Author: acidia
Date:Feb 11 2007
It was a chilling autumn night, air filled with the scent of a coming winter.
The forest swayed softly in the wind and a waxing moon flickered amongst
the leaves.
A young fox sat still in the slightly wet moss looking up to the sky, its
ears continuously turning towards any sudden sounds around him. The fox
raised his nose and sniffed the air that had started to move like just
before a rain hits the ground. It turned its head against the wind and saw
the trees bending with the wind.
The bushes and the forest floor started to move unnaturally, and the
wind grew stronger. The fox jumped away from the small clearing and vanished
into the undergrowth at the last second when the trees made a wailing noise,
bent aside and a woman crashed through the forest as if she was
bending the nature around her to make way. She was wearing a full white
gown, and her hand was gripping a curved blade. The next second she was
gone, leaves brustling on the ground and the wind settling softly. The fox
stared after her, and blinked his eyes curiously.
Her head was filled with fear, despair, guilt and regret. She used all her
might to fly through the forest which had been her friend as long as she
could recall, and never in her life she would have thought that her worst
nightmare might come true just there. She cursed herself for thinking that
she had won a war instead of a battle, and now she was paying the price. Her
arrogance might cost her more than she could handle, and she felt sick like
shed never felt before.
She let out another call, blasting through the forest like a pulsing wave
searching for her daughter. She had gone missing few moments ago, and Nasli
had felt it all too well. It was like a part of you just had just vanished,
gone numb and unresponsive. Nasli stormed through the forest, sending wave
after wave of total despair, making the dew glimmer in the grass like every
drop were a small firefly.
Finally, she felt a response. It was faint and distorted, but it was a reply
nevertheless. She turned and headed towards the response like it were a
shining beacon in the mist for ship to follow. Her feet no longer touched
the ground and the air crackled around her as she arrived to a small patch
of clear ground. Her daughter was there, trembling and holding her arms
towards Nasli. She felt that something was not right, but was too relieved
to keep in focus as she saw her daughter seemingly unharmed.
"What happened," she panted, "where did you go?".
"I don't know mother, I just woke up here." Si-nasli replied between her
tears.
"Who took you? Where are they now?".
Si-nasli ran to meet her mother, "I'm not sure, they just vanished when they
felt you looking for me.", she was crying desperately.
The moment their arms met, Nasli realized the full extent of her error, she
had been deceived. "We did not go...", she heard the too-familiar sound in
her ear, drawing breath so distinctively that the moment seemed like an
eternity, "...anywhere.".
It was too late to do anything. The hands of her daughter had started to
turn black, and the sharp claws that used to be fingers tightened around her
arms with such force that she screamed out loud. As the disgusting figure
took shape slowly, a huge tail came flying through the air and hit Nasli
before she could do anything. The force of the impact was devastating. The
creature let her motionless body drop to the wet grass that started to
slowly turn red.
A figure started to form slowly from the darkness, flickered a bit and took
the shape of a human.
The figure, completely clad in a dark robe, spoke with a low voice:
"Are you satisfied?"
K'xet turned its head, making its disfigured body create sickening noises as
it moved. "No...", it took a deep breath, air wheezing from in its lungs
"...nothing will undo...", it spoke with great effort, "what they did to me."
The robed figure turned its head towards the lifeless body of Nasli who
stared back with empty eyes. "Then why?".
K'xet turned its head towards Nasli, stood up to its full length showing
itself in the moonlight. The robed figure shivered a bit and turned its head
away from the sight.
"...I restored balance.", it formed the words slowly, "Now, there is a child
without a mother... ", it drew breath again that sounded like something was
freezing rapidly, "...and a mother without a child.".
The robed figure asked softly, "You know that this does not end here, they
will come after you. Even if you did not start this.".
The shapeshifter hissed silently, "...I hope so.", and turned away.
"Let her go.".
From the depths of the forest, they heard a party of people shouting and
running towards them.
"You'd better go. You cannot beat them all.", the robed man whispered, but
the form of the shapeshifter had already started to move towards the
shadows. The silhouette of the disformed shapeshifter began to change and it
merged itself into the forest, disappearing completely.
The sounds of the party forcing its way through the forest were near.
The hooded figure sighed, began to flicker and vanished. As it faded into
the thin air, not leaving even a footprint behind, a young girl was laying
on the ground beside the lifeless body of her mother, breathing softly.