My breathing is kept to a minimum, my pulse stays low. My eyes scan the narrow road ahead of me as I await what is to come. The foliage covers my position impossible for anyone to detect me.

My fingers fumble around a lacklustre locket left ajar, caressing the smooth surface with bumps of rust here and there.

Inside of this locket, there is a photo. A photo of a man sitting on a throne wearing a smart ceremonial uniform and medals pinned to his breast and collar. He exudes an aura demanding authority and respect even while being framed in a picture.

Contrasting this authoritarian figure, a lovely bubbly little girl sits on his laps. Her frilly dress and bow on hair made her cute and adorable. Her cheerful energetic smile beams brightly through the photo as if she has no care for all the troubles in the world.

The man may look like me but I can assure you, this locket is not mine.

I never wish to open my eyes again yet I find myself in the middle of a forest unknown to me. Standing in an open clearing surrounded by the dark woods, my body that was in a decrepit state had its youthful vigour returned.

A path opens up into the dark forest and I followed it though I do not know why. Is it because I have nothing else to lose? Or is an outside force walking me through this unknown area? Whatever the case may be, an eery silence devoid of life envelops my senses as I follow the path.

Eventually, I come across a crevice at the end of the path. Squeezing through it, I manage to come out the other side where my eyes could not believe what I saw.

Nature untouched by the mechanism of conflict, the air purified from the soot that once stained my lungs. No, this is not what surprised me.

Before me, it was my body. Yet, it was not.

A shark humanoid man with the same facial features as I do. Black hair, pale skin and a deep hole gouged out of his abdomen. From his half open eyes, they reveal crimson red pupils just like mine.

It took me a while and several double takes to realise it is not me and that I’m still alive. The difference between us is the obvious shark tail and gills on both sides of his necks. Pale blue scales shallowly coat the joints of his limbs and parts of his cheeks.

Wearing ragged clothes thin enough to stop frostbite from the lightest of breeze, I knew there would be nothing to find in his pockets. But that doesn’t mean he carried nothing.

One hand is splayed open while the other grasps onto something round. I unfurl his finger to find a locket left open as if the man was admiring the picture within it.

With the locket in my hand, looking at it only pains my heart. The girl in the photo… Why must she, of all people, resemble her… Why must she resemble my own deceased daughter…

If not for the same shark features as the humanoid man, I would have found myself in greater despair unable to tell reality from delusion again.

After realising that there is no good staying here feeling remorse beside this man’s corpse, I carried on walking. There is a blood trail leading back to the man and I followed it. It brought me to a beaten dirt road where there ruts from a pair of thin wheels engraved into it.

The trail abruptly ends but continue on to discover the site of a massacre. Three carriages in different states of damage park to the side of the road as more bodies laid on the ground. Their blood stained the dirt, soaking the soil to become red mud.

Disfigured and dismembered, pieces are torn and separated. They were mostly humanoids with a wide variety of animal DNA engraved into their genetic coding. Just like the man before, their clothing are all ragged and worn while their bodies are severely malnourished and thin.

Among the corpses, there are humans but only a few. Metallic armour cover their chest and back while the rest of their bodies are supplemented with leather padding. A broken sword or bow lay to their side and rarely do you find any to be intact.

BOOOOM!!!

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A third explosion snap me back to reality. That is the third one since discovering the bodies and the carriages.

I was beginning to inspect the carriages for their content when the first one knocked me off my feet. Fortunately, I manage to avoid falling into the pool of blood beneath me.

Immediately, I scale up a tree to its highest point just as a second one erupts. Far off in the distance, 2 clouds of dust appear just over the top of the treeline. One beginning to settle down with the other still rising up.

Taking the two points, I estimated where and when the next one would be. Which leads me back to where I am now. Although I didn’t expect my estimates to be this far off, the source is definitely passing through this thin stretch of road.

I wait. The vibrations in the earth can be felt on the branch I sit upon.

Over the horizon, I spot it. A huge hoarde of humanoids stampeding down the road at rapid speed. It almost made me flinch.

A dead humanoid is nothing but an alive one is a serious threat.

Created to fulfil the role of super soldiers, humans are combined with animal DNAs that alter their physical appearance and abilities. It was an ambitious project long before my time but it did not go to plan.

Humanoids are hostile. They act on pure instinct as they tear and consume every living being in sight.

I raise the sword I borrowed from a human preparing myself if they ever spot me. However, I can’t help but feel something is off.

From this distance, their faces do not show signs of feral aggression but a genuine fear. It is as if they are being chased by… oh dear…

It appeared. From behind, a humongous monster looms over them.

A pair of pointed horns, beady eyes and an elongated snout puffing steam with each breath. A muscular human top is paired with the rear of a bull for its bottom. Patches of dark brown fur coat the surface where the human parts do not exist. It’s a minotaur, and its hideous.

Wielding a gigantic stone war axe with both hands, it swings the weapon as if its weightless. Despite its shoulders scraping along the wall of trees lining the narrow pathway, the axe hit true on any unfortunate victims within the minotaurs range.

Gargled screams and cries turn distinct as they approach…

“Help me!” “I don’t wanna die! I don’t wanna die!”

Taken aback, I can’t believe what I heard.

These humanoids… they’re speaking words?!

This shouldn’t be possible. Humanoids are stripped of their intelligence upon transformation. At best, they would scream till their voice box gets ripped. Moreover, the words they spoke is in fluent Serlusian, the language of my home country.

Intriguing… this is very intriguing.

Subconsciously, I begin fidgeting in excitement. A new type of humanoids pique my curiosity and I want to learn more about them.

The minotaur slowly picks off the humanoids one by one but I do not intervene. There is no need for me to do so anyways. The more the minotaur kills, the less likely I’ll be able to communicate which is bad. However, the unlucky ones are just the stragglers lagging behind.

The bunch at the front is the main group that are gradually increasing their distance away from the minotaur. So long as this bunch make it through, there is no need for me to save the hopeless ones.

At last, the main group passes beneath me as I watch from above. Like a panther observing the hunters go by, I remain still scanning through these humanoids. Just like the corpses back at the carriage, their conditions are really poor.

Then, a middle-aged cat humanoid turns around to go against the flow.

She pushes through trying to head back while shouting, “Lusaia! Where are you!”.

Her voice is drowned out by the frantic cries and screams of those passing by.

“It’s no use Marianne! Let her go!”

“Stop it! I can’t leave that child behind!”

Her attempt is foiled as an acquaintance drags the lady away like a shell washed into the vast ocean.

I search the crowd and notice something in the ground. It obstructs the flow of the humanoids as they trample over the object. Each time it got step on, it flinches as what seem to be appendages protect itself from the humanoids’ feet.

The last of the main group leaves and the object is finally revealed. It is a little shark girl. Her body bruised with reddish black marks all over her milk white skin.

I had assumed that she was a goner. Her frail malnourished body should be dead after taking all that beating. But to my amazement, her fingers twitch.

Weakly, the girl push herself up trying to get a grip of what just happened. This is when I catch a glimpse of her face…

My lips quiver, I almost fall back from where I sat. My body shivers not wanting to believe what I saw. One thing after another, they are all a shocker waiting to unsettle my sanity.

This girl… She is my daughter!

Wait. No! Get a grip of yourself, Reino!

I slap myself almost forgetting the shark features that is on the girl.

This girl isn’t my daughter… she just looks like her.

This child is the man’s daughter. Taking out the locket, I confirmed again that she really is.

I grip tightly to the locket. I know I have no need to help the stragglers but seeing the girl in such a state…

I understand fully that this girl isn’t my daughter but the thought of “what if she was?” can’t get out of my head.

As I dwell on the dilemma swirling through my thoughts, I forgotten that the minotaur is still here.

By the time I come to, the minotaur is in the midst of raising its axe above its head. It prepares to swing down on the girl to deliver her final rites.

The girl looks up at the minotaur, her teary eyes full of fear and loneliness. She purse her lips as memories flash before her.

Through the mixed emotions the girl felt, she manage to blurt out her final words

“Papa…”

A plea to her deceased father that will never reach, I hear them crystal clear.

My head goes blank. Unconsciously, my body moved.