He was warm. Warm under his blankets, warm under his sheets and his head was warm against the pillows. Life, life was great. He had a mother that cared for him, he was successful in school and was great at football. He was told that he was going to have a great future according to his teacher and he believed that.

  He opened his dry eyes to be greeted by blinding light coming from his window, the smell of breakfast that had recently been made made its way up into his room, making him feel hungry. He put on his socks to walk down the stairs, being greeted by a plate and a note.

  You wouldn't wake up, so I put your breakfast on this plate. Love you! - Mom The note read.

  On the plate there were biscuits and eggs. Next to the plate was a fork and a knife but he cut away with only the fork. When satisfied, he put his plate away to grab his shoes and walk out the door.

  It was bright outside, no clouds were showing in the sky and it was very warm. Walking through the streets, he passed by the bakery where the smell of fresh bread wafted out of the vents tempting him to go inside. Maybe next time. He thought as he got out of range.

  He walked by a field filled with kids playing football, kicking the ball to one another in the hopes of making a goal. A drummer sat on the side making quiet taps against the surface. The drummer unexpectedly lifted his hand up and crashed it against the drum resulting in a boom!

  He sat up quickly in a cold sweat, realizing where he actually was. His heart was beating fast and his breathing was shaky. He never really did wake up in that warm bed, did he? He didn't get to eat those eggs or read that note, because he wasn't even home. He wasn't on some soft mattress, he was on some cold and unwelcoming mud.

  His eyes now truly felt tired as he finally came up to speed and his situation. He was sitting inside of a shoddily built bunker to protect him from artillery fire but if it was directly hit, they would all die.

  He was with other soldiers in here, all trying to sleep but failing. He rubbed his eyes, they were wet. He must have been crying while remembering his home. He missed it so much and how nice it was there.

  He saw a pistol.

  He remembered the way his friends would joke around about who was the best at anything.

  He felt the grip.

  He remembered when his mom would comfort him with trips to the bakery or cook his favorite meal when he was sad.

  He tasted metal in his mouth.

  He also remembered when they had enough money to go on that trip.

  He felt his finger on the trigger.

  He didn't think he was going to remember anymore.

  ***

  Adan Baumer, Cerviun soldier

  All this marching was driving him crazy, this stupid, stupid marching. The hours felt like days to poor Adan Baumer, a regular soldier with a regular rank. His boot sank into the mud beneath him, he groaned.

  Stupid mud, stupid marching. He thought as he struggled to get his boot out of the mud. This isn't how I imagined the military.

  He jogged to catch up with the line, but nobody would care if he didn't. They hated him.

  "We have three more miles! If any of you poor saps have any complaints, throw them away and keep your mouth shut!" Their commander yelled, Adan just nodded. When they had gone through another mile of the march, Adan felt pain in his feet. But he just had to keep marching along.

  Just a little longer. I can just make it three more miles. His feet were on fire, causing him to groan with every step he took. He looked up to see one of his comrades shaking his head at him.

  I should have done more PT, he thought.

  Left. Right. Left. Right.

  Adan's legs felt like lead.

  Left. Right. Left. Right.

  His gear was getting heavier and heavier.

  Left. Right. Left. Right.

  Adan was about to collapse.

  Left. Right. Left. Right.

  What could be no more than one hour felt like 2 days when they finally arrived.

  "Congratulations fellas, you've made it to where you will be staying." Commander Karsk shouted at them, making sure everybody could hear. "You should all get some rest. Await further orders."

  The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

  Adan sighed with relief, and he plopped down. He grabbed his bag and pulled out his rations of beef and corn, in a can of course.

  "Adan! You're going on guard duty tonight. Silently take out any Veruckians or Grasen, do not use your rifle, got that?"

  For fuck's sake. He grabbed his gear and headed off to his post.

  ***

  When night arrived, he was already standing outside of the camp, looking around tiredly for any threats. He scanned the same bush for the umpteenth time, muttering to himself with complaint. He heard some leaves and sticks cracking and he whipped around.

  "Hey, it's just me. I'm taking your spot." Adan said a little thank you, his comrade only replied by rolling his eyes.

  He settled down onto the hard dirt, hoping he could get some sleep. He closed his eyes, thinking of the next day that was to come.

  ***

  G?rvan Schleef, Republic of Gr?sen

  G?rvan walked through the forest, quietly. He was with his hunting friends, searching for the perfect animal to hunt.

  He had a weird feeling about today, he didn't exactly know what it was for but it was there. It felt like he knew something big was going to happen, but after thinking about it, he narrowed it down to paranoia.

  "Hey G?rvan, remember that time you got fucked up by a bucks antlers? That shit was hilarious. But seriously, you don't need to be so jumpy," one of his hunting companions stated from his left.

  He admitted that one particular section of his life had been funny, nearly dying. However, he always had one question, what if he had died? What if he went to sleep and never woke up, just stayed asleep, forever? It scared him, it got him nervous even though it happened years ago.

  "Hey man, are you good? You seem a little uhhh, out of your head." Said Merkel, his hunting companion, and good friend.

  "Oh yeah, heh, it was pretty funny. But I do think the loss of blood has made my brain a little strange. I occasionally slur my words, or if I stand up too fast my vision goes dark."

  "Yeah, that's not normal. Hopefully you don't get attacked again, you psycho." Merkel replied.

  "Oh, come on, I'm not that psychotic. Just a bit not oaky in the head." G?rvan said while being a little loopy and tired.

  They walked hundreds of feet in silence, G?rvan's paranoia attacking his brain and making him feel funny. Perhaps he didn't have enough coffee, or caffeinated drinks.

  "You just said 'oaky', maybe you should be taken to a Psych ward."

  G?rvan just ignored that as he stopped to dig through his bag, finding an energy bar to eat. It wasn't enough to satiate his hunger of course, but it would have to do for the couple more hours they were out here. It tasted funky and stale, making him wrinkle his nose as he ate it. He didn't exactly like these bars, but he still ate them, like he was addicted. The texture was powdery and artificial, not the worst he's had, but it was still bad.

  He also decided to inspect his rifle while eating, brushing his hand over the wood and metal components. He made sure to turn the safety on so he or Merkel didn't lose anything of theirs. He did need to fingers to hunt after all.

  Merkel began discussing all of the different things they could shoot. Boar, Elk, Bucks, Bears, and any other legal animals. He personally liked bears the most, probably due to the fact that it always gives him an adrenaline rush whenever he hunts them.

  There was rusting and growling not too far from them. Merkel and G?rvan stood up with their rifles and looked towards the noise. They lowered to a crouch when they felt they were near, this slowed them down. But they could always stand back up if they needed to run.

  At first G?rvan didn't see anything, but then he spotted some blue and green, then red and tan.

  He thought it was only stories, stories where humanity fell in a far away place that they had to flee.

  Stories where creatures bloodlust caused their near extinction.

  However, what he was looking at wasn't a story. It looked real, real enough that his doubts of them existing completely vanished.

  So that must mean the stories are true. That the human genocide was true. That there is a far away land in the middle of the ocean.

  G?rvan knew what he had to do, to save them all again. So they could see how it feels to be hunted.

  He took aim, and put his finger on the trigger.

  ***

  "So, you managed to find a storybook creature, kill it, and you want us to come look at it? I'm sorry sir, but this sounds ludicrous." The man behind the desk stated with a chuckle, showing his skepticism.

  "No, its true! I swear, I left my friend, G?rvan, to stay with it while we got the game master to look at it, and this could mean there are more of them, maybe the stories are true." Merkel replied with frustration as he knew what he saw was real. "Just get the game master over there, and then I'll be done. Ok?"

  The man behind the desk, who he had been talking to for 5 minutes, seemed to be very amused by his antics. He probably thought he was crazy, maybe he was, but this was the realest thing he had seen in his life. He had touched the creatures, felt the scales, looked at the different colors, it was too real to have been imagined.

  However, the man behind the desk didn't believe him, and the chances of him actually getting the game master were low. He thought of different ways to get people to come look. Fake an injury and get "help"? No, he and G?rvan weren't good enough at acting to pull that off. Pull it into town with a big automobile, or what people started referring to as "Trucks". Based off of looks though, the creatures seemed to be around 3-5 tons, too big for these "Trucks" to drag.

  Maybe a simple picture could be it, but he wanted people to see the creatures, to look at their scales, feel the rough skin, believe him. He needed the game master.

  The man behind the desk took the tooth pick out of his mouth, and spoke, "I'll tell you what, we send some guys over there to look. If they see them too, we'll take them to the capital and have the lab coats examine them. Alright? I think that's a might fine plan."

  "Thank you sir, I'll see you there." Merkel thanked the man,

  "Oh, I wont be going. It'll be some other fella's. I just sit here."

  Lucky bastard, I wish I could do that, Merkel thought as he walked out of the hunting office. It was quite cool inside and out, the streets were filled with many pedestrians. The ones that were in there with him were giving weird looks, probably thinking he's crazy. He is not crazy.

  He got onto the train to go to the next stop, then he'll wait for the "fella's" to arrive. Finally, he'd take them to the creatures and G?rvan to see. They'll believe him, then he won't be so crazy anymore.

  He watched as the train started chugging along, watching it exit the station.

  "Coffee?" Offered a service member,

  "Yes, black please." He replied.

  He was grateful for the coffee. He was proving a point, so it tasted even better.

  ***

  In the east near the borders of Gr?sen, the Cerviun army is preparing. They are near the invasion, near their major plan.

  In Pyrrhia, they are wondering why exploration group 13 hasn't returned, maybe they should go that way to check on them.

  And G?rvan, G?rvan is wondering why in the world is there a dragon on Corvus?

  ***

  Yall, I suck ass at writing so give some constructive criticism to help me improve. Anyways, thank you for reading this shitty ass chapter.