The wielders are coming, and they're ready for violence.
With a cub in her arms, Arietta James, a dedicated vet technician in training, flees for her life and the life of the little shifter she's ready to die to protect. Her escape lands her right i...
WARNING: This chapter touches briefly on topics that may be difficult for some readers. Please take caution as you read.
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Arietta awoke, sweating.
She lifted a hand, watching it quiver. "Naya?"
Next to her, the cub looked at her, her eyes wide. Naya gave a tiny broken mew.
"I'm sorry, I woke you," Arietta told the cub. That had been a bad one. Perhaps the worst one. But instead of wiping it away and thinking of other things, she made herself face it. The nightmare.
The memory.
Her skin was clammy. Her lungs were still on fire, though whether it was a phantom pain from her nightmare or reality, she couldn't determine.
She coughed once, twice, three times into her hand.
Naya gave another mew.
"It's okay," Arietta told her through ragged breaths. "I'll be okay."
Maybe if she told Naya enough times, she'd make it true.
But that was all just wishing. And she'd done enough wishing for things that would never come true.
Arietta peeled herself from the bed and made her way down to the bathroom tucked behind the kitchen on the second floor. The more she thought about it, the more she wasn't sure who exactly this house among the trees had been made for. That it had running water felt odd to her. Yet, everything about the shifters felt odd to her—they were an interesting people, a careful arrangement of man and creature.
After rinsing her mouth out and using the facilities, Arietta crept to the kitchen on soft feet and found a bit of milk in the fridge for Naya. Settling the little one on the table, Arietta glanced out the tall window in the kitchen area. Just like the window upstairs, this one had a tint to it, which only confirmed her suspicions—these windows were all reflective.
The outdoors in shifter territory, from what she could see, was unlike anything she'd dreamed it could be. Deep green grass and wild brush dotted the area with unending amounts of beautiful, healthy looking trees.
Unlike in the cities. In the cities, everything natural was hidden under slabs of dreary gray concrete and steel. If it wasn't trapped under human or wielder made structures, it'd be stuck in an endless season of repair. The wielders did not know how to let anything grow. They only knew how to destroy with their magic. The humans, although more in number, were much the same.
Arietta watched the wind weave its way gently through the leaves next to the window. The trees were so close, so vibrant. Her fingers itched to reach out and feel. Seeing this up close—she knew now why shifters didn't like to settle in the cities. Why establish oneself in a territory of man-made creations and destruction when this territory so full of life was right here?
