He didn't know what to do. The world around him had stopped. Time itself stopped. Bailey stood only mer inches away from the beast, its fangs dripped with black acid. The monster resembled a fox, though much larger than a real one.

     The fur on the beast was a black as night and eyes as red as blood. It lowered itself to the ground, emitting a high pitched screech. Bailey covered his ears, hoping and praying it would stop.

     In a swift motion, the monster lunged itself at Bailey. Bailey let out a yelp in fear, desperately trying to keep it away. In there dual, the monster had forced them both into a portal. Time was still at a standstill, he could only assume the monster had done this.

     "What do you want from me!" Bailey screeched, punching the monster in the face repeatedly.

     It did nothing. The monster only seemed to mock his pitifully try. Revealing its teeth, a pool of acid spilled from its mouth, coating Bailey. Bailey let out a wail, he could feel the acid burning away his eyes, blinding him.

***

"Why are you here?"

     Bailey opened his eyes, finding himself floating in a dark abyss. The monster could not be seen, yet he knew it was close by.

"What do you want?"

     Bailey let out a croak, not able to speak words. It almost felt as if he had forgotten how.

"I won't let you stop me."

     He felt his chest tighten, making it hard to breath. 'What is going on? Am I dead? I can't die! Not like this.'

"One day you'll know what I've been through."

     Bailey let out a gasp for breath. All the air had left his body in one swift motion. His eyes widen in fear.

"You won't ever stop me..."

***

"Bailey! Wake up, Bailey!"

     Bailey sat up, gasping for breath. Before him was Commander Grey and Drew. The commander smacked him across the face, "don't you ever go in that worm hole again without adult supervision. How dare you! I have Drew here telling me you've been in there for an hour, and that beast was literally suffocating you? How dare you go on a suicide mission like that. Telling me that your too afraid to go in, and this happens. You should be ashamed, Bailey. Ashamed."

     Bailey's eyes were filled to the brim with tears. If he were to apologize, he'd probably get jumped on the spot. The commander was not a man to play around, especially with things like this.

     "Don't blame him, it was my idea..." Drew mumbled, giving Bailey an apologetic glance. "When will you kids learn to grow up. A worm hole is no playground. Quite frankly, I will just forbid you from even helping us on this mission, because you clearly can't handle this."

     Bailey jumped to his feet, "the princess said-" "I don't care what she said, forget about it. You're done." With that, the commander turned on his heel, and left both Drew and Bailey alone.

     Drew covered his face with both hands as tears streamed down. Slowly, Bailey made his way over and held Drew in his arms. "Don't blame yourself. I was the one who made the decision to go in. I'm-" "but that doesn't matter! What matters is you almost died. I couldn't live with myself if you died. I would live my life with guilt, and pain, and..."

     He was never good in situations like this. "But I'm not dead... Besides, I think it was a good thing to go in. It talked to me." Drew looked up, confusion plastered on his face. "What do you mean? What did it say?"

     The words had imprinted itself on his mind. "Why are you here? What do you want? I won't let you stop me. One day you'll know what I've been through. You won't ever stop me..."

     Drew thought for a moment. "Maybe it wants to get out." "Maybe," Bailey replied, wringing his hands together.

"We should get some sleep, its been a long night." Bailey nodded, "and I can try to apologize to Commander Grey tomorrow. If he even wants to see me." A small smile formed on his lips. "He was worried you know. He just isn't the type of person to show it."

***

"What are we supposed to do. It can manipulate time in ways even we can't. None of our Time Travelers are ready, one was almost killed by it in there."

The princess, Aurora, hummed in agreement. "I know what you're saying, commander, but you also need to understand that one child learning of there gift in one week wouldn't ever be able to take on anything of this power."

The commander was fuming, but remained professional nonetheless. "I must inform you that I have forbid him of helping us in our mission. He is a danger to himself, and a danger to everyone." Aurora gently lifted her cup of tea to her lips, "you understand that one less Time Traveler could mean one less chance of stopping this fiend. The entire world is counting on us, and every second we waist, more and more of our time is lost. This thing is smart and agile. It could smell us from a mile away. You said it yourself, the monster resembles a fox. And do you know what that means for us?"

The commander balled up his fists, picturing the beast struggling to breath in his bare hands. "Sneaky little monster, but it wont make it past me, you can count on that. It's fast, but I'm faster."

A warm smile was painted on the princesses' face. "Your confidence will be the death of you, commander."

He sneered, "and your lack of confidence in me will be the death of you. Now I must head out, I have important things to do."

Before the commander could leave, Aurora stood up and slipped her hands into her large sleeves. "Someday you'll go far..." she said, a smile forming on her face. "And I do hope you stay there."