Lucien wasn’t sure just how many miles he walked or how much time had passed since he started walking this path, but what he was sure of is that he was getting tired and needed to rest soon.He has been going at it for what has felt like days, he really only got sleep when he found these small caves. These caves were formed when rainwater slowly dissolved soluble rocks in turn creating cavities over time. If he had to sleep out in the open there were so many little creatures that would crawl on him, and some would bite, so sleep came rarely in these parts.In the passing days he surprisingly didn’t see anymore monsters.This was most likely due to the leftover aura from the king. Lucien knew the odds were, he most likely didn't have much longer before he would start to see or at least hear some movement. After another couple hours of walking,Lucien started to feel the ground below him starting to rumble, darting his eyes all around him he was praying he would find somewhere he could hide from whatever was coming. Looking around the desolate area for anything was a mission all in itself, without finding anything running was the only option Lucien had.

Whatever it was, his gut was telling him that this isn’t a fight he could win. Lucien ran as fast as he could, he was tired, hungry and thirsty, he was running full speed trying his best to get away from whatever he felt was coming his way. It almost felt like an earthquake, that whatever was beneath him was pushing through the dirt and rocks like a plow would push through snow. The ground started to crack in its wake, sending ripples across the surface.Lucien quickly realized that he wasn’t going to outrun this monster so he decided to take a stand and fight, and with those decisions he knew he would most likely die.

Before he even had a moment to take a breath, an eruption of dirt and soil took to the sky, right below his feet the ground began to buckle and crack. The adrenaline started to bleed into his body,Lucien tried to scramble away before being swallowed by whatever monster was below his feet.With every roll and jump Lucien made, the creature was right on his tail making a new pit in hopes that he made a mistake and fell in. Without warning a deafening roar pinned Lucien in his tracks, unable to move his muscles, fear creeped in like a tightening vice. Coiling around his chest and squeezing the very air from his lungs, Lucien was now for the first time, fighting for his life.He tried with every fiber of his being to kick the fear that paralyzed him in place, his thoughts racing back to his training with his father replayed in his head over and over. His dads voice in his head saying,

“Every person, doesn't matter if it's a man, woman, or child, they will all face fear in their lifetime, the types of fear are the only thing that people experience differently. If you don’t control it,fear can paralyze you, it can make you run in whatever direction it tells your body to move. It can even limit your brain from taking in information and stopping it from finding a solution to whatever problem you're facing.You need to overcome fear, don't let it control you, if you control it correctly you can use the fear to sharpen your senses and make moves you never would have been able to do before. If you are ever in the position where you are overcome with fear just remember, you have the ability to control the very thing that can cost you your life.”

With those words in his mind, Lucien forced himself to calm down, ignoring the fact that there is a new pit forming underneath him. He clung to the words his father spoke, Lucien dug deep inside of himself to let out his own guttural scream that was able to break the hold the monster had placed on him. In that moment the monster sensing it lost its hold on its prey it breached the surface. The ground rippled outward in violent waves before splitting open with an ear shattering crack, A towering black mass of writhing flesh makes its presence known.Clumps of soil and shattered rock rain down as the beat arches into the sky, its toothy maw opened wide ready to shred whatever prey is unfortunately in front of it.

This creature, easily the size of a minivan, with its obsidian like skin, and segmented body, moving with an unnatural grace, was trying to find where Lucien was. Its jet black skin glistens with moisture with almost a metallic sheen,each segment flexes and contracts acting like living armor. Lucien thought of all the different weapons he has seen and he is positive that not one of those weapons would be able to pierce this creature's hide. Looking at this ungodly creation, Lucien remembered this creature was called a Dreadborer. Way past his ability to handle Lucien was thinking of anyway to get out of this situation,his eyes scanning all around him, he noticed about three hundred feet or so there was a cave that he might be able to hide or try to take a stand in, but being here on open ground was in every way an advantage for the worm like creature.

Lucien stared at its gnarled maw, its jagged ridges twitching with restless hunger. Its mouth, a spiraling abyss of serrated, interlocking teeth,it sent shivers down Lucien’s spine. He needed to make a distraction if he was going to have any sliver of a chance. Carefully taking his pack off his shoulder he picked out a decent sized rock from near his feet, Lucien knew these monsters hunted by vibration and not but sight.With that knowledge he threw the rock as far as he could in the opposite direction from which he needed to run. As soon as the Dreadborer felt the rock hit the ground, he slipped back into the soil and bolted to the direction of where the rock landed. With the plan in motion and leaving his stuff on the ground, Lucien ran with everything he had. He felt the creature notice him and turn in the dirt to head right towards him, with the gap he was able to create he actually thought he had a chance to make it.

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Feeling the Dreadborer bearing down on him, Lucien could feel his legs starting to tire, he could feel the fatigue starting to build and the doubts started to creep in. Not wanting to give up, Lucien dug down and used everything that he had in the tank to get to this cave. He was feet away when the worm-like creature broke the surface mouth agape and that toothy maw was pointed right at him.The world seemed to slow down for Lucien, the rows of jagged teeth churning, as a stench of rotting earth and decay filled his lungs. Its massive, black form coiled towards him like a tidal wave of living muscle, and in that final heart stopping moment Lucien let out a prayer and from the corner of his eye a shadow ripped past him in the blink of an eye.

A deafening roar splits the air, and before the Dreadborer could strike, the ground beneath it explodes outward. A shape even more monstrous, even more impossibly vast, bursts forth and in its sights was the smaller monster. The Dreadborer didn’t even have time to react, a new, larger set of jaws, slams shut around the black worm and tore the beast in half. The worm, once the apex predator, writhes in agony,its segmented body thrashing wildly, but it's already too late. With a stomach churning gulp, the larger monster pulled the Dreadborer down into the darkness and then nothing but silence was heard. Too scared to move, Lucien had to take a moment to collect himself and find the courage to walk again. He slowly slid himself into the cave and calmed himself down.He felt like that fight took hours, but was really only a couple minutes.With the fight over, Lucien's adrenaline finally wore off and he drifted into a deep sleep in hopes that he could get some much needed rest.

Lucien wasn’t sure how much time had passed, but it was enough to where the sun was down and the moon was over the sky. With the giant land masses taking up the sky there was very little light to be had and the odds of traveling in this darkness were stupid at best, and he would definitely end up dead. Lucien waited until morning before he would continue his travels, first though, he had to go back to his things and see if there was anything left. Not really surprised when he got back to his things,and the last bit of food was taken,also his water skin was ripped into, and the contents were spilled onto the ground. Now with nothing left he had to figure out a way to get water and food, Lucien knew that he had at the very least another week or so without food but maybe three days without water. With another couple days passing and some rather close calls with more Dreadborers, Lucien was losing his will to keep going.He was thirsty, and hungry, and exhausted, all types of creatures during day time and night kept him awake and he was starting to feel the side effects of having so little of each. As the days blended Lucien's body started to betray him, all his movements seemed sluggish as if wading through thick invisible sludge. Next, he had the problem of a dry and swollen tongue, his lips cracked and burning, each swallow felt like sandpaper being forced down his throat. The pain in his stomach starting to dull but then the illusions of his mind starting to take over.Seeing water when it's not really there, or seeing people off in the distance.His head pounding relentlessly, and it increases every time he scrambles whatever energy he has left only to find the things he thought were real, were not.

Now every blink seemingly lasts longer and longer, every breath feeling heavier, his heart pounding slowly, weakening after each beat. A strange voice screaming at him in the back of his mind, his father yelling at him that if he doesn't find anything soon he will never make it back to see them ever again. Lucien was not one to give up not with his father yelling at him to keep moving, but the thought of sleep sounded so enticing. The weight of his body oddly enough is not a problem any more, the pain that was constant and gnawing at every movement seems too dull and fades away like trying to remember a dream when you first wake.

Lucien's vision starts to tunnel, darkness creeping at the edges, the world starts to narrow to a pinprick of light, flickering and threatening to cease to exist. Lucien begins to have flashbacks, memories from both of lives flash into his eyes, pieces of both worlds blending into one. Lucien starts to realise that he doesn’t fear what he knows is about to happen, he prides himself in knowing he made it as far as he could with no help from anyone. Cursing his luck and the hand that he was dealt in both lives, a thought entered his mind that finally now he will be able to rest and be at peace.

Sleeping comes to him like a floating sensation, drifting into the warm endless water where everything just seems to go quiet. Where the last thing he hears is nothing at all.

“Dad, there is a boy here!”

A voice slithered into brain, a voice that was not his own. He thought,

“Was that a girl's voice?”

“Quick, give him some water, not too fast, or it will do more damage than good. Bring him with us.” said the male voice

Lucien now annoyed at the fact that someone was ending the most peaceful sleep he has ever experienced.

“Wait two voices. What is going on?”