It all begins when a silver dagger goes missing.
For her entire life, a human named Cora Gabris has known that lycans were searching for her, as she was born as a Ruby -- a human that, when turned into a lycan, will become much stronger than any of...
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With not being able to do anything about it, Cora set aside the issue of the dagger and polished their mirror. She did this so she could look at her eyes, just in case they were hazel on a day other than the new moon.
But as she stared at her reflection, her eyes were still a burning pink as the color hovered between red and hazel. That meant that the moon was waxing, halfway between its cycles. On the full moon, her iris would burn a bright red, and then as the moon waned her iris would fade of the ruby color and turn to her natural color of hazel.
On days of the new moon, she would spend hours looking at herself and reveling in her normalcy,.
To the lycans, she was not with a curse, but a blessing.
Without Hilda, they'd find Cora within days through the wolves, owls, and other creatures that their magic could observe through. Hilda said she could feel them scouring the forests, looking for any sign of the missing Phasing Ruby.
One day I may have to just go to them.
Cora braided her hair, changed out of her nightdress into a gray dress with leather boots. She spent the first hour kneading bread dough for them, per her mother's old recipe that she knew by heart. She hoped that whoever Ben married knew how to make sourdough, as that was his favorite.
She had to admit that some days, it was tempting to leave and see which Alpha would take her. At least it would be better than growing old and dying here, once Ben was his own man. She didn't want him to have to worry about her, not in his older age when he'd have his own family.
She had grown up lonely, so she didn't quite know if she'd like to be around so many people. She could only visit the village when the moon was absent in the sky. The villagers believed the lie that Hilda was her grandmother, and not some generous witch that agreed to protect her all those years ago. They noted Cora's sparse attendance, to which they lied and said she was scared of leaving her home. At least it was a partial lie, anyway.
Cora's second order of the lonely was to mend their other clothes. With Ben growing like a well-watered plant, and money scarce, Cora had to get creative with what they wore.
Sometime around midday, Cora spent time on their garden as she took pride in trying to keep the home in order. After covering herself in dirt and sweat, she cleaned off her hands to spend the next hour churning butter.
Once the morning chores were finished, she sat outside on the porch to eat an apple as she eyed her parent's headstones. It still felt so wrong to have her father's there already. A sign that I am nearing the time when I know I need to leave and find my own identity.
Cora looked up at the endlessly blue, boring sky. I wonder what life as a lycan would be like. Would I have a family there? Would they accept me?
