Fear…

Me felt fear. He couldn't name the feeling for himself, yet he felt his blood turn cold, his muscles tensing as if preparing to flee. his eyes were locked onto the elve's as he stared with uneasiness.

“Lub-dub, lub-dub.”

With the thrilling of his senses, his heart beat faster. Veins widened and pulsed to the rising pace of the pounding of his heart.

The elf blinked as he finally realized that he was making eye contact with Me.

‘KILL.’

The entirety of Me’s body shook as an icy command emerged from his mind, causing his mind to reel in shock at the overwhelmingly unfamiliar desire.

‘Ahahahah KILL.’

The second time the voice rang out, Me lost his sense of time, feeling it drift slowly, a single second lasting an eternity as time flowed at the pace of syrup. Every nerve of his body overloading his mind with sensations. Me's eyes glazed over as he unconciously leaked some of the bloodlust that was dominating his mind. his knees growing weak as he lost himself to a maddening tsunami of sensations and murderous intent.

‘Ahahahahahahaha Kill! Kill! Kill! Hahahahahahahahahahahaha.’

As the hellish voice echoed once more in his mind, all of Me’s senses began to fade, and his mind blanking out even as he lost his balance and fell from his wooden perch.

From tree to ground Me fell, unconscious and stuck in a dream even before he hit the ground.

When Me startled awake, his back was roughly resting against a dying ash tree, as he looked around all he could see was a vast expanse of rising water, already the water had covered his legs and was climbing. Trying to get up Me discovered that his back was buried inside the tree itself, preventing him from moving even as the water rose up to his chest.

A deep fear flickered into Me’s eyes as his instincts demanded that he not be overtaken by this unknown liquid yet despite his struggles he remained stuck in the tree. As he struggled against the tree, he started to cry out in fear, yet the water was ignorant to his pleas and completely submerged him beneath.

Even as Me blacked out underneath the ocean of water a slight presence revealed itself by the tree; the presence was easily identifiable by an air of curiosity that was unmatched by even the mass amount of water.

“What an odd soulscape…” a few words came from the presence as suddenly an explosive force erupted from it and formed a globe of protection around the tree and revealing the fainted form of Me below.

The presence began to muse out loud.

“Oh, this is interesting, a fractured soul? I suppose that it was separated from its host by the summoning… but… why is there a third? Hmm.”

It paused for a minute.

“Ah, I see. The host is a fate chosen, and thus can’t be consumed, yet the fractured soul is too old to be banished. I suppose then that this third is the result of this paradox.”

There were traces of amusement in the voice as it spoke in its musing fashion.

“Yet while the chosen is protected from the assault, the third is not. How disappointing to see so much effort go to waste if neither can win, why don't we just... let the third take the victory?”

As the last tones of the voice faded, the pressure released was rapidly increased causing ripples across the water as it magically faded away, crushed into nonexistence revealing more of the land before finally settling down into a single puddle barely tapped by the farthest root of the tree.

“A chance, a chance, all for a single chance. What will you be Mr. sprout? Will you come to match Trace’s fabled Yggdrasil, or be a weed trampled underfoot? The answer, I look forward to it.” with a happy humming the presence disappeared, leaving the sleeping Me underneath the withered tree.

With the disappearance of the presence everything the scene would have appeared to have turned to a peaceful state, but at this moment, against the tree, Me shifted slightly illuminated by an odd azure pulsing that was emanating from the ground.

A quiet groaning could be heard from the tree as ever so slightly it grew in height and width, its roots strengthening within the earth.

______________________________________________________________________________

First came the rumbling sound of cart wheels, then came the site of a darkened cage, covered by a rough sheet. Me spent a moment in surprise his mind racing after an incredibly vivid dream.

Outside the cage, the elf archer had picked up on the sounds of Me’s shifting and alerting the King who was riding nearby “He’s awake, what should we do?”

“Leave him as he is, for now, I have a strong feeling about him, and we cannot afford for spies to idly catch sight of him.” came the commanding response of the King.

“As you command my Lord.” the Elf said subserviently

‘I have a name you know...’ Me frowned irritably out of an odd sense of frustration even as he mentally responded to the overheard conversation. ‘Me may not be much of a name but, wait… Me is a terrible name, who the fuck named me Me? What an idiot.’

With nothing better to do, Me assigned to himself the task of finding a new name. Irritably blotting out the various sounds that come from a large city along with the curious chatter as the mysterious cage passed by the idle townsfolk.

The sounds quieted as the caravan entered the inmost citadel, the sounds of horses being led off to various stables could be heard as many of the soldiers detached themselves from the caravan, leaving the king and only a few of his attendants in privacy as they slowly escorted the cage to a large throne room.

Me was meanwhile entirely focused on pondering over his name, oblivious to the fact that his vocabulary was somehow much greater than what it had been a few days ago. ‘Markek the Willbreaker? Ele of the eternal silence? Verz the bloodhound??? Hm, some of those are female… I’m male right?’

Me shifted and stuck his hand between his legs and rubbed against a smooth curvature. ‘Neither… that’s… strange?” at this moment the covers were lifted from the cage, revealing Me in all of his bizarre glory.

“...”

An awkward silence pervaded the air as the King and his attendants, a large bandaged man in a black tunic, and a hooded Mage with robes the colors of burnt blood.

The king coughed awkwardly bringing the creature’s attention up to him while the hand still rubbed against its smooth crotch. At this the General coughed awkwardly as well, such an immodest reaction would have immediately earned a significant punishment amongst the king’s other subjects.

“Judging from its reactions it may have recently ascended monster hood, perhaps it was assisted by a certain idiotic ritual.” the Mage commented in a derisive tone.

“Oh, you had an alternative solution to our decline great Mage? Pray tell.” mocked the General.

The Mage’s expression morphed into one of irritated spite “as a matter of fact; I do, why don't we... get rid of the moronic racism that is the sole reason why humanity is so hated amongst every other race?”

The King looked uncomfortable at the comment and offered a slight defense of his general. “Convincing people aside, that in no way guarantees the end of Humanity’s decline.”

“If the solution was perfect then why try another? At least it wouldn’t’ve guaranteed the end of humanity like that fools bait of a portal.” came the Mage’s irate reply.

“We had NO way of knowing that such a monstrous being would have come through!” The General bridled and yelled at the Mage angrily at his comment.

The Mage ignored the General’s rage and took on a cold air as he responded “How is an idiot like you our General? Handing off the best possible trainees to that god forsaken sun clan is a decision made to be regretted.”

“Antek, Rynheart, Enough.” came the commanding voice of King Harken. “We will discuss the ramifications later, right now I am curious as to the nature of the creature in front of us.”

“As you wish my King.” Antek sighed as he turned to look at the creature.

“...”

The group collectively paused and stared at the empty cage that sat in front of them, its steel gate quietly swinging open

The King’s jaw dropped open as he weakly gasped a question “Rynheart… How long has it been gone?”

“My lord…” Rynheart in his black tunic quietly began to respond to the King’s question “I do not know.”

“...”

“Shit.”

The silence was broken as the each member forgot the formality of their ranks and swore.