Disclaimer: Turning Red and it's characters are the property of (c) Walt Disney Pictures/Pixar Animation Studios.

Elements are borrowed from God of War (2018) and Ragnarök, owned by (c) Santa Monica Studio/Sony Interactive Entertainment.

MAY:

Kris's eyes bugged open.

He was lying flat on the ground on his face.

His body ached and his bones were realigning themselves after long minutes of slack and he couldn't stop himself from wincing from each move he made as he lifted his arms to try and pick himself up off the ground. Kris sighed as he was now in a seating position on the ground, mentally unaware of his surroundings as he attempted to focus his mind, trying to recall his last memories before everything went black.

It was his 15th birthday. 4*Town concert. A loud, roaring crowd of fans. Giant red panda kaiju mom. And then….

…his guitar gets destroyed.

That was the last thing he remembers.

His guitar. Shattered to pieces. The sight of Ming just crushing it to pieces under her giant foot was bringing an instinctual sadness to him, bringing him nearly to tears. But regardless of how awful it made him feel, he needed to try to figure out what to do right now. First he needed to take a look and examine his surroundings. However, when he was finally aware, you could imagine his surprise when he realized that he wasn't at the SkyDome arena anymore.

He appeared to be in a forest of some kind, surrounded by endless acres of trees and bushes. Kris rose to his feet and looked all around, trying to familiarize himself with this new location. But he did not recognize it at all. He remembers blacking out in the giant paw of Mingzilla and suddenly wakes up in a forest in the middle of nowhere. But how? Just how in the world did he end up here? And where exactly was he? He was tempted to use his voice and shout out for someone out there, but he couldn't. He couldn't break his vow of silence now. He was too heartbroken to utter a single sound. But Kris needed to find out where he was and how he was gonna find his way back home. So his first plan was to scour the place for any civilization. May sound simple enough on paper, but it'll probably take him hours, perhaps days to find any populated areas since this forest could most likely stretch on and on for miles. Nevertheless, Kris wasn't going to get answers just standing around in his spot forever. So he started walking down one direction and hoped for a miracle. For Kris, this situation wasn't new to him. There have been plenty of times when he went camping and hiking in the woods with his father and his uncles during their hunting trips. Now he was very young back then and he has little recollection of anything he picked up from them at the time, but in his mind's eye, one suggestion would be to pick a direction and keep on it until you come across some people. Just have to give it a shot.

Onward the wayward boy went. Down through the trees and the woodland landscapes while listening in for any voices he hoped to pick up in the distance. At the moment, the sounds to be heard were from the animals. The owls, the birds, the crickets and other night sounds. The full moon above casted an eerie glow down upon the woodsy lands, which Kris used as his only source of light. Kris kept walking and walking and walking, only stopping periodically to take breathers. Minutes of hiking later, Kris kept listening to the sounds of the night emanating all around from all angles like a lunar lullaby. The woods were ceaseless as it would seem as it felt like hours, because Kris still hasn't come across anybody yet. Not even any animals or nocturnal predators for that matter. Ther did, however, come the howl of a wolf in the distance, echoing about.

More minutes went by wandering aimlessly in the night dark without success. So far, no people, no houses, no nothing. Kris was walking blind for who knows how long. He's gonna need to get a lay of the land. Somehow. Kris's ears picked the sound of flowing water.

A creek. It had to be.

Curious, he marched over, following the sound just off to his left and there it was; a river. A widely-spaced river. Just across on the other side was a tree. A very, very high tree. To this, Kris thought to himself - maybe he could use that to look around for anything in the far distance and try to get a good layout of these woods. It was worth a shot.

And then he waded into the water, not caring how wet he got as he scrambled through the flowing water, careful not to slip and get caught on the current, because the currents felt incredibly strong. A trip or a slip and you'll be carried down up the creek helplessly without a paddle. But Kris was strong. He was resilient. He kept his balance steady despite the violent body of water shoving against his body from one side until at last he was on the other side, soaking wet from the waist down, but at least he made it.

Now then, Kris shook himself like a dog after a swim before approaching the tree he was looking for. And needless to say, it was incredibly tall and huge. Kris remembered the time he watched his uncles climb trees without any gear required, so after a little self-prep and self-motivation, Kris grabbed onto the bark and began to climb like a bear would. Grappling onto one branch to another, scaling the tree without looking down and not letting himself slip. Further and further up the tree he went until he finally made it to the top. Inwardly giving him a pat on the back for his progress, Kris gripped onto the bark tightly as he scanned the area from up above the ground. As far as Kris could see, there was nothing but the forest all around and the mountains far off and nothing else to be seen. No lights in the distance, no villages, no cities, not even transmission towers within his viewpoint. As far as Kris could tell, he was lost in the middle of bumfuck nowhere miles and miles away from human cultivation with no way to navigate his way back or a way to contact his family or his friends. This made Kris worry a bit. How the fuck did he get way out here to begin with? How far away was he from Toronto? Did he pass out and get flown all the way out into the wilderness beyond the mountains and left to fend for himself?

If so, why?

Why would someone want to do something like that to him? What has he ever done to anybody to deserve that?

Without realizing, Kris's shifting around in his frantic attempt to look in different directions was causing his foot to start slipping due to the water and in a second, he lost his footing and found himself losing his balance as the poor, disoriented boy fell from his spot in the tree up high. Futilely trying to grab onto something, Kris nonetheless free-fell down the tree, painfully hitting against a bunch of branches on the way down until he plummeted straight down to the ground on his back extremely hard.

The pain.

The agonizing pain from dropping 30 feet and it felt as if his bones were broken, yet surprisingly none of them were.

His back and the back of his head hurt like Hell from that high fall and it hurt so damn much that it was a miracle he was still alive after that. He fought back an agonized wail, only winching and sucking air in and out through his ground teeth. His vision was blurry as the hard clonk of his head harshly rupturing against the forest floor made him feel dizzy and weak, his body drained of energy and in desperate need of replenishing. His eyelids felt very heavy and just like that, Kris was unconscious.

Morning came and Kris was still sprawled against the ground after accidentally knocking himself out. His eyes fluttered open at the sound of cawing upwards and he strained himself away while feeling this massive headache as if someone broke a boulder on his head and he winced in pain, nursing it with one hand while his tired eyes readjusted themselves to the bright morning light.

Suddenly, a sound nearby made him freeze like stone.

It sounded like a very large animal. A beast of an animal. One that sounded dangerous and a force to be reckoned with.

Slowly and carefully rotating his head to the left, he kept very still and very quiet, forcing back a peep that would've lilted from his lips when he laid eyes upon it. A great big black bear was standing in the river from his side with its back turned to him, possibly looking for some fish to eat. This bear, however, was unlike any bear he's ever seen before. It was gradually and considerably larger with a noticeable muscular and rugged build to it like it had witnessed decades of war and battles against human hunters.

Thankfully, it didn't see him.

Kris needed to get away from it before it did. The bear looks preoccupied with its food hunting to even notice him, so Kris took this opportunity to try and quietly slink away. Fighting against the pain in his body as he tried to move, his bone cracking from that hard fall, but he bit his lips tightly shut so he didn't let any noise come through and give away his position. Kris kept his eye on the bear and it still didn't lift its head up from the water, so he was doing good so far. He cautiously struggled to his feet, his limbs still cracking and healing themselves properly and Kris stumbled away, sneaking himself away from the bear and disappeared into the forest before it could turn to look behind it.

Now that he was finally out of sight and gotten far enough away from the hungry animal, Kris stopped and took a second to do a few stretches, which hurt doing so because everything aches really bad from a 30-foot fall. But still, Kris popped his knuckles, his arms and his back to try and fix himself up so he could continue on his way into the woods.

Unfortunately, he was caught by surprise when Kris was shoved right to the ground by a giant mass.

"RRRRRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAWWWWWWWWWWWW-WWWWWWWW-WWWWWW-WWWWWW-RRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!"

The bear had found him and it roared furiously in his face, but still he stayed still or else he'll piss it off. Its face looked hardened, malformed and slightly disfigured in a monstrous way so there was absolutely no way this was an ordinary bear. It went completely unnoticed, but the animal appeared to have two small, hole-shaped scars on its chest.

No matter what, Kris didn't move a single muscle and ignored the spittle flying into his face and its rancid breath. But then a bird's call somewhere off in the forest caught its attention as it lifted its head up and pointed its muzzle in that direction from where it came from, putting its paw right on Kris's face, it's massive, dirty, mucky paw that was so big that it covered the boy's entire face. The distracted black bear keeps its focus elsewhere while keeping its latest prey pinned down on the ground. But Kris was just about tired of waiting for it to lose interest and go away, his natural defenses kicked it when his hands started to sparkle with cracks of electricity, which the bear took curious note of and then with all his might and force, Kris used his newfound supernatural strength to shove the giant animal off of his body, buying himself enough to time to rush to his feet and take off running away into the woods.

But because of this act of resistance, the black bear was angry. It snarled angrily and gave chase. Kris was in deep shit now. A furious bear was after him now. He ran like there was no tomorrow down through the woods as fast as his waking, wobbling legs would allow and tried to seek some form of salvation or protection before that snarling, drooling bear caught him because it wasn't letting up any time soon. The beast was gaining on him and he knew it. To confuse it, Kris shot a hand behind him and shot electricity out near it, just right by its feet. It blasted it back a bit, but it kept chasing him. Kris tried again, but still nothing. This bear was relentless in its hot pursuit.

Finally, Kris tried a third time and actually shot a lightning bolt from the palm of his hand and this time, the bear was knocked right to the ground, flat on its right side, stunned for just a moment, giving Kris the time he needed to find a place to hide. Quickly and hastily, he stood behind a tree while the bear got back up and shook its head. As it lingered around, the bear couldn't find the boy because he had hid himself behind a tree.

The bear stomped around, following its nose, but it couldn't find him anywhere. During his hide, Kris circumspectfully scuttled up the tree to get away from the bear, but only climbs about a third of the way up this time unlike last time so he doesn't risk knocking himself unconscious again.

He waited for about two minutes.

Three minutes.

Five minutes.

By the nine minute after hearing nothing, Kris decided it was now safe to come down.

Giving a final scope of the land, the bear was nowhere in sight. Taking a moment to steady his breathing, he figured it must've finally given up at long last. So perhaps with this finally over, he can continue his journey to civilization. He no longer cared how long it took, he needed to find the nearest town so that he could locate a phone to call his mother and let him know he's okay.

Kris wasn't certain for sure, but it's been three hours now and it's still nothing but the forest. Trudging through one tree after the next, climbing up inclines, listening to more animal noises and calls everywhere in every single direction, it's like the forest goes on forever. The hooting of an owl, he could get used to, though. It's rather charming listening to them, especially at night. But what would be more charming is knowing where the hell he was, because he still has yet to find any sign of what this place was. He could be lost in a national park of some sort, but there so no biking trail he's ever found. Not even a sign that names different paths or a ranger tower. Two hours of aimless hiking later, Kris began to grow weary from all the walking, so he sat down for a moment to rest his tired legs and for a brief second, he tried thinking back to the times he had spent with his family and friends, even Mei. But this reminiscing caused a great hurt to wash over him. It hurts to remember them, because they were not here with him right now. So all he knew, they could be on the other side of the globe and he was here all by himself and the more he remembered them, the more it made him want to try. He was starting to miss them. Yes, even Mei, despite her betrayal.

Suddenly, a growl disrupted his train of memories and made him spin around. There was the bear again, standing threateningly before the boy with a mouthful of razor-sharp teeth that could cut through anything, even bones, drooling and glaring deep into Kris's cerulean pupils with it's own fiery ones that singed gaping holes in his soul like a lazerbeam and Kris noticed another hole-shaped scar on its forehead.

Before Kris could react, the furious bear made its move first. It pounced right at him like a tiger and sent them both tumbling to the ground, rolling around with the predator trying to claw the child's face off with its claws with a dead-set intent on ensuring Kris doesn't escape from him a second time.

This time it had him.

On the ground, they went, fighting each other; Kris trying to wrestle himself free and the bear trying to bite at his face, but Kris held its mouth open, holding onto it with both hands as the bear fought to get its teeth around his head. Unlucky for it, however, Kris has his super strength and electric powers at his disposal. Grunting with determination, Kris threw the animal right off him and onto the ground so he could get back up, but so did the bear. Neither of them will surrender until the other is either dead or gone from sight. The fierce predator roared like a child-eating monster, swiping at Kris with its claws. Kris narrowly dodged every one of them before the bear managed to get him with one faster-than-action swipe of his paw, knocking the boy to the side painfully onto the ground. No bear in the world is ever this rapacious and bloodthirsty. What was even after Kris for anyway? Kris wasn't even bothering him in the first place. But the bear didn't really care. So Kris got back up again and jumped as it charged him and laid a hard elbow-drop on its head and started angrily punching at it with white-knuckled fists. Not today is he going to die from a bear attack in the woods. The bear fought back bravely, delivering more claw swipes, actually grazing Kris's cheek, drawing blood. Now this made him furious. Once the bear stood on its hind legs, Kris growled and pounced on it just as it did to him, knocking it down and sending them both tumbling to the ground when Kris suddenly picked the animal up and tossed it 20.9 kilometers away from him like a shot put and when the bear charged again….

CLAP!

BAM!

Kris clapped his hands and when he did, the sound barrier was ruptured immensely by the powerful sonic blast of two palms smacking against each other, creating a powerful soundwave and earthquake that shot the bear back with the stalwart force of a hurricane. When it recollected itself, it looked back toward the boy now standing with a formidable pose, hand sparkling with volts of electricity and eyes glowing with hatred. Then from out of his mouth came an ear-splitting roar, a angered scream that scared away any birds still standing by in the area after that concussive blast and a war cry that many armies of bloodthirsty warriors would pierce the air more effectively that their brandished swords as Kris shouted at the bear as a warning. A warning to get away from him and leave him alone or else pay deadly consequences before the annoyed boy aimed a sharp finger at it like a gunslinger would then whipping out his gun from his holster as if to emphasize that unspoken point.

After the SkyDome, Kris was in no mood to put up with large, furry animals and the bear gave a surprised reaction kind of like how a human would, seeming to be almost impressed by the boy's bout of immeasurable rage. The bear only nodded its head in acceptance and saunted off, finally leaving Kris alone. With the ordeal at last averted, Kris calmed himself down, doing some deep breathing exercises and counted in his head, massaging his face to clear the stress away and heard only his labored breathing currently. His heart was beating a rhythm that put a bass drum to shame and he needed to clear his thoughts.

Finally setting himself down, Kris got a good look at where he was now and it made his jaw drop and his eyes widen.

It stood 50 feet tall, a giant stone statue of a one-eyed old man with an eyepatch and holding a sword firmly in his grip carved into the side of the mountain looking like it possessed great importance and power to all. Kris never recalled seeing that statue before anywhere in his entire life. Wherever he was, he definitely wasn't in Canada anymore.

Kris turned to see what else was there and nearly jumped out of his skin when there was a person standing there behind him, a man approaching him and stopping him in his tracks.

"That's far enough, kid." He told him, holding his hand up.

Well, there were definitely people around.

He must've heard the thunderclap and his screaming a moment ago and probably rushed over to the scene in record time. But as Kris eyed him inspectingly, he realized that he was wearing….nothing modern, that's for sure.

The clothes he wore were something belonging to a long-begone era like the medieval Viking times of Ancient Scandinavia, a runic shirt with a longer-sleeved one underneath, black leather pants secured by a loincloth held together by a leather belt and boots. The mystery man was incredibly tall and extremely muscular with icy blue eyes and blonde hair tied in three separate braids and a beard tied in two smaller braids and he had several tattoos of Norse runes decorating his face.

Why the hell was this guy dressed like that? Was there a Renaissance Faire going on somewhere? Or perhaps a LARP session?

"Just stay right there, okay?" He informed him. "What the fuck are you doing out here by yourself?"

Kris didn't answer, but only scowled at him since this was the only response he could voluntarily muster.

"Hello? Can you speak?" The man asked again, but Kris remained unresponsive. "Kid, I asked you a question. What are you doing here, okay? Because you can be wandering around these woods all alone, not to mention with Björn stalking the area."

The boy didn't know or care who or what this 'Björn' he was referring to. He stayed quiet.

"Hey!" The man was getting desperate now and impatient, now clapping near his face to invoke a reaction out of him. "Wake up! I heard you scream over here a minute ago! I know you're not mute, boy! And I know you're not deaf, either! Answer me!"

"Brother, that's enough!" Said a new male voice. The other man grabbed his brother's shoulder and gently pulled him away. "Don't scare him."

This one was tall as well and had a muscular build just like his brother, icy blue eyes, brown hair and a French Fork-style beard that had two braids, a runic shirt, brown fur-edged leather boats, blue-colored pants with knee protectors and armored loincloth held tightly by two brown belts.

"Forgive my brother, boy." He told him with a less threatening tone. "He can be quite confrontational sometimes. Interesting outfit. You're not from around here, are you?"

However, Kris began to walk away from them, uninterested in anything they were saying, much to their confusion.

"Hey, wait a minute! Come back!" The man and his blonde brother caught up with Kris, getting in front of him and blocking his way. "Stop! Look, you're obviously lost. Perhaps we could help you."

Kris tried to brush by them, but the two stood firm, keeping him from moving another step.

"Listen here, boy. You need to drop the act right now. I need you acting your age, you got that?" The blonde brother retorted in a way to assert some dominance and authority over the boy.

But then Kris grabbed both of them by their shirts and before they had a chance to say something, they were both thrown into the air by the super-strong Kris behind him to get them out of his way before he stormed off in a huff, leaving the brothers behind in a daze on the ground, both taken aback by the kid's unnatural strength as it appeared to be no different from what they've seen before.

"What the Hel was that?" The brown-haired one marveled.

"Feisty little bugger." His brother remarked.

So now Kris has woken up in the realm outside of his body in a sort-of out-of-body experience. Things are not looking so good for him right now since he has no clue where he is or where he's even going for that matter. This land is quite new to him. To make things worse, he's gotten into a fight with Björn the demigod bear and now he's met two brothers - you'll find out who they are in the next chapter coming out soon.

Stay tuned. Kade32, out!