"Wake up Jake, please, wake up!"

A soft feminine voice sounded close to Jake's ear, together with loud knocking. Trying to figure out why his sister was waking him up this early on a Saturday, Jake decided to turn to the side but couldn't. Something was stopping him from rolling over. Jake grunted loud while his awareness slowly returned, and with it, the memories of the last few days. Jake lurched up, opening his eyes.

All around him, debris from the hospital walls was falling to the ground causing the banging noises he had heard. Emma was sitting next to him, tears in her reptilian eyes. As soon as she saw him look at her, she began rubbing at them with her hands, at the same time sniffing her nose.

"It took you long enough," she muttered, sounding scared and angry.

Shaking his head in confusion, Jake ignored her and looked around for Mason. He saw his friend still unconscious, lying a small distance away next to some ruble. Scrambling to his feet, Jake looked around. Something wasn't right, something was missing, but he couldn't put his finger on it. Then the hairs on his head stood up as he realized that Davids body was gone. The pool of blue blood was still there, but there was no sign of the corpse anyway. Besides the Fiend's corpse, Synthia wasn't anywhere either.

"Shit." Jake hissed and rushed towards Mason.

It took him a few minutes to rouse his friend, who seemed disinclined to wake up.

"Ergh, what? Where? Jake, what is going on?" Mason's voice sounded rough as if he had come back from an evening of drinking.

"Davids body is gone, and Synthia is missing too" Jake hissed back.

It took a moment for Mason to react, but then he stood up and looked around.

"He must have disappeared in the merging..." Jake said, sounding unconvinced of his statement.

Mason shook his head, looking deep in thought.

"I don't know. Mabey Synthia took his body?" He said eventually.

Emma walked towards them, and with her eyes glued to Mason stepped in front of him.

"I am sorry I yelled at you. But you shouldn't kill people. It isn't a good solution." Standing half as tall as him, she was looking at him with serious eyes. It seemed she had awoken before them and had time to mull things over.

As Mason stared at her with his mouth open, unable to react, she continued.

"But I still like you. I am sure you won't ever hurt anyone that doesn't deserve it. Just don't kill anybody, ok? What if you ever make a mistake? You can't turn it back."

Mason nodded silently before dropping to his haunches and staring her into the eyes. "Who told you all these things?"

Emma smiled bitterly. "My mother." Then she turned around and started rummaging in the remains of the closet, pulling out shirts and inspecting them.

Sighing, Jake looked at the small Kobold. "Emma, do you know what happened to Synthia?"

The girl looked over her shoulder and nodded.

"She woke just after I did. When she saw Davids body was missing, she left. "

"Did she say where she was going?" Jake asked in a surprised tone.

The girl shook her head and turned back to the closet. "No, she just thanked me, looked at you two for a moment, and then ran off."

Jake and Mason shared a sad look before looking around the room for anything useful.

--

"We aren't in.."

"DONT! JUST. DONT." Jake interrupted Mason's lousy joke as he stared out of the entrance of the hospital towards what used to be downtown.

Everything was gone besides a small stretch of road that disappeared into a dense jungle that stretched as far as they could see. It was as if some giant hand had scooped out that entire side of the city, and perhaps everything behind it, replacing it with something else. At the edge of the jungle stood a few buildings of which only half still existed, the other parts ripped away, leaving, jagged, broken edges.

"So, now what do we do? Going back home just became a lot more difficult." Mason said, kicking a piece of stone debris towards the jungle in the distance.

He got no answer, and they moved in front of the hospital to get a better view, stopping in the middle of the large parking lot. This time there were no more cars, and most of the asphalt looked ancient with withered cracks and green fungus growing over many parts. The previous sounds of falling buildings and explosions had stopped, and now the only sounds remaining came from the jungle. High pitched screeches, bird calls and once in a while a loud trumpeted roar created a creepy atmosphere.

Jake turned around, scanning the remains of the city. The towering buildings where gone, the tallest remaining no more than two stories high giving him an almost unobstructed view of the place he had lived in for five years. In many cases, entire stretches of the city now looked like a greyish, sandy, desert and he had a hard time finding anything familiar.

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Standing close to Jake, Emma was also looking around, her eyes wide open and a scared look on her face.

"What do we do now?" She whispered after a while.

Mason and Jake looked at each other, exchanging some unread message before nodding.

"Our home is close to Limewood, and after we walk around that jungle, we will reach our families," Jake said to his friend, trying to sound confident.

"Are you leaving me here?" Emma asked in a soft voice, looking lost.

"No, no, no!"

Mason stepped forward, seeming to want to hold Emma's hand, but she dodged him. Tears were filling her eyes.

Groaning softly, Mason dropped his hand and looked at the young Kobold.

"Of course, you come with us!"

Just as Emma seemed to calm down a strong tremor caused the side of the hospital to collapse and the entrance they had just exited caved in causing a loud ruckus. Jumping forward, Mason gripped Emma's hand and dragged her away from the falling debris.

"We can't stay here," Jake said, picking some small rocks from his clothing and waving in the air trying to clear away the dust.

"Ow shit..." Mason's strangled voice startled him, and he looked up quickly.

Mason was gripping Emma's hand, and both of them looked at a part of the city behind Jake that still had a few one-story buildings.

Tracking their gaze, Jake shuddered. Thousands of shining eyes were staring at him. Already covering most of a fallen building, more and more mutated rats emerged from cracks and holes.

"Shit," Mason whispered again, but this time his voice seemed to anger the rats who screeched ones and then started swarming their way.

"RUN!" Jake screamed, grabbing Mason's shoulder and pulling him along. Emma almost tripped as she was dragged along by Mason. Cursing, Mason pulled himself free, releasing Emma and pushing her towards the jungle. Soon all three of them were sprinting towards the jungle.

Loud screeches followed them, and they could hear the wave of rats tearing through the debris. Within a few meters, the fleeing Kobolds had left the old parking lot and put their feet on soft brown soil.

As soon as they put their feet on it, they began speeding up. Their taloned feet were digging deep into the ground, propelling them onward.

Jake saw Emma start to overtake him, her legs moving in a blur. Wondering for a moment how anybody's legs could move that fast, he saw a flash from the corner of his eyes and looked over quickly. From the side of the city, parallel to them, two giant cats were sprinting towards the jungle, followed closely by a wave of rats. Their ears were flat on their heads, tails all puffed out as they rushed to stay ahead.

"..that...is… not… something… you see… every… day… Haha", Mason managed to get out in between his rough breathing. Looking at the cats, he changed his course slightly, so he was no longer heading towards the same spot.

Following his friend, Jake took a quick look over his shoulder. The rats were still following them, but the distance was increasing, and Jake saw some of the rats at the back of the wave slow down and stop. After two or three more breaths only the closest rats followed them and looking at the other side where the cats had almost reached the jungle, Jake saw that most rats had stopped following them as well.

In front of him, Mason had reached the edge of the jungle and rushed through the first line of trees, Emma right behind him. Following them, Jake noticed that the ground inside was overgrown with green and purple veins. Every time he stepped on one, he heard a soft squeaking noise like someone was squeezing a rubber duck.

When he reached a dense part of vegetation that was blocking almost all visibility deeper in the jungle, Jake stopped next to Mason and Emma. The other two were inspecting the green and brown branches covered in dark purple leaves in front of them. Behind them, the rats that had not stopped rushed into the forest. They were slamming into each other and the trees in their haste to get to the Kobolds.

Feeling his heart-rate skyrocket, Jake looked from the ominous wall of vegetation to the incoming rats.

"We can't fight them. We have no other choice." Mason whispered, sounding just as scared as he was feeling.

Grabbing Emma's hand, Jake turned around and placed his hand on the leaves and branches. The branches felt slightly warm to the touch, while the leaves felt like every other leaf he had ever felt. Steeling himself, Jake began pushing harder, and soon his hand and arm slipped between the branches disappearing from view. Swallowing, he looked at Mason. "Hold her other hand, so we don't get split up."

"I already have her hand, get moving before we become rat food."

Without giving himself another chance to hesitate, Jake pushed into the jungle. As soon as plants surrounded him from all sides, the noises seemed to fade away in the distance before they disappeared completely. It became dark and quiet, and soon they only heard the occasional animal call.

Some of the branches were sharp, and Jake felt what remained of his clothes tear and rip in many places. Luckily the scales on his skin seemed strong enough because he only felt some painless scratching and nothing even remotely capable of breaking his skin. Behind him, he heard the breathing of the other two, appearing too loud in the silent darkness.

"I am scared.." Emma's voice came out like a high pitched whisper that broke off when she started crying softly.

"Don't worry, little one. I don't hear those rats anymore. Perhaps they are too afraid to follow us." Mason replied from the back.

Squeezing Emma's hand in what he hoped was a reassuring gesture, Jake kept moving forward, feeling the air become damp and hot. All of a sudden he felt a slithering sensation next to his leg and in reflex he slapped at it.

"Ouch! Something hit my tail..." Emma wailed, not soft at all this time.

Cringing Jake forced himself another step forward, wondering how long they would need to move through this jungle before they find a clearing or an end.

--

High up in a tree, a sharp, very dark blue reptilian snout poked out between the large leaves. Blue eyes with yellow dots in them scanned through the dense plants below. A brownish leather armor partially covered two strong arms as they pushed aside the leaves to get a better look. The light from above sometimes caused the blue scales on the uncovered portions of the arms to sparkle.

"Are you sure you heard something?" A raspy voice asked, before another head, covered in yellow and blue scales, poked out from the leaves. This one had a long ugly scar from the tip of his snout, tearing through one of his nostrils all the way to were an ear was supposed to be.

"Yess, you sshould not have come Tergin. Your handicapss will prove your undoing."

"Says you, who speaks like a snake! Now be quiet, or I will rip your throat out and leave you for the Headrils."

"ENOUGH!" A third head, almost completely covered in yellow scales poked through the leaves. Massive and with prominent jaw muscles, it was hovering above the others.

"There should be nothing on this rotten island besides some Headrils, and those don't make any noise. What did you hear Ensir?"

Ensir bared his teeth, glaring at Tergin for a moment before responding. "A scream, and unintelligible muttering."

The largest one sniffed. "Then we will find whatever it is and rip it apart. We have lost too much getting here, we won't, can't search for another place."

Then he disappeared back inside the foliage quickly followed by the other two.