Azara Origins

Chapter 2: The Fire Spirit

Azara woke up with a gasp as a sharp pain zigzagged up from her side.

"What the—" she said, looking down at a bandage tied around her waist. She surveyed the area and saw at least twenty big wolves curled up around the big cavern.

"Damn."

Strangely, she was not frightened by these large beasts.

Azara tried to stand but immediately fell back against the stone wall.

Her vision blurred as a bolt of pain shot through her left side. She shut her eyes and tried to get her bearings.

After a while, she opened them.

She tried to stand, and this time she precariously managed to make her way to her feet.

She leaned against the cold stone wall for support and then stumbled a couple steps toward an opening... before collapsing only inches from a gray wolf's foot.

She bit back a cry of pain.

The wolf rose its head and looked at her before lowering it back down to the ground.

Azara got up on all fours... feeling sick...

She crawled two feet... feeling fresh blood soak through the bandage.

Her vision started to fade... and she lapsed into unconsciousness.

Time Skip

Azara woke up again, convulsing in agony. She felt as if she had been stabbed with a knife repeatedly in the side.

She looked around the room. It was dimly lit by torches and seemed to be carved from stone.

"Easy..." a voice said, as a young man around Azara's age stepped out of the shadows.

"Who are you?" Azara growled.

"Right now, I'm the person keeping you alive," he said with a sad smile. Before Azara could open her mouth to speak, he continued. "You have a decent-sized shrapnel piece lodged in your left side... and little fragments throughout your chest."

"How can you fix it?" Azara asked with a grimace.

"That's the thing..." he said, his dark eyes scanning her from head to toe. "I can't."

Azara managed to work herself up into a sitting position... her body shaking.

"So... what you're saying is... I'm going to die," she confirmed.

"Well... yes," he said slowly. "But..." he added hesitantly.

"But?" she repeated.

"There might be a way that you can live," he said, fiddling with his hands. "Can you walk?"

Azara shook her head. "I don't think so."

He was silent for a moment. "I'll be right back... Don't go anywhere." He ran out of the room.

"Like I was going to take a stroll," Azara muttered grouchily.

Time Skip

A long while later, he was back with a huge gray wolf at his side.

"That's a big puppy," Azara said with wide eyes.

"It's just like riding a horse," he said, patting the wolf.

"I highly doubt that," Azara said, raising an eyebrow.

After several minutes, and a lot of pain, Azara was able to straddle the big wolf's back.

"What's your name?" Azara asked.

"Dakota" he said." Yours"

"Azara"

They did not talk for a while.

As they walked down a long stone hallway, Azara's vision tilted, and she tipped a little to the left... but managed to right herself. She gritted her teeth as a torrent of pain flared up from her side.

"Is it worse?" he questioned.

Azara nodded.

"If you can hold on... we're almost there."

She shook her head, trying to clear it. "I'll try." They walked for a little bit more.

"We're here," he said.

She nodded dizzily.

As they walked into a big room, Azara saw a wide, wooden bed with a woman lying on it. There were people standing around the bed dabbing her face with a wet washcloth.

The woman opened her eyes... and looked straight at Azara.

"She's perfect," the woman croaked. "Is she—"

"Yes," Dakota said.

"Am I what?" Azara said hoarsely.

They ignored her.

"Did she agree?" the woman asked softly.

"Technically... she doesn't have another option," a man at the woman's side said.

"Technically... she does," Azara said weakly.

"Do you want to live?" Dakota said, turning to her.

"That's a stupid question...Yes."

"Do it," the man said to the woman.

With great resolve, the woman sat up and started shaking uncontrollably.

To Azara's shock, flames started lapping up the woman's legs and arms.

A giant fire wolf burst from the woman, shot up into the air and dived down...

Straight at Azara.

She yelped as white-hot pain engulfed her entire body... She rolled off the wolf and hit the floor...

Azara writhed in pain as fire licked hungrily over her body. She felt as if she were burning from the inside out.

Azara howled in agony as she felt her body stretch and twist painfully.

Then... Silence.

A huge black wolf stood in Azara's place...

All was quiet...

Suddenly her eyes flashed open...

Glowing with the power of the fire spirit's rage.

She howled... announcing herself as the fire spirit...

Alpha of all wolves.

Somewhere not too far

A young man the same age as Azara writhed in pain... liquid fire spreading through his body. When the burning subsided...

A feeling of ice cold...

No heartbeat...

No breath...

Just an unquenchable thirst for human blood...