POV: Santiago Alvarez

Muscles ached horribly as I held an iron sword with my disfigured hands. The left side of my eyesight was completely dark. Bloodied, torn apart lycan corpses littered the twisted reality around me. Mad laughter vibrated the very air around me.

SNAP

My already mutilated torso was struck by an invisible force, vision becoming blurred as I was hurled in the air and skidded next to several of my fallen brethren, dropping my sword in the process. Opening my tired eyes, a long, serpentine shaped figure covered me in it’s intimidating shadow .

The yellow tinted eyes and crazed red pupils were enough to indicate who it was. Discord’s face abruptly jumped in front of me, a sickening smile adorning his muzzle.

“Oh, how the mighty have fallen. It’s truly a shame to see such a powerful warrior race fall rather pathetically.” A glass filled to the brim with a brown, milky substance popped into existence. Gripping it with a bloody talon, Discord lifted the beverage up to his lips and sipped. The glass cup was sucked up like water, leaving only the substance floating in the shape of a glass cup. Discord let out a refreshed sigh. He then threw the liquid at my torso.

BOOM

I was launched across the distorted landscape, losing all feeling from the middle of my torso and below. Lightheadedness washed over me. A thick paw gripped around my throat before lifting me up.

“You prideful bastards aren’t so sturdy after all. Get shook up and now you don’t have half the guts you use to have. Literally!” Discord exclaimed, bringing up a mirror in front of me with his talons. It now allowed me to get a clear look at my mangled body from the mid section of my torso and below, or rather lack of. Broken bones stuck out with exposed veins, marrow, and intestines slipping out of me. My muzzle was crooked and caked with dried blood. The left side of my face was completely destroyed, leaving my right eye the only one left. Pieces of flesh were seen missing from my body along with patches of fur, some areas even completely missing muscle which exposed bone.

“You’re a lost caused Fenrir! Too mentally retarded to grasp the very idea of my offer to you! All you had to do was stay out of Equestria, yet you follow what you were too prideful to give up land! Now you’ve just got me all flustered!” Discord childishly pouted.

“I can’t have the ponies fear me anymore than they did before this fiasco, otherwise they wouldn’t fight back due to fear of opposing me. Now THAT, is my definition of boring.” Discord brought his talon up to his chin, looking up at the purple sky in thought. Almost instantly, a grin flashed across his face

“Aha! I’ll just erase this event from their memory!” With a snap of his fingers, the dead bodies instantly vanished. My body had started its healing process.

Newfound strength boiled in me as my torso repaired itself back. I lashed at Discord’s manticore limb, cutting it clean off. I dropped to the ground quickly and threw a punch at Discord. My fist stopped mere centimeters in front of his shit-eating, an invisible force of energy had completely enveloped me and effectively stopped all movements. Discord waged one of his talons in front of me mockingly. Another force of energy sent me on my back.

“I would ask for a hand, but it seems I’ve already found one.” He joked. He picked up the paw and reattached it to his severed limb.

“Jokes aside, that snap was supposed to erase the entire Lycan race and their known existence. It seems you’re already developing a resistance to my chaos magic.” Discord eyed me curiously.

“I guess I’ll let you go, after all, why go through the trouble to end your miserable life anyways? You got nowhere to retreat to and no one to go to. It really goes to show how much of a clown you truly are, failing to protect your subjects.” Discord then started laughing hysterically.

“The expression on your mate’s face. Though I will admit, she was a tough one. If that wasn’t the purest form of mother’s rage I saw from her when I slaughtered your pups, I don’t know what is.” My expression remained the same due to the magic that bounded me, but my emotions thundered hatred. My heart started pounding with adrenaline.

Discord seemingly relished my invisible anger towards him due to his grin widening. “Don’t be such a Debbie Downer, be proud of the fact it took a god to destroy your primitive race. After all, you just might be the last lycan on this planet.”

My expression remained still. Discord let out a groan the a chuckle. “You really should’ve listened to the small minority, otherwise your people might still have been alive. Alright, alright. Begone.” He said, before my vision turned dark.

As if all the oxygen had been removed from my lungs, I awoke desperately gasping for air. Though It seemed slightly hard to breathe. The air was fucking cold. My eyes already began to adjust to the dark setting.

“What?” I muttered out, focusing on the thick, sheet of ice where the body of water I fell into once was. The entrance even blockaded with ice. “Great...”

POV: Third Person

Tap-Tap-Tap-Tap

Borea’s claws clicked amongst the marble flooring of Canterlot Castle as he walked. Boreas stopped in front of a pair of marble doors. Raising his left hand, he aimed his index finger at the doors. The air around him around grew cold as a marble sized ball of energy built up at the top of the finger. From the ball a beam shot out and unhinged the doors, causing them to be flung deep into said room.

Both doors smashed into a large, black blocks of crystal. In fact, the whole room had many black crystals coming out of the flooring.

“These are no normal crystals, they reek of malicious energy.” Boreas noted. His eyes examined the room and noticed the two seats up ahead. The one on the left had a blue lining on the edges that led to a small moon in its waning crescent phase, the one of the right was similar with the exceptions of it having a gold lining and a blazing sun. Next to the seats were curtains. The curtains closest to the individual seats had large decorative windows that signified who’s chambers they belonged to. The left had a winning crescent and the right had a blazing son.

“So both princesses are still alive, or at least before this happened.” Boreas said while looking at the crystals. While studying the crystals, Boreas noticed new decorative windows.

Most of the windows weren’t significant to him, adorning images of past events along with several new unknown ones. Only one that Boreas saw stood out personally to him. It was a lavender alicorn mare that wore a crown with a gem, surrounded by five other mares composing of the different pony tribes wearing necklaces with gems centered on it.

Boreas lightly chuckled, “It seems that the two princesses have passed on their precious elements, though how?” He stated out loud, pondering the possible reasons as for why this has occurred.

“The bearers are forever connected for as long as they live or remain pure. They both must still be alive if this throne room is anything to go off.” Glancing back to the two seats, he mentally stretched off a possibility.

“The seal must’ve been broken through the corruption of one of them. Luna always seemed jealous of Celestia through Fenrir’s eyes, him even able to sense a dark power ever so slowly boil within her. Even then, Celestial also emitted the ever so smallest amount of dark energy that could be traced.” Boreas turned his head back to the mirror.

“Speaking of corrupt energy, I’ve been sensing it ever since my reawakening. It being especially notable in this very room, almost like it’s lingering behind me. Those possessed ponies outside haven’t helped my case at all either.”

“Fool!” A voice erupted, echoing everywhere. Boreas twirled his head in an attempt to find the source of the voice

“Who goes there?! Reveal yourself!” Boreas yelled, leaping to the entrance of the room. Silence soon followed. Boreas viewed the room like a sniper. The evil presence was only magnified. A circular shadow manifested in the center of the throne room, forming into a physical form.

The royal attire. The green eyes. The red, curved horn. The black magic coursing all over him. It was the one, and only.

“King Sombra?!” Boreas exclaimed loudly. Sombra’s lips curled into a smile. “The deformed mutt recognizes the King? Not surprising considering how mighty my power is.” Boreas started back at the King.

“Anyhow, what are you doing here diamond dog?” Boreas let out a chuckle. Sombra looked on at the reformed wendigo in confusion. “What is so funny masked whelp?”

Boreas ceased his chuckles. “I am no diamond dog, you umbrum demon!” Sombra grew frustrated with the comment.

“I will not ask again! What are your intentions here?!” Sombra roared out, taking on a misty form where only his head was visible.

“I’ve come to find the source of malicious energy, however, I can conclude that my search is done.” Boreas stated.

“So what of my magic?” Sombra replied.

“I’ve come to find out what your intentions are. It’s already obvious that you’ve managed to take control of Canterlot and other nearby settlements, if the possessed ponies are anything to go by off of.”

“My intentions? What idiot would ask that?! After I’m done with Equestria, I’ll shall go after the other nations and take control of them as well, remaking this world in my own image of course.” Boreas boasted.

“I can’t let you continue on this path. This world will suffer and all life will suffer under your rule. For the well being of this planet, I won’t let you live!” Sombra rolled his eyes listening to what Boreas just said.

“I don’t have time to combat a deformity such as yourself, I need to remake this castle. GUARDS!” Two female pegasi and two male unicorns rushed from behind Boreas.

Without warning, Boreas turned, cocking his right fist and letting it loose onto a male unicorn. The fist connected into his cheek, sending the horned pony flying back into a wall. The very force of the punch struck hard enough for his body be buried into a small crater. Even though possessed, the three others stopped in pure shock and terror evident in their green tinted eyes. Their instincts told them to get out as quickly as they could, to which they did.

“What the?! Cadance! Shining Armor!” A pink alicorn teleported in and flew at Boreas, followed by a white unicorn galloping behind her. Both were obviously possessed, indicated by their green tinted eyes and dulled colors.

“Another alicorn? It would be an amazing sight if not for the current circumstances!”

Ice gauntlets formed around Boreas’s fists. He uppercutted the incoming alicorn, knocking her unconscious. Boreas bounded towards Shining with a gauntlet ready to explode forward. Before the punch could hit, the unicorn summoned a magical dome around himself. Though it wasn’t a direct hit on Shining, it managed to make the smallest crack visible to the average eye.

Boreas didn’t let up though. Instead, he replied back by sending out a flurry of punches, each punch causing the shield to crack further. Sombra’s hatred grew towards the whole ordeal, feeding Boreas more power. Within only a few seconds, the shield was nearly shattered. Shining Armor’s face was filled with strain as he tried his best to hold out. Pulling back a fist for one final strike, the punch rocketed forwards. The punch decimated the shield, discharging Shining’s horn and dazing him.

Boreas rushed to the unicorn and back-handed him with enough force to send him flying backwards.

“If you had let them kept most of their intelligence instead of controlling them like toys, they could have been somewhat of a challenge.” Boreas taunted.

“How?! A dog such as yourself shouldn’t be capable of outputting this amount of power!” Sombra yelled out in frustration and anger as Shining flew over him.

“For the last time demon, I’m not a dog, I am a wendigo!” With that said, Boreas began to charge a blue energy at the palms of his gauntlets. The sphere grew large, roughly the size of a basketball. Boreas began to concentrated. Soon, the ball began to compress, now the size of a shot put. He quickly flung the energy ball at Sombra. The King’s horn began cackle black energy. Said horn blasted the ground in front of him. Almost instantaneous, black crystals rose from the ground to protect Sombra. The blasts hit, cracking the summoned barriers.

“Cease your lying mutt! The last wendigo was killed off by long ago!” Sombra yelled. Boreas lunged at the crystal wall, throwing out a punch in the process. The wall easily collapsed, black dust flying up in the process.

“Gah!” Somber yelped with some dust getting in his eye. Shaking his head to rid of the particles in his eyes, Sombra looked back up with bloodshot eyes.

Through the thick of it all, beams of light shined through the debris. As it settled down, Boreas was seen on all fours with his mouth open. A large ball of blue energy rapidly formed in his maw. Sombra saw this and began to charge up his horn again. Without a second to spare, Boreas let loose of the magic that formed. Before anybody could react, the ball instantly hit King Sombra in the chest.

CRACK

Sombra’s body was sent flying, his body cackled with dark magic as he slammed into both the princesses thrones.

CRACK

The king screeched in pain. He stayed limp as his body slid off the throne and onto the floor.

“How?” Sombra weakly asked. No one answered. Boreas began a slow paced walk. “I think you have should realized by now that I’m just stronger than you.” Boreas replied, grabbing onto Sombra’s mane and lifting him up to his face. Rage boiled inside Sombra, his ego refusing to believe that he had been overpowered by a single individual.

“Impossible! You are just a masked, delusional mutt. Even the princesses had to team to take me down!”

Boreas laughed hysterically.

“Your ego is really something. In my opinion, I think they just wanted to rid you fast. For your sake as well, not that you’ll live long after this, I must inform you that there are beings more powerful than the princesses.“ Boreas taunted.

“Shut your trap stupid dog! What in Tartarus do you know?!”

“For the last time fiend, I am Boreas, the Wendigo!”

“There you go spewing all that nonsense! The wendigos were never sentient beings! Now let me show you a fate far worse than DEATH!” Sombra roared out, his voice distorting. His once limp body dissolved into a pitch black cloud. The black mist quickly surrounded and latched onto Boreas, eliciting screams of pain from said wendigo. The cloud soon unhooked itself from Boreas. Boreas knelt on one knee, gasping for air. Black crystal littered Boreas’s body, black energy cackling around him.

Boreas slowly stood up though clearly pained as he did. The black mist reformed back into King Sombra in peak physical condition.

“Damn! He held back his magic and I got beat for underestimating him. I was played like a fiddle.”

“Did you truly think I was done for after that? If so, you’ve got much to learn ever since your absence.”

Boreas raised his right arm up in front of him. Blue magic manifested into the size of a penny before it died out in a spark.

“Damn! Tell me what is this trickery?!” Boreas demanded.

“For claiming to be a wendigo, I’m surprised you don’t know the capabilities of my magic.”

“Answer the damn question warlock!”

“Don’t get too feisty, I could mutilate your body, you are nothing but a wild beast at my hooves peasant!” Sombra snarled.

“This Magic is known as Dark Magic, it serves as an additional pool of magic and has the ability to nullify magical ability, or connection, to magic. It not only severs the victim’s ability to produce or output magic, it as well significantly slows down regenerative ability.”

“Impossible, this form I’ve taken on has one of the best, if not the greatest, regenerative abilities without the use of magic!” Boreas stated.

“Hmph, wendigo were never known for their healing ability. Instead they were known for their insane strength and magical ability. Though, wendigos were thought to have the ability to change their appearance to better adapt to their environments.” Sombra thought out loud.

“You claim that your body can regenerate fast, yet your build doesn’t resemble anything that has impressive rejuvenation from this current era. The only thing that both matches your frame, and abilities, point to a lycan. But that can’t be possible, the lycans mysteriously disappeared after they challenged Discord. I presumed that they fled, but even then, I have no recollection of that battle, can’t remember anything from that day. Quite the anomaly.” Sombra said.

“Maybe if you survive long enough, I may tell you the fate of lycans.” Boreas replied.

Sombra step forward with a sadistic grin on his face with his horn glowing a bubbly, black, green, and purple magic. “You say that as if you have the slightest chance at beating me without your magic.”

“Who ever said I needed it!” Boreas roared, lunging at Sombra with open claws. Sombra’s horn let loose a flurry of blasts at Boreas, sending the wendigo flying back. Boreas landed hard on the throne rooms carpet. He groaned out in pain. A whirling sound became apparent as Boreas quickly recovered, noticing a charred spot on his chest.

Boreas rolled to his right, avoiding the dark magic that zapped where he previously was. Quickly getting to his feet, he tried jumping up. It was futile because he was soon after encased in a black energy.

“What!?”

Boreas was soon flung to his right into a marble wall. The impact itself made a small crater that kept Boreas in place. The black energy soon enveloped him again, forcefully pulling him out and repeating the process. With a total seven slams against the same wall, he was forcefully pulled out of the crater that Sombra constructed with him. Sombra brought Boreas in front of him, his sadistic grin gone, replaced with a flat expression and emotionless red, serpent-like eyes looked on at him. Sombra examined Boreas’ broken body, noticing his limp body with bones jutting out of his flesh.

“Hmph.” His body was then levitated up, his head nearly touching the ceiling before being abruptly slammed right down onto the floor.

“Worthless.” Sombra muttered, before spitting on him and returning to forming black crystals all over the castle throne room.

Suddenly, a grey furred hand struck from behind his head, causing him to be hurdled forward and into one of his black crystals, even breaking through it.

A grey lycan stood from where Sombra was once was, his right fist tightly balled. He looked down upon Boreas.

“Santiago...” Boreas weakly muttered.

“Dear mother of god, what happened to you?” Santiago asked. Boreas lifted his left arm up and pointed to a large singular crystal embedded into his chest.

“R-Remove... Now!”

Santiago firmly grasped onto the shard, pulling it out with ease. The area from which he had removed it from was bleeding profusely. To no surprise from him, the wound quickly healed.

“You must keep watch of his dark magic abilities, especially when he manifests into dark energy. Hold off, t-the dark king for now, at least till I heal and adapt to the dark magic.” Santiago gave a nod before zoning his attention onto the recovering Sombra. Boreas weakly pulled out shards that covered his body and began to think of what happened.

“After this is cleared up, I got a shit load of questions for you.” Santiago said.

“So be it.” Boreas replied. As Sombra fully recovered, Santiago dashed forward at blinding speeds. Santiago couldn’t keep up with his own movements before crashing into the king.

CRUNCH

“AIE!” Sombra cried out in pain as both as Santiago collided with him, crushing bone due to his weight. The pair rolled across the throne room. Both hit a wall with Santiago recovering before the mad king could. The lycan grabbed Sombra’s head and smashed it into the nearest wall.

“Fool! Are you trying to kill him?! Restrain yourself. After some thought, I decided that he could be a useful tool for later!” Boreas yelled out. Santiago glanced over to see 1/3 of the crystals gone and Boreas weakly standing. Sombra took advantage of this moment by biting Santiago’s hand and kicking him away.

“You view me as a potential tool?! I am far greater than the two of you combined! I’ve overcome hardships neither of you can even think of!” A large beam was shot at Santiago’s belly.

Santiago groaned as he staggered back. Sombra charged up a beam, now aiming at Boreas. While Boreas did remove most of the crystals from his body, the magical effects had yet to wear off. For now, he could only stand there weak and helpless.

“DIE!” But before the laser could be released, Santiago bull rushed Sombra. A massive magic explosion set off from Sombra, pushing the two away from each other. The throne room that was mostly intact was now nearly destroyed with some walls partially standing.

Santiago’s body was charred and skin was missing. However his body had healed seconds after. Fortunately for Boreas, he was far enough from the explosion that he didn’t suffer any serious injuries and was only pushed back a bit. Strangely though, Sombra’s body was unharmed, only having black magic visibly coursing through his body.

“I-I’ve been bested? By a-a pair of mutts?! My revival was fo-for nothing?” Sombra weakly cursed under his breath, picking up his head at the now approaching Santiago.

“So it must be true, y-you and the black one must be lycans. There is no other explanation... Dammit, it doesn’t matter. F-Finish me off... beast.” With that said, he knocked out unconscious. Santiago huffed before placing a hand on the pony.

Black Magic latched onto his hand and started rapidly coursing into his body. Santiago gasped as unfamiliar memories filled his mind. Anxiety, fear, hatred, helplessness and confusion mixed all at once. Visions of a grayish heliotrope pony with a light grayish arctic blue main filled his mind. The memory of a city made of crystal and a sort of fair played out repeatedly in his mind.

“NOOOO!” Santiago cries out, tears pouring from his eyes.

“What is happening to me?!” Santiago questioned out loud.

“Your mentally incapable of fending off dark magic. Persevere through it!” Boreas replied back.

Santiago only stared back before the whites of his eyes became green and his pupils red. His hand still remaining on Sombra. The more dark magic Santiago absorbed, the more Sombra’s appearance changed. His red, curved horn fell off as another, normal grey horn grew in its place. His once smoky mane and tail now formed into a black mane and tail. Purple wisps of magic leaked out of Sombra’s closed eyelids and into Santiago’s eyes. His grey fur now resembling smoke rather than physical fur. The transfer was now complete. Santiago pulled his hand back and stumbled back.

“So much anger! So much pain! So much strength! What the hell has happened to me?!” Santiago cried out.

“Do not fret, let me stop the pain and I’ll exorcise the magic.” Boreas said while manifesting ice gauntlets. He lunged forward and quickly punched Santiago’s temple. Santiago flew back, knocked out unconscious.

The distant sound of hooves rapidly pounding the floor echoed among the hallways.

‘I can’t risk losing Santiago as of right now.’ Boreas thought.

’As soon as I relocate you, I will expel this dark magic from you. After that, it shall be last time we interact for a while, I hope you don’t get into any serious trouble former human.’ Without sparing another second, Boreas enveloped himself and Santiago in a bright blue glow before vanishing.

POV: Santiago Alvarez

“Fenrir, don’t be so foolish as to challenge Discord, his power is beyond reality itself! If he truly wanted, he could remake the universe in his own image!” A Lycan worriedly yelled. The Lycan was 6’5, just shorter than the average 7 foot tall Lycan by 7 inches. He also had a slim frame along with long ears and dark orange fur, bearing a closer resemblance to a Fox than that of a wolf. Fenrir turned around to see a crowd of dozens Lycans behind the owner of the voice.

“Discord even proposed a deal that if we leave our lands he’ll spare the entirety of our race.” Fenrir huffed in annoyance.

“Reynard, the choice has been made. For the pride of our kind, we shall kill that demon!” Reynard retained his determined look, eyes locked onto Fenrir’s.

“I reject your choice, thousands will die today and you still remain ignorant of what lies ahead! Are you really willing to risk everything because of your dumb, stupid pride?!” Fenrir bolted in front of Reynard, blowing away clumps of grass and even chunks of wood from trees. Reynard stumbled back, his eyes widening in fear as he saw Fenrir’s eyes take on a blood red color and long, razor sharp teeth bared.

“Do not dare to question my choice, or the other commanders choice, this is for the sake of our future because I won’t believe a word that comes out of that serpent’s mouth! I’m more surprised that someone of your latent magical prowess refuses to fight! Yes, it is a risk, but as is taking up Discord’s offer.”

Reynard’s fear quickly turned into rage. He threw his left arm up in the air as it began glowing an orange color. Just besides Reynard, a firey portal opened up with a creature leaping out of it. It landed hard onto the ground, its presence alone heated the air around it as the grass it stood on burnt. The creature resembled that of a double-headed Dobermann with a long, red dragon-like tail. Its sharp claws slightly grew as its pitch-black eyes honed in on Fenrir. It quickly leapt at Fenrir. Swiftly acting, he grabbed the hellhound by its left head and threw it back from where it came.

“Reynard... This conversation is over.”

My eyes shot open, I laid down under a tree in a forest. Presumably the same one that I arrived on. The sun started to slowly rise, blinding my unaccustomed eyes. I hissed in pain.

“Where the hell am I?” I examined my surroundings, noticing that I laid under a single tree in the middle of an open field surrounded by forest. Almost instinctively, my right ear twitched to the sound of... crying mixed with barking? I couldn’t tell very well but I needed to find out if I wanted to get out of the forest. Quickly standing up, I sprinted towards the source of the sound.

‘Where the hell is Boreas?! I remember becoming pissed as fuck after touching that Sombra fellow. I got to thank that Duende, fucker knocked me out before I completely lost it. Talking about losing it, these damn dreams I keep having, they’re as if I’m reliving memories.’

Now entering the forest, I weaved in between trees and vegetation. The closer I got, my nose picked up the same disgusting Timberwolf scent. The crying became more defined, sounding it belong to a young female. I pumped my legs even harder against the grass for the possible chance of meeting sentient life, as the only life I’ve encountered so far has been Boreas, Timberwolves, and unconscious ponies.

Finally reaching the source, I skidded to a halt. Two Timberwolves surrounded a hole far too small for them to fit in, growling and barking at whatever was in it. The wood that made their body was cracked all over.

“Aw fuck, not these bastards again.” I thought. As I walked over towards them, my right paw stepped on a stick, breaking it and thus alerting the wolves to my presence. Both their eyes locked onto me as soon as they saw me. To my surprise, they howled and then ran off. The child-like crying inside the hole ceased into a soft sob.

I crouched down next to the hole. Something began slowly shuffling inside. My eyes locked onto the hole and my muscles tensed in the case that I need to defend myself.

That’s when she peeped her head out. My eyes widened as I fell back in disbelief.

It was a human child, about eight years old if I had to guess. She had light skin along with long hair reaching her lower backside, black hair roots that transition into a silver color. Her teary eyes, which held both a green and blue color, looked on at me with curiosity. She slowly crawled out, revealing a dirtied white dress that had long sleeves and that she was barefoot. As soon as she was done crawling out, another head popped out from the hole.

It was a boy, not much younger than the girl. His skin was tan, and his hair was maroon and just as long as the girl’s hair. His hazel eyes locked onto my eyes. He followed the girl’s actions, crawling out the hole. He was just about as dirty as the other kid. His sleek, black long sleeved shirt has chunks of dirt dried on it. His black, baggy sweatpants also shared the same condition. He was barefoot as well.

He rushed in front of the girl, seemingly defending her with his arms wide open. I still sat on the ground in shock and mouth wide open. I quickly shut my maw and composed myself.

The boy and girl eyed me with curiosity as I got up on my hind legs. I towered over both of them considerably, both barely reached up to my waist. Again I crouched to seem less intimidating.

“It’s ok, I’m not here to hurt either of you.” I spoke softly. The boy’s gaze on me slightly softened. He lowered his arms and walked up to me. I lifted my right arm and opened up my hand towards him. He put his small hand on my palm to which I loosely gripped it and rubbed his hand with my thumb.

“What are your names?” I asked the boy. He gave me a confused look as well as the girl who just walked behind him.

“Got no name then? How about I give you both one?” Both retained their confused expressions. I let go of the boy’s hand and pointed at him.

“Sebastian, s-e-b-a-s-t-i-a-n.”

I switched my finger pointing from Sebastian to the girl.

“Mia, m-i-a.” Both of them appeared to mouth their respective names.

“Hehe, I hope you guys don’t mind, I sorta came up with those name of the top of head. C’mon, let’s get out of this forest.” I picked up Sebastian and put him on my right shoulder. I did the same with Mia but on my left shoulder instead. looking around, I began to walk in a random direction.

Ten Minutes Later

Throughout this walking, I’ve began to reassess what has happened so far. The fact that I was nearly killed by four assailants and then ’saved’ is already bizarre enough. I can’t still shake the feeling that this is all twisted fever dream. None of what has transpired so far should be possible... yet it all feels to real. Why am I even here? The voice that seemingly brought me made it sound like I had a previous life here.

“The dreams I’m having might be much more than I thought.” I muttered to myself. I wasn’t extraordinary in anyway possible. Unless I had some mysterious past, I don’t see why this is happening. Maybe I was unfortunately entangled with something greater than myself.

“If amá and pápa are watching from the clouds, I wonder what they’re thinking of my situation. I’m still in shock of finding these two, I thought I’d be the only human her- er former human I mean.” I chuckled to myself.

As I took a glance at Sebastian and Mia, a slight breeze started to blow against me. As this occurred, both Sebastian and Mia eyed the ground. I stopped for a moment to look at the abundant amount roses that grazed the land. Sniffing the air around me, I caught the roses fragrant scent. The general environment had for sure changed. Instead of trees that had thorny vines wrapped around them, the trees surrounding me were much thicker, and taller with weeds growing on them, and farther apart from each other. While the other forest had swamps, this one seemed have none.

I had taken a step forward before hearing the sound of cracking followed by a light vibration. The vibration itself hadn’t emanated near us but I definitely felt it come from behind. I tried to pick up a scent but if there were any, the breeze most likely would’ve swept it away. The kids didn’t seem to pick up on it either.

“Better keep walking than find out what that was.” I muttered to myself. As I continued walking, the sound of running water alerted my ears straight ahead. Almost as if on cue, my throat began to feel dry. My legs automatically fastened my pace, careful as the terrain slowly got rocky. It wasn’t long before I finally saw a creek.

I rushed to it before putting the kids back on the ground. The water itself was the clearest water I’ve ever seen. Crouching down and cupping my hands, I greedily slurped up the water. After several more drinks I felt satisfied.

I feel back on my haunches as the kids mirrored my actions. I laughed at both of them since they drank up water faster than me.

“Poor kids, I wonder just how long y’all have been out there alone.” Again, I felt a stronger vibration as well as the distant sound of cracking. Just like last time the kids didn’t notice. Dread creeped on me. My instincts were telling me to get the hell out of there.

“It’s probably nothing.” I said standing up.

The ground beneath me began to shake violently, so violently that me and the kids lost footing and tripped. The sound of a nearby tree falling to the ground echoed nearby. I quickly got back onto my feet and bolted towards the kids. As my legs pounded against the grass and rocks, my ears caught the sound of something large leaping off the ground.

The area around me grew significantly darker than it was a second ago. With no time to spare I grabbed both kids and jumped, aiming at the other side of the creek.

I narrowly avoided being crushed as the thing that landed where I once stood was big enough to cause me to get launched further than expected just by the force of its landing. Whether it was for better or for worse, I landed perfectly on my feet. Quickly turning around, I caught a glimpse of what tried to squash me. My heart started pounding faster than it ever had before, anxiety rocketed throughout my body, and adrenaline started coursing through my veins.

“Dear mother of god, what the fuck is that!” I yelled out loud. The creature’s structure was eerily similar to that of a spider with the exception of its body being nearly covered with brown, greenish fur, it’s dozens of eyes, trunk-like fangs were the only parts not completely covered by thick fur, and it being taller than me by a foot or so.

I stayed glued to where I stood due to fear. My body trembled horribly. I looked down at the kids and they were startled, but if anything they stared curiously at the spider, no hint of fear at all.

I looked back towards the thing. As if fate rolled a fat middle finger towards me, the spider began to rush at me a terrifying speeds.

“HELL NO! FUCK THIS, I’M OUT!” I yelled, proceeding to scream my ass of while running away.

Author's Note

Quick questions, did y’all think this chapters pacing was too fast? Also, would you want shorter chapters that release much faster (2,000-3,000 words) or the longer chapters (4,000-5,000+)? Besides that, criticism is much appreciated.