Marcella, Blood Tight

Chapter 1

It had been many moons since she was normal. Many moons since she breathed as a human. A strong sad sigh echoed. Human.

Most days she didn't know what she was or who she was.

Everyday was a struggle. But struggle was the only way to move forward. Whatever she was, she now needed to accept. She was uncomfortable in her own skin.

Her name? In a depth deeper than time an echo mmmm. Her ... name ... was ...? The deep sigh returns laaaaahhhhh. Her name, a question that darkly haunted her.

She stopped, just before entering the forest, and looked into the sky. When was the last time she stopped and looked up. She admired the way the fourth moon, Theopea, looked like it was about to crash into the rings around the planet. She looked down into a little brook that was rapidly running beside the path and saw the reflection of her face. She saw the gold fleck in her eyes. She rearranged her hair to hide her eyes and continued towards the village.

She sniffed and smelled the distinct smell of the forest before it opens just before the rain comes. She saw ahead of her storm clouds brewing just over the forest and village. She thought to herself another damp entry into a prospective village. Sounds typical for my luck.

A little while later she came up to a building which looked like a bar with a boarding house next door to it. She put her hand in her pocket and pulled out an empty hand, she did not have money. Great, she thinks to herself, no money for food or bed.

Just then the door opened with a thud. At the exact same time a bolt of lightning hit a little distance behind her. The guy walking out notices her very abruptly and decides to approach her. He is a tall guy with a very muscled chest and arms. She could tell he was either a soldier or a lumberjack. He was also extremely drunk, so she decides to leave very quickly in the direction of shelter.

She continued walking through the night. Eventually the orange glint of the sunrise caught her attention, and she knew that the first sun would be up in about an hour. Most people would not get up until the closer and second sun rose, but she always loved the first sunrise there were the dark blue of the day, and the stars of the night. The only catch was that at this time of day it was quite cold outside.

She sat on a tree stump not too far from the village and watched the sun rise. The sky faded from the black of the night through the orange of dawn into the dark blue that she enjoyed so much. She could still see all four of the moons above the rings.

She knew that the serenity would not last long, as this was when the lumberjacks (or lumbos as she called them) came out, between the two sunrises.

She started looking around the horizon where she was. She saw, quite close to her, a large outcropping of stone wall, with a cave in it.

At that time, she heard people coming down the path heading her way. She could tell even, at her young age, that they were lumbos, as they were carrying axes.

She saw the guy who came out of the bar leading the pack of lumbos. But he seemed totally different to the rest of the pack. Most of them were rudely talking about their wives, but he wasn't. There was a lonely expression on his face, like he had lost someone very close and dear to him.

At 16 years old she could hardly believe the language coming out of their mouths. Her previous experience with guys was with them being very verbose and, when in a group, very animalistic in the way they gang up on someone in a fight or attack. She remembered having a fight with someone who wanted to rape her, about six months ago. She could not get him off with her wiry strength, so she bit him on the neck, in self-defence.

She is still afraid of all guys because of her past experience, so she gets up and walks to the outcropping of stone towards the cave that she saw.