x

Chapter 2

The First Dungeon

Sometime the next morning, when the shade of Terron's tree was no longer covering him, the warm rays of the sun shined down on his eyes. The sudden light behind his eyes was quick to stir him from his sleep. The moment he woke, he checked his body over. He found that he was still a Cubone and still was without a mask.

Great. Just great. I was hoping me being a Cubone was all just a dream...

Terron rubbed the tired out of his eyes as he looked around him, only to find that Zekra wasn't by his side anymore. In fact, she wasn't anywhere in sight. The only sign that she was ever with him was the slightly flattened grass beside him. A quick jolt of panic overcame Terron at the thought that he was alone.

Calm down. Just calm down. She couldn't have gone anywhere too far.

He sat up from where he lay and surveyed his surroundings.

With the cover of darkness gone, Terron could see that the land he stood in stretched out seemingly forever in all directions, almost like a sea of grass. All directions, that is, except two of them. The direction in which Terron was facing only seemed to go on for a few miles, or so it appeared, before it turned into a much browner area. Just beyond that, there was a distant mountain looming in the background.

The other direction, the one behind Terron, also seemed to go on forever just as the other directions did. However, after gazing into the distance for a moment, he was able to see that there was an actual ending to the eternal grassland. Very faintly, the Cubone could see the hazy outline of what appeared to be buildings and a few trees. It was so far away, though. It had to be at least a three-day journey to get there on foot.

We'd better be going toward the mountain.

He got to his feet and walked around the field in search of Zekra. The grass felt warm and pleasant against his feet as he treaded through silently. The grass got taller at various points so that would begin to rise to his stomach, but it wasn't particularly bothersome. After roaming a few minutes away from the tree, Terron eventually came across something other than endless green. He stopped and hid behind some tall grass close by before peeking out of it. A few feet away were a couple of Rattata munching on some flowers in an open space where no grass grew. They seemed mostly docile as they ate, not making much noise save for the chewing sounds.

Guess there are Pokémon that live around here. Wonder if these ones talk like Zekra does …

The Cubone was about to speak to the creatures, but it was then that he noticed something else. There was a pair of blue eyes hidden behind some tall plants near the Rattata. They seemed to be staring directly at the Rattata.

In a quick instant, a blur shot out of the grass where the eyes were, and flew at both of the Rattata. Terron was quick to recognize the blur as Zekra. The Rattata screeched and scurried away, but it was too late. The Zorua snatched up both of the creatures in her jaw, and with a sickening crunch, sank her fangs deep into their flesh. One last squeak escaped their throats before they fell completely limp and silent.

Zekra spit out the dead Pokémon as she wiped off the blood that was dripping down the side of her mouth.

"You can quit hiding," Zekra said casually. "I got us breakfast."

Terron was taken aback by her knowing he was there, but he made no attempt to hide anymore. He came out of his hiding spot and joined her with a grimace.

"How'd you know I was there?" Terron asked.

"I could just tell," she replied. "It's a predator thing. I just sort of know if there's any one nearby. Helps me figure out if there's any stalkers following me around."

"So you eat other Pokémon, huh?"

"Oh yeah," Zekra answered as she took one of the Rattata and tore off bits of its flesh with her teeth. "There isn't anything better than the sweet taste of blood and flesh. But don't worry; I only eat wild Pokémon. I don't eat anyone who talks. That'd be pretty wrong. And messed up."

She took the other Rattata and slid it over to Terron.

"Here, you can have this one," she insisted. "Tastes pretty good. The blood's still nice and warm."

Terron stuck out his tongue as he kicked the corpse back over to Zekra.

"Ugh, that's sick!" Terron spat. "I'm not eating another Pokémon! That's just wrong!"

"How's it wrong?" Zekra asked earnestly. "I mean, it's normal to eat Pokémon. Meat is good stuff. What, you never heard of Pokémon eating each other on your world?"

"I don't really remember... but I'm pretty sure that they didn't eat each other. If they existed, anyway. I can't really remember ever seeing Pokémon running around everywhere, but I feel like I know what they are at least. Somehow."

"That's pretty weird if you ask me. For both no one eating each other and how you might not have Pokémon wherever you come from, but you know what they are."

"Shut up," Terron grumbled. "Is there anything else to eat at least?"

"No... not really. I mean, I'd get you some berries, but we kind of don't have any around us. So I guess you'll have to either eat the Rattata or miss breakfast."

"I'm not eating that thing, Zekra."

Zekra finished devouring the first Rattata. It was now nothing but a hollowed out corpse with a few bones sticking out of its body. She then took the second Rattata and slid it back over to her with a frown.

"Fine, whatever you say," she said. "Not my fault if you starve. But, we've got a ways to travel. So I'll save this for you just in case you change your mind in the next few hours."

"I'm not eating that, no matter what," Terron said sternly.

"Well you never know."

She grabbed the Rattata with her teeth before she stood up and looked out toward the direction that was opposite of where the mountain was.

"Alright, that's the way to Aurora Town," Zekra said through the Rattata in her teeth. "And from what I remember, it'll take about the rest of today to get there. Judging that there aren't any weather problems."

"A whole day?!" Terron cried. "You sure there isn't some faster way there? Or maybe a closer city to go to?"

"There aren't any closer cities nearby, Terron," Zekra explained, a strange desperation seeping into her words. "So come on, let's get going. We can't stay here all day."

She went forward a few feet into the grassland and then stopped before looking back at Terron, waiting for him. Despite being agitated with the long travel distance, the Cubone understood that he didn't have much of a choice if he wanted to find civilization. He followed after Zekra and once he had caught up with her, the two began to walk side-by-side.

The journey was mostly easy and somewhat relaxing. There weren't any major inclines or declines in the area, nor were there any Pokémon that bothered to attack them. They had seen a few Pokémon running through the land on occasion, such as a wandering Sentret or a group of Hoppip drifting through the air, but none had attacked them. All they did was give a sideways glance to the duo before simply going about their day. Terron would glance at them at times to see if they'd try to communicate with him. However, despite what Terron wondered, he never saw any of them talk. They all made strange, primal noises that didn't even remotely resemble words.

"Hey, Zekra," Terron said.

"Yeah, what is it?"

"How come none of the other Pokémon around here talk? I thought that in this world all Pokémon talk, but whenever I see any Pokémon around here, they never say anything I can understand."

"Oh, well, that's simple to answer," Zekra said before taking the Rattata from her mouth and severing it with her teeth. "Just let me finish this first so you can hear me clearly. Unless you want it now."

"No," the Cubone said sharply.

"Fine, you had your chance. Don't complain if you get hungry and there's nothing to eat," Zekra said as she stopped to put the mouse on the ground and tore out the meat. "Tastes pretty good to me. Would have been better if they were skinned and gutted out, though. And maybe roasted just a bit."

Terron almost wanted to vomit from her descriptions and the sounds of the chewing, but he forced himself to look away instead. As he waited for her to finish the meal, he watched a small flock of Pidgeotto and Pidgeot fly over his head. He wanted to call out to them and ask for a ride to the city they were heading to. It would make traveling much easier for him and Zekra. But, before he could ponder much in the idea, Zekra finished her meal and was started speaking to him.

"So anyway, about your question with how come the Pokémon here aren't talking to us," she started to say. "Well, how do I put this in a way you'd understand... oh, I know. There are two kinds of Pokémon, I guess you can say. There are ones like me where we can talk and stuff. We communicate pretty well, we live together in civilizations, and we all know how to cooperate with each another to get things done. Then there's another kind of Pokémon we call the 'wild' Pokémon. You've seen them around here. They don't talk like us since they don't know how to talk. They prefer living outside of civilization and in places like this. I'm sure some of them work together like in packs since instinct tells everyone to do that, but otherwise, I don't know much about them. So yeah, that's your answer."

"What happens if you try to talk to them then?" Terron asked curiously, that idea of flying to the city still fresh in his mind.

"They ignore you unless they're protective of their land or whatever. But sometimes, there's these places where they're much more violent and if they see you, then they'll attack you."

"And what places are these where they'll attack you? Seems a bit odd how a place can make somebody more hostile."

"Um, I'll tell you when we run into one of those weird places. They're a bit difficult to describe."

Terron gave a simple nod in reply as they continued to venture through the endless sea of grass. However, no matter how long they went on walking, Terron couldn't tell if they were getting any closer to their destination. The end of the field never seemed to come into clear sight. To make matters worse, his stomach was growling. He looked around to see if he could spot some kind of fruit tree or bush, but there weren't any. The only vegetation growing in the area were the blades of grass surrounding him and the occasional flower.

"You sure there aren't any sort of stores around here that sell food?" Terron grumbled.

"Yeah I'm sure," Zekra replied. "I mean, even if there were, we couldn't buy anything anyway. We don't have any money. But don't worry; we're almost to town. We've only got three more hours left or so."

"I don't know if I can last that long."

"You're a Pokémon now. Pokémon can last quite a while without food. Think of it as a survival mechanism."

Terron was doubtful of her words, but he didn't bother expressing his thoughts. He almost wanted her words to be truthful anyway. It at least gave some good news to being a Pokémon.

After walking for a couple more hours, Zekra and Terron finally came to the end of the Gray Lands before it dipped into a more vegetated area that had more than just grass growing. They looked below and expected to see the city before them, but to their surprise, they found something else. The town was in sight, bordering near what looked like a river, but there was something between the town and where they stood now.

There was a forest.

However, from where the two stood, this forest seemed to be more like a wall than a few trees scattered around. The sun was beginning to set over the horizon and it caused the shadows of the outer trees to stretch toward the two in a somewhat eerie fashion.

"I don't remember anyone ever mentioning that there was a forest in front of Aurora Town," Zekra said in a puzzled tone. "Weird..."

She descended toward the forest, seemingly without a second thought. Terron followed after her, though he took longer to get down the incline since he only had two feet to balance himself. Once he managed to join up with the Zorua, the two stood in front of the entrance and stared into it.

Now that they were close to the forest, they could see how all the plants within seemed to be in a state between living and dying. All the trees' branches were drooping strangely, as if wilting even though many leaves sprouted from them. The bark were peeling off the trees in a sickly manner and the grass lining the floor seemed unnaturally taller and gnarled than normal. Terron could feel an ominous atmosphere leaking out of the forest, but he did his best to not let it bother him.

"I think I know what this place is," Zekra said as she peered deeper into the forest. "It would explain why everything looks this way."

"And what would that be?" Terron asked.

"Sometimes a normal place gets corrupted by some weird presence. A disease if you want to call it that. When it takes over that place, it warps it into a place we call a Mystery Dungeon. They're also known as the places with the hostile wild ones I told you about, since I guess the dungeon does weird stuff to them. I've never been in one at all, but some of my friends have and they told me a little about them. I don't know what turns places into these Mystery Dungeons or why, but I do know that it changes a lot of things on the inside. But, maybe it's better to show you what I mean since we have to go through here anyway if we want to get to Aurora Town."

"Are you sure that's such a good idea?"

"Well, it won't take long," Zekra assured him. "And if we don't go through here now, we're not going to be able to get into the city unless somebody happens to go through here from the other side. That's not going to happen any time soon. So just trust me on this."

The Cubone stared at his companion's smile and then back at the entry of the forest. The light was disappearing from the sky and he could tell that he needed to make the choice soon unless he wanted to spend another night sleeping outside.

"Fine," he said. "Lead the way."

Zekra nodded as she made her way into the Mystery Dungeon with Terron cautiously following behind her.

Wayward Woods S1

As soon as Terron and Zekra wandered into the forest, the Cubone immediately heard the sounds of branches snapping and leaves rustling. He quickly turned around just in time to see that the entrance of the dungeon was slowly being covered up by a thick web of branches. Terron rushed over to the area slowly being patched up and attempted to escape by pulling away the slithering branches, but he was blown backwards by a whipping branch. The blow left a stinging pain on his skin, but he ignored that as he watched the last bits of the outside world close before his eyes behind the living plants.

"Terron! Are you okay?" Zekra asked as she came over to him.

"I'm fine," he said dismissively as he continued to stare at the now sealed entrance. "But what was that? It almost seemed like the forest was alive for a second. Is it trying to trap us in here?"

"Well, in a way it was. You see... once you enter a Mystery Dungeon, you can't go out the way you came in. You have to find the exit in order to get out."

"And what happens if you don't find the exit?"

"... I think it's best you don't know that. But trust me; we'll be fine. It's not that hard to get through these places. And this Mystery Dungeon looks pretty short."

Terron glared at her, but he didn't bother arguing. He wanted to get out of the dungeonas soon as possible. He looked into the distance saw many grassy paths lying ahead. Each one seemed to stretch to different areas of the forest that were beyond his sight.

"How do we know which way to go?" Terron asked as he pointed to the trails.

"Oh, you just pick a way to go and follow it," Zekra answered. "And if you're lucky, it'll take you to the next area of the Mystery Dungeon. However, if not, we'll just end up right back where we started. Then we'll just take another path."

She seemed to see the skepticism in the Cubone's eyes.

"Honestly, I don't really know much about these places either," Zekra said with a shrug. "I mean, I just know that's how you get out. My friends didn't teach me everything about these places. I was just taught what dungeons basically were and how to leave in case I got stuck in one, but no one really told me anything else. So basically… just try keep taking paths until you get out. That's all I can think of. I mean, I learned a couple of other basic things about Mystery Dungeons, but… "

"Just get us out of here," Terron grumbled.

"Fine fine, whatever. Follow me."

Zekra lead Terron to the place with the multiple paths and after a bit of debating, they chose the one on the far right side. As they trailed through it, Terron heard the sounds of hooting in the distance and felt a new presence watching him. He couldn't help but shudder.

A moment later, the hooting grew louder and the sound of wings flapping filled the air. Terron and Zekra stopped, Zekra choosing to growl under her breath while Terron hastily looked around him.

"Hey, remember how I said that there were violent Pokémon in Mystery Dungeons?" Zekra asked in a low voice. "Well, I think I hear one right now."

Without warning, something flew toward them with a loud screeching sound. Zekra jumped away from Terron as the creature came near and its large, red eyes came into view. It was a Hoothoot, glaring maliciously at Terron as it prepared to strike him. Terron wanted to run away, but he found he couldn't move from the spot.

"Get away from him!" Zekra shouted.

Zekra leapt into the air and rammed herself into the Hoothoot's side. The two fell to the ground with loud thumps, but the Hoothoot was quick to counter with a sharp peck to her face. The Zorua winced back from the pain, but she didn't cease her assault.

Small claws shot out of her paw before she swiped at the bird, leaving three lines across its face. She continuously scratched at the bird, expertly avoiding each of its pecks at her. She did this a few more times, and then raised her left paw and slammed it down on the Hoothoot's head.

The Hoothoot's eyes immediately closed as it toppled to the ground. A couple of low, hooting sounds came out of its beak, and then the creature finally fell silent.

Terron slowly approached Zekra. Once he came over to her, he looked down at the body of the Hoothoot. It was a bit difficult to see, as all of the daylight had disappeared and only moonlight was the only source of light he had left. Despite this though, he could still tell that it wasn't moving.

"Did you kill it?" Terron asked.

He nudged the body with his foot. The Hoothoot flinched for a brief second, but otherwise the bird remained still.

"No, it's not dead," Zekra answered. "It's just unconscious. It takes a lot more effort to kill Pokémon, as you saw me do with those Rattata. But that's what you have to do here. They'll fight you no matter what, so you have to do the same to survive."

"But I don't know how to fight," Terron said awkwardly.

"It's easy!" the Zorua said as she retracted her claws. "Just listen to your instincts and they'll tell you what to do. But you'll need a bone club to use in order to do that. Hmmmmm..."

Her eyes wandered to the Hoothoot and seemed to grow. Terron immediately understood what she was thinking about doing.

"Are you really going to…" he tried to say.

"Well we are in a Mystery Dungeon and you might need to defend yourself. Sooooooo..." Zekra said in a rather casual tone.

Terron shut his eyes and covered his ears so that he wouldn't have to witness what Zekra did to the wild Pokémon. He heard muffled screeching before it was silenced seconds later, followed by the sounds of something being torn apart. Sometime later, he felt Zekra hand him something. He opened his eyes to find a bone that was licked clean in his paw.

It didn't have the club-like shape a normal Cubone weapons had, but rather, one that had the appearance of a slightly warped stick with dull edges. It was a little smaller than he would have liked, but it fit well in his hands. He swung it around in slow motions for a couple of seconds.

"What part of the Hoothoot did you get this from anyway?" Terron asked. "That thing was so round..."

"It was in the leg," Zekra said as she stood in front of the corpse so Terron wouldn't have to see it. "How is it?"

"Good, just a bit hollow is all. Think that could be a problem," he replied as he gently twirled around the weapon.

"Well it's temporary, so don't worry about it," Zekra said with a shrug. "Now let's get going. Think we're at the end of this area."

Terron followed after the Zorua as the two came to the ending of their chosen path and found that the next area of the forest was in sight. It had turned out that they had taken the correct path on their first try. The two exchanged a victorious smile before heading into the new section of the dungeon.

Wayward Woods S2

The Mystery Dungeon seemed darker now than compared to the area they had just left. Somehow, the moon seemed to shine less through the trees that only seemed thicker and a thin haze of fog had spread across the flooring of the forest like a blanket. Terron and Zekra stopped in front of the various paths and picked the first path that came to their sights. As they headed down it, Terron kept his mind occupied by twirling around his bone club.

"You know, it's probably a good idea to pay attention to where you're going," Zekra warned. "You have to watch out for the Pokémon."

"Yeah yeah, I know," Terron said carelessly. "But you seemed to be able to take care of the Pokémon here. So we shouldn't have much of a problem if we run into any others."

"Wow, make me do all the work. Who do you think I am, your bodyguard?"

Terron didn't respond. Zekra let out a scoff, but kept her eyes on the path ahead of them.

A few minutes of peace passed by and the duo was disappointed to find that they had come back to the beginning of this particular section. They had taken the wrong path, but thankfully, they didn't have to start the entire dungeon over. Terron sighed.

"Alright, pick a new path," Zekra said as she pointed to the three other paths that hadn't been traveled by them yet.

"Why me?" the Cubone asked.

"Because you picked the right path last time, so maybe you can do it again!"

"I seriously doubt that I have good luck in picking the right way to get out of here," Terron said bitterly as he walked up to the middle road of the three choices. "But if you insist. This way."

Wayward Woods S3

Only a minute passed before the two came to the next area of the dungeon with Zekra smirking and Terron simply muttering to himself. As they walked forward, a new wonder came to their sights. A dim yet noticeable light was shining in the distance where all of the paths seemed to head into. It was like a star calling out to them from such a faraway distance.

Yet, to Terron, the light seemed so welcoming despite how faint and weak it felt. Compared to the ominous atmosphere of the dungeon, this particular sight cast a warm, pleasant feeling inside of him. It was like being able to witness the dawn's rising sun after dwelling in the night for so long.

"I think this is the last area of the Mystery Dungeon," Zekra then said. "That light must be the exit since there haven't been any other things like that before."

"So all we have to do is just pick one more correct path and then we're out of here?" Terron said eagerly.

"Well, that's what I think. Seems logical."

"Good, because I'm starting to get really hungry. I've been trying to hold it off, but it's been getting even worse since we came here."

"I've heard that Mystery Dungeons are like that. I think it's because you heal faster in these places, so you consume energy faster and then that would mean you'd have to eat more to make up for that energy lost. At least, that's what I think."

"Yeah, whatever. Let's just keep going."

He walked past Zekra and toward one of the paths. He didn't know how much longer he could afford to not eat, but he was determined to get out of the dungeon before he died of starvation. He wasn't going to die in a place like this. Thoughts of food lingered heavily in Terron's mind and continued to haunt him like horrific nightmares.

Terron was in the middle of fighting off his thoughts, when he suddenly noticed something in front of the path. He came to a halt and tightened his grip around his weapon. A few feet in front of him was a large web that spread from one side of the trail to the other and clung to the trees that grew there. No Pokémon inhabited the web nor were there any sort of cocoons that might have been previous prey. Terron continued to stare at it from his distance with a curious expression. It was then that Zekra caught up with him and saw the web as well.

"Hey, this is a Spinarak web," she said in realization. "I've seen these a couple of times. Surprised that no one is here though. They're usually always occupied by the one who makes them."

"Maybe they abandoned this web for another one since they weren't catching anything," Terron suggested.

"Well maybe, but let's try going back and pick a different path. I don't think we can knock down this web or get around it."

The two turned around and headed back to the beginning of the section, but Terron couldn't help but feel that something was watching him from behind. He looked over his shoulder and expected a pair of eyes looking back at him, but there were none. All that was there were just the empty web and the vacant trees surrounding the sides of the path. Figuring he was being paranoid, Terron shrugged it off and continued his way back up the path in silence.

Eventually, he came back to the beginning of the trail and overlooked the other ways. He tried to see if he could spot any other Spinarak webs blocking anymore paths from where he stood, but there weren't any in sight.

Without further ado, the Cubone chose the path to the right of his previous path and made his way toward the light. Everything was easier to see now since he was closer to the light. There were no webs in his way this time, much to his relief, but just as he felt he was getting close to the end of road, a Venonat jumped out of one of the trees and landed in front of him. Its large compound eyes gleamed as it looked down upon Terron.

The Cubone glared up at the large creature that towered over him. He felt a twinge of fear strike him at the size of the creature, but he forced himself to remain stoic. He slowly pointed his club at the Venonat.

"Get out of the way," he ordered.

"Ping?"

"I don't have time to deal with you," Terron said again. "I need to get out of here. So move aside."

Terron was expecting Zekra to attack the Venonat as she had with the last wild Pokémon he encountered, but surprisingly, she wasn't responding. In fact, she hadn't said anything since Terron had left the Spinarak web with her. Even still, Terron put those thoughts out of his mind. He figured that she was probably staying back to have Terron fight on his own.

Fine. Guess I'll give this a shot. Just listen to your instincts. They'll tell you what to do. That's always what Zekra said. But what does that even mean? I'm a human and a Pokémon. Human instincts and Pokémon instincts aren't the same thing. How do I know whether my human instincts or so called Pokémon instincts are talking?

"PIIIIING!"

The wild Venonat shot forward at Terron as its shrill cry rang through the air.

MOVE!

Terron flinched at the sudden voice that screamed from within his mind. He was so startled by the shouting, in fact, that he leapt to the side out of reaction. Since he had moved just in time, Terron managed to avoid the oncoming assault, but he could still feel the Pokémon's fuzzy body brush against him. Particles of purple dust flew off the bug and were about to settle on Terron, but he was quick to get out of the way before they could come in contact with him.

Just what was that?! Whose voice was that? What's it doing in my head?

A multi-colored beam shot out of nowhere and struck Terron in the side in his moment of confusion. The Cubone tumbled backwards a few feet before he crashed into a tree. His side throbbed, but he couldn't focus on that. He could see the Venonat standing on its two feet with its eyes glowing from the attack it had just sent him. When it noticed that Terron was no longer flying out of control, the Venonat bounded toward him with its fangs ready to bite down upon him.

GET UP! GET UP! FIGHT BACK!

Terron flinched at the unexpected yelling within his mind, but he took no time to think about it.

Terron clutched the bone tightly in his hand. With one swift motion, he rose to his feet and smacked the Venonat with the weapon just as the bug sprang at him. The Venonat's face visibly dented from the attack, and then was blown back into the distance. He could hear its shrieks as it flew through the air with its eyes flashing rapidly. Terron smirked victoriously as the Venonat smacked into the ground seconds later with a thud. His side still throbbed from the attack he had received, but he didn't let it bother him. He approached the flailing form of the wild Pokémon until he was standing over it. Its eyes were staring up at him with a blank expression, as if it was on the borderline between consciousness and slumber, unable to understand and interact with the world around it.

FINISH IT.

Terron raised his club above his head and brought it down upon the bug with all the strength he could. The Venonat let out a loud scream just as the bone beat down upon its body. The wild Pokémon filled the air with its dreadful noise until it was abruptly silenced. Its eyes dimmed until there was no longer light behind them, and then the body went completely limp. It would wake up eventually, but for now, it was out of its misery.

Terron sighed as he fell into a sitting position. He needed a moment to recover from that attack he had received. He wondered about whose voice was speaking to him and ordering him throughout the fight, but he took his mind off that for now. He could worry about that later.

"There, I defeated a wild Pokémon," the Cubone said to Zekra without looking at her. "Guess it's not so hard after all."

There wasn't a reply. Terron scowled.

"I did what you wanted, okay?" Terron said in a flustered tone. "Don't I get some kind of congratulations? You try fighting after you've been put into a new body without your consent."

There was still nothing to be said. Annoyed with his companion at her insensitivity, he turned around to lash out at her about the way she was acting.

But Zekra wasn't there. She was nowhere in sight.

Terron's eyes grew as he bolted to his feet and started looking around in every direction he could. He could have sworn Zekra was with him. She was right behind him the whole time.

"Zekra? Where are you?" Terron called out as he wandered to the sides of the path. "Zekra?! ZEKRA!"

His heart thudded violently in his chest and his breath shortened drastically. Everything around him became disoriented as hysteria ensued within his mind. Yet, despite the massive chaos erupting through his mind, one truth manifested itself to him.

Zekra had disappeared and he was alone.