"Get to the point old man!" Zane said, hitting the table with his fist.

"'ow scary ya are," Gerd said jokingly. "Ya see, me goats, keep disspearin' on me . . . I need ya two ta find 'em," Gerd said, eating another piece of bread as he spoke.

"Your goats disappear . . . when do they usually disappear?" Lovia asked.

"Hmmm, prolly 'round nitefall' I'd say . . . one disppeared already today," Gerd said, looking out of a window facing the goats, all of them were sleeping at this hour.

"We should wait then," Lovia suggested.

Zane nodded.

"Ya two will stay for da nite anyway, tomorrow ya will watch da goats 'till whateva takes 'em shows up," Gerd said.

Lovia and Zane nodded.

"Aight, ya two can sleep ova 'ere," Gerd said, pointing to what seemed like a living room.

There was a lit fireplace and a wide couch, in the middle of the room was a large carpet made out of wool with a wooden table on top. A few shelves, again filled with mostly strange objects, lined the walls of the room. A single window allowed them to see to the path leading along the edge of the forest. Gerd headed to bed himself and the two sat down on the couch.

"What would do something like that?" Lovia asked.

"Hmmm, the only things I know of that would do something like that would be chupacabras, but they don't live in the Alva Highlands . . . those little fucks live all the way across Ion, they live in the Elva Highlands . . . how would one get here?" Zane said.

"What's a chupacabra?" Lovia asked.

"Pesky little dog-like creatures . . . their favourite food is goats blood, I heard they appeared a few hundred years ago, must originally be from another continent," Zane explained.

"Do you think we can kill it?" Lovia asked.

"Of course, they are only dangerous in large groups . . . and since he still has quite a lot of goats it must only be one, maybe two of them," Zane said.

"Guess we'll see tomorrow," Lovia said. "Anyway, we should go to sleep for now, in case something happens."

Zane nodded and the two laid down on the couch, falling asleep quickly.

Zane awoke in a familiar bed, he was tucked in under a white blanket, it was warm.

"Yo Zane, mum told me to wake ya!" someone said.

Zane turned his head. A large girl stood there, no older than fourteen years, long white hair framed her pale face with two light green eyes and fell down her shoulders.

"Okay, okay, Viola," Zane said.

He got out of bed, grabbed a shirt that hung on a chair and put it on, then followed his sister. When they left his room he could already see his mother setting the table. She was a tall woman, taller than most men, and had long white hair, reaching all the way down to her waist. She looked up to the railing where two of her children stood. Her light green eyes seemed to sparkle as she smiled at Zane and Viola.

Next to her stood a man, he was small compared to his wife and children even Zane, at only ten years old, was nearly as tall as he was. Their father had black hair and brown eyes. Two boys, one looking older than Viola with long white hair he wore in a ponytail and a beard, and one looking younger than Zane, his hair was short and one of his eyes was milky white instead of light green.

"Ah, Zane is finally awake!" the younger one said loudly.

"'ow can he even sleep so long?" the older one asked.

"Mornin' mum, dad, Blake, Ilmar," Zane said, nodding at each of them.

He sat down at the large table. Their breakfast consisted of milk, cheese, some bread and meat, lots of meat.

"What a good hunt it was," their father said as he put multiple pieces of meat on his plate.

"Say father, I'm finally old 'nough to come with ya. Aren't I?" Blake said, piercing their father with his two light green eyes.

"I dunno 'bout that Blake . . . it's dangerous," their father said.

"I'm sixteen years old now, I know 'ow to use a bow, I beg of ya father, give me a chance."

"Ah, fine. Ya got one chance."

"Thanks, Dad," Blake said, nearly piercing the plate with his fork.

"So what 'bout ya Zane?" their mother asked. "Think ya might do sum work today?"

Zane rubbed the back of his head. "I dunno . . . don't feel too well," he said.

"You never feel well do ya?" Viola said.

"Shut it," Zane said.

"Viola leave yer brother alone . . . for now I'll believe him," their mother said.

After they had finished Zane's parents and siblings went directly outside but Zane went up to his room and grabbed a book. 'Creatures of this World.'

He followed the others outside and sat down on a bale of hay, opened the book and began reading, immediately skipping to the chapter about dragons, more specifically the chapter about amphitheres, the creature he liked the most. Even though he had read this so many times he was still fascinated. His ability to read had never been the best, he struggled with a lot of words, but even so, he enjoyed it, he enjoyed learning about all the amazing creatures and old tales.

"Zane, are you alright?" he heard someone ask.

Suddenly the world around him changed, he was staring up at a wooden ceiling, not the bright sky.

"What?"

"Finally, I thought you wouldn't wake up. And you were smiling the entire time, did you dream of something good?" Lovia asked.

"What?. . Oh right, yeah. A dream of times when life was easier," Zane said with a smile on his face.

"Yer finally awake," Gerd said, still in his nightwear.

Zane got up from the couch and stretched, he felt refreshed, he had slept much better than the night before on the mattress in the tunnel. He looked out of the window, the sun was barely up.

Still this early . . .

Zane sat down at the kitchen table with the other two and began eating. They finished quickly and Gerd led them outside. The dog immediately jumped at Zane who fell to the ground.

"That damn dog," Gerd said.

The dog licked Zane's face and wagged its tail. Lovia began laughing.

"What a cute little fellow, what's his name?" she asked.

"Boulder," Gerd said.

"Boulder? What a strange name," Lovia said.

Zane pushed the dog of himself and stood up. He then began looking around the large fenced-off field, filled with goats. The fence seemed normal, there were no broken parts and no parts that seemed like they had recently been repaired. But there were a few dark spots on one of the fence pickets. He walked over to it, Lovia following behind him.

Looks like blood.

On the other side of the fence was a small patch of grass and beyond that was the thick forest behind the house.

It probably lives in that forest . . . searching for it would take too long.

"So, what should we do?" Lovia asked.

"Wait," Zane replied. "It'll come at night, then we kill it."

And so the two sat down on a bench from where they could overlook the entire field. They watched the goats for hours, eating, drinking, fighting. Zane nearly fell asleep, being poked by Lovia every time he closed his eyes for too long.

Gerd tended to the goats the whole time es well, occasionally screaming at them when they didn't do as he expected them to do. The dog, Boulder, ran around the field the whole time, observing the goats and breaking up fights by barking at them.

When Zane didn't nearly fall asleep he observed the forest to both sides, the one on the side of the path wasn't as thick as the other one, but all Zane could see was the occasional bird and a few squirrels, the one on the other side was thick, bushes covering the gaps between the trees, it almost seemed unnatural, as if someone had put them there on purpose.

The sun was moving across the sky slowly as if it tried to tire them out so they would be asleep.

This has to be my imagination right?

Zane felt as if something was wrong but he had no idea what it could be.

Is it watching us? Is that it? Please tell me that's it . . . what if there is something else?

Zane couldn't shake off the feeling that something was going to go terribly wrong.

"Is everything alright?" Lovia asked.

"I . . . I don't know, I feel something strange but I can't put my finger on it," Zane said.

"Is there something close to us?" she asked.

Zane concentrated but he couldn't feel any presence beyond that of the goats, the dog, Gerd and Lovia.

"There's nothing," he said.

"You're probably worrying about nothing," Lovia said.

"I hope so," Zane responded.

And so they waited and waited. The sun was beginning to disappear now, giving way for the moon.

"I wonder what holds them up in the sky," Lovia said.

Zane looked at her. "Is this really the time to talk about things like that?" he asked.

"I don't know, it just came to my mind," she said.

Zane looked up at the sky, staring at the moon that was appearing from behind the mountains.

"Probably Aynur and Nou . . . the ones who created those two objects must also be the ones keeping them in place," Zane said.

"Perhaps . . . or maybe it is Akash," she said.

"Ah, what does it matter. The gods only do weird things," Zane said.

"Oh don't be like that. I'm sure there's a reason for everything the gods do," Lovia said.

"They want entertainment . . . that's why Erebus saved me in the tower, it would have been boring to see me die so soon," Zane replied.

"Entertainment . . . is that really it? Is that really what the gods want?"

"Who knows . . . The gods are unpredictable."

By the time they had finished with their conversation, the moon was out and there was no sign of sunlight to be seen in the distance.

"I'll 'ead inside, ya two make sure ya catch whateva takes me goats," Gerd said as he entered his house.

Zane nodded. "Well, get ready," he said to Lovia.

The two waited, listening and reacting to every noise they heard. Zane had already reached behind his back and removed the corks from a vial. He had both guns, loaded with blood bullets, at the ready, waiting for the right moment to shoot. Every noise made him jump a little, the rustling of the leaves in the wind had him on edge the entire time. And there it was, what they had been waiting for.

A snarling coming from the thick forest behind the house. The bushes began rustling and moving aggressively, a large dog-like creature jumped out of the bushes. Its leathery skin was dark, making it nearly invisible in the dark of the night, its tale was long and reptile-like, sharp spines were running down its back, starting at the head and ending in the middle of the tail. Both of its orange eyes were fixated on the goats, two long fangs extending from its upper jaw past its lower jaw. The creatures hind legs were long and powerful, allowing it to jump long distances, like a frog.

"There it is, the chupacabra," Lovia said, already holding her chain with one hand.

The chupacabra jumped over the fence and was running towards one of the sleeping goats, making not a single sound. Zane aimed at it with both guns and shot blood bullets at it. But as if it had some sort of super reflexes it jumped back shortly before the bullets would have hit it. It snarled at them, showing them its large amount of sharp teeth. The spines on its back became longer and split, a few string-like things where connecting them. Some kind of fog was emitted from the split spines, making it even harder to see what was happening.

Zane recalled the blood bullets and got ready to shoot again but at that moment they heard how wood splintered. The chupacabra, with a goat's neck in its mouth, the rest of the body just dangling around, had jumped onto the wooden fence and then into the forest. Lovia hurled her chain at it, cutting off the tip from one of the spines.

"Shit!" she said as she drew in the chain.

"Let's follow it," Zane said.

"Are you sure?" Lovia asked.

"Yeah . . . it should be easy to kill, even in the forest. Or rather it will be easier, they rely on their ability to jump around on a free space, trees will only hinder it," Zane explained, already jumping over the fence and running towards the thick forest.

Lovia followed him quickly, her chain rustling in the grass. Zane followed blood marks on the trees and the leaves of the bushes, shooting whenever he saw something move.

Where is it?

Zane followed it until they reached a clearing, filled with dead goats, their horns broken off and their bodies seemingly drained of all blood.

So this is your eating ground huh?

Lovia came out of the bushes behind Zane. "So what do we do?" she asked.

"Catch it with your chain, I'll shoot it," he said.

Lovia nodded, preparing her chain. She began swinging it over her head while the chupacabra snarled at them, the goat still in its mouth both of the long teeth deep in its neck. Zane tried shooting the chupacabra again but just like the first time, it jumped just as the bullets were about to hit it.

"Ready?" he asked Lovia.

She nodded again before throwing the chain at the chupacabra which dropped the goat and jumped up high into the air, landing on top of the chain, ramming one of its long claws through the opening in on of the links and into the ground. Lovia tried pulling at the chain but to no avail.

"Shit, shit, shit," she said.

But Zane just smiled. He raised both guns and aimed at the creature.

"Shoot!" he said, his otherworld voice scaring the chupacabra.

The bullets shot out of the gun at a high speed. But again, as if it had super reflexes it managed to dodge just in time, the feeling that something was off returned to Zane, making him tense up a little. Lovia could now draw in her chain again.

"What should we do?" she asked.

"I guess I'll have to go in close, using the blood dragon would probably just work against me," he said as he made the blood return to the vials.

He put the guns back in their holsters and put one hand on the hilt of his katana. Zane stormed at the chupacabra, once he was close enough he drew his blade, trying to slash the creature in the same movement. But the chupacabra jumped up again. Zane turned around quickly, managing to slash the creature's chest as it landed.

It immediately jumped backwards, in Lovia's direction. But before she could strike at it all of them were interrupted by a loud scream. Even the chupacabra stopped moving.

Gerd!

"Was that him?" Lovia asked.

Zane nodded. "Go see what's up with him, I'll take care of this little pest," he said.

Lovia nodded, turned around and ran into the forest, back to the house.

Alright little shit, bring it!

Zane charged at the chupacabra again now that it was distracted. He managed to cut off multiple of the spines on its back as it jumped backwards, doing a flip as it jumped. With its reptile-like tail, it hit the blunt side of the katana, driving it into the ground.

Shit.

It jumped at Zane, who rolled out of the way. He grabbed his blade again and faced the chupacabra. It growled, raising it's back high like a cat. Both charged at each other, Zane with his blade drawn and the chupacabra baring its teeth. Zane swung the katana with both hands, cutting through the long fangs and into the chupacabra's head, cutting into its neck. Blood came gushing out of the creature, dirtying the blade. Zane went over to a bush and cleaned off the blood with a leave.

Wonder what happened at the house.

Zane went back through the forest, when he could see the fence again he noticed that something was wrong. All of the goats laid on the ground, covered in blood.

Lovia.