Here is the second part of chapter 1! For those of you who don't know what a manticore is... Google is your friend! It won't take long, just search it.

Chapter 1: (Part 2)

"Do you need help?…"

The vines loosened their grip on Laval's torso. The crushed lion dropped to the ground.

The voice humorously added, "Oh… right. Those things were crushing you to death…"

Laval was in bad shape, even though the vines were no longer crushing him, his insides were wrecked badly.

His mind was racing. "Who is that?… His voice sounds so dark and menacing. I hope he's not another bad guy…"

Laval was in horrible pain, he tilted his head upwards. And he saw just how much damage the vines had done to his body. There was blood, so much blood; bones were poking out of his chest, and several internal organs were widely exposed.

"I'm a goner…" he groaned weakly.

Laval's head collapsed back down.

The voice echoed further, "Whoa, kid. You need some serious medical help, but first- -let me take out the cavalry."

Footsteps were heard. They seemed to be emanating from nowhere… Where could they be coming from?

Laval didn't know; he was too distracted by his horrifically disfigured torso and the massive internal bleeding that was happening: not to mention the pain. The overgrowth didn't know either. To the vines, the sound seemed to be coming from… everywhere… in all directions. With each second the footsteps got louder, harder, more intense, more fast - paced. Was the mystery character starting to run?

All of a sudden, a stream of white plasma erupted from behind the trees, heading directly for the mass of overgrowth that almost killed Laval. The vines never even saw it coming, they were instantly vaporized. A cloud of hot dust remained, expanding directly above Laval.

"So much for that, I'm surprised those things were able to squash you so badly. Oh well…"

A few more plasma streams erupted, at least nine to be exact. They split up, each of them heading towards a few more clusters of overgrowth. Again, the vines had little time to react: they were all vaporized instantaneously.

Laval opened his eyes, and he noticed no more overgrowth, only a hazy cloud of dust and smoke.

"How did that happen?… How did he do that?…" he thought to himself.

"Hey there…" the mystery character said. He was standing directly in front of Laval as he lay on the ground.

"You're in pretty bad shape kid."

"Well… of course I am. I'm dying… please help."

"Alright, don't panic. Your torso looks pretty terrible, but your condition is not too bad."

"What are you?"

"I'm a manticore…"