[Jedidiah’s Perspective]

-----

As I was running, two crazy men were chasing me. One was tall; He had bright brown eyes, and a scar on his right eyebrow. On his chest, he wore a leather hunter’s outfit; An inside shirt with a suit vest, and an overcoat that was bigger than him. He also had a crossbow gun across his back with arrows in it! While the other was medium in size. He wore something similar to the other man, if not that it was short and he has brown eyes. Like his partner, he wore a purple hat and a purple overall coat which flustered everywhere as he ran. In addition, he also had a huge gun! It was long and had 5 holes inside it! I’ve never seen anything like it before in my life.

Anyways, while I was running towards the desert, I noticed something. The desert ground was higher than the forest! The trees in the forest were just so tall, it was hard to tell the difference.

However, there’s always a con to pros, right? Thanks to this elevated terrain, I feel down into the spiky shrubs below! It was terrible! My whole body was covered in thorns! Spiky, painful thorns. The worst part of it is that I don’t get to remove the thorns because two madmen are trying to kill me!

That being said, I endured the pain and continued to run for my life. With each step I took, the thorns on my leg entered deeper and deeper. I tell you, it’s a terrible feeling to go through. Anyways, as I was running, I was using the forest to my advantage; I used the trees to dodge the incoming bullets, I even ran on dead leaves to hide my footprints and jumped over logs and woods just so that they wouldn’t get a good aim at me.

As I got deeper into the woods, I noticed the forest becoming darker. It was like in the horror moves when people ran into the dark woods just so they could escape their killers.

Something in me told me to stay clear of the forest. However, that was impossible because once I turned back, it could be my death sentence right there. Swallowing my saliva, I ran faster into the deep, dark forest.

While I was running, the branches of the trees around me were cutting my skin! Those spiteful wicked things. It was painful, even worse than the thorns which were all over my body. More so, the ones on my feet!

I tell you the truth, I’ve never experienced any worse stinging pain before in my life. My wounds felt like fire ants biting me, accompanied by an electrifying pain that stabbed my brain.

While I was running, I looked back and noticed something that made me happy.

Even the two crazy men who were chasing after me were not so lucky after all. The tall one with the crossbow had fresh slice marks all over his face. Even his counterpart. Haha, that serves them right. I bet they’re just dying to scratch open their itching wounds right now. Haha.

When I turned back my head, I also noticed something worse. It was, even more, worse than I thought! To my left-hand side, there was a pack of pitch-black wolves chasing us! Afraid, I peeked over to my right and even saw a more horrifying danger. A huge brown wolf was also running in the woods with us!

At that point, I knew I was done for good! This is it, guys. This is the way I was going to die. I would die tragically; being chased by hunters who want me dead, and hungry wolves! Ah, how unfortunate am I?

Scared for my life, I felt the adrenaline kick in. My whole body was swelling. I could feel my muscles tense up, and the blood in my veins flowing. I could even feel my body becoming more, and more energized for some reason. Maybe it was my mysterious bloodline gradually kicking in.

With each breath I took, I felt myself going further, and further, from the hunters and wolves behind me. It was scary at the same time because I still don’t know how to control this thing, and I have to find the other heirs If I want to find out how to control my bloodline powers.

After a while of running, I noticed that I couldn’t hear the racing footsteps of the hunters again. At first, I wanted to stop and turn, but I’m not stupid. The moment I stop, those hungry wolves would eat me alive, and that’s something I don’t want at all. I’ve already died once, I don’t want to die again.

So, I kept running forward, while trying to look behind me at the same time. Every now and then, I’d try to peek behind me to see if those crazy hunters were still behind me. Or, if those hungry wolves finally got them, and killed them.

I hope the wolves killed them. At least, I’d have a minute or two, to catch my breath before I continue running.

However, not everything goes as I’d like it to. The hunters were no longer behind me, however, it was those hungry wolves that were right behind me! There was even a huge black wolf with a fur patch in the middle of its chest behind me. When I mean behind me, I meant it.

In short, I almost had a heart attack. At this point, I was taken over in fear and panic. Every muscle in my body shriveled up. Even the hairs all over my body were standing straight!

Not willing to die, I started printing for my life. I didn’t care what was around me anymore. I just assumed the form of a sprinter and ran for my life. With my eyes closed, and chest upright, I ran with everything I had in me.

---

After a while, I started becoming tired. My heart within me started feeling heavy and weakened. It was as though, every time my heartbeat, it was a warning that I would give up on me at any moment. To make things worse, I was even feeling dizzy. I know it’s due to my lack of blood circulation. I have too many open wounds around my body that refuse to heal as quickly as I’d love it to.

With that, I finally decided to lift my head and open my eyes.

Ahead, there was a huge tree that seemed to dominate everything around it. It was so huge and grand, no grass or trees was growing under it. It was just surrounded by nothing but fertile brown soil. There were even some pocket spaces in the branches which allowed beams of sunlight through. It was the most beautiful natural scenery I’d ever seen in my life.

However, just as I was taking another step forward, two arrows collided in front of me.

PA! The two arrows exploded. The explosion was so bad, small pieces of wood entered my eyes!

“Argh! Argh! My eyes! My eyes!!!” I yelled in pain.

Angry and annoyed, I rubbed my hand against my eyes and looked to see who shot the other arrow. I looked over to my right, and I saw nothing but butterflies, lizards, and deers. I looked over to my left-hand side, and I still didn’t see anyone. I only saw a doe grazing on grass.

Annoyed by this, I walked over to the bushes on my right. I know that’s where the arrow came from, so the owner must still be there. Maybe they didn’t feel the need to apologize to me, because they were too busy trying to kill the deer.

Not too far away from me, I noticed a brown bag lying in between the branches of the shrubs. This also means that the owner was nearby too.

Swoosh! Another arrow flew past me. This time, I didn’t just see it, but I felt the breeze from the arrow on my neck as it cut through the air. It was aggravating, and frightening. Only if the owner knew what I had in store for them.

They have no idea what I’ve been through today, and they have no decency to apologize? No, I must get my apology today! The funny thing is that the person who was hunting missed the deer completely this second time.

“PST! Pathetic. Maybe you should just give up on hunting, and go home.” I yelled out loud.

My eyes were still fixed on the direction of where the second arrow was shot. I know the owner is somewhere around there, I just need to find exactly where he or she is.

“Haha, come and try your luck. If you can.” Another voice from the forest replied.

It sounded like a boy’s voice. As he spoke, branches from the shrubs and trees were shaking.

“Maybe they were finally coming out of their hiding place,” I said to myself.

“If not for you, I wouldn’t have missed my kill! Now, bow down to Laozi, and I will be merciful to you.” The voice said.

“Ha, in your dreams. You almost killed me, TWICE! Justify that, if you can.” Jedidiah retorted.

“Haha, you were in my way, twice! You should be grateful my first arrow didn’t kill you.” The voice replied.

After the person said that, they finally decided to reveal themselves. The person who almost killed Jedidiah was indeed a boy. He was very tall for his age. He also had wavy hair and uniquely colored eyes. In his eyes, he had blue outside, a silver color midway, and a white outline around his iris. How cool is that?

“Who are you, and why did you come here to hunt? Are you trying to kill die?” Jedidiah asked seriously.

Shocked, the other person replied, “Who am I? Okay...my name is Osiris, and I believe my reason for being here is quite obvious. I am- well, I was hunting.”

Osiris said as he crossed his arms in discontent. From his eyes, it was hard to tell if he was mad at Jedidiah or not because he also had a nice poker face. One that was void of emotions.

“Oh, nice to meet you, Osiris. My name is Jedidiah. Jedidiah Kings.” Jedidiah said as he stretched out his hands to introduce himself to Osiris.

Looking at Jedidiah’s outstretched arms, Osiris humphed, and later agreed to shake Jedidiah’s hands.

“Well, why were you even running. What is chasing you?” Osiris asked inquisitively.

“Oh, yes, that’s true. We need to get out of here IMMEDIATELY!” Jedidiah said as he started panicking again.

“Why, what is it? What was chasing you!” Osiris asked. He just met Jedidiah, he’s not dumb enough to blindly believe Jedidiah’s words. Or so, he thought.

Knowing their conversation wasn’t going anywhere, Jedidiah just told him the truth.

“There was a group of mad hunters chasing me. I wonder where they are now.” Jedidiah said as he looked over towards the direction he came from.

“That’s your problem, bud. If you stole something, better return it, and go home!” Osiris replied with a carefree tone.

“I wish It was that easy. There weren’t only hunters chasing me, a pack of hungry wolves was also chasing me! Some of them were as small as gods, while the others were as big as boulders and trees!” Jedidiah warned.

“Haha, nice try. You have to work much harder than that If you want to lie to me.” Osiris said as he laughed tauntingly at Jedidiah.

While Osiris was laughing, Camille, Jose, Malia, and Bright finally came out of the woods. They all looked tired and worried. Their clothes were torn, hair scattered, and even their sounds bleeding.

Camille and Malia rested their backs against each other as though they were trying to avoid being hunted by something in the woods. The same thing could be said with Bright and Jose. Everyone in that group was on high alert.

When Jedidiah saw them, he knew it was too late. They were all doomed. If They weren’t dead by now, it means that the wolves are either hiding in the woods or surrounding them.

Helpless, Jedidiah had no other choice but to accept his fate.

On the other hand, Osiris stopped laughing and said, “Hey, are they the so-called ‘hunters’ you said were chasing you? Look at them, they look like petrified babies crying for their mommies”

“Yeah, and they are not just petrified. They probably encountered something way bigger than them” Jedidiah hinted.

“You mean, something like a wolf? Or worse, a Werewolf? Hmm?” Osiris replied as he went on taunting Jedidiah again, and again.

As Osiris was taunting, wolf howls were heard from all over the forest. It was coming from every direction of the forest. Even Osiris who was taunting Jedidiah originally was caught in surprise. He thought Jedidiah was some con artist who was trying to scam him. Only for him to find out that what he was saying was all true!

*****