Tingles ran through his body; comforting, yet ticklish at the same time. It reminded him of the days when he was thrown outside by his father when he'd pulled a prank that his father found less than comical. He would always sneak out of the backyard, and meet up with one or two of his friends; they'd hang in trees, ruin a few games of football and draw memes with markers, or put stickers on their teacher's cars. The only reason his father would let him off the hook, as easily as he did, was for how academically talented he was (apparently a trait attained from his mother), though that would also serve to further rile his father's frustrations.
Light chirping ran through his ears. He squinted an eye open, moving an arm in place of the seizing light. He inspected the field surrounding him; sunflowers of incredible disproportions inspecting him in return. Their innate expressions amplifying his already immense discomfort. "Flora." They all turned their gaze towards the sun, ignoring him as they started to glow a bright, golden light.
He heaved a sigh out of his chest. It had almost been a month since those days. These creatures had been around him since he woke up, and they only grow stranger as he keeps aimlessly traversing these lands.
The only things in his current possession were a currency he couldn't recognize, an identification card, listing his name, age, height, weight, etcetera, a watch, ticking for every second that went by and food that only lasted about a week. He'd been forced to go hungry a few times, about once every three days, but the strange creatures had actually been kind enough to provide him with some of their gathered shares on multiple occasions.
"Fenne!" He looked behind him to see a fox-like creature, with yellow and red fur, presenting him with a blueberry the size of an apple.
His face contorted into a smile upon the sight of the creature. He reached his hand out, grabbing the berry, "Thank you, Aluette!" He said, petting her. She displayed an immense amount of satisfaction at his touch, pushing into his hand as he petted her.
He chewed bite after bite of the berry, satiating the sweetness of it. It had always left him bewildered that the naturally produced berries lacked any form of bitterness. Generations of people consuming artificially sweetened products should leave him accustomed enough to where any naturally growing berry, or fruit should taste grotesquely bitter and be beyond edible, and yet these unrecognizable berries are void of said properties entirely.
"Fenne." He was snapped out of his thoughts by Aluette twitching her nose, and raising her head into the air. His eyes widened; he started planting one foot ahead of the other, running away from the fox-like creature.
"Ekin!" She exclaimed, embers flying out of her nose. Fortunately none of the embers had set the grass ablaze. What wasn't so fortunate was the man who ran around with his pants on fire.
His pants stopped burning eventually, and he returned to Aluette, who was timidly giggling at the events that had transpired.
"It would seem that my suffering has amused you. How is it that you're able to spark fire like a lighter anyway?" Aluette expressed uncertainty at his question, not truly knowing the answer herself.
Silence ensued for long, drawn out seconds. The human let his gaze wander the area, watching purple rats, scurrying through grass and trees, orange bears, with circles on their stomachs, plucking berries and pigeons, traversing through the air. He took notice of the sun, gradually falling towards the horizon. He looked down to his watch; way past noon. He needed to get going if he wanted to make noteworthy progress.
He collected his items, and started trudging in the direction of the sun, Aluette shyly striding along behind him.
He wouldn't ordinarily pay any mind to a beaten path. But the lack of a prosperous civilization has been pretty hard on him, so anything that inferred him about the existence of society was welcomed. He no longer had to aimlessly hike in one direction, hoping that his goal would announce itself within his field of vision. He was certain that the path would oversee him, and lead him to his destination instead.
Aluette was still tagging along closely behind him. She greatly enjoyed the young man's company, the memories of their first encounter evoking a rich sense of warmth within her. But the sight of the path ahead instilled her with insecurity and worry. Her companion didn't share her resentment though, and remained oblivious to Aluette's current dilemma as he followed the winding turns of the path, in the direction she'd hoped he wouldn't take.
She turned pale underneath her fur, running ahead of the young man, and pushing against his legs. He looked down at her, before noticing the signs shaped like arrows at the end of the path, where it split in two. "Hold on!" He said, moving past her. "There are signs up ahead." She'd tried influencing his directions before, but he'd remain unwavered to her attempts, stubbornly following his intuition.
He'd reached the signs, Aluette meandering behind hesitantly, and frowned at what he saw. Though uncertain, he guessed that the signs pointed in the direction of the nearest cities. But that wasn't much of a relief to the young man. If the units of measurements remained consistent with what he was used to, then the nearest city would be hours, if not days, away by foot.
Fortunately for him, one of the signs pointed towards a location that would only be about an hour or two away, at most. 'Rowan's laboratory', read the sign.
Aluette pushed against his legs with growing vigor, determined to change his course. "Stop!" He exclaimed. "What's up with you? Ever since we first met you've been opposed to where I'm heading." He stepped to go around her.
She jumped in front of him, growling and sparkling flames in her mouth, causing him to stumble back a few steps. "Why do you have such sudden shifts in demeanor? One moment you behave as though we're best friends, then the other you make it seem as though I'm your mortal enemy. What do you want?" She stood unwavered by his attempt at reason, still intent on forcing him in the opposite direction.
He took a deep breath, and then heaved it out of his nose. "You either tag along, or you move aside. You're not gonna dictate where I'm headed." He tried to move around her once more. In a sudden surge of impulse, she released a ball of fire from her mouth, followed by the sound of a raspy bark, landing a direct hit on the young man's face.
He staggered backwards, stumbling over a root that grew into the path, falling into a pool of mud. Though largely unharmed, the human's blood seethed through his body. "What the fuck is your problem!" His voice was loud; loud enough to frighten the little fox. "I've put up with you for weeks, not lifting a finger, nor batting an eye, and all you do is throw me into the mud!" She pretended not to be faced by his words, but the tail between her legs betrayed her intentions. "I didn't ask for your help! I didn't ask for your fucking acquaintance! And I definitely didn't ask for your, good for nothing, presence!" Her ears dropped, a low whine escaping her throat. "Just quit disturbing me already! Go harass someone else!" She ran past him; head low, and tears trailing behind her.
He scrambled back to his feet, (falling back into the mud more times than he'd like to admit) covered head to toe with mud and dirt. Regret cut through him like butter. He wished he could apologize; even though he didn't feel deserving of forgiveness. He wordlessly expressed his self disappointment by kicking away a branch, falling back into the mud in the process.
His traveling seemed much duller than before; each step more sorrow than the last, and the mud that covered his body only served to elevate his pessimism. He really didn't mean what he said. Yeah, Aluette did spit fire in his face, but his words must have hurt worse for her than some stupid flames did to him.
The sun was right above the horizon line, looming with an orange glow across the forest, no sign of the laboratory. He would need to spend at least one more night in this godforsaken forest. Maybe he should have heeded her actions. The minutes he spent traveling felt as though they were drawn out for hours without her company.
He stopped, knees buckling as he fell towards the ground, eyes staring longingly into the earth. A sudden gust blew in his direction, shifting the heavy canopies, and exposing him to the sun's benevolent light. The sun remained for multiple, drawn out seconds, before the foliage took its place; the shadow cast over him seemingly much darker now than before.
A large spout of water was suddenly propelled into the back of his head, pushing him to the ground. After recovering his bearings, he looked behind himself to see a blue duck, a blue and white otter-like creature, with a yellow shell on its stomach and a blue turtle-like creature. All three stared at him anxiously, before the ladder two glared daggers at the blue duck, which stared back at them with widened eyes, and gave an incredulous quack.
The young man snickered at this interaction, attracting the eyes of his unexpected company. "Were you three hoping to rid me of the mud?" The otter and the turtle pushed past the blue duck, vigorously nodding their heads. "I accept your guys' offer. Go ahead!" Relief washed over the otter and the turtle as they shot jets of water out of their mouths, washing over the young, muddy man.
The duck was still concerned, however. The duck sauntered over to him, expressing his concern with a gentle quack. The now wet, young man quickly caught on to the duck's concern, a grin now plastered on his face. "I'm fine! Couldn't feel better, actually." The duck's face lit up, now more determined than ever to help clean the young man.
More creatures arrived over time: from curios, purple rats, that were passing by, to small, squirrel-like creatures, dropping off food, and even a few, sentient sunflowers, who reflected light from the sun at the young man to dry him.
The sun was about halfway down the horizon when they were done. The young man thanked each one before they departed, until only the blue duck remained; the otter and the turtle already a ways down the path, ushering their duck companion.
The young man, taking notice of the undeparted duck, kneeled down in front of him, "Your friends are waiting. It might be rude to leave them hanging." The duck stood idly still. "Go on! You don't have to stay." The duck still remained unmoving. "Listen!" He dropped lower, now on both his knees. "We all have our place in life. Yours isn't with me. You have your friends, your family, and I can't be a part of that. So please!" He beckoned towards the otter and the turtle, "Be part of that family."
The duck looked back at his friends, his family, remembering the good times they had. For as much as they fucked him over he still loved them. He would always choose them over everything else.
He returned his gaze to the young man, spitting water onto his face before rubbing against his legs. The young man, now laughing, petted the duck's feathers, before the duck started waggling towards his friends, and family.
A smile remained on the young man's face, even as the trio left his line of sight; though not shortly after did his face drop. The sun had now set; the full moon taking its place, with the starry, black sky replacing the light blue one. It was almost the exact same as the day that he and Aluette first met. If only he could apologize.
Pessimism took hold of him once more, a lurking shadow watching over him.
He inspected his disheveled appearance in the puddle that had formed before him: Poorly groomed, black hair, framed his pale skinned face, falling down to his chin; light stubble covering his sharp jaw. His long sleeved, dark gray shirt stretched downwards permanently. Fortunately his brown cargo pants remained largely unscathed.
But most of his fixation fell on his eyes: Bright, glowing, red and yellow irises, framing his pitch black pupils. The colors in his iris aggressively clashed with one another, seemingly fighting for dominance. But his pupils was what captivated him the most: Their malignant depth threatened to swallow him whole, and yet they gave out whispers of benevolence, beckoning him further.
He fell deeper and deeper, formless shadows slowly molding into abstract shapes and masses, before coalescing into an unfamiliar being. It was primitive, primal even; more primal than time and space itself. Or so he believed. It was cruelly deceptive, but also nebulous (figuratively and literally), and also seemed disoriented.
It was hideously bewildered, like a lost child. It sought refuge, and comfort, surrounded by the titans' roaring battle in his iris. He felt morally obligated to provide sanctuary to this feeble being.
His need to blink was growing intense. Eyelids fluttering, trying to close. He finally let them go, rapidly closing and opening them, catching glimpses of the being reaching out of the young man's eyes, before they turned back to their normal, brown color.
The young man was left dumbfounded. He could have sworn he'd seen something.
A few bushes to his left started to rustle just then, a loud howling gale approaching in front of him, the tree canopies violently agitated.
He moved backwards with the wind, struggling to find his breath, and making room for a shadowy figure to exit the bushes. The figure was the same as the being in his eyes; but much taller, easily over twice his height. Any benevolence that was present before was gone now. In its place was an air of overwhelming malevolence and melancholy.
The figure took the form of a four legged feline, moving towards the young man. He stepped back every time the figure stepped forward. He was quickly running short on breath, but any attempt at collecting himself was rendered useless under the unnerving presence of the figure. It caused him so much distress that he almost fainted.
He suddenly fell towards the ground, sharp edges digging into his back. He squeezed his eyes shut at the sudden pain, inhaling sharply through clenched teeth.
The howling gale stopped. He gasped for air, finally getting enough oxygen. He opened his eyes, astonished at the lack of a feline-shaped shadow.
He looked beneath himself to find a staircase, made of andesite. His eyes widened, turning around to see a building the size of a manor. Pillars supporting the enormous ceiling, multiple windows looking out at the treeline of the forest, and a large, crescent door frame, with text reading 'Rowan's laboratory'.
The young man looked back out at the forest, cold sweat running down his face. He could have sworn he'd seen something. In fact he still felt as though he was being watched.
Shaking of the feeling, the young man made his way up the andesite stairs.
He didn't even have time to knock on the door before an older looking man threw it open. Shimmering green eyes staring at him worriedly. Long white hair, flowing in the newly introduced breeze, along with his knee length coat; exposing his white boxers adorned with red hearts. "You good lad?" He said. The young man remained fixated on the older man's odd attire. "You were at the bottom of the stairs for quite some time. And why are you here at this time of night, and so far away from any major city?"
The young man largely ignored his questions (too distracted to really hear what he said). "Are…Are you Rowan?"
"Yeah, I am. But please, tell me what you're doing here."
"I need shelter for the night."
"Ah, of course! Come on in." He stepped to the side, allowing his unexpected guest inside. "Also what's your name, lad?"
"Andrew."