Esmira POV
"Keep moving."
My spirit guides voice rang in the back of my head as I hoisted myself up from off the ground.
Quickly trudging through the thick forest floor, I could feel my energy depleting with each quavering step.
Next to one of the many Sequoias, I paused for a second as I tried to pull myself together.
After falling from such a great height, I've sustained great injury. The pack of wolves hunting me dont make things any better. They smell the blood and have been tracking me for miles. With only a few hundred feet between me and them, I felt like death was knocking on my door.
I pushed myself off of the tree that I was leaning on and continued to put space between me and the wolves. Anxiety consumed me and I began to panic.
How could I have end up in such a predicament?
"Ahh!" I winced in pain. I looked down to see that I had rolled my ankle on a rock buried beneath the earth.
'This is like - the worst time to be clumsy', I thought.
the sense of impending doom draped over me like a cloak. A feeling I had never felt, until now.
I limped over to another tree for support. I quickly prepared myself to assess the damage I took from the fall…
I struggled to lift up my injured wing towards my face. Using what seemed like the last of my energy, I slowly raised my left wing up to examine the damage. A large gash tore painfully across my precious wing.
'That's definitely going to leave a scar.' I thought.
That stupid bird, why was it so big? It caused more damage than I thought. I've taken falls before , it's usually no big deal.
However this is the most embarrassing, most ungracful thing i've done in a long time.
This is how i die? Taken out by some bird and mauled by wolves? Just shameful…
My mind drifted to the bird- it probably died on impact. Poor thing.
I tried my best to ignore the pain that covered my body. Black and blue bruises littered me all over from falling through the forests thick brush. Unfortunately my left wing was snagged on a branch.
It was honestly the only thing that broke my fall and ultimately helping me survive.
"Emily. KEEP MOVING." My angel spoke to me through our mind link.
I gathered up the last bit of strength I could muster up and pushed on.
Zamora and I share a special kind of spiritual connection. We have what they call a mind link. It enables us to telepathically speak to each other. She's my spirit guide.
If I can just get into the sky for just a little bit there could be a tree I could rest upon. All of these trees are far too high to just climb.
I slowly got myself up and leaned on the tree's thick trunk for more support. I began to attempt to take off into the air again, but I failed horribly.
"No Emily, you must not stress our wings. We are severely hurt. The only solution is traveling by foot.''
Even after 12 years of Zamora helping me survive on my own, I still seem to never learn. After losing my family, its just been me and her all this time.
I remember my family; how could I forget?
I lived with my grandparents. My Granny would tell me stories of how my parent died fighting in a war protecting their species from humans. I always try to remember my mother's face. I can only faintly remember her.
When my Granny got sick, things went downhill from there. Granddaddy got really sad, and it seemed as if the world had stopped. Things were already empty without my parents there, but before Granny became ill, life still had their moments.
My grandparents did a really great job at raising me. How they handled their daughter passing away – They always did a nice job making me feel better about it. They allowed life to go on for me.
But after Granny died... No one was happy anymore. Day by day Granny just got worse. We both watched her wither away. She passed when I was 4. My Granddaddy and I enjoyed each other for the next three years. Until he passed too. It was hard for him to live without Granny. I know he tried.
I remember the day that he didn't wake up.
FLASHBACK
"Grandaddy , where are you? I'm hungry!''
A groan came from the bathroom. I went towards where the sound was coming from.
With eyes big as quarters, I gasped in shock.
"Granddaddy! Are you okay?! What's wrong?!''
I looked over and saw a bottle of medicine in his left hand.
He stayed silent and laid stiff. His eyes were closed, and I watched him breathe. Until he didn't...
PRESENT DAY
'I'm starving.' I thought to myself.
"There's fresh water running here look for berry bushes.Just be sure to hurry." My angel suggested.
My diet consisted of a lot of native nuts and fruit. Before my grandparents passed, they taught me a lot about the land. They were native to these forests, so I had an advantage when it came to surviving on my own.
Humans are usually either scared of me or offended by my existence, so I tend to stay in isolation.
I reside here in the forests because it's always what felt like home to me. it's just what's worked for me after all these years.
When I finally found a bush. I made it my business to eat and drink as much as I could until my belly was full. As I continued to drink from the cool water. I hear a slight crunching noise and I instantly become aware of my surroundings.
'Have they caught up to me already?' I wondered. It hasn't even been three minutes. I sniffed the air for context about what was around me.
"Wolves."
My adrenaline spiked and I instantly ran through the water in an attempt to cover my scent. I began running in the opposite direction, the same crunching noise began to follow me from three different directions. They were gaining on my trail. I was thankful my hearing was strong enough to sense where they were. In a panic, tried to attempt taking off into the air again, but my wound wouldn't allow me to. I fail once again and end up falling to the ground.
This Caused me to hurt myself a little more. i I covered my wound to stop the bleeding, but even more blood pooled out of my wound.
They were approaching closer with every second.
I pulled myself up to my feet once again and tried at a final chance to escape. Suddenly – A huge wolf jumped Infront of me. Cutting me off from running any further.
I've never screamed louder in my life as I fell back on my bum in fear of the horrid dog.
Why the hell is everything in this forest so huge? This thing must be eating people.
Tears instantly came to my eyes. The feeling of my life about to end washed over me. My life completely flashed before my eyes.
Two other rabid looking wolves made their way up to me. I was sure that I was going to die, until the most miraculous thing occurred.
A bright light emitted from one of the wolves. A series of bones clicking and snapping into place became uncomfortable to listen to. I stared in awe as the dogs turned into humans!
When I saw this I almost fainted. It was like magic!
The man had a bewildered look on his face as he examined my wings.
This man just went from dog to human in the matter of seconds and he's shocked?
Seriously?
The other two wolves followed suit and shifted into human form as well.
"What the hell?" One of the strange men spoke.
I kept my head down ashamed. They were all naked.
"Who are you, and what are you doing on royal land!" He asked aggressively.
I tried to answer him verbally. But I haven't spoken ever since my grandparents died. I opened my mouth, but words didn't come out.
"Let's just take her to the king." The second man spoke.
He went behind a tree and grabbed shorts and a large backpack that was conveniently stashed there.
A sign that they know these woods well.
They all put the bottoms on, and their attention turned back to me.
They nodded at each other and quickly restrained my wings and hands with rope- that I guess they just had on them? Who walks around with this much rope?
'Ridiculous.' I thought.
At this point i had no energy to resist. every fiber in my body wanted to remain free, however, these men out numbered me and out powered me extremely easily.
sometimes survival means being able to endure terrible situations. this is one of those moments…
They tied my wings so they lay flat against my body. The rope came around under my breasts and was wound tightly around me.
i would shift into my human form, but i had zero energy to do so. With my twisted ankle and the gash in my wing, all together this was extremely uncomfortable.
"She is a pretty thing huh?" Another man grunted.
My head remained low as their gazes pierced through me.
His rough hand grazed against my face.
I shuddered at his touch.
His friends laughed with each other, mentioning the things that they would do to my body.
I wish I never heard some of the things they uttered.
My fear peaked, and tears ran down my face uncontrollably.
"White tears!" He exclaimed.
"I wonder if they possess any magic?" He continued.
He quickly pulled out a small glass capsule and angled the tube to catch some of my tears. The man capped the bottle and stuffed it in his pocket.
"I wonder what this would go for on the black market?" He greedily mumbled.
"That's the least of your worries when it comes to selling that." One of the other men spoke.
"First you'll have to convince people that it's authentic." He continued.
The man who pocketed my tears examined me further and plucked out a few feathers from my right wing. He stuffed them in his pocket as well.
"There." He spoke. "These feathers are unlike any other on this planet. There will be no doubt in my customers mind when it comes to these tears." He chuckled.
I winced at the sharp pain as the man trailed his hand further down my leg and slipped his hand under my off-white dress. He groped my sex roughly and growled.
"P-Please don't." I cried. My voice was quiet and hoarse, but I know he heard me.
I was completely helpless. I could do nothing but shiver in fear. He leaned closer to me and whispered into my ear.
"Oh what fun our Alpha is going to have with you. That lucky bastard."
He was then cut off by a quick sequence of beeping coming from his watch.
He hurriedly looked at the time and groaned.
My pleads must have been heard from the Goddess herself.
"You're lucky that were late for check-in, otherwise this pussy would be ours for the taking." He laughed.
My breath hitched at his words, and my breathing became more erratic as I thought of all the horrible things that could happen to me. I couldn't help but pray that the Goddess favors me.
'Please Goddess keep me safe.' I pleaded.
More tears escaped past my eyes as I tried to be strong.
With my fresh wound and the burn of the rope against my skin. They dragged me along by the rope that was tied around my hands.
The long hike to where they were taking me was torture.
"Just focus on staying calm my girl. Our dignity is all we have right now. Don't show weakness."
Zamora was trying to comfort me, but as long I'm weak and tied up, there was no denying how terrifying this all truly was.
To say I was scared is an understatement