*Declaimer: spawn point*

"Speech"

"Thought"

Song Lyrics

Day: I lost track

Location:?

Time: 7:28 AM

Michael sits under a shady tree in the thick forest, a large expansive bush makes it harder to see him; even with the sun shining overhead.

In front of him is his laptop, with the camera recording his current video-diary entry.

"I've been uh following them for about 4 days now, kinda surprised they haven't noticed me trailing behind them yet.

I was pretty damned surprised when I saw them on that first day, well night; I managed to find where they were camping, you'd think they would keep watch around their camp but no they were all asleep, so I hid somewhere close to their camp.

After they woke up; I watched them go about their day, along with their interactions with each other.

Here's a rather broad summary of what I've gathered:

The male one's name is Ascad, his scales are a light-brown-tannish color; he seems to be the leader of their pack…herd...group…flock…whatever, he's got this air of intimidation about him. He does his best to keep morale up.

The silver female is named Frost; she seems like a high-maintenance girl…dragon-lady...doesn't seem like she contributes much to their group in terms of labor or hunting, but she does make sure everyone else keeps clean, that much I can say.

The orange-ish female is named Flare; she seems like the second in command, seems like a bit of a show-off with how I've seen her act, probably Ascad's mate…err…don't know why I said that.

The green female is named Terra; she seems rather maternal, given she is the only one who spends anytime with the young one of their group, occasionally I hear her hum some songs…very familiar songs…I probably should have gotten some head-phones a long time ago, but that would've screwed me over in the long run, she seems friendly enough.

The child amongst them is named Amelia or something like that, she is crimson colored; she doesn't talk to the others as much as she talks to Terra, I speculate she's probably Terra's daughter, but she doesn't have similar coloring to Terra; nor does she call her "mom", she might be some kid they picked up while they were travelling. Out of everyone she has actually seen me, she caught me in a moment of…saw me in a…caught…uhhhhhhhh… I'm not going to lie about it; she caught me after I was done taking a crap, that's all there is that little story."

Michael picks up the camera and points it towards the outside of the bush, focusing on Ascad and the others sleeping in their camp.

"I plan on approaching them today; fingers crossed they don't try to kill me and will allow me to travel with them to wherever it is they're going, but if push comes to shove I'm pretty sure I can take a few well-placed shots to kill at least two of them; hopefully it doesn't come to that", he yawns, "this is Michael Santiago, signing off."

He stops recording, unplugs the camera, folds the laptop, and places the two into their designated bag. After checking his equipment for any problems, he sits in a position that gives him full view of everyone in the camp. He sits there waiting for them to wake up so he can introduce himself, while also contemplating various combat scenarios if things go sour, but he ends up falling asleep long before they wake.

Ascad- 2 hour 52 minutes later (incoming shitty attempt at writing romance :[ )

As everyone walked through the "bad-plot-development-forest"; Ascad and Flare were further ahead of everyone, keeping an eye out for trouble

"Soooo…Ascad, what do you plan on doing once we get to Warfang?" Flare asked as she walked alongside Ascad

"Well who knows; I might settle down, find a nice girl", he said as he gave her a knowing look, "maybe I could start a family."

"I thought about doing the same you know; settling down and starting a family", Flare replied, "except you know…not with a girl…because…that would be kind of…impossible…"

Ascad chuckles at seeing her so flustered

"Hey now, get your own dream", he said jokingly, "although, I want you to help me accomplish my dream."

"I…uh …what?" she stammered, growing even more flustered

"I want you to help me find a "suitable mate" to bear my children", he said as he put on a rather pompous tone and struck a dramatic pose, "it cannot be some commoner for I am a prince amongst princes hmmmmm; my bloodline cannot be sullied with mud-blood, NYEH!"

"I…yo…u…you jerk." Flare said as she playfully swatted him, before clearing her throat and attempting to copy the accent, "you shouldn't play with a gal's emotions like that your highness; it is very unfitting for someone with such a high rank as yourself."

"What!?" he said dumbfounded, then coughed awkwardly and regained his composure, "I…err, whatever do you mean by that madam? Do you implore that you hold such emotions for me? That you wish to experience coitus with a prince? "

"Oh no my lord; I'm but a simple maiden who could never capture your eyes."

"Hmm, maybe yo-"

"Okay can we stop with these voices? It's getting kind of annoying." Flare interrupted before he could finish his spiel, looking down as she spoke up, "Look Ascad, we've been travelling for about three months now and I just want…I just…I'm not going to make a long speech; I love you Ascad, you're strong, you know how to make me happy, you're compassionate; and if you want, I will help you accomplish your dream of starting a family."

Ascad said nothing as he looked at her; he put a claw to her chin and lifted her head to look at him. The two looked into each other's eyes for a few moments.

"Finally" Frost nearly shouted as she approached the two, "You do not know how painful it was watching you two fumble about with your little on-off romance."

The two freeze up as they remembered the others were trailing behind

"I mean it was cute at first, but then it was a little weird, and then it got a little annoying with you two just casting each other a little sideways glance every so often or the little awkward small talk."

The pair simply stood there, embarrassed and sputtering half-baked responses and excuses as Terra caught up.

"It was pretty obvious that you two had your eyes on each other." Terra added, "It's nice to see you've finally admitted it."

The two of them just went dead-silent, and then Flare looked at Amily expecting her to chime in as well; Amily hid behind Terra before speaking up

"It…It's nice that you two like each other." She stammered out

There was a long uncomfortable silence that filled the air as they all just stood there for what felt like hours.

"Look you two can get lovey-dovey when we get to Warfang, but for now let's just keep going; we only have four days left until we get there on foot, right Ascad?" Frost spoke up, breaking the silence as she walked past the two.

"I…uh…yeah four days" Ascad mumbled awkwardly

Terra followed behind Frost, Amily trailing behind her closely.

"Grown-ups are weird." Amily quietly said to Terra

"And how." Was Terra's amused response

The two would-be lovers just stood there for a few seconds until Flare started walking ahead.

"Eve…everything I said is true Ascad, I love you." She said over her shoulder, "I want to spend the rest of my life with you."

"I'll hold you to that." Ascad said as he began walking, picking up his pace to walk alongside Flare

And so their journey, somewhat awkwardly, continued.

Another 30 minutes had passed as they continued their trek. (I'm running out of words to describe walking)

"Ancestors, how big is this damned forest?!" Flare shouted, running off to head-butt a nearby tree out of sheer frustration

"I think we're nearing the edge of the forest." Frost answered, walking around the path of the collapsing tree

"Should we just take a break?" Terra asked

"No." Ascad replied, "We've been in this forest long enough. Once we get out, we can take a break."

"Yeah let's just keep going", Flare said as she rejoined them, "I'm getting really tired of seeing trees."

Another couple minutes pass as they continued onward, they came across a clearing that gave them a clear view of the forest's edge; they quickened their pace as to reach the exit of this damnable forest; a feeling of Deja-vu washed over Amily as dread filled the others when they finally reached the edge of the forest and saw something was waiting there for them; a lot somethings they hoped to never see again.

Apes, at least 18 of them just stood there at the edge of the forest; watching them approach, as if they've been standing there for days just waiting for them to come

Ascad got a good look at each of the apes as he and the others approached cautiously; most of their armors seemed hastily put together and it looked like most of them hadn't gotten any sleep in the past couple of days.

The one that caught his attention the most was the biggest one amongst them; his armor looked professionally made as it reflected the sunlight and looked untarnished by any kind of mess.

Then he saw the flag they flew; 3 spears being run through a dragon's body: one starts at the chin going into the back of the head, the next going through the neck, the last one run through the chest frame.

The snapping of leaves and twigs brought his attention to the area behind him and the others as 27 more apes appeared out of the undergrowth from all sides, ensuring that there could be no escapec.

"Could you let us through?" Frost ventured to ask, "We have no quarrel with you, just let us pass and we can go our separate ways."

The large ape said nothing as he put on his helmet, not looking away from them.

"Wait, didn't you guys used to work for uh…err what was his name again…Malefor right?" Ascad spoke up, "He's dead, and you guys know that right? That means you don't have to do the guys dirty work anymore."

An uncomfortable silence filled the area as Ascad finished speaking

"Thirty-two", the large ape spoke, his voice sounding rather hollow, "we've collected thirty-two thus far, should fortune favor us, that number will become thirty-seven; thirteen more after that and our master will be free."

Upon finishing those last words, the apes around them drew their weapons and took combat stances.

Flare, Ascad, and Terra assumed combat stances as well; Frost on the other hand looked lost in thought.

"What's the point in fighting us?" The large ape asked as he chuckled, "Surely you cannot hope to kill us all."

Even more apes came out of the under growth, their numbers equaling at least 62 now

Amily hid behind Terra as everyone, but Frost (who had a look of understanding), prepared for a counter attack.

"Terra", Frost called to her quietly, "I'm going to clear a path, when I give the word; take Amily and run."

Terra lost focus on her current target and turned to Frost with a look of concerned confusion.

"She trusts you more than the rest of us." Frost said before Terra could argue, "There's no sense in all of us dying here."

A grim silence came over the group of dragons as Frost spoke

"Don't talk like that Frost." Terra argued, "We're going to get out of this, all of us; Right Ascad?!"

She looked towards Ascad expecting him to disagree with Frost, but he simply sighed and shook his head

"Get ready to run Terra." Was his only response

"F-Flare?" Terra squeaked out

"Terra", Flare said as she choked back her tears, "j-just shut up and get ready."

Terra hesitantly nodded and got ready, quietly telling Amily to get closer and get ready to run as well

"So girls", Ascad solemnly began, "any famous last words?"

"I love you." Was Flare's answer

"Never die alone." Was Frost's answer

The large ape pulled out an equally large axe and raised it towards them

"Leave none of them standing!" he roared to the small army

Ascad, Flare, and Frost focused their elemental attacks to the right of them; carving a path through their forces and giving Terra a big enough time window to run

Terra and Amily ran as fast as their legs could take them out to the area, disappearing into the forest

Michael- at the same time (42 minutes within walking distance)

"At least I know which direction their heading." Michael grumbled to himself as he trekked through the forest

Having woken up a couple hours after Ascad and the others left their camp, Michael immediately set off on catching up to them

"You'd think I would be able to have heard them leave, but nope I managed to miss the sounds of several a beasts of legend move around." He said aloud to himself, "Should've just approached them last night, but they might've attacked me; given I would look pretty alien and just I would've walked into their camp completely uninvited."

He stopped and pulled out the tracker then sent out a signal, no new beacons responded.

"I probably won't get Dom's rifle or my ammo back if I keep following them, but so far they've to camp near where the beacons were."

Putting the tracker back into its pocket, he continued onward

"How am I going to introduce myself anyway?" he wondered, "Hello I'm an extra-terrestrial being that wound up on your planet by unknown means and am currently trying to get my weapons back, could I come with you? Then they proceed to eat me with their mind bullets. Hi I'm a lost alien and I need help, can I come with you? Yeah keep it simple."

He nearly tripped over a tree root as he pondered how to introduce to himself

"Jesus-fucking-Christ, how big is this forest?!" he shouted

A tremor rocked the general area, knocking him off of his feet

"I hate the woods." He mumbled as he picked himself up, "Now then, was that natural or did something cause that?"

He continued walking in the general direction he knew they were travelling in, until another tremor rocked the area; with much more force then the last one

"What the hell's goi-", he saw a large plume of fire ignite the area further ahead, suddenly a feeling of dread filled his gut as he began sprinting; closing the distance between him and the source of fire.

20 minutes pass as he runs towards the source, hoping it's not what he thinks it is.

Upon reaching his destination he ducks as he avoids frozen meat-chunks being sent flying towards his direction; he peaks his head over the bush and sees a perpetual warzone, with several craters and many corpses of what appear to be sub-human creatures littering the forest clearing, he looks over to the right of the clearing just in time to see Frost be impaled by several spears.

"FROST!" he heard Flare scream, looking over to where she was; he could see Ascad's corpse, a large axe embedded in his neck along with several spears and arrows in his body.

Michael stood up as Flare released a torrent of flames upon the creature, he turned his back as they screamed in agony, and he kept walking as he heard Flare's valiant roars of defiance against the inevitable.

He continued walking away from the fight, no matter what he heard from it. Mumbling to himself along the way

"It's not your problem. It's not your problem. It's not your problem. It's not your problem. Do not put yourself at risk, just keep going Michael."

He heard Flare give a scream of pain, followed by the sound more of the creatures being ignited.

"Do not stop. Just go, keep walking. It is not your concern. It's not…your…problem. Its…not…your…fault, its…not…what Dom would want me to do."

He stopped dead in his tracks and exhaled deeply, he began taking off the bag that contained his medical supplies and food.

"My self-preservation instincts are calling me an idiot", he takes off the bag that contains his electronics and places it next to the other bag, then places the red curtain and Maria next to them "I guess I'm an idiot."

He takes an adrenaline shot form the medical bag. He puts the helmet of his armor on, spins the cylinder of Hades, and grips his murder stick.

He runs back in the direction where Flare was making her last stand

He pulls out the iPod as he's running and turns up the volume as he cycles through songs, until he gets the one he deems fitting as heavy metal fills the area

This took an ungodly long amount of time to make

/╲/\╭( ͡° ͡° ͜ʖ ͡° ͡°)╮/\╱\ Happy Halloween

Michael's current inventory

Hades (revolver): 2 bullets

Murder stick: Still sharp

Body armor w/ helmet

Dom's iPod

7 fragmentation grenades

3 semtex grenades

4 flash grenades

2 incendiary grenades

1 adrenaline shot