Break

Chapter Three: First Night in the Forest

The Year of the New. That was what they called the sixteenth year since the Hatching. That was what they called the year in which every child on the planet born in the most recent Hatching, the Hatching of their generation. He was sixteen. He had made his move, seized his opportunity, left the Glazgons.

Today is the first day of the rest of your life.

He had been walking for what had felt like forever. After reaching the forest, the walls of Glazgon had slipped beyond the horizon. Well, he assumed it had. He knew it would be long gone by the time he emerged from the forest. With a forest so vast and dense, and with a canopy so thick, there was no chance they would find him. But on the other side? Who knew? Would he be greeted by a desert wasteland, sparsely dotted with dead trees? Or would it be a sheer, sudden cliff? He could not be expected to know. All these strange types of land, he knew little about. People had told him about them, taught him of it, but not much. He was not expected to leave the region of Glazgon, after all, unless he was flying out to kill for sport. Barbaric, he thought, scoffing to himself.

When dusk arrived, Erebus felt a little lost. He cleared out a place to sleep in grass, leaves, vines and soft moss, but his stomach ached with hunger, and his unbearably dry mouth was proof of his thirst. His eyelids grew heavy, but he wanted to find himself food and water. How was he meant to, though? He had always refused to hunt, infuriating his parents and giving Ivianne another thing for her to tease him about. He had taken food for granted. The Glazgons would hunt, and only the freshest and finest of meats would make it through for the royal family to eat. He was a carnivore by nature; though he was certainly capable of eating plants, it was unhealthy for him, and his body was not familiar with it, since he had never eaten them before. He had to make a decision - go against his set morals and principals and try to hunt some animals, or find some plants and hope they wouldn't poison him. And then there was the issue of water, which he had no idea what to do about. Let's think about this logically, he told himself, calming himself with deep breaths. I've seen a few animals around, and animals can't live without water. There has to be a spring or some other water source around here somewhere.

The nightlife was beginning to appear and Erebus was unsure of what to do. Chase an owl? Eat a mouse? He thought he might try the latter. After an exhausting hour and a half, he had caught and killed two small mice and what he decided must be what was called a possum. He had eaten a possum once, on his tenth birthday. It tasted quite good, but Erebus now had a new problem; he had no idea how to eat them in their current state, with tail, fur, ears and all. He transformed into his Glazgon form, his weak, fragile wings instantly getting stuck in the tangled vines and undergrowth. He had always hated his wings. They were useless, next to impossible to fly with, and they only ever irritated. Quite often, he wished he didn't have them. Now was one of those times. He used his claws and fiddled around with the creatures. He managed to get off the tails, ears, noses, and - much to his disgust - eyes.

Unsure of how to skin it, he sunk his teeth into one of the mice. He half choked on it, but forced it down. Its fur bristled his throat. Something so small was barely enough for him. He tried skinning the mouse with the edge of his sharp talons, but decided he was losing too much meat, and gave up. He turned back into human form, and found his human body was in shock - the strong smell of blood ran thickly through his nostrils and he felt more tired than ever. Clearly, Glazgons were more familiar by nature with death and fatigue. Had he really exerted himself so much that day to feel this tired?

Now comes the dangerous part, he thought. The Glazgons would worry for their prince. Never had he spend a night outside. He spent plenty of time between the black walls and the Glaztek, of course, but overnight? It would not go unnoticed. He was glad with the amount of land he had travelled, at least. If he had to spend a night in the empty, barren land between the Glaztek and the forest, there was no way he would be able to make his escape. The forest had always sat on the horizon, but now he was in it. He felt like his life was actually going right for once. And it felt good.

With a forest so dense, Erebus had convinced himself he would almost certainly be safe, but there was no knowing. Being found was still not his sole concern. His hunger had not been satisfied by the mouse. Admittedly, it felt better in human form that in Glazgon form, as Glazgons required much more food, but he wanted to eat more. The smell of blood put him off, but he knew if he turned back into his Glazgon form, he would not be able to stop himself from devouring the rest of what he had. He would save it for breakfast. The possum was a good size, and if he ate it when he woke up, he would be fine until maybe midday or early afternoon. If he ate it, he would be able to search for water without worrying about his urgent hunger. But water ... where? Where would he find it? Inside the trees, perhaps? Plants needed water too. There had to be some. Or maybe he could wait for rain? But the weather could not be depended upon. A stream, a spring, something. This was a forest, not like the dry woods he had been taught about. Forests had water. Somewhere.

Erebus found himself drifting into an uneasy sleep. His mouth was dried out, his lips were chapped, and his saliva was beginning to run out. His heavy eyelids finally closed over his purple eyes, and he was glad that night, for his sleep was dreamless. No dreams meant no nightmares. Fearless. He would be fearless. This was a new adventure, a new chapter of his life, and this time, none of the Glazgons would stop him.

Not his sister.

Not his mother.

And especially not his father.

A/N:

By the way, if you were wondering about me changing the colours of the cover, I thought it was more suitable, because it symbolises new hope on the horizon :)