“Cristopher stop playing around and put down Mikaela before she turns into a snake and bites you...again” I warned Christopher Mikaela was getting angrier by the second because Chris was laughing at her and due to his humongous size and superhuman strength , he could easily pick up our petite Mikaela. In a blink of an eye, Mikaela vanished from his arms and just as Chris stopped to look for her, he started scratching his whole body like a maniac and occasionally groaning as if he was being bitten Every second. I stood there laughing at Chris as he frantically and quite aggressively scratched his whole body, even drawing a bit of blood in some places.
“I'm sorry, I'm sorry. I promise I won't do this again” Chris wheezed out, a lie I thought. He always promises Mikaela that wouldn’t tease her again but here we are again. After a couple more seconds, Mikaela changed back to her human form and gave Chris a victorious smirk. “What happened, Chris? You are lucky I decided to turn into an ant and not a snake again.” She said laughing. This is when he began to have small bumps turn red all over his body.
We were currently on our way to the Forest of the giants where we had to hunt someone down. You must be confused, right? Let me catch you up. My name is Leah. And these two idiots are my teammates and best friends, Christopher and Mikaela. We are a group that is called “The Shadow Stalkers''. We are hunters that are approached by someone when they need to find or terminate any entity or human/inhumane thing. Each of them specializes in something. Christopher is a Brute, you know very very powerful, he could even lift a truck with his hands. He has a very aggressive nature and well, he isn’t the brightest of the bunch. His physical power takes up the space for his mental intelligence. Where mind power is missing is filled in with looks and strength. Standing at 6.7 and weight half a ton of all muscle. He is for sure a ladies man, I tend to have to pull the ladies off the guy. Especially after the hotel accident, I'm still having to pay for that one.
And then we have Mikaela, she is often referred to by people as 'The Native'. She is no doubt a great asset to the team along with Chris. Her ability is shape shifting. She could shift into any animal and use the animal's senses and powers to her advantage. She often turns into a wolf, and uses its smelling sense to locate our target. However, as amazing as she is during hunting, she is rather very socially awkward outside of it. Apart from Chris and I, she hardly can talk to someone and even if she does, she says the most unwanted and random stuff that tends to scare and annoy the other people. Don't let her petite body and looks fool you, she can pack a mean bite.
And then, there’s me. I am known as 'The Leader'. My name is Leah, as I have said before. I excel at sword fighting. Any sort of swords, daggers, knives, you name it, I am expert in handling them. My personal favorite is my Samurai sword which was passed on to me by my late father. I love greatswords too. I have been practicing sword fighting ever since I can remember. It was like a family tradition to train your son to be a great sword fighter. But my father was never blessed with a son, instead he had me. Maybe that was why he resented me, and to impress him and make him love me, I tried to learn and be the best swordsman out there and although I achieved that goal, I could never be good enough for my father's affection and love. That is why I always had a lack of self-confidence and I have developed trust issues. I don't see myself as worthy of someone’s affection and love, so when anyone tries to show me any such emotion, I automatically start doubting their intentions and I start to give them a cold shoulder.
But although we were all messed up on our own, we came together to form the best team. We liked to call ourselves “The Shadow Stalkers” because together, we can sniff and find out anything you could ask for, even if it's hiding in the shadows. We can find it and we can hunt it. That is why we were known as the best hunters in the entire City of Tomorrow as well as the City of Mistakes.
The day before we were on our way to the Forest of Giants, we had gone out to grab some lunch at the City of Tomorrow. Every time you go there, you cannot help but be mesmerized by the tall buildings, the futuristic cars that run on water rather than fuel, the Holographic displays, the very well-maintained peace and harmony, it all puts you in an immediate awe struck situation. The Cityscape is adorned with towering skyscrapers that touch the sky and sun reflecting from it truly looks breathtaking. It was so ahead in time and everything here was advanced in technology and digitized. The most amazing part of the city would be the valley it is built on. Both sides are near untravelable.
Even the place where we had gone for lunch, the order was done by touching the items we wanted on a digital menu already present at our tables when we got seated. The food was served by a waiter and not a human waiter, but by a Robot. A very intelligent robot who could answer any queries you had regarding your food, list all the ingredients used in it and let you know its nutritional facts. Truly remarkable, right? Well you will be more impressed by the sheer amount Chris swallows down. The plates licked clean stacked to the ceiling of the restaurant while mine and Mikaela's was one plate each. The check is normally what kills my stomach. Honest 75% of our money goes to food.
We had finished our lunch and now we were leaving. We had to reach our home or “headquarters” before it got too dark. It had always been a pain walking back home after a big feast. Luckily that hasn't been too much of a problem after we helped out this garbage guy with a few trash thrashers. They are dog sized creatures that tend to make homes in dumps and attack those that come to dump there. Let me tell you it took a lot of baths to get that smell off of Chris. He dashed into a mountain of trash and through the home of the trash thrashers. They we6re not too hard to deal with. Since we did help him he gave us a free ride home on his way to his dump. We lived in “The City of Mistakes”. And you might have guessed by now that it was not an ideal place to reside. But we were not lucky enough to afford a place here in The City Of Tomorrow.
There was a reason it was called that. Around three decades back, it was known to be the fastest developing City on a planet similar to earth but this one was called Saturn. Except something happened and all of the current residents disappeared and left everything behind or so I thought. It's believed it was a mistake of the inhabitants that caused this. If that did not happen, it is believed that City Of Mistakes would have been ten times more developed and advanced in technology and infrastructure than city of tomorrow.
I made the call on our way home with a mobile robot. It's like a payphone but a robot that moves around the city. Many can be found nearly anywhere there are people. They look Mechanical versions of mannequins with a display inside their chest which you can call or facetime from. As we exited the restaurant it happened to have a mobile robot outside. While Chris was busy burping in Mikaela's face each time she let out a disgusted sound as she covered her nose. Christopher would let out a deep laugh till she turned into a mule and the donkey kicked him into some people trying to walk by minding their own business.
I didn't pay them any attention as I began a face time with the garbage man. He answered after the 4th ring, with a grumpy groan. He ran his hand through his thick brown beard as it looked at me and spoke in a tired tone.
"Is it time to go home?"
I nodded as I heard the two begin to fight in the background. He chuckled and said.
"I'll be there in a few minutes."
The call ended and I was left with a black screen showing Christopher was entangled in the thick reptilian skin as Mikaela had turned into a massive snake and began to wrap her stuff around Christopher's chest , pinning his arms to his side. This normally wouldn't be a challenge for him except one important detail. He is scared of snakes. Instead of pulling her off of him. With ease he began to run around screaming like a chicken without a head as Mikaela laughed at him. I saw everyone around was staring at us and it started to get unwanted attention. I stuck out my leg tripping Christopher, he dropped like a ton of bricks. With a loud thud Mikaela went back to her human form but trapped under Christopher. She attempted to get loose from underneath the mass of muscle but failed to do so.
He got up and looked down at her. I swiftly kicked him off her. I then gave her a good kick in the thigh as I spoke in my parent voice through my teeth giving them a mom glare.
"You two cut it out or I'll beat both your asses in front of everyone!"
They both straightened up and got to their feet next to me with both having guilty looks on their faces. About this time is when the garbage man showed up. He chuckled as he looked over his passenger door to see the faces of Christopher and Mikaela. He then spoke in a playful voice.
"Awe did I miss mommy Leah? What yall do this time? Let me guess you scared him again. I swear you guys are the group of dum ...."
He went quiet and slowly pulled back to his seat after locking eyes with me. I assume I was giving him a look of don't push your luck. I opened the door letting Mikaela in the middle of the three seater chair. Christopher attempted to climb in when I stopped him and pointed to the back. He cussed under his breath as he went to the back and sat among the trash. I climbed in and got comfortable. This is when we went on our hour drive. See we live on the edge of a city of mistakes hidden inside a bunker.
As we entered the City of Mistake, the landscape drastically changed. From lights of the future to darkness of the forgotten. Vines and green casted his arms around everything it could. Only source of light was the lights of the garage truck as it flew by the buildings. There would Occasionally be the small glow of a camp fire or barrel fire with a part of some of the buildings. You could clearly see that this place had fallen from grace. I personally liked to call it 'The fallen metropolis'. It had crumbling structures, the tallest buildings that were once standing proud and touching the skies were now just decaying remnants with crumbling facades and broken windows. The roofs of most of them were collapsing, vegetation could be seen overgrowing on some of them. Most of them were now just abandoned structures rotting away.
As it was getting darker, the streets that the few remaining residents of this city occupy in the daytime, were now empty. We passed a very huge building spread over a vast land that was once the most amazing institute for research. Now, an abandoned building and a home to goblins, and trolls and their furry friends.
30 minutes in and Mikaela had passed out laying her head down in my lap. I ran my hands through her hair moving It out of her face. I never got around to having kids so Christopher and Mikaela were the closest thing I have to a family. I would get the Casual glance from our driver and a smile would appear on his face each time. Around the third time I said.
"Is there something I need to know about?"
He shook his head and said.
"No no, it's just I can tell you care about them alot is all. It is heartwarming after a long day of dealing with People trash all day. Things like this are rare around here you know."
I agree with him. It's rare to see people caring for others when you owe nothing to them. What can I say they fill a hole in my blood family never did. Around this time we were getting close to our home. I woke up Mikaela and she lifted her head from my lap looking around. She wiped the Slobber from her right cheek and stared hazily through the windshield. The garbage truck landed on top of our bunker where the helipad sat. I made my exit letting out Mikaela and thanking the driver for another ride home. With that he left after Christopher hopped out of the trash, reeking of the smell of trash. I covered my nose and said.
"Christopher, go take a shower but before you do, take Mikaela to bed before she sleeps in the living room again and complain about her neck all day tomorrow."
I was about to follow them inside when the glimmer of light near our home caught my eye. It was a flashlight shining at our bunker. Curiosity got the better of me and I made sure the other entered the building before I made my way to where I last saw them.
I could feel the tension in the air. Suddenly a eerie glow of the lights fixed on me illuminated my surroundings, casting long shadows that danced ominously across the green grass. I was shot by a shockwave of energy tossing me through the air and crashing down on the soft ground. A chill ran down my spine as I struggled to stand up, my heart pounding in my chest. The shockwave had hit me with unexpected force, knocking me to the ground and leaving me disoriented.
My breath came in ragged gasps as I scanned the area, my senses heightened, searching for any sign of danger. My fingers brushed against the cool metal of my weapons, reassuring me that I was still armed and ready. But who were these attackers? The Skull Syndicate was infamous for their overpowering strength and cunning tactics, and it seemed I had walked right into their trap.
My muscles tensed as the darkness seemed to close in around me, suffocating me with its malevolence. The silence was broken by the distant sound of footsteps, growing steadily louder as they approached. I clenched my jaw, my knuckles turning white as I readied myself for whatever was coming. My heart hammered in my chest as the figures emerged from the shadows, their eyes gleaming with a sinister glint.
They moved with a lethal grace, each step purposeful and calculated. I could feel their power radiating off them, like an electric charge in the air. Fear threatened to overwhelm me, but I pushed it aside, replacing it with a surge of determination. I wouldn't go down without a fight.
With a sudden burst of energy, I lunged forward, my weapons slashing through the air. But my blows were met with a wall of resistance, their armor far surpassing my blade. They moved as a unit, their movements coordinated and precise, making it impossible for me to gain the upper hand. A cruel smile played on their lips as they toyed with me, their laughter echoing in the night.
Despite my best efforts, I found myself growing weaker, my limbs heavy and unresponsive. Each strike they delivered felt like a sledgehammer to my body, the pain searing through my veins. The lights above me flickered, casting an eerie strobe-like effect on the scene unfolding before me. It was a cruel dance of power, and I was the unwilling participant.
As I stumbled backwards, my vision blurred and my knees gave way beneath me. The cold grass met my cheek as I gasped for air, my body battered and broken. The triumphant laughter of the Syndicate soldiers echoed in my ears, a harsh reminder of my defeat. Despite the darkness closing in around me.
I woke to find my battered body was in shambles, and a note on my chest. It had an Insidious skull emblem on it. With great pain I removed myself from the grass and limped myself inside the bunker. I fell into the door making a loud crash as Christopher and Mikaela were inside the kitchen making breakfast. They dropped everything and ran to my aid. Christopher picked me up as Mikaela went into the back and came back with our old out of dated Medkit. Chris placed me on the couch Situated in the middle of our living room/kitchen. Everything was a blur as they both attempted to ease my pain. Christopher began to place band-aids all over my body and started to get angry when it was not Instantly healing me.
My vision began to go in and out after Christopher picked me up again. The echoes of their voices rang through my ears and faded into whispers. They were bringing me to the basement, this is where Mikaela spent most of her time when we were relaxing between jobs. I was not aware what she was doing down here but I would soon find out. Eventually my vision went black on final time.
I next found myself in my memories of the day I left my family. It was on my 17th birthday. I was woke for training and was made to carry 100 pound buckets filled to the brim with water. It was meant for our animals we were raising at the time. The journey was a true test, I had to travel a mile from home through Treacherous terrain to finally arrive at a river that ran near our home. The river today was raging waves sweeping away all kinds of things. This was thanks to the days of rain beforehand. I spent 30 minutes looking for a calm place but came empty handed. I began to fill the buckets carefully as one wrong move then I would be sweeped away in the currants. I heard foot steps behind me, I quickly turned to see my father. For a moment I though he was going to help me. Except without saying a work he walked up to me and kicked me into the water.
The mother fucker kicked me in. The sorry piece of shit began to speak as I fought to stay a float with the currants drawing me away.
"A warrior must not trust anyone and must be able to thing on the fly to say themselves from danger!"
I'm not sure if he said anything else as I was fighting for my life to stay alive. I was bashed against sharp rocks, branches, and loose Debris. At some points I was pulled under for minutes near passing out from lack of oxygen. My body ached and burned as my body wanted to give up and let go letting what happens happen. If I was in there for 10 more minutes I probably wouldn't be here telling you thing. The thoughts of all the cruel treatment ran through my mind. All the harsh things I was told daily, my father would even tell me I was worthless trash that should have been left in the Wilderness long ago.
This rage is what gave me the fighting power to pull my mangled body covered in thousands of gashes and cuts as well as Bruises. Once on a solid surface I passed out from pure Exhaustion. When I woke I found I was still on the bankment, I looked around to see pure blackness. No one was looking for me, not even my father to see if I came out alive. I stumbled through the darkness for hours. I may have traveled miles till finally reaching home. Once there I had lost so much blood, my vision was a blur. My steps were Staggered I fought just to keep my balance. I made my way inside my home, to find my father was pasted out sleeping Effortlessly with a fucking smile on his face. my heart filled with a storm of emotions. Hatred and rage coursed through my veins, fueled by years of pain and resentment. My trembling hands grasped the family katana hanging on the wall, its weight offering a strange sense of comfort.
As I brought the blade down with a swift, staggered motion, a mixture of fear and grim satisfaction filled me. I watched as life drained from his eyes, the once-present smile now replaced with a haunting emptiness. The room seemed to hold its breath, as if even the universe understood the gravity of what I had just done.
Yet, in those fleeting moments before his last breath escaped his lips, he managed to utter words that pierced through my hardened exterior. "You won't amount to anything," he rasped, his voice weakening but his intent clear. It was as if he wanted to inflict one final blow to ensure I felt the weight of his disdain even in his final moments.
The room fell into an eerie stillness, I stood there, chest heaving, unable to release my grip from the katana. As if I waited for his to lift from his death to haunt me for the rest of my days. After a long period of staring into his eyes, I finally loosened my grip and grabbed a lit lantern and tossed it on his body with the katana still in his chest. Flames Illuminating my actions for all to see including the very God that made this my Destiny.
I walked away from that room, leaving behind the lifeless shell of the man who had tormented me for so long. The darkness within me was now intertwined with the darkness of that fateful night.
I woke with all the flooding Memories coming back after a century of repression. Tears filled my eyes, some even escaping and running down my cheeks. The darkness suddenly weighing down my soul threatening to drag it to hell where I belong. This is when I felt the warm brace of Mikaela and Christopher. It would turn out Mikaela had discovered a liquid in our basement that the previous residents had made. The sole purpose of the liquid was to speed up the user's healing factor. Normally my wounds would have taken months to heal, only taking a week.
After I healed I found out what the letter had to say from The Skull Syndicate. The envelope had a logo of a skull on it. The skull had a sword in the middle of it and overall it had a very dark theme to it. The three of us had looked at each other and said the same word at the same time “The Skull Syndicate”, confusion and horror evident in our eyes.
The Skull Syndicate is one of the most infamous or notorious agencies out there. It is very secretive and no one knows where their headquarters are or who works for them. They are rumored to capture some of the most unique and exotic creatures. It is said that they trap and capture these powerful and unique beings and then do unspeakable things to them, like perform very dangerous experiments on them, cut open their bodies to examine their minds and nervous system and much more horrific things that ultimately lead to their death.
So when we saw that envelope on the table, naturally all of us were in a state of confusion and nervousness. I had stepped forward and opened it only to breathe out a sigh of relief. I informed Chris and Mikaela that they wanted to hire us for a mission. They needed us to hunt and capture someone from the Forest of giants. Although it was not a difficult task for us and this is what we basically did for a living, I could not help but feel a bit uneasy doing it for the Skull syndicate, due to their not so innocent reputation.
I would have plain out said No to the mission but the amount they were offering for this job had exceeded my expectations. We had been saving up to rebuild and restore this City back to its original glory, little by little. I know we could just move to the City of Tomorrow like the majority of people, but we see the potential it has and it was our dream to show it to the rest of the world as well. The amount of money that they were offering could help us in achieving some big milestones and that is the reason I presented to Chris and Mikaela as well.
Chris, who straight up did not bother even thinking about it, was very nonchalant regarding the whole matter, but Mikaela was a bit hesitant at first. However, she had finally come through with it.
Hence, the reason we were on our way to The Forest of The Giants. Christopher and Mikaela had stopped bickering after that and were now walking from each other at a dramatic distance to show off their anger. So childish. It was our first time going into the Forest of the Giants. Till then, we had only heard of legends and stories about it and they were enough to persuade us to stay away from it.
This forest was not like the ones we had hunted in before. This forest neglected the rules of time and space. No scratch that, it even neglected the laws of nature. It was considered a very highly dangerous place that was always advised to stay out of. Many few people go there willingly and ever fewer come back.
We had heard tales of how the forest was the home to some of the oldest living animals, especially Dinosaurs. I would be lying if I told you that I was not excited to see them. The child in me was jumping up and down from delight. Some of the most daring and wise researchers had gone into the forest to study its habitat and the animals residing there. We had gone through and collected some of the information that we had thought could prove very useful whilst we were in the forest.
Whenever we were asked to hunt something down, we were given an abundance of information on it. Their appearance, their powers, the specialities, their weaknesses and everything we needed in order to make the hunt easier. However this time, The Skull Syndicate had given us nothing but a picture.
No name, no clue, no hint of its power of weakness. Just a picture. I remember being awestruck by the picture. It was of a really beautiful girl. She had short hair that went up to her neck, they were ginger that fell more towards the orange spectrum but somehow she managed to pull it off. She had freckles on her lightly tanned skin and pointy nose with round, plump lips. Lastly to enhance her beauty even more, she had striking gray-blue eyes that were looking straight at the lens, making you feel like she is seeing inside your soul.
In that picture she really did look innocent and harmless, almost fragile even. It was a photo taken from very near and had a very high-resolution print, making me wonder how The Skull Syndicate had such a clear picture of hers and if they had already captured her, how did she run away from them?. So many questions but no answer. At that moment, I was hoping that I had made the right decision and that my teammates would not be in grave danger because of my decision.
I remember looking at them walking and admiring how far we have come. We had met each other at different times and places and we had together to form a bond that is stronger than family. They both were my support systems and we were nothing even if one of us was not with us. We completed each other.
It was getting darker and we decided to form a camp nearby a lake. We knew we will reach The Forest of the Giants in about two more walking hours but as it was the night already and we had decided we should not enter a foreign and dangerous place at night time instead of when the morning sun would make everything seem a little less scary, hence we divided to spend the night by the lake.
Chris being a brute had casually taken down a tree and broken it apart into small logs without breaking a sweat. We used the logs to start a fire to warm ourselves and keep any unwanted wild animals away from us. We had bought a foldable, portable tent with us and I had asked Chris and Mikaela to go ahead and get some rest. As a leader, I used to always take up the responsibility to stay up and guard the others on the first night. It was a habit of mine and it made me feel at ease to examine and assess my surroundings, and potentially look for any threat coming our way. They both knew better than to argue with me, so they quietly obliged.
Thankfully, nothing out of the ordinary happened that night and I went to sleep around dusk, waking up Chris to take over the guard duty. Around 8am we had finished the breakfast that we had packed in our lunch boxes and were now on our way to The Forest of Giants.
Approximately after an hour of walking we stumbled upon an old, rusty looking sign that said in bold, capitalized letters. “WARNING THE FOREST OF THE GIANTS UP AHEAD. STAY AWAY OR ENTER AT YOUR OWN RISK”. I would be lying if I said that did not scare me, and I was very sure that it scared Chris and Mikaela as well, but none of us let it show. All of us put up a brave face for the sake of each other. Out of nowhere, Chris punched the warning sign making it fly at least a hundred miles away.
We both turned to look at him and he sheepishly said “What? I had so much pent up energy, needed to punch something so bad”.
This had led me to giggle and Mikaela to mutter something along the lines of “Stupid, dumb brute” , resulting in Chris throwing insults at her and hence their back-and-forth bickering started again. I remember standing there and looking at my best friends and partners and thinking that maybe the forest won't be as bad as we thought and maybe together we would be able to ace this mission like we had successfully completed every challenge thrown our way.
But we would soon find out that not everything is as easy as it seems and sometimes life challenges you in ways that you become completely hopeless. The Forest was a test. A test of our skills, our patience, our powers and most of all our friendship. Did we conquer it and won? Or did we succumb to the forest?. You will find out everything, all at the right time.