Three Forces Empowered | Dream Team

Chapter Two

George was a prince, but that didn't help him at all. Instead, it nearly got him killed by an assassin. And now, because he was helping said assassin track down his employer and take him down, he was probably going to die to wolves.

"Sapnap!" the assassin in question, Dream, shouted. "Go right! Climb a tree, do whatever, and split up!"

"N-no!" Sapnap yelled back. "That's what I did last time!"

"What do you mean, last time?"

George tossed a look over at his friend. He seemed stress to the extreme, which was definitely not like him. The Sapnap he knew only had two modes: chaotic and less chaotic.

Maybe that was an exaggeration.

"Sapnap, what happened last time?" George demanded as the howls of the wolves echoed in his ears.

Sapnap gave a slight shiver. "U-uh... I was attacked. By wolves."

"We know that," he said, trying not to seem irritated. "But what else? What happened last time you climbed a tree?"

"I n-nearly bled to death, I think?"

"You won't this time," Dream assured him. "You--- ahh!"

George's head snapped in his direction. His eyes widened when he saw the slash on the assassin's arm. Judging from the position of the strike, Dream had tried to hit the wolves back with his knife and failed.

"Dream, don't attack them back!" George shouted at him. "Just run!"

Dream gritted his teeth, his hand over the injury on his arm. "Climb! Right now!"

George didn't know how Dream would be able to climb a tree with one arm injured, but he didn't question the order. He ran towards the nearest tree and started scaling up it, gripping the surface tightly. His palms were sore and blistering. It had been a long time since he had last climbed a tree, much less this quickly, but his life was at stake. He couldn't just stop.

A quick glance backwards told him that Dream was doing alright. He was out of the range of the wolves claws, at least, but if the animals jumped up to strike, he'd be in trouble.

"Sapnap?" George called.

No answer. His heart thumped in his chest. "Sapnap!"

"Sapnap, get a tree and start climbing!" Dream yelled. "You can't take him on by yourself!"

What?

George stopped climbing and looked down. Sapnap was standing on the ground, his sword out, his stance clearly showing that he was poised to attack. The wolves had reached him and were starting to spread out in a ring, their lips bared back in a snarl.

"No, no, no, Sapnap, no," George muttered. "No."

"I hate you all," Sapnap said quietly to the wolves. "You nearly killed me. You left me for dead. You attacked me unprovoked. Twice. First, when I was just twelve. And now, so many years later, you're coming at me again."

George could see his grip tighten on the hilt of his sword. His knuckles were white. "Sapnap, don't," he warned.

From the tree beside him, Dream was staring down at the scene, frowning slightly, his gaze focused on the commotion below him. His arm was still bleeding badly, and by the slightly pale tinge of his face, he was losing a lot of blood.

Realization dawned on George. "Dream," he said in a low voice. "You can't."

"He won't survive an attack," Dream said. "Especially not in his current state of mind."

George clutched the tree. It felt like his world was threatening to slip out from beneath him. His friend was in danger, and his other friend was about to put himself in danger to save him.

Everything had been fine before the wolves came.

George had been in the castle, waiting for news, while his father lectured him on the ways of a king. He had taken the time to study a large map and take in the neighboring kingdoms to his, Kingdom Superiora. As a child, he had found it stupid that the kingdoms were named after the family's name. As a childish adult, he still found it stupid.

House Superiora. He didn't know what his ancestors were thinking when they came up with that. Maybe they were feeling fancy. The family crest certainly embodied that word.

The map was really massive. George had never left his own kingdom, so he had never seen any of the outside outside world before. The idea entranced him. He was going to go out there into the unknown.

The unknown certainly was big.

Dream had met up with him a few minutes after he had finished memorizing the terrain and the kingdoms nearby. He had found nothing in Peligro's secret base except for many stacks of blank parchment. All blank --- except for one. It had a kingdom name scrawled on it in messy handwriting. After staring at a map for so long, George knew exactly where it was.

The only problem was, it was pretty far away.

They had headed out to find Sapnap at the village nearby where he was supposed to be scouting. It had taken them a long time to find him, and when they did find Sapnap, they were met by a pack of wolves chasing him.

"I have a bone to pick with wolves in general," Sapnap said quietly. "I know you're not the same pack. But you still targeted me for no reason at all. Nature hates me. So I'll hate it back."

No. Sapnap, no.

At that instant, Sapnap attacked.

He lunged forward, opening a large slash on first wolf's chest. It gave a wail of a howl and collapsed on the ground, its blood staining its brown fur.

The other wolves howled in broken harmony and bounded toward Sapnap, protected only by the leather armor he wore and his sword, their claws outstretched.

"No, Dream!" George shouted as the assassin jumped down from the tree. He watched helplessly as Dream pulled out his knife and began fighting, whirling around among the wolves, taking out an animal with each strike.

Oh no oh no oh no.

Am I going to do this?

Yes, of course. They're my friends.

George exhaled, then leapt down from his tree as well.