Wallis strode through the forest, feeling glamorous in her black shoes, blue jeans, and black shirt, topped with a rich brown jacket and the black beanie her mom had brought back from the men's store. But Rono’s selfless reasoning always had a way of puncturing her cool, making her stare at him. “What hideous monstrosity—”

  Rono halted his smooth glide across the forest floor, and suddenly, a slow leg emerged from behind a tree. Three figures followed, appearing from three different trees, one at an angle in front of Wallis. Already in motion, she couldn't stop abruptly in her tracks because any sudden movement would either result in her doing splits or cranking her knee a full 90° backward. Her options were clear: collide with the person in front of her or hit the massive tree to her side.

  Wallis opted for the tree, turning sideways and bracing for impact. She hit and stumbled, accepting her fate, but then a hand gripped her arm. The woman she'd been about to bump into pulled her back, and Wallis landed squarely on her feet.

  She took a few steps back, positioning herself beside Rono, a cautious gaze fixed on the three humans now standing together.

  "Greetings," the man with glasses on the left said in a curious, slow voice. His soft auburn hair caught the sunlight with a gentle sheen, and his glistening green eyes held a thoughtful depth as he gazed at the girl. His skin was warm, and his body was lean, standing before the colossal Nevarid with a strange confidence and calm that contradicted his mundane appearance and clothes.

  “Yes, hi,” Wallis replied, a little stunned. She’d genuinely expected to encounter other creatures like Rono; that would have been more logical.

  The three humans exchanged quick glances, a mix of curiosity and confusion in their eyes. As Wallis studied them, a puzzled expression on her face, she noticed something at the edge of her vision. Behind the three humans stood three horrific creatures, each more terrifying than the last. Three Nevarids, looking as though a meat grinder had mangled them, stood side by side, a chaotic blend of black, gray, and white. Rono might have been the only one Wallis knew with such multicolored skin, but this proved that birds of a feather flocked together.

  She was so surprised she fell to the ground, mouth agape in awe, forgetting the cold instantly.

  The one who stood on the right was a creature of impossible scale, its bulk rivaling that of an elephant. It was held aloft not by legs, but by a forest of towering, narrow tentacles. These appendages, a mottled mix of charcoal black and stone gray, clung together like thick, petrified ivy, shaping themselves into massive, weight-bearing pillars that anchored the abomination to the ground.

  Atop this writhing foundation rested a massive head, a great dome of stark, bone-white flesh as broad as the pillar of tentacles supporting it. Dominating this head—consuming at least a quarter of the creature's entire form—was a single, colossal eye. Its surface glistened wetly, where a vast, inky black pupil had dilated to swallow nearly the entire orb, leaving only a terrifyingly thin ring of white sclera visible around the abyss within.

  Heavy folds of gray skin, like monstrous eyelids, veiled the top of this great eye. Scattered across the white flesh around it were dozens of smaller, identical eyes, each peering out from between fleshy, uneven hills of hide. And stamped upon the creature's alien flesh, from the white dome of its head to the dark tentacles below, were the familiar, unnerving crescent-shaped pits and countless smaller sensory arcs, the signature of its teratoid kind.

  The one who stood in the middle was a creature only slightly less immense than the first. Its form was a stark and unsettling contrast of color. The lower half of its body was a deep, pitch-black that seemed to drink the light, while its upper half was a blinding, sterile white. The two colors bled into one another at their meeting point, a messy, hectic blend that gave the grotesque impression of a malformed panda.

  Its body was at its most vast and heavy at the base, tapering slightly as it rose to a smooth, conical peak. The bottom half was brutally split into two massive, black tentacles that served as legs, one grotesquely larger and thicker than the other, giving it a lopsided, unstable stance.

  From the right side of its white, conical head, a colossal white tentacle erupted, slamming into the ground with a heavy thud that scattered dirt and debris, standing stiff and tall like a pillar. On the left, a smaller, more graceful tentacle arced outwards, connecting to three other appendages that were already fused to the main white mass. Below this arc, another huge white tentacle plunged to the earth, providing a third point of stability for the grotesque form.

  Its head was studded with numerous inky black eyes, identical in their abyssal depth to the great eye of its brother, but unsettlingly small and scattered. Each was veiled by a thin, milky-white film of skin and appeared to be all pupil, with no visible sclera. And where the black and white halves of its body met, a sharp, uneven crack stretched horizontally in the middle of its form, its edges fused together in a jagged, painful-looking seam. Like its kin, its entire body was marred by the signature crescent-shaped pits that served as ears and countless smaller sensory arcs.

  The last of the trio, the one who stood on the left, was a bizarre, almost mocking spectacle. Standing a head taller than a car, its body was a canvas of stark, jagged white, a color that was brutally interrupted by what looked less like stripes and more like violent wounds. Vicious slashes of deep black and ashen gray tore across its form, creating a vile parody of a zebra's coat.

  Its weight was supported by a pair of colossal, pillar-like tentacles that seemed to grow directly from its underside, anchoring the creature to the ground with immense stability. The monster's white flesh wasn't smooth, but chipped and fractured like ancient, weathered bone.

  Sprouting from these jagged surfaces were strange, discolored fungal growths—sickly organisms with caps like bruised flesh, adding a layer of decay to its already unsettling appearance. And scattered amidst this corruption, the signature of its lineage was unmistakable: the flesh was marred by the familiar crescent-shaped pits and countless, twitching sensory arcs, marking it as the third horrific brother. The one beside Wallis was an obese elephant.

  Wallis noticed that these three abominations were missing something distinguishing, something their fellow Rono had: the black mist beneath them.

  The woman standing between the two men appeared composed, almost unnaturally so. She appeared to be in her early forties, with a fit build and fair skin. Her blonde hair was neatly tied in a low bun, and her blue eyes, striking yet cold, were fixed on the young girl on the ground.

  This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

  Her expression gave nothing away. Then, she bent down slightly, placing one hand gently on Wallis' arm, and extended her other hand. The motion was fluid. Her fingers were kept straight and together, forming a clean, elegant line until the extended hand stopped, hovering palm-up before the girl. It was an offer of help, yet it waited with a strange, expectant patience, promising nothing beyond the contact itself.

  Wallis squeezed her eyes shut, but the image was seared onto the inside of her eyelids: three impossible creatures standing beside three ordinary humans. A living nightmare. When she dared to look again, they were still there, their forms seeming to drink the light from the undergrowth. Her mouth hung open, a silent scream trapped in her throat.

  Wallis eyed the hand for a beat before taking it. As she rose, her ankles—no longer reliable bone and sinew but something fluid and treacherous—threatened to give way. She wobbled, a wave of vertigo washing over her before she locked her knees, forcing herself upright. She stared at the newcomers, resisting the urge to check if her own hand was still solid.

  Silence stretched, thick and heavy. Wallis raised her hands, a gesture of desperate inquiry, but the seven figures remained motionless statues. Finally, she broke the silence. Her gaze flicked between the Nevarids and their human hosts. "What... Whose genetics are these?"

  The man on the right smiled faintly as he spoke in a soft tone. “One despicable creature’s.”

  Also dressed in mundane, casual clothes the man appeared to be in his late forties. His hazelnut skin gleamed slightly over his muscular build and broad shoulders. His twinkling brown eyes narrowed kindly, a stark contrast to the scene. “What’s your name?” he asked, his tone gentle.

  Wallis tilted her head. ‘They bring me here, but they don't know my name?’

  “Wallis,” she answered flatly.

  The man nodded. “I’m Berock.” He gestured to the severe-looking woman beside him. “This is Mariel.” Then to the lean man next to her. “And this is Tenny.”

  Wallis gave a curt nod, a poor substitute for the revulsion she felt. The three humans remained unnervingly still, their collective gaze shifting to the air around her, to Rono.

  “She is my host,” Rono’s voice resonated, seemingly, as usual to Wallis, from the walls themselves.

  Tenny sighed, planting his hands on his waist. “So you were serious.”

  “Yes,” Rono replied. “We were.”

  A ripple of movement drew Wallis' eye. The Nevarid in the middle, a horrifying chimera of pure black and stark white, shifted. The horizontal crack split its face, and a voice issued forth—not disembodied like Rono's, but a tangible, alien sound. It was a sinister, grating pitch, forming clear, eerie words as the fissure moved. “What did you think?”

  Wallis froze, a primal shudder tracing its way down her spine. It had a mouth. It could speak their language.

  “Who’d have thought the so-called intelligent ones would make such a concerning decision?” Tenny muttered, glancing away with a look of profound annoyance.

  “Indeed, it was a concerning decision to bring you,” a new voice chimed in. This one came like Rono’s, belonging to the shortest Nevarid, the one attached to Tenny. It had the jolly, light-hearted tone of a mischievous old man. A white, zebra-striped tentacle snaked out and nudged Tenny twice in the ribs. Tenny groaned in irritation.

  While the striped Nevarid tormented its host, Mariel stepped forward. Her eyes, cold and analytical, were still locked on Wallis. Then, her hand shot out—a blur of motion Wallis saw but couldn’t react to. A hard jab just under her ribs sent her sprawling. A choked shriek was punched from her lungs as she hit the hard ground.

  “What?!” Wallis gasped, pushing herself up onto her elbows.

  Mariel stared down, her expression unreadable. She looked at Rono. “What’s wrong with her?”

  “Her joints are unstable,” Rono replied.

  “How?”

  “Every major articulation has been replaced with Nevas.”

  “What?” Wallis cried out, the calm revelation hitting her harder than the fall. She looked down at her own body, a foreign country. “Since when?”

  “Since you became my host,” Rono stated.

  “I was told my joints were reformed, not replaced!”

  “They lied. If you could access the Nevas from within, you would be troublesome.”

  “Then why didn’t you tell me?”

  “You never asked, and the knowledge offered no benefit.”

  “No, I did! I asked you why this was happening, and you said you didn’t know!”

  "Yes. You asked for the why, Wallis. I don't know why it is, but I know how it is."

  The words hung in the air, a perfect wall of infuriating logic. The others watched the exchange in silence, the humans looking vaguely amused.

  Tenny finally broke the quiet. “I guess that’s useful, but what’s the purpose? It’s not like you.”

  “I do not know,” Rono said. “It simply occurred.”

  Wallis rubbed her face, the fight draining out of her. Mariel extended a hand again. Wallis stared at it, then deliberately settled herself more comfortably on the ground. “I’ll just stay here.”

  Mariel retracted her hand without a change in her cold expression. “As you wish.”

  “Anyhow,” Berock spoke. “We should not waste any more time.”

  Glancing up at the assembly of humans and monsters, Wallis noticed something that made her feel a fresh pang of alienation. Berock and Tenny were tall, but they stood with an easy, solid grace. Mariel, though shorter than Wallis, was a pillar of stability. They were whole. Unbroken.

  “We are all guardians,” Berock announced, his tone shifting from friendly to formal. He gestured to the abominations beside them. “A team. That includes our… Companions.”

  ‘They’re nothing like me,’ she thought, the feeling a cold stone in her gut.

  ‘Sidekicks.’

  “As Rono must have told you, we guard treasures,” he continued. “Treasures as priceless as this world itself.”

  Wallis cleared her throat, the pitiful look in her eyes now edged with defiance as they narrowed. “But I can’t guard anything,” she said. “I’m fifteen.”

  “Soon to be sixteen,” Mariel corrected, her arms folded.

  “Oh, so you do know things about me!” Wallis retorted.

  Berock shot Mariel a silencing glance before sighing. “None of that matters now,” he said, his gaze returning to Wallis. “You’re here for a reason. You’re here to join us.”