The Land Of Gnil: Humanity's Future, The Lost Gods Of The Land Of Gnil

Chapter 1: Maybe It's Stupidity

Hammosh was lying down beside the steep ravine as the sun hit his back. When the day reached dusk, he stretched his long chubby body and looked on straight. Straight at the gypsy colored buildings of his temporary hometown. The town was on the other side of the ravine. Impossible to reach in time before it was long dark, and the mountain fog would settle in. Before a cry of a wolf or something wolf-like would echo eerily through the mountainside. Fear. Hammosh felt a pang of fear knowing the feeling of being followed, stalked from far away from an unseen predator ready to strike with right timing.

He tried not to think about it as he checked to make sure nothing was misplaced. As he picked through his belongings, he began to walk alongside the ravine - but the fear was edging it's way up, making him pick up pace. It was not a smooth pace, however, becoming more slick and wet and as it was getting darker and harder to see. He slipped once, he slipped twice, and then the third time. At this point he was panicked and kept slipping but he now was running on all fours. Hammosh was no longer slowing down or waiting. For however long he ran he did not know, oblivious to his surroundings and completely blind in the dark.

Still Hammosh ran. Ran until he hit something with a hard surface; possibly a tree. Dizzy, he fell down on his rear end. He sat for a few minutes, lied down once again, and, forgetting how he ever got there in the first place, fell asleep. The cold never bothered him, but what irritated him as he tried to keep himself dry throughout the night was the fog. Until the first dawn's light had shone through forest leaves he awoke at the moment where the fog was just beginning to retreat. Wet. He hated the moist leaves that covered the forest floor, as he found himself covered in them.

He shook his body like a dog's, and his fat jiggled. After shaking the leaves off his greyish black mane, which was now floof, his long tail was fluffy as well. He thought "Oh Wow! Great, I probably look like some kittenish lion now." He said aloud " Heh, how funny. Well, I'd rather look like this than be covered in wet leaves, while hoping I don't get some horrible infection," Hammosh brushed his chubby hand over his head, forgetting that there was bruising where he struck himself on a tree. It hurt. When he looked at his hand, he found a little blood and realized that maybe he should bandage his head, it was more serious than he assumed. Hammosh was off to get back home.

The day was getting lighter and the fog had diasapeared. Hammosh found his tracks from last night, followed them, and went back on track to finding home. He found he actually went on in circles and zigzags when running blindly in the dark. "How embarrassing! I must have looked like a bumbler to those specters," He speculated as he walked along the forest trail. Nothing was going on for a while. It was oddly quiet. Towards the end of the trail, Hammosh heard the familiar sound of banjos, drums and clapping, with people in the distance yelling and screaming in excitement. Another Harukin Town Festival was just beginning.

For every two weeks that goes by, a festival is held at the Harukin Town Square. The beginning of the festival has just a few minor events until the end. The end of the festival is the wildest and most exciting of all. Hammosh knew he just needed to crawl under the hedge and he'd be at the gates - at least he hoped. On this side of the hedge, he was clean except for a few muddy spots. Once he was on the other side, he was covered in briar thorns, which stung and ripped at the leather armor he wore. He saw nothing familiar on the other side. "What the heck? Am I in the right place?" he exclaimed in confusion to no one in particular, except maybe himself.

A wolf-like cry echoed and sounded very much the same as the one he heard earlier, except this time it was much closer. Too close. It made Hammosh's hackles rise, his tail swish, and his ears press against his head. He bared his sharp teeth, lowered his body on all fours, and pushed his wings out his back: they were black and, like a dragon's, wet and slimy. He kept his wings drawn close to his sides. Wait ---- there was a patter of paws somewhere to his right ---- suddenly, a wolfish creature burst out from the hedge and viciously tried to bite Hammosh's ankles. Hammosh whipped his tail, his stinger, and he missed the reddish wolf creature.