“Katy! Where are you? Where is everyone?”

I was just with my sister and family enjoying a nice meal when all of a sudden everything went black. I felt grass hit my bare feet and I was suddenly surrounded by trees and all sorts of plant life. The air was clean and the wind felt nice on my skin, but I couldn’t hear anything even as my toes brushed against the grass and small fallen tree branches. Shadows crept at the edge of my vision when I looked at my feet and the shadows continued to stay there when I rubbed my eyes. I looked around the trees lost and confused until something finally shook my world with sound. A loud piercing bird-like screech echoed behind me and I turned around to see a blurry object coming up on me fast. Before I could even consider running the blurred object moved past me and landed on a fallen log a few meters ahead of me.

When I examined the blurry object more closely, certain characteristics began to become clearer. The object began to look more like a living creature and its characteristics baffled me. It was quadruped and had its back to me, its hind legs were jointed like a cats’ covered in a golden brown furred pelt along with a lion’s tail swinging in agitation. The anterior portion of the creature was covered in shadow but the outline suggested that it was birdlike with feathers, wings, and taloned feet making up the framework of the shadow. The head turned around and I got a good look at its eyes. Golden eyes stood out amongst the shadows and stared at me.

The creature didn’t move at all and I couldn’t tell why it was staring at me. After a few seconds, the creature’s gaze slowly moved away from me and scanned its surroundings. Its head stopped, and the creature seemed particularly interested at a patch of upturned dirt. It leaped off the log and brought its beak closer to the ground to examine the dirt. When it found what it was looking for, the creature’s head rose up sharply and gazed up ahead towards a denser section of trees. Its beak opened and a feminine voice came out of it.

“I’ve got you now,” the now female creature spoke.

Her wings sprung open and lifted her up into the air. I was struck speechless at her ability to talk and fly until I remembered I was lost and had no idea where I was. I called out to her for help but she didn’t seem to hear me when she broke past the top of the trees and flew away out of sight. A feather flew down to the ground and landed on the fallen log in front of me. I moved to pick it up and marveled at its tinting. A dark brown coloring stretched across the feather and ended at a pitch black tip. I was startled however when it began to glow and encompassed my vision.

When the glow cleared and I could see again, I looked around to see more of the same trees and foliage, however this time I could hear and feel something big coming towards me. I turned my head towards the sound and saw trees being parted to reveal a gigantic beast. Shadows covered this creature as well, but its general features were identifiable. Two very large tusks peeked out of its mouth and red embers spewed from its snout when it snorted. Beady black eyes stared out at nothing while its hooves shook the ground beneath it. Thankfully the beast didn’t seem to care for me as it passed me, but it stopped when both it and I heard a familiar piercing screech coming from above. The feline bird from before came down upon the creature with a spear in its talons and sunk it into the beast’s flesh. The beast roared powerfully and thrashed around wildly, nearly hitting me until I sought cover behind a tree. The feline bird ripped her spear out of the creature with the pointed tip starting to glow and flew back up into the air. She circled around the creature while it brought its snout up into the air to glare at her hatefully with its beady eyes. Both screamed war cries as the feline bird leveled her spear and descended, while the beast snorted and a red glow began to brim at the edge of its snout.

Just before they both made contact, light blinded my eyes again.

‘What a dream.’ I thought groggily

I woke up to see sunlight coming from the opening of the large fissure and grunted as the intruding light forced me to wake up. I couldn’t stand it and turned my head away from the light to try and get at least a few more minutes of shut-eye. Sadly my stomach appeared to be displeased with my lack of activity and growled at the fact that I hadn’t fed it yet. I decided it was time to wake up and popped my neck to get rid of the stiffness. I stood up at my full height and sighed as I realized I was still in the middle of nowhere in strange lands. My right hand brushed up against my belt and felt a hilt touch against the claws of my gauntlets. I grasped the hilt and brought it up to my sight and it immediately brightened my mood.

The beautifully decorated hilt reminded me of my amazing discoveries last night and I couldn’t wait to test them out. I wanted to swing my blade in the air and feel what it was like to bring the blade down upon a tree and see the tree get cut in half with a single swipe. I wanted to use the Force and lift up large boulders to see how strong I was. Then I wanted to reenact scenes from the Stars Wars movies and games to live out all of my fantasies. Fantasies that I knew shouldn't be real, but had to be real unless last night's events were just a trick of the mind. But sadly, I knew I would have to put that all on hold until I found something to eat.

Survival was more important and I put food gathering as my top priority for the day. I put my helmet back on and moved to the mouth of the fissure to stare out at the landscape before me. The fissure wasn’t very high up on the volcano, so I couldn’t see the horizon past the trees on the other side of the river.

‘This may or may not work, but I could ‘stretch out’ with the Force and try to find something edible to eat,’ I thought as I began to delve into that weird new sense I felt last night.

Somehow I felt the hard rock and dirt beneath my feet as my mind scanned my surroundings. I felt the grass bending to a soft gentle breeze, the leaves on the trees gain energy from the sunlight, and I felt the river flowing and cutting through the land. Then I felt the gentle breathing of two living things frolic past the trees and I immediately recognized them as white-tailed deer. They were moving towards the river and I knew I had to intercept them if I wanted a good meal. I had hunted before with both my dad and sister before, but back then I had a gun. Now, I had the Force, and I felt that this was the opportune time to test out my new abilities. I ran down the slopes of the volcano and as I headed towards the river I thought of ideas to kill my prey.

I thought about lifting one of the deer in the air with the Force and simply drown it in the river. I hated that idea because it wouldn’t be a clean kill and I didn’t want my prey to suffer. I then thought about performing a saber throw when I got a good shot at it. But this seemed more risky because I hadn’t performed such an advanced trick with the Force yet. I decided that if I messed up the saber throw I would quickly revert back to my first idea. My first idea may have been cruel but telekinesis was simpler and I needed something in my belly fast. I tracked the deer with the Force and figured out where they would come out when they reached past the tree line. I found a large set of boulders and bushes on my side of the river and laid down on the ground next to them. They hid me from sight on the other side of the river and I felt the deer getting closer.

One of the deer hopped out of the tree line and I got a good look at it. It was a doe, and she came to a stop to check her surroundings. She moved toward the river and it looked like she was getting ready for a drink. I had her out in the open with no trees around her to impede my saber when it fly’s. This was the perfect time to strike. My right hand touched the hilt of my lightsaber and my heart began to beat in anticipation for my kill. I slowly got up to my knees and got ready to activate and throw the saber until I saw the second deer hop out of the tree line.

The second deer was a tiny little thing and I instantly choked at the sight of the baby deer. It followed its mother towards the river and they both began to drink its contents. I stared at them and couldn’t come to a decision about what to do. I didn’t want to end the baby deer just as it began to experience life, and I didn’t want to kill the mother because I knew that without its mother it will quickly perish in the wild. My belly ached and begged me to appease it, but I couldn’t stop staring at the mother and her child.

I kept staring at them and couldn’t come to a conclusion about what to do. However, the deer seemed to make it for me as they finished their drink and began to frolic back into the forest.

‘Great, now I’ll have to find something else to eat thanks to my bleeding heart,’ I thought bitterly.

I sat down next to the river and tried to form a plan about what to do next. I still needed food, so the next animal I find with the Force better not have any damn kids. I still have a whole day to search for something and it might not take long considering how fast it was to sense those deer. Although, before I hunt for any animals, I need an effective way of killing them cleanly. I concluded that I would travel along the river and practice throwing my saber with my Force telekinesis until I was satisfied. Then while I travel along the river, I’ll search for any signs of civilization.

‘Well, I got a plan, I got my lightsaber, and the Force is with me, it’s time to get started,’ I thought with my goals focused.

I switched on the lightsaber and the satisfying hiss brought a smile to my face. I felt the Force travel down my arm and let go of the hilt to hold it in the air within an invisible aura of telekinesis. After a few seconds, I took hold of the lightsaber again and cocked my hand to throw it like a frisbee. Just as I was about to throw the saber alien images and feelings passed through my mind again like yesterday. I felt in my mind how the saber should be thrown and I saw a clawed hand stretch out with the Force towards a thrown saber and kept it spinning in an arc through the air. I then felt the hand pull back with the Force and the lightsaber hilt came back rapidly into its master’s hand.

I stood there next to the river with my hand cocked as the images passed through my mind like natural instinctual memories. When they passed I placed my trust in those feelings and threw the lightsaber. I kept my hand out in the air and directed the saber with my telekinesis. The black and red lightsaber soared through the air like a death disk and just before it got too far, I pulled back with the Force and forced down my fear as the blade came right towards me. When it got closer I felt the passage of time slow down and focused on the hilt of the blade returning to my hand. I caught the hilt smoothly and twirled the blade a bit as I got a good grip on it.

‘Oh yeah, that felt good,’ I thought as I grinned, still curious though on where those memories had come from.

I began to walk alongside the river and began my journey to find food and civilization. While I was walking I performed a few practice throws for a few minutes until I was satisfied enough that I could kill any prey animal easily. I switched off the lightsaber and began to stretch out with the Force once more to find food.

Minutes passed by and my Force sense couldn’t find any animals close enough to me to warrant a hunt. Most animals I sensed like mice, rabbits, or deer were too far away and the birds I felt made their nests up in faraway trees. I decided that if no animals came close to the river in a half an hour, I would abandon the river and make my way deeper into the forest to find food. I didn’t want to risk losing track of the river in case I missed signs of civilization but I decided a full belly would be worth the risk. I took a break using the Force and examined my surroundings more closely to get a feel for it. Insects buzzed in the background as trees on the other side of the river took up the view on my left and the volcano still stretched high above me to my right. I caught notice of my HUD through my eye lens and decided to take a beak with the Force and tinker with the icons.

I looked at the icons on the top of my vision and they began to look really familiar. I realized that they were icons from swtor that allowed me to access my inventory and junk. I looked to my bottom right and recognized the blue circle as the minimap from the MMO game as well with a small little globe beside it to bring up the map into full view.

‘So how do I activate them? Do I just blink at them or do I say open world map or is it something else?’ I thought.

As I stared at them I noticed a faint blue glow when my center of vision focused on one specific icon at a time. I stared at the globe icon on my bottom right and tried to will it into activation.

“Open world map, open world map, please open world map. OPEN WORLD MAP DAMN IT!” I barked into the air.

When nothing still happened and the globe icon continued to glow on the HUD, I growled and decided to just blink at it and see if that does something. When I closed my eyelids and opened them again I was surprised and stopped in my tracks as I gazed at a huge black gridline taking up my vision. My eyes swarmed around and looked to my top left to see a bar with a cursor blinking next to some text saying ‘awaiting activation.’

“Okay, this is weird,” and immediately just as I said that, text sprawled across the bar and said ‘Okay this is weird’ replacing the text from before.

The text was then replaced by new words saying ‘Order not recognized, awaiting orders to activate map tracking.’ I then decided to see what would happen and gave the most general order possible.

“Activate map tracking,” I said and the black grid lines at the center were replaced by blue outlines. I could see an icon representing me standing next to a river with rocks and an uphill incline to my right with trees standing to my left. I took a few steps forward and more of the river, trees, and volcano were added to my map. I looked to the top right and noticed an exit button glowing when my vision focused on it. I blinked and the map was gone and I could see my surroundings once more.

‘Well, now I don’t have to worry about getting lost anymore. All right I’ll look at the other icons later, now I need to find food.’ I thought as I declared my break over and began to stretch out with the Force again.

My senses moved through the forest and looked for anything with enough meat on its bones to satisfy me. However, that search came to a halt when I felt a presence moving fast towards my position from the side of the volcano. It was flying and I tried to find out what it looked like by focusing on it. It had powerful wings lifting up a light but densely muscled creature with feathers and claws. The weirdest thing about this creature is that it seemed to be quadruped but no bird that I know of walked on four limbs. The creature wasn’t the only thing I sensed and I felt something akin to the Force on its back as it flew. My senses kept up with it and I hit the ground next to the river and held still in the hopes that it didn’t see me when it passed.

When the creature got close enough I tried to see it with my eyes and I was startled to see that I remembered the creature. It was the female creature from my dream this morning I realized as I got a good look at her anterior side. Dark brown feathers covered her like the feather she dropped from the dream, and golden brown fur like a lions’ covered the other side of her body as well. Dark leather armor and chainmail seemed to cover her forearms and torso while a spear was strapped to her back. She appeared to be studying the forest on the other side of the river as she passed and ignored me. She picked up speed and flew past the tree line which snapped me out of my stare.

‘That… that was the strange creature from my dream. How is that possible? Wait! Was that a griffin? Could she actually speak? That armor and spear suggested craftsmanship, and craftsmanship suggested civilization. I need to follow her,’ I thought and desperately tried to keep track of her with my Force sense.

I used the Force to jump over the river and followed the griffin into the forest while sprinting as fast as I could. I used my lightsaber to cut thru any foliage or branches that got in my way but sidestepped past any trees. I could feel the Force flowing through me and giving my body the strength to move past my physical limits and keep moving despite the fact that it hadn’t gained any food for energy.

After a few minutes of running had passed I felt the griffin slow down and halt just as I sensed a new presence. This presence was very familiar, in fact, it was the same danger I had felt from last night. The same weird energy encompassed every part of its being with thick powerful muscles carrying its heavy weight thru the forest. I ignored the threat of danger however and continued to sprint as fast as I could towards the griffin. That griffin represented my chance of finding out where the hell I was and how I may get back to my family.

I heard a piercing screech and earth-shaking roar sound out from my destination and I knew that the griffin had made contact with the danger.

‘Damn it, why couldn’t my character have Force speed. That griffin better not die by the time I get there,’ I thought irritated.

By the time I got close to their location, I saw a new clearing being made in the forest. Trees both large and small laid all over the clearing knocked right out of their roots in pieces. The dirt was kicked up everywhere and patches of fire fed off of any trees or greenery in sight. Then I saw it, a large gout of fire sprung from the center of the clearing and brought my attention to the gigantic beast that had obviously caused the destruction.

It was the largest and strangest boar I had ever seen. It had to be at least three stories tall and its fur was dark red with bright white stars scattered all across its body like polka dots. The beast’s hooves stomped on the ground shattering tree trunks like they were twigs. Its head had large tusks sprouting from its mouth and they ended in perilously sharp tips that looked like they could gore right thru steel. The eyes were small little black beads compared to the rest of its head and right between them laid a large black star on its forehead. The beast kept snorting and fire spewed forth from its nostrils every time.

‘This was the other creature I met from my dream, this was the danger that haunted me last night!’ I thought with every sane instinct in my brain telling me to flee.

I heard another piercing screech and the griffin flew up from behind the boar and brought her spear down all across its torso, a bright light stemming from the wound, and she quickly fled before the beast could even react. The boar kicked and squealed like a pig and spewed fire at the griffin. But she was already far away from the flame's reach and she circled around seemingly preparing for another strike. The boar waited and seemed ready for her attack and spewed flames right in the griffin's flight path. However, just before the flames reached her, the griffin flew up straight in the air and the boar’s snout tried to follow her in her ascent.

Sadly for the boar, its neck wasn’t made to stretch up that high and couldn’t follow her. Just as the flames stopped trailing her, she continued in her plunge towards the boar and stuck her spear as far as she could into its back. The boar roared and wildly kicked its hooves in the air trying to buck her off. The griffin gripped her spear tightly and impressively pulled the deeply dug in spear out of the boars back and flew off.

Another bright light stemmed from its new wound and the boar seemed to get crazier as it thrashed about. The fight from then on continued almost just the same every time. The griffin’s blinding speed brought it out of danger every time she made a strike and the boar’s lack of agility ensured that it couldn’t use any of its fierce power against her. I think I understood what the griffon was trying to do.

‘She’s trying to use death by a thousand cuts to bring it down. But just how long can she keep this up, because if that behemoth lands even a single blow on her, she’ll most certainly die,’ I worried.

I kept out of her way, figuring a guy like me who’s only hunted smaller creatures and only just now started to practice with his lightsaber would just get in her way. A few minutes passed and the beast was now heavily wounded with bright scars scattered all across its body. It seemed that the griffin might just succeed in killing the beast, but that hope was quickly dashed aside. The bright wounds began to disappear and the beast wasn’t even slowing down while the griffon seemed to be losing speed from fatigue. The beast seemed capable of healing itself and I didn’t see how she was going to be able to kill the thing.

She continued to strike the beast with her spear and I wanted to yell out to her to get the hell out of there. But I was afraid that she might lose her focus and hoped she had a plan I just hadn’t seen yet. I continued to study her movements and strikes and tried to see if she had a method or just speared the boar wherever she could. Another minute passed and I began to see what she was actually trying to accomplish.

‘Her strikes are closing in towards its neck, she's testing how far she can get to its head before she makes for a blow at its most vital area. Then as she continues to strike at the beast, it continues to become more reckless with agitation and leaves itself more wide open for attack. Clever little bird,’ I mused impressed by the griffin’s tactics.

I continued to watch the griffin strike the beast and noticed that its thrashing began to slow. It seemed that it too was starting to get fatigued from the fight and it looked like the final blow was about to make its appearance. The griffin saw her moment and spun around in the air to make for one last strike. She nearly became a blur as she picked up speed with her spear pointed at the boar’s neck.

However, just before her spear got close to its target, the boar snapped its head to the side and caught one of the griffin’s wings in its mouth.

I watched with dread as the griffin now screamed in pain instead of a warcray and was tossed aside towards one of the fallen trees. She landed on her left hind leg, likely breaking it from the terrible crash. She screamed again, this time in terror as the boar began close the distance between itself and her and looked it like it was getting ready to stomp on her. I could sense and feel her fear and I stood there watching all of this in slow motion, panicking about what I should do.

‘You’ve got a fucking lightsaber damn it! So use it like it’s meant to be used, and save her,’ I screamed to myself in my head.

I ran out into the clearing of broken trees and activated my lightsaber. I knew I wouldn’t make it in time but I knew my lightsaber will, so I called upon the Force and used a saber throw. The blade hummed thru the air like a death disk and cut right thru the leg that was just about to be brought down upon the griffin. The boar howled in agony and favored its right foreleg as a bright white light nearly seemed to stretch all across its leg. The boars’ eyes followed the spinning blade fly back to its owner and it snorted angrily at its new attacker.

I caught the blade in my right hand in one smooth motion and began to realize how royally I screwed up. The boar’s leg wound was already healing and it seemed to have turned its rage towards me. I stood there like a doe staring into headlights as the beast started to get ready to charge but quickly snapped out of it when I felt the earth quaking underneath my feet.

‘I can’t charge right back at it with the lightsaber, it’ll trample me. I can’t use another saber throw because I can’t get a good shot at its neck now that its thick snout blocked my view. I can’t run from it, it’ll definitely catch me. Can the Force stop it?’ I contemplated.

I pulled my hand back with my hand stretched wide open and swiftly brought my hand forward to try and use my first Force Push. I didn't even stop to ponder the new foreign memories as the Force pulsed from my hand and moved directly towards the beast. The fallen tree logs were pushed back from the push and it landed right in the boar’s warpath. But it didn’t seem to slow it down in the least.

The boar’s snout brimmed with fire and the beast snorted out a gout of flame that quickly came down upon me. I raised my arms in the air to protect my head and waited for the intense heat. But when I began to notice barely any heat I looked above my arms and saw a faintly blue glowing dome appear and absorb the flames taking up my vision. Tiny text appeared on the top right of my HUD and said,

SHIELDS ONLINE

However, just as the flame disappeared the boar’s head charged right into me and I felt every bit of kinetic energy from that charge. I flew across the air and my back smacked into one of the still standing trees at the edge of the clearing. I groaned from the intense pain and quickly tried to get air back into my lungs as tears lined my eyes.

The giant boar began to charge again to finish me off and fear clogged every part of my mind.

‘I’m going to die here. I’m gonna die in the middle of nowhere alone. I’m going to die just as I received every kid's dream about having magical powers. I’m going to die without seeing my friends, mom, or dad again. I’m going to die without my big sister ever seeing me again…’ I thought as despair and sadness now swallowed my thoughts.

The giant boar roared and was getting closer... then suddenly... new thoughts began to take shape. It was like something in my head had flipped a switch.

‘No…No…No…NOOOOO… FUCK THAT. This pig is not taking me away from my family. I’m not going to stop until I see my sister again. I’m not going to stop until I see that fat swine gutted from end to end by my lightsaber. THIS PIG IS DEAD,’ my thoughts roared as a new feeling sparked from my anger.

This feeling was familiar to the Force but it was different. It was something new and alien. It felt…

It felt dark.

I felt power resurge through my body as I felt the Force course through me in waves. I got up and sucked air into my lungs to prepare a roar to challenge the blasted beast. The Force traveled up to my throat and I let out a roar that nearly blew out my eardrums.

“ROAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH,” the roar came out of my mouth like a demonic lions’ roar and I felt the Force travel outwards from my throat in the form of a Force Scream.

The boar was halted right in its tracks and flew back a bit as the Force hit it dead center. The beast whipped its head left to right and whimpered from the attack and I could sense its fear. I could feel its fear for me and it made me crazy like a shark catching the scent of blood.

I stretched out my left hand to the boar with the Force, while making a gripping motion. I felt the boars’ thick neck tighten in my hand as the Force crushed its airway. I then raised my hand high into the air and the boar defied gravity despite its heavy weight. I kept the boar up in the air, watching its legs scramble wildly in the air trying to find ground. My rage demanded that the beast suffers for even thinking to take my life.

The boar’s chocked squeals began to be heard less and less and I decided that it was time to finish it off. My hand changed from a closing fist into an open palm to perform one more Force Push and before the beast even touched the ground, my Force Push sent it sailing across the air. It crashed among the trees it had fallen from before and tried to get back up on it legs. I didn’t give the piggy that chance though, and my saber throw sliced right through its neck to cut out its trachea. The neck was now only being held by the bone of its cervical spinal cord as the lightsaber flew back into my right hand. I decided that it was time to end this with one last strike and I willed the Force to course thru my legs.

I performed my first Force Charge and closed the distance with my lightsaber raised high above my head. I slashed down upon the beast’s neck and cut cleanly thru the bone. The head of the mighty boar fell right off with white light emitting from both ends of the cut, and the gigantic boar was no more.

I stepped back from my kill and watched the boars limbs twitch a little from the last of its nerve signals. I stood with my lightsaber in hand and basked in the glory of my great feat. The Force filled me to the brim with might and my muscles bulged and flexed from all the power and adrenaline flowing thru my blood. I felt so much rage and excitement that I had to let it all out in one more Force scream towards the sun.

“ROOOOAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!!!!!”

My victory roar echoed throughout the land and a dark pulse left my lungs as I continued to roar.

After I came down from my high, I took a few deep breaths to look down and see the whole boar starting to glow. Specks of glowing dust rose up from the boars’ corpse and more dust began to fly up into the sky in mass. After all of the glowing dust rose up into the sky, all that was left were two sharp tusks of the boar to show evidence that it was even there at all.

I took a few deep breaths that came out in growls and tried to calm down.

‘So this is the Dark Side of the Force. No wonder the Sith feel like they should own the galaxy. The power it gave to me made me feel like nothing could stop me. I just needed to tap into my rage and suddenly I was crushing that behemoths’ neck between my fingers with the Force. I need to calm down, all of this excess strength is making me jumpy.’ I reflected as I took more deep breaths and thought of calming familiar things.

I thought of my Mom and her special pasta for Tuesday dinners. I thought of my Dad and how I could always go to him for help. Then I thought of my sister and how I could always trust her with my feelings about my life. Soon enough, the Dark Side was gone and I remembered why I came here in the first place.

Far away in the heart of Equestria, an immortal princess was on her way to meet a new and strange creature to her lands. She paused on the steps to the dungeon as she felt a wave of dark power quickly encompass and leave her behind. A gasp left her mouth as she felt the strength behind the dark pulse and she stared at the stone steps worried that a new threat may have come to the world.

I looked around for the female griffin and found that she was still lying in the same spot where the boar had grounded her. She stared at me with what looked like a mix between fear and awe on her face. Her beak was wide open and her gold eyes stared me without blinking. I started to make my way towards her to help her tend to her injuries, but this only served to deepen her fear of me.

“Stay away!” she screeched as she looked around and brought her spear up towards me to try and keep me away.

I paused and quickly tried to think of a way to show her that I wasn’t a threat.

‘She’s injured and just almost had her life taken from her. Now a strange new creature comes in and she probably doesn’t know what to do or how to even react to what just happend. I need to show her that I have no intention to harm her and that I just want to help. First off, let’s sheath the lightsaber and take off my helmet so I don’t sound like a demon when I talk to her. Then I’ll show her that I’m a talking sentient being just like her,’ I planned.

I turned off the lightsaber and placed it back on my belt. The griffin flinched at how the black and red blade retracted back into its hilt but still kept her eyes on my face. I slowly brought my hands to my helmets’ release and the helmet hissed from the release of air pressure. She blinked rapidly at my actions, and I carefully brought the helmet off my head to show my face and gently smiled.

“It’s okay, I won’t hurt you. I swear that I just want to help you,” I said trying to calm her fears.

I decided to introduce myself after I saw her grip on her spear lighten a bit. “My name is Jack. I’m a human, would you like to tell me your name?” Marveling at how this felt like a first contact scenario from some sci-fi series.

The griffin lowered her spear to the ground but still kept her talons around the shaft just in case. Her beak opened and closed trying to form words, but I was patient and allowed her to collect her thoughts before speaking. I took this time to fully examine her and was surprised to have recognized what the bird portion of her body looked like. While her eyes were different, her plumage resembled a brown and yellow peregrine falcon, with her beak sporting a light grey color. I recognized that type of falcon due to the fact that I had attended a high school field trip to a bird conservation at one point and was familiar with the similarities. The lion portion of her body was just the same as I saw it from my dream but her left hind leg seemed bent out of place. I looked at her second injury and saw that her right wing was missing some feathers and looked like it was probably dislocated. The poor girl must be suffering from a lot of pain right now.

Her voice was very pleasant to listen to now that it wasn’t being used to screech or issue battle cries. “I-I…I thank you, Jack the human for saving my life. Forgive me for not telling you my name, but why did you save me? I don’t think me or any of my kind have come into contact with yours.”

I continued to smile and brought my hand to the back of my neck to rub it before I spoke. “I admit, that I’m only here because I followed you trying to ask for your help. In fact, I landed here on this island and I have no idea where I am. But even if I didn’t need your help, I still wouldn’t have let that beast kill you. It’s just not in my nature to simply abandon people to their doom.”

She laid there seemingly accepting my explanation and I continued to speak.

“Your injuries are pretty dire and won’t heal properly unless we do something about it now. Can I have your permission to come closer and tend to your wounds? You can keep your spear on my neck if you feel like you’re in any danger.”

She stared at me oddly for a couple seconds but nodded to give her permission. She kept the spear on the ground though and I was touched that she trusted me that much already. As I came closer and took a knee beside her, she started to voice some concerns about me as well.

“What about you? The Aper Major hit you pretty hard as well. Shouldn’t you tend to yourself first?”

So that was what it was called, Aper Major, what an interesting name for a beast like that. I may not have inspected my wounds underneath my armor, but I only felt some moderate bruising on my chest and backside. I’m surprised that my whole chest cavity wasn’t caved in, but I’ll bet anything that my new Sith Lord body was more durable than any normal human one. This also served a chance to test out later if I could heal my wounds with the Force. The Sith warrior was capable of healing themselves by channeling his or her hatred to heal their wounds after a battle. To be more specific, my character was specialized as the Sith Juggernaut class, capable of tanking many monstrous blows and keep on fighting to deal monstrous blows right back. The perfect character to take blows from giant monsters.

“Don’t worry I’ll live, I’m more worried about you. Now, let’s try and put your broken bones in a splint before they swell too much, so we’ll need a….”

I trailed off as I felt a presence coming towards us with the Force. This presence was flying towards us so I got up and put my right hand on my lightsaber hilt. This new presence seemed similar to the griffin next to me so I warned her of the probable threat.

“I sense something coming towards our location. It feels like another griffin, do you have any idea who it might be?”

She looked up at me surprised at what I said, but her face suggested that she may know who's coming.

“Don’t worry, I think I know whom you’re talking about, Boreus can’t hurt anyone even if he tried.” She said as I felt the presence fly closer.

Boreus came into view by flying over the trees and picked up speed when he saw me and the female griffin. He was carrying a large pack on his back as he flew to us and seemed to be pretty angry. The bird portion of his body was like a vultures’ and the feline portion was covered in black fur. He crashed landed onto the ground in front of us and picked himself up to glare at me.

“Get away from her highness, or so help me I’ll…I’ll…” he trailed on as he tried to come up with a threat.

I was caught by surprise when he told me that the griffin next to me was royalty. The royal griffin sighed and called off the stuttering griffin.

“It’s okay Boreus, he’s not hostile. In fact, he’s trying to help me. Now make yourself useful and call for a medical carriage with the emergency flare.”

Boreus quit stuttering to process what her highness had just said and gasped as he saw her injuries.

“My Lady, your wing… how did… yes, yes, of course. I’ll send for a carriage right away,” He said as took off the large pack and rummaged through it to find the flare.

I turned back to the royal griffin and bowed my head with my right hand across my chest and bent my knee to bring myself to her level. A leader of a nation deserves respect.

“My apologies for not showing you the proper respect your highness. I didn’t know,” I said hoping that I didn’t disrespect her in any way.

I heard her smack her claws against her face and sigh.

“It’s fine, truly. Now, don’t you think we have to do something more important than giving me pleasantries?” she said.

I snapped to it and tried to think about how I would get her leg and wing in a splint.

‘I need two straight and long pieces of wood, and I’ll need something to tie them to her. The grass is too small for a makeshift rope and there are no vines around either. Maybe Boreus has some rope in that pack.’ I thought as I called out to the griffin.

“Hey, your name is Boreus right?” The vulture-like griffin had just pulled out a match and what looked like a pop rocket from his pack when he responded to me.

“Y-Yes,” he stuttered.

“Do you have any rope in that pack I could use to make a splint for her injuries?” I asked

“Yes,” he said again.

“Good, after you send off the flare can you come over here with the rope please.”

He nodded and I stood up to my full height to scan the clearing for any viable tree branches. I found two perfectly straight samples and used the Force to bring them into my hand. I turned back to the royal griffin and she stared at my hand apparently amazed by abilities still.

“You use magic like a unicorn, yet I still can’t see the aura. Do your kind use magic differently or are you so powerful that your aura barely even needs to show itself at all?” she asked leaving me confused.

‘There are unicorns here too. What the hell, just how far off the grid did I fall. First griffins, now unicorns too. Never mind that, I’ll ask her questions later, now I need to make sure her bones are set properly.’ I thought as I answered her

“Let’s both answer each other’s questions later your highness. Like you said earlier, we have more important things to do,” I answered.

She nodded and both she and I looked up into the sky when we heard a flare streak up into the air. I didn’t know how anyone was supposed to see that in the middle of broad daylight, but the green flare stopped in mid-air and seemed to be emitting a pulse. I figured that it must be doing something to signal for help so I let the issue be. Boreus came over with some rope and I thanked him as he handed them to me. It was time to put my old Boy Scout first aid training to work and I kneeled close to the royal griffin.

“This is definitely going to hurt. Do you want to bite down on something while I do this, or would you like me to do anything else before I start?” I asked her.

She shook her head before she spoke. “I’ll be fine as I am, I’ve had broken bones before.” She may have had a brave face but I could sense her fear through the Force. I was going to try and do this as quickly as possible.

I first started with her leg and she shifted her body a bit for me to get full access to the injury. She didn’t grunt at all when I placed the branch in place and used the rope to keep the limb immobilized. I took care not to cut off her blood flow with the rope and moved to the wing next. This one was trickier as it was completely foreign to me and I hoped I didn’t make a mistake. When I straightened the wing she gasped sharply at the movement and groaned loudly in pain. The wing was obviously more sensitive and I carefully moved the rope between her feathers to tie a knot on the branch. She breathed deeply in and out rapidly after I finished and I moved to pet her back in order to try and calm her down.

“Just what do you think you’re doing? You’ve finished your task, now take your paws off her highness!” Boreus said angrily.

When I moved to take my hand away the royal griffin stopped me.

“Its fine Jack the human, your claws actually feel quite soothing between my fur, please keep going. Don’t worry Boreus, he’s just trying to help me with the pain.” She said to the other griffin.

The three of us sat there in the clearing for a few minutes as I continued to stroke her fur. Her deep breathing began to soothe and when she seemed like she had adjusted enough to the pain I ceased my petting and guessed it was time to ask and answer some questions.

The royal griffin beat me to it and spoke first. “Let me first apologize to you Jack the human for my rude behavior at the beginning of our meeting. I would also like to apologize again for not telling you my name at the beginning because I feared to tell my name to a total stranger. I am Princess Falca, and I am deeply thankful for your help,” She said bowing her head to me

Boreus stuttered a bit at the princess’s little bow and it seemed like he felt the need to speak up. “You’re too humble my lady, Princess Falca of the Shattered Isles is the benevolent Lady of the Summer Island and is currently one of the top griffins in line to the royal throne that rules over all of the Shattered Isles and its colonies. But, considering that she just defeated the Aper Major, those tusks will show the whole world that my Lady is just as mighty as she is kind and fair,” He said obviously proud of the princess.

Princess Falca gave Boreus a deadpan stare but she continued to talk.

“Indeed, however you are mistaken my loyal butler, you see it was Jack the human that slew the beast and recused me from certain doom.”

Boreus’s eyes were as round as dinner plates when the princess finished her statement and just kept on stuttering. “He did? But…how?”

The Princess’s beak somehow smiled and she looked to me before she spoke again. “I Princess Falca witnessed my savior, Jack the human, slay the Aper Major with his powerful magic and mysterious blade.”

I sat there on my knee embarrassed at how the Princess was calling me her savior and tried to speak up and steer the conversation away to a different topic.

“Ummm heh, thank you your highness, you're too kind, but please just call me Jack. I suppose you and I have questions that need to be answered.”

She continued to smile as she spoke. “Agreed, Jack, I suggest we take turns asking a question and answer to the best of our ability. Since you saved me, you can go ahead and ask the first question.”

“Thank you, your highness, now this may seem strange but please try to bear with me. I fell from the sky and crash landed on this isle for reasons I’m still unsure of. Can you please tell me where I am and, if it’s not too strange, can you tell me what planet I’m on?” I asked.

‘Please say Earth, please say Earth, please say Earth,' I begged in my mind.

She, of course, looked at me strangely but answered none the less.

“You are currently located on the Heartland Island of the Shattered Isles, and this planet is called Eques,” she answered.

‘Oh fuck me, you have got to be kidding. I’m on a different planet!... Wait! HOLY SHIT, I’m on a different planet!’ I thought both distressed and excited at the discovery.

The princess continued and asked one of her questions. “You said you fell here from the sky. Are you by chance one of the purple objects that fell from the sky last night?

‘Objects? There was more than one thing falling from the sky? Could my big sister actually be here! I need to find her.’ I thought and began to answer the princess’s question.

“You said that the objects were purple, so yes I assume that one of them must have been me because a purple veil was surrounding me when I fell.”

“Amazing that you survived such a fall. Now what is your next question?” she asked

“Do you remember where each of the objects fell last night? I fell to the south-east of here.” I asked.

“I do, there was a total of three objects that fell from the sky last night. Two were about the same size and I assume that you were one of the two. Like you said, you fell south-east of here while the other one fell on the main continent towards Equestria. The third object was bigger than the other two and it fell far west of here on the Island.”

I was completely stunned when I heard the name Equestria. ‘Equestria like from My Little Pony? She said unicorns earlier, and she looks remarkably close to how griffins were designed like Gilda. Nooo, okay, this is too impossible. I… I… can’t be literally in the world of a TV show can I?'

The princess knocked me out of my thoughts when she asked me another question.

“Are the other objects that fell related to you in some way? Did more of your kind fall from the sky? If so, do you think they’ll need immediate help? Please forgive me for my overuse of questions.”

I waved her off. “It’s fine, and yes I think one of the objects may have been my sister. And yes, please your highness,” I bowed my head again, “can you help me find the objects that fell from the sky?” I begged.

“Of course Jack, I and my family can help you find your sister and the other object. I’m sure my father has already sent troops to investigate both of the crash sites on the Island, so my father may have already found her if she was the bigger object. If not we can investigate where the other object fell on the continent.” She said filling me with confidence.

“Thank you so much Princess Falca, I… Hold on, I sense that more griffins are coming our way. They seem to be carrying something big too.” I said

The princess seemed a little put off that our conversation must be cut short.

“Then that must be the emergency team. They fly just as fast and efficiently as their supposed to. Now you may want to take your trophy with us when we fly back to the crown city of Horaca. The tusks of the Aper Major are worth more than you may realize.”

She looked down sadly at her claws as continued.

“I thought I could slay the beast myself but I was obviously wrong. Boreus, assist Jack by helping him carry the tusks into the medical carriage when it arrives. I can still carry some weight and at least hold my spear.”

“There’s no need your highness I can carry them myself,” I said as I stood up and used the Force to bring the tusks to my side. I made sure I had everything by touching the helmet hooked to my belt and also made doubly sure that my lightsaber was secure. After I made sure that I had everything I watched as a flock of griffins carrying a carriage flew towards us.