“Sorry, did I wake you up with that explosion?” he asked the creature, still feeling the tremble in his voice. The horror was slowly approaching Atlas.

Gathering all the energy in his legs, Atlas pushed as strong as he could, he jumped as far backwards as possible. Now, when the distance increased, he had a few seconds to regain his composure. Standing up, he could see the creature menacingly walking towards him. With almost no sound, it walked towards Atlas and he knew he should, or rather must run. He still could feel that his legs were going numb, yet he used all his might and rushed towards the exit of the room. Since the creature came from the exploded part of the room, the only way out was up. He was not looking back, and just ran forward. He was not sure if the beast followed until he heard some clicking and snapping sound, and then… then he felt it. With his ability he felt that the horror started to run. And it ran quite fast. With still focusing energy in his legs, he ran faster and faster.

“C’mon, where is the exit, where is it?” He was desperately looking for an exit. He was still following the strand of energy. At the same time he was glancing behind. The horror was still running after and running terrifyingly. As if the creature was not made for running. No posture, no actual technique, just random and chaotic body movements. It used its legs to run, when they were not catching up, it used its hands. With no method, the creature just used everything it could to run faster. And the movements were clunky and abrupt. Periodically, it was hitting walls on turns. Sometimes it was tripping and falling. And all the time, it was making weird clicking sounds.

Atlas could only run away. In a tight cave, there was no way of trying to evade the hits. And as he ran faster, he could feel energy leaving him.

“Faster…faster…faster…fa…” as he tried to move his legs faster, the speed he was trying to achieve was way beyond his ability now. And as he tried to reach for the sky, he fell. He fell down, hitting the hard floor.

“Arghhh!” he screamed as he tried to quickly stand up. Yet suddenly, he felt it. He felt something sharp was coming from the back. Quickly dodging the attack, he stood up, heavily breathing, he continued to follow the energy.

The chase felt like an eternity for Atlas. He was running out of breath, his legs felt as if they were about to give up.

“Faster, faster, faster” Atlas kept telling himself. He had no other choice but to run. That was when he finally sensed it. The wind. The fresh air coming from up there. And after a few turns, he reached it. Only a few meters away was the exit of the cave.

“C’mon, only a few meters.”

It reminded Atlas of the last time, when he almost had it, but the creature was faster.

“This time, it's going to be different” he gathered some of the remaining energy in the legs and tried to release it at the same time as he jumped to prolong the jump. And it worked. His jump was faster, longer and stronger. And in a second, he was out of the cave. Yet he was not stopping there. He landed on his right foot and continued to jump, but now he rotated his body, so that he was now facing the exit of the cave. For a split second, he saw the creature running.

“Too late now” Atlas said as he already charged his remains of the energy in his hand in a form of a black lighting. And he shot it towards the creature. Not quite at the creature, a bit higher. He bolted the top part of the cave, which instantly caused a collapse of the exit. All the rocks and stones which were higher, started crumbling and falling down, therefore sealing the exit. The horror got stuck in the cave.

Now lying on the grass, after he landed, Atlas was heavily breathing as never had he ever run that fast and long. He wanted to close his eyes and nap a bit, but he knew that there could be more of those creatures around. Slowly standing up, he gave one last glance towards the cave. He was a bit sad, since now there was possibly no way of going back and examining those crystals, as well as that statue. Putting these thoughts aside, he knew he still needed to find the portal back to Earth. He was still seeing the thread and followed it through the forest. The forest was the one he remembered seeing for the first time. With different vegetation. Evergreens, everblues (as Atlas called them) different types of flowers with different sizes. Walking through the forest, Atlas kept thinking about the lack of creature encounters. He did meet a few creatures here and there, yet he was expecting to see more. And the more he thought about different stuff, the faster time went by and before he could realize, he was already in the small valley where the portal was.

Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

Looking at the portal, he suddenly felt immense relief. Like a long journey came to an end. He was not sure how long it was, yet it felt like a year long adventure. Now slowly pacing towards the portal, Atlas felt as his powers were slowly drained and as he approached the portal, he stood still looking at it. Watching it.

“So weird coming back, well, he I go.” he said this as he touched the portal as it sucked him in.

----------------------------------------

Opening his eyes, Atlas found himself in a cave. The cave under the abandoned site.

“I am back!...blegh” he said and instantly vomited on the floor. His body felt weak, his legs could no longer hold him. He collapsed on the floor. Now without the ability active, adrenaline in his veins and after all his energy was drained, he felt weak, suffered and immensely tired. Standing up barely, he started to walk towards the exit.

It was evening, but there were plenty of people outside. And everyone was looking at Atlas. It was indeed uncommon on the streets. A boy with torn clothes, dirty walking as if he is about to faint.

“June 8th, 21:40 so I have been there for like 20 hours.” He put his phone back after checking the date. He told Bond that he might not come the night before, yet still he just disappeared from the radars. “I should probably turn off the flight mode and check who called me.”

Turning it off, he was immediately greeted by 14 missed calls.

“Huh, am I that popular?” He was looking at a list of missed calls. 3 of them were Bond, with additional messages asking where he was. One was from an unknown number so Atlas did not really pay attention to it. 8 were from his homeroom teacher, Ms Scarlett. And weirdly, 2 of them were from a contact named - Her highness Alice the beauty.

“When did she even do that?” Atlas did not remember asking her phone number, yet he was a bit happy he had it. It was nice knowing there were more people he could call.

After probably the most boring walk in his life, he was home. His new temporary home. Windows were lit as he approached the front.

*RIng*

Shortly after he pressed the button, he heard lazy footsteps coming down.

“Hello” said the voice and as the door opened, Atlas was greeted by a green haired guy in his pajamas. “Atlas, where the heck have you been, dude?”

“Yo, sorry, I was exploring new horizons.” Atlas was so tired, he did not even try to come up with an excuse for all the mess he became.

“You look like you fought lions, dude, what the actual… Okay, nevermind, food is in the fridge, me sleep so take care.” he said as he left upstairs.

Atlas was happy that Bond did not ask any more questions. Going into his room, he got undressed and went straight to the bath. In the bath, he could finally relax and enjoy his peace and quiet. Hot water was making his muscles softer and he could feel some of the energy coming back.

“I should probably call Ms Scarlett, since she probably worried as well.” he proceeded to call his teacher.

*ring ring ring

“Hello ms Sca…”

“Atlas d’Prince, where on the damned Earth have you been?” an angry voice was heard.

“I… I am sorry. I went hiking with a friend.”

A long sigh could be heard.

“Okay, listen. I am happy you found friends, but remember you still have about a month of school left. It would be nice to see you lazy ass here, you know?”

“Sorry, I promise I will be there tomorrow!”

“And do not be late! Got it?”

“Roger”

“Oh and by the way, Atlas. Our school is being visited by the scouts from Espada Academy. It is a quite prestigious hunter school. So, put on some nice clothes.”

“Espada!? What are they doing in our crappy school?” he exclaimed.

“Watch your tongue, some amazing teachers are teaching in your school you know? I do not know, I think they are coming to watch some prospective students. Anyways, make sure to be present and not late. Good night!”

“Good night” he said, but Ms Scarlett already hung up.

“So, Espada? If I attend it, I might see Claire. I wonder how she is. Probably mad strong.”

Going to bed clean and relieved was the best feeling he could feel. After a long journey, a good sleep is what he needed.

“Tomorrow is going to be interesting….”