The Fifth World

Bo: I keep hearing my name. Again and again and again. I know exactly who that voice belongs to... it's Cynric but it isn't actually my Cynric. My Cynric is right behind me, following the voice just like I am.
It is merely a shape shifting Thorne's feeble attempt at trying to lure me in. Fortunately, I am smart plus Cynric was already at my side by the time the Thorne began to call my name. Of course I'm going to recognise that voice and of course I'm going to realise that something is going on. Unfortunately, due to my time traveling characteristics another me, a Bo from the past, has or will within these next few minutes time travel here and be lured in by the shape shifting Thorne. It's up to me to stop myself.

I put my hands in front of me so I can flick the many small branches and leaves out of the way. A poke in the eye would be most inconvenient at a time like this. I begin to pant, quite heavily too. I have been in this situation before but not in this position... I know how it ends... somehow, I think, I end up killing this Shape Shifter... but what if I don't? The future can always change.

"Bo! Bo! Bo!" the voice is screaming my name and it's almost torturing just to resist feeling sympathy for it's owner. It is Cynric's voice but it is not Cynric. It is a disguise. A facade.

I grit my teeth and then I see a small clearing, one that I haven't seen since arriving here today. It is surrounded by forest but it isn't too far away from the larger clearing where the remaining life battles. I see two figures up ahead. I know exactly who they are. I increase my pace. I can't let myself be there any longer! It'll be too late! I can hear them speaking. No!

"Bo!" I shout out my own name as I keep running.

I need to stop her. I need to stop me! I see the figure, who I am guessing is myself but a younger version of myself, stand up and immediately look around. I finally reach the small clearing. It's very small, merely a few metres in length and width but it is big enough for all four of us. There are branches here and there, even a log or two.

"Bo!" I yell, almost scream, "get away from him!"

I try to resist looking at the stranger on the ground... but I... I can't help it. His blonde hair, his beautiful skin... I can't help my attraction to Cynric even if it isn't the real Cynric. Gosh, I must look like perverted. He's even naked - just like a Shape Shifter should be once shifting. Depending on what or who they shift into will depend on whatever clothing remains. For example, if I shifted into a man and kept fitted clothes on myself and then shifted into a woman the clothes would remain but be big and baggy because of the woman's size. Strangely enough, this shape shifting Thorne has no clothes or anything around him or her... he's just naked. He doesn't even have weapons.
My eyes run over Cynric's body... golden and gory. His hands are over his wound and he looks at me with utter surprise. He is lying. That is not Cynric. I look at myself, my younger time traveling self, and realise that she has moved away just as I told her to. She moves safely behind me. The shape shifting Thorne very comfortably changes the way he looks at the both of us, his expression completely changes... it's not an expression Cynric would wear. He then stands up, freely, effortlessly and his blood drips from his wound on his stomach. The Thorne shape shifts and my mouth almost falls open but I manage to stay strong. All beauty; all evidence of Cynric on this shape shifting Thorne is gone. This well built and athletic thirty or so year old man stands before me, his expression is pure disgust. I thank him, silently in my mind, for shifting back into his normal self or else I don't think I would have even approached him - holding a weapon out to Cynric or even the thought of hurting him, even if it isn't my Cynric, scares me to death.

I breathe heavily and for some reason, for the first time since this war began, I am nervous and afraid... of this particular man. Maybe it is because I have now realised what he can do... if he changes back into Cynric I couldn't bear doing a thing to him. He is completely alone. There is nobody else around other than him, Cynric, myself and... my other self. He has no weapons, no armour but I know that even without them he could definitely kill me.

"Do you fear death, hybrid?" he asks me.

"Do you fear a slaughtering?" I feel the corner of my lip turn upwards as I ask him.

"Ah," he scoffs, "you are not capable of such a thing. Your heart is too warm, too open and to coloured. Live a few more years, help us give the world what it deserves and you might just be fit to conduct a slaughtering."

Just as he speaks his last words I jump and appear directly in front of him. His wound is so disgusting that I can't help but plunge my dagger straight through it. Again. He yelps in pain and sprints further back towards the trees.

"Do you run from me, Thorne?" I hiss at him. By the way I say it, it's like a threat. This is exactly what the Thorne doesn't want to hear. He feels superior, he needs to feel superior... this only lures him in.

He takes a few steps towards me, they are slow and careful. His expression is hard and sharp. He is determined to kill me, I know it. His orders may be to capture me but I know that deep down all he wants to do is choke the life out of me.

I open my mouth, so slowly, because right now I am very afraid, "what are you waiting for?"

There is a very loud sound... so loud that I can't even make out what it is. All I know is that my body is flying in the air and as I look back at Cynric expecting to see him holding my younger, time traveling self's hand my body crashes onto the ground. I didn't see myself. I must have vanished; disappeared back into the past where I belong. I did see Cynric, though. I saw him, his horrified expression and the way he held his dagger in his fingers and charged at the Thorne.
My mind drifts in and out of unconsciousness. I don't even know what's going on. I can hear Cynric, hear him groaning somewhere near me. I can hear him and the Thorne fighting. I cough a couple of times and feel my breathing become difficult. My back aches... so, so, so much. I groan loudly. I almost scream it's so painful. I am on my back and lying quite uncomfortably on the hard ground. Something is digging into me... a boulder or something. That must be it. My face falls a little as my right cheek lies directly on the straw-like grass. My eyes look down and all I see is blood. I close my eyes as everything becomes dizzy.
No, no, no. Not yet.

Cynric: I feel my breathing quicken, even faster than the fastest it gets when I go to kill someone. I stare at the Thorne, can't help but feel anything but intense hatred towards him and I hold my Angelican dagger out to him. This is it. He lies there, on the ground, his huge and athletic body right beneath my shoe. I can kill him. Right here. Right now. I can give him a slow and painful death just with a simple Angelican spell. He's no more than an animal.

His eyes soften as he stares up at me, "please," he says to me, "please, I have a daughter, a wife. Punish me but do not punish them."

Maybe I am wrong, maybe this animal has some kind of human left in him. A family? This Thorne has a family? It is not difficult to believe but why would someone like him, who knows perfectly well what he is doing here today, do this to his family? He would rather fight and kill for an unnecessary power and risk leaving his wife widowed and his child orphaned? It sounds like a bitter lie to me.
I press my dagger into his flesh, very gently, while I listen to him almost scream. I have not punctured his flesh with it. Yet.

"Please," he begs, tears in his eyes, "do not kill me."

It finally hits me, he is serious. I bend down and put my face to his, "Why? That girl over there, you could have killed her."

"She is dying as we speak, you are wasting time," he says to me, he is choking... most likely on his own blood. These injuries he has were not from me. I don't know who hurt him this severely but he is still alive. Surprisingly. "Please, I have a family."

I stare at him and then I hear an ear-piercing scream. Bo. "You will die a lonesome and slow death today. I will not kill you but sooner or later or your injuries will." He is not stuck under my foot but he just has little energy to even stand up. I simply made an Angelican spell blow him over to the ground. He'll be dead soon.

I turn around and run over towards Bo. Her skin is paler than ever. My hands touch her face as she tries to say something. I feel my eyes begin to tear up as my heart begins to pound. No, no, no! There is only person who can help me right now... I have to find her. My hands slip under Bo, I can feel her blood on my fingers... I ignore it and lift her up and into my arms before I run as fast I possibly can through the trees.