by Beth Hoyer
instinct wasn't water but acid judging by them hitting the ground causing smoke to form. He forced Maribel passed those cave entrances instead of letting her stop for a drink by repeatedly manipulating the reins along with thrusting his feet on her sides despite them in stirrups due to knowing that the acid would cause death to animals and Humans if they drank a drop of it as the familiar crunching noises was heard again. He looked down with fear hitting him seeing the ground had scattered bones all indicating Humans from the looks of them. The stranger urged Maribel through the heated cave passageway making her continue despite her attempts to stop and her peals of protest indicating drinking statuses. He kept it up till the heat and rumbling vibrations slowly went away as they traveled through the cave passageway till coldness hit unexpectedly making him feel no longer sweaty. He sighed from the coldness only to stiffened of fear as a sign was seen on the wall of the cave passageway in a popular common Human lettering language.
He stiffened as they reached the sign to force the horse to stop to read the sign saying "Now entering King Winter's domain. Enter at your own risk."
He felt fear hitting him making him gulp air through his mouth as the computer voice again sounded as he mentally thought "Ugh King Winter will suck me alive and use me as his food sources."
He heard from Lance in response "Stop being afraid, Jinks. He doesn't normally target every single Human that comes through this cave passageway. He only targets the ones that don't answer his questions he asks towards Humans traveling in his domain."
He mentally spoke feeling himself still fearful "That talk doesn't help me, father."
He heard nothing more from Lance in response figured that his father was working on a solution of keeping King Winter a Humanoid vampire, god lord of the cold and snow who sucks Humans' blood as a way of surviving, off of him. The stranger urged Maribel through the cave passageway feeling coldness hitting him all around him along with seeing the ground appearing to be covered with snow from the horse's legs digging into it. He looked around feeling himself very nervous to meet King Winter unexpectedly as Maribel traveled through the snowy passageway. He sensed himself watched by the familiar senses blaring warning unexpectedly making him begin to panic due to thinking from the senses that the watcher was King Winter himself. He shivered from the cold concentrated ahead of him as Maribel continued to travel through the snow sensing the watcher was nearby but not making an appearance. He felt fear unexpectedly hit as Maribel gave off a loud whinnying noise sounding familiar indicating a Humanoid nearby for always giving that noises whenever there were Humans nearby traveling hidden instead of hiding waiting to pounce. He concentrated on the cave passageway in front of him as Maribel continued to give off her noises due to sensing she'll keep sounding it till humanoids were no longer sensed near. The stranger felt Maribel stop abruptly that gave off a whinnying noise in panicky tone despite his attempts to get her moving each met failure. He looked down towards the ground at her feet to see the snow appeared to have clamped around them looking icy to him and figured that King Winter was nearby observing them from his senses blaring of someone watching. He looked all around him forcing himself to stop feeling fearful as there was a loud roaring noise heard making his fear take hold. The stranger felt an itchy feeling on the side of his neck scratched the area only to continue feeling itchiness on the other side of his neck which he again scratched with a free hand off the reins. He continued to hold the reins as he scratched his neck all over the place till a cold hand Human felt clamped around it in some gagging choke hold making him look off his right to see the hand belonged to King Winter in a human form gnashing fanged teeth aimed at him while wearing an icy pointed crown on top of the long blonde haired head and saw the male was sticking out of the icy cave wall up to his chest clad in animal skin clothing.
He felt himself nervous some more as a male voice loud and demanding blasted in his mind "Identity yourself now or suffer my wrath!"
The stranger felt fear take control spoke in English the Humans' main language out loud "The name is Jinks Montreal sir. Excuse me for traveling through your domain your lordship."
The stranger named Jinks Montreal eyed King Winter who cocked his head with Human eyes narrowed in a glare aimed at him.
He again got the loud demanding voice he figured was King Winter's, speaking mentally to him "You reek of Lance Richard! Explain that!"
Jinks spoke out loud "Lance Richard gave me his body to have a second chance of living after my original body ended its life's span dying of old age. This was resulted from him saying that I'm an offspring of him fathered through a Human female."
He clamped his mouth shut feeling himself still nervous as King Winter without a word released his neck and disappeared through the icy wall, wall closing up behind the cold lord.
Jinks mentally spoke feeling himself still nervous "I hope that's the last I see King Winter around here. He makes me nervous."
He heard from his father Lance in response "Actually King Winter is just observing you like he does regarding visitors traveling through his domain kingdom. He only feeds off people who don't cooperate with his questioning."
Jinks groaned softly feeling himself nervous as the watching feeling resumed and found to his relief Maribel able to move by her moving unexpectedly traveling through the snow. He shivered from the cold as there was a loud roaring noise heard making him panic recognizing the noise as King Winter's reported pet guardian some kind of lizard like dinosaur with ability to change into a polar bear and back. Jinks shook from the noises as Maribel continued to travel through the cave which he heard water running unexpectedly heard the horse give off excited sounds and figured that she was terribly thirsty. He guided Maribel through the cave passageway feeling himself nervous of when King Winter's pet guardian would pounce on them unexpectedly as there was a small waterfall come into view from the wall which he felt the horse needed a drink urged her towards it. He ran his fingers through the waterfall finding it was harmless water and allowed Maribel to have her fill from the stream of water seeing that she was terribly thirsty from how lengthy she drank. Jinks again guided Maribel out of the cave passageway due to senses of fear hitting him making him want to leave King Winter's domain as fast as possible. He traveled through a cave passageway to hear a loud roaring noise sounding familiar to him making him look up unexpectedly to see with fear a giant scaly animal he recognized as some giant dinosaur like crocodile appearing to be biting at the see through ceiling above him and not having success in breaking it. He eyed the ceiling to see it was entirely smooth and see through as the massive crocodile followed their progress while biting repeatedly till they entered a cave passageway with ground blocking his view.
He sighed and looked around stopping Maribel's progress seeing a sign in the wall saying "Now leaving King Winter's Kingdom. Entering neutral territory domain between the cold lord and Humans, enter at your own risk."
He felt himself nervous as Maribel continued to travel through the cave passageway that was littered with plants in the walls and urged her to continue instead of letting her stop to graze on them. He exhaled a breath and inhaled through his mouth from fear hitting him as the watching sense continued instead of stopping making the oxygen mask's voice sounded again. He forced himself to nose breathe again as he figured to himself that King Winter was still observing him making him still nervous as they both traveled through the cave passageway. Jinks forced Maribel to ignore the plants despite her whinnying of protest and indicating that she wanted to eat by her repeatedly trying to go to the plants and him forcing her to move away from them. He gasped as he saw bones of a Human hanging from the plants on the wall and figured that it was actually a living ivy plant that captured people and animals for King Winter to feed off of once ensnared in its ivy vines. He urged Maribel through the cave passageway finding her not protesting to the urging instead continued on going through it making him nervous in being captured by the ivy plant's whims for King Winter to feed off of. He fe
lt wind blowing unexpectedly blowing into the cave passageway as the plants ended making himself relieved but still nervous as the watching sense stopped. Jinks urged Maribel through the cave to find themselves exiting the cave passageway and into fresh air of outside which he saw was actually a cliff hang with a rope bridge over a gorge leading to another cave entrance making him still nervous.
He groaned out a soft groan and mentally spoke "When will I get out of traveling through the cave? It's enclose space is freaking me out."
Jinks heard from Lance "What did I tell you when you started taking that path to the town of Wolf's Howl despite your obsession with that place anyway?"
He groaned softly and urged Maribel onto the rope bridge feeling himself still nervous as the horse traveled onto it and reached the cave entrance which they both went inside.
He again heard from Lance "Jinks answer me now!"
Jinks groaned of fear hearing the parental authority from his father's voice tone mentally spoke "You told me that I'll be risking my life and the horse I'll be using as my means of travel to Wolf's Howl and that I could die from the traveling route."
Jinks heard nothing from Lance in response figured that his father was waiting for a perfect moment to scare him due to knowing that his unexpected voice sounding in his mind scared him unexpectedly and had suffered from being shocked by that before. He felt nervousness take hold as Maribel galloped through the cave passageway he saw was entirely rounded all over and appeared to be made out of machine from the looks of it and was big and large enough for a horse and rider to gallop through it.
He sigh feeling himself safe from harm to think that comment only to feel nervousness as he heard "You're not safe till your back in New York City's domain underneath the care of the Master Organization's people."
Jinks felt himself nervous unexpectedly mentally spoke "Safe underneath the Master Organization's people? Didn't you see how they treated me like I was some prized object worth kept contained in some glass prison cell and only given nourishment of strawberry milkshakes through bottles dropped from the ceiling?"
He shivered from the memory of his containment by the group called Master Organization reportedly said to worship Lance Richard as their god along with seeing human males with his face as his vessel as he heard nothing in response from Lance figured that his father was angry at him and not going to comment till he was over the mood. He again urged Maribel through the cave passageway making him still nervous till they reached an opening showing a forest which he allowed the horse to have her fill from the plants gathered around the entrance. He sighed shivering from the fearful feeling hitting him unexpectedly making him shake which he forced himself to calm down breathing through his nose as Maribel stopped her feeding and galloped through the forest crashing through the plants. He looked up to spot high above him was a shimmery shine he figured that they were now underneath a dome a large glass that covered Human dominated habit territory.
He sighed and reached a hand towards his oxygen mask only to hear "Don't you dare take that off! The dome isn't always oxygenated for Humans, Jinks."
Jinks groaned recognizing his father's voice as he removed his hand and kept it on the reins.
He continued to ride through the forest till Maribel reared up unexpectedly which he gripped the reins tightly as he could keeping himself on her.
He heard "Surrender your gold or else stranger for we have you surrounded!"
Jinks felt himself nervous hearing the voice recognizing it as Human and male and appearing to belonging to a band of thieves reportedly living in the forest that would rob traveling Humans' of their riches and horses leaving them to travel on foot through the area. He mentally sensed the Master in control kept his hands on the reins and eyed the forest in front of him to see bushes rumble showing three male Humans wearing oxygen masks while dressed raggedy on foot holding gun weapons pointed at him.
He heard from one of them "Get off your horse or I'll shoot!"
Jinks eyed the men and mentally spoke while waving his hands in surrender gestures towards the males "Sleep, sleep."
He saw his order obeyed by the males looking sleepy and collapsing onto the ground unconscious which he heard "Beep, beep, beep."
Jinks groaned hearing the noises making him nervous as the greenery in front of him rumbled showing a three horned towering overhead dinosaur with fanged teeth which he spied a metal collar around its neck with a jeweled object in the middle of it as the beeping noises continued loudly. He stiffened of fear hitting him recognizing the noises coming from the dinosaur's collar warning Humans of whenever a domesticated dinosaur was near. He heard Maribel whinny in terror as he mentally got her to continue into the forest making her gallop out of sight and away from the men to spy behind him was the dinosaur giving chase with the beeping noises sounding loudly. He continued to feel fear hitting him as the dinosaur's beeping noises was joined by multiple beeping noises sounding all over the place all around him to him. He saw a path indicating horse back travel use and figured that he'll take it to keep himself safe from running into dinosaurs hidden in the forest despite beeping noises heard all around. He felt Maribel's nervousness underneath him urged the horse to run with him nervous himself still guiding her over the path while hearing noises of domesticated dinosaurs roaring all around him overtaking the beeping noises that sounded like they were hungry to him.
He felt nervousness hit him as he continued galloping away on Maribel thinking "Please don't let us bump into a dinosaur accidentally or have them target my ride until I'm done with her. I don't think I can stand travel through this forest without her."
He halted Maribel when he saw a large structure loomed in sight unexpectedly showing the path leading towards it seeing a metal wall with a large metal like drawbridge door that had a sign next to it as he heard zapping of electricity sounds behind him loudly halting dinosaurs' roaring noises. He looked behind him to see the three horned dinosaur was still in the vicinity making steps towards him and witnessed the metal collar's jewel glow along with electricity zapping sounds heard coming from it as the animal backed up along with resuming stepping towards him with collar glowing again each time which would cause it to back up.
Jinks sighed feeling himself safe for now shifted to read the sign saying “Wolf’s Howl, New York.”
Jinks sighed again seeing that he had arrived to the town and saw the drawbridge door which he figured was the entrance held up a hand mentally speaking "Unlock now."
He heard a clunk along with a bang sound coming from the drawbridge that refused to budge opening as he heard in response "Inappropriate animal detected."
Jinks groaned recognizing the voice as the computerized gatekeeper again held up his hand and mentally spoke "Unlock now."
He again got the familiar computer voice speaking its familiar words. Jinks felt frustration hitting him as there were laser lights seen indicating that the gatekeeper was going to shoot him by fireballs hence the lights seen which he lowered his hand and snarled out "Drat the dinosaurs for being nearby."
He urged Maribel to a slow walk following the structure’s wall that revealed a high overhead glass fence dome while hearing humming of electricity appearing to be coming from it.
He groaned out "I got to get inside to safety."
He groaned of fear hitting him again figuring out that the town was shut for the night underneath the glass dome and he would be forced to stay out in the forest a target for domesticated dinosaurs and Human thieves. He followed the wall seeing building structures from peering through it and paused as his eyesight traveled off his left where he saw a small hill with an identical like dome surrounding it not surrounded by the town’s dome. He felt curiosity hitting him overtaking his fear urged the horse to gallop towards the hill’s dome despite hearing multiple beeping noises coming from the following dinosaurs. He saw underneath the dome was a cemetery and recognized it with familiarity hitting him. He reached the dome seeing it was high overhe
ad and too high for the horse to jump over it while hearing humming of electricity followed it till a box on a metal pole stand stood a foot from the dome which he spotted a door in it indicating an airlock entrance. He dismounted with a hand on the reins and went to the box which he opened its door to see a large metal switch in it. He pulled it down and heard the electricity humming stop while sensing the electricity had ceased. He turned the horse around and released the reins and slapped Maribel on the rump causing her to take off running into the forest out of sight hearing her whinnying in terror before hearing loud roaring noises loudly sounding happy to him which he grimaced from that figuring out that the domesticated dinosaurs guardians of the town from hearing about it had managed to get their hands onto the animal to feed off of hence her terror noises and their noises of happiness to him. He went to the airlock gate sliding it open and closed it behind him and saw to his annoyance instead of a room for removing oxygen masks was there was no room at all while spotting an identical box on a stand a foot away with a worn grass path next to it. He went to the box and opened it pulling up the switch. He again heard the sound of electricity humming through the dome. Sighing he walked among rows of tombstones looking worn from time's elements looking at the gravestones’ names eyes searching. His feet led him to a row which he entered and walked among the graves eyes aimed at the tombstones till his eyes settled on two separated from the row by the contents facing another direction.
He walked around the gravestones till he saw the names of the two which he read “Roosevelt Knight, Janel Knight.”
Jinks sighed of relief hitting him feeling himself safe from harm and walked to kneel in front of the tombstone less than an arm length away that said “Janel Knight.”
He smiled a small smile and spoke out loud “I have come like I said I would and I won’t leave you again.”
He reached a hand to touch the stone jutting up from the ground in a round arch to feel the carved words on it. He sighed again as a memory of Janel looking grandmother aged flashed in his mind. He shut his eyes allowing the memory to come through him which he remembered walking into a building in New York City around night time taking an elevator while feeling urged to hurry.
Jinks pressed a button that that had wording label next to it said “Penthouse.”
He stood in the elevator brimming with