Jason lifted his gaze, trying not to focus on the dozens of bodies scattered across the valley floor. There were swords cracked in half, broken shields, torn flags, and shattered helmets. The place smelled awful. Something covered the floor, coloring it red. In some areas it was thicker, in others it flowed like a river. A rotting stench mixed with something unnatural, like the earth itself had absorbed the pain of the battle and now breathed it back out. The whole place gave off a kind of choking aura that made Jason feel like he could drop dead at any second if he didn't keep moving.
He ran forward without looking back and slammed his foot against the ground before leaping high into the air. His body obeyed as if it had done this before, like it remembered something he didn't. The valley he had just escaped from had steep walls and felt too deep for a normal land formation. Now that he stood above it, the truth came clear. That place had been dug out, probably to bury bodies. Hundreds of them. Maybe thousands. A mass grave on the battlefield.
He turned his head slightly and looked behind him. Every single corpse down there wore the same red uniform he had on. His boots, his breastplate, even the broken insignia hanging loose on his chest, all matched the dead. In this dream or vision or whatever it was, those were his people. They were his soldiers. And they had all lost. But Jason couldn't bring himself to care. He wasn't one of them. Not really. He only wanted to wake up and leave all this behind.
He turned back around, his eyes hard with indifference, and walked towards the cliff. There was nothing out here except the flat, open battlefield. The ground stretched endlessly with barely any color besides the rust-red of dried blood and the pale gray of dust. A cold wind blew suddenly, brushing against his skin and causing his long black hair to rise with it. That made him stop.
He reached up and touched his head. His hair had been grown long, smooth, and thick. He frowned. When had that happened? He always kept it short. He rubbed his scalp again, then dragged his fingers down the length of it. It wasn't fake. It felt real. The strands slid through his fingers naturally. Then something even more disturbing hit him. He pressed his palm between his legs to check, half-afraid of the answer. His shoulders relaxed when he confirmed he was still a man.
"Whew, that would've been terrifying," he muttered with a half-nervous laugh. He wasn't ready for something like that.
He kept walking, ignoring the silence. The entire place felt like it had been abandoned for years. The only thing higher than the flat ground were piles of corpses or the weapons sticking out like makeshift grave markers. There was no food, no water, no buildings, no signs of anything human. Even though he knew enemies might still be out here, starvation or thirst would probably kill him first.
Then the air changed again. The cold wasn't natural anymore. It bit through his clothes like the wind had grown teeth. He had never experienced this feeling back on earth. But here he knew it all too well. Jason felt his gut tighten. Something was coming.
He turned his head slowly and saw them crawling out from the shadows. Dozens of them. Wolf-like creatures with fur darker than night and eyes that looked like burning coal. Their fangs gleamed even in the low light, and their breaths fogged the air like small engines. Jason didn't know where they had come from, but somehow the name came to his mind.
"Dire wolves," he whispered to himself.
He didn't know how he remembered that. Since he woke up in this dream or world, he had no knowledge of anything. Not the name of the land, not how he got here, not who he was supposed to be. But he knew what these beasts were called. That either meant they were famous in this place or so deadly that the memory of them had been burned into whoever's body he was inside of.
He didn't waste time thinking it through. He turned and ran. The wolves gave chase instantly, moving like a hungry wave. They didn't look like the wolves from Earth. Their limbs were longer. Their muscles were thicker. Their teeth looked like knives jammed into a dog's mouth. With all the dead bodies on the battlefield they should have had enough to eat, but it was clear these wolves were only interested in him.
He pushed himself harder, breathing fast. The ground blurred beneath his feet but it still wasn't enough. They were faster. They had four legs. He had only two. There was no way he could outrun them.
He heard snarls getting louder behind him. One of the creatures was close enough to attack. It leapt forward, jaws open wide, aiming for his shoulder. His instincts exploded into motion. He twisted his torso and swung his arm backward as hard as he could. His elbow connected with the side of the wolf's neck. There was a loud crack. The beast dropped instantly, its neck bent at an impossible angle. Jason didn't stop to think how he had done that with just an elbow. That was one down, but the others were still coming.
He jumped over a pile of dead bodies and landed hard. His feet slid a little, but he stayed standing, frozen, Something worse waited in front of him.
A massive black bird stood there, pecking at the head of a fallen man. It gripped the skull with its beak and crushed it like a piece of fruit. Then it swallowed it whole. Jason didn't move. He wasn't sure if he had walked into a forest or remained on the battlefield. Why were there so many beasts out here? None of them were normal. However all of them had that same last name "Terrifying". "
The bird's head twisted unnaturally as it turned to look at Jason. One of its eyes locked onto him, studying him like prey. Like he was something small and edible. Its gaze was cold and calculating. Then it screeched, a high-pitched shriek that pierced the sky and made even the wolves behind him slow their charge.
Jason barely had time to react before the bird flapped its massive wings and launched itself into the air. Its claws stretched forward, long and sharp, ready to tear him apart. He dropped to the ground and rolled to the side just in time. The air screamed past him as the bird's talons missed and slammed into one of the chasing wolves. The sound of tearing flesh filled the air as the creature was ripped into bloody chunks.
Jason didn't need to see more. He knew what those claws could do now. They didn't just grab. They shredded. The wolves instantly redirected their aggression toward the new, larger predator. Jason wanted to watch this fight to see who was more terrifying, but he wasn't going to waste the chance. He turned and ran in another direction, leaving the monsters to tear into each other.
He kept running until his legs ached and his breath came in gasps. He slowed only when he saw something in the distance. The cliff. It rose unnaturally high against the flat battlefield, almost like a wall carved by nature. That would be his goal. He had no better options.
He allowed himself a shaky breath and looked up at the cliff. That had been too close for comfort. There was no doubt in his mind that if those dire wolves had caught him, they would've stripped his bones clean. He was lucky the bird had shown up when it did.
But just as the thought of relief tried to settle into his chest, he felt something shift in the air again. His eyes moved ahead, and what he saw froze him in place. Just beyond the next rise, another creature stood there, staring directly at him. Its eyes didn't blink. Its body didn't move. It looked like certain death. Jason couldn't help but wonder if surviving in such a place was even possible.