Eclipse of the Moon

Chapter Seventeen

Cielast was out in the forest, not having second thoughts about her escape. Freedom was at her claw tips now, she was finally away from Azure and his goons. They were all in her past, and it was her chance to remake her life, it may be solitary for now, but at least she had it.

Her talons sank into the earthy ground, as she smiled. It felt so good to be outside once again, feeling the fresh air pump through her lungs once again. Her freedom was what she valued most, but she didn't know where to begin.

Where would she go? She had no home to go to, she was all alone with nobody to care for her. Her mind swirled, as she looked down at the ground nervously, her talons shivering. It was only then that a thought crossed her mind, what if Azure found out about Astaroth letting her escape?

Surely, he wouldn't kill her. She was his little cousin, and family don't kill each other... But Azure was a ruthless killer, hopefully he wouldn't kill her...

She then had an amazing idea, what if she could go back to Paintra? Surely, she and Zyroth would let her into their cave like before. She nodded to her thoughts, and began to walk towards Flarius' kingdom and back trace her memories from there.

Her mind swirled, as she walked through the leaves carefully, creeping past anything that looked alive. Occasionally, she'd see the dead corpse of a deer laying to the side and nibbled on it for a bit, then went on her way.

She came across a river with a swift moving current, the waters rushing by. Orange flashes whisked past her vision, as the waters glittered in the sunlight that beat down upon them. Cielast smiled, and dipped her talons into the waters, sipping the stream happily. The little schools of fish swam past in a hurry, tiny silver flecks whizzing past her view.

She snapped up a few of them in her powerful jaws, as they tried to flee from her huge fangs. She shook off some of the water droplets, and continued to walk through the forest.

When she arrived at the cave, she collapsed tiredly, panting and looking up at the ceiling. "Why hello there," called a familiar voice, as Paintra turned her back to face the wall, staring at Cielast blankly.

"Wow, you've sure grown." She chuckled, as Zyroth slipped into the cave through the entrance. Cielast opened her jaws to speak, but instead laid her head back down on the floor, slowly starting to drift off to sleep.

"It's alright, you can have some rest for now. Tell me what happened when you awake," Paintra informed, putting a soft deerskin cover over top of Cielast's wounds.

* * *

When she awoke, she was greeted by Paintra's kind smile, as she gestured her talons down to her. "I thought you'd never wake up." She joked, and revealed Cielast's healed wounds.

Zyroth was staring down at her sideways from the roof, his body twisted around to meet hers. Cielast blinked a few times, seeing his not-so-friendly glare, and put her head to the side.

"Why are you here?" he sneered suspiciously, crawling to the floor. His eyes were like a crocodiles, a pale green that seemed to glow.

"I escaped from Azure and decided to come here. All of my friends and family are dead." Cielast panted, seemingly out of breath as she rolled to her side.

Paintra nodded understandingly and took the deerskin covers off of her and tossing them to the side. She put her talons softly against Cielast's forehead with a friendly grin. "Ah, I see." Her smile faded into a frown, as she sat next to her patient.

There was a moment of silence before Zyroth spoke, "We've found some scrolls you might be interested in, and they could possibly help with getting your mother back." Paintra nodded from beside him, tapping her talons together.