Daemon of Curses

Chapter 3

Black. There was nothing else except the pain. She couldn't feel her muscles. She couldn't move. The pain was excruciating. She had to move. But she couldn't even twitch. Or make a sound.

Flashes began racing in her head. One caught her attention.

A red room. Diamond and ruby streaked down the walls causing the air to twinkle with billions of crimson twinkles. She then realised it was a cave. The shadows in the crevices and cracks shimmered with malevolent intent. The air was thick with moisture and humidity. The place was familiar but she knew she had never seen it in her life before.

Then it was gone. The pain intensified. And she was heating up. The heat was terrible. She was burning up from the inside out. She opened her mouth to scream but no sound came out. Instead all the heat rushed up through her lungs and throat,like a waterfall of fire pouring out of her mouth. The pain disappeared.

She could feel everything. Her skin tingled with the sensation of moving air sliding over it. She breathed in and could smell the unique smell of each tree and each creature. She could taste the air on her tongue. The vibrations of movement metres away could be felt stirring the air around her. The individual sounds of each leaf rustle, landing bird and scuttling insect travelled to her ears. She opened her eyes.

Never before had she seen so much. Every air particle flowing on the breeze, every leaf flutter. And the colours. She could tell apart every shade of green and blue and brown. The red of a birds plumage, the navy reflection of oils in the distance. And the blackened charred ground surrounding her. She also seemed to have gained a sixth sense. She could tell where things were without having ever encountered them before. She could tell the next move of a bird fluttering in the breeze searching for food. And she could feel that a larger creature was traveling towards her and quite quickly.

She wasn't sure what it was but it certainly wasn't human. Cecilia was sure of that.

"I don't want it to find me", she said aloud in a voice different from her own. She looked around to find a place to hide. There was just a few bushes among the tall smooth trees.
She couldn't climb them. There weren't enough branches to hold. She looked down and realised that her hands were on the ground. At least what had originally been her hands.

Two paws. Both fitted with a full set of razor sharp claws. Blue green scales sparkled and shimmered in the morning light. Well at least she could climb with claws. She turned to the tallest tree and ran towards it, although not before tripping over not only a long aqua bejewelled tail with spines running down its centre, but also to flaps of blue skin hanging down at her sides. She shrugged her shoulders in a sigh and the skin folded up. Realising they were wings she tucked them into her sides before continuing towards the tree. In seconds she had scaled the tree and was now hidden among the leaves.

Moments later a man walked beneath Cecilia's tree. He stopped and looked around. He looked confused. Stalking around beneath the trees, he moved with an unearthly grace. Cecilia realised that he had been the creature that she had sensed. But she had thought it would be much bigger. He seemed as dangerous as it had felt though. As he walked, gliding between the trees, he shifted his head from side to side, nostrils flaring. As if he were searching for something or someone. His shoulder length chocolate brown hair shifted slightly revealing slightly pointed ears that seemed to twitch. Underneath his billowing midnight cape she could almost see his over strength muscles twitching under the tension.

He turned, walked over to her tree and knelt down at its base. Putting his hand on the ground she could see him trace the outline of a very distinct track. 4 deep gouges into the rich soil were difficult to miss. And they looked as though they belonged to someone who had climbed up a tree. She nearly gasped in realisation when he looked to where she was hidden. He had been following her!

She waited for him to climb up and grab her or to yell or do something, but nothing happened. He continued looking upwards, searching the leaves. She almost melted on the inside, his face was so beautiful. She felt drawn to him, but she daren't move a hair. At one point he seemed to look her in the eyes piercing through her soul with those sad silvery/grey eyes rimmed with a glowing gold. Those eyes were so lonely and grieving and yet the rest of his body showed an underlying anger and fury, he was ready to snap at any minute. He would be lethal too.
Then he turned away, not finding what he was looking for, taking off at a run.

Cecilia released the breath she didn't realise she was holding. She looked down at her paws in relief and sadness that he hadn't found her and nearly toppled out of the tree. She couldn't see wait her of her legs and when she twisted her neck around she couldn't see the rest of her body either. 'I don't want to stay like this forever', she thought in desperation. Then her feet started fading back into shape until it had returned to its original colour. She climbed down the tree and took off at a jog in a direction opposite to that of the man and towards where she sensed water.

Looking at her reflection, there was no human in sight. Feral fangs peeked out from between her blue lips, blue green scales followed her jaw line and up her face revealing two blue green eyes with gold flecks in them. She had an elongated neck with spines following from the top of her spine to the tip of her tail which was host to multiple different spiky metallic arrow tips of whom looked lethal. She opened up her wings saw that each wing was about the length of her body from tooth to tail. Again her reflection was lying she thought to herself.

Now she looked like a badass young dragon.