My name's Shaun. I was, once, an average guy, or so I thought; but now I'm blessed with these abilities given me. When my journey started I was on my way home after school; I didn't know why at the time, but for the first time I felt something was wrong. I was with my best friends in the world; but, something was still missing. "Shaun, are you even listening?" Ashley snapped. Ashley was a brown hair, brown eye tom boy, which included blue jeans and a tee shirt. If she wanted to she could dress up and look amazing, but she preferred not to look like a "popular prick" as she called them. She had been my friend since I came to this town; we lived pretty close so she was the first person that I met. I had always liked Ashley and everyone said that we were a cute couple but we never got together, just hung out. But, I thought I'd get the courage to ask her out sooner or later.

"Sorry", I apologized, "I spaced out."

"Well zone back in here, are you coming tomorrow?" Tom asked drawing 'here' with his finger. Tom was skinny guy; he had dark blonde hair and usually a good smile on his face. He was best friend we had known each other since I moved here years ago. We went everywhere together and were constantly in trouble, playing pranks, or doing stuff just to annoy.

"No, I don't think so, I feel weird; I think I may be coming down with something." I had been very nervous today, something was happening but I had no clue what.

"Alright, but you'll miss out." I didn't hear the rest, I was thinking about what could be missing just in case it was something simple, like I had forgot something at school. Once we reached Tom's house Ashley and I waved goodbye. For me, it felt as if I was leaving him forever. I walked Ashley home and said my good bye, I didn't know why but it felt like that might have been the last time I was going to see her as well.

I thought about these feelings I was having, they didn't make sense to me. I knew that I would see Tom and Ashley again, but I also seemed to 'know' that I wasn't going to see them any time soon.

I was almost home when I heard Roger, my personal bully, calling. Despite the mood I was in, I had learned to be perfectly tuned to his voice. I looked in the direction of the voice and saw him and his to lackeys, Travis and Michel, running after me. It was a few blocks to my house I could run it, I hoped. I bolted but, after looking back I saw that they would soon catch me. I ran all the faster, hoping to tier them out before they caught up. I looked back again to see how close they were and I didn't see them; but that wouldn't slow me down, they might have taken a short cut to ambush me. I ran on and on and didn't stop running till I realized I was passing moving cars. I stopped when I saw an old house that was several blocks passed mine. 'I passed my own house?' I thought turning around. I walked, cautiously, back toward my house incase Roger was still lurking about. I was still amazed that I had run three blocks past my house and didn't realize it. I should've tried for the sprinting team, I joked to myself. I relaxed when I came into the safety of my home. As I did, a huge shock wave of pain, and energy just vanished from my body, I collapsed to my knees from sheer exhaustion that seemed to have come from nowhere. When the pain became bearable, I hobbled into the kitchen there was a note on the fridge, I slumped into a chair and read it.

Dear Shaun,

Mom took me to practice. I'm learning how to write letters in school tell me how I do writing this.

From Katie

I took the note as meaning that Mom would not likely come home till after Katie was finished so she wouldn't be home in time to fix dinner. Grumpy, I ate some leftovers from the fridge then went and turned on the news. "…More strange disappearances to be reported today; also, more strange animal sightings, more about these sightings at five…" Over the past few years portals had begun appearing out of nowhere, I turned the TV off it was the only thing they reported. At the time I could've cared less about them, they annoyed me more than anything. All the animals that came over from the other worlds were always weird; some even had abilities that made them 'dangerous'. A wolf appeared through one in our town one day, the military came in with heavy assault weapons which barely scratched its fur. It retreated into a portal shortly after. Despite being totally useless except to make messes and spend money, the National Guard still has patrols coming through every now and again to check up on the area. My father was 'researching' them but he was too close to one when something grabbed and pulled him into the portal, the research stopped there and started becoming a military exercise.
I sat quietly reflecting as I usually did. I thought about my run home, it wasn't the only time I remember doing weird things. I could remember two times that I had done strange things.

Before we moved to this town I was on the little league team, although I had really bad hand-eye coordination. It was my turn to take the bat. We were 2-2, two outs and one person on base. I walked up to the base and watched the ball come and pass, "strike" said the umpire disappointed. I wanted so badly to hit that ball, I watched the next one, I swung, swish, "Strike two." I really focused on the ball, and even as it left the pitchers hand, time seemed to slow down. I watched the ball come into range, swung as hard as I possibly could, SMACK. The ball flew up, and up, and up, and over the top of the lights. I hit the ball so hard that the aluminum bat had a crack all the way down. Needless to say, we won the game and no one ever found that ball again.

Another time was soon after we moved in. Tom, who I hadn't met yet, was being picked on by the Roger. Being the stupid Good Samaritan third grader I was, I tried to stop him, but his lackeys threw me off. I stood up and tried again, and again, and again. Soon Roger did stop picking on Tom, and decided to teach me a lesson, calling me "Mr. Hero." He began pounding the snot out of my face. Soon a crowd had gathered to watch the one-sided fight. An ambulance had been patrolling stopped the fight. I watched in pain as Roger was dragged off me, I saw his knuckles covered in blood and thought that my face must've been destroyed. The driver took me into the ambulance and examined my face, the only thing I had was a black eye. The dude couldn't believe my luck. On top of that he tried to give me an I.V., "just in case", the needle bounced off my skin. Sounds unreal right?

When Mom and Katie came home late, must've been bad traffic cause it was much later than usual, I went and got Katie out of the car and took her to her room, then went to bed.

That night I was woke by a strange groan, I sat up and looked and saw a figure looking in my drawers. Lightning fast he grabbed his bag, pulled out a knife and jumped at me. He then said something about a prophecy ending. I kicked him mid air to the wall; he stood up smiling and walked toward me. I held a lamp over my head threatening to hit him with it if he came any closer. He reached into his bag and pulled out and threw a ball, when it hit the floor a portal opened beneath me and I fell through. He jumped into the portal and looked around for me, but I had hid behind a door, that hung in mid air. I quickly pinched myself several times to make sure I wasn't dreaming, defiantly wasn't.

I peeked around the door, I couldn't see whatever it was that attacked me; but the portal to my room was still open, I darted out and ran up to it. Grabbing the bed and my furniture myself onto the floor I backed away hoping the portal would close but it didn't. I felt a very strange feeling, I had to go back; I wanted to go back. I still don't know why but, I decided to go ahead and go back. I guess it was because I was the first one to see another dimension and come back. But first I snuck downstairs and grabbed anything I could that looked like it wouldn't go bad: cans of various foods, bottles of water. I looked under the sink, usually there was a first aid kit there, and luckily enough there was. I went back into my room and stuffed all the food stuff into a bag. I grabbed what clothes I could cram into it and watched the portal; it was inching shut bit by bit. I couldn't believe I was going to do this. I pinched myself again to double check, I wasn't dreaming. I walked up to the portals rim and looked in; I couldn't see through it, it was just a spiraling vortex of pink light. I looked up and took a deep breath, then started having second thoughts. Who would take care of Katie and Mom while I was away, Dad was gone, what if they needed me and I wasn't here. I backed away from the portal, closing even faster, 'maybe I shouldn't do this' I thought. Suddenly the bedroom door opened, knocking me forward; Mom asked what was going on only to see me fall through the portal. Once on the other side the portal shut, leaving no way back.

When I looked around, I was surprised at what I saw; I had expected to see another world, but all I saw were doors. It was like a twilight zone reruns where everywhere you look there's a door just sitting there. The realm itself was an off pink, almost fleshy, color, I tried to find a wall or something, but found that there were none, only doors, endless pinkness and doors. Deciding not to sit around and wait for something to happen I picked a door and opened it, what I saw was amazing, prehistoric animals, dinosaurs, walking in the distance, a herd of triceratops was near the portal, one charged. I jumped back and slammed the door. I chose another door and opened it slowly. I looked through and saw a wall of water; I leapt back just as I realized the water wasn't coming through. I looked into the water and saw an underwater city; something flashed in front of the portal, a mermaid? She swam back and looked at me curiously; she reached out to touch me when she reached the portal she couldn't pass through. She had deep red hair, and a green tail, she wore a tiara and was carrying a lute. I waved and she waved back then I slowly shut the door. At the last glimpse I saw a small fish look out from behind her. 'Weird', I thought, 'but then weird doesn't begin to describe it. I looked in another door but there was nothing to see, literally it was a completely empty black space. As soon as I shut that door a gust of wind flew by me, and two doors, carried by the wind, were before me. One had a three-headed dog; the other had a white dragon in flight. I heard a voice say, "Choose a door, but choose wisely, one leads down the path of evil, one the path of good." I thought for a moment, 'Three-headed dog? Cerberus, guardian of hell, evil'; I opened the dragon door and was sucked in, and then I blacked out.

When I woke I sat straight up, I looked around and saw deer, or what might've been deer. I stood up and took a look around, I was in an opening, about ten or twenty feet wide, to one side was a thick tree line, and on the other was a cliff. I walked around and saw a cave; I didn't see anything that said something was living there, droppings, tracks or anything. I sat down to reflect, and thought what I should do next and what if I couldn't get back. I gathered branches and started a fire and pulled grabbed a rock to start making a spear. If there were deer, there would be wolves or some other form of predator that I didn't want to meet without protection.

The next day I explored the cliff side, while exploring I found a path that would lead me to the top of the cliff. There I found that I was at the beginning of a mountain range the stretched far to the north and branched out. I continued exploring for the next few days, each day was new and interesting, not necessarily exciting but interesting. To the south was forest with some open plains. A river flowed east to west making what looks like a boundary between the forest and mountains.

One of the days I was exploring into the forest I fell, quiet accidentally, into a wolf's underground den. The mother wasn't happy especially when the young ones came to check out what had fallen through the roof. I escaped out the hole I fell through and ran back to the cave. However despite dropping in, I was able, over the next few weeks, to earn a small amount of respect from them, though they wouldn't let me near, and they allowed me to watch them hunt without being hunted. I noted by looking over the paw prints that the wolves seemed to have wider back paws and more spaced out forepaws, making it easier to grab and pick things up. I had seen the wolves stand on their hind legs and do a weird thing where they were actually able to bunch their paws into a fist and do a sort of punching action. Where ever they 'punched' a gust of wind shot out from the wolf and hit the target knocking several feet. But it wasn't only the wolves that were different like that. The deer would use the trees and move them to block any sort of attack, and use them to attack back also. While the rabbits, the smallest of which were about two foot long, while the largest stood at about three foot tall, were knocked back, if not into the jaws of another wolf, would stomp there foot on the ground and it would open and close beneath them. The animals here had elemental abilities I was amazed to see all the things the animals could do. The deer, when they rested, would encase themselves in a shield of branches and roots to help keep predators away. The rabbits closed their burrows and made sure which closed off their scent so a fox or snake, couldn't get in at night or when they left the burrows alone.

Watching these deer eat I found berries that were safe, but it would be difficult to survive eating only berries. Following a wolf through the woods to stream, I found it was teeming with fish. I took a rock and sharpened a branch into a spear. I went to the river and used the spear to jab fish. Despite my best tries I could only catch one, the spear would either bounce off the fish, or they dodged it. I sliced its stomach open and proceeded to empty it of its guts. It didn't make for a very good dinner, but it kept me from going to bed starving. I smiled leaning against the cave if this is how life was to be while I was here; it was going to be rough but I would survive.

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Rain clouds sat over head making the night especially dark, and wet. But I didn't care, my eyes were made to see in the dark, and I could keep myself warm by producing a jet of flame from my shoulders every now and again. However, that didn't make it any less spooky. I was on my way to Proven Cave to earn my wings, and let my maturity into adulthood begin to finalize. My name is Scorch, I'm a Dragonoc, or Dragon as you would call me, I'm 17 years of age and very ready to move into adult hood. However, apparently tonight, or rather the next few days were not going to go my way. I headed to the place of Proven Cave, alone, as was custom to my people but I was doing it without the councils knowledge, which was not custom. I knew where the cave was, as I had been there several times for several different births, it took hours trudging through the mud and the muck to get to the cave, the rain from the previous nights had all but made the road into quicksand. Anyway, I was nearing the opening to the cave. A flash of lightning showed me the entrance, I walked forward proudly, but crash of thunder made me flinch. Something told me tonight would be a long night. I looked up at the sky trying to peer into the darkness and see just one star before I made my way into the cave; instead I was blinded by another lightning strike as it tore through the sky. Recovering from the flash I made my way to the cave. I shook myself as dry as possible, and then used a fire to dry myself the rest of the way. I made my way into the back of the cave and settled down. I would need neither food nor drink for the three days I had to sit in the chamber. I closed my eyes and settled into my shelter. But little did I know I was being watched.

The following morning I awoke to Brom, the bear guardian of Proven Cave, sitting at the entrance mumbling something about the council not warning him about a guest or something. I greeted him with a grunt, he grunted a greeting back. "Something visited you last night; I frightened it off, stay on your guard at night." He said then wobbled off before I could ask what he meant. The ground was wet with the previous night's rain. I moved closer to the back of the cave.

In front of the cave is a crystal that, no matter where the sun is, reflects light into the cave. I could see the birthing chamber in which my friend Patch was born; he was a weird one even from birth. I was three years old when my Mom brought me here to watch his mother give birth. She was part of a crew that worked to protect and assist birthing mothers who came here, and decided that I should come along and watch. I just thought it would get me away from my brother so I agreed. Patch's mother died giving him and his brother's life, his father took it as a sign that Patch wouldn't be a good son, or something like that. He had been born with a pigment defect. It made his fur white and black. Not two colors that were well accepted. As a side effect he matured faster than his brothers, not just mentally but physically as well. He saw it as a chance to grow strong, and I didn't mind helping him, we spared daily for a while he couldn't so much as touch me. But pretty soon he was able to match and counter me in both strength and speed. Now sometimes he wins, sometimes I win, and others the instructors have to break us up.
A year after Patch's birth I was given my choice for a mate, I was chosen to pick my own, and was told that when I picked the egg would hatch for me. Not old enough to truly understand the concept I just did what I was told. As it turned out, when I picked and the egg hatched, an Albino youngling came out, I thought she was the most beautiful thing in the world. Albino's are a solid white member of their respected species. Albinos are born when a gene in the egg is activated that disables the creatures ability to control the flow of their energy. With time they can relearn, but until then they are almost all powerful, to powerful to be safe. They also have a larger energy reserve as the power doesn't stop growing in the egg or womb. Most of us are born with certain limit of how much power we can access and how far we're able to grow. Albino's powers never stop growing, or at least they've never lived long enough to reach a stopping place. They are seen as something to be feared and respected.

Before I could say or do anything her mother quickly stole her away, the other mothers said I had to pick another, but I didn't want to I had picked but no one would hear me. So I picked another egg and out hatched another female dragon. She wasn't as beautiful as the Albino, but she was to be my mate. The mother of the new dragoness praised me, selfishly, for my family was powerful and rich, so she wanted our money.

A twig snapped bringing me back to the present as a shadow passed across the crystal. A wolf stood in the entrance; I growled a warning before turning around, "I'm in the middle of growing my wings, whoever it is leave." A sinister laugh answered me.
"You don't order me around Drake." A Roar came from the behind the Wolf, who yelped as a massive paw swooped down smashing him aside the mighty Brom stood in the entrance. He bellowed a massive roar, the wolf cursed and swore. I heard say him before he went, "I'll be back Bear and next time you will be unable to stop me." Brom growled and lay down in front of the cave.

"Don't worry, I will protect you here." I had no fear that Brom would protect me, Brom has always protected proven cave, but no country would attack another countries cave for fear of the war. However prey is becoming scarce in other parts of the continent, and any sort of easy meal, like a drake sitting alone in a dark cave, would be to much to leave alone I suppose. I would think only feral, or unintelligent, wolves would attack, but this one spoke, He could be a pack leader or something.

"Thank you Brom." I thanked him, for I knew that if what the wolf said were true, I'd be unable to help, the herbs in the cave will leave me so weak I won't be able to walk till tomorrow. I hope he'd be alright by himself.

I practically slept through the whole day, waiting for the paralysis to set in, then I would likely sleep through the whole night and wake to find little stubs of wings growing from my back. I woke just before dark the light was just well enough for me to see Brom laying flat at the entrance. The herbs in my body were creating new bone structure in my back, and it itched profusely. However I was starting to be paralyzed and could no longer move my legs to scratch it. Fortunately the paralysis numbed the itch, but I was stuck looking over my shoulder also, though it wasn't uncomfortable. It felt as if I was asleep but my eyes were open, almost like a dream where you're just watching everything that happens but can't do anything else except sit and watch. I could see Brom sitting in the front of the cave staring out into the night like a sentinel head going back and forth, back and forth. His head suddenly looked and followed something, mumbled chatter echoed in the cave. I couldn't make it out but a great black shape attacked the bear. With a powerful blow he launched the black shape out of site. Several more shapes mauled the bear, with a blast of fire he launched the wolves off; he stumbled back into the cave. He growled and sent a blast of fire toward me. As engulfed me, I screamed in my head, it didn't hurt but it would reset whatever the herbs had done. Any strain on the body no matter how light in this cave makes whatever had happened revert and stops the process. Brom did it to try and end the paralysis so I could escape, but I didn't care, I was only a few hours away from starting on my way to being an adult. Brom turned and flailed at an un-seeable enemy. He swung left, right then bellowed loudly and was once again mauled by the by four shapes. The paralysis was slowly losing its effect. I could see better now, my neck could move a little bit. I stared unblinkingly as Brom threw off his attackers and bellowed again swinging madly he sent fire blast after fire blast, A shadow crept behind him, out of the shadow a black wolf walked slowly toward me. He grinned evilly baring his fangs; his canines were hollow with a purple toxin. He walked slowly over and bit down on my arm. I felt the injection and my body went numb, the wolf slowly dragged me of the cave, my neck slowly extended till my body was straight. As they dragged me away I saw Brom, broken and beaten, his right eye lying before him. Despite my paralysis I still felt the tears well in my eyes, {I'm sorry Brom.}

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It had rained for the first time since I had been in this world, it had been three weeks without any rain. The ground was soaked with water, indentions in the cave wall were full of fresh water. I was especially prepared that night; instead of letting my empty water bottles go to waste, I set them outside and let the rain fill them up. Well mostly they were about a quarter of the way full, each having about an inch or so of water in them. I poured the water into a single bottle; I had four so it took the three others to fill the one.

I spent most of that day fiddling around watching the wolves if they let me. They seemed more agitated than my recent visits with them. I made sure to keep my distance from them just to be safe. That night I had a dream, it felt extremely real, I was watching a bear through, it seemed, a long tube the bear was swinging at something. It reared and was struck by four wolves, I couldn't move, I wanted to help the bear but I couldn't move. A fifth wolf came around the bear and lunged at me. I woke soaked with sweat, I cried, I didn't know why, but I was crying for the bear. I shook the tears from my eyes and fell back into an uneasy sleep.

That day I felt as if a part of me were in sever danger; I was extremely jumpy through out the day. I almost skewered myself with my spear when a bird jumped out beside me. I snorted wondering what was happening. A vision of the wolf last night appeared suddenly in my head, he leaped at me and bit my arm. I could feel no pain, but I knew it should've hurt. It's hard to explain.

I stood leaning against my spear, a stray wolf passed by growling queerly. I glared back, "What? You want something?" He moved his head back and forth cockily, like when someone tries to give you a hand and you brush them off. "Sorry…" I mumbled under my breath, though not sure why. Leaning against my staff, I made my way back to the cave, the sun was set and all I wanted to go lie in my bed at home and forget anything had happened. When I made it to the cave I found the wolves lurking about, I didn't even bother to shoo them off, just opened the door and bolted it shut.

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I hoped it was all a dream but I found it not so, and worse. I woke slowly, my eyes blurred by the toxin's after effects. I felt something on my leg, I looked back and a black wolf was chewing on it, his teeth hadn't penetrated the skin, but still he had my leg in his mouth. I tried to kick the leg but found it only moved a bit. I tried to move anything and found myself able to move small amounts of my body slowly, but my head had a full range of motion. I opened my jaw to blow a flame at the wolf but nothing came out. A blow came from behind, a wolf had punched me in the back of the head. "We'll have none of that, and none of that!" He released a black flame at the wolf. He let out an un-intelligent yelp. "He is not for eating, anyone who chews on him will be on the roast if I see it happening again." He made sure every one around could hear. I opened my mouth to speak but I found I couldn't speak. "Yes, my young drake? What's that you can't talk? Quite right if we were caught dragging an intelligent drake around with us, we would get in a lot of trouble. So I can't have you say a word until we reach the outlands." I may have been scared before, but now I was horrified. My captors were Darklings, servants of the dark lord. The wolf then laughed evilly and howled to the other. "Let's get this show on the road!" Several of the wolves lifted me onto their backs and carried me, head dragging behind them. I looked to the sky for help, I tried to call out as often as I could, but all that came was a feral roar. They carried me for hours before stopping to find something to eat. The wolves left me alone to fan out into the woods. Only one stayed behind, the one who was chewing on my leg. He took his position again and started chewing on my leg, he still was unable to pierce my skin, but, as the numbness had weakened it felt like someone was putting an extremely dull pair of scissors to my legs and squeezing. I tried to kick, and found that my leg moved enough to knock him off his spot, but then he found something hanging around to chew on. I placed my leg back, to which he happily yelped and continued chewing on my leg.

When he stopped I turned to look at him, he had chewed my scales till his teeth were practically gone, he must've been extremely stupid. I spoke slowly at first, speech was coming back slow, I was able to mutter a few slurred words but I didn't think he under stood at all. "You betther stop, bethor the boss geths back." As I spoke it happened, the boss emerged from the tree line the wolf sat straight up as if he'd been guarding me, I snorted annoyed, yet humored, surely the boss will notice the slab of drool on my leg. The boss came and looked at the wolf, who lowering his gaze so not to make eye contact, looked at my leg and flicked the wolves for head with his paw.

"Be glad I like you, you feral pup." He said, the wolf looked cockeyed at him. "Otherwise you'd be added to the kill pile." He explained. The wolf understood that and scurried off into the woods. Deciding it would be best to let them think I was still incapable of speech I stayed quiet the rest of the day. As the wolves returned they came bringing lots and lots of fresh meat. Deer, rabbits, other small prey animals were being brought and piled up, either piece by piece or whole. The wolves ate around me, as I watched I noticed my own hunger. But while watching I noticed that none of the wolves spoke to each other as they ate. The one who had a taste for my flank sat alone. I wondered if they were all feral. As if answering my thoughts the Leader came bringing a deer. "Yes, they are all feral." He sounded like he was gloating. "It makes them a lot easier to control." He still stood tall and looked over the pack, I looked at him wanting to ask how he controlled them, but I didn't want to be intoxicated in case we came across a traveler. When I didn't say anything he scowled as if expecting me to say something, "Well eat up; don't want you being weak and skinny when we present you." He walked away grinning. I picked up one of the legs of the deer and ripped it from its socket and chewed hungrily. When I finished the leg I moved on to the rest of the deer, first gutting it and slowly roasting the meat with a tongue of flame. I had my fill of raw meat with the leg, I wanted something hot to fill my stomach, but I wouldn't eat so much as to bloat myself. When it was piping hot I had most of the wolves hovering around me smelling the roasted deer. I watched as they came in and greedily sniffed at my food. I growled, keeping them back, I nibbled on the deer. I had a better look at the wolves around me, most of them were a red color, with black patches, like tar, here and there on their fur. However, they weren't completely darklings, but yet not completely normal ferals either. The leader however was the color of a wind wolf, grey with white stripes. When I had finished I threw the scraps to the wolves. When they were finished the Leader ordered us to move out, still unable to walk, several of the wolves supported me on their backs while they dragged me, still tail first to where ever we were going. The wolf, I decided to call him Biter, some how found himself under my left arm. He wastn't the brightest apple in the bunch cause when my leg swung toward him he would snap at it, occasionally I would kick him for his efforts, this would result in him yipping and I would be dropped hard on the ground then picked up again when it was found nothing was wrong the wolf would be chastised and put back to work. At the end of the day it felt like my bottom jaw was about to fall off as I had been dragged the whole way without being able to pick up my head; which was strange because I was perfectly capable of doing so the morning before, the deer, I thought, it must've been poisoned or something. But then, why didn't it effect the wolves? I looked around for any one else looking effected. The only thing I could tell was that they were much more exhausted than the others. The wolves dropped me on a patch of rough dirt, the effect of the poison must've not been as strong as the wolves toxic injection the night in the cave, I was able to move around. I couldn't run off, but I could move slow, I felt like I was creeping along, Biter accompanied me around the camp, waiting for me to lay down, I sat and he sat next to me. Flexing my arm I patted his head with it and tried to shoo him away, determined he stayed near me. I stretched out my mind and tapped into his, it was strange looking into his mind, I could feel remnants of memory, he had once been in the fire nation pack, but was kidnapped as a pup. The rough treatment the darklings gave him forced him to turn feral to protect himself, as a result he ended up quiet on the stupid end, even for a feral wolf. I tried to bring up his formal self, but he fought against it. {I'll help you escape, if I can, let me help you escape this prison of your mind and release who you should be.} The wolf whimpered unsure. {If I scratch your back will you scratch mine?} I asked giving him a light scratch on the shoulder. The wolf thought for a moment, if one could consider it thinking, he pondered over what it would be like to be able to act on his own reason, not on his instincts or what someone else told him. But then memories of what the leader had told him sapped his courage "If you weren't still useful I'd throw you to the prey pile." He had been told that again and again, {What happens when him liking you isn't a good enough reason anymore? You think the others will hesitate to tear you apart and eat you? Or would you rather escape from them?} I argued, but he wasn't going to budge, the treatment they had given him still impacted and wounded him. However he was better off now, he knew who he was and may be able to return sometime. I worked around the camp trying to figure out exactly what I could do, I skipped out on eating dinner, I didn't want to be re intoxicated incase I could escape.

During the night I woke feeling the earth shaking, it felt as if several hundred feet were being pounded on the ground. I used a tree to stand and see where it was coming from. I looked around and couldn't see anything in the dark. I looked up and saw fifteen air dragons, serpent like dragons, with large heads and usually whiskers that hung from their mouth, coming from the sky. I woke Biter, who had fell asleep by me, {C'mon let's go!} I looked up, he followed my gaze and howled "No shut it!" memories of how some of these were pack mates, litter mates, and good friends emitted from him begging me to let him go. {I'm sorry} I said dragging him into the cover of the trees. Howls of pain came from behind as javelins fell from the night sky and struck the wolves where they lay.

"Darkling where are you!" I heard over the mangled cries of the wolves. "Show yourself!" Hiding behind in the tree line I peeked out and saw the air dragons had landed and were subduing the wolves that still lived. I pinned Biter to keep him from darting out to help them. {Wait,} the air dragons landed. "Darkling, show yourself now, or we'll kill the rest of them." One stood on its hind legs rising high into the air.

"We are just hunters; we don't know what you are talking about." His voice sounded like it came from everywhere. "My master won't be happy that you killed so many of his men…"

"Shut up darkling, we know that these are no more then you feral slaves."

"Then you would also know that they are expendable." The dragons fidgeted.

"Show yourself, you'll save us the hassle of hunting you down."

"Aww but that would be no fun." A dark arrow pierced the stomach of the dragon that was standing; a moment later another arrow came from a different direction. {Move, now!} I pushed Biter deeper into the woods.  I looked over my shoulder, the air wolves were lighting the area so they would see the arrows coming and deflect them. A battle cry came from one of the dragons, moments later I heard the howl of the leader. I looked at him, he was looking right at me, and he mouthed two words: one was "die"; the other was something from the ancient tongue, a special lore. He had seen me! The dark arrow flew toward at me, I couldn't move fast enough to get out of the way. I closed my eyes as it would skewer me in seconds. A yelp rose, I opened my eye, the arrow lay, embedded in Biter's shoulder. I leaned down to remove it, but it dissolved into dark energy and dispersed. {Why? Why would you do that?} I asked him. A mind brushed against mine.

{You saved Biter, now I save you. Go I hear other dragons, they come. Run.} He growled. I didn't know whether to run, or to try to save him. He snapped at my claw when I tried to pick him up. {Go…}. I looked away and cursed.

{I'll find you, someday I swear I will.} He just said 'Go,' I moved as fast as I could into the brush, there was nothing left to do but run. If Biter lived, the dragons would save him. Or else, why would they have bothered not killing the rest of the feral wolves. I just moved I didn't know which way I was heading in the dark; I didn't stop moving until I tripped and fell over a log. I panted hard and lay up against the log, I felt hot tears streaming from my face, I was free, but what would become of the wolves, of Biter. Another question bothered my mind, who else was there that they would make the ground shake so? I couldn't think about this, my mind was losing its grip, and could no longer stay awake. I settled as best I could on the log, and with one final tear, I fell asleep.

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I woke with a start the next morning; I couldn't help feel like something had been slobbering all over my leg last night. I lifted the holey remnants of my pant leg and found nothing there. Was I losing my mind, had I eaten something raw, was I getting sick? I looked around and saw a puddle of water, must've slept on it for part of the night or something, I figured. My stomach growled hungrily, I hadn't eaten much the day before. I had been too paranoid to let my guard down. I way down to the river, there were several nice trout in the water. I examined them closely getting ready to strike and saw they were fighting. I lowered the spear and watched them, one trout would spray a mist of brown water out knocking the other back, the other launched an attack which looked as if his scales detached and launched themselves at the other fish, The first fish started to swim away, but I got to it first. The second fish: looked up, gloating, turned to a smaller fish, which I took to be a female, and swam away with her.

I hoped in the water and pulled out a rock knife and begun to clean and gut the fish, cleaning a fish in moving water is much easier than on land. The water takes away anything you pull out and then you can rub the fish clean. After it was clean I started back into the woods, picking and berries I found as I went.  When I had returned to my cave, I found the wolves sniffing around my cave again. We had a mutual agreement between each other, I ignored them, and they ignored me, I couldn't help wonder though what they were looking for. I opened the door and brought out wood for a fire, the wolves eyed the wood and moved away.

After dinner I felt exhausted, I leaned up against the cave entrance and attempted to relax, but found I couldn't. I felt like something was wrong, it was like the day before I came here. What was happening? Where was I going to go next? What had I gotten myself into? All these questions rushing around in my head with no answers.

I woke in the middle of the night screaming, my face was wet from tears. Something was wrong, something was happening, I had no idea what but something was most defiantly happening. I went outside, the earth was shaking, hundreds of horses, deer, and antelope were migrating though the valley. I leaned on the door and watched the animals trot by, every now and again a shadow would swoop down and grab one. I tried to spot what it was but it was too dark. Deciding watching them wasn't getting me any sleep I shut the door, went back inside, curled up and fell asleep.

I woke late that morning to the sound of something scratching on my door. Annoyed I peeked through the wooden door and saw a wolf. Most of the time, unless one scratched urgently, I would let it scratch my door until it gave up and went away; but this time it saw me and scratched more gently. Confused I slid the door open; it was a beaten and battered red wolf with black spots along its back, I hadn't seen that coloring before. I gave it a "what-do-you-want" look. He just snorted, turned around, and sniffed off into the trees. All the more confused I stood in the door way wondering what had just happened. The wolf must've been lost or something.

A roar sounded from the forest. I looked up, startled, and was about to shut myself in when a hunting howl came from the same direction. Oh, the wolves are hunting, I felt stupid for being so jumpy. "Well," I decided. "I haven't heard that roar before. I guess I'll go see what made it." I said trying to calm myself, but I couldn't, I felt like a rabbit in a wolves den. No matter where I ran something was waiting to catch me up. Trying to settle my nerves I grabbed my spear and headed toward the sound. I headed toward the source of the howl, and found the tracks of the wolves, and something else. The track was like that of a dinosaur, raptor like, with two of the tracks had four toes, and the other had three. Each of the tracks was two, three inches across. Curiosity was overwhelming my nervousness now. I looked in the direction of the tracks; they were headed to the base of a large cliff, a kill zone for large animals. I could reach there before they did if I made a straight line, the wolves would probably run whatever it was all over the country side before they herded it there. I headed for the cliff, slowly making my way through the trees toward the cliff. A wolf would already be hiding there waiting for the others to get close. He would show himself and scare the prey into a crack in the cliff. The kill was easy there, as it dead ended a few feet. I watched for the wolves, they would either come from behind me or from the left, following the cliff.

From the left I saw the beast they were hunting, a giant lizard. He stood about five foot tall; he was dinosaur like in appearance, as his legs supporting him from underneath. Like a wingless dragon, he had a serpentine neck, and thick tail. He ran parallel with the wall, right into the trap. The wolf, which had been hiding, appeared a few yards in front of him, while another came from behind and blocked an escape into the woods. A terrified look shot across his face when he couldn't find an escape. He slid to a stop short of the opening. He looked from wolf to wolf trying to frighten them off slashing at them with his claws. Suddenly I had an overwhelming feeling I had to help him. I watched as they made false charges, and seemed to laugh at the lizard. The lizard was now too tired to fight them now. Out numbering the lizard, the wolves got around him and grabbed his flanks pinning him down; as did another one. As soon as it bit I felt it, the pain exploded in my legs like thousands of needles. I screamed in pain, which startled the wolves. Several turned to look for where the shout came from; this was the distraction the lizard was hoping for. He kicked off the two behind him and blew a fireball at the ones in front, clearing a path for him to run through. The wolves chased after howling for joy. I ran, my legs released from the pain off and hid in the direction they were running. The lizard ran surprisingly faster than the wolves. He doubled back and climbed up a tree, I climbed a nearby boulder to get a better view. From on top of a rock I saw that the lizard was being sniffed out by the wolves, he was caught, the wolves would knock down the tree and that would be it for the lizard. I watched, and pain crept into my arms, as he slipped down the tree, a howl off in the distance called to the wolves, they looked but continued sniffing, getting closer and closer to the tree. A second more urgent howl called, the wolves snorted and started running toward the site.

I slid down the rock and knelt down in the tall grass. I felt as though I was attached to him, like I knew this creature. Was he why I was having these visions? I had felt it when the wolves bit him, some-how. The lizard slid slowly down the tree, leaving blood smears half way down the trunk, and started off in the opposite direction of the wolves. That would be no good; a second party would pick him off if he went out on his own. I stood up and whistled to get his attention, he saw me and charged. His legs buckled underneath the way one might see a horse's leg fall from beneath it; his exhaustion must've finally caught up with him as he didn't get up again. I came forward, ignoring a threatening growl, he had several deep scratches and claw marks from the chase. I wondered what to do, should I leave him to tend to his wounds, but would a wolf find him before that, or do I try to carry or drag him to my cave. "Stay here, I'll try to find something I can drag you on." I decided, he responded with a jet of flame out of his nose. I don't think he could've gone anywhere anyway. I looked around for a fallen log, or something large I could have him lay on while I towed him. But then I wondered if anything I picked up would be able to carry him. I finally found a large piece of bark, big enough to fit at least his torso on, and some smaller ones to try and fit under his legs. I found him where I left him; he was panting hard, eyes watering, likely from pain and exhaustion. I tied a vine to the large piece of bark and motioned for him to get on. He looked at me questioningly, but dragged himself over to the bark and lay on it. When I had placed the other scraps of bark under his knees so they would to hopefully slide easier I grabbed the vine and pulled. He was surprisingly lighter than I had expected, I had to replace the vine several times none the less when they snapped or came undone. When we had reached the cave I opened the door, came in and sled him to the back of the cave. After placing a bottle of water over the fire, I shut and braced the door. I remembered retrieving the wood, I couldn't so much as scratch it hitting it over a boulder, and I don't think the wolves could break in if they found the lizard thing here. I sat down heavily, tired from hauling him all the way here and waiting for the water to boil. I could hear him in the back of the cave breathing heavily, occasionally snoring but then you could hear his eyes snap open, when the plastic on the bottle started to melt I removed it with a stick and set down to cool so I could use it. When it had I approached the lizard, he shifted uncomfortably, I put my hands up to show I meant no harm, and grabbed the water bottle, whatever antiseptic was left, and, dabbing it on a semi-clean shirt, poured the warm water on it and wrapped it around his leg. He flinched, involuntarily, knocking me over. Winded I grabbed another shirt and did the same for the other leg; and sat down by the door, he gave me a cold glare that I didn't, and still don't, like. I watched the shirts slowly change to red, when blood started dripping from them I got up to change the rags. He didn't try to move or flinch this time; I could see in his eyes he was debating something. When I was done he turned on me and raised his claw carefully, slowly, to show he wasn't going to harm me. Touching my forehead with the tip, I felt a whole world of knowledge enter my mind. I saw wolves chasing me; but wait, this wasn't me it was the lizard and these were his memories. I then saw houses and fortresses, I heard words and there meanings became clear, I felt something try to enter me, I resisted and it stopped, and that when I blacked out.

When I woke up the lizard was asleep. I heard the howl of the wolves, it sounded sad. I thought I could almost pick out words in it. I got up put a second brace on the door, another log on the fire, then went back to sleep.

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I woke the next morning in one piece, glad for that fact I looked for food. I felt better, the toxin that had affected my body. I took a deep breath, breathing in the morning air trying to find scent of a deer or rabbit or something I could eat. School had trained me how to defend myself if I had ever found myself in a situation such as this, alone and escaped kidnap-ee. What were they thinking teaching us that stuff, now that I'm in the situating none of it seemed to help? Except the not panicking part, that helped a little bit. I found a little field and hunkered down on the outside of it hoping something would pass through. Something did, a rabbit, it would make a good breakfast, I thought. I waited as it came closer, and closer. Once it was within a sprinting range I took off after it. The rabbit disappeared in a cloud of smoke. It had been an illusion.
"A Drake boys, our pups will taste rare meat!" I heard from the forest.

"Wait!" I called out. "I'm lost, I need help!" I cried but to no avail.

"Get him!" I ran, no idea where I was going, again, I ran. No doubt the hunting party had heard something like that before. They howled gaily and nipped at my heels. A wolf would run ahead and turn to leap at me. I would dodge or slice at it, only to miss and end up with a gash down one side or the other. Instead of trying to dodge under, I turned, evading the attack. The wolves howled delighted, it made me sick. They would taunt me saying things sarcastically like: "oh the kid's a smart one," "or the kid's quick footed; oh no," then would laugh when I darted one way or another.  I growled, it seemed nothing I could do, would outsmart them, nor could I outrun them. I tried twice to turn and fight but they would scatter and attack so overwhelmingly I had to run again. I ran as fast as my legs would carry me, the wolves only seemed to run faster. In front of me was a wall of stone. I ran up to the wall and turned to face the wolves. I blew a flame and surrounded myself with the fire; the wolves surrounded the fire and paced it, twelve of them. I could see now why I couldn't out run them. They were replacing themselves and letting the others circle ahead and wait for me. I could have been running in circles. The fire would die soon, so I attacked from inside the fire, blasting fire balls at them.  They dodged them with ease, taunting at every effort. Deciding to save what energy I could, I started on a large fire blast; focusing the heat I slowly raised my body temperature. I looked left and right, to the left it looked like I could evade them if they had to keep running none stop, and were unable to rest, but wolves were known for their endurance in a hunt.
I decided, none the less, to take it, surely the wolves were getting as tired as I was. It was now a waiting game, the wolves paced back and forth outside the fire. When the fire showed signs of finally dying, I engulfed myself with the fire I had been building up. I blasted through the wolves on the left and tackled them out of my way. Using the fire I boosted my speed as best I could, I gained about ten feet on the wolves before they started gaining on me. I ran as fast as my legs would take me. My legs started burning from lack of oxygen, I felt like I couldn't run anymore, then a wolf came out of the foliage in front of me. I skidded to a halt in front of him a wolf had taken place beside me I turned facing my back toward the wall. My heart pounded inside of my chest, this was going to be the end. The lead wolf panted, "Don't worry, we'll make it fast. You were a good chase, but in the end, the pack always wins." Simultaneously two wolves came and grabbed my legs, the pain shot straight through my body disrupting any thoughts, except one, Oh God help me get out of here. As if answering a cry came from the woods behind him. The wolves jumped and looked around for the source of the sound, I kicked my legs as hard as I could and darted the panic. The will to stay alive gave me enough energy to keep moving. I turned a corner; darted straight then doubled back, and ran straight up a tree. Exhausted I hung off the tree branch watching, waiting and praying the wolves wouldn't look up. Hours seemed to pass as the wolves ran by, I didn't have the energy to correct myself if I fell off balance, all it would take was a strong gust and I'd fall from my hiding place. Several sprinted pass quickly trying to catch up, several jogged slowly as if they were tired of playing and would just wait till the others called them. However, two fell behind sniffing the ground, unsure I had ran forward. Their noses came closer and closer to the tree I was hiding in. Exhausted and panicked, my grip loosened on the branch and I didn't know if I could hold on much longer. Fortunately I wouldn't have to, a howl called, trouble was in the area and they were calling everyone. When I was sure the wolves had gone, I slid down the tree and limped slowly the opposite way. I heard a noise behind me and looked toward it, something was standing on two legs, I charged trying to scare it off but my legs betrayed me and I collapsed. Fighting to maintain consciousness the two legged thing came over. "Stay back." I growled but he ignored me. I couldn't get up, I tried to move but nothing would respond. My body felt like it had shut down, it would no longer respond to my commands. The thing looked over me and said some garbled up gibberish of words. I snorted producing two jets of flames, great now he's going to leave me here, I said giving up. I looked around with my eyes, watching to see when a wolf or other predator would come pick me off. I started to cry, knowing this had to be the end; I was bleeding out in an unknown territory, probably the air kingdom by the markings of the wolves, and was soon going to fall into unconsciousness and probably would never to wake up. I blinked for a second, and there stood before me was the two-leg thing again. I looked at him; he motioned for me to get on a piece of bark. "Why are you doing this?" I asked crawling onto the bark. He went and set some other pieces under my knees and he started dragging me. Exhausted but determined to find out about this person I asked him questions only to be ignored. Annoyed I probed his mind and found that he didn't understand what I was saying, he didn't even know I had probed him. I wondered where he came from; I couldn't probe his memories, just his thoughts. He continued to drag me along. No longer worried I was going to end up this thing's dinner, I fell asleep on the raft, only to wake up to a snap. My eyes popped open; the vine had snapped he was using to tow me. He strung another and continued, two more times the vine broke, or came undone, I know because it ruined my sleep twice more before we came to a cave. He dragged me to the back of the cave, and then threw a container on a fire. The place reeked of fish guts, the smell came from deep behind me in the cave, it was a wonder the wolves weren't all over with how bad it stank. He sealed the door with what looked like a thicker piece of oak bark that fit across the mouth of the cave and braced it; he had a good choice of a door, it could survive a hurricane without as much as a dent. An alien strange smell filled the room, sort of bitter almost toxic smelling, he stood and took the container out of the fire and set it aside, a liquid was boiling on the inside. "What are you doing?" I questioned, knowing he couldn't answer. When the liquid stopped bubbling he grabbed some cloth off the ground and tore it into four strips, grabbed an alcohol smelling gel, and poured that and the water onto the cloth. As he approached I glared at the clothing "What's that?" He stopped and spread his hands out. He wrapped the cloth around the area my leg had been bitten, it stung for a moment and I twitched my leg. I grumbled an unheard apology, he didn't even look at me just wrapped my other leg. When he sat back down I stared him down. Why would this creature tend the bite wounds, why should he care? I growled at myself I knew what I could do to find out the answers to my questions, but that would break tradition. I could give him an intimate link into my brain and give him all the knowledge of my language, and I could learn everything there is to know about him. But then I would be chastised or even forced to withdraw the link, which is supposedly to be extremely painful. Frustrated at my predicament, I looked at him again; he was getting up with the two other rags and changing the ones on my legs, which were now soaked in blood. I looked at him, and he at me, I had to make a decision. I wondered if him saving my life would be a good enough reason for me to give him my link. It was, to my misfortune, already promised to another. I didn't care, I didn't like her, and I didn't truly pick her as my mate. She was second choice in my eyes. I glared at him, lifting a claw I got ready to copy all my memories and plant them into his brain, and, if he didn't fight, I would do the same with his memories and plant them into mine. The transfer only took seconds, but it felt like my whole life time. I watched moments of my life that I rather have not lived again, and moments that I wish I could go back and relive. I pressed on, and reached into his mind to copy his memories, however he fought against me, and I retreated back into my mind. Shaun, as I learned his name was from the brief contact, passed out on the floor. Taking advantage of his unconsciousness I went into his mind and copied his memories and took them within too over look. To my astonishment he wasn't even from my world, he was from a completely different dimension, as he called it, another universe. At this point I looked at him, Shaun, in a different perspective. I looked at his life, he was almost no different than I. His first love died in a horrific accident, his second he never had the courage to ask out, and his best friend was a complete nut. I looked at the incidents he hid deep within his subconscious; he's able to use magic? I wondered looking at a time just before he left his world where he used magic to fuel his legs to out run a bully. The term bully escaped me, but patronize or tormentor fell into place and I understood the concept. Most of his life seemingly ran parallel to mine. The last thing I went over was his language, apparently called English, the patterns and dialect wasn't much different than that of our common tongue. However, the idea that one word had so many different meanings confused me. I figured I didn't need to understand it so long as he knew my language, and if not our mind link should automatically translate words, eventually for everyone not just me. Exhausted from the escape, and the transfer, I fell asleep.