• tab After about an hour, Ania had stopped galloping. She was wheezing, out of breath and energy. Trisa was off the horse and was petting Ania’s mane.
    tab “It’s okay girl” Trisa says with comfort. “Keep resting until you feel better” She ignored the darkness of the sky and her surroundings. They’ve exited the dense forest, entering a wide plain, and they were at the center of it. We’re wide open, vulnerable—easy targets. She shakes the thought of being attacked by monsters from her mind. “Its okay girl” she says again, and looked at Reyn who was still unconscious. If only you were awake. I wouldn’t have to do this on my own.
    tab Ania could read all of Trisa’s thoughts and all of them were troubling her. But what stuck in Ania’s mind was that someone had preformed a bond. Humans think that monsters come into their world after somebody performs a contract (bond), but they’re wrong. Monsters have always been around, deep inside animal hearts, but it was a year ago that the hidden monsters emerged and formed the body into its own, half of half. The rare ones are humans with hidden monsters in them. But the only rare monster Ania knows is Allester—Allester with the blue eyes, black hair, and lightning as his power.
    tab A red glowing eye emerged from a tree far away, staring at Trisa, Ania, and Reyn. It was the beast from before, the snake creature. Silver scales gleamed like a knife. Stalking, watching, and waiting.
    tab The moon looked blurry, scary. Different, Ania thought. The bond she sensed being formed wasn’t from a weak monster like the Honstuki’s.
    tab Trisa got a sudden chill down her spine. Looking nervously into the dark distance, she said to Ania, “Are you ready to—”
    tab A flash of red light and then the wind. Something zoomed by from behind her shoulders. It was so quick and strong that her dark brunette hair swooshed forward. And then it was there. Right in front of Trisa, right on Ania’s back laid a silver serpent with bronze fur around its neck. Its single eye glowed like hot coals.
    tab “Humansssss” the creature hissed. Trisa yelped and backed away, staring in horror. Her reaction amused it—him.
    tab Ania kicked her hind legs up to knock him away but he was too swift for her, wrapping himself around her neck with his six foot long body. It was unfortunate for Reyn though because he flew forward and smacked hard onto the ground. Trisa, on the other hand, was too frightened to move.
    tab “Annahh” he whispers tauntingly to Ania, then turns a scornful eye towards Trisa who, of course, flinched. “Annahh, thisss isss you’re u—” he stops, smirking, sensing that her and Ania haven’t preformed the bond.
    tab Trisa’s legs finally gave in. She dropped to her knees, still staring at the serpent, at the monster. It’s over, she thought to herself. The monster is going to attack her and Reyn, then kill off Ania last. This sucks. I’m a weakling. She hated admitting that, and she hated it even more when fear strikes her heart like a bullet. Now it’s pounding fast, instincts telling her to flee, her sweat dripping down her skin.
    tab The serpent enjoyed all this. He unhooked himself from Ania’s neck and slithered onto the grass, a foot away from Trisa. “Humanssss” his voice was mocking, “You chose a fine one, Annahh” Ania had a look of annoyance and anger.
    tab An image flashed through Trisa’s thoughts as she stared into his eyes. The image she saw was a figure lying on a bed. A female dressed in all white, staring solemnly at her, her long brown hair all messy and uncaring. Trisa recognized her in an instant. It was Cillia; Cillia in hospitalized clothing, sitting in a hospitalized bed, staring with her sad, sad eyes. Like she’s looking at me, Trisa thought. Then the image closes up, like Trisa is actually there and is moving closer to Cillia. Right when that happened, the expression on Cillia’s face changed from sadness to shock and horror.
    tab “Stop it!” the serpent shouts, backing away quickly. His eyes weren’t full of cool and aloofness anymore. He showed signs of fear and danger. “You human!” he screeched, “What were you doing to me? What were you doing to me? To my mind, to my eyes—what did you take from me?!” his voice was quick and scared. He felt a tug on his mind, like someone was taking something from him by force. The only person that was possible to do that was Trisa because she was directly in front of him, looking directly into his eyes. “What did you do?” his mind was going crazy, spinning out of control, trying to figure out what was it that she stole from him. And then blank. There was a long, black silence in his mind, his memory. After a couple seconds, pictures started to form again. He got more frightened. “I can’t remember” he said bleakly, thinking back on the blackened part of his memory. “I can’t remember”
    tab Trisa didn’t know what was going on. The serpent was getting agitated and acting out of control. She blinked, not understanding a thing he says. Then the thought of Cillia reached her mind once again. Cillia, the friend Trisa was suppose to save from being killed. This gave her strength to speak. “W-what do you want?” she stuttered a bit. After a big gulp, she said, “Get out of here. Get out of here, you monster!”
    tab The serpent started mumbling then stopped, eyeing Trisa. “Monster? You want me gone because I am a monster?”
    tab “That’s right. Now go”
    tab He laughed, long and hard, then said scornfully, “You do realize I’m not the only monster here?” he smiled. “I’ll let you go this one time, human. Until you perform the bond, until I find a user, I’ll come looking for you. You stole part of my memory and now you owe me your life” he slithered quickly back into the forest, hissing and laughing crazily.
    tab Ania shook her head. The serpent, Yohnssha, has gone deranged. She knew him ever since she was awoken as a monster. He was always the serious type, the arrogant and mocking kind, but now he was different. After Trisa done something to him, Ania thought, remembering what Yohnssha was saying.
    tab ‘What did you do to me? I can’t remember, I can’t remember. You stole my memory’

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