Seth only had to run a short distance before the land slowly rolled from sands to hills and off in the distance Seth could see the tall trees and mountains that made up the jungles of the Congo. He slowed his pace as grass came under his feet and the sparse trees that lined other places around him started to appear more frequently. The run had only taken him a few seconds but Seth felt as though he had only taken a few steps.

When he slowed, there was a zipping sound at his back and Seth knew that someone was getting out of the backpack. He slid the pack off and set it on the ground as he looked around their surroundings. The area that he’d stopped at was a rather good spot for a camp, with trees lining the outer edges of about fifty yards away and a good spot of hard packed dirt for a fire. He nodded at the good fortune and looked to the backpack to see who had come out into the open air. He found Jessica standing there with her hands on her hips and sweat starting to bead on her forehead.

What gave him pause, however, was the fact that she was wearing one of the more provocative outfits that she had tried on when they were in Turkey. She had a thin white blouse on with a set of hardy, but tight, jeans that went down to her calves. The heat was making it so that her sweat stuck the blouse to her skin, leaving nothing to the imagination. Seth nearly fell over when he saw the smirk that came over her face, knowing that he had been found out.

Seth cleared his throat and immediately turned about to continue looking over the landscape. “Well, we’ve made it to the Congo. The outer edges of it at least.” He was still trying to slow his heart rate as he looked away from her.

Jessica strode right up to him and chuckled, “What’s the matter? Heat got your tongue?” She flapped the collar of her blouse to try and alleviate some of the heat, but only succeeded in making Seth more uncomfortable.

Seth gulped and sighed inwardly, “So, why the excursion to the outside?”

Jessica brightened instantly, “We are going on a date.” She reached into the pack and produced an embroidered blanket as well as a basket with sandwiches inside. Then she also pulled out a bottle of wine and a pair of glasses. “And, this is the perfect place for a picnic.” She started walking off a few meters and laid out the blanket.

Seth just looked at her with a question in his eyes, “Come again?”

Jessica turned on him and placed her hands on her hips, “We are going on a date and I don’t care if it’s a picnic, because we haven’t even been on a proper date yet.” She seemed to be pleading with him as she said the words, but Seth was still confused on why they had to have a picnic in the middle of Africa.

Seth conceded the point and walked over to the little area that she had set up. He looked over the delicious looking sandwiches and the blanket that looked rather comfortable, but there was one sobering fact that was blaring in his mind. They were on their way to meet a guardian to his trials as the One. He also found it strange that he was far more nervous than when he had faced off against the pack of werewolves. He squared himself off with her and cleared his throat again. “You do realize that we are in a hurry, right?”

“Well yeah, but we should have plenty of time for one date.” She strode over to him and gripped his forearm in both hands, puffing her chest out for all that it was worth and Seth thought it was worth quite a bit. Seth brightened a deep red as he saw not only the form of her figure but the look in her eyes as she pleaded with him. He was barely able to think as he leaned up and kissed her.

They kissed for a time, before Jessica started to pour some wine into their glasses. Seth took a pause, “Wait, I’m only sixteen. I can’t drink alcohol.”

Jessica laughed as she lay down on the blanket and held out one of the glasses, “And I’m sure that the legal drinking age in Africa doesn’t even exist.” She quirked an eyebrow as he lay down and took the glass.

They sipped on the wine together as they enjoyed each other’s company, before digging into the few sandwiches that Jessica had brought out. Seth had to admit that they were pretty good. He had never been a fan of turkey sandwiches but these were delicious. He finished them off without a second thought and lay down fully on the blanket, with his hands behind his head. He was enjoying the silence until Jessica made her way over and lay her head on his chest and snuggled up to him.

He had no idea what to do. Should he wrap an arm around her and just enjoy the moment or should he try to get another kiss in. What really drove him crazy was the fact that he was still more unsure about himself than when he had fought the creatures of the night. He yielded by wrapping an arm around her and giving her a kiss on the cheek.

In response, Jessica leaned over and planted her lips on his. He was in bliss as they lay there. He could feel every part of his body and could feel every part of hers. They were one and there was no denying that. As Seth started to lean away, Jessica charged forward wrapping her arms and legs around him. She never let up, even as Seth rolled all the way onto his back. She simply straddled him and continued kissing him like they were the only two left on the planet. When she finally released for some air, she giggled, “I could get used to that.” She scooted down a bit before laying her head down on his chest.

Seth chuckled, “Definitely. If only we could forget everything going on and sit here under the sun all day long.” He sighed at the end of it as he thought of everyone that was in his little group of loners. They had all been through their own problems in a world that he was just coming to know existed. He’d lost his parents, but from the memories that he had gained, they had lost so much more. His mind was still catching up on everything that they went through and it was only getting worse.

Jessica could feel that Seth was thinking about something, so she decided to keep quiet and enjoy the little time that she’d been able to steal from him. She herself was thinking about several things that had changed in her life. Hell, just a few days ago she’d been on her way into the states to live in a house that her parents had left her in their wills. She was going back to a place that wasn’t even home anymore. Now she was on a fantastic journey with people that she’d only just met but was fast becoming friends with all of them. Then there was Seth. There was something about him that screamed he belonged to her in her mind. She couldn’t explain it or understand what was going on, but she knew that it had something to do with him being who he was. She’d been skeptical at first, but after seeing him in the ruins spouting things that no one said in front of a stranger, everything seemed clear to her. They were made for each other and she’d be damned if it wasn’t perfect whenever they were alone.

After a few minutes of them both being lost in their own thoughts, Jessica sat up and looked Seth in the eyes. “No matter what happens, I will always be there for you. I know that we have only just met but-” She stopped as Seth put a finger over her lips.

Seth sat up and hugged her, “I know. I already feel the same way about you. There’s nothing left to explain.” He sighed into her chest and she hugged him closer. Then he looked back to the bag that was still sitting where they had left it. “We should get back on the road.” He looked up into her eyes and sighed again. He could get lost in those for all time if he wasn’t careful.

They got up and Jessica started packing up all of the picnic stuff. Seth strode over to the bag and stuck his head in to see what everyone was up to. He found an excited group of girls talking in one corner of the main room and a lounging pack of men strewn around the rest of the room, fast asleep. All except for one, which didn’t surprise Seth one bit.

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“Hey Kas, you want to come up and go for a stroll, so that you’re not stuck in here. It’s pretty boring all by myself.” Seth offered it because he knew that Kasakierin didn’t like to be in one place for very long and he was one of the only ones who could actually keep pace with him.

Kasakierin smiled and practically sprinted for the ladder out of the pack. “Thought you’d never ask. It was getting stuffy in here anyway.” When he got out of the bag he saw Jessica and took the bag from her while she got into the pack, then he passed the bag down to her. Once everything was set, Kasakierin stripped off his jacket and his bandolier. He stretched out his muscles and looked down at his expanding tattoo with a forlorn look. He’d never revealed the tattoo to anyone aside from the love of his life without killing them. The tattoo was a cure that had been placed on him by his own people or it was simply a part of being who he was. Kasakierin wasn’t from Earth and had no idea where he was even from. All he knew was that the more people he killed the larger the dragon on his chest grew as did the pile of skulls it lay upon. For every life he took another skull was added. The dragon was almost fully grown now and the pile of skulls was vast, covering most of his abdomen and around to his back.

Even without the curse, Seth knew that Kasakierin had been bred for war and nothing else. He was good at killing and that was what drove him mad at times. The first time he’d ever killed a man was when he was but a boy of the age of five. Since then he’s slain entire armies on his own, but none of that was in the history books because there were no survivors. The armies would be written down as missing or deserters. Seth was the only one who knew the count of the skulls on his tattoo and that there were even some that you couldn’t see.

After the quick memory, Seth shouldered the pack and took off at what he thought was a reasonable pace. Kasakierin was caught off guard and had to sprint for a bit, but eventually made his way to Seth’s side again. Once he’d caught up, Seth got serious and asked his question. “Are you still having the dreams?”

Kasakierin frowned and put his face to the grindstone, “Yes, over and over, every night and always the same.” He looked up to the sky as he thought about them. “A woman places me in a crib and suddenly I’m falling from the sky. I’m in a glass shell that protects me from the heat of entering the atmosphere. I land in the mountains, in the dark, and the glass shatters. Then everything goes blank and I see his face and all the others that I’ve taken.”

Seth knew the answer to his unsaid question because he’d lived his life since he was born from his mother. The only thing that stopped Seth from telling him all of it was the reaction that he knew would come.

“What does it mean Seth?” Kasakierin pleaded with him. He knew that Seth had answers to some if not most of his past.

Seth had never liked leaving people in the dark, so he battened down his resolve and decided to say it straight out. “You’re from another world Kas.” Seth stopped because Kasakierin had fallen to his knees with his head in his hands.

“What? What did you say?” Kasakierin was blinking as the tears came to his eyes.

Seth turned to him with the look of a friend in his eyes, “You are from another planet.” He squatted in front of Kasakierin as the tears came flooding from his eyes and Kasakierin seemed to freeze where he was.

Then Kasakierin stood, “If that’s truly the case, I only have one question.” The tears were replaced with a red in his face and eyes, as rage started to take him over. The dragon began to twitch on his chest.

“I know.” Seth said as he placed a hand on Kasakierin’s shoulder.

“Why did my parents send me away, instead of raising me as one of their own?” Kasakierin’s eyes had gone black and fangs were starting to protrude from his mouth.

“Believe me, they wanted to.” Seth began as he saw the rage building in Kasakierin. “But the planet that they called home was imploding on itself. The people on your planet believed that to find a new planet to live on, they would need to send one of their own to begin inhabiting it. The government would take the newborn that were born and launch them to different planets to be monitored to see if they would be able to take it over. They only chose the children from the best and brightest to launch.” Kasakierin had his face in his hands as Seth continued. “Your father was one of their greatest warriors and your mother was the best engineer the planet had ever seen. They were devastated when they learned that you had been chosen. So your mother came up with a plan. When your father went to the council with a clone that they had made, your mother prepped a launch pod to a planet that was safest in their maps, then she wiped it from their servers as if it had never existed. The government had known that they would fight for you, so when the clone was discovered they were seen as traitors. They brought an entire army to your parents door, but not before they could launch you off into space.” Seth patted Kasakierin on the shoulder as he saw the crestfallen look on his face. “I’m sorry. If ever a time comes when I can get you so see them again, I will. I promise you that.”

Kasakierin nodded his thanks as they began to walk toward the jungle in the distance. “Why didn’t they come with me though?” Kasakierin asked, more quizzically than sad.

“There wasn’t a launch big enough that wouldn’t trip up the government’s sensors.” Seth sped up a bit as he noticed the fact that Kasakierin was back to his usual self. “It was the only way for them to save you. I should know, I was there.”

Kasakierin whipped the tears from his face and kept pace, “I’m going to hold you to that promise, but for now we need to push on to the jungle.” He shot off at a dead sprint as he saw their path, Seth didn’t even lose stride with him.

Seth was smiling as he thought of how he’d originally believed how Kasakierin was going to react. This was why he didn’t like leaving people in the dark, you never know how anyone will truly react to anything, even if you’ve lived their life. If the facts were provided without bias and straight forward, they would come out of the experience stronger depending on how you handle the situation given.

They were running at a breakneck pace through the brush as they continued. Then they came to the edge of the jungle and Kasakierin returned to the pack. Seth continued into the jungle alone, leaping from tree to tree when the underbrush was too thick to travel through. Then Seth saw a peculiar sight. A family of apes was waiting in a clearing and not in a normal fashion. They were in ranks like a small platoon that had just been formed to march. They were all looking up at him as he came down into the clearing. Kasakierin appeared out of the pack with a sword in hand and ready for a fight, but Seth stepped in front of him. “They are no threat to us.”

Seth sat the pack down and Kasakierin climbed back into it. Seth snapped his fingers and his clothes were replaced with a single loin cloth that was made out of lion skin. He’d studied the jungle quite a bit in biology because the jungle was one of the most abundant places of life. Larger animals were his favorite to study because it was like looking back in history, when times were simpler. Then he thought about all of the abilities that came with his power. He got down on all fours in a crouching stance and started moving around like an ape, before turning to the group and grunting, “Hi, I’m Seth Conwell, nice to meet all of you.” The apes themselves were genuinely surprised that he could speak their language and Seth was sure that they had understood him. When he looked back to the pack, Kasakierin’s head was sticking out with a blank face on.

“Is there a language that you don’t speak?” He sighed as he crossed his arms and relaxed at the top of the bag, “Do you know why they are here?”

Seth turned to the apes again and grunted, “Why have you come here?”

They broke rank and a lone silverback came striding up. He wasn’t the only gorilla in the group but was certainly the biggest. “We were waiting for you. Our chief had told us about you and said that you would come.”

Seth stood from his squatting position and crossed his arms, “Who is your chief?”

The entire group of apes split from the middle and a man walked through them like he owned the jungle itself. He was tall and muscular, not unlike Seth’s other form that he’d taken before. He was heavily tanned and had unkempt hair that led down to the middle of his back. He held out his hand to Seth as he came up to him, “It’s nice to finally meet you Seth, I’m Koritak, the guardian of the jungle.”