17 Branded

Evening in the western forests of Azra was always wonderful. One of the beautiful sights in the continent. The trees danced as Apollo rode the last hours of day to usher in the serene peace of the night as the goddess of the hunt ruled the waxing stages of the moon cycles.

Among the great trees, a girl layed on a branch; eyes closed enjoying the evening breeze. Humming a slow tune, she was calm and at ease. A contrast to how she felt some hours ago.

A few minutes later, the whole place was dark as night fell on the western forest. She still layed on the branch humming like she had nothing better to do.

Then the bushes below her rustled. Using her enhanced senses she scanned the forest around her with eyes still closed.

Scanning as far as twenty yards, she felt and saw everything without flexing a muscle. Then she zoomed in on the source of the noise.

"Hmm..dinner" she said.

She snapped her eyes open and smiled turning over silently to see her prey. A large stag.

Unlike her own world. This stag was much bigger. Standing at nine feet. With bizzare antlers that grew like trees. Its antlers literally grew leaves.

She had seen its kind before. Nothing new to her. She even knew they can grow as tall as ten feet for their males.

Another abnormality in this world she was in.

Well she was not interested in its height or how bizzare looking it could be. All she knew was she was hungry....and it was to be her meal.

She watched the stag pace among the small patch of bushes waiting for her chance to attack.

All ready feeling the thrill of the hunt her body began to react. Her finger and nails grew longer into claws and her upper canines lengthened resting on her lower lip.

Her blood pumped faster as her irises dialated. The sweet honey brown color replaced with blood seeking red. She was ready for the hunt.

Then she began making her way down from the tree silently and got to a lower branch. The stag still grazed oblivious to its own death. She jumped to a branch closer to the stag and prepared herself.

Taking a quick whiff to fuel her hunger, she jumped on the ground. Immediately she aimed her claws in the neck of the stag and began to wrestle it to the ground.

The stag whizzed. It tried to pull its body in an upright position so it could flee but it could not match the strength of this foreign creature that had planned him for dinner. Then it tried using its antlers to throw the predator of balance.

She huged the neck of the stag at that moment and tightened the hug suffocating the stag. The stag still tried to run but she made her hold on the ground. She would not be moved.

No matter how it tried it couldn't move away from her grip around its neck. Then she tightened further. Apply more pressure enough to block its wind pipe. She dug her claws deeper to the bones. Through out the whole ordeal, the girl had a sadistic smile on her face.

The stag was finished with one quick move that snapped its neck. She brought her mouth to its neck and sank her fangs in its flesh. The fangs drew blood and she fed. She won't be going hungry to night.

After sucking the stag dry, she cleaned the kill and headed to her cave in the deeper parts of the western forest; the staunt mountains of the west. She had to make the trip twice because she had shared the stag in two. She carried the first half then kept the second half on the tree she sat on to come back for it.

Once she had secured her kill she made a fire and started roastind the meat. She was not hungry for more. The blood was enough but she roasted the meat for later on because in three hours she would be hungry again.

Looking at her kill she could not help but feel proud of herself. She had taken down a whole stag singlehandedly. She smiled at herself.

After roasting a portion of her kill she left the rest preserving them in her cold reservoir she sealed with magic making sure the reservoir was freezing and using magic to reduce the temperature further.

Two hours later she dived into the roasted meat. As she ate she began recalling her experience earlier in the afternoon when her care taker helped her. Without hos help she wouldn't have made it till evening. Now remembering him she felt sad.

"Why did he go?" She asked no one in particular.

He had kept her company after she was healed and took care of her like a father would. He taught her about the world she was in and explained to her why he called her his champion and the danger in it before branding her as his official champion.

She chucked lightly and thought to herself;

'Let any champion come they will all be dead meat'

Then smiled. She looked at her arm where the brand was. A dark skull over a bident that had become a part of her skin. Her smile broadened.

If she was thinking about this when she just arrived on this world, she would have been deadly wrong. She knew. But with her new abilities she could brag about destroying a thousand and not feel tired.

She finished the roasted meat and lay down on her stone carved bed she covered in furs. She heaved a heavy breath and looked up the ceiling of the cave.

"Had brother been here this would have been so much fun. I wish he did not die in the crash"

"Well new daddy said it would be fun anyway no problem there"

She laughed. To others her new daddy might be the most feared god of the underworld but to her he was her new daddy.

"If only brother could see me now" She said sadly unknown to her that her brother was still alive and someone was using her ignorance as leverage.