Beauty and the Beast-Man (Nir x Fem OC)

Chapter 1: Perfectly Sorrowful

OC's name: Emerie (Em-Er-Ree)
Age: 20

Nir was exhausted and limping with the little ounce of strength he had left. He was practically approaching Death's door. He looked up and saw the clouds and the blue sky, he had crossed the border connecting the beast kingdom to the human territory. Unsure of what direction to go in he looked west and saw a river, he began to walk towards the river, he walked a rather long distance.

It took him hours just to reach a cliff that gave him a clear view over the land, the river was only a few kilometers away. Nir felt a serge of pain across his chest and saw his wound had opened again.

  "That reptilian captain truly was not what I expected. He fights as fiercely as his opponent. Wouldn't you agree, Fenrir?" He coughed, Nir saw blood in his palm and squeezed his hand shut, he grunted and continued towards the river.

   Nir walked and walked, until he tripped over a tree root and began tumbling down a hill. When he reached the bottom his vision was blurry and he was close to passing out. His wounds opened more and he slowly tried to crawl to the banks of the river. Nir dragged his limp body as far as he could leaving a blood trail on the ground.

'This is it? This is how I spend my final moments, bleeding out on my stomach. Not once, did I ever think that this would be how I die. How pathetic.'

Nir was losing consciousness when a figure appeared before him, he looked up at the blurry silhouette in front of him. They were saying something but he couldn't make out their words before his vision went dark.

'Fenrir. Fenrir, what am I to do now that you're gone? What purpose does my life serve without you to protect? Who shall I protect?'

There was a soft warm scent in the air, breaking Nir awake from his sleep. When he awoke there was crackling coming from a fire that was burning in a fire place. "Mmm, wha-what is this?" He questioned looking at the bandages on his arm.

  His upper torso had been bandaged as well. His feet hung off the bed that was much too small for him, and the decor in the room and the smell suggests that a woman lived there. The sound of a door opening stopped Nir's train of thought. He laid back down and closed his eyes, the floorboards creaked with every step.

  Nir peaked his eye open just enough to see the shadowy figure. But he couldn't see their face because they wore a hood, they held a basket in their hand and a lantern in the other. The figure put the basket on the table along with the lantern.

  Nir grit his teeth at his supposed captor, thinking of ways to escape. However, his mobility is limited due to his injury's. The person removed their hood revealing a woman with long golden hair.

    Her eyes gleaming in the lantern's light, Nir's body was tensed but when he saw her his body relaxed a little. She pulled out a piece of bread from the basket and broke it in half. Taking a bowl from the table she walked over to the fire place where a beaten up old cooking pot was resting above the flame. She filled the bowl and turned back to look at Nir, he quickly shut his eye pretending to still be asleep.

  The sound of her footsteps got closer and closer, he could feel her eyes peering over him. Emerie set the bowl down on the bedside table and Nir was thinking that if he had his knives he could take her down with ease. Beside her feet was a larger bowl with water and a cloth hanging on the side of the bowl. She wet the cloth and ringed it out till it was damp and she carefully placed the cloth on Nir's forehead and face, with gentle strokes she tried to bring down his temperature.

  Nir did feel much better with the feeling of the cold cloth on his head and face. Emerie wet the cloth again and proceeded to move further down to his neck. 'How long has it been...since I've last washed myself?" Emerie squeezed the cloth once more to make it slightly less wet and she proceeded to move the cloth just above his bandages to wash the exposed part of his chest that didn't need wrapping.

  'Why is this human helping me? Why didn't she leave me to perish by my wounds? She must be planning to trade me to smugglers, she clearly won't get much from trading me while I'm injured.'

  Nir continued to think and question what she plans to do with him but Emerie had other things on her mind, 'I would've expected him to have woken up by now. He must have suffered more damage than I thought, poor thing."

She put the cloth back in the bowl and caressed his cheek. Emerie got up from the bed grabbed the basket and put her hood back on and left the house. Nir opening his eye tried sitting up on his own he pulled back the curtains and looked out the window beside him. He watched her walk down the path and he watched her go further down the path and in the distance he saw small flames, indicating that torches had just been lit. It was a village, Nir groaned in pain and he was forced to lay back down.

  "If the humans find me here I will surely die by there hands." The idea of that brought him sick to his stomach. Almost dying from his wounds like a wild animal being hunted for sport was bad enough, but the idea of humans being the ones to finish him off, as a beastman his pride would not allow it. He threw off the covers and struggled to get out of bed but finally stood up.

  Nir stumbled frequently but he started looking for his knives, he pulled open every drawer and opened all the cabinets and even the closet cupboard. But they were nowhere to be found. He tried to use his magic to see if they'd return to him but he was still too weak.

  Everything was spinning and Nir couldn't take it much longer and soon he fell to his knees. He felt this stabbing pain shooting across his chest, his wounds had reopened. "Damnit! I need..a healer." Nir groaned in pain as he tried to stand. He reached and grabbed the dresser drawer and he pulled it out and everything in it fell out.

  Nir fell on the floor face down he put his arm around his bandages and winced. He looked down at his hand and saw blood. "Not again," he groaned in pain. As he rolled over on to his side the front door opened, the moonlight from outside beaming in and when Nir looked up he saw the same woman from earlier.

  She removed her hood revealing her face, her pale light complexion with little freckles covering her pink cheeks. And her golden hair shining in the moonlight like a distant star in the sky, with her eyes filled with worry. She dropped the basket and rushed to Nir's side. She put the lantern down beside her and reached out to Nir but stopped.

  'Of course, she's afraid. She'd rather touch burning fire wood than a beastman.'

  Nir had thought wrong when Emerie placed her hand on his cheek and raised his head to look at her.

  "You're gonna be okay."

(Sry that took longer than expected but the first chapter is done and I hope you all enjoyed it.)