“What?” Marshal asked as he looked at Alex with a concerned look.

A part of him was convinced that his friend force fed him shrooms, and now they were both tripping. However, before he got the chance to question him further, a loud roar came from somewhere to their left. It sounded distant, but ever so slightly it continued to get louder.

“I know this is a lot to take in, but we should probably get going. The owner of that roar is even more terrifying than he sounds.” Alex said as he forced himself up, and offered Marshal his hand.

Ignoring the gesture, Marshal stood up by himself. “Lead the way.”

Taking back his hand, Alex awkwardly scratched the side of his head. He didn’t try to explain himself. In silence he led Marshal through the sea of trees.

While Marshal wanted answers, he was more worried about attracting the attention of whatever was pursuing them. It seemed to be gaining on them. He could even barely make out the sound of hooves slamming into the dirt and labored breaths in between roars.

What the hell is that? Marshal thought.

What concerned him most was that Alex almost looked to be lost. He was constantly glancing about as if searching for something.

“There!” Alex cried as his eyes lit up. “Follow me and don’t look back. Run to that clearing up ahead! It’s a safe zone.”

Up ahead was a space that was completely devoid of trees. It was circular in shape and had more sunlight illuminating the area. Lush green grass grew in abundance with a ring of flowers adorning the outer edges. Not exactly the fortified bunker Marshal was hoping for.

Both of them picked up the pace. It was risky, the forest floor was uneven due to exposed roots and fallen branches. One wrong step could very well lead to a twisted ankle. However, whatever was chasing them was closing in.

“Damn, it knows we’re close to a shelter. You keep going, I’ll stall it for a bit.” Alex huffed as he stopped running and turned to face their pursuer.

A part of Marshal wanted to stop as well, but his gut was screaming for him to get to that clearing. No matter how absurd this all felt, the sense of danger was unmistakably real.

Once he was close enough, he dove forward and rolled onto the grass covered clearing. The scent of flowers and fresh grass overwhelmed his senses. Immediately, he felt all the tension rush out of him like a deflating balloon. It wasn’t completely voluntary, rather something about the place naturally relaxed the body.

If the inside felt like entering paradise, right outside the border could only be depicted as hell. Marshal’s jaw dropped as he tried to process what he was seeing.

Not too far from the clearing, Alex was fighting a towering creature that looked to have come straight out of a nightmare. It looked almost like a centaur from mythology. From the waist down was the body of a horse; while the upper half was that of a muscular human.

Yet the scariest part of the creature was its head. On the very top we’re two horns that looked sharp enough to disembowel a full grown man. Its eyes were merely empty sockets, and in its extra large mouth were rows of jagged shark like teeth.

Right next to the centaur-like beast was Alex. He was currently doing his best to bob and weave its front hooves as it tried to smash him. Each time a hoof missed, it would leave a small crater at the point of impact. All it would take was one hit to reduce Alex into meat paste.

Still, he avoided all the attacks fluidly. Much like how he performed during their last game of basketball, all of his movements were quick and effortless. To Marshal, his friend was almost a blur the entire time, as he back pedaled closer to the clearing. Sweat poured down his face as his eyes never blinked. His intense focus only broke after he was safely over the ring of flowers.

Marshal held his breath as he observed the creature trotting a mere foot from where he was sitting. It was so close, he could smell the beast’s foul body odor. It was nauseating as the smell of rotten meat mixed with the sweet freshness of the vegetation.

Once he was sure that the creature was unable to enter, Marshal turned his attention to his gasping friend who was sprawled out on the ground from exhaustion.

“What is that?”

Huffing, Alex cracked one of his eyes open. “Exactly what it looks like, a centaur.”

“And where is this place?”

“Don’t know. There are a lot of theories, but so far none of us have any solid evidence. All we know is that it’s called Parcaeland. Man it’s good to see you!” Alex walked over to Marshal and gave him a big hug.

“Dude get off. And what do you mean? I saw you yesterday.” Marshal shouted as he pushed Alex off him. “I’m freaking out right now. Where the hell are we? Tell the truth! Is this some messed up prank show?”

Alex blinked a couple of times in confusion. “What are you talking about? I’ve been stuck here since summer break started .”

“Since the start of break?” Marshal said with a weird look. “But we played basketball together just yesterday.”

Now it was Alex’s turn to seem lost. He ignored Marshal’s questions as he muttered to himself. Marshal had to strain his hearing to make anything out.

“He saw me yesterday? No, that can’t be. I’ve been stuck here for months. Is the alien theory true? Are we on some foreign planet while our clones are walking around back on earth? Or are we the clones?”

Aliens? This guy has lost his marbles, Marshal thought, his eyes widening as he watched his friend turn into some tin foil hat conspiracy theorist.

“You said that this place is Parcaeland?”

This seemed to snap his friend out of his rambling.

Letting out a cough, Alex composed himself. “Yeah, when you open your status window for the first time, it gives you the rundown of the basics.”

“Status window?”