The Omega Princess

Chapter 7

My cold feet hit the ground with determined steady beats, the sharp rocks and slippery grass seemed unable to stop them from moving steadily through the forest.

I did not know why I was running but I knew that I could not stop at any cost, it was as though something was chasing me yet at the same time I was chasing something.

My heart raced with me at speeds I did not realise were impossible, the trees blurred the bare branches snatching at my skin, ripping away layer after layer, yet still the chase continued.

Sounds overwhelmed me, a cacophony of howls and screams burning into my ears. Words of encouragement greeted me willing me to hurry, while somewhere the devil commanded that I stop in my tracks.  My feet however paid no attention, despite the blood that trickled all over my body, criss-crossing and imitating the veins and arteries from which they had been ripped from.

Tears began to fall like the blood, as suddenly the one who I searched for was sighted…

The wolf stood majestically between the trees, brown eyes beckoning me. I came to a halt as the trees stood like the metal bars of a cage. Each branch suddenly sharpened and lengthened, creating a barrier that left me trapped.

My body hardened and I ran forward with a scream that would rival that of a banshee, the brown eyes watched with unfiltered wideness, closing with my own eyes as my body was pierced by a deadly silver branch.

Silence fell.

“Izarra!”

I awoke to rough shaking and a heavy weight holding me down, my eyes snapped open but I could not see properly my eyes blurred by salty tears. I blinked rapidly and the tears fell tracing the sides of my cheeks and falling on either side of my face like robes of a silken curtain.

My chest heaved, hiccups erupting at each breath. I tried to move my arm to wipe the trace that the drops of salt had left on my face but I found that my hands were being held. At this I slowly begin to realise that Dale was on top of me restraining my arms.

“Izarra?” he questioned softly, seeming unsure of himself.

I could not answer him for a while but he must have seen something in my eyes that made him realise that I was back from whatever nightmare land I had been occupying during my slumber. He released my arms and rolled himself over to the other side of me.

“I’m sorry for the inappropriate position, but there was no other way for me to hold you down without hurting you”

I looked down at my wrists which were tainted by vivid red bracelets left from his grip but that was not what caught my attention, instead I stared at my arms which were filled with scratches that came from no other than my own hands. Scraps of my skin were to be found inside my fingernails, painted with splashes of my blood, it was as though the trees from my dream had really been there…

“How long was I…” I asked trailing off as I realised I didn’t really wish to know the answer

“Two hours” Dale answered bluntly his eyes searching my own

I sighed, wiping the sweat from my face. I did not know where these horrible nightmares came from but I wished dearly that they would cease, my life was already complicated. Sleep had once been my only safe refuge but at the moment I did not even have that.

“Do you wish to talk about it?”

I bit my lip gently, turning to Dale

“It will sound crazy”