Chapter 3

Jacob's Point of View

Unknown Location

The two statues held me firmly in place. "How did you enter this place?" One of the statues asked.

"Who can say." Was my nervous reply.

"No matter. You will be dealt wit-" The statues began in harmony with the same voice.

However, they stopped when I brought my foot back and lifted one of them from the ground. Using my unknown strength, I launched the statue into the ceiling and it got stuck there. The other statue immediately began glowing more vibrantly. With my right arm stuck in place, I twisted in its direction and slammed my fist into its face. The stone head blew back, and from the power of the blow, you think it would've been shattered.

Instead, it simply brought its head forward and glared at me. "Wow. I'm learning a lot from this." I said simply as it let me go.

Jumping back just in time, the other statue removed itself from the ceiling, and fell right where I was standing. The two were now recovered and next to each other with little to no damage. Frowning at this, I twirled my sword in my right hand.

"I guess, it's time to see how strong I am."

However, as the two statues stepped towards me, they suddenly froze. Confused, I kept my guard up. From behind them, the tallest statue stepped off her perch and towards me. A golden glow seemed to emanate from her eyes. An uneasiness took hold of me. Merely stepping towards me filled me with dread. While I didn't care about dying all that much, there was a lot I didn't know, and I needed time to figure some things out. Mostly about this new world I've been transferred to.

"Your intrusion in this most sacred place has been noted. As is your lack of magic. A creature such as yourself should not exist." The tall female statue said in a male voice. "And yet, somehow, I remember you." All my stone adversaries seemed to pause. "Surely, a creature who isn't connected to me would be easy to remember, but I cannot place where we've met before."

"Perhaps my dashing good looks are throwing you off. Or, perhaps those stone eyes of yours don't work correctly." I stated.

"An existence that should not be…" I saw what appeared to be magic forming in the tall statue's hands. "Most interesting. We'll meet again. You can be sure of that, but you cannot stay here."

With my sword still pointed at them as we stood off in this small study, I replied. "I'd love to leave if you'd show me the door. Got a few things I need to look into myself."

The magic gathered burst out suddenly and covered the room in a wave. "Then let me show you the way out."

Glaring slightly, and still on guard, I replied. "By al-" A portal opened up from underneath me, and I groaned. "You've gotta be-"

I didn't get to finish as I was expelled from the study. My body felt more sensitive in that moment than I had the entire time I'd been in this world. However, I had other concerns. Falling through the air was one of them. Twisting my body, I saw the ground coming in fast. I tried to brace myself, but when you're transported in the air hundreds of feet, there is only so much you can do.

"SON OF A BITCH!!!" I shouted as I plummeted into the ground.

Connecting with the ground, I was expecting to be heavily injured as clouds of dust were kicked up, and I appeared to be in a crater of sorts. Luckily, it appears I was quite sturdy indeed. No injuries could be felt, and I watched as small pebbles and debris fell back into the crater from above.

"Well… This has certainly been a day."

Standing and shuffling myself out of the crater, I looked around to find myself in some manner of forest. Frowning and annoyed, my next objective was to start figuring things out. Mostly with my body. Considering I should've been dead by now, I remembered the Star Creatures words about how powerful my body was now.

Energy seemed to fill the air in part of my vision, which was odd. Especially considering my left field seemed to see regularly. Closing my right eye, I saw things as one would normally. Trees, dirt, the sky, and more. They all looked normal and as you would expect. However, when I closed my left eye, energy seemed to be in everything. Wafting into the air as if everything had their own separate energies. Birds flew in the distance above me, and I noticed they had their own specific energies as well.

Opening my eyes at the same time was odd, but I would get used to it. "Eventually..." I said with a sigh and looked down at my hands. "I'm able to punch stone without feeling a single tinge of pain… Was it because of my new body or because I'm stronger?" I asked myself.

Moving across the clearing caused by my impact, I stopped in front of a few trees that were still standing. Taking a stance in front of it, I punched it softly at first to see if I could feel the pain. Nothing… Hitting it harder and harder periodically, I was still unfazed by the blows. Some were strong enough where some of the bark would break.

"Alright," I said as I adjusted my glove. "Let's see what would happen if I try to hit it as hard as I can."

Winding up to deal a heavy blow, I paused as I brought my fist back. Closing my eyes for a moment at how foolish this was didn't help. It just made me more nervous. Opening my eyes as I brought my fist forward, I stepped in and twisted my body. Figured I might as well do it correctly if I was going to break my arm.

To my surprise, the tree seemed to explode as I hit it. The trunk I hit turned into splinters and twigs while the top part of the tree seemed to float upwards before falling. Stepping back in shock as the tree fell next to me, I slowly brought my hands up and stared at them in awe. This was no small tree. It was well over thirty feet tall and several feet thick.

"So… Very strong. Got it." I said to myself.

Looking to my right at another tree, a smirk made its way to my face. Darting over to the tree in question, my leg whipped around and slammed into the trunk. Splitting the tree in two was child's play. Moving from one trunk to another, I began to let loose as trees toppled one after another. A mad smirk came to my lips as the clearing only got larger as I began to take the fallen trees and see how far I could throw them. Throwing large oak trees through the forest and hundreds of feet in the air was more fun than I could ever explain.

While I was able to test a few things, mostly my strength, my high soon ended when I heard a low growl from across the clearing. Turning my attention to the other side of the crater, I saw something that only existed in myth.

"Is that a fucking manticore?" I asked no one.

Sure enough, a manticore emerged from the bushes, which immediately put me on guard. However, I didn't draw my sword as I was more amazed that a mythical monster now stood before me.

"Holy shit…" I whispered.

It's growling, while looking at me directly in the eyes, unnerved me slightly. Things got even more interesting when several more manticores appeared from the underbrush, all of them looking directly at me. Now, I readied my sword and took a defensive stance. Eyeing the animals, they each had a scorpions' tail, lions' body, and bat like wings. Each one seemed to be drooling abundantly. However, I noticed something even more interesting. Each manticore had a collar around its neck.

"Now, this is certainly a surprise!" A voice called out from behind the bushes.

Soon, a group of humans, and a few elves, appeared behind the animals. Holding leashes to the beasts, they stepped forward, but each one of them felt wrong. They felt dark, sinister, and evil. Narrowing my eyes at them revealed that their energy signatures were all the same. Well, at least, they looked the same. Each one was red, which stuck out against our surroundings. Even the manticores energies differed slightly between blues and greens. All five were armed.

"What is a lone human doing out here in the wilds all by himself?" An elf inquired.

"Taking a walk. Thought I'd stretch my legs. You know how it is." Was my even reply.

A few chuckles came from the group as their pets snarled. "I'd say we do. Why we're out stretching our legs too! Even took our pets out for a walk!" The 'Leader' of the group, whom I designated as the elf who was speaking, continued. "You see, we heard a lot of commotion coming from this area. Made us a little nervous since no one is supposed to be out this far." He then gestured to his group. "It's the main reason we're out here. Remote location and all that."

There were five in total. What appeared to be three humans and two elves, but something told me these creatures weren't what they seemed. The manticores seemed a little on edge themselves as I tensed. Each one wore a similar uniform, which told me they were some sort of military or organization. It was red and black. Either way, I needed to be careful. Seemed mostly to be made of some sort of leather and other lighter materials.

"I can imagine. Must be worrisome." I said back. "Believe it or not, but I'm somewhat lost. Would any of you gentlemen be willing to show me out of this place? Being lost in the forest is dangerous, after all."

The smirks were gone now as the two elves seemed to summon an aura to their hands like the statues from earlier. Both had greenish hair, which was odd, but I figured it was normal in this new world. Their vibrant green eyes seemed to study me. The three humans had a varying look among them. One was a redhead, another had brown hair, and the last was a blonde. Their eyes were all different as well. This told me that perhaps this was some sort of scouting group.

"See, here's the thing…" The lead elf began as he stepped forward. "Normally, we'd consider letting you go."

"We would?" Another asked him in clear confusion.

"Maybe. Possibly!" The lead elf shouted, irritated. "However, seeing as how we watched trees being launched and heard them being destroyed from a ways away, I think we can assume you're not a normal human." He gestured to me with a small knowing smirk and then pointed at my eye. "That eye is especially interesting."

"You think?"

He nodded. "I do. See, I've heard of a description that's very similar to it. In fact, it's almost a perfect match."

Now that was interesting to hear. "Is that so?" My tone took on a more dangerous edge. "What're the odds you'd be willing to tell me more?"

"Oh, I'll tell you all about it once you come with us." Raising his hand as if waiting to give the order, the others held up the leashes and drew their weapons.

My eyes focused on the weapons for a moment before I saw another red energy signature in the tree line. Someone else was watching from a safe distance. I didn't care who it was, but I was glad to know that someone else was present before continuing. Five manticores and just as many unknown combatants. Unknown powers and an untrained body left me at a disadvantage.

However, the unknown might've been my biggest blessing if my hurtling of large trees was anything to go by. This group was trained, and so were their pets. They were all unknowns and seemed to possess some form of magic from what I could tell. Not to mention the mythical monsters that stood before me in a tamed manner.

"Somehow, I get the distinct feeling I shouldn't be going anywhere with you, but if you want to test my strength…" I trailed off and pointed my sword at the elf. "You're welcome to do so."

I was surprised at the amount of detail I had been able to make out on these people. Impressive really, if you consider how far away they were. The crater wasn't small by any means, but I was still able to see the twitching on the leader's face in aggravation.

His fingers shot forward, and each member let go of the manticore's leash that they were responsible for. The mutated lions immediately headed towards me. Some dipped into the crater below, while some went around it, and one even jumped in the air to fly towards me. None of them seemed particularly fast. Even the magic missile shot at me from the elves was easy to knock away with my sword.

Within seconds, the first manticore was on me. "Here, kitty kitty kitty." I whispered as I brought my sword forward.