Another shift finished, another day that felt just the same as all the rest...

  Stepping out into the cool evening air, a young man no older than eighteen at most, sighed in relief as the brisk Spring breeze washed over him. It had been a long day, and the faint chill of the early April air in Pennsylvania felt perfect when compared to the hot interior of the town’s local bakery. He swiped at his clothes a few times, brushing off the flour from his shirt and pants.

  An older woman followed him out the door a moment later even more covered in flour than the young man was. A heavy dusting of the white powder covered her apron while some clung to her face and hair. She perfectly fit the look of a stereotypical ‘grandma’ thanks to her white hair, slightly wrinkled face, and always present smile and kind attitude. In a small town like Shay, Pennsylvania, she was the type of woman that everyone knew and loved.

  “Good night, Lucas,” She called out as she brushed off her own apron, sending a small cloud of flour flying.

  “Night, Lily. Don’t stay too late,” Lucas replied, pushing a hand through his damp, messy black hair in an attempt to get it out of his eyes.

  “I won’t, I won’t. I’m closing up now,” Lily playfully replied as she walked over and pulled the boy into a hug. “Have a lovely birthday, dear. You only turn eighteen once.”

  Chuckling a bit, Lucas hugged the older woman back and waved at her once she let go, and he began the trek back home. The bakery wasn’t too far away, and the weather wasn’t that bad, so a short walk sounded nice. It also gave him some much needed time to think.

  At seventeen years old, Lucas felt lost. He’d graduated from high school earlier than most and rather than going to college like his parents had wanted, he had chosen to get a simple job at the local bakery. Outside of watching some shows he liked and enjoying his favorite hobby of reading comics, there wasn’t much that he really did with his spare time. Each day continued the monotonous repeating cycle he found himself living through.

  It wasn’t like he had a lot of friends; he’d been an awkward kid growing up and just never felt like he’d belonged. That hadn’t changed as he got older, and he found himself with few things that actually managed to grab his interest. It was surprising that he’d managed to graduate high school with how little he’d cared about it and even more surprising that he’d managed to skip a whole grade. He much preferred to spend his free time diving into comics, enjoying the fantastic worlds within where magic and superpowers existed and being different wasn’t always a bad thing.

  But by morning, it would be the tenth of April, and he would be eighteen. He would officially and legally be an adult by then. Lucas knew he needed to figure out something to do with his life, but nothing ever felt right or grabbed his interest. Even the job at the bakery was just him going through the motions.

  Lost in thought, the walk back home passed by in no time. The lights were on when he got to his house, and he knew that his mother and father were likely relaxing after dinner given the late hour.

  “I’m home!” He called out as he stepped inside. In the living room, he could hear the TV on.

  “Hey, how was work?” His father asked from his spot on the couch beside Lucas’ mother.

  “Good. Lily gave me a few cookies,” Lucas replied with a laugh as he made his way to the kitchen.

  “Well, if you’re still hungry, there should be some leftovers in the kitchen. I made burgers,” His mother chimed in as she spotted Lucas moving towards the kitchen.

  “Thanks, mom! I’m probably just going to eat and head to bed.”

  Lucas gathered a plate, grabbing a pair of burgers his mother had made and a glass of soda. Balancing them in one hand, he made his way towards his room. As he passed the living room his mother stopped him.

  “Oh, by the way,” She was smiling brightly when she spoke up. “Uncle Hayden called earlier while you were at work. He wanted to let you know that he’s planning to come over tomorrow for your birthday. He said that he had a gift for you.”

  Lucas’ mood brightened immediately. The man was his grandfather’s brother, and the only real grandparent-like figure that Lucas had. The man had been distant from the family for years, but he came back around the time when Lucas had been born. He lived only a few hours away from Shay, and he often visited Lucas when he was younger. Lucas had plenty of fond memories of his uncle, as well as the many gifts that he’d given him.

  In fact, Lucas still had his uncle’s most recent gift, a sleek compound bow that his uncle had given to him when he’d learned that Lucas had joined his school’s archery club as a freshman. After graduating, Lucas still took good care of the bow even though it was currently just taking up space in the basement at the moment.

  Unfortunately, Lucas hadn’t seen his uncle in roughly two years. The man had been busy and hadn’t been able to come around nearly as often once Lucas had gotten older. So, hearing that his uncle would be showing up for his birthday was the best kind of gift that he could have wished for.

  “That’s awesome! Let him know that I can’t wait to see him,” Lucas replied, giving his parents a quick grin before heading to his room.

  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

  With some food in his stomach and a comic book in hand, Lucas was soon lounging in bed. He knew he needed to find something else to fill his time, aside from his basic bakery job. He would be an adult soon and his parents wanted to see him succeed. Even if he couldn’t see it happening himself he did want to try and make them proud. It was something he would have to focus on soon enough, but at least for the night he could relax.

  Once again, he let himself get lost in the thrill and adventure that his favorite comics always included. But as time ticked by, Lucas’ eyes grew heavy and a yawn slipped past his lips. His eyelids began to droop and after nearly slipping from his fingers he made sure to rest the half-finished comic on his bedside table. A quick change of clothes and a flick of the lightswitch found Lucas laying in the darkness and quickly dozing off. His last conscious thought was one he’d had so many times in the past, wishing that his life could be more like the comic books that he so loved to read.

  As sleep claimed him, the young man had no idea that his life was about to change well beyond anything he could have imagined. In the background, forces were at work and Lucas would never be the same…

  The hours ticked by peacefully until the clock struck midnight and the air within the room abruptly changed as if the world was holding its breath. In the faint moonlight shining through the cracked open window, black markings could be seen etching themselves into Lucas’ wrist. The boy didn’t stir as they spread across his skin, painting it as if it was nothing more than a simple canvas.

  Within seconds, the process was done and the air subtly shifted as it returned to normal. The faint charge of power in the air faded as the world began to breathe again. And Lucas was left bearing only a tattoo-like marking shaped like a ring of chains wrapping around his wrist.

  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

  As morning came and the early rays of sunlight streamed in through Lucas’ bedroom window, something felt off. Drowsy as he was, Lucas stirred as he felt a small weight pressing down on his chest and stomach. The pressure was primarily focused around four distinct points that dug into him uncomfortably. It didn’t impede his breathing at all, but it was enough to wake him up.

  Blearily opening his eyes, Lucas’ thoughts swiftly stuttered to a halt. His eyes steadily widened as he looked up and into the piercing yellow gaze of a pitch-black fox. Its snout was mere inches from his face as it stood on his chest and looked down at him.

  For a long couple seconds, Lucas and the fox just stared at one another, their unblinking gazes locked in a silent staredown. Then, Lucas very slowly reached up and gently brushed a finger against the fox’s side, feeling the soft fur beneath his fingers. The jet-black creature didn’t seem to react in any sort of negative way to his touch. It wasn’t aggressive at least, which was good since Lucas was pretty sure an angry fox could kick his ass with how tired he felt.

  He was dreaming, that had to be it. It was the only real conclusion that Lucas could come up with for just how weird the situation was that he’d found himself in. “… This has to be one of the weirdest dreams I’ve had in a while. I know I wanted a dog, but this is a bit different,” Lucas mumbled to himself.

  Something in the fox’s eyes shifted and it almost seemed to take offense to Lucas’ words. Its gaze narrowed as it suddenly moved. Before Lucas could stop it, the little furry creature reared onto its back paws and pounced downward, driving its front paws straight into Lucas’ chest.

  “Oof!”

  Lucas flinched, wheezing and coughing as the air was driven from his lungs. He tried to push the fox off of him, only for it to swat at his hands each time and make Lucas cough again as it brought its paw back down onto his chest. While the fox wasn’t very heavy, it had managed to put a good bit of force behind its jump and had buried its paws straight into Lucas’ solar plexus.

  Wait…

  Pain…

  If he was dreaming, then he shouldn’t have felt any pain…

  Fighting the urge to keep coughing, Lucas locked eyes with the fox standing on his chest once more. While he couldn’t quite be sure of it, those eyes almost seemed to have a smug sort of satisfaction as they stared down at him and noticed his own widening with shock.

  “Ok… Clearly not a dream,” He mumbled as he rubbed at his chest.

  Much to Lucas’ shock, the fox nodded in response to his question, letting out a quiet little yip.

  “You… Understand me?” He asked, jolting upright and sending the little thing tumbling into his lap.

  It didn’t seem quite happy when he did that and swatted at his leg in response. But once it got settled, the fox looked up at him and nodded again, a hint of satisfaction shining in its eyes. A fox being so expressive that he could tell what sort of emotions it was feeling was weird, even if he had been dreaming. That he was wide awake made it all even more crazy.

  “This is crazy. Where did you even come from? There’s no way my parents actually got me a fox as a pet for my birthday. They wouldn’t even let me get a dog,” He paused as his thoughts drifted for a moment. “Wait, can foxes even be pets? Is that legal?”

  Nothing made sense to Lucas at that point. He knew he wasn’t dreaming, and yet the situation he found himself in was stranger than even the wildest dreams he’s ever had. And somehow that weird situation was turning out to be reality.

  The fox simply leaned in and nuzzled its head up against Lucas’ cheek in response to his questions. Then it pulled back and hopped out of his lap. For some reason, Lucas had a good feeling that the little thing was feeling very smug.

  He watched as the little fox walked beside him to the edge of the bed. It turned and pawed at his arm a few times before leaping from the bed and bounding across the room to the window. It leapt up onto the windowsill, perching in the half-opened window. And then it looked back at Lucas and quietly yipped.

  Slowly sitting up and moving to the edge of the bed, Lucas watched as the fox cocked its head as if waiting. After a few seconds of watching the fox, it barked at him once more before tilting its head toward the window. It did this a few times before looking back at Lucas, tail slowly swaying behind it.

  “Do you want me to follow you?”

  The fact that he got another nod in response to his question just left Lucas more baffled. And the fox seemed pretty insistent as well, gesturing a few more times by tapping a paw against the windowsill and yipping at him again when he didn’t move. The level of intelligence and understanding that the little fox was showing off was absurd. While Lucas should have been asking way more questions, he was more interested to see just what it was that the fox wanted from him.

  It was a crazy idea to actually follow the strangely intelligent animal wherever it wanted to lead him, probably dangerous too. Lucas knew that, and yet at the same time there was something deep down telling him to trust the little creature. Whether it was his own gut feeling or something else, Lucas couldn’t tell. But he needed to know. The situation was so strange that it was almost like a scene out of one of his favorite comics. It was that same level of absurdity, craziness, and strangeness that drew Lucas in.

  As if sensing his indecisiveness, the fox yipped at him and stomped one of its paws. Lucas could almost imagine that if the little fox could speak that it would be ranting at him to hurry up and follow already.

  This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

  “Ok, ok, I’ll follow you. Just give me a second. Gotta get dressed at least.”

  Again, the fox displayed more of that abnormal intelligence as it nodded. Somehow it managed to sound impatient as the little creature sighed and laid down on the windowsill to wait for Lucas to change. With an impatient audience of one urging him on, Lucas was quick to change into some more reasonable clothing, donning a simple pair of blue jeans and a black T-shirt.

  Though, as he was getting dressed, Lucas noticed something else that hadn’t been there before.

  “Wh-” Lucas barely managed to stop from yelling and waking the whole house. “What the hell is this?!” He hissed.

  On his right arm, Lucas spotted the black marks spread across his wrist that he knew hadn’t been there yesterday. A closer inspection revealed the tattoo-like designs that wrapped all the way around his wrist. The design looked like a simple link of chains patterned in black ink. And as Lucas rubbed at the markings, they didn’t come off or smudge.

  “Ok, what is even going on? I didn’t drink anything last night, so I know I didn’t get a drunk tattoo. How is this thing even here? And what kind of design is this?”

  To say that Lucas was confused was like saying that the ocean was wet. His mind was running a mile a minute, trying to figure out if anything could have left those markings on his skin and where they could have come from. In the end, he couldn’t remember anything strange, and there was only one possible connection that he could think of.

  “Did you do this?” He asked, holding his arm out towards the fox perched in his window.

  To Lucas’ continued confusion and frustration, the fox shook its head and denied creating the strange tattoo upon his wrist.

  He gestured to his wrist after a second. “Is what you’re going to show me related to this?” Lucas probed. The fox seemed pretty smart, so he figured the question would be worth asking.

  This time, the fox seemed to hesitate, as if it hadn’t been expecting the question. After thinking it over, the fox quietly yipped and nodded.

  That pretty much sealed the deal. While he was still a bit nervous about following some strange animal to some unknown destination, the fox seemed to have the answers to what Lucas wanted to know. It was an incredibly stupid idea and Lucas knew it, but he was still going to do it regardless.

  “Alright. Show me where you want me to go, then,” Doubt shifted to resolve as Lucas grabbed a dark blue hoodie along with some simple black running shoes and quickly put them on. Grabbing his phone and tossing it into his pocket, he joined the little fox at the window.

  He could have gone through the front door, but the little fox seemed to be getting impatient, and Lucas didn’t want to wake his parents up. He knew they’d probably scold him for what he was doing later, but he needed answers.

  Given the go-ahead, the fox eagerly leapt out of the window, down onto the dew-covered grass below and looked back towards Lucas. It didn’t dart ahead, simply circling below and waiting for Lucas to join it.

  Making sure to stay quiet, Lucas hopped out the open window, dropping down onto the grass beside his foxy guide.

  “Lead on, little guy. Actually… Wait a second, are you a guy or a girl?”

  Lucas could almost feel the amusement coming off the little fox as it considered his question. It looked around for a bit, as if thinking of a way to answer the question. Eventually, it settled on walking up to Lucas, pressing a paw to his leg, and shaking its head.

  “Me? Not me? So… Not a guy. You’re a girl, then?”

  It was like playing charades with the little fox, something it was proving to be better at than his own father. Certainly not something he’d ever expected that he’d ever end up doing, but something that he now seemed to have to do. Luckily, his guess was proven correct when the little fox yipped again and actually rolled her eyes at him.

  “Girl it is, then. Well, let’s get going. Lead on, girl,” Lucas replied. In response, his guide rapidly bounded off towards the backyard.

  As Lucas went to follow, he paused as he came to his parents window. Rather than the silence he’d expected, he could hear soft conversations coming from the cracked open window. The sun had only just begun to creep above the horizon, so he’d fully expected his parents to be asleep. With them awake, Lucas stepped carefully, trying to stay quiet as he ducked down under their bedroom window.

  “I’m telling you; Lucas won’t listen if we push him.”

  Hearing his father mention his name made Lucas freeze. Further in the yard, the little fox stamped her feet impatiently, but the young man wasn’t paying attention to her anymore.

  “But he’s such a bright boy,” His mother replied. “He did well enough in high school to skip a whole grade and graduate early, Mark! I’m sure if he finds something interesting in college he would do amazing.”

  It was a conversation that they’d had multiple times in the past; his parents wanting Lucas to finish his schooling and go to college to get a degree. He was more than smart enough to do it and his parents knew it. The problem always boiled down to Lucas’ non-existent motivation.

  “He’s told us what he thought of that before, Diana,” His father pointed out, his voice soft.

  “I know. But he just seems so unhappy with all of this. This little town isn’t what Lucas wants out of life, he’s just compromising. I want him to be happy, Mark. But I don’t think he’s going to be happy here. Nothing ever happens in Shay, and Lucas staying here his whole life is just wasting his potential.”

  Lucas could hear movement in the room, followed by some quiet, whispered words from his father that he couldn’t hear.

  That… That hurt to hear, especially because deep down, Lucas knew his mother was right. He wasn’t happy in Shay. It was a great place, but Lucas wanted something more from his life, something that the little town was just never going to give him. Maybe that was why he was following a mysterious fox on a wild goose chase.

  Lucas heard his father sigh. “We can’t push him too hard, Diana. But I’ll talk to him. I was thinking of suggesting we go on a camping trip after his birthday and I’ll try to broach the topic then. He’ll be in a good mood then, at least.”

  Lucas quietly stalked away from the house, getting out of range of his parent’s conversation. He didn’t want to hear anything more. On one hand, the idea of going camping with his father again was something he looked forward to. He had so many good memories of the many camping trips the two had gone on over the years, even if it had also been years since they’d gone on one. But on the other hand, Lucas was dreading the conversation with his father.

  Thankfully, he had an annoyed little fox to focus on, a fox that had been waiting impatiently for him in the backyard. When he finally began to follow the black fox once again, she quickly dashed into the woods behind the house.

  “Into the woods. What could possibly go wrong out here,” Lucas mumbled sarcastically. But regardless of his words and hesitation, he still followed the strange fox as she darted ahead. What he was doing was crazy and Lucas knew it. But he couldn’t ignore that odd feeling deep in his heart that was telling him that following the fox was the right thing to do.

  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

  “How about Topaz? Or Shadow? Or maybe Onyx?”

  Lucas’ voice echoed through the forest as he followed behind his foxy guide. There wasn’t a need to be quiet anymore this deep in the woods. They’d been traveling through the woods outside of Shay for a good twenty minutes by that point. After around ten minutes, Lucas had come up with an idea to pass the time since the trip seemed to be taking a while. Calling the fox ‘girl’ felt pretty disrespectful so Lucas had started suggesting names that he could call her. And after ten minutes of trying, Lucas was having a hard time. Each name he’d suggested had been shot down with a shake of the head or the occasional huff. Suggesting ‘Fluffy’ had gotten him such a dirty look that he’d quickly changed the type of names he was suggesting.

  It wasn’t like it was a bad name! Plenty of people named animals Fluffy!

  Taking a closer look at his guide, Lucas really looked over the fox for the first time. While he’d initially thought that the fox had been entirely jet black when he’d woken up, he could see that wasn’t totally true. Her fur was mostly pitch black across most of the body, but the tips of her ears, the tip of that bushy tail, and her paws were all covered in pristine white fur. It was surprising that he’d missed that, but in his defense the fox itself was a bit of a surprise.

  How that white fur was still so pristine ended up being another thing that added to the mystery of the fox in Lucas’ mind. He was pretty sure that someone owned the fox, given how clean she seemed to be and the intelligence that she had shown. He just didn’t know who, though Lucas figured that he was being led to the mysterious owner.

  Would this count as foxnapping or kidnapping?

  Looking over the dark fur again, Lucas focused on those bright golden eyes as the fox turned back to him once more to deny each name he’d suggested. And then another idea came to him.

  “How about Dusk?”

  This actually made the little fox pause. She stopped mid stride and turned to look at Lucas for a long moment as if considering the name he’d suggested. Then, he saw that tail wagging about again as she nodded, agreeing with the name he’d chosen. When she started to walk again, there was a noticeable pep in the fox’s steps.

  “Dusk, huh? Well ok, Dusk, where in the world are you taking me?”

  The trip so far hadn’t been dangerous, and Lucas hadn’t been caught by any sort of axe-wielding maniac hiding away in the woods. But after twenty minutes of following the little black fox, even the instinctive trust he was feeling towards Dusk was being muddied by a growing feeling of apprehension.

  It wasn’t like the trek had been difficult, either. It reminded Lucas a lot of his camping trips with his father. Pushing aside branches, stepping over tree roots, the crunch of leaves and small branches under his feet as he followed behind his animal guide. It was all familiar little things that Lucas realized that he’d been missing.

  Maybe going on that trip with his father wasn’t a bad idea.

  Rather than playing another game of charades with him, Dusk circled his legs a few times before running ahead once again. This time, though, she stopped suddenly a few dozen feet ahead of Lucas in front of a pair of large, thick trees. She turned back towards him, her tail wagging excitedly, yipped at him, then dashed forward.

  Only this time, as she moved forward, the fox entirely vanished from view. One second, she was there, and then the next she was just gone, and Lucas was left staring at the trees and forest beyond where Dusk had just been.

  “… What?”

  For a good few seconds, Lucas just stood there in shock, looking at where his animal guide had been before she vanished. And Lucas really started to wonder if he was hallucinating somehow, because he was experiencing a whole new level of crazy. There was a moment where Lucas really wondered whether he was dreaming or not.

  His own curiosity got the better of him as Lucas approached the spot where Dusk had vanished. The area around the spot she had disappeared seemed pretty normal to Lucas. Somehow, Dusk had simply run forward, straight between the two large trees, and completely vanished.

  Lucas figured there must have been some sort of drop, or a hole, or maybe even a hidden door or bunker. He approached the two trees with more caution than he’d shown during the entire trip so far. The closer he got, the more confused he became. He couldn’t see any sort of hole, or the signs of any sort of bunker or trap door like he’d hoped for. Instead, it was just another stretch of normal forest past the two trees.

  But then as Lucas stepped between the two trees, the forest changed completely in an instant. Between one step and the next, he went from standing in a normal forest to a place that seemed unreal and alien. Moments before he’d been surrounded by towering oak trees with vibrant green leaves, then the environment around Lucas changed and the colors changed with it.

  The trees were tall, even taller than those of the forest he’d just been in. But the bark and wood were pale and white, unlike the rich browns that he was used to. Then there were the leaves…

  Leaves weren’t supposed to be purple. And they weren’t supposed to faintly glow, either.

  And yet, somehow, that was what Lucas saw as he looked around him. Tall, towering white trees with glowing purple leaves. The sky above seemed perfectly normal from what he could see between the heavy foliage, but the forest was like none he’d ever seen before anywhere on Earth. Even the grass, while still being green, was thicker and more vibrantly colored than any normal grass.

  “Holy crap…”

  A familiar yip managed to drag Lucas’ attention away from the trees and down towards the ground. There, sitting only a few feet away as if she had been for him, was Dusk. She yipped again, tail waving furiously behind her as she looked up at Lucas. She was elated, her black coat standing out against the bright whites, vibrant greens, and glowing purples around them.

  “What the hell is this, girl? Is this where you wanted to take me?” Lucas asked, still utterly dumbfounded by what he was seeing. “Where even is this? I- what?”

  As Dusk nodded and ran towards him, Lucas idly noticed the purple leaves crunching beneath her paws. They weren’t glowing like the leaves on the trees, but they were still just as vibrant and purple as the rest.

  Dusk grabbed at the legs of Lucas’ pants, scampering up his legs and chest until she managed to perch herself on his shoulders. She rubbed against him, nuzzling against his cheeks, and Lucas couldn’t help but laugh a little despite all the craziness.

  “Ok, ok! Calm down, girl. Why did you even bring me here? What even is this place?” He asked.

  Lucas was pretty sure he wasn’t in Kansas anymore…

  Unfortunately for Lucas, Dusk didn’t seem to have much of an answer that she could convey with charades this time. She just yipped at him again and looked out ahead deeper into the forest. And without much else to do, Lucas looked around as well. The place was like a scene out of a movie, of an alien world with strange plants and even stranger sights.

  Perhaps the biggest shock, even more than the strange trees that he could see, was the fact that Lucas was entirely lost. When he looked back behind himself, Lucas didn’t see any sign of the familiar forests that he’d been walking in moments before. He didn’t know how, but somehow, he’d wound up lost in some sort of alien forest the likes of which he’d never seen before.

  And while the idea of not being able to go back was completely and utterly terrifying…

  Lucas couldn’t deny that he was also feeling excited by it all.

  He could feel his heart pounding as he looked around, seeing things that he never could have even dreamed of. He had some sort of strange forest surrounding him, whether magical, alien, or other, and Lucas felt the urge to explore.

  But as Lucas took a few steps deeper into the forest, the fox who had perched herself across his shoulders suddenly tensed, her fur puffing up. A growl rumbled deep in her throat and Lucas could see Dusk’s ears flattening. Following the fox’s golden gaze forward, Lucas felt his blood freeze in his veins as he noticed the same thing Dusk had.

  Stalking out from between some of those white trees was a wolf. While that would have been terrifying enough, the wolf that Lucas was looking at was not any kind of standard grey wolf. Its coat was a mix of brown and dark green. Had it been in the forests back home, Lucas was pretty sure the wolf would have blended right in with the foliage. But the truly terrifying part was the size.

  Thanks to his time camping and hunting with his father, Lucas knew about wolves and the threat that they could pose. A normal wolf would come up to around Lucas’ hips. But the wolf that he saw stalking out of the trees was bigger, much bigger. Its head was level with Lucas’ chest.

  As it slowly approached, Lucas noticed a second one emerging from behind another group of trees on his left. One wolf would have been bad enough, two were terrible, but two giant wolves? That was bad. What was worse was that both wolves had their eyes locked directly onto him.

  And they looked at him like he was just prey waiting to be slaughtered and eaten.

  With death staring him down and his own heartbeat pounding in his ears, there was only one real thought running through Lucas’ head.

  “… Oh shit.”

  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~