The forest held its breath.
Two tigers circled them slowly, massive bodies moving through brush without sound. Stripes slid between shadow and light, muscles rippling beneath torn fur.
One was lean and feral, eyes bright with hunger. The other, larger, scarred, its face carved by old violence,moved with the confidence of something that had killed before and learned no fear from it.
Bella's heart did not race.
It calculated.
She had watched every episode she could find on Nat Geo Wild as a growing child, absorbed every hunt, every strike, every moment of raw, instinctual ferocity. She had studied predators. Admired them. Tigers were hunters of solitude, they did not share, they did not strategize together, they did not circle their prey in unison. Something was wrong. Something had driven them beyond instinct.
"Listen to me," she said quietly, never taking her eyes off the scarred one. "If I give you a signal, run left. Find cover. Don't stop. Don't wait."
Ji-ho breath hitched. "Bella, what are you saying?"
"If I give you a signal," she continued, voice steady, almost gentle, "you run. Do not come back for me."
"That's madness," he hissed. "You'll die."
She finally looked at him then, eyes sharp, alive, terrifyingly calm. "If you hesitate, we all die."
A sharp, birdlike call cut through the air.
The two villagers bolted without question, crashing left into the undergrowth.
The tigers exploded into motion.
One veered instantly, charging after the fleeing men.
The other lunged straight for Bella.
She shoved Ji-ho hard…hard enough to send him sprawling, and raised her bow just as the tiger hit her.
She winced sharply, as his claws pierced into her thighs, yet she pushed it to the back of her mind, moving as if unaware of it."
The tiger slammed her into the tree, the force jolting her back violently, but she clenched her teeth and refused to give in
The impact knocked the breath from her lungs.
Claws slammed into her shoulders. Fangs snapped inches from her throat. The bow bent between them, wood screaming under pressure as she braced it against the beast's jaws, arms burning, muscles trembling.
The tiger roared in her face, hot breath reeking of blood and rot.
She staggered to her feet, breath ragged, every muscle screaming in protest. Pain lanced through her back where the tiger had slammed her, but she pushed it aside, letting fury take over.
A low, guttural growl filled the clearing. Her hands shook, not from fear, but from rage. She seized the nearest stone, heavy and jagged, feeling its rough edges bite into her palm.
With a primal scream that tore through the forest, she swung blindly, letting instinct guide her. The stone connected with a wet, sickening thud against the tiger's eye.
Once.
The beast recoiled, a snarl twisting its jaws, disoriented, and she didn't pause.
Twice.
The tiger recoiled, shrieking, and she seized Ji-ho by the wrist and ran.
Branches whipped her face. Pain tore through her chest where the arrow wound still hadn't healed. Her ankle twisted, screamed, but she ran anyway.
She shoved him toward a cluster of rocks. "Hide. Don't move."
"But-"
"Now!"she commanded.
She turned and sprinted the other way.
The tiger roared again, fury overriding pain, and gave chase.
Bella ran straight for a fallen tree, then cut sharply at the last second. The tiger didn't turn fast enough. Its skull slammed into the trunk with a crack like breaking bone.
She was already moving.
Her tucked dagger slid into her palm.
The tiger lunged again, even disoriented, and Bella slid beneath it, body low, teeth clenched, and drove the blade up into its belly, ripping downward with everything she had, as she screamed.
The scream that followed tore the forest open.
The tiger collapsed, thrashing, blood darkening the earth. Bella staggered back, chest heaving, vision swimming.
She didn't look back.
Because the real monster was still alive.
A scream echoed from deeper in the forest, the villagers.
Bella ran.
Her ankle burned. Her arm screamed where claws had torn flesh. Blood soaked her sleeve, warm and slick.
She burst into the clearing just as the scarred tiger reared at the tree, snapping at the men clinging desperately to its branches.
It turned.
Saw her.
And charged.
This one was faster. Smarter. It slammed into her, claws raking her arm, throwing her into the dirt. Pain exploded white-hot.
Her dagger flew from her hand.
She was in pain, but her her brain persisted, but not her body.
She slowly dropped herself off the floor.
The tiger loomed, breath ragged, eyes cold, as it approached her slowly. Hungry and angry.
Bella grabbed sand and flung it into its face.
It roared, blinded, but not stopped.
She ran.
She rested for a well trying to catch her breath.
But the Tiger wasn't one for pleasantries.
She crouched behind the thick trunk, lungs burning, sweat stinging her eyes. Her hands shook as she gripped the shepherd's branch, its jagged point jutting like a spear.
Every nerve in her body screamed, but she forced herself to stillness. The tiger was circling, muscles coiled, eyes burning with hunger and experience far older than her own.
Her mind raced. Zigzag. Draw it away. Protect them.
Bella burst from the cover, sprinting in sharp, erratic angles, each step snapping twigs and sending clouds of leaves flying. The tiger followed, eyes locked, every paw striking the ground with lethal precision. She could hear its growl rattle her ribs.
She tasted the iron tang of her own blood where her scraped palms met the branch, but she ignored it. Pain was irrelevant now. Survival, cunning, and speed were all that mattered.
Ahead, a massive fallen tree lay half-blocking a narrow grove. Its roots were rotted, its trunk cracked, but it could serve as a weapon if she timed it right. Bella twisted, jerking her body through a sudden turn, her hair whipping across her face. She let the tiger close the distance, its massive jaws snapping just inches behind her heels, and then she did something daring: she darted toward the fallen tree, dragging her torn clothes along the dirt. The blood scent carried on the air, and the tiger paused, sniffing, distracted.
She held her breath, muscles taut like springs, eyes scanning for the perfect moment. And then, she leapt.
High into the air, twisting her body with a predator's grace, she met the tiger mid-leap, branch poised like a lance aimed at its forehead. The impact drove the jagged wood into the tiger's skull, a sickening crunch echoing through the forest. The beast roared, blind fury tearing from its throat, yet still it lunged, thrashing.
Bella hit the ground rolling, barely keeping her balance, sweat and blood slicking her palms. The tree behind her groaned ominously, already half-fallen. She lunged toward it again, grabbing the sharpest jagged splinter she could find, her hands trembling with fatigue, adrenaline, and rage.
The tiger lunged once more, faster, more vicious. But she danced around it, predator to predator, each motion measured, each strike precise. Sand, dirt, and sweat stung its eyes; a quick jab to its flank slowed its momentum. She used the fallen tree as a springboard, launching herself with every ounce of strength she had left.
And then, her leap. Perfect, vertical, like a white-winged phoenix ascending. She drove the point of the branch deeper into the center of its brain, a sickening, final sound cutting through the forest. The tiger collapsed. Silence swallowed the grove.
Bella collapsed to her knees, chest heaving, hands slick with blood, splinters digging into her palms. Her ankle throbbed from a misstep, her arrow wound still a dull agony in her shoulder, but she was alive.
Ji-ho ran up, wide-eyed, watching her rise like a storm made flesh. The two villagers stared from the trees, mouths open in disbelief. No ordinary human, no ordinary woman…had just done this.
She laughed weakly at them when she saw their faces, breathless, bloodied. "Told you… not to wait."
His arms tightened, trembling. "Don't ever do that again."
She closed her eyes.
Later that evening , the two men would swear they saw wings, white, blazing…when she leapt.
Word spread faster than wildfire. By midday, the village was buzzing with disbelief and awe. Travelers, shepherds, and merchants whispered to one another in hushed tones, casting wide eyes toward the forest's edge where the aftermath lay.
One of the villagers who had witnessed the chaos, retold the story again and again. How a foreign woman, human, and yet more cunning than any predator…had faced not one, but two tigers. How she had moved like a shadow, struck like a spear, and made the forest itself seem to bow before her.
"She leapt… like wings, like a phoenix," he told them, voice trembling. "I swear it… I have never seen such strength, such speed. Not a man, not a hunter, could have done this."
The villagers, initially fearful, now cheered. Children clung to their mothers' skirts, eyes wide with wonder. Even the elders, hardened by years of superstition and forest stories, shook their heads in disbelief. "A god walks among us," they murmured.
And in the square, as the two tigers' bodies were dragged into view, the celebration turned to full awe. Women gasped. Men bowed instinctively. This woman, this foreigner, had not just survived; she had conquered.
By the next day, every whisper carried her name, every mouth spoke of the white-winged predator who had danced with death and won.
And from the edge of the crowd, a man listened.
He turned.
And ran.
—
In the palace, the Queen listened in silence as the whispers reached her.
A foreign woman.
Two tigers.
A god.
Her smile did not reach her eyes.
"So," she murmured. "Assassins will not be enough."
Far away, the King sat alone, fingers brushing the memory of a face long gone.
"My love," he whispered into the dark. "Have I lost him too?"
The candle burned low.
And the world shifted.