Leto and Tim sat across from each other with their legs crossed and their eyes closed. They had been there for nearly half an hour, sitting within the cabin wreckage. That morning, Tim had excitedly shaken Leto from a deep sleep. 

“LETO!” 

“Mmmm shut up.”
“Leto come on man, I think I discovered something!” At this Leto had sat up, hair askew and eyelids pasted nearly shut, morning film coating his eyes and mouth. 

“Discovered what dude?”

“I think I found the power!” Suddenly more awake than he had been, Leto had rubbed his eyes clear. Tim explained that his wife had gotten him into the habit of sitting meditation for a few minutes every morning just to refresh and start their day. When he had woken that morning he had continued that habit. During that session, as he closed his eyes and cleared his mind, he had fallen into a strange state. 

“The feeling was strange, as if I just fell through my mind. It was like I was standing inside of myself, and I could feel all of the power we were talking about. There was a weird image in front of me, though it was blurry. Oh, and I could feel a couple of nodes around me and when I went to inspect them, it was like I was filled with knowledge.”

“Knowledge of what?” Leto had asked.

“Of my abilities man! I think I was able to tap into my soul or something.” Immediately, Leto had demanded Tim lead him in the meditation. But still, after they had gone through the starting process several times, even moving out into the sun, Leto just could not clear his mind. 

 

“God damnit!” Nearly an hour had gone by at this point, and Leto was getting more frustrated by the moment, which was not helping him focus any better. He pushed off the ground and began to pace, grinding a trench into the ground. 

“Okay, okay calm down son.” Tim stood up beside him, ruffling his hair. “Meditation isn’t for everyone. It just means you’ve got a lot going on up here.” and he patted Leto’s head. A smaller man would have taken this as pity, as if he was patronizing him, but Leto could feel the genuine care behind the words. Closing his eyes, he inhaled deeply and settled himself, letting the frustration go. 

“Alright, thank you Tim. For everything.” He hugged the taller man, Tim laughing in a little bit of surprise and hugged him back. After the appropriate amount of male touching time had passed, they patted each other on the back and stepped apart. Tim pulled a map out of his pocket, salvaged from one of the packs they had found. 

“Alright, I was thinking that we should try and find our way to the mainland. This shows that the very edge of the island stretches very nearly to the edge of the crater. With the new rivers in and out of the crater, I think the water level may have dropped. If it doesn't connect right to the edge, it should just be a short swim. What do you think?” Tim traced their route on the map with his finger and looked up at Leto from it, waiting for his opinion

“You want my opinion?” He asked, kind of surprised. He was not used to adults asking him his opinion on plans like this. 

“I may call you kid Leto, but you’re 18, and you have fought and bled beside me. If that doesn’t make your opinion worth at least a little consideration, then at least the fact that the world could be ending should shift any predilections I have about asking a college kid where we are going.”

“I didn’t really think about it like that.” Leto said, lost in thought for a moment. “Uh, yeah I guess that’s fine. I’m pretty confident in my swimming abilities, so in that case I feel comfortable with the plan.”

“Alright!” Tim said, raising a fist for a bump. Leto bumped it, and they started to gather their supplies. Hiking around the perimeter would not take them very long, a few hours at most. They could hike straight over the island, but it was a volcanic island and pretty steep. Also, they did not want to run into the dog or any of its other friends in the middle of the woods. The sun had just passed its apex, so they should hopefully arrive at the crater’s shore just before dark. 

They had reached halfway around the perimeter of the island when they heard barks from the woods up the beach from them. Leto and Tim put their backs to the water and pulled their individual weapons. They had switched, Leto taking the knife and Tim using the hatchet. A short study of their individual skills had led them to believe this was the better set up for their little party. Tim was solid and powerful, while Leto could see better and could keep his feet while moving. They stood, tense and ready for several minutes. There were different barks at different pitches, all but confirming that the dog that got away had friends stashed away. Echoes rang through the island around them, slowly getting louder and louder, to the point where the dogs must have been just inside the treeline where they stopped. Everything was still, the last echoes ringing in their ears. After a few moments, Tim gasped and grabbed Leto, grabbing him by the shoulder and hauling ass down the shore parallel to the tree line. 

“Tim?” Leto asked as they started to run. Tim’s head was on a swivel, studying the treeline as they ran. 

“Tim!” Leto yelled, getting his attention this time. “Why are we running? We can hold our own like last time.” Tim shook his head at this. 

“Leto, wolves don’t bark while hunting. They howl at long distances sure, but they are quiet, efficient hunters.”

“So what? Besides, those are dogs, not quite forest predators.”

“You don’t get it, Leto.” They ran for a few dozen more yards, panting before Tim spoke again. 

“Dogs bark when hunting, to let us, the real hunter, know where prey is.” The implication of this horrified me. The dogs were not just hunting us, they were hunting us for someone. Or, something.

↞↠

 

Four voices called out over the crowd of people, echoing a couple of different names.

“LETO!”

“DAD!”

“TIM!”

The four Pioneers from Crater Lake converged back where they had met, having searched the whole clearing. About ten minutes had gone by before the last person had arrived in the starting area, and a countdown clock had appeared in front of each of them. It now read

 

Time Remaining Before Initialization//

00:05:36

…

00:05:35

…

00:05:34

 

“They have to be here.” Elijah said. “I asked my orientation guide and he said all sentients had been transported. It just took some longer than others.”

“Well then why aren’t they here Lij?” Emilee asked, desperation clear in her voice.

“If they aren't here,” Elijah reasoned,” They must be in another starting area. Look around, there are only about a hundred people here. It’s impossible for this to be everyone from Earth. Besides, Noah was certain that any…”Elijah trailed off, thinking an awful thought. Noah had said ‘Any surviving sentient’ and had made it clear a good few had died due to the geographical changes happening.

“Any what?” Sara asked.

“That anybody on Earth was transported. We should focus up, I'm confident that Dad and Leto are fine.” Elijah finished, not sharing his growing worry.

↞↠

 

The sun was setting faster than it should have. When they started running, he was so sure that they would have time. Barking bounced off of the trees as they raced down the shore. Coming night turned the dark, stony beach into a death trap for a runner, casting long shadows and obscuring obstacles. Leto activated his movement skill over and over again, eating through a good amount of his available ‘charge’. When Tim stumbled, Leto was there, pulling him along and forward, toward the setting sun. 

Every once and a while Leto would activate his visual ability, noting shapes moving along the tree line alongside them and behind them a ways. It seemed like the dogs were on their tails, but were not in front of them. He was not sure why they kept their distance, just trailing them. Whoever was in charge of them must need the barks to keep track of them, not being as quick as the two runners or the dogs. 

“We just gotta stay ahead of them.” Tim panted out. “We can make it. I would rather not swim in the dark but we are running out of time.” 

“You don’t have to convince me.” Leto said, “Now stop talking. Save your breath for running.” Tim chuckled at this, almost tripping over a rock as they picked up their pace. A hand out from Leto kept him steady, though he was not even really paying him much attention. His eyes were locked on the four dogs just inside the tree line, staring straight at them.  

“Keep moving Tim.”

“How the HELL is the sun setting this fast?!” Tim cried out, barely keeping his feet in the dark. The sun had now dipped beneath the horizon lighting only the furthest edge of the sky, all the sky behind them turning a dark blue. 

“It doesn’t matter, we are almost there.” Leto panted out. He hadn’t been activating his abilities for the last forty minutes, trying to conserve charge if there was going to be any sort of confrontation. 

 

“I can see it!” Beyond a small group of trees, the edge of the island showed itself. Taking a risk and activating his visual ability, Leto spied the path they wanted to take. Tim had been right, the water level had dropped considerably,  exposing a thin land bridge. He couldn’t see the other end very well, but he could tell that it did go, if not all the way, most of the way across. 

“There’s a bridge Tim! I don’t think we have to swim at-” His sentence cut off, a loud snarl coming from right behind them as one of the hunting dogs was lying behind one of the larger stones waiting for them to pass. It had leapt at Leto, sinking its teeth into the tendons behind his heel. A scream escaped from him, very unmanly, but he was not in a position to really care. Tim turned on a dime, swinging the hatchet at the dog’s neck. It went in several inches forcing the dog to release its bite to pull away. 

` Tim helped Leto up, supporting him as they started to hobble toward the bridge. The dog that had bit Leto was in no form to chase them any further, its lifeblood pumping quickly from its neck. Tim must have hit an important artery as the dog didn’t even try to take after them. Leto was keeping his eye on it, watching as it wobbled and whined before roughly laying down, no longer moving. He half grinned, his face still contorted with pain every step they took towards the shore. Relief had almost begun to fill him when howls rang out behind them and to their sides. Five other dogs stepped out from the woods, ringing them in a half circle with the shore enclosing their other side. The bridge was now truly their only way out. 

Tim began to set Leto down, immediately sparking protests from the young man. 

“This is no time to argue Leto. If we don’t take care of them now, they will catch us before we get all the way across. With your ankle in the state it is, it will be all too easy for them.” Tim set the hatchet across his shoulder, smiling warmly at him. “I got this kid. Just watch my back.”

What happened next was some of the most impressive action that Leto had ever witnessed. Tim stepped forward, a rock fully getting crushed under one of his boots. He must have activated his ability because with each step he turned the stones to gravel and dust, power accumulating in him. The first of the dogs lunged towards him, aiming for his legs. It seemed that their intention was to cripple him or slow him down before they really started fighting. Tim stepped back just outside of the dog’s range, crushing more stones, and swung the hatchet down at the same time. The blunt back side of the hatchet slammed into the skull of the dog, stunning it and pinning it to the ground. Tim lifted a boot that had crushed stone and stepped firmly onto its head, turning it into black and red mush. In the same motion he pushed off from the ground, leaping toward another hunting dog. 

No longer surprised by the man’s power, the dog slipped just under the arc of the hatchet. It ran between Tim’s legs and scratched through jeans and tore through the flash of his calf. He flinched and spun on the injured leg, swinging the other into the path of the dog. It connected with its ribs, sending it flying into one of its pack mates. Though discombobulated, the kick itself did not do much damage to the animal. Leto frowned at this, realizing that Tim’s strength was not going to be as damaging the whole fight, and was waning even now. As the two dogs that had collided were untangling themselves, Tim turned to the other two, who were slinking toward the man. When they realized they had his attention, one whined and both charged. 

Jaws wide, one leapt at the man and the other charged low, aiming for his legs. In an instant they were on him, and he reacted with power and grace. The hatchet slid through his hand, letting him grab just the last few inches of it as he placed it into the bite of the jumping dog, and began to pivot to side step the other. Using the leaping dog’s momentum against it, he turned fully around and tried to fling it while he avoided the other one. Sadly, he had put all his weight on his damaged leg, so while he had successfully completed his move, his leg buckled and sent him to one knee.  The dog that had missed him completely turned on a dime, sinking its jaws into his side. Hatchet swung, scoring a deep gash down the animal’s side. It pulled off clumps of the fur that had already begun to slough off, revealing more black fur beneath it. With a yelp, it retreated, its partner from before already on its way back. From a little ways behind them, the two other dogs had collected themselves again. 

The four traded blows, charging past, pouncing, swinging the hatchet, using knees and elbows and his feet to keep them off him as much as possible. Every agonizing second seemed to last forever as Leto watched Tim accumulate bites and scratches, slowing down with each one. Several times he had tried to get to his feet and help, but the tendons in his foot seemed to have been severed. It sent him to his face several times, but he bit his lip and kept trying. No screams escaped his mouth as he refused to let Tim become distracted. 

Eventually, all combatants were bleeding fiercely, limping and growling, even Tim. The pack of hunting dogs circled him, growling and feinting as they tested his remaining defense. They did this for several seconds before one of their ears perked up, and barked out a harsh note. The four backed off, keeping their gazes locked on Tim. Leto could have cried with relief. 

“Tim come on, let's run please!” he yelled, chancing the shout. 

 

Tim turned to look at him, nodding briefly before glancing up behind Leto, his eyes going wide. 

“Leto look-” his warning was cut off as a small spear pierced his gut, whistling through the air at a speed Leto could not really understand. IT sent him sprawling to the ground. Turning, Leto saw what had just hurt his companion. 

A tall, lanky man stood on the bridge a few dozen yards away. He wore almost no clothes, and his dark skin was nearly invisible against the night. An oval shield, much longer than it was wide, was strapped to one arm, a weird curved stick held in his other hand. When Leto looked into his face, the only thing he felt was disgust. The man had a dog’s head, not wearing a dog’s head but had an actual animal head. His snout was long and black, jagged teeth lining its lips. His ears were perked up and turning, as if listening to everything around him. From his jaw hung a long, fleshy sac that reached all the way down the the bottom of his throat. But the worst part of all was its eyes. They were human, too human for the murderous, hungry grin that it wore on its face.

 

“Hmmmmmm, these two are tasty boys, tasty tasty boys.” A heavily accented voice rang out, high pitched but with a constant growl beneath it. The dog-man loaded a small spear onto his hooked stick, and reached back behind his head. Too late Leto realized it was a spear-thrower, an atlatl. 

“TIM DODGE!” he screamed, to no avail. The spear cut through the air with the same inhuman speed the first had, cutting through Tim’s shoulder. He had managed to leverage himself to his knees, this one sending him back to the ground.  A gasping shriek escaped Tim, the spear tearing a wide hole through the flesh. 

“MMMM strong boysss,  strong boys taste divine.” the creature said in a sing-song voice sending shivers down Leto’s spine. All that fighting he had done, and Tim was going to die right in front of him. There was nothing Leto could do, he couldn’t even stand up. Tears poured out of his eyes as he slammed the ground in frustration. 

“Damnit, damnit DAMNIT!” He screamed, all his anger and frustration pouring out into his voice. 

“Leto, look at me.” Tim’s voice reached him. It was soft and weak, but with the same kindness it always held. Leto looked at him, wiping tears away from his eyes. The dog-man’s footsteps grew closer and closer. 

Tim smiled, holding a hand over the wound in his shoulder. He shook his head.

“It’s okay, Leto. You’re gonna be okay. You have to be okay. You’re the one that has to take care of them when they come back.”

“No, damnit, you are gonna be okay man. They are your family, you have to be there for them.”

“You’re family too, son. We were here for each other. Get strong, boy and teach this world a lesson.” His voice was becoming weaker and weaker, the smile still over his face. 

“Mmmm, boys noisy.” the hunter’s voice came, just a foot or two behind Leto now as another spear struck Tim in the chest. 

At that moment, Leto’s mind went blank. Every rational thought left him as grief and rage overcame him, watching his friend dying just a few yards away. He felt like he was sinking into himself and saw what Tim had been describing earlier. Power flowed around him like currents of a great ocean, swirling and invigorating. Leto saw an image in the distance, blurry and indistinct. But in front of him he felt three nodes, condensed balls of the power collected with a net of intent holding it into form. 

With a thought, he bent a small current of the power to carry the nodes toward him. As he touched the first, knowledge of the ability flooded his mind. It was his visual skill, the first he had created. It had no name, but he knew exactly what it did. It gave him enhanced vision and the ability to see in the dark. The second node went similarly as it told him that he would never lose his footing while using this skill. It increased his speed and his reflexes allowing him to move through any space like it was his own. The third node surprised and angered him as he absorbed its knowledge. It was a healing skill, allowing him to channel the power to quickly repair portions of his body. If he had known earlier, if he had just been able to do the DAMN MEDITATION- 

It was broken, he was back in his body. Dog-man had moved past him, but only a few steps. He had ignored Leto to go and confirm his kill on Tim. The anger and grief flared as Leto channeled his healing ability, feeling the heat in his body rise as everything, muscle fatigue, cuts and bruises, even his severed tendons were healing. Leto activated the second part of his visual skill, bringing the dark surroundings into a dim illumination as if it magnified any light that was in his surroundings. When his tendons healed, he activated his movement ability, pushing off his previously injured foot and moving forward with speed he did not know he had. His knife was in his hand, god knows when he had pulled that. A quick bark from one of the dogs warned the hunter but too late, Leto was on him. He slid the knife in between two of his ribs and rotated around his back, slicing open a large section of the hunter’s torso. Leto pulled the knife out before it impacted the man’s spine sliding around the other side of his body. 

 

The hunter cried out in pain, swinging his shield behind him to try and whack Leto in the face as he came around his body. Leto ducked, swiping at his arms and opening a large cut in the flesh there. He grabbed the man’s wrist inside the shield with one hand and blocked a strike coming from the other side with his knife. They stood locked into each other, the dog-man looming over Leto by at least a foot. It opened its mouth, the whole maw splitting down the sides exposing teeth that ran all the way down. 

 

“NOT a very nice boy. Be good for Cheeroonear. Become MEAT!” As he yelled the dogs came up on Leto from behind. Unlocking his knife from the earlier strike of the atlatl in Cheeroonear’s right hand, he ducked under his left arm, pulling it with him as he went, twisting it nearly out of its socket. Cheeroonear gasped in pain, trying to turn with him but Leto didn’t stop moving. He had noticed a long, studded club strapped inside of the shield and with one last wrench of the arm, he pulled the club out and let go of the arm. Backing away quickly as the dogs came and Cheeroonear kept turning, he swung the club around in his hand. 

“Nice sticks you got here Cheery.” Leto snarled. “Hope you don’t mind that I am going to BEAT YOU TO DEATH WITH IT!” Leto swung the club into the jaw of one of the incoming dogs, breaking bones and sending teeth with the rest of the dog flying. Leaping, he passed over another dog and jabbed the knife into the neck of a third. The club came up, impacting Cheeroonear’s shield. A dog like yelp came from the lanky figure, sending it back a few steps. Leto pulled the knife from the dog’s neck and spun, using the recoil from Cheeroonear’s shield to help him spin and bring the club down on the fourth dog’s neck. Now that he was up close, he saw this was the one that had gotten away from them earlier, a few cuts that had healed from being  large wounds the day before littering its body. Leto took great satisfaction in feeling its spine break as one of the studs from the club hit right between two vertebrae. It crumpled instantly, the momentum from the charge carrying a few feet before it slid to a stop. 

‘All of that work and still three dogs and Cheery left.’ Leto thought to himself. ‘I need a little more firepower.’

 

Leto thought back to when he had entered his soul, for that's what he assumed it was. He had guided the power where he needed it, maybe he could do the same without one of his abilities. Dashing toward his remaining opponents, he tried to feel the flow of the power as he had earlier. His sense picked up on some of it, and he willed it into his arm. 

In an instant, a good portion of the power that wasn’t going to one of his two active abilities responded to his nudging and was drawn into his arm, making the club feel as light as a feather. As the dog he had jumped over earlier approached, he swung, the club moving like flash through and cutting through the air, and cracked the dog’s skull. Or, it would have if there was any skull left. As soon as the club touched the dog , the head disappeared into a red explosion, shooting fragments of skull and brain matter out like shrapnel toward his other three enemies. Pieces of the skull sliced through dog and dog-man flesh alike, not doing much damage to most of them but still cutting anyways. The dog he had stabbed in the neck earlier was on its last legs anyways as one of the pieces of bone shrapnel entered its eye and turned the brain into mush. It collapsed as well, two opponents down in as many seconds. 

“Dammit boy,” Cheeroonear yelped. “Do you know how much mana it takes to change these dogs?” 

“I don’t really care!” Leto snapped back, going to swing again, this time at Cheeroonear’s shield. This time however, there was no extra power in his strike, just a normal blow. The dog-man giggled a disgusting yipping, gurgling sound.

“Tooooo much mana hmm boy. Can’t geeet it up hmmmm?” The hunter swung the atlatl down at Leto who parried the blow and stepped back. The dog by Cheeroonear’s feet growled, the sound not quite as intimidating as blood and saliva poured out of its broken jaw. 

The hunter’s damn shield kept getting in his way. He needed to get around it, but it had already seen his movement skill and would not be surprised by it again. He was getting low on power, mana he corrected himself, taking the term from the creature. Maybe if he…

Leto crouched, focusing on his movement skill. Cheeroonear recognized the form and grinned, taking a defensive stance. Leto grinned back, pushing more mana than the skill was passively using, and exploded from his stand still position. He flickered through the air like an anime character, passing by the hunter in an instant, stopping, and charging right back. Woefully underestimating his prey, Cheeroonear could not quite turn in time before a knife entered the base of his skull, severing his spinal column. Leaving the knife embedded in the dog-man, Leto grabbed the club with both arms, deactivating both of his skills and pushing the mana into his arms. He brought it down on the dog first, and into Cheeroonear’s ribs second. The dog’s skull dented, the strike not nearly as strong as the one before, and most of Cheeroonear’s rib cage caved in. Both creatures tumbled to the ground, lifeless. Leto fell too, his knees taking the full weight of his body as he hit the ground. Crawling, Leto pulled himself away from the bodies, and toward Tim. He pulled the man’s head into his lap, the anger gone from his body but the grief still just as present. Repressed tears began to pour down his face, a few pooling onto Tim. Leto wiped Tim’s hair from his eyes and closed his eyes, letting the tears flow.

When a small gasp of air rang out below him, Leto’s eyes shot open in disbelief. Tim was still alive, struggling to breath, but still alive. His eyes opened, locking gazes with Leto and his smile came back. He took one deep breath, coughed a massive amount of blood onto his own chest, though it was unnoticeable  among the blood already there. He took another breath, sounding a little clearer. 

“Knew...you…would…make it…”He managed. His smile became a wide grin, and Leto held his hand tight. They just appreciated each other's company for a few moments before Tim’s chest stilled, and the light left his eyes, leaving behind a cold body and a warm smile. Closing his eyes again, Leto cried everything out that he had. When his tears stopped, simply because he had none left, he slumped backwards onto the ground. Taking a deep breath, he cleared his mind and fell inward.