Human's Sanity: Seven Weeks A Skeptic

by JuliusPhillpa_

Rating: mature
Tags: Slice of Life, Dark, Human, Comedy
Length: 12849

A human is transported to Not-Equestria. He must survive for seven weeks with six other people through the environment, while trying to overcome the threat of the local fauna, civilians, and his other scheming survivors. Can he survive?

Note: Ground-up remake of 'Tale of a Human's Sanity. Very different from the original. Rated M for now, for many reasons.

A human is transported to a world in which he isn't familiar with, while others like to call it Not-Equestria. He must survive for seven weeks with seven other people through the thick and fog of this new, unknown environment, trying to overcome the threat of the local animal wildlife on their own display, his other scheming survivors that he was forced to tag along-side with (where he doesn't bode very good relationship with), and the civilians of the local lands that they encounter.

Can he even survive the seven weeks? And what will even happen once it's all over? Will everything go back to 'normal', or will it all be worse? He'll have to find out the very hard way… just like the rest of his life.

If there wasn't more of his kind…

…

This story will probably be completed in a year’s time, realistically (in the series entirety), thought it maybe longer. Just letting you know for what you’re in for.

Started remake: July 1st 2015
Honorary theme: “Sand Coffin” by Elia Cmiral

Published 1970-01-01 00:00:00 UTC
Last updated 2015-07-29 18:20:01 UTC

The Guide's Notes: "The_Summoning"

The Guide's Notes: "The_Summoning"

This was it, I was certain. The remains of the tree that Boyle and his father cut down, its wood being later used to construct an inn, a harpsichord, a shipping crate and an idol...

I could feel that same scrabbling in my mind that I had felt just before all of my visions. This time it was the stump itself that seemed to be beckoning me closer.

...

Cabadath, a Celtic druid, awaits the return of his friend and colleague Galdn, who brings news of the invasion of Anglesey by the Roman Suetonius Paullinus.

Having fallen out of favour with his fellows for certain radical beliefs and activities, Cabadath lives in solitude in this remote forest clearing, and prefers not to travel himself.

"Cabadath!" Galdn calls his friend.

"Galdn," He calmly replies. "You bring news?" He then asks, as Galdn walks closer up to him.

"The foreigners have landed," He answers, with slight nervousness in his voice. "They could not be deterred by our sorcery. All... is lost."

Cabadath didn't seemed fazed. "Oh? Certain, are you?"

"Thuh- they are making their way across the land, eliminating resistance." Galdn stuttered. "Even you, out here, will be brought down within days." He paused, looking at the ground in sadness and failure. "I'm sorry, Cabadath."

"And the great druids of Anglesey bow so easily to this brash foreign power?" He asks, lightly amused by all that has transpired. He scoffs. "Do not hang your head yet, my friend. Perhaps the activities for which I was ostracised could yet spell an answer."

Cabadath got his full attention. "What are you talking about?"

"You know of my dealings of the Ethereal Realm?"

Galdn paused before answering. "I... know what you claim. That there exists some otherworldly territory populated by demons and creatures of 'magick'. And that you, Cabadath, can somehow commune with these creatures."

Cabadath pauses in thought, before speaking, "Come inside, and I shall explain." They both then made their way into his small hut in the forest, where there was a logo painted in red, located against the far wall, dripping onto the ground.

Galdn seemed flabbergasted by the sight. "Cabadath, what is this madness?"

He stood in front of the logo, where there was a small table located in front it, where he turned around and looked at his colleague. "In my dealings with the Ethereal Realm, I have learned of many powerful demons and elementals. But there is one spoken of only reluctantly, a beast possessing of awesome power."

Galdn was shocked. "You plan to summon a demon!?"

Cabadath continued, ignoring the sudden outburst. "The most terrible of them all, who strikes into even the most unflappable creatures I have spoken with." He didn't see any flaws in this plan. "A pain elemental. Indeed, the only pain elemental, ruler of a desolate wasteland where none dare venture. An invulnerable, hugely potent beast that feeds on the agony of others. And... today is his day. This day when the boundaries between the realms weaken ad he glimpses our world. To bring him through at that point should be simple."

Galdn was speechless, "Even if you could conjure such a thing... how would you have it defend our lands?"

"I have much knowledge in the ways of magick," He answered with complete confidence. "With the correct bindings, any demon can be forced to my will." He turned back to the symbol. "I completed the preparations while I waited for your return. All that remains is the summoning."

"Cabadath, it pains me to see you build your hopes on such nonsense." He expressed, losing near-all belief in his friend's words.

"Be silent, and watch!" He ordered, as Galdn simply sighed in defeat and walked over to the corner of the hut. "You shall see your nonsense soon enough!" He then proclaimed, before kneeling down at the table and at the logo, reciting.

In this hall of death, and by the light of Belenus' gift, I summon you.

I bring you gifts to mark your path.

I feed you with pain.

I call you with madness.

I summon you with the greatest loss.

And I bind you by your true name.

*REDACTED NAME*

Sparks started to fly from the corners of the symbol, as Cabadath raised his hands, while Galdn became speechless again. "By the gods...!" He remarked, as it looked like he was going to faint from the sorcery on display.

"I have reached out to you through the void! I command you by your true name! Show yourself!"

Galdn slowly began to panic. "Cabadath, please, stop this!" He tried to yell, but to no avail.

"SHOW YOURSELF!" He yelled at his loudest voice, as a white portal suddenly appeared, with a gigantic eyeball filling the area of the portal, blinking a few times before staring at Cabadath with it's red eye.

"By Teutates...!" Galdn nearly fainted there, at his own remark. "It's huge!"

"It... it is larger than I... anticipated..." Cabadath admitted, standing up his spot, staring directly into the large eye in front of him. But he turned back to Galdn, still confident in his own ability. "But he must obey the rules of magick. It is bound! I can command it!"

He was then suddenly interrupted when the eyeball's tentacle reached out and grabbed Cabadath by his waist, surprising everyone the room, before Cabadath's emotions turned into one of shock and fear. "No! It is far more powerful than I thought!" He tried to get out of the hold he was in, but he wasn't strong enough. "Galdn! Help me!"

With sorrow in his eyes, Galdn looked away from his gaze, and walked towards the door. "F-forgive me, Cabadath." He said, bowing slightly, before leaving the hut and bolting away from the area.

"Nooo! Galdn! I beg of you! DON'T LET IT TAKE ME ALIVE!" He yelled before being sucked into the portal, where everything flashed into white.

...

He, of course, has no use for meat. It feeds on pain. It does not kill its prisoners. Cabadath's agony was a particularly rare morsel, and he ensures it would last.

His soul was placed inside an oak sapling on the site of his old home, to grant his body immortality and could suffer in anguish for all eternity to feed his dark, new master.

Leaving

“Do you remember when you killed them all? I bet you don’t. I bet you don’t even remember who I am, don’t you? Possibly don’t even know who you are… Maybe that isn’t for the best. You’re going to remember… In a way that not anyone could expect. You shot me. But I’m not dead. I never was… And not until you figure it all out… You probably never will. Heh, heh. I mean, life is quite funny in some circumstances. It has… let’s say ways of biting you in the ass, for better or for worse. I mean, you shouldn’t take my word on it. Why would you?

“One day, we all have to face the music, of the past actions that we’ve done, when we have crossed that line, that one day will happen. It’s just a matter of where and when.

"At least... I'm not laughing now."

...

Present Day

...

Atrocities. Whiteness.

An upside down flag, waving from the calm breeze of the wind with a small tear in the left side, residing on a pole that sits upon a small tower, near a castle. The view of a castle below, along with a town surrounding it in the distance. A town that looked like it is in ruins after all it has seen, after all that has happened. A bunch of beings roam around the areas, trying to salvage anything that did remain after all the battles that have taken place. Snow, slowly falling in the air, onto the ground, as in the background, the scenery of the mountains can be seen in all their glory, somehow not affected by all that has happened. Luckily.

The small noise of a helicopter slowly came closer towards the top of the tower where the flag was being held by a pole. The noise became louder, and louder, before just moving to the right as the Helicopter turned a hard right, flying towards what’s left of the city, is located in, before another Helicopter was chasing the one in front, attempting to shoot rockets to destroy it and the people inside controlling the rotorcraft. Defining something that cannot be comprehensible.

“I can’t shake this guy!” A man yelled out over a radio inter-com, as the Helicopter swerved right, narrowly missing the rockets as it crashed into a building that had been staying upright until now, falling over the side. This man was the pilot, as over time grew increasingly frustrated and nervous about the enemy they were up against, and how he was trying to fly away from them.

“Just hit the brakes and keep her steady!” A man yelled out, replying, being at the helm of a minigun, attempted to avoid the flying debris that was going in to his eyes, before shooting at the following Helicopter. He wanted the undead gone from the sky. He didn’t want to take any risks about what the enemy could do with this kind of weaponry, this kind of aircraft, against a civilisation that has never seen anything like it. Yet.

“Are you out of your mind?” A third man yelled towards the man at the helm of the minigun, welding a sniper rifle sitting on the cabin doors’ floor, on the opposite side of the minigun. He attempted to take pot-shots at the people that they were being chased by, or scouting any on-coming Chopters if any came their way. He knew what would happen if these targets were taken out, but he couldn’t believe that is was indeed possible to be ridden of them.

“Trust me!” Phil answered, shooting at the windows of the perusing Chopter, before an undead man fell out uncontrollably, unable to balance himself once bullets had been pummelled into his system and the Chopters’. Fire began to spit out from the Tail rotors as black smoke began spurting into the air, the Chopter losing control as it began to spin out wildly. The man at the helm of the opposite Chopter died as his corpse fell out before the Chopter exploded, sent flying into the far ground below. His own Chopter had already flown away from the castle and the city, towards the mountainous region.

“Got ‘em down!” He yelled in slight relief at the other two men, that an enemy was down and that he took take a small breather, now that the undead were now definitely dead. Or, at least unable to kill any more innocent civilians that didn’t deserve an early death in their life. Though the mountainside is going to go through a… remodelling stage of sorts. Though the City, the devastated farmland around the central area (and maybe the mountains) can be repaired from any damage that could have been caused. And the causalities will always be remembered throughout time… at least that’s what he hoped.

“Wasn’t the last of ‘em!” The scout-sniper yelled, spotting more undead-piloted Helicopters making their way towards them. He was still in a form a shock after realising the past events that transpired. He still wondered how the hell undead-zombie like figures managed to control a Helicopter. It must have been some sort of dark magic that he couldn’t comprehend.

“Gotta visual!” He then replied as the former Helicopter exploded mid-air, being sent into the mountain side. For the slightest of seconds, thought he had seen something in his vision. But maybe he was seeing things. It was probably nothing. The two more Helicopters that appeared in front of him wasn’t any imagination. He was seeing things. He didn’t know why he was. He shook his head off the thought. It didn’t matter now, as the fate of his life and his two mates were in the hands of death.

What did matter now was killing these fuckers so they couldn’t be a threat anymore. He began shooting towards the closest Chopter, while the second was moving further away in the distance. It was harder for both parties to get any type of shot against the other. But depending on where the party target their bullets, it was easier and quickly for the opposing Helicopter to blow up. To his advantage, the undead’s Chopters were lightly smaller, their armour was weaker and more worn-out, and their engines were working just enough to be usable.

It only took seconds before he managed to shoot down the first Helicopter, spinning out and exploding into one random mountain as the air fight moved into the mountain environment. No one knew how much damage the ground will be from the falling copters and the debris that would have an effect on the environment. But he wondered how the buildings would be repaired if the Chopters crashed into them, how they would heal the environment, how the Chopters wouldn’t kill anyone if they did crash. But he shook off the thought again as the fight was still ongoing. No time to think right now. And… it was only mountains.

The second undead helicopter came closer into view while the first helicopter was already grounded, as the fight still seemed to be flying over several mountains, as there wasn’t any other city in sight, as the chopter was hurdling towards the ground. The undead helicopter seemed too straight and slightly upwards, as he had slight difficulty attempting to shoot him down, but it was easier for him as their armour hulls were weak and their engine and fuel tanks were exposed when their armour fell off. It also helped that some of the undead were blasted off when they were shot at and truly dead, making the helicopter unmanned. This could be their own downfall, but they’ve yet too seen it happen. He was unsure over why this was.

The copter span out of control, exploding mid-air as the screams of the undead could be heard as they were hurdled into the air, plunging towards the ground. “Got em’!” He yelled as their Helicopter was moving towards a small town in a plains-like area, where it only seemed to be mountains surrounding the area. After who knows how long. No one payed attention. Didn’t matter. Town had some clouds in the sky. Where the view of certain parts of the town would seem beautiful and peaceful in a way.

However everything wasn’t so peaceful in this floating town in the plains, as there were two opposing armies fighting for control over the area. Clashing, punching, stabbing, kicking, clawing, anything to kill the enemy so that they would be no more. Numbers from each side dwindling as minutes go on, one side having slight numbers and flanking advantage against the defenders of the cloud city. Completely unaware of the Helicopters, what they are, how they even work, and their overall presence.

This wouldn’t last…

He luckily shot down the Helicopter as it was going into the city where armies were fighting at the scenes, but was plummeted before it even hit a cloud (oddly enough for him) into the ground far below as two more copters came into view with one being far in the distance from the other. “Can’t this thing go any faster!?” The third man yelled out as he looked at the fight in the distance, seeing that the local inhabitants army, the defenders, were holding out against the attacks as best as their could, while unbeknown to them, a second, larger army was going to out-flank them.

Hearing the third man’s suggestion over the radio, he responded while also shooting at this Helicopter. “Come on, punch it!” He referred to the man at the helm, at least that’s what he hoped, as he thought he could see helicopters in the far distance. Maybe, but… he considered how much they might have. Consider all that’s happened… it wasn’t unlikely, that they may have hundreds, but most of them haven’t even surface into his vision yet, so it was deemed very unlikely.

”I am!” He answered, yelling over the radio-com as the town slowly came into view, while he paid attention to the other Chopters, as one seemed to have more hull armour than the other, leading him to believe that they must have run out of materials (and possibly fuel) to even run helicopters. He kept shooting the first copter in front of him, with an undead and a fuel-package thing that he couldn’t exactly make out, fell out of the opposing Chopter and fell to the ground, followed by smoke and flames, before the Chopter tried to suicidally ram itself into his own copter. Luckily for him, it was unable to, and began spinning out into a small building.

“Jesus, how many of them are there?!” The third man yelled out, in shock and disbelief at how many more helicopters the undead have, that are chasing them. For a split second, he wondered why they were attacking them now, and not before. Maybe they couldn’t before, and had to attack now before the three would blow them up. Either way.

“Does it matter? Just keep it steady!” He responded with, not caring about how many there were, even if there were quite a few. They were all going to go down like the rest. Didn’t matter. They were flying through a main street of the town, while the undead were behind a few buildings as they passed. Flying in the same direction. He easily shot down the second one, taking only a few seconds, crashing into a different building. Now that he takes a second-long glance at the view he has, the town seems to be deserted of civilians, aside from the armies fighting. He didn’t consider what happened next, as a third helicopter came in front of him.

He wondered what the beings of the armies thought when they were flying right over them, as they both were shooting at each other. He took note that this Chopter was actually hitting them, unfortunately, as the previous ones weren’t experienced (he wasn’t sure what the right term was, nor could he think of one) enough to do so. He was thankful that no ground troops were shooting… whatever they had, hurling boulders maybe, at them, or preferably at him. Luckily.

As the two mechanical flying machines soared over the battle commencing on the ground, he thought he spotted a few familiar faces in the crowd. No. They probably weren’t them. He gave them no second thought, shooting down the third helicopter with slight difficulty, swerving through the buildings, making it harder for him to shoot at them.

But thinking about it quickly, he realised the Chopter may crash into the army on their side. If, they were indeed on their side. The third helicopter began sputtering out smoke, before suddenly falling straight into a tall building, hitting the side of it slightly, before spinning behind another building. He didn’t know if it crashed into some other building, but this tall one was about to fall of them, well he thought it was going to at first, but it seemed like they would be safe. He could tell that nearly every being on the ground could see this crash occurring.

“Holy shit!” The third man couldn’t help but remark at how a tall building like that just narrowly avoided their own Chopter, falling onto the second army’s front troops, squashing them. By now, he could observe some of the troops trying to throw whatever weapons they had right at them, just missing as he started to shoot more pot-shots at them with his sniper. It was tiring work.

He watched the tall building fall as a giant some cloud appeared in its wake, everything going silent for a few seconds. Like there weren’t any more Chopters, and the armies had stopped fighting… maybe taking their time to recover from the surprise and the shock of the sight of him at the helm of the minigun, taking out the other Chopter and the building. It looked like it was on the verge of collapsing anyways.

Then suddenly, he heard the sound of rotors moving swiftly towards him, as another Chopter hurdled out of the smoke, bolting through the air as they narrowly missed him. He was took by surprise for a moment, wondering why the Chopter would do something suicidal like that, before shaking his head at the new voice in his head. “That was too close, goddammit! Take this guy out!” The pilot yelled out, rather suggestively even when he was ordering it. He shook it off, why would he fight on an agreement.

And didn’t hesitate shooting at his undead opponent, as the fight seemed to be moving out of this small town enclosure, while he shook off any thoughts about any of the beings in the town, about what their opinion was, and their reactions. This Chopter seemed to try and take his own one down from a further distance. At least, this is what he considered at first glance. It looked like the Chopter may be trying to evade him. He didn’t know, nor did he care as he gunned it down, watching as the amount of smoke spurting out from the back increase, before the helicopter exploded in the air, sent hurdling into another mountain.

“How many does he fucking have?” The third man commented to himself, as more and more Chopters came into their view, as the pilot just huffed and took another breath, while he vented in anger, began shooting at a Chopter while it and another began flying towards them, moving back into the snowy mountainous region.

He felt time slow down slightly as, occasionally, his vision would become slightly blurry and full of blood, whenever the undead mange to shoot at him. This made him wonder how the hell they learned to shoot a minigun, and a small fear that the undead could be being trained to use guns. They haven’t been shown too in the past, but have been shown to use dark magic as a source of attack, while also being controlled by someone with dark magic. Maybe just magic.

They flew by different outposts, maybe towers, which are small secluded areas located in some random mountains area or in a full snowy plain, as his Chopter would swerve between different buildings, trying to shoot at the other. He was shooting against two Chopters that were swerving above each other, making it slightly harder for him to hit. At least he was still thankful that they were god-awful at shooting, but it was very frustrating. Fucking zombies. He shot the one below the other one, as smoke started to appear while it didn’t explode. Yet, it looked like their gun was destroyed, and didn’t resort to suicide tactics, for some reason. They must not really have any brains, he considered.

He began shooting at the one flying above the partially-destroyed helicopter, noticing it was still swaying from side to side, as they would often fly in-between buildings. Yet their aim wasn’t as precise as he thought it should be. Or, would be. Their helicopter’s armour came off with every second that his minigun shot at their own, some undead falling to the ground, dying from the impact if they weren’t already dead.

They came to another fort with tall buildings located in the middle, as the undead figured flying through the spaces would seem as a better idea. It was mildly frustrating to him, but it was still a little easy to hit them. As time went on, and more shells flew to the ground far below, the helicopter above exploded in mid-air, sent straight hurdling to the ground, with no spinning out this time. He didn’t really care about it, but it was a first… this time. The lone chopter seemed to be on the verge of exploding, as it began to spin-out uncontrollably while he thought he could see something in the distance. Other than mountains, of course.

The third man seemed to notice it, as well. “Oh shit, is that what I think it is?” And he wished at this moment that he hadn’t seen it. Thought he did wonder for a split second over why it occurred now. Doesn’t matter. Still equally as dangerous. The pilot picked up on it too, noticing what it was from a distance, from the size and the shape.

“Yup! Snowstorm, closin’ fast!” The pilot yelled out, warning of the impending danger, while he noticed that the undead Chopter was spinning violently, as it crashed into the side of the mountain, while he noticed even more Chopters. He was clearly more frustrated with this. He gripped the handles of the minigun harder in anger.

“Then get us out of here!” He ordered, yelling in a gruffer voice while he hadn’t noticed that they were back in the Capital area again, oddly. He didn’t consider how, guessing that time just flied quickly when shooting down enemies. The pilot directed his own Chopter to fly straight across the main street, while an undead Tango flew behind rows of buildings and homes, possibly trying to avoid crashing into one as it shot at him. He didn’t hesitate retaliating.

“Now with all these guys on our ass!” The pilot yelled back, referring to more undead Chopters following suit from the leading one, that he seemed to manage shooting at with ease, their armour being much weaker when compared to the others. Smoke had already appeared from the first shot. It could have already been damaged possibly, for all he could know. Yet, destruction was also following their path, along with the helicopters falling from the sky, some buildings were even toppling from him shooting at this undead enemy. Or ‘bastards’, as he would commonly refer them as.

Then he thought about the pilot’s words more carefully, during the small amount of time that he had, which the lives of all three men heavily rely on in these moments. It was too much of a risk to go towards the ground, and try and fight them from there. Too dangerous. It would be much better taking them out from the sky. But then again, the snowstorm may instead take them out with one blow, as they would be safe inside any buildings, or the castle, that are still standing. Hopefully. But he shook his head, making his decision. He thought it was wise. “Then take us in.” He simply stated, focusing back to the Chopter. He wasn’t sure over how many buildings that they had passes (ruined) by now. Numerous, to be safe.

“Into the storm?!” The third man thought he was crazy, and didn’t see the same reasoning he had. It would have been much safer to ground once this Chopter was dead. At least he thought it was better. The pilot seemed conflicted on which idea to go for, yet he stayed focused on balancing his own Chopter. “Are you nuts?!” He expressed again, wanting to get conformation for such a wild, and stupid decision. Not that it has been the worse so far. Maybe.

“Guess we will find out!” He just answered, ending the short conversation they had, if you can call it that. Flames sputtering out behind from the rear rotor, flying in their trail along with debris of the materials being destroyed from the buildings, not that he really cared. It was all going to be repaired anyways when this is over. At least this is what he hoped.

A second later, the rows of buildings disappeared from his vision, noticing that the undead Chopter, with flames and black smoke present nearly all over along with amounts of blood (or something that he couldn’t quite figure out) was flying towards him. He paused from shooting, noticing that the undead wasn’t going to ram him, but instead trying to avoid something in the air, which he couldn’t see. He thought the pilot was dead already. Well, dead dead. Not undead dead.

Time slowed down, much slower than usual. Every frame was clearly present from his view. He watched as the Chopter fly right beside him, the undead corpses on display in the door-frame, the cockpit splattered with smoke as the pilot looking in front of him, an emotionless expression, he figured. Undead bodies just lying there. He paid no attention to them, only seeing this helicopter about to smash into him. No one said a word, which he could hear, from time slowing down. He presumed they all looked in shock (or something). He started to shoot at it again, making sure it won’t hit his own Chopter.

…before a building popped into his vision out of nowhere, smashing straight into it. Time sped up again to normal, as he had to take a moment to shake his head of what he just saw. And the fact that his vision became clear once again. He… wasn’t really sure what to think. He didn’t know if he had any more time left to think, as he saw the snowstorm arrive closer and closer, in blinding speed and on a gigantic scale. It was even taller than the castle they are flying past right now. And maybe even some mountains.

Without much of a choice, and with orders, the pilot flew straight into the snowstorm (or rather the snowstorm engulfed them), while he could see another Chopter in the distance, on the verge of crashing from the impact of the large sheet of snow. “Hold on!” The pilot warned, attempting to gain full control of his flying vehicle, with much difficulty. He could see that the Chopter in the distance was spinning out violently, losing altitude.

…heading straight for him.

He went wide-eyed as he began to brace for an impact, the Chopter closing in, closer and closer. “Oh shit!” He could only remark, before everything blacked out from the sudden impact. An explosion, heard in the wind.

...

[?]: “Well, well, well. And on today of all days. Welcome back.”

“Do you remember my early work? Flawed but it showed promise. Just like you. As your skills improved, I perfected mine. Welcome to the show.”

“Starting with seasons, and moving through the weeks, I became stronger. My work more elaborate. Days were the secret. And the end of days is coming.”

“I was there at your beginning, and I will be there at your end. The end of everything, no matter what happens. The end...

...of the show.”

...

Earlier

...

Blackness.

The boy woke up to the sound of a branch falling off a tree, and the rustling of the trees and the bushes. His head was laying against the trunk while his clothes were also lightly being pulled by the wind, though it didn’t send any shivers through his body. Laying against the tree while sleeping wasn’t as uncomfortable as first thought, but was still annoying to sleep like this. And luckily to him there weren’t any tree roots sprouting from the ground, and the size of the tree and its leaves were enough for a shelter of some-type, but mainly for a shade from the light.

He was thankful for this, as he thought he would get cold throughout sleeping in the open during the night. His navy-coloured short-sleeved shirt had a few marks and traces of dirt on it, but nothing really dirty. This was the same for his dull brownish-yellow khaki shorts, that didn’t had his shirt tucked into them. His regular black shoes didn’t have much of difference anyways, considering it had been trekking through mud and water for the past few days.

The boy with his short, brown hair rubbed his light brown eyes as he groaned. He tried to remember the events of his dream last night, but couldn’t exactly remember what it was. Or what the dream’s meaning is. Or even why his imagination created such a dream. There wasn’t any logical explanation for such a dream, and it wasn’t a nightmare that looked like it would haunt him, so he shook off the thought. It was probably nothing, like every other dream. Only… it wasn’t a nightmare.

And he would have delved into this thought even more if it weren’t for the sun flashing into his eyes as he opened them, immediately covering the source of the light with his hand. He groaned once more as he looked away, towards his left. He saw that his backpack was still there, and not taken away from anyone. Or anything. There were one or two ants crawling all around the camo-patterned bag, but the boy swiped them off with ease. Which may say something.

He opened up the front zipper where nearly all his things were there from the previous days, citing a few things. Two books that are pointless in his situation but make a good source for wasting time, ones that he has read over and over. A bunch of paper and plastic scrunched up into balls that are all crumbled (could be rubbish or something important in the future, with the boy making the decision to keep them). A broken yellow pencil sharper, a bunch of No. 2 pencils in which most of them are on the verge of breaking apart, graffitied-on rubbers, a whole bunch of stuff that would be useful for drawing capabilities. The boy decided to keep these if he ever need them in the future. He checked them over to make sure they were all still there, as worthless as… something the boy knows too well.

He closed it while the sounds of snoring could be heard over his shoulder. The source of the sounds coming from a person that he doesn’t bode a… positive relationship with. His tall and scruffy hair, his torn, red and green striped vest, and his jeans with holes in them… His big muscles where he has the ability to bench-press large amounts of weight. He’d rather ignore him, and focused back on his backpack.

He opened the middle zipper to see that there was barely anything inside of it, other than an extra shirt which still baffled him over how he even acquired such clothing, but didn’t complain about it. There wasn’t anything else in this compartment, other than a black and blue pen. He closed it while swatting off the annoying flies that seemed to be common around this area, by which he means there is more flies that what he usually encounters. Must be the biome of this environment, he concluded.

He then opened the last and biggest zipper of the backpack, where school books and a water bottle was present. Books for science, english, history, geography, all the like. Even he was amazed at how the books weren’t really damaged in any way, and figured he may need them in the future. He then took a look at his water bottle, seeing how it was still three-quarters full, and not tainted with anything. He also noticed a calculator, which he thought he had lost before. And a phone along with headphones, which he refused to share its presence with anyone else. Or anything... And he found a charger to his phone, which he also thought was missing. Well it wasn’t going to be of any use when you’re in a forest with no power source nearby.

There also was an extra strap for the camouflage backpack which made him think about why it even came with the bag at the store. He thought they were sold separately like most things in life. Maybe it was a shipping accident. And then the boy took a small glance at the broken guitar strings in the bag, and what bad memories it brought from the events of the previous days. He tried to shake off that thought by closing his bag and standing up.

He stretched his weak arms as he stood up on two legs. The boy was as beefy as the one over there wearing the vest, in face he was skinner than the average human being. Or skinner than most people, but not as skinny as a role model. He maintains a healthy diet. Not that he has much say in the decision over what he can eat. He sure as hell couldn’t eat grass and flowers. That he does know.

He took a breath as he looked around his surroundings. Still in a colourful forest, nothing much changing since yesterday, other than the fire had long burnt out where few smoke was still visible. He took around the makeshift camp to see the other people he had been forced to survive with over the past few days, and he didn’t like most of them. He wasn’t exactly sure if some of them even liked him, but the safest presumption to make was that they hated him. It was the only logical thing to come up with, basing off past experiences. One thing that he was sure of is he didn’t want to be near any of these people, but didn’t have much of a choice.

“Ugh. Is it morning yet?” An Indian-Canadian who was raised around the Toronto area rather than India, was about the same age as the boy, older by a few months, but was a little taller and a little more beefy in size. He rubbed his head as he pulled the jacket, his make-shift blanket, off him. His skin was a brown that looked like a lighter shade to the boy, where the Indian-American had thick, curly black hair that just draped over his ears. The boy glanced at him before looking over another person who was also starting to wake up.

“No, it’s night time.” An Iraqi-American who was about a year older than the boy sarcastically commented before yawning and sitting up, wearing a baseball cap upon his head. He smacked his lips as he looked back at the Indian boy. “Why, do you still think we’ve landed in Westeros or somethin’?” He chuckled as he began to stand up.

“N-no. I’m was just making a guess the other day, Jim.” He stuttered as he answered nervously, scratching the itch in his hair, as the boy wanted to say something about the conversation they were leading into. He wanted to contribute in some way, to say something to the others. But his nervousness once again got the better of him, and just laid against the tree, sighing as he looks away in the distance, observing the mountains.

“So what, Garjan, do you think the White Walkers are going to kill us?” He joked again, adjusting his cap as he began to move himself into a zombie motion while making gargling noises. “Ahhhhhhh…” He walked towards Garjan in the zombie walk while tilting his head back and forth, trying hard not to laugh as he supressed giggles from Garjan’s annoyed expression.

“Oh, shut up Jim!” He was frustrated at how inaccurately he portrayed them. “White Walkers are not zombies! They are pale and gaunt in a mummified appearance, and screech, not like… whatever the hell you’re doing!” Jim broke out into laughs and couldn’t contain it anymore, knowing he was a huge Game of Thrones fan made him search up a few things about the show just to piss off his friend.

“Would you can it over there nerds?” A gruff voice demanded as he tried to get back to sleep after be woken up to laughter, as the boy flinched at the voice, immediately crouching into a sitting position, trying to hide his head from the gruff kid, hoping he would realise it wasn’t coming from him. “I’m trying to get some sleep!” He then shouted, as Jim and Garjan both flinched before nodding and murmuring yesses. The boy slouched as he lowered his head into his crossed forearms, trying to ignore everything around him as bad memories resurfaced into his mind. He kept trying to push them out as another voice began to wake up.

“Oh, is there something wrong, honey?” A girl with a seductive voice asked innocently toward the gruff kid, which made the boy freeze in shock, wondering what they were going to say. This girl was under a blanket that the gruff boy decided she could sleep with warmth under the only blanket available. How she looked confused the boy but he decided under better judgement never to question it, other than to his own mind.

She looked different than pretty much all humans the boy had ever seen. Or at the very least most of them. Her skin color was a pale gold or yellow of some sort, where she didn’t look Asian towards the boy. Her hair was… extensive to say the least. Big, really. It was colored in an orange of some type and was… just huge to the boy. Maybe as big as an afro but the boy wasn’t sure how to explain it, only it was bigger than any other person that the boy has ever seen. Again. Her clothes were flashy in vibrant colors, mainly purple, but the boy could really care less about what she looked like (other than she was different that most people) but it is why he is scared of her.

Whenever the boy has gone in his school life, she was there with her boyfriend, which made him live in fear. And another fact which makes the boy live in fear, but he’d rather forget this thought as it doesn’t affect him, but the presence of… him truly fears him. He being her boyfriend only made matters worse. The boy remembered all this and started shivering as he tried to hold back his panic about what they could do. They haven’t been as nasty as they have in this area, which even surprised him, but definitely didn’t complain.

“Oh, it’s nothing.” The gruff boy responded with a false soft voice, before growling. “It better be nothing.” He darkly muttered, making the three boys flinch for a moment before Jim and Garjan continued conversing in a low voice, as the boy slowly took a glance at the woman and the bigger kid before seeing that she was staring at him. He quickly flinched and looked back down in shame and defeat. He didn’t hear any footsteps coming from her direction, so he figured she didn’t really care.

The boy just sat there for who knows how long, just waiting for time to pass as he nearly fell asleep again, before two more new voices broke him from hi near-slumber, making him raise his head ever so slightly to see these two more figures converse between each other. They also looked similar and odd likewise with the girl next to the gruff boy, only a little shorter and different.

“Ugh!” The girl with the light purple skin and the elegantly-styled purple hair expressed as she brushed the dirt out of her hair as she sat up, wearing clothes similar to the pale gold girl. She look frustrated as she threw her jacket (as a make-shift blanket) off onto the ground, making her feel annoyed even more. “I’m starting to hate this more than before.” She muttered under her breath which the boy just managed to hear.

“Yeah, I wish we’ve never been… transported?” The girl with light blue skin and with a long blue and light blue-stylized ponytail as she took a pause over what to say. In the boy’s past experience, she seemed much more cheery than the other two girls… but learnt the hard way that things aren’t always what they see at first thought. But then he took a moment at what she just said. Transported? Well, it made the most sense over how they came here unexpectedly to him, yes. But he wondered how he even got here. The others seem to agree with him, aside from the gruff kid who thought this was all a walk in a giant park... or something along those lines that the boy thought he bragged. “Yeah, transported. I wish we'd never been transported to this awful place!” She then expressed while rubbing dirt and dust off her arms, clothes and hair.

Frustrated with how she thought her light blue friend repeated her words, she narrowed her eyes at her. “Oh really? I love it here!” She sarcastically expressed, motioning with her arms as the boy kept watching on in guilt and sadness, mostly glancing at the light blue girl, before looking back down again but not ignoring their conversation, as he occasionally heard Jim and Garjan talk about something about survival which the boy didn’t care for. He noticed that the gruff boy groaned again and began to get up, but the boy ignored him for now.

“For realsies? Because I think this place is the worst, Aria.” The light blue girl said, oblivious to the sarcasm in her voice, while beginning to stand up. The boy still even wondered to himself how the girl could be somewhat air-headed and carefree to her personality, including not having the knowledge to know what sarcasm is, but can be devious and nasty… as the rest. “Well, not the worst as…” She trailed off before taking a small glance at the three boys, where the boy quickly looked down, hoping she didn’t see him. “Okay, second worst!”

“Sonata, I think you're the worst.” Aria indicated towards Sonata, sour at how she thought she was very annoying towards her, prodding her in the shoulder, as the pale gold girl began to stand up as well, while the other two boys just watched the scene unfolded, along with the boy. Sonata was surprised and was starting to get angry as well while the argument began to occur.

“Oh, yeah? Well, I think you're— Sonata began before being cut off by the other girl who walked up to them. The boy heard the gruff boy groan as he rubbed his head, starting to stand up as he grumbled something the boy couldn’t make out. The boy started to move away from the gruff boy and cowered further, as the boy noticed Jim began to look away from them, uninterested. Garjan kept staring at one of them… the boy couldn’t tell. The boy didn’t even care why, he just noticed that he was.

“Ergh! I'll tell you one thing, being stuck here with you two isn't making this world any more bearable.” She growled in frustration as she clenched her fists, making the two girls go quiet, as the boy began to think to himself about their current predicament, while Aria and Sonata both looked at each other before nodding towards the gold woman. The boy thought about how they even got to this world, where he was threatened not to question it, but it wasn’t scientifically explain in any way over how they even ended up here, nor was he given any reason to. Not that he could do anything about it. He thought that it was probably for the best.

She then motioned for the two girls over to the side away from everyone else, as they had their own private conversation, while Jim and Garjan just walked back to their own sleeping positions and talked amongst themselves, where the boy just watched everything. He stared at Sonata, and was remembered of the events in the past, remembering their past history, and how they feel about each other today. The boy wasn't sure if he hated her or still wants to be with her, but he figured relationships were definitely out of his picture. If he could figure out what the picture was.

What the boy didn't realise was the gruff kid was already walking over to the boy, with a devilish smile on his face. "Hello twerp." He snarled as the boy flinched and instinctively moved away from the gruff kid, who grabbed the much smaller boy by the collar, making him whimper in fear, his eyes widening, frightened. The gruff kid went into his face as his grin devolved into a stern look. "Now I think by now you are aware of the drill. So how about you don't get in my way, and the day can fly by." The boy nodded quickly, as the gruff kid looked satisfied, dropping him back to the ground. "Good." He took a breath and then looked around, to see the trio of girls conversing about... something.

The boy was as usual in shock and fear whenever he is in his presence, about all the pain and misery he has caused... but was surprised about he made only a lone threat towards him. The boy thought about what he could be thinking about, maybe survival is more important than beating into him. This thought didn't change his perception of the gruff kid... it only made him more anxious about what he had installed for him, if anything. Oh, who was he kidding? Of course something bad was going to happen to him.

There always was something bad happening to him. That the boy could remember, at least. And he can't ever forget these memories. They happen all the time, or too much of the time for the boy to forget. The fact that he had nightmares didn't help. And while the gruff kid walked over to the trio, he thought about why his life was always like this. He tried to venture further down into his own mind to find a reason as to why he was treated this way... but failed to find anything of note. Maybe others saw something about him that was bad that he didn't notice. Maybe... maybe he was thinking to much. At least this first encounter was mainly different from the rest. The boy guess that the gruff kid and much more important things on his mind to care about beating up the boy. To people more important to him...

The boy then remembered his family in the past... how it was all nice when he went to Primary School... his mother was a nice woman to him, she was more open-minded than other people the boy had met or seen. She was rarely ever harsh towards him, never drunk alcohol (except for that one time which didn't make any difference)... The boy shook his head. He didn't want to think about his family right now. Sure... his missed whatever was left of his family... but it only caused more pain to think about them, he decided. The boy then noticed, as moved into a more comfortable sitting position, to notice that Jim was walking towards him.

"Heya, shorty." This nickname still confused the boy to this day, over why he was called 'shorty' by Jim. He was only a few centimetres shorter than him, even if he was younger than him. The boy thought that Jim was too ignorant to even care about the facts. This nickname didn't insult him in anyway, but he felt like it wasn't really nice in anyway. Even so, he wouldn't muster any courage to tell him to stop. "So, how'd go over there with mister 'Doofus' pants over there?" He joked, as the boy didn't say anything for a moment, thinking carefully about what to answer, if anything. The boy would never dare insult any person stronger than him, for many reason. Hell, he wouldn't even insult anyone, or joke about them hatefully. Especially not after last time...

"It went..." He paused as he spoke these soft words with cracks in his voice, taking a few breaths to stop himself from crying. He was still in fear of the gruff kid, and of anyone really. But he knew out of everyone here, Jim and Garjan seemed more friendly than anyone he could remember for a long time... "Better than usual." He answered as he continued to look towards the ground, noticing the ants treading quickly through the dirt and the grass looked... different in some way. He couldn't exactly tell what was different about them. Maybe they were bigger. He concluded that they weren't dangerous in any way, as they would have probably bitten him in his sleep.

"Really?" Jim scoffed, taking a glance towards the gruff kid as the boy continued looking towards the ground. "Huh. It's not like that douche bag to not beat you up like usual." He noted as the boy shuddered, thinking about what he just said, and the memories that the boy kept trying to push away. Jim noticed this, and realised what he said. "Oh, sorry. No offense." He apologised with a wave of a hand, where the boy silently nodded, before looking back at the ground. "You ever going to come out of your shell there, mister Marcel Marceau?" He joked again, trying to get any reaction out of the boy, but was only met with a light shake of a head as an answer. "Oh well. You will one day." He commented before walking back, before seeing that Garjan had just walked past him without him noticing.

"He not givin' you any trouble, is he?" Garjan asked, squatting down to try and look at the boy at eye-level, who still continually looked towards the ground, referring to... The boy didn't know. If it was the gruff kid, they both knew they couldn't do anything about it. Maybe. If it was Jim... the boy just shook his head as he noticed that Jim started walking back towards them, with a raised eyebrow and a scoff.

"Yeah, like I'm the one givin' him trouble." He motioned towards the gruff kid, where he was... conversing with the pale gold woman, as Aria and Sonata both seemed to grumble to one another as they moved away from the two lovers... towards the three boys. The boy caught the look of Sonata and immediately looked away in shame, and not in any form of blush. As if he would be with... He shook off that thought. The boy noticed that Garjan slightly perked up but instead looked plain at them, while Jim tipped his hat and began

"Well, welcome back, Aria." Jim sultry greeted as both the girls walked up to them, while the boy looked confused at Jim, wondering why he would greet her like that, while he heard Garjan groaned, for reason he didn't understand. The boy just shuddered at what they have done to him in the past, as he saw Sonata looking at him, where he refused to catch her gaze, and looked back down at the ground. He wasn't sure why Jim's personality, that he could observe, was to hit on any girls that he sees. Maybe he had his own problems that the boy couldn't comprehend. Or it was just best not to think about it. But what else is there to think about?

Aria seemed to groan when she heard Jim's tone. "Ugh. Yes, hello Jim. You know your charming personality have no effects on me." She smirked, before muttering something the boy just managed to hear. "No matter how many times you try." The boy noticed that Aria seemed to have kicked some dust onto his bag, which was easily disposable of, but still felt disrespected by his personal things being... he thought tarnished was the word to best explain it. Maybe. He wasn't sure, but he still felt disrespected.

"Well you can't ever give up hope." Jim stated, grinning, as the boy heard another groan appear. "Oh, cheer up Garjan! You're just jealous that you won't ever get a girlfriend." Garjan looked confused and surprised at his statement, before groaning again, while the boy tried hard to ignore the presence of everyone around him, to block out ever possible thought he could have at this moment, and just blank out. But like everything he could remember, it didn't come easy. Aria seemed to take a glance at the boy, a expression which the boy didn't see.

If Aria or Garjan were going to state or retort anything, they were cut off when the boy noticed the pale gold woman speaking out with the gruff kid looking at the forest. "Okay!" The boy tried to pay attention but he now kept blanking out into space when he didn't want to. He also summed up the pale woman's words whenever she spoke, him not really caring about what she has to say. While he also feared her, lightly less than the gruff kid... he noticed that she didn't bother him much whenever he thought she saw him... it was just the gruff kid.

The pale woman, who Aria named Adagio after asking her a question, while the boy noticed the gruff kid walked off down a path... going south possible. The boy was confused as he herd Adagio's words, explaining that they needed to move quickly in order to avoid the local wildlife of the area, which made the boy shudder at the memories of the past few days. The... things that he saw. They looked almost like human... only covered in some black, dark... thing. It was hard to see things like that when your in the dark. Needless to say, everyone ran like hell for near an hour just trying to get away from those things, even when the boy noticed they kinda walked like zombies, and were very slow. But not like he'd point this out...

They were around the cliffs of a mountain, and they just came out of nowhere. They now are currently in the forest below the sight of where they could observe the nearby land. When on the mountain, the boy thought he could see something in the distance. A... castle perhaps. But he wasn't sure, as there was a giant mountain kilometres away that blocked his vision of this castle. He wondered if they were heading there, or somewhere away from the huge mountain. If so, the boy wondered as to why that is? There could be civilisation there...

...not that he'd point this out.

Everyone began packing up their things, of whatever they had. The others had backpacks of their own, except for the gruff kid who didn't have any, but the boy didn't care about them. He searched through his bag again, through every compartment to make sure nothing was missing (stolen by anyone), and he hoped that some of his personal possessions don't get noticed by the others. Like his own personal journal which he contemplated filling out with something to past the time. He also saw that his phone and headphones were still there, resting and waiting. The boy knew he wasn't going to listen to any music that he has for a while, as the gruff kid or anyone else would take it or steal it off him. Possibly with force. He shuddered at the thought. The two friends over there would most likely not steal it from him (that he wasn't sure of), but he definitely knew the three girls and the gruff kid would. He just didn't want to know what would happen if they did know...

They began moving... in some direction down the dirt path, some minutes after Adagio addressed everyone. The gruff kid seemed to have searched out the area in front of them, the boy noticed. He also noticed the smirk on Adagio's face, which made him fear that something was going to happen to him. Or... no, what else could it be? It wouldn't be a good thing towards him, he knew for sure. But he just kept looking towards the ground as they moved on to some other part of the forest they currently inhabit, as he heard the conversations of the others. Jim presumably still trying to hit on Aria, while Adagio converse with Sonata and/or Garjan, he didn't exactly know, nor didn't he want to.

He wasn't as thirsty or as hungry as the others were, or as you would usually be compared to most other people. 'Normal' people, they described themselves. While the boy didn't think they were in the context of his definition of 'Normal', not that he clearly knew,  he thought himself as 'Below Average', or under-normal. He was quite skinny, due to the fact that he wasn't fed much, or wasn't allowed to, he didn't exactly know, but something inside his body could make him starve/dehydrate longer than anyone else. And no one knew why, but he didn't really question it most of the time as it was always apart of his every day life, barely eating anything. He still stayed healthy, and is still alive today. Another reason would be so he could be physical active(-ish). Not a sporting-like person... just normal. Although others didn't see it that way, he couldn't ever change their perspectives of him. No matter if he even did try...

During their three-day trek, they've come across a few chickens of note, but that was all the food they could find. Other than to stop and smell the roses every once and a while. They didn't seem to do that. Whenever they did find chickens, it was mainly the gruff kid hunting and cooking the chickens with a fire and a stick, passing it around to all but the boy (at least most of the time, except for once). Otherwise, Adagio was hunt and cook the chickens (in a method that wasn't ever explained and wasn't even questioned), but the boy knew not to question their decisions. Even if they were rightly questionable, not that he could differentiate.

Every once and a while, Jim and Garjan would occasionally ask to the boy over whether or not he was okay, or about something that the boy seemed to tune out of, answering I don't know. The boy would always answer he was fine, ignoring the possible doubt of their faces, but even the boy himself didn't know if he was okay. Well, nothing bad of note has happened. That was catastrophically bad. Not yet, anyways. And surprising the boy, Sonata had walked up to him, where the boy was staring at the ground, lost in thought.

"Hey Christopher," The boy froze in his tracks for the tiniest of moments at the sound of her 'soft' voice which filled him with shock and fear that flashed before his very eyes, but resumed forward as nothing had happened, following everyone else. He wondered why she, she of all people would be talking to him. But this thought has come up numerous times throughout his life in his head, so he just ignored it most of the time. Most. He wondered what she was going to do to him, what she was going to seduce him into, how he was going to be backstab- "Chris? Are you there?" She snapped him out of this thought, waving a hand in front of his face, that had a blank expression. He shook his head for a few seconds, wide-eyed, before slumping back down, staring at the ground as they walked.

"Yes." He plainly said, feeling gloom, sad, frustrated... and mainly conflicted. He only hoped in this moment that she would leave him alone in his own silence, in his own thoughts about what had transpire, what could transpire, and what events may transpire. But he knew he was never going to get his way, even if it was about nothing that didn't effect anyone, and he never had the courage to  get his own way. He only knows terrible things will occur if he does. And he'd rather keep it that way. It was the only thing working. But... but... no. He thinks that she doesn't deserve... he shook his head at this thought, violently.

And he'd wished now that he would have never revealed his real name. He's lucky that this name wasn't it. Or, at least that he thinks. Maybe. It doesn't really concern him, as he wasn't really given any reason to care. He was called by many names. Most of them are 'displeasing' to say the least. He answered 'Christopher' out of the blue one day, and the name seem to stick into people's minds once they didn't catch onto his lie. And when they replaced Chris with much nastier names... he shook his head. He didn't want to think about it.

"So how's it goin' Chris?" She asked as 'Chris' responded with a raised eyebrow, visible for the slightest of moments as he never took his eyes off the ground. He wondered why she would even care about how he would feel, and how she didn't notice that he'd been repeating 'I'm fine' over and over to Jim and Garjan's concerns. Or more like a way to be seen better by others. Chris knew nearly every way in the book about social life about teenagers, maybe even kids today, about how they act and why. Though he wasn't much of  social person. Too many events proved that. And the fact over what happened on that... day... He shook his head as he thought over what to say to her, to make it seem like he wasn't in fear of her. But he knew otherwise, he just needed the strength over not showing it.

"I'm fine." He plainly answered again, sounding neutral in his voice. He couldn't see the expression on her face, not that he'd dare, but he figured she was planning something against him. Or had already planned something against him. Either way, it wasn't going to end well for him. This is what he predicted. Sadly... he was usually right. This time... how could it be different from the rest? He has always hoped, for as long as he can remember, that it was different...

"Oh, okay." The sound of her voice made it seem like Chris heard a deflated, discouraged in some way, like she was disappointed. Chris was always confused about why she seemed down whenever she tried to talk up a conversation with him. Like already trying to make up a conversation with him wasn't a refusal that seemed to be enough, it had to be Sonata most, if not al of the time whenever she walks up to him, to try and talk to him. She never explained why, giving any sort of reason. Maybe she liked his presence? This thought only made more questions raised than answered, but he couldn't be bothered analysing them.

Chris and Sonata walked in silence, maybe in awkwardness or in hatred or in guilt or in fear, he didn't really know. But the fact that she wasn't talking, made him think either her plan may need more thinking through, maybe she just didn't want to walk with Adagio or Aria or any of the others, or maybe... no. That thought was too far-fetched in his mind, at least after was has happened. Maybe she couldn't find any words to say to him. Chris usually considers that it's the other way around, only he doesn't really want to talk with anyone.

Or maybe she was just flat-out crazy and insane. Doubtfully, he couldn't find any answer over whether or not this was true. Manipulative, yes... but she didn't seem crazy. At least, she hasn't shown any signs that made warning light go off in Chris' head. He wondered how long those lights will stay off.

"So," She started after a long silence of contemplation. "How's your day been?" She asked shakily and uncertain in herself, at least that's what Chris reasoned. He wondered why she wasn't conversing with the other, mainly with Adagio or Aria as Chris thought that they were 'best friends' in some way, and not hanging back from the group to talk to him. He much rather prefer the silence of his own self-pity rather than talking to her of all people, or really anyone for that matter. But he considered what to answer her question with. 'Alright' would be the most likely answer to the awkwardness of the conversation, if it can even be called a conversation.

"Quiet," He answered honestly, noticing it was usually quieter than the past few days. Maybe there was something going on that may happen. Considering it was most likely not the case, he pondered over whether he should continue to converse with her. Even if it was her. But... maybe... there could be a chance- no. He refused to believe that would ever be true. "More peaceful than the other two days..." He added very softly that made it seem he was muttering to himself. But she seemed to hear him.

"Yeah, I guess it has been, surprisingly." Chris responded with a nod and a 'hmm'. "With all that's been goin' on..." She sighed as she waved a hand in front of her. "I'm surprised you guys aren't as panicky as I thought you would be." Chris though the same about her, as she implied that she was in a state of panic? At all? No, maybe Chris was taking things out of context, and/or thinking about it wrong. "Especially you." He froze for a split second instinctively as he assumed he may have done something wrong, or it was going to be worse. "You especially are not panicky as I thought you would be."

Chris took a glance at her for a second, wondering what she meant. Was he supposed to be panicking all the time? "Am I taking this to well?" He asked in confusion as he looked at her, noticing that someone from one of the talking groups were watching and most definitely listening to their... conversation of sorts. What made him feel even more confused, and suspicious about her behaviour, is when she snickered at his questioning. He also slightly tensed.

"Ha, ha, ha. No! That's a good thing, if anything." She... joked? Comforted? Whatever it was that made Chris even more confused, he was more relaxed and less tense, seeing how he thought she wasn't going to torture him in anyway. At least not in this moment. But he still was given any reason over why she was even walking beside him. Maybe there was a breeze? Chris couldn't feel any breeze... well, there is a light one. But other than that...

"Sonata!" Adagio yelled from the front of the small pack, where Chris immediately looked away from Sonata and Adagio's gazes, frightened at the sudden outburst, and what she could do to him. "Get over here!" She then ordered through clenched teeth, at least that's what Chris could hear. He heard her footsteps run or jog away, not knowing what her exact reaction was. Neither did he care. At least he was thankful for Adagio letting him be alone again. Sadly. He tuned out once more, not knowing what anyone was talking about, as he kept walking.

...

Just over a few hours had passed when the butterfly finally flapped its wings. Perhaps those wings had been flapping this whole time, but due to the remoteness of his home, and the isolation from anyone or anything else, no one had paid attention. Other than the breeze which seemed to ignore everything as it made its path through life. Either way, Chris was getting progressively more bored as time passed on. They had been walking for a few hours now, maybe four? Doesn't really matter. They were at the edge of the forest that was under the peak of the gigantic mountain landform. From where their journey into the unknown began. At least that's what Chris thought.

He didn't know what to think at this point. And everything he does think sound rather tedious and repetitive in his own mind. For... well, for reasons. As he knew, he didn't know what to think. Eventually the other groups became silent for a while, after who knows how long, while Sonata never came back to his side for the rest of the walk, so far. Maybe Adagio or Aria (for some reason) scolded her for talking to him. He could take a guess at why. But he didn't really care. Her presence made everything more awkward than it already was. At least everything was quiet for a while...

...and at least Jim wasn't releasing shit out of his mouth, whenever one of the 'girls' was mentioned. Or when any girl was mentioned. Chris thought he had brain damage or something, to be that rude and inflammatory.

...

Chris hadn't noticed it till now, but he saw that the landscape of the mountain seemed to be... this sort of blue color. Were all mountains like this? He wasn't an expert on them, actually he gave no thought about them until his sudden arrival... but it was odd to see mountains being blue like that. The shapes of the mountains also set off a few more alarm bells. They were all perfectly curved, to a point where it looked like it was out of a cartoon animation. The snow seemed to have been drawn on to Chris' perspective. Very odd and strange.

Well, mostly everything that has happened thus far has been quite odd and strange. Adagio and maybe to an extent Aria and Sonata are keeping something to themselves. Something which Chris has noticed ever since he has been here. He noticed that they were supposedly following the gruff kid's path, of wherever they're going. He figured that he was just scouting out the area. But he hasn't return in the entire time that they were walking. Maybe he shouldn't ask, considering who was around him, but it still made him think about this. Oddly. Adagio didn't seemed fazed that he wasn't he. He thought that she would be worried about his boyfriend. Maybe not...

Jim and Garjan were awfully quiet, to the point where Jim wasn't trying to hit on any of the girls, only the duo making a few muttering noises that Chris couldn't hear quite clearly. Maybe they were thinking about their own, family, their own loved ones. He couldn't blame them if he did. He knows the feeling, maybe a little too well. But it doesn't effect him that he is away from them. He's only anxious about the people he's stuck with. Though still feeling a little shaky, everything seemed to be much calmer than the previous days.

Though he felt something else was going on, like... someone is plotting something against them. One of their own, or someone else. Someone or something that could be following them, spying on them, learning where their going on their every move, what they do, how they do it, and how they live. Chris decided to delve deeper into this new interesting thought. If they were on a new planet, possibly in a new dimension (which may explain a few things if this was true, but may appear absurd on the surface)... he wondered what kind of species reside in these lands, or on this planet, really.

The scenery doesn't looking threatening to his own eyes, other than the mountain incident, if anything it looks quite nice and elegant. Beautiful, perhaps. He wasn't an artistic critique, although he couldn't understand the concept of an art critique either. Yet it still looked very colourful and full of life. And... cartoonish to a certain point. Everything looked... basic, and boring after a while. It gets old when you have to stop and smell the roses, time and time again.

Hmm. He felt like nothing else was going on. Maybe it wouldn't hurt to get out his notebook. No one else would probably care.

...

She surveyed the entire area, the ruins that used to lay here, and how they seem utterly useless to what its purpose was. At least, in this moment anyways. It used to be home of them, ungrateful as they are, they still run what's going on around here. Yet, they don't seem to solve most of the problems of the land. How this infuriated her at the thought.

It looked like some pieces of the ruins were about to fall off, if they hadn't already. The windows were busted through, bricks of the walls destroyed or damaged, some sort of wildlife now resides in this ruins that didn't pose a threat to her, the vines that laid all over didn't help matters.

A bunch of wolves came running out of the ruins, wailing and running from some unknown presence that she wasn't aware of. Except that she did, and it worked to perfection. She didn't move a muscle as they ran past her, smirking devishly in the process as they suddenly stopped fleeing before struggling to even stand, howling in pain. Before it went quiet. She chuckled.

"Perfect. This will... suffice."