A yowl of pain echoed throughout the forest. The sound came from Rai. He was leaning against a tree, while Sitha was rash on his leg that he had received from coming into contact with poison ivy. They sat in front of the lake that wasn’t too far from home. Sitha had a rag and was attempting to wipe the rash, but was unsuccessful due to Rai constantly squirming.
“Ugh! Stand still, Rai!” Sitha yelled at him authoritatively, but it was no use as Rai continued trying to dodge the rag.
“It burns!” Rai screamed. “I know that I made a RASH decision and all, but--” Rai screamed again as Sitha scratched his leg because of how terrible his joke was going to be.
“YOU’RE EVIL, WOMAN!!!”
“And you’re acting stupider than Agnus. Your point?”
“Agnus! Sitha called you--” Sitha quickly shoved the rag in Rai’s megaphone of a mouth before the boy could finish his sentence, then frantically looked around to see if Agnus was anywhere around. Lucky for her, Agnus was nowhere in sight, but she clearly remembered that Agnus was just nearby a moment ago. She got up and looked around the tree, but Agnus was still nowhere to be seen.
“Speaking of Agnus,” she said softly, “where’d he go?”
“Somewhere not with you, obviously,” Rai mumbled as he scratched at his rash, but Sitha did not hear him.
“The last time Agnus wandered off, he proved that leopards can fly...Where can he be?”
“Is he all you think about? Geez, just tell him how you feel and let it be over with.”
“Rai, it’s not as simple as that. It’s more than that. When you love someone, they always stay on your mind no matter what you’re doing. Then, when I look at him, it’s like nothing else exists but him. He’s just so adorable and--”
“It’s funny how you fantasize over a guy that only recognizes you when you’re the only person around. I should know because I know what funny is.”
“Oh, hush! I know he’s crazy about me deep down. I felt a spark last night when he and I were cuddled up with each other. It’s meant to be! I can feel it!”
“That’s such a RASH conclusion you came too, Sitha!” Rai began laughing at his own pun, which earned him a punch in the head from Sitha.
“Yow!” He cried.
“There’s a lot more where that came from if you keep joking around!”
While Sitha and Rai were having their discussion, Agnus was somewhere not too far from them, but a great enough distance as to not hear them completely. He had a concentrated look on his face as he was doing something on a tree with a dagger that he carried with him. Red sat down behind him, watching and tilting his head in curiosity. When Agnus was done, he took a step back and put on a proud smile for he had carved a bear’s paw print, similar to the one on the back of his vest, in the tree. Red was finally able to fully see what his father had made and seeing it made the cub happy since he’s been dying to see what it was.
“It looks great, Papa,” Red said ecstatically.
“Aww, thanks, Red. I think it looks great too.” Agnus looked at his art one last time before walking away from the tree with Red. There he was again; aimlessly wandering through the wilderness with his cub happily following behind him. Though unintentional, Agnus would spend his entire day in the forest unless he was doing something important, or if he noticed that he or his son needed anything. This is an average, normal day for the two bears, but this day would not be as normal as they would believe it to be.
While Agnus and Red were walking in the forest, they came across Elias, who was now carrying Kinsa on his back. Elias was walking down a trail in the forest when Agnus saw him, and at that moment, Agnus came out of his mindless zone because he knew that something wasn’t right. As Agnus and Red were walking,
“Hey,” Agnus called out to Elias, catching the Tasoolian Wolf by surprise, “is that Kinsa on your back? What happened to him, and where’s my brother?” Elias slowly turned to face Agnus, slightly worried of what to say to the large man. He knows only about the scary side of Agnus, which is what other Tasoolian Wolves discussed the most while he was in training. Once you’re on his bad side, they would say, he’s gonna be your worst nightmare. Elias gulped and took a deep breath as he formulated all of his words.
“A-Agnus, sir. Kinsa was...attacked by a…”
“By a what,” Agnus asked impatiently and walked over to Elias, not at all amused. Elias backed away slowly, now quivering with fear.
“I-I’m not sure, sir! All I know is that he was badly injured after Captain Reko saved me from some sort of possession! M-My orders were to bring Kinsa back home and to let Captain Reko know when I brought him back safely! I promise you I know nothing else! Please don’t hurt me!”
“Wait, if you’re here, then where’s Reko?”
“C-Captain Reko journeyed off on his own. He mentioned something about his son’s life being in danger. It looked like he was heading towards the mountains.”
“Oh no, I told him I had a bad feeling about this. I knew that something bad was going to happen. Maybe I should call him first.” Agnus brought his communicator up to the front of his face and then pushed a button on it. “Reko? Reko, is everything alright?” There was no answer from Reko, which worried Agnus greatly.
“I-I don’t understand,” Elias said worriedly, “wouldn’t Captain Reko have responded by now?”
“H-He can’t be...It...can’t be. Reko would never--...” As much Agnus wanted to shed tears, his own anger overcame him as he started angrily growling and clenching his fists because he knew exactly who could have been the cause of Reko being unresponsive. Chordon’s image was painted all over his mind, and his maniacal laughter echoed throughout the depths of Agnus’ mind which drew out his anger more. When he would think of how much Reko, his best friend and sworn brother, could have suffered, it would only make Agnus feel much worse and his urge to kill Chordon would rise tremendously. Elias noticed a slight change in Agnus’ eyes, even though it was only for a split second; his eyes changed from a lively black to a furious red, then his eyes changed back to normal as quickly as they had first altered. Elias watched in terror as Agnus hauled off, out of spite, and punched the nearest tree hard enough to cause it to immediately send it crashing down to the ground, making the ground tremble slightly upon impact. Red rushed over to Agnus and nudged at his leg, hoping to calm his father down.
“Papa! Papa!” Red called up to Agnus, still nudging at his leg. “Papa! Down here!” Agnus looked down at his cub, who was standing on his hind legs and looking up at Agnus with an innocent yet concerned look, breathing heavily and furiously.
“Papa,” Red said in a whiny tone, “it’s still morning. Uncle Reko is probably still sleeping, or taking a bath.” Agnus’ boiling rage quickly simmered down and picked Red up, holding the cub closely.
“Maybe you’re right, Red,” Agnus agreed. “Him being out there all on his own worries me a lot. Oh! I almost forgot to check on Igneous! Let’s hurry back!” Elias, utterly dumbfounded, watched as Agnus sat Red down, then transformed into his bear form. Seeing Agnus act as himself rather than being scary, as the rumors led him to believe, astounds him. Agnus helped Red get on his back, and then rushed off back home.
“D-Did he just forget that I was here,” Elias asked himself. “For a guy his size, his attention span is shorter than a second. However, I get why everyone doesn’t want to get him angry. His strength is definitely terrifying. I don’t think even Captain Reko could break down a tree that big in just one punch. I can only imagine what one punch from Agnus could do to an average Tasoolian. His crazy strength must come from whatever was happening with him when his eyes changed for that one moment. I’ll keep an eye on him, for now. I want to know more about him.” Elias continued further down the trail with Kinsa still on his back. Watching from above was Chordon, who stared down upon the group with his malicious red eyes, though his attention was more focused on Agnus as he observed every intricate detail that took place during the conversation. He knew that if Red had not have interfered, the Gift inside of Agnus would have been unleashed with all of its fury, and this helped him understand why Red was considered a target in the first place. Knowing this, Chordon knew exactly what to do in order to make this endeavor a successful one, and it will include a lot of bloodshed.
Back at camp, and inside of Reko’s room, Lotus was lying on the floor, and looking up at Igneous’ sleeping body, wondering if the boy would ever wake up. She softly whined as she laid her head down on the floor and licked her snout. Then, her head and ears shot up like a rocket when she heard a groan come from Igneous. Lotus got up and jumped onto the bed, wagging her tail ecstatically, but the groan was not a sign of the boy waking up. Igneous was sweating, despite the room being at a cool temperature, and was tossing and turning in the bed. This made Lotus back off a bit, and she whined again, being very worried about what was going on with him. To anyone else, it may seem like a simple nightmare, but something far more dangerous was happening to Igneous.
Everything was dark; the skies were bloody red along with moon matching the color of the sky, but it was almost the size of the sun; and trees were as black as shadows. In this version of Tasaloo, there were no signs of life, except for poor Igneous. Tasaloo, a beautiful and large area, now transformed into its exact opposite. A demon’s playpen. Igneous walked amongst this atrocity, and could not help but feel as though he were being watched or followed, so he turned to look behind him every now and then. Each time he would see nothing, not that he wanted to, but even if he would see nothing, he had a feeling that he was not alone which made him more nervous than he is now. Everything was dead silent. The only things that could be heard were the sounds of Igneous’ rapid breathing, and his footsteps as he wandered around, hoping that he could find an exit of some sort, but it was no use.
“Wh-What is this place,” Igneous asked himself, and quickly turned around, for he had received that feeling of being followed yet again. “S-Something’s here...There has to be…” After a few minutes of walking, Igneous heard crying, but the voice was familiar to him. It sounded much like Sitha’s voice, so Igneous rushed to where the crying was coming from, and what he found was something he wished that he could unsee for the remainder of his life. Sitha was sitting on the ground; her clothes torn and stained with blood along with bleeding cuts on her entire body. She went on and on about being sorry about something, but when Igneous went to confront her, she disappeared right before his eyes. Shocked, and now worried about the others, Igneous started running through the forest labyrinth as fast as he could. He did not stop until he grew exhausted, when did stop to catch his breath, he saw yet another disturbing sight. Kinsa was hung up from a tree by his entrails, and Rai was beneath his brother with his right leg missing; his left wing snatched out of his back and now sticking out from his mouth. Igneous looked at them in shock as he grew more and more afraid.
“K-Kinsa...Rai...Who did this to them, and what was Sitha crying for? I have a bad feeling about this…” Igneous continued on, still frequently checking behind him. After seeing Kinsa, Sitha, and Rai, he was more than convinced that there was some demon lurking around in the depths of darkness, but the question Igneous continued to ask himself was: where could it possibly be? It wasn’t until after a few extra minutes of walking when Igneous noticed that he had been walking in an endless loop, judging by the fact that he had come across Sitha a second time, but this time, she wasn’t alive. At that moment, Igneous did not take another step forward, but when he did, he heard a burst of demonic laughter that echoed throughout the entire area. The laugh startled Igneous, for sure, and he looked all around him, searching for anything that may pop out at him.
“Are you having as much fun as I am, you worthless brat,” a demonic voice from above asked. “You’re gonna have a ‘killing’ time in this little playground that I set up specifically for you. Just wait until you met your playmate.” Igneous was now trembling with fear, but if he were going to gain any information on his current situation, he would have to speak with the voice as much as he’s allowed to.
“Who are you,” Igneous called up to the voice, trying to mask his fear, “and why are you doing this?”
“I believe you know well who I am,” the voice chuckled, “and let’s just say that you’re considered a threat in my conquest to destroy all of Tasaloo.”
“You again? Why are you so bent on destroying Tasaloo? ”
“You’ll learn if you survive here long enough, which I doubt you will.”
“Don’t look down on me! My dad taught me everything I need to know to survive on my own! Now tell me why you’re doing all of this, and what you did to my family!”
“Oh, it’s not what I did. It’s what Agnus will do once I control him.”
“What?! Agnus wouldn’t--...You’re lying!”
“You’ll see for yourself if you’re to wake up, which means surviving here. Good luck, brat.” The voice did not speak anymore, and Igneous sat down near a tree, rubbing his forehead as he was trying to think clearly. He would not allow himself to buckle down under pressure, but with no one by his side this time, he found this as a difficult task.
“Come on, Igneous,” he told himself, “pull yourself together. We may be alone, but we can still do this. I don’t know what’s waiting for us out here, but we can take it. Oh man, I don’t wanna die here, but if I keep sitting around and not doing anything, I am gonna die. I wish Dad were here…” Igneous sighed and got up from his seated position, and began wandering through the dark forest in hopes of finding somewhere to hide. Unfortunately for him, there were no areas where he could wait everything out, which then began to scare him. He knew he could not run anywhere, since he’d only end up wasting stamina. With nowhere to run or hide, Igneous knew he would have to take the risky route and fight for his own survival.
An hour of nothing happening passed on, and Igneous’ patience was running thinner than silk. The undying silence did not make anything better, for it made Igneous want to scream at the top of his lungs since his boredom was at its peak. To help pass the time, Igneous began playing with his tail, then found a sudden urge to start chasing it. This went on until the ground vibrated roughly and a loud, demonic shout which set Igneous off balance and made him fall on his butt. His heart raced from the sudden disturbance in the atmosphere, and as he looked ahead of him, he saw trees being deracinated and a pair of yellow, glowing eyes that were getting closer and closer. Out of the darkness came a tree that was hurled right towards Igneous, but the teen reacted quickly enough to jump out of the way in time. The tree crashed into the one that was directly behind Igneous, making a loud, booming noise. When Igneous landed on the ground, he took a deep breath to prevent himself from hyperventilating, but when the monster that awaited him came into view, his heart sank to the bottom of his feet. This monster was a tall, buff demon that had chains on its wrists, glowing yellow eyes, shark-like teeth, and razor-sharp claws. Its skin was as red as an apple, and it stared down at Igneous while emitting a demonic growl. Igneous backed away from the demon as much as he could, now wishing that he’d been more patient.
“I’m expected to take this goliath out if I want to live!?” Igneous shouted, followed by a gulp as the monster began running towards him. “W-Well it’s official, I’m gonna die!”
Outside of Igneous’ infernal nightmare, Agnus stood over the sleeping boy, and Red stood on his hind legs, trying to get a look at Igneous. They watched as more sweat formed on Igneous’ forehead, and as the teen coughed out specks of blood. Red looked up at Agnus, who had a worried look on his face.
“Papa,” the young cub said quietly, thinking he’d wake Igneous if he were too loud, “why is berry juice coming out of Igneous?”
“I don’t know, Red,” Agnus answered, “but I know that it isn’t good, so don’t try to lick it.”
“Is Igneous hibernating?”
“Well umm, I’ve never known wolves to hibernate, and I’ve lived in a den full of them. Let’s see if he is.” Agnus grabbed Igneous by his shirt and raised him up from the bed enough so that his back was off of the wool mattress; then with a blank face, Agnus brought his hand upon Igneous’ face. Red flinched at the sudden smacking sound while Agnus continued slapping Igneous across his face, but the boy showed no sign of waking up. When Agnus noticed this, he dropped Igneous onto the bed with a little bit of blood on his hand.
“Huh, I guess he is hibernating,” Agnus said as he wiped the blood on his shirt, “but why does Reko want to wake him up?” Igneous now had a large, red handprint on the side of his left cheek that would sting at even the slightest touch. Lucky for him, Agnus held back his tremendous strength, or else, his head would have been detached from his shoulders. Agnus’ communicator began beeping, so he answered it with a push of a button and brought his arm up to his chest.
“Agnus and Red here,” he loudly greeted the caller.
“Agnus,” Sitha’s voice came booming through the device, “where the heck did you wander off to!? Rai is--”
“Oh hey Sitha! I was just thinking about you!”
“...You were?” Through the communicator, Rai’s boisterous laughter could be heard.
“You should see her face,” Rai exclaimed amongst his laughter. “Hey Sitha, I thought you were a Fox Tasoolian, not a Tomato Tasoolian!” A smack was heard, and Agnus chuckled at the sound.
“Shut up,” Sitha yelled, “I’m trying to make progress here!”
“Yow! You didn’t have to hit me so hard!”
“Now, Agnus, would you be so kind as to come over to us? I have something special for you.”
“Something special,” Agnus questioned, then started wagging his bear tail. “Ooh! Is it honey?”
“Even better. Come to us and--” There was a hissing sound that came through the communicator, and Agnus tilted his head, wondering what made that sound.
“Are you okay, Sitha?”
“We’re okay, Agnus. I thought I...I thought I heard something.” The hissing noise then came again, but it was louder this time.
“Sitha, what’s going on?”
“Umm, I’ll show you what I got for you when you get here, okay?”
“Okay, Sitha! I’m on my way! Agnus out!” Agnus turned off his communicator and rushed outside with Red running behind him. As the two bears were running, they passed Kinsa and Elias, who were getting very close to the end of their journey from the Tasoolian Deer Village. Elias looked back at the two as they passed him and Kinsa with a confused expression.
“Where are they off to in such a hurry,” Elias asked. Kinsa, who was now awake cringed in pain before answering.
“K-Knowing Agnus, who knows?”
“Kinsa, I told you that you need to save your breath. You’re already in enough pain.”
“W-We sh-should follow them. Only to make sure that Agnus d-doesn’t get himself into any tr-trouble.”
“Are you sure, Kinsa? My orders were to--”
“We can’t afford to let Agnus wander off anywhere, Elias. He’s what’s keeping everyone here in the first place.”
“Well...if he is that important, then I guess we can take a little detour.” Elias turned around then began running in the direction that Agnus went in while Kinsa held on tight, despite the pain he was in. Kinsa has had the same feeling he had when Reko set off on his own. That feeling that something terrible was soon to happen. Although he was worried about everyone, he was most concerned about his brother. Similar to how Reko would give his life for his pack, Kinsa would do the exact same for Kinsa, no matter what condition he finds himself in.
Agnus and Red made their way to the lake, where he had left Sitha and Rai, but they weren’t anywhere in sight. Red searched near the lake, and Agnus looked in trees to see if they were hiding, but there was no luck for either of them.
“Huh,” Agnus said after searching, “I wonder where they went. Sitha promised me that I would get that special thing she had when I got here. Sitha! Sitha! Come on, this isn’t funny! I thought you were going to rub my belly again…”
“Papa, I don’t think they’re here.”
“Don’t think who’s here?”
“Sitha and Rai, Papa.”
“Oh, right, I forgot they were here. Where did they go?”
“That’s what we’re trying to figure out, Papa.”
“Oh, that’s nice.” Agnus and Red continued their search for Sitha and Rai, but they had no luck, and could not even catch their scent. While they were searching, Agnus heard the same hissing sound he had heard before, but when he would look around to find the source of the sound, no one except for his cub would be around. Just then, the two bears heard a loud demonic chuckle that sounded like it came from all directions. Red instantly rushed over to his father and took cover in between his legs, shaking. Agnus patted Red on the head softly to reassure him that everything was going to be alright, but Red’s fear did not die down.
“It ssseems,” Chordon’s voice echoed as the hissing noises grew closer, “that prey can never essscape from their predator. Thisss time, Agnusss, I will be the victor here.”
“Umm, that’s nice and all,” Agnus responded, “but all I came here for was a belly rub from Sitha, and maybe a little bit extra. So, if you don’t mind, could you leave us alone?” Another chuckle was heard that was very familiar to Agnus and Red.
“You’ve been dawdling around enough,” the shadow said as he came into view with a grin on his face. “It’s time that you become part of something far greater than your simple mind can comprehend, Agnus.” Agnus was utterly confused upon seeing the shadow. He knew he was looking at Reko, but there was something off about him. The shadow chuckled again and Chordon came into view as well, standing beside his partner.
“Reko,” Agnus said at a questionable tone, “what happened to you?”
“If I didn’t know you any better, Agnus, I would have taken that as an insult. I’m not that failure you speak of. As a matter of fact, you and I have already met before. It was when I inserted my gift inside of you.”
“Gift? Now, where have I heard that before?”
“Oh, you remember, not that it matters once you become my puppet. Now, I’m going to say this once, and only once: come at us with everything you’ve got, or else you’re going to die here.”