《Book 1 - Ice》


 Prologue - Waking up

    I like to talk to myself, think to myself or whatever you want to call it. At times when my brain doesn''t want to focus, talking to myself helps. It also does a lot to calm me down. Not much mind you, but enough till I can get far away from the people I want to punch. Ah I digress, where was I? Yes! Thinking to myself. Unfortunately it doesn''t seem to help me much right now.


    Right in front of me is a pink fluffy spherical creature. I¡¯m not sure how else to describe it. It reminds me a lot of Jigglypuff from the cartoon Pokemon. A lot of people would call it cute, at least, till they saw its teeth. They are about as wide as its body and I can¡¯t see any eyes nor nose on it. Jiggly, can I call you jiggly, defies common sense but hey when your whole mouth can extend to the size of your body (and when you''re pink, fluffy and spherical to boot) I don''t think common sense applies.


    Where am I you ask? That''s a good question my young imaginary friend. I am in fact on a tree, a large large tree. Climbing this tree took me quite a while and was the smartest thing I did as soon as I got here. Especially since I am most certainly more tender than the 10 foot rat, Jiggly is munching on. In fact, when I think about it, it''s amazing I managed to climb up here with clothes a few sizes too large. Where''s here you ask? Oh wow you''re quite chatty today. And the answer is.... I have no idea.


    While my internal monologue was going on, Jiggly, seems to have tired of eating ratty for it suddenly started bouncing towards the other end of the clearing. Quite rapidly I might add. Watching it bounce was was quite funny. It could bounce forward quite quickly and for a creature 5 feet in diameter and with no legs to speak of, I would say it was pretty damn fast. Fast enough to outrun me anyway. Did I say I was thankful I was on a tree?


    Ah yes so if I have no idea where I am, how did I get here? That''s the million dollar question. There was no weird flashes of light, no magical voices, no awesome status bar floating around (how cool would that be).


    ~~ Ten minutes ago ~~


    "Ahhh that was a relaxing sleep". I yawned out loud as I woke up. Stretching myself on the damp grass, I take in deep breaths of the fresh air as I massage my eyes open and take in the beautiful sight of white clouds overhead.


    Today truly is a beautifu... WHAT THE HELL I screamed.Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.


    In my mind of course, which normal person would do something so ridiculous as scream out loud. Fresh Air? Full Moon?? Grass??? Either I¡¯m hallucinating, Inception is real or I¡¯m no longer in my apartment. Slowly getting to my feet I take stock of my surroundings. In overly large pajamas, I find myself in the middle of a huge clearing ringed with large trees. I was quite close to one end of the clearing and I could just barely make out the trees on the other side. The first thing I noticed was how bright everything was followed by what I thought to be a rat in the distance. So ignoring the rat, I had better things to worry about, I patted myself down to try to make sense of what was going on. My clothes too big, check! no phone, check! no food, check! Stranded in the middle of nowhere with nothing to eat... lovely. While I was taking stock of myself it seems the rat had noticed me. Soon I saw it racing towards me.


    Weird, why would a rat run towards something ten times its size.


    That¡¯s when I started to notice the ground rumbling. I stared wide eyed as the rat became larger and larger and ... bloody hell that''s a big rat¡­ Seeing my end running at me woke me up fast and I ran to the nearest tree. I¡¯ve never climbed a tree before but being chased by an oversized rat can help you learn really fast. One pull at a time I quickly scramble up the tree. I could almost feel the oversized rodent breathing down my neck. It took me a few minutes to get far up enough and I only stopped because my hands were shaking out of exhaustion. I wouldn¡¯t want to fall down to my death after all this hard work right.


    Wait can¡¯t rats also climb trees.


    Reaching the next branch, I hold onto it for dear life and turn around to see what the oversized rodent was doing. That¡¯s when I noticed Jiggly¡­ It was taking large bloody bites out of it.


    ~~ Present ~~


    While I watched Jiggly run away with some amusement I felt the tree shake.


    Oh God what now?


    That¡¯s when I saw it. A giant lizard with wings swooped down and swallowed Jiggly whole. I could feel the audible crunch as its giant mouth closed. A moment later it beats its wings, causing it to rise into the air. The wings caused a small gale to hit the trees and me alongside it. I closed my eyes and held on for my dear life. When I opened it, the lizard was gone, Jiggly along with it. The clearing was strangely calm. I would have felt that it was all a dream except I could still see the rat lying there in a pool of its own blood. Half eaten...


    Sweat dripped down my back, I just stayed there dumbfounded. Pink fluff balls and giant rats were one thing, now I had a bloody reptile to worry about.


    Oh man where the hell am I?

 1 - Silence

    It¡¯s been a few hours since I last saw the drake. I¡¯ve been making my way through the trees blindly in the hope of finding civilization. I didn¡¯t notice at the time, but the trees aren¡¯t quite ¡°green¡±. There¡¯s hints of purple in the bark. I¡¯m not a botanist but that¡¯s clearly not normal. Then again I don¡¯t think I can call flying lizards normal either.


    I¡¯ve had some time to think in the last couple hours. Surprise, surprise! Rolling my eyes at my lame attempts at a joke I try to recall how I got here. I still don¡¯t recall what happened to me. I also don¡¯t recall my hands being so tiny. I suspect that I¡¯ve gotten ¡°smaller¡±? The clothes I¡¯m wearing, my pajamas to be exact, are as I remember it, just too big for me. I also noticed that unlike what I originally thought, I wasn¡¯t wearing my spectacles but I could still see clearly. In any other circumstance I would call this a miracle. Going from partially blind to being able to see so clearly is a miracle. Right now though, this miracle seemed more like a disaster instead.


    In the last couple of hours I haven¡¯t seen much life in this place. No chirping of insects, no birds no rats. Nothing. That scares me. I¡¯ve been having this feeling that something¡¯s been stalking me but when I turn around I don¡¯t find anything. It¡¯s a gut feeling. In the past, if I had ever heard someone say that, I would call bullshit, but now, I¡¯m not too sure. Then again if I¡¯m being stalked I would probably have been eaten by now. Why? Because I¡¯m easy pray. I¡¯ve been trudging through a forest in my PJs, my feet cut all over and my trail through the undergrowth clear for all to see. I¡¯m no ranger who was brought up in the hillside nor some military veteran. I am just a simple software engineer.


    ¡°Haaaaah¡± deep breaths Kael. Keep calm.


    I¡¯m starting to lose it. This silence is getting to me. If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.


    ~


    Two pairs of red eyes watch Kael as he stumbles through the forest.


    The human is weeeeakkk.


    He has the scent of a traveller. A weak traveller is still a traveller.


    But he¡¯s weaaaakkk. He does not cover his track. His armour is thin. He is weeakk.


    Wait. Wait for sunset. The darkness will be our strengths. If he is truly weak we shall feast tonight but if this is a trap, then, we shall be at our strongest to face it.


    Yesss


    ~


    The sun¡¯s setting. The shadows are getting longer and the cold is creeping in. I¡¯m hungry and thirsty and I have found no other living being since I left the clearing hours ago and that is scary. At this point even seeing the drake would be a welcome sight.


    I finally see a glimmer in the distance, a glimmer heralding water. As I get closer I can hear the sound of moving water and I come across a small lake. Finally water. Cupping my hand I taste the sweet water. Yes, it could be poisoned and no, I don¡¯t care. Surprisingly sweet my parched throat shudders in pleasure as I drink. As I bend over to just drink right out of the lake, I hear a crunch of feet on leaves. I stop, not making a movement. That sound implies movement and movement implies life. And as much as I want to see another living creature, I can feel the ice cold grip of death around my neck that tells me this is one creature I do not want to see. Without making any abrupt movements I stand up slowly and turn around.


    I can see numerous red lights. No! Not lights, eyes. All in the shade of the trees making it difficult to make out what they are. The largest of them all step out of the trees and I can finally see what it is. Wolves. Wolves that looks like they are made of shadows. My back against the lake. The wolves in front I can¡¯t help but utter, ¡°Ah God, give me a break!¡±.