A Disappointing Welcome 3

Sky attempted to understand what had happened. Repeatedly, she tried and failed to catch her breath. Each time she gasped for air; it was labored. Each time she exhaled; CO2 tinged blood spurted out. Her vision faded, and her ears Roared. Just then, she heard the Chancellor say, "Throw her body in the forest for the Lessers to eat."

Suddenly, a blinding white light filled her vision and the pressure beneath her bottom, holding her up disappeared. She fell onto her back. 'It's so dark,' she thought. As the sky disappeared, Sky remembered the things that led her here.

As if from another's perspective, she saw her own hurried flight through the forests surrounding her home. She saw herself hiding from first her father's men, and then her betrothed's. During those long nights under the sky, she saw her own body quaking in fear, jolting awake at every noise. She knew the letter from her Uncle Gladion was folded tightly in her pocket. This letter was the only direction she had since she'd run. If she was caught she'd be beaten and then handed to the male who would hurt her until he killed her, her betrothed. Her only hope for escape had been the magical aptitude tests in Ibex. Her uncle's letter was her passport. If she could enter one of the schools of magic, she could learn how to defend herself and might be able to save herself from her fate of dying a young miserable death at the hands of the Earl of Burning Plains, her future mate.

Who would have thought she'd get sent to the best school of magic, Regis, and then be attacked immediately upon arriving?

Sky laughed weakly and coughed up blood. 'They won't get rid of me that easy,' she thought savagely as he consciousness slipped away.

***

Week 1 day 2 Loren

Flecks of light broke through the darkness in her eyes. Sensations of intense pain and shards of cold randomly attacked her body. Moving slowly, Sky reached blindly down towards her feet. Shivering again, she grimaced as she groped for something—anything. Her hands only caught empty air. Blearily, she opened one eye and looked toward her feet. Surprisingly, she felt the soft dewiness of fresh grass beneath her.

Frowning, Sky managed to sit up. She was disoriented for sure. She looked around, and nothing made sense. Gnarled, ancient trees filled her vision. She could barely see them in the blue, predawn light that cast a sort of gloom over her vision. She recalled the events that led to her waking up in the forest, but she was tired. In her exhaustion, her recollections appeared more like a surreal nightmare or a grotesque carnival than memories.

Blood, she remembered how the blood squished between her fingers. She remembered how the blood flowed almost like water from an underground stream as it oozed through the skin of her belly. Her stomach; it was damaged. She glided her hand over her middle, but she felt whole unbroken skin. What's going on? She thought. She looked at her dress. It was brownish, crusty, and stained. She felt a large tear in her bodice. Her sleepy mind flashed with memories from the Chancellor's office.

Sighing in resignation, Sky haphazardly stumbled to her feet. She wasn't in pain, she healed rapidly like a creature, but she was exhausted. As she stood, she heard the sound of a stick breaking, a sharp crack. It was somewhere nearby, which grabbed her attention. She listened to the rustling leaves. Something moved through the clearing. Her mind recalled the Chancellor's last words. They eerily floated back to her awareness, "Leave her body in the woods for the Lessers to eat." Lessers, Sky knew, were magical creatures that were lower on the evolutionary ladder than the higher creatures. They were simply called lesser creatures. From what she learned in school, Lessers existed solely to eat, to reproduce, and to guard their territory with jealous zeal.

Whatever it was; it was getting closer. Sky retreated and was about to turn to run, but her foot landed on something slippery. Her ankle gave with a stab of pain, and she pitched to the side. Ignoring the discomfort as she landed, she hurriedly scrambled to regain her footing when a pair of yellow, glowing eyes appeared across the clearing between two thick tree trunks. Sky froze, and a chill rushed up and down her body. She saw the narrowed, vertically slit pupils of a predator.

She scooched back ever so slightly and heard whatever it was sniff the air. As she stepped backward, she hit something cold, wet, and solid. Sky reached behind her in horror and felt an icy wall. Just then, the creature in front of her moved so fast that she only saw a red blur. She saw the red creature in front of her opening its angular mouth, revealing its full set of sharp teeth, and barreling down on her.

Sky shrieked and threw herself to the side, struggling to get away. Pain lanced through her injured ankle as a black, scaled covered, claw ripped through the spot where her body had just been. The scaled black creature behind her lashed out at her again. The red creature with the teeth growled as it clamped its jaws around the black scaled arm. The red creature's momentum pushed them both aside.

Sky stared. She froze. She heard crashes, growls, and hisses. The terror of it all broke the morning haze. She hadn't even known there was something behind her. Had the red thing been protecting her? she thought. No, it just wanted to be the one to eat her, she decided.

Then, silence. Everything stopped, and she belatedly realized that she should have run. Softly at first but growing louder with every second, the sound of crunching of leaves under foot invaded the clearing. She had to run now!