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up to catch up to the glowing animals, but not before stumbling and almost making a The alpha looks at me melancholically, then proceeds to charge towards me,
fool of myself again first, go me. presumably to tackle me once more. As I brace for impact, it turns into harmless motes
of lights the moment it makes skin contact with me. Just before I can compute that

As I struggle to keep up, I notice more and more creatures leave the pack. At information, my vision goes black and my thoughts turn stagnant.
first there were about twenty five, but now it’s already down to about ten. Pondering
about their disappearances, I almost run into some of the remaining beasts when they Met with uncharted lands, spirited by bygone’s hands.
suddenly stopped in their tracks. I swear that I heard a collective sigh from them, even Head humming with vertigo, we our own wendigo.

though they’re not capable of doing so. It seems that the troop has reached their final
destination: dilapidated ruins drenched in some weird radiating substance surrounded I wake up feeling groggy like I’d been punched straight in the solar plexus. Before
by nothing but dead trees. The trees themselves appear as if they’re trying to grow further I can agonise internally and have a mental breakdown I peek outside the window, with
away from the ruins, leaning towards the opposite direction of the ruins, but failed to rays of silky sunlight cutting through. Upon the verdant ether cracks not unlike lightning

do so before wilting to some unknown cause. Even nature doesn’t want to reclaim these bolts embedded. The winds wail like a cacophony of weeping grievers, and the trees
relics of the past, so what exactly is this place? sway as if recoiling from a sudden bombshell. I snap out of my stupor, “I need to see the
Chieftain.”
Still deep in thought, I’m brought back to my senses by the surprised yappings

of my beastly companions. After arriving here, the pack is clearly in distress, howling
mournfully with their tails drooped. I’m not faring too well myself, my limbs feel strangely
heavy and I feel oddly light-headed and disoriented, what’s happening? The alpha glares
at me sternly like it’s trying to convey a message as its lackeys melt into puddles so green

it makes evergreen trees look dull in comparison. I yelp in pure surprise, wondering if
I’m going to liquefy into some sort of Fylio-flavoured ooze, which definitely doesn’t help
calm me down.

The alpha locks eyes with me. What did the Chieftain say about these kinds of
situations? Don’t maintain eye contact, right, or the predator will deem me as a threat and
proceed to orally decimate my internal organs, which isn’t on my bucket list, currently,
anyway. Yet, I sense that isn’t the right thing to do at the present. I gaze into the turquoise

eyes of the alpha, and my thoughts feel clearer, I guess the eyes of fuzzy animals do that
to you, maybe. The alpha gestures with its snout towards the bygone ruins, the wilted
trees and its companions which are wasting away. It observes me expectantly. Having the
knowledge that it might mutilate me if I don’t reply correctly, the rusty gears in my mind

begin to creak and spin.

Flora and fauna dying out of nowhere, bad, that I know for sure. These ruins though,
they unsettle me. Could whatever transpired here happen again? Is that it? Mama once

said that the past is merely a reflection of what could be, I still don’t really get it, but I at
least understand enough to know that this might eventuate in the near future. Fear must
have shown in my eyes, because the alpha nodded grudgingly. “But, there must be a way
to prevent such a horrible thing, right? Nature isn’t cruel, so there must be something I

can do!” The alpha appears weak for once, perhaps for the first time in its life. I examine
my surroundings and grim realisation dawns, the other creatures are all gone, either
having retreated into the still living part of the forest or worse. A.I. Generated
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