"Huh? Is it time to get up already?" Will said groggily as he was prodded awake by someone. With blurry eyes he sees a small boyish face staring intently at him. It's his son, Ben, poking at him.

"Dad, get up already! You said we were going on an adventure today!"

Will shifts his gaze to the left to look outside of the window. It's still dark outside. There's not even the light of the rising sun yet.

"Buddy… if the sun hasn't woken up for the day, I'm definitely not ready to either. The sun should always be the first to work after all!" Will said with a tired, but sincere chuckle.

"But you said we could go on an adventure tomorrow yesterday! It's tomorrow already. You didn't say what time!" Ben annoyingly retorted.

Sheesh, who in the world taught a 12 year old that kind of logic, Will thought while begrudgingly sitting up in his bed.

He looks at the time on the clock. 12:07. It's barely past midnight.

You've got to be kidding me…

"It hasn't even been 4 hours since we went to bed Ben. We can't go on our journey if we're tired."

Ben wrinkled his face and whined, "But I'm NOT tired! I want to go on an adventure like you use to! I'm too excited to sleep."

Dear god, when did this kid get so stubborn. Must have gotten it from his mother.

This argument went on for another 20 minutes.

"Alright, alright. We'll go now." Will said, finally giving in to his son.

I think I was starting to have another nightmare anyways.

"Alriiight!" Ben squeals as he excitedly ran around the room packing.

After getting their stuff packed up, the two left the inn they were staying at and made their way out onto the road. They walk side by side until they reach the edge of the town.

Well, it looks like our adventure to the eastern port will start a little bit earlier I guess.

Looking down to his right, he sees Ben with a stern look facing the northern pathway.

Guess I should probably teach him how to figure out directions, huh?

"That's north buddy, we need to go this way" Will said pointing to the east.

"I know Dad, but I have a bad feeling about going that way… I think we should go in this direction instead."

Seriously, this kid. Here I am up at one in the morning and he wants us to go around the greenwood forest because of a bad feeling? That'll take us an entire day's worth out of our way at least!

Will smiled at his apprehensive son. "Sorry buddy, that path will take too long. We're going through the greenwood forest. Don't worry, I'll keep you safe."

He starts walking towards the woods with a lit up lantern in hand. Ben sighs and reluctantly follows behind his father.

After walking for about an hour, they reach the edge of the greenwood forest. It's quite dark and without the light of the lantern, it would be near impossible to see. The moon had helped light the way of the pathway on their way over, but the thick forest did not let any of its light shine through.

Such a shame, it was such a beautiful full moon tonight. And it's a bit scarier at night without its light. Who would have thought I'd ever miss the moon?

The sounds of animals scurrying about and the occasional crack of a branch can be heard as they walk through the forest. It is eerily quiet aside from these occasional noises. No wind blew to whisper its secrets to the forest on this night. They have been walking for a while now.

"Dad, I don't like this. I think we should go back." Ben said with a pale face.

This kid is going to give me wrinkles. Make up your mind already!

"Sorry bud, we already gave up our room at the inn and it's too late to go back now. The sun will come up in a bit. The forest just seems scary in the dark."

"I'm not scared of the dark or this forest dad. I just have a bad feeling."

"Are you scared of monsters then? I'm quite skilled you know. Nothing to be worried about." Will pats the sword at his side with a grin.

The loud snap of a branch startles them as they both jump. Alert, Will puts his hand on his sword, ready to draw.

That was too loud to just be a falling branch. Something big made that noise.

Another loud snap breaks the silence again. Will turns towards the direction the noise came from. More snaps, a faint gargled roar, another loud snap. It's getting closer.

"Wha-What is that?" Will says under his breath as he squints to see the source of the noise. Ben is hiding behind him, clinging to his father.

A large silhouette of something not human appears in front of them right on the edge of the lanterns light. Will raises the lantern in hopes of gaining a bit of a better view. The figure takes a step into the light.

"Not a step closer!" Will says as he takes a step back and draws his sword.

Ben peeks his head out from behind his father. A large bloodied lycan is standing in front of them. Will pushes his son back and prepares to strike.

"Ge-get away," the bloodied lycan collapses on the ground with a loud thud.

Cautiously, Will advances closer to the collapsed lycan. He prods the beasts hand with his foot with his sword ready. As he pulls it back, he sees a long line of liquid stretching from his shoe.

Huh? That's not blood.

Will kneels down to touch the substance covering the collapsed beast's claws.

It's sticky…

"Tre-ees…" the lycan breathes before his eyes roll back.

Will shines the light over the lycan's long brutish face, his sword ready just in case. Questions start to go through his racing mind.

Why is a damn lycan here? Lycans are hard to kill without magic or silver, but I didn't hear any enchantments. Is a silver hunter here? No, lycans regenerate which is that why he's so bloody. Did a regular hunter do this? I'd be impressed. But why is he sticky…. what is this anyways? Did it say 'tree's' before dying? Is this…. tree sap? What in the world is going on? Why the heck did it say "trees"?

"UwwaaAHHH!" Ben screams from behind him.

Will turns to see his son being held in the air by a tree. An ominous aura seems to be coming from it. There's a hole in the middle of it that looks disturbingly similar to a… mouth.

That could be why he said tree. Wasn't that just a normal tree a second ago?

"Ben!" Will screams out as he rushes towards his son, dropping the lantern on the ground next to the dead lycan.

What is this? There's no such thing as a tree monster?! What madness is this? What kind of sick joke is this? That stupid wolf! What did he bring upon us?!

A loud crunch is heard and an even louder scream pierces the night. Ben's face is splattered in blood. Ben is screaming in pain with tears rolling down his face. His face showing everything: fear, pain, anguish, despair. He's staring at his father from above with his left arm in the mouth-like hole of the tree. His eyes are screaming for his dad to save him, but his voice unable to do so through the pain.

Will desperately slashes at the tree with little effect. Its trunk is too thick and he can't reach high enough to swing it at the branch holding Ben. The tree pays no heed of him.

"Screw you! You damn tree!" Will screams as he continues hacking away at the tree gnawing on his son's arm. His son's every scream is heavy on his heart and pierces his soul.

Nothing in this world could be worse.

Then the screams stop. Will looks up to see his son with a blank stare, eyes glazed over.

"No…. I won't lose him too! I can't!" he yells out.

With all of his effort, he throws the sword up at the branch holding his son in the air. The branch snaps off where the sword hits and Will catches his falling son. There's blood everywhere. He looks at his son's arm. He's missing most of it. What's left is mangled and he's bleeding at an alarming rate.

"No! No! No! No! This isn't supposed to happen! This can't happen!" Will desperately pleas as he holds his limp son in his arms.

Please! Please God! Save my son! I'll do anything!

A sudden sharp pain enters Will's chest. He looks down to see a tree branch had pierced him. He looks over at the tree with unrelenting eyes filled with anger.

"This is nothing compared to the pain you already put me through!" Will gargles through his blood filled mouth still holding on to his son.

At least the branch missed Ben.

Will pulls himself out from the branch's reach, stumbling over, still holding onto Ben. Will looks back at the tree to see what awaited him. As if nothing had ever happened, the tree stood still. No mouth-like hole. No movement. Just a blood strained branch where he was once standing and a bunch of broken branches lying around the tree in the moonlight.

Was it all just a bad dream? It was just a hallucination, right?

Will looks down at his son still covered in blood and missing his arm. It was no dream.

Damn it. How could I let this happen?

Will sits in the forest with tears running down his face holding his dying son in his arms. He looks at his son's blank and expressionless face. He can barely even see it with such little light. He looks around for the lantern. It's still lying next to the lycan corpse on the ground.

You are a cruel God, aren't you?

Dragging himself and his son over to the light of the lantern, Will reaches his hand out towards the lycan. An eye opens and stares at him.

"Still alive huh? I thought you were dead already. Good, that makes this easier." Will gasps to the beast in front of him.

The lycan opened its mouth to speak, but before any words came out, Will shoved his son's other hand into it.

"Now bite!" Will gasped out while bringing his fist down on the lycan's snout.

"Aaahhh! Gue-wah!" Ben let's out sounds of pain as the lycan's teeth were smashed into his hand.

Thank god, he's still alive.

"Sorry buddy, but this is the only way." Will says with a bloody grin to his squirming son.

"You… fool!" the lycan weakly snarls pushing Will's fist off of his snout and releasing the boy's hand from his bite.

"He won't survive the bite. You'd be merciful to kill him now than let him suffer such pain. " The lycan struggles to get up.

"My boy will survive and so will I" Will spit out.

My sight is getting hazy. Better get this done quick. Still need to get him to bite me too.

"I'll kill you both and end your suffering quickly; I need to regain my strength." The lycan slowly starts to get to his feet.

Will looked to his right and saw the sword he had thrown at the tree within his reach.

"There's no need for that," Will says with a grin on his face. Will had stabbed the lycan with his sword.

"Y-you! Silv-" The lycan stuttered out before cutting off abruptly. His eyes rolled back and foam dripped from his mouth.

"Your services are no longer needed beast."

The lycan toppled over with the sword sticking out through his torso.

"Uwwwaaahh! Cuugh!" Ben is still screaming in agony.

Guess it is painful huh? But you'll live. I know you will. I'll endure it with you.

Will puts his hand in the lycan's mouth and slams his fist on the snout again. The dead lycan's teeth bore into his hand, and an initial surge of pain runs through him. Then he felt nothing else, but the slight pain in his hand and the throbbing pain in his chest.

I don't feel anything. Am I too far gone to be saved?

Will's sight gets hazier. He looks at his son writhing in pain on the ground next to him. Ben's left arm has started to regenerate while the rest of his body starts transforming. Will sees his son's wide eyes staring at him. Will tries to speak comforting words to his son, but no words come out and his sight starts to fade. All he can do is smile at him because he knows his boy will live. His body is numb. Ben's screams start to fade. He looks forward unable to move anymore. Everything begins to fade and all he can see is a glowing white light.

Ah, so that's it. You truly are a cruel God.