I was in a bad mood.

"HEY BIG BUG I KNOW YOUR HERE" I shouted mentally into what I assumed was the hive mind.

"So you survived" a voice echoed in my mind, as the large queen emerged from the crowd. "It has matured nicely I see".

"You cut off my arm! WHAT IS THIS THING!? I shouted at her, waving my attachment around.

"You accepted my blessing and you shall see soon enough" she echoed rather ominously.

She motioned for me to follow her and she made her way to one of the crystals. The feeling again sparked and my attachment became restless again twitching rapidly. Twitching? I could feel something almost like a gooey substance as the shell on my attachment started to crack and splinter. It soon erupted and my eye would not soon forget what I saw.

Were once a human arm was attached was now black and shiny looking. Overlapping layers of carapace ran down my upper arm and a blade like mandible extended from my lower arm. Were my hand would be found was a large claw, three smaller fingers and one large thumb like claw. It looked extremely deadly.

I freaked out a bit as anyone would mostly in my mind as my body was paralysed from shock. I could feel it. The claw closed when I willed it to just like any arm would. The queen seemed satisfied with my new arm and again motioned towards the large crystal.

"This is know as a mana crystal. It stores the magical energy of living beings. Now touch it with your claw" she instructed.

As I reached out towards the crystal my arm seemed to leap forward and latch on almost as if it were a mouth. A strange flowing sensation filled my arm, like flowing water creeping up it. As this was happening the whole arm seemed to swell up and what seemed like veins glowed a radioactive green. I could feel the energy pulsing like a heartbeat as my arm finished 'drinking' the crystals glow.

"You can now harvest and store magical energy. Be it for food or as a weapon is up to you" the queen said as she motioned for me to follow her.

As we walked I tried directing the flow of energy in my arm to my new blade like appendage in my forearm. The edge of the blade glowed green and extended out like a scythe and began to vibrate and hum. Next I tried to direct it into the arm itself and almost instantly muscle and carapace covered the whole arm. This arm this thing was not to be taken lightly.

We reached what seemed like the exit of the cave and the queen spoke to me one last time.

"I will let you free now and see were that arm and the world takes you" she said as she then turned back to the cave leaving me at the entrance. The sounds of the forest filled my ears as I took a step outside.

God I am so done with caves.