Cursed Flames

Mine to Protect

Reyna had been sitting and trying to drown out the sounds of screams echoing in her ears for almost twenty minutes when she heard someone running through the leaves and snapping twigs as they made their way closer to her. Reyna had stood up quickly and readied herself to fend anyone off that might've posed a threat. The rustling sounds of leaves and brush had stopped right infront of Reyna. The doctor slowly emerged from the bush, out of breath. Reyna quickly ran over to the doctor, surprised to see them this deep into a forest. The doctor stood up straight with Reyna's help and spoke urgently. "The boy! The one you brought in!" "Flaro?" "Yes! He's in grave danger!" Reyna's eyes widened in shock. "What happened?" Her voice sounded assertive. "The doctor stumbled on their words. "I-I-I don't know. He's covered in some sort of substance. I've never seen anything like it." Reyna looked up. "Let's go." The doctor looked at Reyna. "I can't. I'm exhausted from the run here." Reyna quickly helped the doctor onto her back, piggy back style. "Hold on." "What are you-?" Reyna quickly bolted for the clinic without a second thought. She had no problems running at her fastest speed even with the doctor on her back. The wind was rushing in her face, and everything she was running past became a blur in only a few seconds. She had to make it back to Flaro. She was determined to. She didn't want to think about what would happen if she was too late. Reyna had jumped out of the forest onto a dirt path that led both to the clinic and the rest of Greyshore. She made a mad dash for the clinic and stopped at the entrance. She let the doctor down quickly, nearly dropping him with force. She then ran into the room Flaro was being kept in. She kicked the door wide open, almost breaking the hinges and possibly the wall they were attached to. When Reyna saw that the bed was empty except for the stains that were caused by the ooze, she was full of dread. The doctor walking in a few minutes later, still dazed from the speed Reyna was running at. Reyna clenched her hands into fists and quietly began to growl. The doctor was silent. Reyna turned around and pinned the doctor against a wall with her claws. "Where is he?!" The doctor was speechless and confused. "H-h-he sh-should be in th-the bed..." Reyna pressed the doctor against the wall with more force. "Where could he have gone?!" Her eyes had a very faint red glare emitting from them now. The doctor pointed out the door and the opposite direction of the harbor. Reyna growled before letting the doctor go and running off to find Flaro. The doctor took a few second to compose themselves. They stood up and took a deep breath. "This, surprisingly, is not the worst thing to happen to me as of recently..."

The sun was slowly setting on the island of Greyshore. There was a calm sea breeze blowing in from along the beaches. The water shimmered and sparkled beautifully as the remaining sunlight reflected off of it's tide. The moon was slowly peaking out from the horizon on the opposite end of the island. It was almost magical seeing both the sun and moon on each side of the island. That view however could only be seen from the large mountains near the center of the island. Phoenix was lucky enough to have wandered up to the top of the mountain before the sunset and was able to witness this beautiful and rare moment in nature. Sadly, she was distracted from looking at anything. She just gazed down over the edge of the mountain, where she was resting. One of her legs was swaying slowly off the edge as the other rested close to her chest. She was still feeling the guilt of hurting Flaro while not being able to help him an any way. She wanted to get her thoughts organized before she went back to see him. She refused to let her mind imagine the possibilities that he was already gone. That he might pass away in his sleep. It might've been a more peaceful way to die compared to all the other ways they could've died, but Phoenix thought it was too soon. Flaro was still young. They all were. They had their whole lives ahead of them. Or at least they would have if their race wasn't being hunted down. Greyshore was anti-wolf hunting, which was definitely a good start to creating a wolf utopia, but what if the news got out that wolves were outlawed everywhere else? Would Greyshore bend to the rules of a king? Phoenix just wiped her eyes and pushed the thought away. "We'll get there when we get there..." She spoke quietly to herself that way she could hear some sort of reassurance, even if it was something she herself said. Thought the sun was completely hidden by the horizon now, the moon was still shining bright in the night sky. This caught Phoenix's attention and she looked up at the night sky. She could see all sorts of stars and lights shining as the moon gradually made its way higher and higher into the sky. Phoenix had always believed that facts were the best way to deal with a problem. It made sense in her head. You can't fix a broken leg by hoping for a miracle. That's just how the world was. Or... was it? Phoenix had been staring up at the sky for a while now when she started to question the credibility of her own beliefs. Facts worked, but what if hope and other nonlogical methods of problem solving really did have an effect on the physical world? The sky had been filled with all sorts of colors and stars. The dark blues, faint purples, bright whites, even the reds and oranges. All of these colors came together to form a single night sky for everyone to share equally, and yet it looked like she had just gazed into her own personal part of space. One where she was the only one seeing the deeper message that was trying to get to her. It wasn't a physical message, but a spiritual one. Phoenix wiped the tears from her eyes and smiled. She understood what nature was trying to say to her. She understood the message the world was trying to give her. She knew what she had to do now, and slowly stood up. Phoenix quickly started to make her way down the mountain top, hope racing through her heart. Hope that Flaro would be perfectly fine when she saw him. Hope that all the pack would go back together to see Flaro as friends... no. Family. Her newfound beliefs gave her the energy to run for miles. It gave her the strength and courage to see Flaro, even if she had hurt him before. It gave her the ability to come to terms with her flaws, both physical and spiritual. She ran knowing that Flaro would become stronger after he was fully healed, and that the pack would become stronger because of it. Once she made it down to the bottom, she started running faster. As she was running she had felt something run past her, also moving at great speeds. Phoenix stopped to see what had just ran past her, but whatever it was, was gone. She was about to start running again when she felt an ominous presence watching her. She slowly looked around, scanning the area to figure out what might've been stalking her. Some had jumped down from a ledge nearby and landed behind Phoenix. She quickly turned and swung at whatever was behind her with her claws. Phoenix's eyes widen when she saw that nothing was there. Suddenly, something had grabbed her from behind and she tried to turn around and swing again at her aggressor. This time, they caught her fist and pushed her back, knocking her to the ground. Phoenix crawled back in a panic. She was looking at a shadowy figure that was outlined by the moonlight. She crawled back up against a wall. "Who are you?? What do you want?" She tried not to sound terrified. The figure's shadow was slowly looming over her as it took small, inconsistent steps closer to her. She tried to back up even more, but the wall had kept her from succeeding. "St-stay back!" Phoenix tried to sound intimidating. The figure just kept walking closer and closer. Her ears folded and her eyes filled up with tears. She screamed as loud as she could as she got up and ran from the figure as it chased her through the darkness of the night.