Jack used his Virya reserves recklessly as he raced back towards the tree. He repeated the process of propelling himself with wind to gain distance from the lizard beast. He would need at least a couple of minutes to enact his plan. Jack looked back every now and then, seeing less and less of the lizard until he eventually only saw hints of the lizard chasing him.

  The tree with the green fruit came into view, and he decided it was best to run the rest of the way there. He didn’t want to accidentally pass out due to his small reservoir. Jack ran past the tree to the Spiker the lizard first killed. Jack gripped a spike while holding down the dead creature with his foot to rip it off.

  Then another for good measure. Then he dragged the Spiker closer to the tree before shooting himself up into the purple-leafed tree to hide.

  Jack waited quietly in the tree as he watched the Lizard approach, where Jack dragged the Spiker.

  The lizard looked around before it quickly decided to eat the Spiker, and Jack could have sworn he saw the lizard do a sort of shrug before it did.

  “Not enough of a threat for you to make sure I’m gone, huh?” Jack muttered. “I’ll show you.”

  He held out a spike he ripped off from the dead creature and aimed it at the Lizard. He figured he could shoot the spike the same way he was able to propel himself to gain distance on the lizard. Jack closed his eyes and focused the wind Virya in his hands.

  He knew it was bad practice to close his eyes in situations of life and death, but regardless of how impressive his control is, he was still but a seedling. The amount of focus he needed to fire the spike to kill the Lizard would require everything he had.

  It would probably put him in Virya sickness, but the fruits on the tree were the only reason he even considered doing something so reckless. At least that’s what he thought in order to convince himself that this was a good idea. The leaves began to rustle as Jack gathered the wind with the lizard, giving no mind to anything but its food.

  Perfect.

  Jack launched the spike towards the lizard, causing the wind around him to blow the tree’s canopy into chaos with him included. Jack fell out of the tree with a pounding headache and landed with a thud, knocking the air out of him.

  Jack opened his eyes, gasping for air, and tried to scramble to his feet when all he heard were shrieks and explosions as he tried to regain his focus. “Holy hell! A Spiker must’ve got lucky and hit its eye!” Jack’s eyes widened.

  He crouched behind the tree to see two large bipedal beasts. His vision spun as he tried to make out who was there. One of them was like a humanoid version of a rat, while the other looked like a goat with horns that curled like a ram. Annoids.

  Jack’s father has always told him stories of Annoids. They were not to be trusted and are scum of the realms. His father told him of how Annoids started a war with the humans, but he never elaborated why. All Jack knew was that they won and humans cut all ties with the Annoids, blocking the pathways from the Annoid realms to the humans.

  Jack had only seen drawings of what Annoids looked like, and to see them now, he was terrified. The goat Annoid stood at least 7 feet tall with hands the size of his head. The rat Annoid was a little less intimidating with its hunched back, but its shriveled snout and clawed fingers raised the hairs on Jack’s body.

  Jack finally laid his eyes on the lizard that was wildly shooting beams from its mouth. Jack gaped. He managed to hit the lizard in the eye, but instead of lying down to die, he only enraged the beast. The goat Annoid walked towards the lizard, not bothering to dodge its beam. Thanks to Jack, he wouldn’t need to. He raised his hand and chopped down on the lizard’s neck, cutting it clean off. Jack shuddered.

  The lizard that could kill Jack with a single blow was killed by the goat Annoid like it was a pest. “Why did you kill the little cute Komo? I wanted it as a pet!”

  The goat Annoid turned to look at the rat expressionlessly. “The last pet you kept nearly killed us all on the blood moon.”

  The rat shrugged. “Who knew the tierless would change under the effects? I miss that little rascal. Anyways, you don’t think this Komo is what that blue light was?”

  The goat annoid grunted. “No. We saw a blue streak. Not yellow beams.” He looked around and sniffed the air. Its eyes landed on the tree Jack was hiding behind.

  Jack froze and stood behind the trunk of the tree as still as possible. His head still pounded from depleting his reservoir, and his legs wanted to give out from under him, but to move now would certainly mean death.

  “An Alcina tree.” The goat Annoid said.

  “Look, whatever that light was, it’s probably long gone! But this Alcina tree should be just as good! Pick a bunch of fruits and tell Olaf about the tree! This is a boon!” The rat exclaimed as he hopped around, cheering.

  The goat Annoid grunted again. “Then start picking.”

  The rat gave the goat a withering look. He muttered under his breath as he walked closer to the tree. Jack stood frozen, unsure of what to do. Thoughts of running or talking his way out went out the window when the Rat found him.

  “Jelal! It’s a human!”

  Jack turned to run, but the goat Annoid appeared in his path, stopping him.

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  “What is a human doing here?” Jelal whispered.

  “Stay back, you beasts! My father will kill you if any harm comes to me!” Jack yelled.

  The rat Annoid laughed as he edged around the tree to get a better look at Jack. “I doubt your father has any pull here.”

  The goat Annoid regarded Jack with his beady black eyes and expressionless face. “Grab the boy. We will come back for the Alcina tree after the blood moon.” The rat jumped around giddily as if he had won a prize.

  “Can he be my pet! He won’t turn in the blood moon!” The rat stopped hopping around to look at Jack wearingly.

  “I think.”

  “Olaf will decide his fate. Now grab the boy.”

  Jack yelled again, trying to run, but the rat grabbed him with its bony clawed fingers. Jack couldn’t find any strength in him to fight back, for the Virya sickness had rendered him useless, and the iron grip of the rat held his arms in place.

  “I can barely sense any Virya in you. Must have used all you had to poke that Komo in the eye, huh? You’ll make a fun pet.” He tied Jack’s hands together and started dragging him towards the path from which they came until everyone froze.

  The temperature dropped quickly, and even the trees seemed to stop swaying with the wind.

  Then it hit Jack like a mountain dropping on him.

  Fear and utter helplessness, along with cold air that threatened to freeze him at a moment’s notice. Jack dropped to his knees to scream and gasp for air at the same time. The result ended up with him choking and falling to his side as he silently begged the Realm protectors to grant him mercy.

  He begged to breathe again.

  His prayers were somewhat answered when a giant axe came from the darkness past the trees and landed right in front of them, creating a large crater in the ground. Jack gasped for air as the invisible force that stopped everything and induced them all with fear disappeared. By the time Jack caught his breath and turned over to get back to his feet, the rat Annoid was killed on impact and was pinned to a tree with an ice spike the size of Jack, through the stomach. The goat Annoid held his arm as blood dripped from its head. His guards must’ve finally found him. Jack cheered inside as he stood.

  “I told you my father would come! Now face his wrath!”

  Though as Jack said the words, he looked from side to side and saw no one until he turned around to see exactly why it felt like the world froze earlier. A giant Minotaur stepped from the shadows of the forest. He was at least 9 feet tall with one horn that stretched out then curved up and was as large as his father’s arm, while the other horn was broken halfway.

  Red eyes beamed through the darkness, almost glowing as they stared past Jack. Hooves the size of Jack’s head shook the ground with every step.

  “Toflann. Olaf would not approve of you killing one of us.”

  The minotaur named Toflann breathed out steam from his nostrils, causing the air to drop a bit more in temperature.

  “Would he approve of two, Jelal?”

  Jelal tensed as he silently stared at Toflann.

  “Leave the boy and go before I change my mind.” Toflann demanded.

  Jelal glanced at the boy, then back at Toflann as if he was deciding something. Then, without another breath, he jumped away into the forest.

  Jack stared up at the minotaur named Toflann. He fell back on his butt as he tried to scurry backwards, but the fear that made him shook uncontrollably also made him clumsy causing him to fall straight on his back. He tried to put his hands in front of his face, but forgot they were tied. Instead, he closed his eyes, turned away, and acted as any self respecting cultivator would in this exact moment.

  “Please don’t eat me! Or use me as target practice! Or make me a slave! Or kill me! My father! He will do anything to get me back! Grant me safe passage back home, and they will reward you."

  He opened his eyes to see the minotaur only staring at him silently, making Jack even more nervous. His father has told him about Annoids and how they were savage beasts, where no law ruled them, or that they had no sympathy or grace in them. Jack always believed his father about the Annoids, and his first encounter with them only backed his father’s stories.

  “Jack!” A voice cried out from behind Toflann.

  A scrawny boy with ragged brown hair, blue eyes, and dressed in red robes came running from behind the minotaur and towards Jack. The boy looked to be the same age as Jack and slightly taller. A slave of this Toflann perhaps?

  “My name is Liam. Pretend you know me.” Liam whispered to Jack. “What’s happening? Who are you?” Liam hugged Jack, causing him to wince as Liam squeezed his wounds. “I can’t tell you everything with him here, my lord, but we have to rely on him for safety. For now, we are adopted brothers from the Songwind clan.” Liam whispered quickly, then changed his tone instantly. “I thought you were dead, brother! We only have the grace of this Annoid to thank for reuniting us!” Jack thought Liam’s acting was sub-par at best, but the minotaur did not seem to notice his facade.

  Though he just met Liam in this instance, he liked him already for coming up with a cunning plan to fool this beast-man. Though now that he thought about it, how did he even convince this Annoid to help him? Unless he planned to eat them both and used Liam to find Jack for that purpose. He knew for a fact Annoids had no care for humans. He threw those thoughts to the back of his mind after remembering how quickly he killed that rat Annoid. If he wanted them dead or as food, they would already be dead.

  “Liam! Little brother! How I missed you so! I thought I’d never see you again after we…” The words died in his mouth.

  Jack still had no idea how he ended up here. “..got separated.”

  Liam cut Jack’s bindings and helped him up to his feet, putting his arm around his own shoulder. Though Jack showed a moment of weakness in front of this minotaur, he must now put on a brave display to not show weakness. Annoids do not like the weak.

  “Toflann is it? I must thank you for reuniting my brother and me. Can we count on you for safe passage home?”

  Toflann scoffed. “And where is your home, human?”

  Jack looked towards Liam, but his face seemed genuinely clueless. “I’m not too sure, but I know this forest must lie east of our home.”

  “If you think your home lies east of this place, you surely do not know where you have ended up.” Now Jack was completely clueless. Was this not the forest only northwest of where his clan was? The minotaur turned to walk away.

  “Wait, where are you going! My father will reward you with anything you want for as long as you return us safely!” Toflann turned back, causing Jack to flinch. “With where you both have ended up, this is your home now.”

  Both Jack and Liam were puzzled. “And where did we end up, sir?” Liam asked. “Nablar. Trial Prison of the Animal Realm.”

  Jack’s heart sank. Nablar? Prison? Animal Realm? Just how did he end up here?