Ammon pressed his back up against the tree with the light blue bark and silver leaves. He tried to hold his breath in so the monster wouldn't find him. He peaked around the tree then dashed to the next crouching behind it to make sure he wasn't seen.

The monster had its back to him. He smiled and jumped out at the monster. He slashed down with his super sword and activated his ultimate ability.

Thwack!

"Ouch!! Ammon! You hit me really hard!" Ember growled out holding her arm where he had hit her with his little wooden stick. Her face scrunched up and she started to cry. Alligator tears quickly appeared in her eyes and rolled down her cheek.

Oops, he might have hit her a little harder than he meant to. He tried to explain to his little sister.

"Ember, I'm so sorry, are you okay?" Now that he said what he was always told to say he said what he really wanted to. "Ember you were a monster and I had to get you with my super robot sword. It has a monster heart inside it and… Ember! You're not listening!"

Ember was still crying, but she looked at him calming herself down enough to listen a bit.

"Ember you have to be a monster so can kill you with my sword," Ammon stated as though it was obvious.

Ember paused for a moment then a smile split her tear soaked face. "I'm a monster! Rawr!" She ran at her brother and did her best to pretend scratch him. Then she quickly jumped down to her hands and knees and did the same scratch again. "I'm a monster kitty. Meow. Rawr!!"

Ammon was frustrated. "No Ember! You have to be the same monster that we saw a long time ago."

A voice interrupted them from the side. "Yesterday. We saw that monster yesterday."

Ammon looked at Haley. She was sitting under a tree with bright yellow leaves. She had her arms hugged around her legs. He almost forgot she was there. She had been throwing a tantrum pretty much the whole time they had been here. He would have gotten a time out if he acted like that.

"Yeah, Ember, you have to be the monster we met yesterday, not a monster kitty." Ammon said turning back to important things. "Then I'm going to stab you with my super awesome sword." He held the sword in a triumphant pose trying to sell how amazing this game would be.

Ember just ignored him and kept playing as a monster kitty. Ammon was about to tell her the right way to play again when a new voice came from behind him. He whirled around with his sword between him and the new threat.

"Wow, what a cool sword!" Summer said in a bright voice as she walked up to the group. "And Ember, you make a really scary monster kitty. Now, come over little kitty, here I have some snacks for you guys."

Summer was Haley's older sister. Summer was pretty much a grown up while Haley was only half of a grown up or something. He would probably be as old as her in a million years. Summer was saying something that he didn't hear. He held two and then three fingers up. Maybe three million years?

"Ammon!" Summer shouted loud enough to break through his thoughts. "Come eat some snacks."

He moved over to join the little picnic under the shade of the yellow tree. There were weird looking foods assorted into little sections on a large silver platter.

He saw more of the orange berries he had tried last time. He liked them, but they weren't his super favorite.

Haley looked at the tray with disgust. "Are we really going to eat what those monsters are giving us? It's probably poisonous or something."

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Summer looked at Haley with the same look his Mom often gave him. Yep, she was definitely 6 or 7 million years older than him.

"Haley," Summer responded with an exasperated voice, "you have to eat, or at least drink something. We have all eaten the food and we have been just fine."

"Yeah, you're 'just fine' until the monsters start climbing out of your belly," Haley said. "I've seen this type of thing in the movies. We are just here so they can harvest our bodies."

Ember suddenly stopped eating the crackers that Summer was feeding her. Ammon took his biggest bite yet and shouted, "I'm a monster!" Both of the older girls looks shut down his game before it started. Grown ups didn't know how to have fun.

"If they wanted our bodies who do you think they'd go after first? The ones that are eating and staying healthy or the sickly ones that won't take care of themselves?" Summer reasoned to her sister.

Haley paused at that and then voraciously dug into the food. Summer held up a cup of water for her frantic sister which she took and gulped down quickly.

Girls are weird, Ammon thought to himself. He wished they had another boy trapped in here with them. Instead it was just his sister and these two super old sisters. They didn't know how to play the right way.

He looked around at the little triangle enclosure they were in. They were surrounded by 3 giant golden walls. The walls were somewhat see-through and he saw other people in enclosed spaces beyond them. There were lots of weird looking trees and grass inside. It was like their own little park to play at all day long.

He didn't like it here at night time though. He remembered the night before and shivered. Summer had gone to the Pillar in the corner of the room and got them bedrolls. He always had his Mom and Dad there to tuck him in at home, but here…

Summer had said that all she did was wish for the bedrolls and they would appear. Today he would try to make his own wish.

He ate another orange berry. Summer and Haley were still bickering about something and Ember was humming while she ate her food. Ammon grabbed a couple extra berries and decided it was a good time to escape.

Ducking between trees he made his way over to the rounded corner where he shared a small part of the big pillar with the other enclosures. He set his determination and shoved his hands into the Pillar. They sunk in quickly and it felt like the slime his parents would sometimes make for them.

A blue screen appeared on the golden substance before him. He recognized the letters, but he couldn't read. That wouldn't stop him.

Just ask, he told himself, just ask and you might get it.

"Can… can I have a sword?" He asked and added, "please." A moment later he felt something press into his hands in the weird golden playdough. He pulled it out and saw a blue sword resting in his hands.

My wish came true! He thought.

He was so surprised that it worked and so sure that he had what he needed now. Now he could save his mom and dad.

He held the sword and swung it a few times. He was so excited that he finally had the way to beat the monsters. He attacked the nearby tree hoping his sword would slice right through the thick blue trunk.

The sword bounced off the tree with a wooden thunk. His stomach dropped his blue sword looked a lot like the blue wood of the tree before him. They had given him a wooden toy sword…

Tears ran down his face. He had wasted his wish.

He ran back to the Pillar and shoved the wooden sword back into the golden goop.

"Take it back!" He screamed, "I don't want a sword. I want my wish back. I want to wish for my Mom and Dad! I don't want the sword, I want my Mom and Dad!" He fell into unintelligible sobs. Tears rolled down his face.

The golden goo forced his hands, still grasping onto the sword, slowly out of the pillar. He tried to let go of the sword, but the Pillar held his hand firmly around the wooden hilt. It pushed his hands fully out and Ammon sank to his knees with wracking sobs.

"Normally I wouldn't be able to help with such a request," a deep vibrating voice spoke from above him, "but it just so happens that your Dad became one of the Chosen."

Ammon looked up at the gray monster man that stood above him. He must have just exited the Pillar. The monster had four eyes and ghoulish features. Despite that he seemed to have a kind expression on his face.

He looked down at Ammon and winked with 2 eyes. "Would you like to see your Dad?"

A blue screen popped up on the pillar and Ammon saw a familiar man sneaking through a dense forest with purple trees.