Soul Touched

In the begining

I don't recall what year it was, as I don't think anyone could at that time, but I had just turned 16, and the entire tribe was bustling about to prepare of my coming of age.

I was to pick a suitor, and claim him as my own for the rest of my days. Because in the tribe, women picked their men, not the other way around. Girls were born, and placed into the wilderness to see which animal spirit they had. Atop a mountain in the wilderness stood a cave, one that revealed the veil between realms. Once you placed a newborn baby girl next to it, a spirit guide would step out, in the form of our animal spirits, and they would mark their humans with their paws, then shimmer into the child like glitter dancing in the wind.

Your special animal chose you, and the two acted like one another. The only thing was, when I was born, I didn't have just one. I was born to a tribe of beautifully russet skinned creatures with dark murky green eyes, long silken black hair, and stork tall bodies as a creature with skin as white as snow, hair as bright as the sun, eyes as eerie as the stars. I was an outcast, a treasure amongst the most beautiful beings on earth.

And on days like today, we adorned the best outfits our parents could make, mine being made of fox hide, which was a gift given by Mother Nature herself, as we do not kill for our clothes, but salvage. The dress was made from marble fox pelt, and it cascaded down my toned and curved form like water off a cliff. From the hem flowing about my angles, up the flowing skirt to where it hugged my waist, up to the cutoff at my ample breasts.

My arms adorned the markings of Mother Nature herself, along with the entire animal kingdom. The markings ran all over my body, making me look rather wild with my golden hair and stark silver eyes.

While dancing my way into the tribe, eyes staring wide to the rather body fitting outfit I had caressing my figure, my eyes had settled upon a spot in the woods, where a lonely wolf sat, watching intently. His coat was black as night, eyes golden with pride dancing in them like a flame, toned body sat in the most dominant manor I had seen. Something about his demeanor triggered me, as he ran into the woods suddenly without warning.

That's when I heard it. Screaming, not of humans but animals, and the loud snapping of fire. I let out a gasp, and took off running for the woods, much to everyone's surprise. Leaving the tribe unsure of how to continue, my feet had hit the forest floor, running at full force, inhuman speed and skill navigating the woods, eyes catching ever single movement as I ran. Looking back, I should have slowed down a little, but I didn't realize that option until I almost ran into the fire covered trees.

I stopped with a loud cry, feeling every fiber of my being scream out at this tragedy. My eyes had darted to a noise, a rather cynical laugh off to my right. There stood two men, holding down this huge black wolf I had seen earlier, his back left paw caught in a trap. His eyes had met mine and they told me to run. Run for my life and get to safety. There was just one little thing, that's not who I was.

As I snuck around the men, behind their backs, I could hear them whispering to one another and the wolf. 

"You stupid animals, you deserve this. You do nothing but take up space!" The man who appeared to be slightly smaller in frame had said.

The larger one spoke with a low tone, filled with hate. "And this one is going to warm me at night with his skin, as payback for killing my meal yesterday." He had spat at the wolf, which made the creature snarl angrily.

My skin began to crawl, ache, and hurt as I felt it happen. My eyes shifted in sight, my teeth ached and moved, my skin began to shift and reshape itself. I had no idea what was going on!! It hurt so much, I felt like screaming, and I did, but it didn't come out as a human sound, it came out in a snarl, inhuman and dangerous. I saw the men look back at me with wide eyes, trying to scramble to their feet to get away from me, one nearly screaming in horror. I didn't know what they were looking at, I tried to figure it out, but my vision was going blurry. Everything hurt and the world spun.

The last thing I remember was my hands hitting the ground, eyes going black as I caught the last glimpse of the ebony wolf, who had begun to bow his head to me. Then it all went black.