The Twilight Flower

Chapter 1

Thunder rumbled, growing louder with each passing second. The rain began to fall, pummeling against the ground with a force that turned the ground into a bubbling mess of brown mud, bolts of lightning illuminating the trees below with a blinding light that seemed to strip away the shadows and reveal the darkness lurking beyond for just a few moments. Of course, any good story worth telling always begins with a dark storm...

With heavy paws that sunk deep into the mud, a somewhat mindless creature hurried along through the dense forest. Despite its awkward gait, the creature was anything but sluggish— A cakehound, of course. They're known their raw power and cunning nature, making them formidable predators in the wild. While the smaller, more common hounds are small and rather fluffy, their alpha counterparts were a certainly a different story.

The beasts nose had picked up the scent of something tantalizingly sweet, a scent that stood out amidst the damp aroma of mud and rain. The cakehound knew it could only be the scent of a cookie - a freshly baked treat, still warm from the oven. The best sort of smell, to be honest. It bounded eagerly through the undergrowth of the wet forest, it's eyes gleaming with hunger as it drew ever closer, its sharp teeth already prepared to sink into something.

The young cookie sprinted through the rain as fast as he could— completely disoriented, and he sure as hell didn't recognize any of his surroundings. The rain came down heavily, making it difficult to hear anything beyond the sloshing of his own footsteps in the mud, but he knew that monster was still on his trail, and he needed to outrun it before he could assess anything else. After all, running is his specialty.

He could hear its snarling only inches behind him, and despite his better judgement telling him to stay focused, the cookie couldn't resist a quick glance behind him, which he undoubtedly regretted when he saw the hound barreling behind him with bared fangs. The hound was only moments away from pouncing and ripping him to shreds and—

The cookie's racing thoughts were abruptly cut off as he turned back around, his eyes wide as he almost ran straight into a low-hanging branch. At the last moment he narrowly ducked just in time, feeling the brush of the wet leaves against his head. The hound however, was not as fortunate, and slammed headfirst with the branch, letting out a sharp yelp of pain as it tumbled to the wet ground.

The young cookie stumbled to a stop, panting heavily as he surveyed his surroundings. He had to seize the advantage he had at the moment before the monster came back in hot pursuit, and with that, the cookie darted towards the nearest tree. He knew time was of the essence, so he started climbing up the slippery trunk. The rain made it annoyingly difficult, but he pushed through as his adrenaline gave him the energy he needed. Finally, he reached a sturdy branch higher above the ground and collapsed onto it, gasping for breath. The rain still pelted around him, but he was shielded somewhat by the foliage above. He took a deep breath to steady himself, looking out into the forest again. Now, he had a moment to think.

He strained to recall the events leading up to this, but brightened as a memory resurfaced. The last thing he could remember...

...was the searing heat of The Oven, and the rush of escaping the flames before it'd consume him.

He had narrowly escaped before he had fallen into a portal of some kind.

...And now he was here.

What had really happened?

What was this place?

The cookie's thoughts were interrupted yet again as a sudden force caused the tree he was perched on to shake, eliciting a startled whimper from him. He peered down, and he caught sight of the cakehound ramming into the trunk, causing the tree to sway once more. "Stop it! Leave me alone!" he shouted, his voice quivering. He tried sounding aggressive, but his fear showed much more. He couldn't understand why the beast was so fixated on him. "I'm not worth eating, I promise!" he added, hoping to dissuade the creature, even though it probably wouldn't understand a single word.

... and of course it didn't get it, as expected. It made one final slam into the tree and knocked the already battered cookie straight to the ground, and he backed against the base of the tree as he held eye contact with the hound, whom wagged its tail rather eagerly as it finally cornered its reward. The cookie scrambled to get back up, but the cakehound was already upon him. The cookie closed his eyes, bracing for the inevitable impact.

...Until a brilliant blue beam of light shot out from the bushes and struck the hound with a force that sent it careening into the mud with a painful yelp.