Chrysalis (Book 1.5 in the Wolfen Brethren Series)

Sorceress

18 Years old
Jué

I was sitting in the unbearably long grass, my ankles placed on my knees as I just breathed. The sharp scent of salt tinged my nose, the crashing of the ocean waving over my body.

My heart slowed and thoughts left my mind as I melded into nature. The Birds songs melting into the background as I really became one. Breathing in through my nose, I really felt the movement around me. The natural world was beautiful when you saw it with senses other than the sight of our eyes.

I could feel the earths movement around me, it lulled me into a place where I could put any negative emotion aside. A place where I could reconnect with the broken parts of my soul and just be. Meditation was a place where I could put Eliza's twitching at my side to the back of my brain and just be. Meditation was-

-"What. In the gods. Name. Is thhaaaaat" my eyes shot open just as Eliza barrelled into me. Her arms flapping about as she squealed and pointed at something in the grass. Big pools of water drizzling down her face as she hyperventilated.

Pushing her clingy arms from around my neck and moving her to the side, I climbed to my feet to have a closer look at what all the ruckus was about.

"Oh it's just a bumblebee," the thing had clipped one of its wings and was wriggling around in disorientation.

I could understand why she was scared of it. The bug was discernibly big. Apparently the nuclear warfare had done more than just alter the wolf population, wipe out most of humanity and wreck the earth. It had also affected the wild life. A tonne loads of animals and bugs had become extinct whilst others had evolved and modified into different species.

This thing was triple the size of what it used to be, it was just a bit smaller than a baby robin. It was big and its stripes were more of a reddish orange than the traditional yellow it had been.

It was so much bigger and popular this far down south, mostly because the climate was much warmer and there were all kinds of large flowers. By large I meant the size of Eliza, which was probably why the bees had grown in size. It was a reality shock for me and Eliza.

We had come from a compound that was relatively tame and mundane, so it had been easy for us forget the horrors of the past. Not this far down south. This far down south there was all kinds of distortions of what the human world once knew. They were odd to us but it showed that nature would always find a way.

"It's harmless" chided Manal, her eyes still closed as she breathed in and out. Her hands were gathered on her knees, mouth whispering tiny incoherent chants to the gods.

"Yeah it's harmless. I'm sure that being stabbed to death by a large venom riddled bug is totally fine. Never mind me, I'm just exaggerating"

Her face was blotchy as she shouted at my still calm mentor. Manal was hardly ever fazed by Eliza's sarcasm and wild behaviour. I secretly think she enjoyed it.

Eliza was wild and untamed, she was boisterous and volatile while Manal was calm and patient. It was a match made in the fiery pits of hell but it was oh so entertaining to watch.

"I'm glad you have finally acknowledge your faults, young Eliza."

Her eyes still closed but a smirk rising along her lips. Her bronze skin glimmered under the sun as if she were a goddess.While mine was already turning a light pink and Eliza's was slightly darkening. Eliza's Asian genes meant that the sun wasn't her enemy as much as it was mine.

"Oh whatever, you old goat," she huffed, falling to the grass and burying her chin into her palm.

She glared into the back of Manal's head but she couldn't see that her hateful glare only made Manal smile wider.