HE was cold, hungry, sad, and angry.
Worst of all, he was lost.
How could his comrade have abandoned him?
They were supposed to go through thick and thin, through famine and bountiful harvest, but his amigo had left him to rot for a week.
'Fear not,' he told himself. 'You will not be broken for you are the indomitable Covi.'
Isaac had left him with Raj, who was nice to him, but then the cranky Kevin threw him in a cage immediately after Isaac and Leo had left.
Covi wasn't going to have any of it. Last time he was stuck in one, there were dozens of nasty creatures with him. He tried communicating, but all he got in reply were growls and grunts.
Fortunately, the cage was regular. So, he passed through the cage with his charism and followed them.
They boarded the spooky bus, but he was hesitant.
No one seemed to notice how eerie the bus was. He had seen it drop students like any regular bus would, but once it went out of the school premises, it vanished. Even people who took it out vanished along with it.
He was shaking with fear of what would happen to him, but his comrade was taking the bus, and so would he.
'What's a vanishing bus going to do to me?,' he thought to himself. 'Nothing can hurt me, for I am the Indomitable Covi!'
He jumped aboard and watched the bus move past the gates.
* * * * *
'What is this magnificent city?,' Covi marvelled as the car drove through Gomez estate.
The journey was tedious, but Covi knew it would be worth it.
He had found his comrade's other comrade's younger sister annoying and wished that she could shut up.
At one point, he'd even wanted to make his presence known, but that would ruin the surprise he had for his comrade.
He somehow slept through her yapping, and when he woke up, he found himself on the side of the road.
He sighed. He had once again phased in his sleep. It was common for him to become intangible when he slept, so he was used to finding himself in different places when he woke up. Fortunately for him, he didn't have an episode during his quick nap on the plane.
He had to get his bearings right.
Where was he?
His biggest problem was that he didn't know which way his destination was.
To his left was a forest with short trees, and the road was to his right. There was nothing significant to tell him where he was.
He decided not to move from his spot until another car passed.
The hunger he had been holding back came with full force after thirty minutes.
The last time he had a bite of food was before his comrade had left, which was almost a day ago.
Two hours later, he started dozing. Just as he was about to feel the sweet embrace of sleep, he felt someone lift him up and place him inside their jacket.
* * * * *
The smell of meat woke him up.
"Ehi ragazzo, come stai?" A woman's voice said in a language Covi didn't recognize.
He found himself on a cushion with a plate of food placed in front of him.
Despite his near ravaging hunger and the enticing smell of the food in front of him, Covi was suspicious.
He tried to figure out where he was. There were lots of people sitting on chairs staring at rectangular boxes, which produced images.
He figured that they were monitoring the premises. On one box, he saw his comrade and his friends looking at some underwear.
Ignoring all the people there, he barked happily and rushed over to the screen.
"Chi ha fatto entrare questo cane qui?" the man closest to him said.
"Mi spiace signore, l'ho trovato vicino al labirinto," the woman who had spoken talked to him apologized.
The man stared at Covi for a few seconds. He walked away muttering, and the woman heaved a sigh of relief.
She walked over to him and carried him in her arms.
Covi didn't let anyone carry him except his comrade, but he was too weak to retaliate.
She set him down on the cushion he was earlier and placed the bowl of food closer to him.
He couldn't resist any longer and dug his head into his meal.
"Chi ha fatto entrare questo cane qui?" she asked or he guessed. Was it a question?
Covi filled his mouth and looked at her. They couldn't understand each other, so he tilted his head to one side, hoping she knew another language.
"English?" she asked.
He nodded vigorously.
"Who is your owner?
He barked and wagged his tail, indicating that she had gotten the language right.
Covi cocked his head to one side.
"Is the person on the screen?" she asked.
He nodded.
"The dog's weird," commented the man who had spoken to her earlier. "Seems almost human."
"You sure?" she asked.
He nodded and made the sign of the Cross, warding of evil spirits.
"Don't listen to him," she said cradling Covi. "He's just mean."
"Mean?" he asked. "You know we're getting married this weekend-"
* * * * *
The entire guard tower had collapsed.
His caretaker for the past few days lay dead before him alongside her husband. They had held each other in their last moments before the bullets hit them.
They had no chance to react. The bullets had come suddenly and silently. No one had expected them.
Covi would have also been caught in the crossfire, if not for his charism. It activated anytime he was scared or anxious.
Before she had died, his caretaker had used her telekinetic charism to protect him from some of the debris.
She had mumbled something.
"...failed you, Brandon."
Covi was furious and he wanted revenge. Such a pure and innocent soul had been killed just before her wedding.
He looked at her lifeless body one more time before setting off to hunt her killer.
He followed the scent of blood into the maze phasing through anything in his way.
It was dark and raining but Covi didn't care. He could drown for all he cared but that demon was dying before him.
After running for a while, he reached a clearing. The full moon gave a little illumination but Covi could see clearly. All around him were little craters on the floor and he wondered what could have caused them. He finally realised that what he thought were droplets of rain were actually bullets.
There was a cracked dome in front of him. He could see his comrade struggling under the weight of the bullets and the dome was going to crack any second.
The dome shattered and Covi ran as fast as he could. He leaped onto his comrade's back, trying to push him away from the bullets.
He felt a surge of energy, which he then passed onto his comrade to protect him.