The Shapeshifter

The wind blows the leaves of the trees and causes them to rustle. Those rustling sounds were making the night at this desolate desert serene.

Below a tree was Alex. He fell asleep when he was looking at a fruit. It quickly sent him into sleeping, as if the fruit had the power to affect his consciousness.

It was late at night in the desert when a fragrant smell wafted around the oasis. The aroma was that of mixed berries.

Soon, the smell was already spreading beyond the oasis.

The night, where animals were either asleep or still hunting were roused by the scent that was coming from the oasis.

It didn't matter whether they were near or ten kilometers away. The fragrance alone, was enough to keep them moving towards its source.

On the other hand, the fruit that was hanging on a branch of the tree was swinging; like it was struggling out of the tree.

The truth was, the fruit was burgeoning. It was becoming bigger and was developing faster. Its previous yellow color was now turning green. It wont be long until it reaches its peak.

Alex was still sleeping below the tree. He was sleeping like a deadman, with his hands entwined.

He dreamt of many things even though he was only sleeping for a while.

After a bit of walking, he emerged on the other side but everything was black. He looked back and saw the white tunnel and walked towards it hastily. When he arrived everything was already black.

His mind was in a mess. He wasn't able to comprehend anything that was happening. He ran around aimlessly hoping to break out of this 'cage'.

(A/N: This may seem a bit rubbish to you all. But this dream really happened. And we'll get to the explaining eventually.)

In the oasis, Alex looked like he was struggling from the invisible ropes binding him. As if God wanted to help him, his head was struck by an object. It bounced towards his c.h.e.s.t then finally landing in his hands.

When Alex felt the object land on his head, his mind was jolted. When it hit his c.h.e.s.t he was unable to react and was only able to catch it when it was about to land in his 'fruit maker'.

'Finally. Haaaaa. Wait. What the hell is this?' he sighed and looked at the fruit in his hands. It was emerald green in color. Its shape was like that of a dragon fruit from Earth.

'Growl!' At this time, low growling sounds could be heard around the oasis. The eyes of these beasts were everywhere.

They were like the glowing balls of death!

His body was rooted in place. Being eyed and surrounded by innumerable beasts caused him to tremble in fear. He wasn't expecting such a crowd of beasts after waking up from a nightmare.

He could see the beasts inching closer and closer to him. From the tiniest of rats, to foxes, snakes, camels and even vultures on top of a tree. There was even a monstrosity hiding in the back, so he wasn't sure what beast it was.

As for the scorpions, they didn't dare to go near Alex. It was like they were forbidden to come even close to him.

When the beasts was almost a meter a way from him. He heard a snort and the crowd of beast parted, to give way to a beast.

Alex heard loud stomps coming towards him. Every stomp echoed in his body, building up terror in his very soul. This caused him to bow his head and shut his eyes tightly. He didn't want to see how he die.

"Look up, human." There was a deep voice that sounded in the oasis. It didn't contain any threats or aggressiveness in it. In fact, the voice even contained goodwill in it, yet it was commanding.

Alex opened his eyes and slowly looked up. It was a White Rhino. He was flabbergasted by its mere presence alone. His gaze was unmoving, this creature wasn't like the Scorpion Emperor that looked like he would kill someone. It looked holy and majestic!

"Have you had enough? So human, the fruit that you have in your hand is called 'Gaia's Gem'. Since you got it first, you should it eat now while I'm still here or these guys will take that from you." the White Rhino suddenly spoke, causing Alex to jolt back.

"Then wouldn't you take this from me?" he was a bit scared, since this White Rhino was leagues above him he could even die from its wheeze.

"What do you think I am, human? I'm not like you humans, that covets others' treasures and I'm not like the beasts you have in mind. I'm already a Void Beast which is equivalent to you, humans' Archmage rank." the White Rhino replied seemingly offended by his words.

His eyes widened in shock, 'This being is an Archmage!? Holy! Oh shoot, did I anger it?'.

"Ah um- I'm so sorry, I didn't know there are beasts like you." Alex hastily replied. The White Rhino stared into his eyes and said "Are you mocking my intelligence?"

"Ah! No, no, no, no! I am not mocking you." his voice was trembling yet it got louder. So the White Rhino looked at him again. "Okay, I'm sorry. I'm going to eat this fruit now."

He quickly held the fruit up and was about to bite it when he was stopped by the White Rhino. "What are you doing?"

"I'm going to eat it." Alex said, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"I know that you're going to eat it, you idiot! That's not how you eat it. You have to peel it first." the White Rhino was clearly annoyed by Alex. The latter scratched his head in embarrassment and peeled the fruit slowly.

Light was escaping in the gaps of the fruit. Green light blinded his eyes for a second, then a green bead came out. It was soft to touch, like a marshmallow and there were tiny yellow dots on it.

'So this is why it was called Gaia's Gem. It's so beautiful.'

"It's good to eat now, right?" he asked. Since he didn't have any knowledge of this fruit. He only knew that it looked good and smelled good.

"Well, of course. Just remember to chew and swallow. Be careful not to get choked by it." the White Rhino said. It's eyes was slowly closing, it looked like it was scheming something; it was like it was happy.

Alex's eyes widened in horror, the fruit was already in his mouth. He could only watch as the White Rhino laugh at him.