“Uhhh.” My back pulses in pain and I groan in response. Even though it is not near the level that I experienced at the hospital, it is still pain.

I quickly come back to my sense and take in a deep breath. The smell of decomposing leaves surrounds me along with an intense humid air that has a subtle smell of something else that I can’t seem to identify.

I open my eyes to see a gray film covering the sky and the air. The trees that stand above me have green-gray leaves and bark that is also tainted by the gray.

I am in a forest? It is similar in smell and appearance that I’ve been exposed to, but what is this smell and this gray color? As for the sound of insects, there does not seem to be any indication. I think and turn my head.

The forest is moderately crowded with trees and there is no sight of sky anywhere else besides the spot that I presume to have fallen through.

The snake that took me away from the hospital suddenly comes before my eyes. It smoothly floats above me and silently looks at me with its gemlike green eyes. For some reason, I feel a pain in my heart.

“How long before I hear you again?” I ask it.

The snake makes no indication of having heard me and gazes at me. Then it shrinks and moves onto my chest before curling up like a kitten with its eyes closed.

It is fine. It did say that it will be able to talk to me again after a while.

An old memory surfaces in my mind.

…

Dr. Hander and I were sitting across from one another at a table in the same white room.

Dr. Hander had his casual clothing that he always wore and he his face was filled with an amicable smile. There was a yellow folder in his hands that smelled of disinfectant.

He opened it and brought out pictures of people who had different pigments, eye, and skeletal structures. They also wore different clothing and had various hair styles.

“Today is the 1265th day that you’ve been admitted to this hospital since you were around one years old. Since you’ve been here, you have shown very good progress. Very excellent, in fact.” He placed the pictures onto the table. He then pointed at them, “Today, is a special occasion.”

I held my tongue and kept my face neutral to let him continue. It was a trained courtesy.

Dr. Hander looked me and said with his smile, “Everything has a name and categorization. These people here, have personal names, and names given to them based on their physical characteristics by others. Same as my colleagues and I. Now, take a look at these.” He then brought out pictures of animals, plants, and bacteria. “These organisms are not given personal names, but names as a species based on their characteristics to gather them all into one collective categorization.

“You on the other hand, don’t fit into any of these for categorization, or are you fit for a personal name. The reason being that you are so different from other humans to be granted a personal name and you are too different to conform to any collective organization due to your illness. Now, I’m not saying you can’t be named, and that is why today is special. Everything needs some form of name to actually gain identity and yours is Terra-Twelve. It signifies the land that we live on and the number to attempt to find a cure for your illness.”

…

The old memory disappears within the recesses of my mind and I find myself staring into open space.

What was going on? I ask myself, forgetting whatever I reminisced about.

I look back on the curled serpent that seems to be sleeping and I smile. Right, I need to give you a name. What would make a good name for you? What about Caerulus, because of your blue scales?

Caerulus’ tail coils around my arm in a comfortable fashion.

I nod my head before I think, what should I do now? Find people or just walk around.

I carefully get up with Caerulus in front on my chest and curiously look around. I come to a conclusion, these trees should be from the South-Eastern United States. The problem is that they appear to deviate from them, but how?

I walk closer to one of the trees and take a closer look at it. This is strange. It is definitely Bald Cypress, but the veins are black, and the leaf is dominantly gray… I break off a piece of bark and a thick, black liquid flows out that releases a black gas which combines with the gray air. The liquid clots and stops flowing out from the tree.

The liquid becomes a gas at a much higher rate than water and it also clots like the blood of an animal. I was never told anything about this kind of setting. I suppose I’ll move on. Maybe I’ll see something more definite.

I walk forward while keeping an eye out for anything strange. It is only a few step when I notice the sound of something heavily breathing some feet away. I stop my feet and listen. I realize the sound is getting closer with the slow snapping of twigs. For some reason, I also notice that my breathing rate is increasing and my heart is beating faster.

Caerulus opens its eyes and props its head over one of my arms that holds it. It stars in the direction of the sound with its eyes becoming more hostile.

When I look at Caerulus in front of me, I get a feeling of security, and my breath returns to normal. On a rational level, I find this ridiculous, but it is inexplicably a good feeling.

The bearer of the heavy breathing moves around the last tree blocking my line of sight and it astounds me.

Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

It is a deer. To be exact, a mutated form of a deer. It has no fur, which shows its gray skin, and black veins that quite visibly pulse through its body. All the muscles that a deer should possess are there, in a much more pronounced form. Its eyes are completely black like a Hollywood demon and three inch long teeth can be seen going along its entire jawline. The weirdest thing about it are the four tentacles that come out of its slightly open mouth. They act like antennae as they twist in the air, pointing themselves at me.

Is that really a deer? I could not be sure about my initial judgement. The creature has the shape and basic head of a deer, but it is wildly different from the type that I have seen before.

The deer opens its mouth wider, showing its numerous sharp shark-like teeth. It lets out a cry that sounds like the mixture of a squealing of a pig and the croak of a frog before it bolts toward me.

Caerulus shifts through my arms like smoke and flies in front of the deer before its entire body enlarges to fit the deer inside. The deer opens its eyes wide in a form similar to human disbelief and its tentacles swirl in a frenzy. It tries to turn around to run away, but its body is swallowed into Caerulus’s mouth where it entirely disappears.

Caerulus floats back into my arms in contentment and closes its eyes.

I continue to stare at the spot where the deer was and the sight keeps replaying in my head.

I never knew that could happen.

……

I look about and travel through the forest with Caerulus in my arms. In this direction, I notice that the gray air becomes lighter, or affected by something. The smell becomes fresher and I can hear the distant sound of insects and birds becoming closer. The sky also takes on a blue color with the sun shining from some direction.

I turn my head behind me to see that the gray air to confirm that it is actually denser.

This creates a line of thought that bugs me, Maybe it is some kind of blight or pollution? If that is the case, then why am I not afflicted, or haven’t been afflicted at all? They told me that my immune system is gone, so anything could kill me…

I continue walking until I come to the end of the forest that appears to have been cut down with numerous stumps hidden in a thick green overgrowth covering a large field. The air is also completely clear of the gray gas, but something else fills my nose.

I quickly set my eyes on the source, or rather sources. They are blood stained pikes standing at around ten feet in height. Each one of them are equally distanced from each other by around three hundred to five hundred feet. The blood appears to be fresh…

What is this? Another thing that I’ve never heard of before? In the medieval ages, and even during the French revolution that happened in the late 1700’s, the action of a decapitated head placed on a pole was still an occurrence. However, never in my mind, did I imagine that there would be lone standing pikes that are covered in blood, that are actually evenly distanced from one another.

They don’t seem to have the purpose to scare something off, but more to secure the area?

The thought seems ridiculous at first, but the pikes are placed in such a manner, and near the forest moving further into the field.

I suddenly hear steady footsteps coming closer from the fields’ direction. I hide behind a tree, sticking my body as close as I could to it. The confident noise of a conversation draws near.

What are they saying? I try to listen, but the words that I can hear are a jumbled mix of different languages. After a few rounds with the conversation coming nearer, I figure out that the words come from, at least, five different languages with the grammar being similar to English. My mind sorts through this and the information that was drilled into me from the doctors since the time I could remember, and I begin to translate what they’re saying

“These patrols are bullshit! Why do we have to patrol every other time and why is it always you and me in our Core? There are also at least six other Cores that can take our place!” A voice full of complaints drifts over.

“We’re Eye Cores, we’re supposed to. Hey, just think of our rank increasing soon. It’ll be worth it then.” The other voices says.

“That won’t happen to us, at least as long as that Over Core, Johan, keeps taking the spotlight for our entire Core.”

What is this Core and why do they keep saying basically the same thing but with placement of possibly groups and individuals? My mind boggles as I listen and try to think of what they mean.

“…”

“…”

The sound of their footsteps suddenly stop and a couple of clicking noises come near my ears.

The silence continues for a while when one of the voices whispers faintly, “The scanner is obviously picking up something from the forest, but it’s strange.”

“I can see it, dude.”

“Get fucking serious!”

“What do we need to be serious about? It is obviously as small as a child, what do we need to be afraid of? It is probably just another low mark natum that accidentally wandered into the area.”

What kind of classification is natum? Are they referring to me?

“A Core encountered and assumed what they found was a ‘low marked natum’ a few weeks ago, but it turned out to be moderate cascus. All twelve members were killed by it and it escaped.”

“… What should we do?” The complainers’ voice became a bit more stressed.

“Am I your nanny, or something? Obviously, we need to confirm before we contact the rest of the Core.”

“This, really sucks.”

A set of footsteps moves forward before they are abruptly stopped.

“Hold on. My scanner is showing that it should be behind that tree.”

“These unreliable things, I nearly walked to my death!”

By this point, I realize that they are definitely referring to me. I glance at the spot where Caerulus was situated to find that only its tail is sticking out of my chest. That also disappears.

I guess Caerulus has the same idea.

I step out from behind the tree with my hands raised above my head. I see two men wearing white and red ‘modern’ body armor. The white serving as a background for the red to form a shield surrounded by illustrations of strange creatures. In their hands are weapons that appear to be semi-automatics, which are pointed in my direction.

The two men stare at me with confused expressions.

The slightly taller of the two turns to the other one to whisper, “Is this the moderate cascus?”

The other responds indefinitely, “No… I think it is really just a child.”

I continue looking at them while wondering, Are they this unsure? As far as I know, I’m a child.

He directs his voice to me, “Hey, where do you come from?”

Even though I can understand them to an extent, I don’t know what words they use or if they change according to the situation. It would be better if I go by the truth and make them understand that I can only hear what they say.

I point to myself and shake my head.

The other man whispers, “Amnesia?”

“It might just be a case where he can’t speak.”

The other man directs his attention to me while whispering, “I must say, he really is strange. It looks like he crawled out from one of the cancer wards in the Straits museum. And even though he just came out of the plagued forest, he doesn’t even have a scratch.”

“In any case, he isn’t a Devourer, but this is very strange. We haven’t received any missing reports from any of the front acres… I’m going to send a message to the rest of the Core and we’ll bring him with us.”