'It's just one hell after the other.'
He coldly thought to myself. Everything that happened to him when he arrived home was just pure hell.
The universe seemed to take delight in torturing him. Everything so far was beyond what you can call normal. Owen was beginning to question his existence.
"Wait, after all that if you really think about…. Is it possible, I am not on earth?"
A sudden thought came into his mind. He started to doubt his presence on earth as past remembrances scrambled into mind.
"What did that voice call me? An extraneous entity? What the hell does that mean…"
Owen frowned deeply with his tiring eyes.
"Maybe like a foreign object…and it seems my being in this world disturbed time itself…. man, what going on!"
Owen closed his eyes and rubbed his hair uncontrollably.
"Whatever...sooner or later, the truth will come out. I need to examine the environment closely."
By analyzing the plants that stood up to him, he could investigate whether he was on Earth or not.
Afterall, if your theory sounds demented, find ways to undemented it. Owen stood up with determination. However, in the next second, something appeared in his corner vision.
[ A member of the Melany Shadow bloodline has risen once again on the world. Lordless Shadow Kin, find one of the hidden fragments and become one with your lord once more.]
[Ancient Quest: Find the hidden fragments of Goddess Athena.]
The sudden white text, shapeshifted into different characters and symbols Owen was not familiar with, repeatedly with an extremely fast motion until it abruptly formed English text.
Owen stared blankly at the sudden appearance of white text in the corner of his vision. He shook his head a bit at the possible illusory object to disappear but nothing changed. There were no voices, just the materialization of pure white texts in his visual modality.
Owen stared at the words for some time and blinked his eyes for good measure but the words were still glued.
"Find one of the hidden fragments?"
Owen repeated the words in confusion.
"What`s a bloody fragment?"
He narrowed his eyes with annoyance. Honestly speaking, Owen had enough of this repeated bullshit. A mystery just kept on piling on another mystery.
Each occurrence came randomly, the occurring events were not constant with each other, it was not rearranged properly.
"Why do I feel these texts are not related from the voice just now?"
Owen seemed on to something. In the dark void, the first angelic voice he heard was calm and full authority, almost with the sense of duty but the second one was different, her voice was cold and emotionless, in fact, the voice sounded like it didn't care about his existence.
Maybe, in conclusion, the voices were two different entities…One voice had purpose with him while the other did not. Owen remembered the first texts and two word caught his attention; Goddess Athena…
"An actual deity huh? Who have thought…?"
Owen wanted to chuckle a little but refrained from doing so, instead he wanted to know the Goddess's purpose for him.
"Goddess Athena? The creator of this world?"
Owen titled his neck at the thought but shook his head in doubt.
"No, that didn't make any sense."
He knew something was lining with that fact.
"Why would the second voice call me an extraneous entity if I was taken here by the creator of everything?"
That indeed seem strange. Why would the cold voice call him an unknown threat if the creator of the brought him in the world?
That cold distant voice is the one most mystifying…
"Perhaps not the creator of this world but the Goddess of shadows?"
"I mean, the text said "Melany Shadow Bloodline" and "become one with your lord once more", plus, the fragments belong to her right?"
To Owen, this was a possible speculation, considering the fact the evidence aligned with each other perfectly. He smiled thinly with certainty but one question still struck with him.
"But why make me go find them? Don't the hidden fragments belong to her? Unless they are not for her but for me…...This is some kind of bloody divine trial….!"
He opened his eyes in the realization and sighed bitterly at the thought. Owen nodded at his conclusion. To him, he seemed to be the most logical theory. However, he was not proud of his thinking prowess at all, no, he was enraged.
"You kill me and my family just to force me into a quest?! Forget it, I am not going to do your little quest."
He shook his head in annoyance and frustration. He walked forward, not caring about the quest one bit.
***
The more he moved into the forest, the more he was taken away by the scenery. Furthermore, it did not take long for him to find unusual vegetation. All kinds of extra-terrestrial shrubs and plants came into view.
Some had unique structures while most had radiating colors to them. Sadly, he decided to stay away from them because looked too poisonous to him. Realistic speaking, that was smart move.
Maybe when he acquired proper equipment, he will find to reanalyze them.
"What do we have here?"
However, a familiar flower met his glance.
"A rose?"
He was a bit surprised by this. This was the only plant he could recognize when coming to this area. Owen walked in its direction and squatted beside it. He closely examined it with his gaze.
Shortly after, Owen lowered his eyelids while forming a bitter smile on his face.
"No doubt, I was transferred into another world."
After studying the astronomy of the stars, the biological structures of the plants, and examining the ecological humidity of the environment, he could not escape reality anymore.
Owen was placed in a world similar to earth in some aspects. He couldn't help but sigh. He already knew this outcome in mind but in heart, Owen hoped he was still on earth.
"I guess this is goodbye…...Mom, dad and Verna. Yes, even you guys, my friends…"
Owen lowered his head in defeat. A bitter smile appeared on his face with his eyes unchanging. He looked like he was about to kill someone…
*Owoooo!
*Wooo!
Suddenly, two longs howls were heard. There were so loud that they could heard from miles away.
Owen reflexively covered his ears. He could feel his body and soul sink into the ground. Owen was so wrapped up in his thoughts and forgot that he was deep in enemy territory of unknown mysteries.
However, fear was not in his heart, rather, his face turned absolutely serious. No matter what, he had second chance to live possibly a peaceful life, even if he was forced into the matter.
'That sounded like two wolves, I need to hide and find a good area of cover.'
Not wasting a second, he moved through a nearby bush, hiding behind a tall tree and the camouflage of the brushes as a secondary cover. Owen`s mind started to race like crazy. He became more confused about his situation.
"Why are wolves on this planet?"
He couldn't help mumble to himself and looked in the direction of howling and carefully analyzed the situation. There was total certainty he was located on another planet, so, why are wolves here as well?
"Unless..."
One possibility came into mind.
'Maybe this world is parallel to earth?'
Owen nodded his theory with absolute certainty. It was either that or all extraterrestrial planets had the same species in the universe as earth, which doesn't make any sense.
Humans came to being by chance and evolved to its current state by pure luck and right conditions. It was the same with the wolfs, it was not possible for every planet similar to earth for somehow have wolfs.
Or maybe the creator creates worlds with equality…
"A new species that's related to the wolf?"
A thin smile mysteriously appeared on his face. However, he was still cautious. Curiosity killed the cat after all.
Click!
Thud! Thud!
A clicking sound echoed in the area as footsteps followed. He patiently peered in the direction, waiting to see the answer. And for those who are confused why he was not running; Owen knew it was useless.
If he tried to run away, his scent would instantly be picked up. For now, an indirect confrontation was his best option for survival. Slowly, the shadows started to appear, as the moonlight shined brightly on their bodies. Owen`s eyes dropped at the sight.
Moving out of the shadows like a dominant force. One terrestrial wolf appeared in the gaping moonlight of the trees. Owen stared immensely at the foreign creature, unable to comprehend what he was seeing.
Green like fur fluttered gently upon the wind, green grass and leaves attained on the body like the manifestation of mother nature and life, yellow crisp eyes glancing into far distanced, a wolf of foreign origins had come to life upon Owen`s eyes.
'It`s a…forest grass wolf?'
He was left dumbfounded. For such a creature to exist, he was amazed at the biological structure of the wolf. However, his thoughts were yet again thunderstruck.
Another forest wolf manifested upward from the grass beside the first. The second forest wolf, strangely, started to run eastward from Owen`s position, simply distracted by something else.
The first forest wolf was about to follow but its ears moved because a clicking sound rippled from Owen`s position.
'Oh shit…'
The wolf stared at Owen`s position. Its sharp eyes narrowed and begin to show its teeth.
"Ghrr…"
A growl escaped its mouth as it slowly moved to Owen`s position. Watching this behind the tree trunk, he couldn't help but hold his breath.
His luck seemed to reach the negatives. He looked at origin of the sound that gave his position away in anger. Fortunately, not all hope was lost as a small creature appeared out of the bush from Owen`s position.
A black creature with a small horn that resembled a rabbit appeared out of nowhere. It seemed the black rabbit was not aware of the forest wolf`s presence. They were at least 5 meters away from each other.
The atmosphere was silent for a few moments.
The first one to break the silence was the black rabbit as it vanished from its position. In a split second, it reappeared on a tree as it hopped from one tree to the other.
The wolf did not sit by as a mysterious green hue started to appear on its body.
"Wooo!"
The wolf howled loudly. A violent but small shockwave washed the surrounding area as it manifested into the grass. Both creatures simply vanished from their position in a couple of seconds.
The trees and grass gently vibrated in all directions in the aftermath of the shockwave. Owen who was watching the all thing just stumbled at the tree trunk. He just sat down as an astonishing pale face appeared on his face.
"What did I just see?"