INK & FIRE

CHAPTER ONE

The muffled sound of dripping was the only think she could hear after being dragged away into the abyss. It almost sounded like she was in a cave, as long as you ignored the odd creaking from random movement.

Shadowseeker slowly opened her eyes, a sharp headache welcoming her awake. She narrowed her eyes, laying there with an aching pain spiraling through her body. Something didn't feel right. The area was cold, leaving her uncomfortable, use to the boiling heat of the volcano island, but this wasn't it. It wasn't as cold as the few times she snuck into the Ice Tribe's territory, but it was still terrible. Why didn't she feel any heat? Why wasn't she producing the usual amount of heat in her body?

Something was terribly wrong. She squinted her eyes, staring up at the ceiling, it was made of wood, but with a dull yellow, and black stains on it. It had the same scent from that wierd puddle, but it wasn't as strong. Was is going on?

The previous memories became more clear to her, remembering the black mass on the ground, the arms, the fire, getting dragged in. She sat up, panic shooting through her, slowly trying to calm herself down. It's okay, you aren't dead, you aren't dead, now where am I... looking around, it was nothing familiar, it was like one of those abandoned wooden houses humans made, but no sunlight was peaking through the boards. That worried her, she needed sunlight.

The room didn't matter to her, wierd objects, chairs, tables, more black stains, piles of black stuff in corners. She clenched her hands- wait- she looked down at herself, her thoughts going silent. She looked like a human... at least, she had the legs of one, the arms of one. THAT THING TURNED HER INTO A HUMAN?! She couldn't help but panic, backing away in hopes it would get her out of the body, but no, it was her, this was her right now. Her breath quickened, slowly starting to shake with fear of the unfamiliar body.

It didn't feel right, this didn't feel right, I want to get out of this, I want to go home, how do I get home?! No no, just calm down, breath, think, your still alive, figure out what's going on before you panic, you don't have time to panic. She took deep breaths, looking down at herself didn't help though, feeling like she wanted to throw up just at how she looked, so she looked away, not wanting to stare at herself right now. Maybe it's just a dream, there's so many wierd creatures on our planet, maybe one mutated and got some wierd realistic 'put my prey' to sleep ability... so then why did I turn into this?

She let out a shaky sigh, her mind jumbled with what to think, she didn't know what to start on first, the unknown place? Why she's a human? Is her tribe safe? Where's home? She frowned, feeling dizzy from all the stress. Okay, first things first, let's deal with where the hell I am... and learn how to walk.

She looked down at her legs, contemplating if she should just crawl, which felt normal, but humans only walked on two legs, and she didn't want to look like an idiot, so... time to work to figure out how to walk. She brought herself over to a wall in the dark corner, grabbing onto the wood. She paused, staring at her hands... those weren't her talons, this isn't her. Well, crying about it won't do anything. She pulled herself up, wobbling as she tried to stand on her new legs. It's like standing on your hind legs, that's all it is, but without ever coming back down, simple, easy, good and simple.

She then immediately fell back over onto the floor, she actually fell a few times, and once she sort of got use to standing, she fell again trying to walk, and some more falling happened. Gladly no one was around because this is the most embarrassing thing for her right now, how do humans deal with walking on two legs? They make it look so simple. Stupid humans. She eventually got herself to walk fortunately, though she had to be slow to make sure she didn't fall over again.

She stared at the table, narrowing her eyes. There's what looked to be a wierd metal vine with a orb in it at one side of the table, and a bunch of other stuff she didn't care to try and figure out. Lots of wierd looking wood and metal plants and rocks around here... I think. Whatever they were didn't matter to her, she needed to get back to the Fire Tribe, or else there's literally no heir to lead them to battle- as much as she didn't want to- and no future queen. They looked up to her and she needed to at least fill some of those expectations, no matter how much she didn't want to.