...
"Aaaaarghhhhh!!!"
An ear-piercing scream betrayed the nature of the silent night. A thin, black-haired boy dashed through a thick forest, screaming his lungs out. Clothes were dirty and tattered. This was Eric. A boy whose life was fairly 'normal'... until six years ago.
SIX YEARS AGO
"You'll be sixteen tomorrow, Eric."
A fairly old man in an apron stood at the door in an empty restaurant, flipping the sign to indicate they were closed.
"Yeah, I guess."
Behind the old man was a teenage black-haired teenage boy also in an apron. He was wiping a table, his ears plugged with an earpiece.
"Tsk."
The old man walked up to Eric and slapped the back of his head, knocking the earpiece out of his ears. "You should be more excited. I heard sixteen is a very exciting age for teenagers these days. Something about sweet sixteen."
"Sweet sixteen? Who told you that? Julia? What would she know about teenagers?" Eric said, rubbing the back of his head.
"Definitely more than you. You see, I did my research."
Eric raised a brow. "Research?"
"Kids your age are supposed to have lots of friends, attend parties, and get in trouble and arrested by the police."
"What kind of websites did you read, Grandpa?"
"No way there was nobody for you to befriend, or... is my grandson the weird one?" Eric's grandpa muttered to himself.
The corners of Eric's mouth twitched. He pulled off his apron and tossed it over the counter. "Alright, I'm done."
"You know, I'm just saying, son. You can't keep this life of solitude forever. Get out there. Do you think staying away would exempt you from the stress of life? You never know what life might toss your way." Eric's grandpa stood up and hung his apron on a rack.
"Yah, yah, I hear you, Gramps. Make more friends and get arrested by the police, got it. I'll be sixteen tomorrow. Tonight though, I'm sleeping like a baby." Eric replied sarcastically. "Let's go." Eric and his old man exited the restaurant.
That night, Eric McAllister went into a three-year coma.
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"Stop screaming; you'll wake the sleeping beasts." Behind Fay was the most hideous-looking thing to have ever existed. The monster was a mixture of every other animal. It was like a huge mass of flesh with eyes, legs and other body parts poking out of it. Just a straight up abomination.
"Ahhhhhhhh!!!!" Eric kept screaming his lungs out.
"Stop running! Alright, let's make a deal, yeah. I promise to eat you in one go!"
"Screw you!!" Eric shouted, running even faster. Surprisingly with the monster's unconventional movement and speed. It still couldn't catch up to Eric. He swiveled between trees and bushes with precision, almost like he had done this a million times before. He had. After falling into a coma on his sixteenth birthday, Eric spent the past three years in this world of monsters, 'Dreamscape.'
"Ungrateful human!" The monster hissed, tailing closely behind Eric.
Eric dashed through a patch of tall bushes and came face-to-face with a calm and beautiful lake. The waters were calm and quiet, reflecting the colorful sky of the dreamscape, but as soon as Eric saw it, the feeling of dread washed over him.
"Oh shit!!" Eric exclaimed. Coming to a quick halt with his foot digging into the ground, Eric turned and dashed back in the direction he came, towards the abominable monster.
Seeing Eric come back through the bushes towards him, the monster shouted. "Haha, Human you finally decided to be eaten—" The monster's words got stuck in its numerous mouths as it caught a glimpse of the clear, beautiful lake behind Eric.
"Oh hell no!! Despicable human! Are you trying to get me killed?" The monster shouted. It skidded to a stop and also dashed in the other direction beside Eric. It was now Eric's turn to shout at the monster.
"Hey! Stop making so much noise. You'll wake it up-"
At that moment an ear-piercing roar echoed throughout the forest alongside the splashing of water. Something came out of the lake!
"Ahhh!! It woke up!" The abomination screamed, increasing its speed alongside Eric.
"Shut up, you disgusting beast! Your screams woke it up!!" Eric shouted at the monster.
"My screams?! You're the one who ran towards the lake shouting like a banshee."
"You were the one that tried to eat me first! Can't you fight it? You're bigger."
"Fight a phantom beast? You must be out of your mind!"
Boom!!!
Eric and the abomination monster looked at their side in horror to see a huge lion-like animal. Its body shone like it was coated in silver. Its claws and teeth were more like blades than nails, and its huge mane was a thick and eerie black fog. It gazed at Eric and the abomination. Its glowing red eyes suddenly shone as it leaped towards them.
"How did it get here so fast—" Eric dived unto the grass narrowly escaping being pinned down by the beast. The beast that had just missed Eric leapt right onto the bulging mass of flesh, the abomination. Its claws sank into the body of the monster, who crashed heavily on the forest floor.
In his three years in this hellhole. Eric noticed an unspoken rule between the monsters of the dark forest.
Do not go near the lake.
During his first year, he was saved numerous times because the monsters refused to follow him close to the waters. Eric thought the waters were like a saving grace for him. Until the day he disturbed the lake and saw what was beneath it.
That night Eric slept in a pool of his own blood.
"Ah! Get off me." The abomination's body twitched and suddenly transformed into a large bird, throwing the beast off its body.
"Eric looked at the bird in a daze. "This bastard can transform?"
The abomination spread its large wings and soared into the sky, but not before Eric leapt up and grabbed its legs, also getting pulled into the sky.
"Hey! What are you doing? Get off me!" The abomination shouted.
"Wait, hold on. This is all your fault in the first place. The least you can do is take me away from here."
"My fault? None of this would have happened if you had just let me eat you in peace."
"Bullshit! I was supposed to just sit there and let you eat me? Screw you!"
"What kind of human are you arguing with a monster!"
"Speaking of monsters... What's it doing?" Eric muttered, looking at the four-legged feline below them. It stretched its front limbs and pressed itself on the ground.
"Oh no."
Eric's heart sank immediately as a wicked thought crossed his mind. "It's not planning to jump, is it?"
As if mocking him. The beast stretched his powerful legs and leaped into the air.
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"Beautiful"
That was Eric's first thought when he appeared in this world. He lay on an open grass field staring at a mesmerizing sky.
"What the hell is that!!!"
That was Eric's second thought when he appeared in this world.