Running. She couldn’t stop running. Her face, smeared with blood and tears, was twisted into the shape of absolute horror.

She just witnessed something that no one should have to see. Her parents were torn limb from limb right before her eyes.

She had been running for hours and her legs were beginning to waver. “Why!?”, her mind kept screaming through the agony.

Suddenly as she passed through some dense shrubbery a sudden blessing was granted. There before her she was able to make out a small shack made of shabby planks of wood through the darkness of the night.

Finally I can rest, the thought came through a haze of pain and anguish. She had run herself completely raw, the shock from her parents’ deaths was beginning to wear off, and the anguish of death was washing over her, like a cold rain. She nearly instantly fainted after pushing herself through the squeaking door. Luckily the shack was abandoned.

Agrios’s Point of View:

Hmmm, seems that doesn’t work either, I think to myself as yet another trial fails.

It’s been a two days since the ceremony and a majority of the tribe has already left this area to resume their usual nomadic tendencies. I, however, have decided to stay here at the caves for now and try to figure out my “skills” that ‘God’ gave me.

I’ve been wandering around in the forest trying to get one of my skills to activate to no avail. I’ve already done a perimeter sweep of the area about a day ago.

Now I was returning to what I’ve decided will be my base away from the caves. I am slowly approaching the point I am heading to by jumping through the dense trees so the local animals will leave me be. Through observation I’ve noticed that they mostly stick to the well worn trails, on the path of least resistance, and jumping tree to tree came surprisingly natural to me.

There in a clearing is my shack. Apparently someone had lived here before, meaning there is probably a town nearby.

As I drop to the ground from the tree I was perched in and begin walking forward, my senses suddenly pick up an unknown entity in the lurching cabin.

Suddenly my eyes begin to dilate as I go into high alert. A warm glow begins to permeate from the other side of the plank wall. Seems as though I have some sort of life or heat detection as an inborn trait.

I nearly jump out of my skin when a soft, female-sounding voice plays in my head saying, “Heat signature detected. Entity in critical condition.”

What? What the hell was that? M-maybe this is related to one of my ‘Skills’? What were they again? I know I heard something about Evolution and Studying… This must be the Study one? Weird…

Snapping back to reality I begin pacing quickly to the door. As I open it and I see her…

Her slender body is lying face down on the ground and is drenched in blood. Her clothing is completely shredded on her back and I can clearly see terrible gashes there amongst her blood-matted dark green hair.

“Oh my God!”, I shout. ”Hello? Are you okay? Are you even ALIVE?!”, I question desperately.

Gently I reposition her onto her side and put my hand to her forehead. It is met by an intense heat emanating from her skin.

She’s cooking alive… At this rate she won’t make it much longer.

She slowly cracks open one eye with a face full of pain and, seeing me, her eyes shoot open.

“P-P-Pleaseeee noo… Let me live plea- *cough*.”, is all she manages to pull out of herself before she violently coughs up some dark blood and collapses again.

Looking around for anything that might be hers I find a small necklace.

“Moonstone Necklace. Not of high value.”, says the soft voice in my head.

I quickly grab it and wrap it around my hand. I then heave the unknown girl onto my back and nudge the door open with my foot.

Think. Think…THINK! I could take her to the stream I found during my perimeter sweep if I could remember where it was… Where the hells was it again!?

As soon as I finish the thought a weird feeling begins to push me in a certain direction.

Guess I have no other choice, instincts don’t let me down. With a determined feeling I begin moving as fast as I can manage toward the direction I felt a pull from.

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About 15 minutes later I can hear the sound of moving water. Yes! Go gut feelings! A small smile sprouts across my face.

Stumbling forward under the weight of the slightly larger than me girl I slowly approach the stream. Once I get close enough I gently lay her face up in the cold stream water.

What follows is unbelievable. Just as I am laying her in the water a cloud of blackish-red blood begins to trail down the stream from her body and she begins to shake slightly.

Just as I am beginning to think it is worse than I had originally thought she begins to shake more uncontrollably and also begins to glow.

“What the hell is going on!”, the thought pervades my mind as her eyes open with a bright green glow and she sits up in the water.

The blood cloud suddenly stops and the exhausted girl once again collapses. This time she nearly sinks into the water before I grab her and began dragging her out of the stream. Inspecting her back I realize the wounds are completely gone. Seems the water did something incredibly unnatural.

With a nod and a, “Right!”, I heave her back onto me and begin the venture back to my caves.

Girl’s Point of View:

I woke up to eyes. Bright orange eyes that shined with a sense of hunger and death.

“P-P-Pleaseeee noo… Let me live plea-”, was all I could muster before losing consciousness.

“Hey! Heyyyyyyyy!”, comes an irritating voice. “Wake upppp! What’s with all you mortals, making everyone wait on your sleep schedules ehhh?!”, comes the voice again.

“Whaa?”, I mutter.

“Whhhaa? That’s all you got? Whaaa? C’mon I don’t have time for this… I have people to watch yuh know?”, comes a snarky reply.

Realizing I don’t feel anymore physical pain I open my eyes to see a small girl with black hair and a white dress.

“Therrrreee we are. Nice and awake. Now. I’m God. Now I know you have questions, like you guys always do, but I can tell you now I don’t have time to answer them. Busy doing…God stuff. Point is I brought you here for a reason instead of just letting you die, so be grateful and get over it. Anyways the reason is the one that ‘saved’ you is mine. By mine I mean he’s chosen by me.”, she pauses.

“A-alright.”, I stutter out.

“You don’t talk. Only nod.”, she continues as I nod. “Right so what I’m getting at is your world’s gods asked me to revive you because of some special favor. Lucky you being a half-breed eh?”

I nod in response. Then realize that if this is truly “God”, she is who is responsible for my parents deaths.

“Now now now, you don’t wanna go down that path. There lies nothing but pain and misunderstandings.”, muttered the girl in a voice not like her original. “I may be God but I can’t just do whatever I want you know, it ruins the whole progression of things. You mortals aren’t just dolls that I pull by strings. My interventions come at very specific times, usually upon death. It also takes a certain amount of power, paired with a certain kind of situation for someone to allowed to continue their life after it comes to an end. Take you for example, you happen to be a half-breed with two patron gods pushing for your survival, and you happened to come into contact with one of my Touched. And, I happen to sort of like you.”, she finishes with a half smile, a look of apology in her eyes.

I simply let my stare fall to the ground. “I guess there’s nothing I can do then.”, the whisper barely escapes my lips.

“Oh my child… Don’t worry. I know you can’t understand it, but life does not work the way mortals think it does. It is a never-ending tapestry, each life being but a single thread. Don’t get hung up on their deaths, they are moving on to something new, and I GUARANTEE, you will see them again. In some other life.”, she finishes as she places a hand on my shoulder.

“Now I’ve brought you here to grant you something. Your life ended in the stream my chosen took you to, however it has been restored. Now, I only ask you do me a favor.”, she says quietly.

I simply nod. At least it’s not over for them I conclude.

“I simply want you to keep him in line. Don’t let him fall to it. He holds an overwhelming power, don’t let it consume him.”, she whispers even fainter, yet the words echo throughout my mind, bouncing in its walls.

Turning me around and placing her hand on my back she whispers, “Control.”, and gives me a sudden shove. I begin falling and the ground around and in front of me opens into a void like hole.

“Goodbye. Be really entertaining!”, comes a shout as I fall through the hole.

“WHA!”, I jostle up with a start from a deep sleep.

I am sitting in the dark. Well, mostly dark. As I look around I see that a majority of the ceiling is glowing faintly. “That’s beautiful…”, I whisper admiringly, still a little light headed from the feeling of falling. I then realize I have some sort of fur blanket draped over my lower body and I am laying on a mound of furs.

Faintly, I can hear footsteps approaching from outside the entrance to the room.

Agrios’s point of view:

“Hello?”, I whisper as I walk into the sleeping area, “You awake?”

“Y-yeah…”, comes a heavenly voice.

“I… I’m sorry if I scared you earlier…”, I say.

“It’s okay. I see now you were trying to save me… My name is Eia. Thank you for helping me.”, she replies with a small smile.

“My name is Agrios. Not a problem. You were literally on my doorstep after all.”, I say with a chuckle. “So. Care to explain what all the flashing and healing was about?”

“Oh. That. Well. That’s not common for me if that’s what you’re asking… It seems that my gods took pity on me and asked the all-God for help. I’m a half-breed… A hybrid. A mutt. There’s a lot of names for it but basically I’m half Gorgia and half Ti’Ani. We’re rare and infertile but we do exist. My mother is Ti’Ani and my father Gorgia… Well I guess I should say was now… But, as a hybrid you have the favor of two gods… For me it’s Anystia and Gorex…That explains why I survived when… When…”, she explains as she slowly begins to cry.

“So what exactly happened?”, I asked.

She sniffs, and her face falls still once more.

“Well. I don’t really wanna think about it but it’s all I really can think about… My parents and I live in the forest. Lived. Lived in the forest. Somewhere around here… I don’t know where anymore. We were attacked… By a Gyurig Bear…”, she finishes solemnly...