The first few minutes after sunrise were followed by peace. Sol watched as the ground was obscured by vermillion fog, contaminating every corner it could reach. She wasn’t sure of what would happen had you been caught in it, but if even dragons tucked their tails and scrambled to flee, she wasn’t looking forward to finding out.

Regardless, the sunrise had been beautiful and she felt much more lively. Her body needed sunlight as much as it needed to eat and sleep, she would have to be careful to always rest under it as much as she could during the day to keep herself in tip top shape. 

Still, her heart wouldn’t been beating if it hadn’t been for whoever brought her there. Sol looked down on her hind leg, the fur hadn’t grown properly where the snake’s fangs had punctured her flesh, one could clearly see where she had been bitten. Her other injuries had been miraculously healed except for that one, maybe it had been deeper than she first initiated, but she’d much rather have a scar than an unusable leg.

Her train of thought was interrupted by the distinct sound of wings flapping. There was a large bird soaring through the pinkish orange sky, midnight black feathers seemed to absorb the light that reached it. Instinctively, Sol backed away and hid just behind the cave’s entrance, watching curiously and warily as the massive creature approached.

It gracefully landed in front of the cave, looking around for a brief moment before its white mask turned towards her hiding spot, two curved lines representing closed eyes gazed down at her. Upon the lack of aggressiveness on its part, Sol slowly peeked out of the cave, carefully making her way out as she observed the bird. It was covered in dark feathers excluding it’s mask and some sort of bone like armor on each of the four wings.

There was... something odd about it. She couldn’t quite understand what, but just by looking at it she felt sorrow and pain, like that was the embodiment of painful memories and sadness in front of her, that was a similar feeling she had back at the forest when she met her first ever monster. Being so focused on her own survival, she hadn’t thought back on the yellow eyed ghost, but she would be lying if she said the creature did not intrigue her even a little bit.

There was a sound of a wind chime, and the bird slowly bent forward and inspected the small cub, particularly the scar on her leg.

“Did...did you save me?” Blue eyes looked up at it, unsure of what to do.

The bird, whose species was unclear, but it’s mask reminded her of an owl, nodded and straightened itself back up, but did not talk.

“....thank you very much. I won’t forget it.” That wouldn’t be nearly enough to repay something like that, but it was all she could think of right then, there wasn’t anything she could give or do.

... She really hoped being rescued wouldn’t bite her in the butt later. In a “I saved you so you must do my bidding now.” Kind of way.

The owl just nodded once again and started walking away from the cave, standing just at the edge of the rock formation. Sol had almost thought it would just leave again, but it looked back at her and urged her forward.

“Uh...” Sol reluctantly approached the edge and looked down, the nest was very high up, definitely not something she would trust her stubby paws or her nearly non existent wings to help her down.

“I can’t fly...just to let you know-”

She squeaked as the creature picked her up by the scruff of her neck and placed her securely on its back, before she could protest, the owl opened its tow pairs of wings and leaped off the edge, soaring through the sky.

Sol swears she only screamed a little bit. In her defense being thrust into a unsolicited ride on a giant bird isn’t something you’re ever prepared for.

Her claws dug into the bird’s back, but it didn’t seem to notice. Once the shock had worn off, she carefully adjusted herself and raised her head just slightly. The trees that once towered over her were now as small as little ants, but the forest still stretched as far as the eye could see, making the land like an ocean of gray and the occasional evergreens. The fog was still there too, thinner in some areas and thicker in others, maybe it was because they were flying so fast, but it was almost like it was crawling through the land, searching, spreading. Her ears folded back and she frowned.

The flight had been rather enjoyable if you didn’t account for the nerve-wracking fog and the extremely cold air. While she still desperately wanted to know where it was bringing her to and why, it never responded when she asked, instead only emitting that same wind chime sound, so she tried to just sit back and wait. Sol had to admit, flying was rather nice, she looked back to her own feather patch, some had broken off sometime last night, being either from injury, frostbite or impacts. Maybe it would still grow into wings one day.

After nearly half an hour, the fog began to thin and eventually clear out. In the distance, Sol spotted a tall building covered in ice, it stuck out like beacon in the dark in the untamed wilderness, she could see some sort of debris or large rocks floating around it, at first glance ignoring each and every laws of physics. There was some kind of mystical and special atmosphere to it, like they were on sacred ground.

The owl descended and landed just in front of the entrance, urging Sol to climb off their back. From a closer look, the building turned out to be ruins of a much larger original one, it appeared to have been built by hand, brick by brick, each brick being sculpted from a specific type of rock. Its majestic air wasn’t affected by old age and the elements, the parts that had fallen off floated around the original structure, probably making it an even more breathtaking view.

On each side of the door was a monster not unlike the owl themselves, dark bodies and white masks. Upon seeing them, the two stood aside and cleared the way in

Reluctant, Sol looked up to the owl, who hadn’t made any movement to walk in just yet. With the gentleness of a mother guiding their child, the owl softly pushed her forward, prompting for her to walk in, following close behind until she had crossed the entrance and stepped into the cold stone floors. Sol looked back, uncertainty written of every one of her features, the owl patiently urged her forward, the comforting sound of wind chimes followed her into the ruins.

As she walked further into the corridor, she saw more beings like the ones at the door standing on each side of the corridor, standing on two lines. Some had greeted her as she passed by, while others merely watched her in silence, most were curious, or at least she assumed so, it was difficult to tell when they all wore masks that covered their entire faces. 

Was this some sort of cult? Is she walking right into a trap into being made as a sacrifice or something? Or being made into one of them? 

In the end, sugarcoat it as you will, she only truly had one option: to face whatever awaited her head on. She wasn’t nearly fast enough to run away now, and definitely not powerful enough to fight her way out. She would deal with it when she reached the end of that hallway.

Then she saw something that actually made her stop. A mask like an animal skull, yellow eyes and dark fur, a thin layer of ice formed on the floor and wall near it, the other creatures stood a little bit further away from it than usual. It was the ghost from back at the woods. It moaned hoarsely, waving shyly at her.

“You...” 

It nodded, looking very proud of itself.

They must have warned the rest. Sol nodded in gratitude and continued her way until she was at the end of the hallway, which turned out to lead to some kind of treasure room, jewels, potions, treasure chests, armors and weapons awaited the brave adventurers who were able to transverse through the unforgiving woods to reach it. On the center of the room was yet another one of the masked ghosts, but that one in particular towered over her (well, even more so than the others), four dark eyes stared down at her, a long bird mask covering its face. Unlike the others, who either had fur, feathers, scales or skin, that one appeared to be wearing a long cloak that dragged on the floor. There was a black goop leaking from its eyes and a it had a smell worse than decaying meat, she nearly gagged as she entered.

That was the most terrifying thing she had seen in her life. Oh, the good ol’ times when she thought the scientists or the big lizard were scary. That thing was doubtlessly going to haunt her nightmares.

The demon that appeared to be ripped straight out of a night terror held out two glowing jewels, offering them to her. Eyeing the two glowing objects on the hand that was nearly five times her size and each five fingers literally morphed into needles at the end, she backed away, unconsciously flattering her ears and lowering her body. 

“....”

Sol felt like her heart stopped as the creature placed each object on the ground in front of her. The first one was a pendant with a purple gem that appeared to have some sort of liquid inside it, it was tied by black string. The second necklace had a much darker appearance, like the shadows themselves were inside it, it had the shape of an eye with a light blue pupil.

"Wear...both..."

She gasped and looked up at it, but it remained unmoving as a statue like she she first came in. The voice sounded like it was inside her head rather than something spoken out loud.

“Stay...hidden...do not....let them...know...you live...”

“W...what are these?” Her voice was so quiet it could rival a whisper. There was something pulling on her, like a marionette having its strings pulled, she shakily put on both objects around her neck. 

“The liquid energy...will bring you anywhere you’ve been before... The eye will hide you.. amongst the shadows...”

The once dark empty eyes glowed white and the pendant that held the liquid began to float. There was a flash of light and the empty air in front of her began to tear itself apart, the warm meadow on the other side of it almost seemed like a dream. Maybe it was the same hypnotic trance that made her put on the pendants, or if it was her desperation to escape the merciless cold, but she found herself slowly walking into the tear, hesitantly sticking her paw through it. The meadow's warm breeze flowed through the portal, carrying with it the scent of flowers and grass.

Still skeptical, Sol rubbed her eyes and breathed deeply, once she was sure there was no more mind controlling powers being used on her, she allowed herself to open her eyes again. 

It was still there. The heavenly view ahead of her was real.

In fact, the borders on the portal were beginning to mend themselves again. The masked being spoke with urgency.

“Go...time is... precious...we shall meet again... when we...are...safe...”

What is that supposed to mean?! 

She still hesitated for a fraction of a moment, but ultimately stepped through the portal and, like she had just walked through an open door, she emerged on the other side. The chirping of birds, the warm breeze, the feeling of dirt and grass beneath her paws, it was as real as the cold air that still flowed through the open portal.

Looking back at it, every last one of the masked creatures was on the other side watching her, the ice ghost waved goodbye, the owl sang, the giant gestured for her to go.

“...leave...survive...we have the same enemy...the battle’s...just...begun...”

The portal closed.

The only indicators that she had just walked out of a frozen wasteland presumably thousands of miles away were the scars on her body and the frost that still clung to her bristled fur. 

Sol looked down at the two pendants gifted to her, the transparent purple gem had gone dry and lost its enticing glow. The eye of shadows also had lost the flowing darkness it once had, now appearing like a perfectly normal adornment. It was like the object itself was saying “don’t look at me, I’m not here.”

Both were like just your everyday jewels. In fact, even simpler than that, if she hadn’t previously known of their abilities, she would assumed both were cheap jewelry someone bought for a couple bucks. 

Thanks weird mask people. Even if you certainly have other intentions, I still appreciate it.

...

So...what now?

She was still dumbfounded by what just happened that morning, everything felt so surreal and fuzzy. Being somewhere warm and safe was a blessing she couldn’t be more thankful for, but she felt disoriented. Everything happened so suddenly she didn’t have time to craft any plans.

So she did the only thing she could think of at the moment: start exploring.

She ventured into the grasslands, her destination unknown even to herself. She had been cautious at first, torn between curiosity and wariness, but even that fear hadn’t held her back for too long. 

She cheered as she ran through the grassy fields, leaping over the occasional rocks and small bushes. She ran from nothing and to nowhere, but for the feeling of dirt and grass beneath her paws and the wind blowing against her fur, just being free. Free to do and go wherever she pleases, not being shackled by the chains of fear and darkness. Back at the frozen forest, she was nothing but a slave to the environment, doing whatever it took just to stay alive. No choice of what to do, where to go, just run and hide and fight and then repeat. Stuck playing a game she had already lost, to wander aimlessly looking for hope that didn’t exist, when no matter what she did her destiny to die and rot alone was already sealed.

Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

Now she was free, she ran, but not because there was someone chasing her, but because she so desired. Her heart felt light, her body seemed to rejuvenate from the run instead of getting tired. Sol wished she could run like that for the rest of time.

She passed by many trees during that time, but then she passed a particular one that she just had to stop and look, she had never seen a tree that was so loud. Each branch had been occupied by dozens of colorful birds, they chatted so loudly she had to cover her ears to approach and she was starting to feel a headache beginning to form.

They seemed harmless enough, just so very noisy... How did they understand each other when so many were speaking at once?

“I swear I saw it! I saw it!”

“Yeah, yeah, we’ll pretend we believe you.”

“A friend told me the Duke of Anburon got so drunk he started making out with a tree trunk.”

“Did you hear what happened back at Astenbor?”

“Word is out that a princess of some kingdom feel in love with a goblin.”

“My cousin told me the Orcs were building a massive machine to take over Worvine.”

“I heard the lion folk attacked the elven towns, with super powerful cannons!”

“But the beast folk don’t have cannons, you dummy.”

“I'm pretty sure they do.”

“I think the fog attacked the northern forests again.” 

Sol’s eyes were quite literally glowing as she watched the talkative birds. Even if half of those smelled like shamelessly exaggerated gossip, most gossip had a little bit of truth hidden somewhere, right? Just don’t outright believe in everything they say. Putting on her best smile, she casually walked towards the tree whose light green leaves were overtaken by a flurry of pink and yellow feathers. As she sat down just in front of the tree, she had automatically gained the attention of a few of the birds who were sitting on the lower branches, some appeared to be scared by her presence, while others just bristled their feathers and glared down.

“For the last time we won’t “tune it down” for you!”

“Get lost, doggy!”

“Yeah, get lost!”

“Please don’t eat us...”

Many other voices joined them as more birds became aware of her presence, somehow making even more noise than before. After a moment of hesitation, she spoke up, raising her voice so they could hear.

“No, no! I didn’t come here to make you guys quiet, in fact, I like your stories!” 

As if a hidden button had been pressed, nearly all of the birds stopped whatever they were doing and stared down at her, tilting their heads and ruffling their feathers, some were curious, others made sure they were far beyond her reach.

“Must be so great to have wings and fly everywhere, I bet you guys see so many cool things!” Sol couldn’t help but feel an uncomfortable itch on the growing feathers on her back, she made sure to stand on her hind legs so the numerous birds wouldn’t be able to see them from up on the tree.

“Uh uh! We aren’t falling for that! We aren’t dumb!”

“I’m not gonna eat you..”

“Thats what they all say!”

“Then stay up there, i can’t reach you, see?” Sol gestured to her own height in comparison to the lowest of the branches. She wasn’t lying about that part, she couldn’t jump that high and they all would fly away if she tried to climb. “Listen, I’m kinda lost and since you guys seem to know so much, I thought maybe you could help?”

The small creatures began a debate between themselves, trying to decide whether that was a trap or not. How could such loud voices come from such small beaks? They couldn’t be any larger than her own paw and could make more noise alone than when the monsters were running away from the fog back then.

“Could you guys tell me where to find people? Humans, I mean.” 

Their response was a sudden, incredulous silence. She quickly grew uncomfortable under the stare of dozens of individuals, she opened her mouth but she didn’t get a chance to get any words out as the entire group suddenly exploded with laughter. Sol jumped back in shock, watching wordlessly as the birds tried to compose themselves once more.

“Humans don’t exist dummy!” A feminine voice said in-between fits of laughter.

What?

That couldn’t be possible, she just saw that man yesterday night. While she didn’t keep a lot of memories, she was absolutely sure that was a human and they apparently served an Empire, how could they not exist? 

“What?” Another bird spoke up, looking confused as well. “They did exist before what are you guys talking about?” 

Upon receiving incredulous and confused looks from its peers, the little bird gladly explained. “Humans were the rulers of the entire western lands, but their nations disagreed with everything. They say the other species took advantage of that and wiped them all out.”

“I thought the fog corrupted them?” another young bird chirped in. “I mean, they all disappeared out of nowhere.”

“I still think they’re just a bunch of folk legends.”

Sol ignored the massive debate between them, lost in her own thoughts, trying to process the information given to her. That didn’t make any sense, they had to be alive, they were the ones to summon her after all.

They’re planning a war.

There was a sharp pain on her head, it was so strong her vision blurred and the loud argument was drowned out by a high pitched ringing in her ears. But just as suddenly as it came, it faded away, she grasped her head and leaned into the tree trunk as a wave of dizziness hit her, nearly making her fall. She felt nauseous, and so out of place. She felt like she had to be doing something, that she was losing time, that she had something urgent to do, yet her brain just wouldn’t let her remember. She wanted to remember. No, she needed to remember.

For a fraction of a second, the image of one of the people she saw in her dream flashed into her mind, but she couldn’t process who it was or how they looked like, and no matter how hard she tried, all her attempts to recall it resulted in a blank.

“Hey?”

“Hello?”

“Uh, puppy? You’re still with us?” 

Through unfocused eyes, she looked up, meeting a hundred other eyes staring down in concern, tilting their heads questioningly. Still feeling dizzy, she nodded slowly, rubbing her temples.

“If you wanna find a place with lotsa folks, then go straight forward until you find a bunch of mountains then turn right, there is a dirt road not too far from there, you just need to follow the big metal carts and you should get to Drurough in no time. It doesn’t have humans, but you should find plenty of stuff there.” 

Sol turned her head, following where the bird was pointing to.

“Be careful, there’s a bunch of freaks who will take you and put you in a small cage!” A smaller one warned, whimpering and trembling just at the mention of cages.

“Talking about Drurough, a Swadeer told me the whole city was preparing for a huge party next month, guess one of the duchesses is getting married.” 

“I thought the party was to celebrate the city’s anniversary?”

“Hey, did you guys know the guy planning the event was the same one that nearly set fire to a whole field because he tried to light a cigarette and tripped?”

“No way!”

“What’s a cigarette?”

And they were at it again. Seeing she could no longer get anything useful out of them, Sol excused herself from the tree, making her way to the mountains, but she doubted the talkative birds had heard her. 

For hours and hours she walked, she had long since left the open fields of the meadow and had to venture in the vast forest. Like the birds had said, she had found a chain of mountains some time ago, but even after a long time since she had taken that turn to the right, there was no sight of a dirt road, much less the “big metal carts” they were talking about. She was beginning to wonder if she was in the right direction after all when her stomach rumbled loudly.

She held her belly, wincing as the hunger pains hit her. She hadn’t eaten at all since yesterday, which didn’t sound like very long, but she had been running around nearly non stop since she first woken up, and surely her body had used a lot of energy back then to keep herself from freezing. It was way past the afternoon already, and she feared the ever approaching sunset, being in the dark meant being vulnerable, she couldn’t look for the town and find food when it was pitch dark and she stood out like a glowstick.

If only she knew how to hunt. Sol mumbled a curse as yet another potential prey, a small rodent with blue fur and a single yellow eye, noticed her approach and ran back into the safety of its den before she could even try and pounce. No matter what she did, she was always seen before she could get close enough, and she was reluctant to try to use her fire breath when they were all surrounded by grass, wood and leaves, the last thing she needed was to accidentally cause a huge forest fire while trying to find food.

She held the second pendant she was gifted with, eyeing the apparently common and cheap metal eye, conflicted. The purple gem that opened that portal back then was slowly starting to refill itself, now a few drops worth of liquid awaited their use, but it would take a long time to be able to make that stunt again. What worried her was that perhaps the eye functioned in a similar way, she could potentially end up without a disguise and a way to escape easily for an unknown period of time. What if she ran into trouble later?

She sat down beneath the shade of a tall tree to rest. Listening to the water racing down the river to her left, she sighed in relief as she stretched her aching limbs, she deserved a break after all, it was no use trying to make a decision while hungry and tired. Her eyelids felt heavy and she let out a tired yawn. Would it hurt to take a nap? 

A few fish leaped out if the water, the sunshine glimmering in their silver scales. When they weren’t trying to eat her or talking so loud her ears were still ringing, this world’s fauna was pretty beautiful. 

Another fish leaped off, showing off its bright green scales to the world.

Then an idea came to her mind. If someone were to ask her where she had seen something like that before, she would say she had absolutely no idea, all she knew is that it suddenly came to her after observing the fish for a while, brainstorming how to catch something to eat. 

Within a few minutes, she was back at the riverside, proudly holding her newly crafted weapon, a long stick with a sharpened end, like it was the most precious of treasures. She walked deeper into the river until the water was nearly up to her waist, with that, all she had to do was wait for a fish to swim by.

The hardest past of it all wasn’t having patience as she first thought, but actually hitting her target. There were plenty of fish and her makeshift spear, although undeniably basic, was doing its job just as intended, but whenever she attempted to strike, the fish would swim away as soon as the wood broke through the water’s surface or it would be blissfully unaware of the danger, but she would still end up missing anyway. It was becoming increasingly frustrating, just when things went her way for once, she still failed thanks to her lack of accuracy and experience. 

“Ugh, god dammit...” Sol growled, striking the water with her claws. Maybe she should try her luck again somewhere else, since she was fishing close to the shore where water was shallow, the fish were small, agile and consequently difficult to hit. There should be bigger fish somewhere deeper. There were a few rocks where she could stand on further away, but there was a problem: the current. She eyed the deeper waters, her ears lowered and she hugged the spear close to her. Fire wasn’t exactly a good mix with water, she didn’t even think she could swim. 

Sol breathed in deeply and stepped further into the water, clutching her spear like her own life depended on it (and it did).

Whatever happens, I’ll figure it out. Nothing will come out of staying idle and feeling pity for myself. So she had to cross a river, so what? She had been through worse, it’d be a piece of cake.

Then something jumped out out the water, two inches long teeth only narrowly missed digging into her flesh. Almost without thinking, she jumped out of the incoming attack, spitting out a decently sized blast of fire towards the creature, who let out a loud screech as the flames engulfed its body, flailing in the muddy water as it desperately tried to soothe its burns. Hunger completely forgotten, Sol screamed as she made a mad dash towards dry land, biting down a curse as the water slowed her down greatly, she was only halfway through when the creature, now angered, hissed loudly and swam towards her. It resembled a komodo dragon from afar, four short legs, a long tail and small eyes, some kind of mucus covering the entirety of its swamp green skin and fins, having dried out and hardened where the fire had hit, but it otherwise did not sustain any visible burns. 

There was not enough time, it was shortening the distance between them faster than her less than graceful run towards the shore. It’d catch her long before she reached safety, if it couldn’t walk on land as well, that is... unless...

It leaped once again, hook like claws and fangs coming down straight towards her, there was no way dodge it. With her spear in hand, she quickly spun around to face the amphibian, raising the sharpened towards it. The force of the impact sent her tumbling down, the sharpened end pierced the fragile skin without much effort, but not before the beast's claws could tear apart some of her own skin around her arms. The two rolled in the shallow water for a brief moment before stopping on dry land, Sol hissed as she held her shoulders, blood flowing out of her newest wounds. The creature had fallen a few feet away to her left, screaming and gagging as the broken wood pierced its stomach. Her spear had broken off during the impact as well.

Still with trembling paws, she made a beeline to where the other half of the spear had fallen, holding it tightly and ready to strike again. Small eyes glared at her as it gagged, a strange green liquid dripping from its mouth, sizzling when it touched the grass, which was corroded in an instant. It hissed and a spray of acid came out of a gland in its mouth, making Sol jump back to put distance in between them, but thankfully it hadn’t been able to make it strong enough to hit their target even if she had been staying still. Hissing and whimpering, it turned around and tried to waddle its way back into the depts of the river, desperately trying to remove the spear impaled on its stomach.

Sol wasn’t sure why she did that, call it hunting instincts or anger at seeing her attacker trying to escape, but she let out a deep growl and charged towards it, broken half of a spear in her paws and fire surrounding her body.

“Oh no, you don’t!” The large amphibian screeched loudly as Sol nearly stabbed it again on its back. It threw it’s head back and bit at the piece of wood before it could cause anymore damage to it, strong jaws broke the wood with incredible ease, reducing whatever was left of her spear to pieces. In response, Sol spit out as much fire as she possibly could at the moment, sinking her claws into its back as it trashed. The protective mucus around its skin made it nearly impossible to maintain a good grip on it, protecting it from further damage, although the high temperatures were causing it to evaporate and dry out. For a few moments, there was a mess of acid, blood, fire and mud as the two fought, Sol continued holding on the beast she could even as it rolled around in the mud and her skin burned thanks to the corrosive liquid. But even though she was using all her strength, she eventually slipped off and fell into the mud, she tried to get back up by grabbing the only thing she could reach: its tail.

There was a popping sound as Sol fell back into the mud, still holding the now disembodied tail. The creature swam back into the river, leaving a trail of mud and blood in the otherwise clear water, after a few seconds a very familiar piece of wood floated to the surface of the water, but her attacker never emerged.

She gasped for air, her heart hammering against her ribcage. She let the now gentle stream of water to wash off the remaining acid and and blood off her fur, the mud was starting to settle down and the water went back to being crystal clear, the soft current washing away any and all evidence of the battle that took place.

She placed a hand on her chest, feeling her heart starting to calm, and the teleporting stone hidden away securely in her fur.

Wait..

She felt around, but could only feel one of the pendants. Her heartrate skyrocketed once more as she desperately looked around, digging into the mud in search for the missing item, maybe it had fallen off while she was fighting against that mutated frog lizard.

No no no no, please no-

She felt something hard against her claws, she pulled the object out of the mud, feeling an immense relief at the sight of the eye shaped pendant, even if it was covered in mud. Sol hugged it for a moment before putting it on again. She needed to be more careful in the future, she had been immensely lucky that it hadn’t been washed away by the currents.

Talking about lucky...

The disembodied tail continued to twitch while half submerged, splashing in the water like a flailing animal. Sol walked over to it and picked it up, ignoring the aches of her bruises and cuts. Somehow, despite being no longer attached to its body, it still continued to twitch. 

Welp, the fishing didn’t exactly go as planned, but at least she found dinner.