1 **Awaken (Ch. 1)

"...My lady... please wake up.." She heard faint sounds of a man talking, but she was unable to see anything. 'What happened to me?' She thought as she tried to remember the events leading up to this point. "My lady please.." *beep... beep..* 'A heart monitor? What happened to me..?" She started to feel anxious. "Wren... please-" *GASP!* The woman shot up from her position on the bed, startling everyone in the room. She noticed a tall man with walnut-colored hair standing next to her. Along with many nurses. She squinted her eyes and put her hand on her head due to the surge of pain. The man slumped into a chair near the bed at the same moment.

Everyone in the hospital room froze, not even daring to breathe. An intense cold air began filling the room, causing the nurses to shiver slightly. "W-what happened..?" Her voice was weak, as she slowly opened her eyes again and noticed the bandages that wrapped her body. The nurses stared at her in disbelief, then quickly rushed over to her to check her vitals and the equipment. "Ow! Hey, be gentle, please. No need to be so forceful," as she protested, her deep crimson-colored braid swung from side to side as she moved. Her intense forest green eyes, starring daggers through anyone who caused her harm. 'Thank goodness she's okay..' the tall man next to her sighed deeply. He closed his azure blue eyes and rested his head.

The woman heard his sigh and looked over at him. Taking in the sight of his dirtied and tattered clothes. His muscular chest moved up and down rhythmically, causing the woman to lose focus of the nurses. 'Just what the hell happen-' "Ow! What the hell did I say?! That fu-" The man was snapped out of his thoughts when he heard her and watched in amusement as she was scolding the nurses. "My Lady, please let them do their job. You were injured to the point that, we were not sure if you would return." The man's deep voice reverberated through everyone in the room. One of the nurses noticeably began to blush as she stayed frozen in place, 'mm... Mm... he looks so good. Just my type, loosely styled hair, just long enough to be sexy. Muscled and strong body. Amazing voice... oh, is that a tat-' "Excused me, nurse, stop daydreaming. You were just called out by the doctor." The nurse blushed one more time in embarrassment and rushed out.

"Wren, please try and be still. We are doing what we can to stabilize your condition. You sustained heavy injuries all over your body, requiring multiple surgeries. We sealed most of your wounds and fix internal organs as best we could. But, if I can be frank, it looked almost like you had been chewed on and spit-" "Naya, that is no way to talk to a patient! I know you are fairly new here and you may know her, but I thought you would have some sort of manners in front of our patients!" Naya looked down at the floor, trying to hide her embarrassment. As she did, the strands of her burnt sienna-colored hair, fell in front of her face. Her cheeks turned a light shade of pink, as she tried to contain her laughter.

"Pardon this young nurse, Miss Wren, although she lacks tact, she is right about her statement. You have large wounds on the front and back of your torso that resemble claw and bite marks. However, these wounds are much larger than even a full-grown bear in this area, could inflict. You also have many broken bones that we had to reset, it's odd but these injuries seem to resemble a bite-and-chew motion. We sometimes see similar wounds in small children that have been attacked, but whenever attacked you, Miss, I hope I never encounter such a beast. This gentleman brought you into the hospital unconscious and bleeding, with a fever higher than we have seen in patients your age without underlying health problems or diseases. It was so high that we were worried, even if you did survive the severity of your wounds, the fever could have caused permanent brain trauma. Not to mention the emotional trauma of whatever happened to you."

Wren sat there in silence, pondering what she said. She looked down at her torso, as the nurses were moving and prepping different things. She saw some of the bandages becoming stained with her blood. The nurse soon explained it had been two days of stress trying to get her body stabilized enough to drop her fever and get through all of the necessary surgeries. They were on the highest level of the hospital where the most critical patients are kept and they were now prepping her for additional surgeries. "My Lady, do you remember what happened to you? I found you hiding in the hollowed-out trunk of an old tree in our neighboring territory." She looked over to the man, who had come closer and was now within arm's length of her. She noticed he had many small cuts and scraps on his arms. Wren looked at the man with her eyes wide in shock. "Michael, this is important. Was it the territory towards the East or the West?" Wren started to feel more nervous, her heartbeat quickened, and a dull pain started forming in her chest and the back of her head. Without much thought, she reached a hand up to her chest near her heart to try and calm herself. "It was the territory towards the West I'm afraid. My Lady what were you-" Wren's body suddenly jolted and she fell backward from the sitting position onto her bed, her eyes rolling back, her body convulsing, and her mind fading into darkness.

"Get her to the doctor now! She has gone unconscious again and we still haven't been able to get an accurate read of her vitals! We need different equipment. NOW!" The nurses moved around quickly, taking Wren into the operating room so they could save her life. Michael stood silently in his position, trying to wrap his head around the events from the past few days. He looked down at his ripped jeans and shirt, 'I really need to change,' he thought to himself. He then began to pace around the small room that Wren had been previously occupying "To the West... what could be in the territory to the West? Our borders are miles from a neighboring village and temple... so she couldn't have been caught by them, plus we have treaties... the only structure near is the shrine for The Silver-" Michael immediately stopped talking, gasped, grabbed his chest, and twisted his face in pain. He then fell to the floor and began shaking.

At the same moment, a custodial worker with mint green hair walked past the open door and saw the man shaking violently on the floor. "U-Um, Nurse! Come quick! A man is shaking like crazy. He was walking around pacing or something and then just fell on the floor! I think he's having a seizure or-or worse! " The man called out to the nearest nurse to get him some help. A nurse quickly entered the room and tried speaking to Michael, but he could not form complete sentences. "It-It's... f-fo... it, the... o-ox... the... Haru-" Michael then slipped unconscious as the nurse continued to scramble and see just what caused this. She called out for assistance and he was quickly rushed in to get him stabilized.

"Did that man just sputter out something about THE fox? Or am I just going crazy from being here so long?" The ladies behind the counter were looking toward the man who just fell to the floor. "No, I heard it too. It gives me the creeps." The younger of the two shuddered, "What are you talking about? Why would something about a fox give you the creeps? I think they are super cute. Maybe he has a phobia?" The younger lady rolled her eyes at the other lady's comment, "It's not a cute little fox like you're thinking. The only thing related to a fox that can cause this kind of havoc is sort of a...superstition? Or maybe a myth would be better to describe them. I don't know, either way, it is something people from this area consider 'hush hush' and don't talk about." The older of the two had a confused look on her face after her coworker's explanation.

"Suppos-" "Jenny! Carla! This is no time to be standing around talking about superstitions. Answer the phones, pull our new patients back into their rooms, stop gossiping, and Get. To. WORK! It's the new moon tonight, we are going to be busy." The older man angrily yelled at the two, "Yes Dr. Mathers, we are sorry. We'll get to work now," the younger of the two, tucked her light brown hair behind her ears, sat down, and began typing. The older of the two, just sighed deeply and walked over to the clipboard to look for the next name on the waiting list.

Dr. Mathers quickly walked to his office, slamming the door behind him. Once inside he leaned against the door, covering his face with his hands while trying to calm his breathing. He pulled out a small handkerchief to wipe away his sweat. After a few moments, he slowly walked over to his chair and sat down, leaning his head back to look at the ceiling. He sighed deeply, "Please tell me it's not back. He can't possibly be back now!" He shook his head, reaching for a bottle of water to refresh his suddenly dry throat. "Please, please don't be back. We can't live through this again. The elders-" RIIING! The phone in his office startled him out of his thought. "Dr. Mathers speaking... yes... he is, huh? What about the woman?... I understand. Is that all?... okay, goodbye" Dr. Mathers hung up the phone, his face had turned pale. "Help us," he was pleading with the silence in his small office, "Someone please save us from this horrible fate...Brother, what have you done?"