Pick Your Path: Book 1

73

You abruptly wake up in the middle of the night. The silhouette of a deer like animal trotted out of the land tunnel. Her onyx horns shimmered in the moonlight that flooded in through the open roof. Her silver eyes glowed like twin spheres of enchanting mystery, inviting you to go join her by the lake. The moonlight seemed to glow brighter as she took her human form. Her silver eyes glittered as she spotted you.

" Hey (Y/n)." she smiled. You hear something trot on the same stone you were on and turn your head to come face to face with a blackbuck. It snorted, blinking it's eyes at you.

" H-huh?!" you scramble back from the blackbuck towards the edge of the rock. You tumble off with a yelp of surprise and onto the raft that was conveniently placed there just in case you needed a quick getaway. You untie the raft and let the current take you away into the the water tunnel. You watch as the blackbuck and Ellie disappear out of sight as the tunnel starts to tilt downwards. No crystals or any source of light lit the way, so all you do was hope that you were going down a safe path..

You've been traveling down the water for a good amount of time, no sign of any exits or other passageways. You yawn, trying to stay awake as the current gently tossed the raft along. It was still night time and you needed to sleep still..

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You wake up to a bright light shining ahead of you. You abruptly sit up, was it morning? The raft suddenly tilts downward, sliding towards the light..

" That's not the sunrise.." you mutter, " It's.. a waterfall?!" you yelp as the ground disappeared from underneath you and you plunge into the river below with a large splash. The raft floated down the river with you in it, slightly shaken. You glance back at the waterfall, " Guess I got lucky since there was a river underneath that water fall and not a stream.." the river carried you through a forest, " Did I go outside of the den?" the river leads to a small lake. You drift over to the shore, climbing out. You drag the raft out, " Too bad it can't go back to it's original sized package.." you sigh just as you tugged a piece of loose string. The raft deflated, collapsing into the small package from when you find it. You shrug, continuing deeper into the forest. It's too bad you left everything back at the cavern.. You come across a clearing, where you decided to stay. The afternoon heat comes around and you decide to scamper deeper into for shade and shelter from the heat. You come to a tall stone wall where a makeshift den was. Some rustling comes from inside the den as a small lion cub poked it's head out, yawning. It blinked its brown eyes at you before a bleating sounded behind it. It cautiously walked out. A bright orange and black snake served as it's tail, swaying and hissing. The lion cub mewled at you. Black hooves clopped on the ground behind it. A chimera, a very young one.. You slowly backed away as the chimera walked towards you. The chimera meowed again.The orange and black snake hissed quietly as the chimera approached. The loin cub gazed at you as the goat looked over to the side, butting the lion cub, trying to get it's attention. The lion growled in annoyance. The goat bleated, butting it again. A pair of wings flapped nearby as a screech resounded through the area.

" Uh oh..." a female voice whispered, a hand grabbed your sleeve. A young lion half-breed stood in front of you. " We better start running." she dragged you into the forest, leaping around trees. You hear something large land on the ground behind you. A faint hiss alerted you of another half-breed in the trees, leaping from branch to branch. The lion half-breed skidded to a halt as you came up to a cliff. A large, golden brown gryphon charged out behind you.
" Will?!"

" A gryphon.. Serena, can you-?" the lion half-breed muttered

" On it, Leah." a snake half-breed landed next to you," I know what's coming." she darted forward, towards the gryphon. A shiny streak of silver glittered as she dashed around the gryphon. The gryphon roared, rearing upwards. Serena smirkes, her hand swiped downwards, releasing a set of darts. She flipped out of the way as the gryphon attempted to snag her with it's talons. The scales on her should faded to an orange color as she landed back on her feet, " Big mistake, Mr. Gryphon~" she mused, chuckling quiet.

" Come on! Move it!" Leah grabbed your hand and started pulling you away, squeezing past a hole in the wall. You get pulled through after her. The gryphon's shrieks echo off inside the stone walls as Leah continued to drag you away. As you continue away, a rustle in the undergrowth next to you rustles as a boy with ram horns stumbles out.

" Sorry I'm late, Leah." the boy sighed, shaking his head, " Also, rogue camp's found out."

" Where's, Sere-?"

" Right here, sis!" Serena leaped our of the trees, her scales on her shoulder glowed pale yellow. " Hey, Ryan." her red eyes glowed as she greeted the ram half-breed before racing forward. She disappeared into the tall grass of a meadow where a loud growl erupted followed by a hiss of surprise, " Where did you come from?!" You, Ryan, and Leah charge through the grass. Serena wriggled around in the grip of a large eagle. The eagle looked your way as you burst from the grass.

" (Y/n)..?" The eagle blinked in surprise. Serena hissed, taking her snake form and bitting Cassie's foot. She screeched, letting go of the snake half-breed. She dropped into the grass, hissing as she slithered back over to you and the others, taking her human form. Cassie landed on the ground as several half-breeds appeared from the heads beside her. Will.. Ellie.. The caracal and bear from earlier.. and Pearl as well..

" Oh great.." Ryan muttered, glaring at the half-breeds. " looks like getting it will be a bit harder.."

" Nonsense! We'll get out easily!" Serena stayed positive.

" It's just a minor set back." Leah muttered, her lion tail flicked. " We can handle it." you look at the other half-breeds, all seemed ready to attack..

Ryan, Serena, and Leah? Join page 110

Pearl and the others?? Skip to page 111