Apocalypse Rising [See Description]

This chapter was delayed because my computer crashed a around 11 in the morning. Files were being scanned and it ran into a loop, and eventually just crashed. But I managed to get a hold of a friend's PC, and I released this chapter from there. Sorry again.

(I'm sorry about the long wait for the story, I've been troubled with other things in life. But I'm back now, so hopefully I'll be able to publish some more chapters. And just to clarify, if you notice any change in writing in the next few paragraphs, it's because I started the first bit of this chapter around the time of Christmas 2014. I think I have improved a bit, but I'll leave that to you to judge. Carry on...)

===Wilgram's Perspective===

Wilgram has been walking for what felt like hours, but it has really only been like 30 minutes.  His back was still in great pain, but he was doing his best to deal with it until he was able to be treated. He wasn't really tired physically or mentally, but his legs were getting numb and a little less responsive. He was worried he might lose his ability to walk soon, so he quickened his pace.

'Is it just me, or did the sun set much faster than it use to?' He thought as the sky quickly got darker. He was thinking he might have to make camp for the night, but he wasn't really in a good situation to do that. First, he didn't know where he was or what kind of forest he was in. Second, his back is in too bad a shape that it cannot heal on it's own very quickly, so he had no choice but to continue walking.

Thinking of the terribly diseased place he was in before, he was beginning to feel a heavy amount of dread. Shaking his head to clear his train of thought on that, he was just going to focus on the present and the future, not the past.

He still had no idea where he was, but he was feeling refreshed at how how clean the air was, having gotten used to it now. He also noticed that the forest that he was traveling in felt very peaceful, despite having been attacked earlier by some wolf thing, he couldn't help but feel more relaxed here. He wasn't sure why, but he just accepted it.

Not looking where he was going, he tripped over a root that was sticking out of the ground and fell face first into the side of a tree and onto the ground. Feeling stupid, but thankful that he didn't fall on his back, he got back up onto his feet and gently rubbed his face to feel if there were any cuts. Not finding any, he got back up to his feet and took a moment to collect his thoughts.

His vision was getting a little more blurry from exhaustion, so he sat down on top of a small fallen tree and opened one of the bottled waters he had with him. His hands were a little bit shaky as well, so it took him a second to get the lid to his mouth without dropping the bottle. He closed his eyes while enjoying the feeling of the cool liquid as it filled his body with necessary energy to continue. He stopped drinking when he had only about half left in the bottle.

'I wonder how far away from everything I am...' Wilgram thought to himself while trying to relax so his back wasn't given so much stress from walking on uneven grounds. But he was interrupted when he felt a drop of water fall on his nose. He opened his eyes and looked up to see that it was going to start raining soon. Slowly getting back up to his feet, he looked around to see if he could spot anything until it got too dark to see anything. He looked around him, trying to make out any lighter parts in the dense overgrowth, until he stopped when he was facing towards the fallen tree he was sitting on. It wasn't much from where he was now, but it was the brightest part he could spot from where he was currently located, so he decided it was the best idea to head in that direction.

When he walked around the tree to start walking towards the area, he noticed that the tree had very large claw marks on the area the tree was cut off from. He felt very intrigued at the sight, wanting to investigate a little more, but seeing how it was getting way to dark and he could feel and hear the rain pouring down harder, he decided to just leg it towards the light he saw.

'I wonder if the the thing that made those marks is nearby...' He thought to himself while feeling his heart race at the thought of

some massive Lion attacking him in the injured state he was in, or even worse, a pack of the same wolf he fought earlier that day.

The light was getting bigger the closer he got to it. It was close enough to see that the light was coming from an open area in the forest, spanning at least 50 meters in diameter. The rain seemed like it didn't actually reach into the clearing, seeing how overwhelmingly bright and

clear the sky was over it.

Right when he was about to run straight in, his left leg suddenly went completely numb and he lost his balance and fell behind a tree that was right on the edge of the clearing. He fell on his stomach making him lose his breath and almost blacking out from the sudden outburst of air from his lungs and the blood loss he was suffering from his back injury.

*THUMP* ...

'Shit... I need some help very soon otherwise I won't last much longer...' He thought as he was clenching his chest for air.

Getting into an upright position beside the tree, he took a second to collect his thoughts and make them clear. He got out his water bottle and finished the rest of the water that was inside. He set the empty bottle down next to him and leaned against the tree; still clenching his chest. He looked up to see where the clouds were, and noticed that the rain clouds ended around the clearing, making a very distinct gap between the clear, calm pastel sky; and the dark, energetic rain clouds.

"What the... Oh yea, that's totally normal." He said sarcastically while rolling over onto his stomach and getting to his feet, slowly yet surely.

Now at his feet, he peered past the side of the tree into the clearing to see if there was anything inside. It was relatively normal, save for some odd indentations on the grass. Actually, the grass was practically and literally destroyed from something that looked like it crashed into the ground and skid along the grass.

He looked around the clearing to see if what made those indentations was actually able to be seen from where he was, and he thought he saw something metallic towards the center. His vision was still fairly blurry from earlier that day that he couldn't get a good look at it. Even though it wasn't that far away, he couldn't make out what it was, so he decided to get out his binoculars to try and make out what it was. Looking through the two lenses didn't actually help much, because the kind of binoculars he had were for viewing objects about a kilometer away.

Setting them aside, he rubbed his eyes and shook his head to clear the blurriness. He was able to make out finer details of his surroundings, along with the object in the center of the clearing.

He froze.

'No...what?'

It was his motorbike. It was the one that made the marks on the ground along the clearing, but also the one thing that stands out from everything else. It was also the first thing he wanted to see the entire time. Although...

Wil's eyes widened, specifically because his motorbike was almost completely covered in blood. His blood.

Wincing at the thought of how much blood he has lost, his train of thought was interrupted by something moving at the corner of his eyesight.

What he saw worsened his headache tremendously. One word popping up into his mind.

BRIGHT... He blinked at the sight.

Okay, what the hell am I looking at...? He thought to himself as he crawled lower into the ditch.

A group of 5 colorful animals entered the opposite side of the clearing, slowly spreading out. One of them flew up into the air and started flying around the edge of the entire area, scanning for any dangers. But he was on the edge of the clearing, so if he was spotted, there could be some problems... He didn't know what kind of problems, but for the time being, he just wanted to stay out of sight.

Wil tried to crawl towards the tree next to him as quickly and quietly as he could. Doing his best to ignore his wounds that were protesting to the sudden movement.

'Shit, they're going to see the bike!' He worried if they were going to decide to take it, or mess with it; either one worried him.

He heard the wings of the blue one flapping overhead, praying that he won't be seen from where he lay. He was not at all in the condition to fight anything, let alone 5 things. He also didn't have the energy to even stay conscious much longer, from his barely audible, but present raspy breathing.

The sound got louder and louder as it approached his location, his heart rate increasing a little bit at the tension of whether it'll spot him or continue flying.

From what he heard, it was now right above him.

And it sound like it stayed there.

'Shoo, shoo! Don't you dare see me, damnit... He thought to himself as he slowly lifted his head to see what it was doing.

It wasn't looking at him, at least. But it looked towards the center of the clearing, and started flying towards it; having only cleared half of the surrounding area of the clearing, leaving the other half alone.

Releasing the breath that he didn't realize that he was holding, he shook his head to try and make himself more awake, drowsiness creeping up on his conscious. He ran his hand through his hear and wiped the blood and sweat off his forehead. He poked his head out again to see what was going on.

One of them was slowly walking towards his vehicle, the look of curiosity clearly plastered on it's face. The closer and closer it got to the machine, the further the foreigner's eyebrows furrowed downwards. His heart rate increased yet again with each step it took. The purple animal was now about 5 meters from the motorbike, moving much slower than before. The animals face then briefly turned to slight annoyed confusion, and then went back to it's curious examination. It circled the object, taking in every single detail. Once it got to the opposite side, it seemed to have spotted the absurd amount of blood on and around the leather seat, judging by the the sudden movement it took away from the motor bike; though he couldn't blame it, he wasn't too particularly keen with the sight of blood either.

The blue one, still hovering in the air, started to communicate with the one that was examining the vehicle. Wil couldn't make out much because of the dull purr and vibration of the thunder that he heard and felt, along with the sound of leaves waving in the wind that was passing through the forest and into the clearing; making him shake a little from the air coming into contact with his open wound; reminding him of the urgency that needed to be taken into receiving help.

Through the other noises resonating from the foliage , and the clouds, he very faintly heard the sound of a laugh; a surprisingly feminine laugh, nonetheless. He held his breath for a moment to see if he could hear anything else. As a matter of fact, he could barely hear a conversation among the two beings. He believed to have made out a few words, but they were just barely audible from where he was. Though he also quickly dismissed the nagging feeling in the back of his head that what he was hearing wasn't normal. He also got the tingly feeling in his ears anytime that he would hear voices; as faint as they may be sometimes, it was odd how he was getting the same reaction out of what he was hearing in the direction of the 5 creatures, though specifically from the 2 that were communicating with one another.

The conversation seemed to have halted abruptly from the blue one seeing the blood-stained metal as well. After a moment it opened it's mouth as if it was saying something about it, and looked very nervous and uneasy at what it was seeing.

'Odd... They reacted to it in a very human-like manner; which is odd seeing how animals don't typically react to something like that... But just to take account of even more weird traits, they were, to put it bluntly, *bright as fuck. And what was up with that feminine-sounding laugh I heard earlier? That is more than a bit creepy to me... I just hope they don't mess with my bike...*

The look on the purple one's face slowly, but visibly turned back to curiosity as it leaned it's head from left to right periodically as if contemplating on what to do with it.

About 1 minute has passed and the purple one stopped the head movement and sat up. Still facing the bike, but moving about 2 meters away from it. It lowered it's head slightly and closed it's eyes, and then something... weird, happened.

Much to Wil's already lowered conciousness's dismay, something; which seemed to be some weird rod shaped object atop it's head started to glow ever so slightly. A few moments has passed and... Nothing seems to have been happening, though the concentration, (or what looked like concentration, to Wil.) on it's face seemed to be more emphasized, the 'rod' appeared to be getting a little brighter as well.

The light...

He was staring at the light coming from the 'rod'. Besides it obviously being out of place, there was just something about it that seemed... ethereal.

It made him freeze. Not at all in a negative way, though. The light calmed him. His breathing, which, for the time he was hiding in the ditch behind the tree, semi-silently observing the 5 creatures, was closer to panting and sounded much more raspy than normal; was back down to a steady, calm, and safe pace of slow intake and outtake of air. There was a warm and welcoming cloud of bliss that washed over his muddy and turbulent mind, clearing his thoughts and feelings along with uprooting his concentration to much higher levels. For the first time in what seemed like an eternity, he actually felt...

... Happy...

... but the bliss vanished from his conscious, and his concentration was quickly set back onto the creatures. He noticed the two that were the closest to the vehicle, and also were the ones who engaged in conversation; most likely about his bike. The two walked up to the side of the bike, getting visibly weary of the blood.

'Son of a...-' He cursed to himself towards the actions of the two creatures. He wanted them to just leave his property alone, and if possible; just leave the area so he can get to his bag and use the medical supplies that are stored within the several pouches of the pack. He was going to bleed to death if he didn't patch up the critical wound on his back. He was also starting to feel his spine get cold from the severe lack of blood cells. He did not want to end up dying here; wherever here was located...

He knew he might regret his choice later on, and he felt bad for deciding this route; but nonetheless went through with it.

Still lying down in the ditch near the old and mossy tree, he reached to his side and grabbed his rifle in one, swift motion from the years of experience with firearm handling. Being cautious as to not put any part of the rifle out of cover while he readied it just beside the tree, on top of one of several massive roots that were protruding from the base of it. He didn't need to worry about the sun glaring off of the lens of his mid-range scope because of the Anti-Reflection Device on the end of it. Getting into position, he closed an eye and looked through the end of the scope with his other; readying his aim to make sure he was on-point. He still wasn't sure if his course of action was a good idea, or even necessary. He silently examined their movement as closely as he could, making sure that his bike was safe from any more harm that has been brought onto it.

The two got into positions on either side of the vehicle; both standing on opposite ends. The blue one visibly shivered from coming into direct contact with the blood. They waited a moment, nodding their heads towards each other in unison, as if counting down when to begin moving the bike. Barely hearing what seemed to be a vague-sounding shout; again, sounding very feminine.

The bike was pushed upward to a standing position, but due to the poor shape of the vehicle's wheels and steel kickstand -the stand itself was not actually attached to the side, and was presumably located somewhere else in the clearing- quickly fell onto the side prior to where it lay.

With an audible *thud*, the weight of the bike caused plenty of dirt and gravel to be kicked up and away from where it was; including more than a little bit of the foreigner's blood; which was still not completely absorbed into the worn leather seat, along with the grass that was beneath it when it was still laying on the opposite side.

In his mind, he felt the vibrations of when it hit the ground; completely muting all other sounds that weren't immediately in front of him. His conscious fully focused on the creatures. His grip tightened, getting slight metallic feedback all over the rifle. Though, during the time he shut his mind out from everything else to focus on his bike, he forgot to turn off the laser attachment that was mounted to the under-barrel of his gun, which was changed to a setting where it turned on automatically if there was sensory feedback in the handle near the base of the rifle. He only noticed that it was one when he saw the two acknowledge the visible laser, and looked directly towards his location...

...He was no longer hidden.