The underbrush stirred against my sides, but I pressed on. My bounding, uneven gallop cast me past unfamiliar plants and uneven boughs.

This place looked weird. The light was wrong, even what little filtered through the dense foliage of the trees above. The edges of shapes felt dense, almost cartoonish. Wrong, wrong, WRONG! This whole place was wrong! I’d fallen asleep in my tent, normal, after a hard day’s trek through the woods. And I’d woken up in this place, falling two stories through matted underbrush with no explanation. I’d flailed around helplessly, grasping out at branches and vines, but finding myself shearing right through them with my hands as I fell.

But when I landed. When I landed, I could see. God have mercy on me, I was more bone than man. Twisted flesh layered itself over my exposed bones, draping itself like cloth. Suspended in the top of my vision, I could see a hanging web of razor-like antlers, jutting out haphazardly. What was I? Had I been drugged? I scrambled backwards, tearing against the ground as if trying to escape this body. With a rough ‘thud’ I smacked against a tree. I didn’t understand how, but this body moved just fine. I could see my own exposed femur, but my body felt good, powerful even. I tried to stand up, wobbling a bit as I got used to an unfamiliar weight distribution. My lanky arms were long, far longer than I was used to. Teetering on my feet for a second, I lost my balance and fell onto four limbs. Pausing for a moment, I realised that this felt fine as well. Quickly scaling terrain, I discovered that I could move quickly like this. Doing so felt a little unsettling. It was too ferine, a reminder of my own monstrous form. But, right now, what I wanted more than anything was to find someone to talk to, someone who could explain this all to me. And so, it was time to explore.

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This forest was bizarre. Almost as bizarre as me. There were trees that had developed pareidolia triggering facial expressions, long and jagged vines snaking out, stupefying howls in the distance like those of no animal I’d ever heard. In passing a stagnant pond, I had seen a collection of rocks that seemed almost perfect to skip across, before they shifted subtly in unison and I realised that a whole crocodile of solid stone was lurking beneath the waters. I moved more carefully from then on. This place was strange. It was magical, but dangerous.

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I don’t know how long I ran through the forest. I felt I should have tired hours before, but there was an unnatural strength coursing through my body. I supposed it was only fair, I wasn’t feeling very “natural” anymore. But, as boughs dipped low and the moon soared higher, I was growing restless. I needed to get out of here. I needed to find someone.

That’s when I saw it, the little animal standing in front of a campfire. It was like a regular horse if it had been given whatever they’ve been feeding those anime-girls. The face was far too expressive, the muzzle too short, its body was orange and purple, the kind which you’d expect to find in a ball-pit. And, like in the Greek legends of old, a pair of miniature wings sat on its back. It was a pegasus.

I crept up behind it, silent as the dead as I looked to get a closer view.

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Right now, it was being held at gunpoint by another monster. I noticed, freezing as more of the campfire became visible to me through the brush. A tall, almost as tall as me, biped in a skintight spacesuit had some kind of futuristic rifle pointed at the colourful creature.

“Shi shal! Buhruh bit tal!”

“What?! Please, I don’t understand!” The little orange pony cried out, throwing itself onto the grass, hooves over its head and clenching its eyes tight to hide from the danger. It was just like a kid. In response, the hulking alien stomped forwards and hit the pony with the butt of its rifle, eliciting a scream from what I’d realised was just a tiny girl. Then, placing a heavy boot on one of the pony’s legs to keep it in place, it toggled a box on its throat for a moment, before vocalising again.

“Worthless primitive! The Empire has no need for more females!” it grunted. Laughing coarsely, it lifted its rifle and aimed at the colourful pony’s head. It was time to move.

Pouncing forwards, I closed the distance between us in seconds. Bounding on four limbs, all the black-suited biped saw of me was antler and claw sailing at it, as I extended my arms to reach for its chest. A flash of surprise crossed it, as it registered my attack all too late. I was surprised too, as I cut right through the creature, armour and all, in a single swipe. Four clawed fingers slashed, five segments of armoured alien hit the ground. I had actually built up far too much momentum. Gliding past the evil thing, I sank my other hand into the ground, digging into the dirt and using it as a fulcrum to turn. After a moment of frenzied movement, there was quiet. Only the distant squawks of wildlife and the soft crackling of the fire broke the silence.

The little orange pony stared at me; her eyes wider than I had seen them so far. Reeking of fright, her ears were folded against the sides of her head, and she was frozen still on the ground, not moving a muscle. Her eyes were fixated on me, waiting for something. I paused for a few seconds, wondering what to do. She was young, scared. I would tell her it was okay, I decided after a moment. Opening my jaw, I tried to speak to the girl but, instead of clear words, a raspy howl escaped my throat. Oh god, was that the sound of my voice?

The last straw cast upon her back, the orange pony bolted from her crouch, galloping off into the inky night of the forest and screaming at the top of her little lungs. I tried calling out to her again, a shuddering wheeze being my last interaction with her. I wanted to explain myself, to ask what she knew about this area. But, in one of my finer moments of clarity, I reckoned that chasing after the little pony fleeing in terror with my claws out probably wasn’t the best way to ingratiate myself. With a huff, I fell against the ground in dismay.

Cold blood dripping from my claws and the flickering light of the campfire lapping at my ghastly form I was left all alone once more. I was all alone.

Next Chapter: Chapter 2: Friends in Faraway Places Estimated time remaining: 2 Hours, 33 Minutes