Something had changed. Not just in the air or the woods, but inside her. Something deep, wild, and ancient. And it wasn't going away...
The odd smell was the first thing she noticed, it was strong,thick, metallic, and sharp like rusted iron. It clung to her skin, hid under her fingernails, and settled deep in her throat like smoke from a fire she didn't remember starting.
Nara's eyes fluttered open, she felt an overwhelming sense of cold, she was shivering, her teeth chattering and her lips trembling. She felt like throwing up her stomach rumbled loudly, she was hungry as if she didn't sleep all night. Nara felt her body aching and she didn't know why, she tried to stand up but her body derived the strength to do so.
This was not the kind that just touches the skin. This one sank deeper. It hugged her bones. It pressed into her chest like a block of ice.
"At this point you will be late for school, Nara!" Erin yelled. Erin was her cousin that also leaves with grandpa a constant torn in her side. "Yes Erin will be down in a minute" Nara mumbled.
Just then it hit her. She was naked and on the floor, her pajamas torn to shreds beside,She looked down at her hands again, dirt under her nails. Blood on her fingers, they were not fresh, but dark and sticky.
her hands, her body were all muddy she felt that familiar taste of iron in her mouth. "What was going" she asked herself still in shock
Wolf prints. they were wolf prints, and claws in her room, they were large, fresh, deep, everywhere on the floor, claws on her door, mud stains on her curtains and bed sheets then she realized, her mouth wide open in shock, she thought about last night and she still couldn't believe it. She shook her head
"It's all a dream" she muttered to herself
"It was a dream," she repeatedly told herself.
At school, whispers filled the hallways. Nara could hear two girls talking about a disappearance. "They say it was a wolf," one girl said, her voice trembling. "They say it's a bad sign." "Who would be next" the said another girl who was sitting close to them
Nara's heart sank. She was scared that the wolf was her, she felt really guilty listening to them, "what if she was the one?" " What if she had killed someone?" "what she was really not human?" the weight of their fear pressing down on her while trying to stay calm Lily touched her from behind and she flinched. Within a second Lily was on the floor, she couldn't explain that reflex and how fast she was just now. This made everyone stare at her "She's so weird" a girl said "and it's been too much lately" another replied, this made Nara's beat so fast and she said sorry to Lily and ran out of the class. After that incident she tried to focus during lessons but the words kept echoing in her mind.
During lunch, she sat alone at a table, sketching in her notebook. A classmate, Lily, approached hesitantly. "Hey, Nara. Can I sit here?"
Nara looked up, surprised. "Sure," she said, forcing a smile. "Wow! Is that a wolf? It looks so beautiful and big too" lily said, only did Nara realize she was sketching a wolf. "y ... .yes…I..I..I just seem to like animals" she stuttered. With that Nara hurriedly picked up her things about to leave "I love wolves too so don't be shy" lily said with a smile, "yes they're beautiful" Nara replied stopping in her tracks "stay away from the woods there's something out there" Nara said coldly before running off.
For the rest of the day Nara couldn't focus in class and got scolded multiple times, she was always alone so no one knew what was wrong rather they laughed at her every mistake.
After school, she walked home, her mind everywhere, she had a lot of questions but no answers, no lead, nothing. As she walked by the edge of the woods, something unusual caught her attention, a small stone half-buried in the snow. It was just a stone in the ground but she felt drawn to it. She heard whispers "The true one" coming from the stone. At first she thought she was insane and wanted to head home but on a second thought she knelt down close to the stone, brushing away the frost she saw her name carved into it. This sent shivers down her spine. She felt an inexplicable connection to it, she couldn't explain what her name was doing on a stone, she dug the stone but it was too deep into the ground, her fingers red and numb from the snow but she kept digging and soon it was out, this stone had a unique shape, it was shaped just like a book with her name carved on one side and words in a language she couldn't understand carved on the other side, after what felt like an eternity of contemplating she decided to bury the stone somewhere she would never forget. And she memorized and wrote the unknown words in her book ("Vexa nor tal'dren ul Vyr'alune,"
"Serak ven umbrial kai'nethra sou,") and at the bottom it read "find others".
At home Nara was restless, who would she tell?Who would believe her?,will she be killed by the whole village if they found out? "I remember…running? Fast. Like the wind was chasing me. The moon was bright… and I howled. No, I couldn't have, could I?""A flash of silver eyes, a deer running, screams!"She was pacing up and down her room, "you don't mind keeping it down do you" yelled Erin from downstairs, "sorry" she replied, remembering those words on the stone she brought out her book and looked at it again. "Find others""Others? Others like me?" she whispered, her hand clutching the notebook like it could disappear. A sound cracked outside her window a low, throaty growl. Nara froze. She could hear her heart beat louder than it ever had before. She wasn't alone anymore."