Roleplay--

Ceri didn't like Akan's answer. If Tau and Lila were fine then why were they seperated from them? And if Aldin really thought it was best if they stay out of camp for the night, Akan really should have kept them from going back. Still, it was getting late and with the sun setting, she doubted even Akan would be able to lead them to camp without getting them lost.

Ceri sat up connecting her hands around her knees. She stared up into the sky as the last of the daylight faded and was replaced with stars. The moon hadn't quite came into view yet but she could still see suprisingly well. For the first time since falling she thought about home. It seemed like an entirely different world at this point but there it was, floating high in the sky above them. She thought of the farm and the animals. Who was taking care of them now she was gone. Probably her mother if she were being honest. Did they even miss her? Or was it just an inconvinience that they didnt have an extra pair of hands?

Her thought was interrupted by Akan mentioning her arm. Ceri had almost forgotten it herself. She looked down and examined it. It had been scabbed up this morning but now, the scabs had started to fall away revealing the shiny pink scar tissue beneath. She just laughed before saying, 'I guess i just had a great physician'.

She looked up at Akan then to find him examining her face intently. Did she have something on her face? She realised then that Akan had never actually looked at her for more than a few seconds or at least while she was looking at him. He always averted his eyes quickly or wouldn't look at her in the first place. She watched his eyes as they went over face until he finally and reluctantly looked away.

What was that about? He didn't say anything just went back to sitting down, not looking at her. It was then she remembered fucking with Akan the night before and a delicious idea popped into her head. Ceri casually shifted herself so that she was leaning back on her hands, and accidentally let a few of her fingers rest ontop of Akan's. She tried her hardest not to laugh and maintain a neutral expression.

It didn't take Akan more than a few seconds to react and snatch his hand away. He snapped at her for doing it, almost snarling att her with his red face. It took all Ceri had to not start laughing at him and reply in her most innocent voice, 'What do you mean?'

After a few moments Aldin began to laugh and Akan kicked her away. Ceri took this as a sign that she was getting inside his head, and allowed herself a moment to look away and grin before regaining her composure. When she turned back, she was suddenly aware of how warm it was. She had a thin jacket on which she took off but still she was hot. Sweat was beading at her forehead when Akan offered her his kimono as a blanket.

'Why would I want that when it's so warm im starting to sweat? And I can see just fine thank you, it isn't that dark that my inferior human eyes can't see.' Ceri began to rock back and forth slowly, now feeling a strange sensation building in her stomach. What was happening to her? She had been feeling fine just moments before but now, every second that passed just made her feel less and less like herself.

Akan had started to comment on how she shouldn't be able to see which seemed strange to her. He was likely just underestimating or exaggerating human eye sight. She could see everything just fine. Strangely though she caught herself feeling irrationally irritated by what he said. Normally she would just brush Akan's comments off, but this time she had to stop herself before snapping at him.

Ceri was getting hotter by the minute when Akan suggested she take off her clothes. However, rather than take the advice she laughed before saying, 'I think this is just an excuse for you to get me undressed Akan. So indecent of you.' She expected Akan to blush and Aldin to laugh but neither of those thinngs happened. Akan looked deadly serious and Aldin hadn't said a word.

She watched as Akan turned his head slightly towards. His lips moved but no words came out. All she could hear was a loud ringing sound. It started slowly but soon it was skull piercing to the point where all thought was gone and only feeling and pain remained.

She felt like an oven now. She wanted to tear free of her own skin to stop the burning. Then her muscles began to feel as if knives were run through them. Her whole body in agony. Her body went tense as she crumpled in a ball on the floor. She vaguely sensed Akan tugging at her but at this point it barely even registered to her.

At this point she was screaming. or was she? she couldn't hear anything over the ringing in her skull. Was she dying? She hoped so, so the pain would be over. She wanted to beg Akan to stab her, to end it, but her mouth couldn't form words anymore. She felt her bones begin to crack under flesh. Her muscles stretch to the point of snapping, but miraculously keep going. Nothing felt real anymore as she writher on the floor with even increasing violence. The snapping, stretching and deforming of her body continued, and it seemed to be never ending. Her clothes began to tear away from her body as she grew, only to be replaced with patches of fur.

Her hands turned to paws and her mouth stretched out int a muzzle. Every part of her was changing and shifting into something that wasn't her. Then, the pain suddenly stopped. No burning no agony, no ringing. And when her mind was her own again, there was only one thing in her mind. Run. Ceri took off at an unnatural speed from the spot by the river. Why had she been there in the first place? It didn't matter. She just ran into the night.

Ceri's mind slipped in and out of consciousness. She dreamt of a large white dire wolf, speeding through th forests. Sometimes she was watching the wolf, other times she was the wolf. It felt so natural to her; running with four legs for the first time, nimble and precise in her movements. Every sound was heard, everything that moved, she saw.

Her nose was assualted by a barrage of new smells, yet instinctually she knew what each one was. Bear. Rabbit. Fox. Gryphon. Human. Owl. Mouse. Centaur. Snake. Whenever she focused on one it was as if a path illuminated in front of her, enticing her to follow. To seek. To hunt.

She ran and ran, lost in the joy of it. Had it been hours, or just minutes? Time moved differently here. Only the moon kept time here, and when she stopped to look up at it she was overcome by the desire to let a long howl out into the night.

She stopped, in one of the brief moments she felt fully in control to take it all in. She had fur. And a tail? What kind of messed up dream was she in? It was then she remember the flashes of pain and searing heat. Writhing on the forest floor, aching to rip her skin from he body. Akan pleading and fighting with herAnd Aldin's grave warning to accept what was coming for her.

She tried to scream, or to yell or grab at her face in horror, yet her body didnt understand these instructions or what they meant. This wasn't her body, she wasn't herself. She started to hyperventilate as the panic set in. What had she become? As the cool night air flooded her lungs, the scent of fresh blood was carried to her on the wind, and in an instant, the beast was in control.

run. run. run. go faster. make me chase. make me hunt. don't look back. don't look back. you looked back. stumble. im getting closer. keep going. you're almost away. don't stop. don't look back. just run. run. fight through the pain. don't stop. don't stop. you fell. i've caught up. it's over. you cry. stop talking. stop crying. stop talking. stop crying. stop. stop. stop stop STOP. STOP. STOP. STOP. STOP.


Blood. So much blood. It was the first thing she noticed as her consciousness came back to the surface. It dripped onto the ground in front of her from something she held in her mouth. Her mouth? No. Jaw. She unclenched its iron grip and a body fell to the ground in front of her. A girl, roughly her age. The girl from her dream. The one she had chased.

Ceri knew how the dream ended. It was right there in front of her. Her throat crushed and bruised, pouring blood to soak the ground. Short black hair sticking out from the back of her black hat. Eyes blue like the sky on a misty winters morning; with fresh tears still drying on her freckled cheeks. Ceri wondered if her eyes had always been that colour, but already knew the answer. She'd seen them filled with tears and terror.

Pale morning light began to wash over her and the girl. She stood in what looked like a street, yet it was overgrown with grass and foliage. She was surrounded on both sides by ruined buildings; ones far larger than she had ever imagined possible, and in varying states of damage. These to were covered in vines and vegetation, with some even sprouting trees, (not quiet yet as big as the ones from the forest, but would threaten to rival them someday) interwoven between them like the  stitches in a patchwork blanket.

Somehow this scene calmed her. Grounded her. She remembered before. The last time she was in control. Giving into the panic and feeling herself being suppressed. Like someone elese had taken over the controls. She resolved not to let it happen again. She took a step forward, watching as a paw stepped out as she moved. Then again . Another paw.

It was dawning on her that this was not a dream. With that thought, Ceri felt a shiver runn dow her back. Then another. Then too many to keep count of. Like ice water running down her spine, it happened over and over again like convulsions. It didn't hurt necessarily, but the process was draining. She had no control. She couldn't breath. Gasping for breath. Like she was drowning without being in water. She started to see spots. Her hearing was muffled and her head started to spin. She held on as long as she could, but eventually, her body gave out and she collapsed to the ground.


Ceri came to with her stomach gnawwing at itself. As if she hadn't eaten in days. Her throat was dry, and she was lying in something wet. Groggily, she lowered her hand to the side feeling at the damp ground. When she brought it up to her face, it was streaked with blood. She franticly patted at herself feeling her sides her back, looking for a wound that wasn't there, though she was suprised to find herself naked, though that would have to wait. She got to her knees, looking at the blood that drenched the ground, following it to the source which was just behind where she had been laying.

Ceri felt the colour drain from her face. Her memeories came flooding back in an instant and she knew. She doubled over and started to retch, tears welling in her eyes from the strain, but all she could get from her empty stomach was a small amount of bile and acid.

She spat the taste from her mouth and wiped the tears on the back of her arm before looking around. The sun was still low but had started its climb into the sky. She guessed it had been about 2 hours since she had passed out. There were no signs that anyone else had came this way, but she couldn't be sure it would stay like that. She looked over at the girl and hated knowing what she was about to do.

Strip searching the girl was taxing. She'd killed this girl and now she was taking everything she owned as her own. Not only that but she also managed to cover herself in more blood as she did. After fighting to get the girl undressed she was left in her underwear. Ceri used the hat to clean herself off as best she could before pulling on the girls clothes. She was shorter than Ceri, so her t-shirt and jacket were a tight fit. The girls slim fitting jeans fit her waist, but stopped a few inches short of her ankle on Ceri's long legs. Luckily the boots were a close match.

Pockets were empty for the most part. A small pocket knife, the most useful thing the girl carried. She wondered if fear had made her forget about it last night, or if she knew the 3 inch blade wouldn't have helped. She didnt want to know the answer. Other than that she found a necklace a piece of paper writen in a language she didnt understand, and some oddly shaped pieces of metal in a bound satchel. She took it all.

This process felt like it had taken hours when in reality it was maybe 20 minutes. She thought about doing something to hide the body, but the amount of blood would make it obvious to anyone what had happened here. She took one last look at the girl, her face now burned into memory, before turning and running in the direction she hoped was  Akan, Aldin and her people.



He'd been up since dawn waiting for them to get back. The slimey weasel had told him they'd be fine and it was only then he sauntered into the camp alone. Clenching his fists Tau marched towards the Fey, his anger barely conained at this point. He had been so reckless insisting on taking Ceri back alone, and now he had the audacity to turn up without her? He hoped for Akan's sake he had an explaination.

As he approached he watched him have a brief interaction with Lila. Based on her reaction, his attitude hadn't magically improved during the night. Tau planted himself between Akan and the campfire before he could move any further. He stared him in the eye for several seconds before saying 'Where is Ceri?' in the most measured tone he could manage.