Forest Fire

3

Zaun wasn't quite what Forest expected it to be.

When the Topsider's had spoken so roughly of the Undercity, Forest expected it was an exaggeration. It was not.

The atmosphere was also quite intimidating to say the least.

Forest had taken a few measly coins from her fathers office before she took off, and now she wished she wouldn't taken a lot more. It was definitely worth a few meals...she knew that much.

Forest was incredibly hungry and tired from all the walking. No doubt, she either needed a form of transportation or food. Either one would be fine.

Just as she passed a lit up deck with an array of fish being served, probably some kind of restaurant, a hooded man popped out of an alleyway, directly in front of Forest's path. He had something hidden behind his back.

Forest had no clue how to speak to people, let alone fight, the only thing she knew how to do for sure was to run, and it was far too late to do that now.

"Where you off to little lady?" He asked, eyeing her pouch of coins.

"Uh..I'm not sure actually." She blurted as he took a step closer to her.

"Maybe I can point you in the right direction?"

Forest could hear his smirk from beneath the hood.

He suddenly gripped her arm, pulling her a few feet into the alley.

"Hey!" Forest tried to pull away, but his grip was far too tight. To be fair, Forest had grown up on one small porridge meal a day, making her body quite frail. Matthew had once said something about food interrupting the experiments.
But that didn't matter now.

"How about you hand over your precious little coins okay?"

She could now feel his hot breath on her face as he leaned over, his hand gripping her so tightly she thought her limb might combust.

"What coins?" Stupid! Forest scolded herself, trying to think of something else to say.

The man laughed. "You think I'm stupid eh? Hey, how bout I cut you a deal? It wouldn't be right stealing from a little lady like yourself?"

Forest nodded in agreement.

The man let out another chuckled, taking a step back and pointing at her. "Your funny." He reached behind his back and pulled out a long board with green lights lining the edges.
As he did so, he removed his hood revealing dark hair and pale skin.

He had a tattoo etched beneath his eye. It was a firebird.

"Here. You can take the board, it'll fly ya anywhere. I'll take those coins." The man stared at her, holding out the object.

Forest had been thinking about how she absolutely needed a form of transportation. Maybe this was the universe doing her a favor.

She nodded and grabbed the board, throwing the man her coins.

"Pleasure doing business with ya Princess." He smiled, showing off a row of crooked yellow teeth.

Matthew had made sure to make Forest's teeth absolute perfection. But I'm an attempt to rebel, Forest chipped her front tooth. It was small, and didn't directly impact her appearance much, but it did make her feel in control.

She watched as the man turned his back and sauntered away from her.

The girl turned her attention to the object in her hands. Forest had never seen anything quite like it. Even as she'd been running from her guards in Piltover, she hadn't seen anyone carrying around such a thing, let alone riding on one.

Forest sighed to herself and dropped it on the ground, watching as it hovered a foot over the concrete.

She had no intention of flying it high, if it even went higher than a foot. Forest unfortunately didn't have the best balance, and heights was already a fear that had been programmed into her mind for awhile.

Forest gripped the brick wall beside her with her palm and stood on the board, wobbling a bit at first touch. She had no idea how she was going to ride it without a nearby wall at all times.

Just as she was steadying herself, Forest felt a tingly feeling spread across her hand, and as she whipped her head to the side, she saw a large roach crawling across her fingertips.

"Gah!" She yelped, jerking her hand away as she lost balance completely, falling backwards off the board and landing on her ass hard.

Groaning to herself, Forest sat up and glared down at the board.

She tried at least ten times after that. No such luck.

Just as she was about to give up hope, Forest tried one more time, and this time she mounted the board perfectly.

"Yes!" She whispered to herself, accidentally triggering the board with her movement and sending her flying forwards and out of the alley.

It was much harder to stay on the board in motion than it was to remain on it while it was stationary.

Forest flew through crowds of creatures and people, getting many words cussed at her angrily and even more birds being thrown.

"Ah!" The girl tried to remain on the board as it flew through another food establishment, but ended up crashing into a wall of wood, breaking it and falling hard on the ground.

Forest didn't have time to ache or groan, because when she looked up, she was surrounded by angry customers.

Before she could get up herself, a large muscular women pulled her up by her shit, spatting in her face.

"You must not be from around here." She hissed.

"No..! I..AM...fromaroundhere." Forest muttered in response, but the women just chuckled.

"No...your to," She wiped her hand across Forest's long sleeved black shirt before continuing. "Clean."

The others around them laughed and the women threw her back down onto the ground, circling her.

Forest's breath began to hitch and her heartbeat picked up. She could almost feel it thumping out of her chest.

She tried to lift herself up, but the women placed a large combat boot on her chest, pushing down hard.

Forest wheezed and surrendered, her sweaty palms shaking as she placed them back down on the wood planks that made up the floor.

The board was still laying on the ground behind her, which gave Forest only one option. She grabbed it as quickly as possible and hurled it at the women's face in front of her, sending her flying back and clutching her bloody mouth in agony.

Forest grabbed the side of the board, slinging it into the man closest to her, and at the same time, accidentally knocking over a girl behind her as Forest's feet collided with her legs.

In all the chaos, Forest leapt back on the board and took off once more, though the joyride didn't last long.

The second she flew out the door, angry citizens rallying behind her, Forest ran straight into someone's figure, flying backwards off her board and onto the ground.

Looking up, she gasped, taking sight of what seemed to be a boy, or a man..she couldn't quite tell. Whoever he was, he wore a white mask that bore into the depths of her soul.

Forest scooted backwards on the wood as she watched him pick the board off the ground and sling it over his back.

Before she could run or even attempt a fight, which she hadn't planned on, Forest's head was suddenly trapped beneath a tight fabric...diminishing everything to darkness.