Staring down a pair of massive wolves was not the way that Lucas wanted his morning to be going. But it didn’t seem like he was going to have much of a say in that matter anymore. Idly, some part of Lucas’ mind that wasn’t completely gripped by terror noted how vibrantly green the eyes of the wolves were, almost unnaturally so. Though, it wasn’t like anything was natural about the pair of near person sized wolves quietly stalking him.

  While Dusk, perched on Lucas’ shoulders, continued to growl at the two wolves, Lucas stayed as still as possible. The only thing moving was his eyes as he tracked the approaching beasts. He knew he couldn’t outrun a normal wolf, much less ones that were even bigger and had much longer legs.

  Deep down, Lucas knew he wasn’t getting out of the situation. He could practically feel the hunger radiating off of the two creatures and there was no sign of any way for Lucas to get back home. He was stuck in some alien landscape facing strange and likely deadly creatures, and he didn’t have any sort of weapon.

  “I should have brought my knife,” Lucas thought to himself.

  He’d grabbed his phone before he’d left, but he’d been so eager to see what Dusk had wanted to show him that he’d never thought to grab the small pocket knife he had in his room. For all Lucas knew, he could have been led into a trap by the little fox. Thankfully, it seemed like Dusk was just as against the wolves as he was, but Lucas knew he’d made a stupid move to come into the forest without a weapon.

  He had no idea whatsoever if a weapon that small would have done much to such large animals, but it would have been better than being completely unarmed.

  The pair of wolves spread out a bit once they’d fully entered the clearing, but both had thankfully remained within Lucas’ sight. They stopped a few dozen feet away, though the distance wasn’t nearly as much of a comfort for Lucas as it should have been.

  Once they’d stopped approaching, Lucas noted a few extra details about the two. One of them, the one on his left, was clearly larger than the other. And with the way he noticed the rightmost wolf standing slightly further back from him, he figured that the wolf on the left was the one in charge between the two.

  For what felt like hours but was truly only seconds, Lucas stared down the two wolves, his mind running through ideas as he tried to think of some way to survive.

  Up above, the loud cry of a large bird could be heard, and in the forest clearing below, the sudden noise seemed to trigger something in the wolves as they exploded into action.

  Lucas had time to stumble back in fear and shock as the two wolves charged towards him. Dozens of feet of distance between the two groups vanished in a couple of seconds as the wolves approached faster than any normal wolf could. Those powerful legs weren’t just for show, it seemed.

  Lucas watched the lead wolf lunging at him as time seemed to slow to a crawl. He couldn’t move, couldn’t stop what was about to happen, only watch as the wolf’s paws left the ground, its jaw open and snarling as it leapt through the air at him. Those teeth looked so sharp, as did the wicked claws jutting out from the wolf’s front paws as they reached out towards him. And Lucas had no doubt that they would cut through his flesh and crush bone with ease.

  It was only through sheer dumb luck that Lucas survived. As he instinctively stumbled backwards, a tree root managed to snag the back of the teen’s foot, and he went tumbling down. Lucas barely heard the little yelp Dusk gave as she was thrown off his shoulders over the roaring sound of his heartbeat pounding in his ears.

  The wolf flew over Lucas’ head, jaw closing around where Lucas’ neck would have been if he hadn’t fallen over. Those large paws passed right over his body as the large animal flew past him. As his perception of time returned to normal, Lucas realized that he was still alive. But he found himself flat on his back and still in just as much danger as he had been before.

  Scrambling backwards, Lucas managed to sit up, observing as the two wolves began to circle him. Lucas kept his eyes focused on the leader of the pair, seeing as how it had been the one to attack first. Though out of the corner of his eye, he could see the second wolf slowly stalking around his side.

  The larger creature began to approach again, slower this time. But as it took a few steps closer, it let out a surprised yelp as Dusk suddenly appeared beside it, small but powerful jaws latching onto the wolf’s front left leg.

  For a moment, Lucas let himself feel some hope as he watched the massive wolf flinch in pain. But that hope was crushed a moment later as the beast swiped a claw at the small fox and flung her away.

  “Dusk!”

  Despite the creature standing there, Lucas instinctively lunged forward to try and rush towards the little black fox that had just tried to save his life. But his movement brought attention back to him and the large wolf growled as it turned to look at him once more.

  Once more, the cry of a bird resounded through the clearing, much closer than it had been before. And out of the corner of his eye, Lucas just barely spotted the smaller of the two wolves as it lunged at him.

  He threw himself to the side, dodging another attack by the creatures. Or at least, he tried to. While Lucas managed to avoid those deadly fangs and strong jaws, the claws of the smaller wolf still managed to lash out at him.

  The cry of pain slipped past his lips as he hit the ground on his side, looking down and spotting the trio of gashes that had cut through the right arm of his hoodie. He could see blood welling up from some deep looking cuts in his arm, the color of the hoodie starting to darken already as it was quickly soaked with his own blood.

  The pain was sharp, and Lucas clutched his right arm with his left. He needed to stop the bleeding, but the two predators weren’t about to give him the time. Smelling the fresh blood, the larger of the two wolves once again lunged at Lucas. And this time there was no tree root to save him.

  The wolf’s heavy body slammed into him full force, sending Lucas down onto his back as the creature took him down. He barely managed to get his arms up in time, his hands managing to wrap around the wolf’s neck and keep it from being able to tear out his throat.

  Unfortunately, that still left Lucas face to face with a snarling, raging wolf that was trying hard to kill him. It snapped at his face, pressing down on him as it tried to get at something vital to kill him. Lucas’ arms were just long enough to hold the beast back, but he could feel those arms shaking as the beast’s weight bore down on him.

  Pain shot through his right arm again as Lucas forced himself to hold the massive wolf back. He could feel the blood pouring down towards his shoulder as his right arm shook from the pain and strain. It was only the adrenaline pumping through his veins that kept Lucas alive.

  But with each passing second, his strength waned as the beast pushed its weight down on him, those snapping, snarling jaws getting closer and closer. As the pain got worse, Lucas just yelled back into the wolf’s face, channeling all that pain and anger he was feeling as he pushed back as hard as he could.

  He knew it wasn’t enough, though. His right arm was going to give out any minute, and the wolf would kill him.

  And then, as his vision grew blurry from the throbbing pain in his arm, a small figure shot into view with a loud screech.

  The wolf above Lucas yelped in pain as a blurry form crashed into the creature’s face. Claws flashed and Lucas saw blood fly as a smaller creature clawed and slashed at the wolf’s face and eyes. And as the wolf recoiled from the sudden assault, Lucas took the chance he’d been given. He mustered every ounce of strength left and pushed, shoving the wolf back and off of him.

  The beast tumbled down to the ground a few feet away from Lucas, the blurry form that had been clawing at its face flying off and circling above. And Lucas was left heaving and gasping for air as his arm pulsed with a new surge of pain after he’d strained himself to get free.

  “Watch out!”

  The voice of another person made Lucas turn, his vision clearing enough for him to see the form of the smaller wolf charging towards him. It had been content to stay back while the leader was going in for the kill, but with the leader down, it seemed to want a chance.

  And Lucas knew he couldn’t stop it. His right arm was cradled against his chest, and Lucas didn’t have the strength to hold back another wolf, even if the second was smaller than the first.

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  Luckily for the teen, before the wolf could get the chance to finish him off, a sharp whistling sound caught Lucas’ ear, followed by a meaty sounding impact. And a split second later, the wolf went down, tumbling to the grass and sliding to a stop a few feet from Lucas.

  Sticking out of its neck was the hilt of some kind of blade. It looked like a knife, but Lucas hadn’t even seen where the blade had come from before it had buried itself in the wolf’s neck.

  Before Lucas could try to look around for the source of the voice, which he imagined was also the source of the mysterious knife, Lucas’ attention was pulled back to the still living wolf as it whimpered and growled. It was back on its feet, but it seemed far less aggressive than it had been before. And it wasn’t hard to tell why.

  As Lucas looked the beast over, he could see that one of its eyes had been torn apart, blood trailing down its snout while sharp cuts littered the rest of the beast’s face. Whatever had attacked the creature, it had been effective.

  “Just back up slowly. That thing’s still dangerous.”

  It was the same voice as before, a woman’s voice now that Lucas could actually focus on anything but the pain in his arm. It came from behind him, but Lucas didn’t dare look back. The wolf was still only a few short feet away from him and while it was injured, it was still a major threat to him.

  “Slowly. Just don’t make any sudden moves.”

  Taking the advice of his mysterious savior, Lucas slowly dragged himself backwards, putting a few more feet of distance between him and the wounded wolf. It growled when it saw him moving, but it didn’t move to attack him. Its focus was directed more behind him, Lucas realized as he looked at the beast. And it made sense, actually.

  After all, Lucas wasn’t a threat. The person who had managed to kill the other wolf, on the other hand, was.

  A sharp cry sounded again, and the wolf immediately looked up. Lucas tracked the sound as well, spotting what looked like a small falcon diving down towards the wounded beast. The wolf tensed, looking ready to try and catch the incoming bird. But before the little bird could get within range, it suddenly pulled up and out of reach.

  Only too late did the wolf realize that it had walked into a trap, and Lucas watched as a dagger cut through the air above his head, embedding itself in the neck of the remaining wolf.

  The beast staggered and collapsed, the only sounds in the clearing being Lucas’ heavy breathing and the pounding of his heart in his chest. Then he heard the sound of leaves crunching underfoot, and he turned to see the person who had saved his life.

  Like he’d suspected at first, it was a girl. But unlike what he may have been imagining, the girl who had saved him looked no older than Lucas himself!

  Before he could even ask any questions or thank her for saving his life, the girl interrupted him first.

  “What are you doing out here dressed like an Ordinary? It’s not safe to be out this far without any proper gear. And where are your weapons?” She questioned, almost sounding annoyed as she looked down at Lucas.

  The words she spoke made little sense to Lucas, he understood the language just fine as the girl was speaking English, but he found that he was completely lacking context.

  “I… I don’t know what you’re even talking about. Where the hell are we? And what were those things?” Lucas shot back with questions of his own. His words must have seemed genuine as the girl became visibly confused.

  “‘Where are we?’ Did you get separated from a merchant group or something? And how do you not know what a Direwolf is? This is their territory.”

  Direwolf.

  The word rang alarm bells in Lucas’ mind. The only context he’d ever heard of such a creature was in all sorts of myth and fantasy. And yet, the name fit with what he’d seen. Wolf’s far larger than what they were supposed to be with incredibly sharp claws and fangs. Looking at the dead beasts again, Lucas once more began to wonder just where he was.

  Lucas wanted to ask more questions, to get more answers, but stopped when he heard a quiet whimper that reminded him of something else that he needed to be concerned about.

  “Dusk! Shit!”

  Lucas scrambled to his feet, stumbling over towards where the small fox had been flung. He crouched down beside his strange guide and looked her over. He’d only met the little fox less than an hour ago, but he felt shockingly connected to the fox, even more so after she’d tried to protect him.

  Thankfully, Dusk seemed alright for the most part. She had a few cuts and scrapes and had a small gash along her front right leg, but other than that she seemed to be ok.

  Making sure to be gentle with the fox, Lucas carefully lifted Dusk up and into his arms. Though he flinched and hissed through his teeth as the movement caused his blood-soaked jacket to shift against the open wounds on his arm.

  It was at that point that the girl seemed to realize that Lucas was hurt as well, and she quickly rushed over to him.

  “Oh gods, I’m sorry! I didn’t realize one of those things caught you. Come on, sit down,” She said. With the way she was pushing him down towards the ground, it was more of an order than a suggestion.

  Giving in, perhaps because he was feeling a bit woozy, Lucas sat back down on the soft grass below. His uninjured arm still held Dusk to his chest, but he let the girl take hold of his right arm to deal with the wound. The glint of a blade caught Lucas’ eye, and he instinctively flinched as she brought the blade toward his arm. Thankfully, instead of stabbing him, she instead cut the sleeve of his hoodie off at the shoulder, carefully stripping the blood-soaked fabric off of Lucas’ arm.

  Without the jacket in the way, he was able to get a good look at the trio of cuts on his arm. They weren’t as deep as he’d originally thought, but they were large wounds, and they were bleeding heavily. A trio of jagged cuts from near his shoulder down towards his elbow. Lucas wasn’t a doctor, but he knew that the wounds were going to leave scars.

  The girl placed down a pack that she’d been carrying on her back and brought out a roll of gauze along with a bottle filled with some sort of bright green liquid. She uncorked the liquid and poured it over a long strip of gauze, soaking the fabric and making it turn an off shade of green as it absorbed the liquid. Then she did the same for a much smaller strip of gauze and set it aside.

  “What is that?” Lucas asked, his curiosity spiking again.

  “… How do you not recognize a healing potion?” The girl shot back, looking at Lucas as if he’d just grown a second head.

  “Healing potion?” Lucas repeated, eyeing the half-full bottle of green liquid. Sure, he’d heard of healing potions, but that was something more commonly found in a video game than in real life. There was no such thing as potions.

  But there also weren’t supposed to be Direwolves or trees with glowing purple leaves either…

  Lucas watched as the girl gently, yet firmly, wrapped the long strip of gauze around his arm, making sure to properly cover and bind the wound. He hissed in pain as the cold, damp fabric came into contact with the open wounds, but was surprised to feel an almost numbing sensation around the cuts a few seconds later. Lucas was left stunned and silenced as the pain faded rapidly and watched as the girl repeated the process for Dusk. She carefully wrapped the little fox’s leg with the potion-soaked bandages just as she had done for him.

  Watching her work on the little fox, Lucas finally had the chance to actually look at his savior in full without a threat to his life distracting him.

  The first thing that he noticed was her long hair, it was an almost silvery platinum blonde color, twisted into a long braid that ran down to her lower back. And as he looked lower, he noticed her clothes. She’d commented about what he was wearing, and looking at her, the comment made a bit more sense.

  Rather than simple, casual clothes like the ones that Lucas had been wearing, the girl wore a thick looking, off-white fur-lined cloak. A closer look made Lucas pretty sure that the cloak was some kind of animal pelt turned into a cloak. And instead of simple jeans like Lucas had put on, the girl had a pair of much more durable-looking black pants. He couldn’t quite say what the material was, but the design looked very similar to cargo pants.

  “Healing potions,” Lucas repeated, his mind racing. “You mean like magical healing potions that miraculously heal wounds? That kind of healing potion?”

  “Yes…” The girl replied, drawing the word out like she was speaking to a child. “Though I don’t know what you’ve been told. It takes a person with an insane amount of skill to make a potion that good. Most healing potions just help increase the body’s natural healing to help deal with dangerous wounds.”

  Lucas felt like the world around him was spinning. First, he’d ended up in some strange world with no way home, then he’d nearly been killed by giant wolves, and now he was told that magical potions, and by extension magic, was real as well.

  “But… But magic isn’t real,” Lucas weakly protested, his rational mind warring with what he’d seen and been told.

  “What are you talking about? Of course, magic is real. You wouldn’t be here if magic wasn’t real. None of us would be here,” The girl pointed out, jabbing a finger lightly into Lucas’ chest. At first she seemed annoyed, but after seeing the growing confusion on Lucas’ face, the girl’s expression softened.

  “Are you telling me that your parents never told you about your magic? They never showed you any magic?” She gently pried.

  “No! Nobody ever told me that magic was a thing! I always thought that magic was just something from stories and video games!” Lucas was breathing heavily, his thoughts whirling as he tried to figure out what was real and what wasn’t.

  The blonde could clearly see that Lucas was spiraling, and she tried to help. Her hands gripped his shoulder, dragging him out of his thoughts and making him look up at her. Idly, Lucas couldn’t help but notice how bright and green the blonde’s eyes were, like a pair of emeralds.

  “Then if you don’t know about magic, how did you get here?” She asked, her voice soft and soothing, her tone calming Lucas down just a bit and getting him to focus.

  “I… I followed Dusk. She just showed up out of nowhere… She wanted me to follow her,” Lucas replied. “I followed her into the woods and then she just disappeared. I tried to figure out where she went and then suddenly, I’m here.”

  Realization flashed across the girl’s face and those green eyes widened with visible surprise. She looked at Lucas again as if seeing him for the first time.

  “Hey…”

  She lightly shook Lucas, her hands squeezing his shoulders to make him focus on her. She gave him a small smile, one that made Lucas’ heart skip a beat for a moment and successfully distract him from his own spiraling thoughts.

  “What’s your name,” She asked.

  “Lucas... My name is Lucas,” He replied.

  “Well, Lucas. It’s nice to meet you. You can call me Fay…” She replied, offering Lucas a small smile.

  “… And I think that I have a lot to tell you.”

  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~