Lioness075
Everyone's fighting some battle of their own.
The night was gloomy, mist enveloping the area and only a few shafts of moonlight peeking through the canopy. Luness stepped forward, walking softly through the forest. She knelt down amidst bushes, carefully parting them to see the shack ahead. It was falling apart, wooden boards rotting and a clear hole in the roof. Smoke was wafting through the hole and firelight danced in-between the wooden boards from within, reflecting in Luness' hazel and dark green eyes.
A crow cawed nearby, the sound echoing through the quiet of the forest. Luness took a deep breath and then slowly, she loaded the silver crossbow bolt into her hand crossbow. Her silver daggers across her chest glinted in a shaft of moonlight, as she began stalking forward.
It had been years of practice and hard work that led her to this point. Growing up in a family of werebeast hunters was no joke. Luness had the numerous scars spanning her body to prove her hard work. And now she would soon have the family tattoo marking her victory against a werebeast alone. She would prove to her family once and for all that she too was a werebeast hunter and worthy of the family name.
Pausing halfway across the clearing to the shack, Luness tilted her head. She heard a twig snap outside, to her right.
Raising the crossbow to eye level, Luness slowly shifted to her right and inhaled sharply, as a lynx was mid-pounce. A soft twang sounded, as she loosed her bolt. The lynx tackled her, enveloping her right forearm in its jaws and sinking its teeth into her flesh. Luness did not scream, as blood spurted from her forearm, coating her face when she tried to hug her arm and began punching the lynx in the face. It snarled and twisted, tearing her flesh even more. The silver bolt was in its shoulder, but the lynx did not seem to notice.
Blood began soaking her clothes, her fingers dripping blood. Luness gasped and unsheathed a silver dagger. She grunted, as the lynx twisted again before she sank the dagger into its eye. The lynx yowled and released her, blood spurting from his eye and splattering Luness in the face. He stumbled back from her, as Luness struggled to catch her breath, her heart pounding and blood flowing from her arm. The pain lanced up to her shoulder, as she spat out blood to her side.
Staring ahead, Luness watched as the lynx took a shaky breath and then the air left its body. Slowly, the body shifted and contorted, bones snapping and muscles rescinding as the form shifted to that of a young boy. Blood soaked his own clothes and his face was a mess, impossible to recognize. Yet, there was no mistaking him for anyone older than ten-years-old. A child.
Adrenaline coursing through her, Luness blinked and tried to slow her racing thoughts. Blood was soaking the forest floor beneath her and she gasped as the pain lanced up her arm once more.
Gritting her teeth, Luness gingerly removed her knapsack in order to retrieve her medical kit. With shaky hands, she opened a bottle of alcohol with the cork in-between her teeth. Spitting it aside, she then retrieved a leather belt and put it between her teeth, biting down hard. Closing her eyes, she poured the alcohol over her forearm in one fell swoop. She screamed into the leather belt, the sound quietly echoing around her.
Tears rolled down her cheeks, as she slumped forward on her knees, gasping for air. The leather belt fell from her mouth and she looked down to see fresh blood seeping from the bite wound. Yet, it did not seem to be oozing nearly as fast. Or she was simply hallucinating from the pain.
Muttering a curse under her breath, Luness pulled out her sewing kit and was relieved that she had prepared a needle in advance. Her left hand shook as she brought the needle to the bite wound and she muttered another curse before she pushed it through her torn and mangled skin.
Halfway through the sewing job, Luness gasped at the pain and paused to down the rest of the alcohol. Tossing the bottle aside, she forced herself to focus on the job at hand and finished it minutes later.
Pain continued to lance up her arm whenever she moved it and Luness finally sat back, slumping against a tree. Her right forearm lay limp in her lap, as her gaze finally returned to the child covered in blood before her. His face undoubtedly was mixed with her own blood, but the mop of hair concealing his eyes and the small frame never would have suggested a feral beast lay dormant. His clothes were limp against his small frame, rags really. He had surely stolen the attire from the nearby village, as he had been killing local livestock to survive.
She had killed a child. Luness' mind kept returning to this thought, the pain from her arm starting to fade. All of the werebeasts they had hunted before had been adults. Real threats. Yet, her family had sent her on her initiation hunt to kill a mere child. And to top it all off, she had been bitten. Her heart began pounding, her thoughts racing through the what-ifs. She had succeeded in her hunt, but at what cost?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The journey home was slow and tedious. Waves of dizziness came over Luness numerous times, forcing her to pause and catch her breath. Her heart continued to pound in her chest and Luness' mind raced at what this implied.
Glancing down at her bandaged and bloodied arm, Luness feared what the lack of new blood or throbbing pain meant. She should be feeling weak from the blood loss and barely able to move, yet she felt adrenaline coursing through her.
She just needed to get home. Her parents would know what to do.
Turning at a bend in the forest, Luness looked up to see her family mansion in the distance. As per usual, guards were posted up at the gate and one shouted the family passphrase at her, "What is so beautiful and tempting to touch, yet draws blood the moment you do?"
Struggling to maintain a steady tone, Luness shouted back, "A r-rose!"
The guards exchanged a look and then began jogging forward just as Luness finally collapsed in a heap.
"Oh shit, get Mother, it's Lune!"
Luness blinked, blurry vision encompassing her view, and then everything was dark.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
When she awoke next, Luness was in her bedroom. Staring up at the ceiling fan slowly spinning, Luness momentarily wondered where she was before she looked around and recognized the room.
Blinking at the sunlight coming in from her window, Luness raised her right arm to block her face and then froze when she saw the lack of any wrapping on it. She slowly turned her forearm over, examining both bare sides with wide eyes. Instead of a grievous bite wound, there was only a scar that remained.
Raising her left arm to try and poke at the scars, Luness grunted when she felt metal encompassing her left wrist. Looking down, she stared in disbelief at the handcuff connected to the heater beside her bed.
Her bedroom door creaked open and Luness' gaze shot up to watch her mother slowly enter. She was wearing a long velvet dress, the purple shining in the sunlight. But Luness' eyes stopped at the silver dagger in her mother's grip. Luness could not pull her gaze from the dagger, as her mother slowly sat down in a chair set beside her bed.
Silence enveloped the room, as her mother undoubtedly was struggling to find her words. The family had a rule about anyone bitten during the hunts. There were no exceptions. It did not matter that Luness had excelled in training and studies. It did not matter that she was able to boast the most scars despite being one of the youngest. It did not matter that her mother had always favored her.
Luness felt the adrenaline begin to kick in, as her heart pounded in her chest. Her vision briefly swam and she instinctively clutched her head with a groan.
Her mother flinched at her movements and Luness blinked away tears from the sudden headache and her mother's reaction to her.
This was not how it was going to end. This could not be how it truly ended. Not for Luness, not now.
Memories began flashing in her mind of her playing with her siblings, of throwing daggers into dummies with her mother cheering her on and encouraging her. Her mother speaking soft and soothing words as she would bandage up another one of Luness' wounds. The laughter of her siblings, as they ran around in the garden, pretending to be hunting. Luness pretending to be the werebeast. What was once pretend was now a reality.
Unable to suppress a whimper, Luness finally looked up at her mother's face and tears rolled down both of their cheeks, as the unspoken truth passed between them. It was time.
Her pounding headache lanced her with more pain and Luness lurched forward just as her mother had lunged with the silver dagger. It missed her face, her eye where her mother had been aiming, and instead it sliced cleanly through the top half of her left ear. Luness screamed with the searing pain that followed, blood seeping out of her cut ear and down the side of her neck.
With another lurch, Luness' bones began to snap and her muscles throbbed as they went slack and taut, her body spasming. Fur began to encompass her skin, her hands stretching out and nails becoming claws. Her face stretched out into a muzzle and her eyes became more feline, the colors becoming brighter. Her hair faded away into the fur covering her body, and she let out a shrieking yowl.
Her mother cried out and covered her ears, faltering beside the bed. Her eyes were wide and brimming with tears, her gaze locked on her monster of a daughter.
With a snap, Luness yanked her left wrist free of the heater, the handcuff dangling with a loose chain.
She glared at her mother as she leapt up from the bed, now on all fours and panting. The Beast within hungered for justice, for a meal. Luness' eyes dilated and she tensed, as if readying to pounce.
Her mother quickly raised the silver dagger, though, and Luness hissed at the sight. Even in her feral state, she recognized the danger of silver.
Her mother opened her mouth and shouted for assistance while Luness felt torn about what she should do. She was inwardly battling the Beast that screamed at her to tear her mother to pieces. She whimpered and yowled in turn, pacing on her bed now.
Taking a hesitant step forward, her mother raised the dagger once more and Luness was gone in a flash, sprinting for her bedroom window. The glass shattered, as she dove right into it headfirst. Her feral instincts took over, as she fell two stories down and landed on all fours, as nimble as any cat would. Though, she heard the faint crack of bone enduring the impact of the fall and knew she would be feeling that later.
Luness hesitated a moment, glancing around to see if anyone was following. She caught side of a sibling charging towards her and the Beast had her moving before she could consider what to do.
Sprinting right at her brother, Luness panted while he stopped and began to raise his crossbow at her. She knew he had a silver bolt loaded and began to zig zag, making her brother curse at her erratic movements.
Before he could get a shot in, Luness was tackling him to the ground. There was no hesitation, as she went for his jugular and blood spurted across her muzzle and chest. Her attire had torn in places from her shift.
Yowling at her successful kill, Luness leapt off her brother's body and sprinted out of the estate, crashing through underbrush and leaving all she knew behind her. The Beast grinned from within.
A crow cawed nearby, the sound echoing through the quiet of the forest. Luness took a deep breath and then slowly, she loaded the silver crossbow bolt into her hand crossbow. Her silver daggers across her chest glinted in a shaft of moonlight, as she began stalking forward.
It had been years of practice and hard work that led her to this point. Growing up in a family of werebeast hunters was no joke. Luness had the numerous scars spanning her body to prove her hard work. And now she would soon have the family tattoo marking her victory against a werebeast alone. She would prove to her family once and for all that she too was a werebeast hunter and worthy of the family name.
Pausing halfway across the clearing to the shack, Luness tilted her head. She heard a twig snap outside, to her right.
Raising the crossbow to eye level, Luness slowly shifted to her right and inhaled sharply, as a lynx was mid-pounce. A soft twang sounded, as she loosed her bolt. The lynx tackled her, enveloping her right forearm in its jaws and sinking its teeth into her flesh. Luness did not scream, as blood spurted from her forearm, coating her face when she tried to hug her arm and began punching the lynx in the face. It snarled and twisted, tearing her flesh even more. The silver bolt was in its shoulder, but the lynx did not seem to notice.
Blood began soaking her clothes, her fingers dripping blood. Luness gasped and unsheathed a silver dagger. She grunted, as the lynx twisted again before she sank the dagger into its eye. The lynx yowled and released her, blood spurting from his eye and splattering Luness in the face. He stumbled back from her, as Luness struggled to catch her breath, her heart pounding and blood flowing from her arm. The pain lanced up to her shoulder, as she spat out blood to her side.
Staring ahead, Luness watched as the lynx took a shaky breath and then the air left its body. Slowly, the body shifted and contorted, bones snapping and muscles rescinding as the form shifted to that of a young boy. Blood soaked his own clothes and his face was a mess, impossible to recognize. Yet, there was no mistaking him for anyone older than ten-years-old. A child.
Adrenaline coursing through her, Luness blinked and tried to slow her racing thoughts. Blood was soaking the forest floor beneath her and she gasped as the pain lanced up her arm once more.
Gritting her teeth, Luness gingerly removed her knapsack in order to retrieve her medical kit. With shaky hands, she opened a bottle of alcohol with the cork in-between her teeth. Spitting it aside, she then retrieved a leather belt and put it between her teeth, biting down hard. Closing her eyes, she poured the alcohol over her forearm in one fell swoop. She screamed into the leather belt, the sound quietly echoing around her.
Tears rolled down her cheeks, as she slumped forward on her knees, gasping for air. The leather belt fell from her mouth and she looked down to see fresh blood seeping from the bite wound. Yet, it did not seem to be oozing nearly as fast. Or she was simply hallucinating from the pain.
Muttering a curse under her breath, Luness pulled out her sewing kit and was relieved that she had prepared a needle in advance. Her left hand shook as she brought the needle to the bite wound and she muttered another curse before she pushed it through her torn and mangled skin.
Halfway through the sewing job, Luness gasped at the pain and paused to down the rest of the alcohol. Tossing the bottle aside, she forced herself to focus on the job at hand and finished it minutes later.
Pain continued to lance up her arm whenever she moved it and Luness finally sat back, slumping against a tree. Her right forearm lay limp in her lap, as her gaze finally returned to the child covered in blood before her. His face undoubtedly was mixed with her own blood, but the mop of hair concealing his eyes and the small frame never would have suggested a feral beast lay dormant. His clothes were limp against his small frame, rags really. He had surely stolen the attire from the nearby village, as he had been killing local livestock to survive.
She had killed a child. Luness' mind kept returning to this thought, the pain from her arm starting to fade. All of the werebeasts they had hunted before had been adults. Real threats. Yet, her family had sent her on her initiation hunt to kill a mere child. And to top it all off, she had been bitten. Her heart began pounding, her thoughts racing through the what-ifs. She had succeeded in her hunt, but at what cost?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The journey home was slow and tedious. Waves of dizziness came over Luness numerous times, forcing her to pause and catch her breath. Her heart continued to pound in her chest and Luness' mind raced at what this implied.
Glancing down at her bandaged and bloodied arm, Luness feared what the lack of new blood or throbbing pain meant. She should be feeling weak from the blood loss and barely able to move, yet she felt adrenaline coursing through her.
She just needed to get home. Her parents would know what to do.
Turning at a bend in the forest, Luness looked up to see her family mansion in the distance. As per usual, guards were posted up at the gate and one shouted the family passphrase at her, "What is so beautiful and tempting to touch, yet draws blood the moment you do?"
Struggling to maintain a steady tone, Luness shouted back, "A r-rose!"
The guards exchanged a look and then began jogging forward just as Luness finally collapsed in a heap.
"Oh shit, get Mother, it's Lune!"
Luness blinked, blurry vision encompassing her view, and then everything was dark.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
When she awoke next, Luness was in her bedroom. Staring up at the ceiling fan slowly spinning, Luness momentarily wondered where she was before she looked around and recognized the room.
Blinking at the sunlight coming in from her window, Luness raised her right arm to block her face and then froze when she saw the lack of any wrapping on it. She slowly turned her forearm over, examining both bare sides with wide eyes. Instead of a grievous bite wound, there was only a scar that remained.
Raising her left arm to try and poke at the scars, Luness grunted when she felt metal encompassing her left wrist. Looking down, she stared in disbelief at the handcuff connected to the heater beside her bed.
Her bedroom door creaked open and Luness' gaze shot up to watch her mother slowly enter. She was wearing a long velvet dress, the purple shining in the sunlight. But Luness' eyes stopped at the silver dagger in her mother's grip. Luness could not pull her gaze from the dagger, as her mother slowly sat down in a chair set beside her bed.
Silence enveloped the room, as her mother undoubtedly was struggling to find her words. The family had a rule about anyone bitten during the hunts. There were no exceptions. It did not matter that Luness had excelled in training and studies. It did not matter that she was able to boast the most scars despite being one of the youngest. It did not matter that her mother had always favored her.
Luness felt the adrenaline begin to kick in, as her heart pounded in her chest. Her vision briefly swam and she instinctively clutched her head with a groan.
Her mother flinched at her movements and Luness blinked away tears from the sudden headache and her mother's reaction to her.
This was not how it was going to end. This could not be how it truly ended. Not for Luness, not now.
Memories began flashing in her mind of her playing with her siblings, of throwing daggers into dummies with her mother cheering her on and encouraging her. Her mother speaking soft and soothing words as she would bandage up another one of Luness' wounds. The laughter of her siblings, as they ran around in the garden, pretending to be hunting. Luness pretending to be the werebeast. What was once pretend was now a reality.
Unable to suppress a whimper, Luness finally looked up at her mother's face and tears rolled down both of their cheeks, as the unspoken truth passed between them. It was time.
Her pounding headache lanced her with more pain and Luness lurched forward just as her mother had lunged with the silver dagger. It missed her face, her eye where her mother had been aiming, and instead it sliced cleanly through the top half of her left ear. Luness screamed with the searing pain that followed, blood seeping out of her cut ear and down the side of her neck.
With another lurch, Luness' bones began to snap and her muscles throbbed as they went slack and taut, her body spasming. Fur began to encompass her skin, her hands stretching out and nails becoming claws. Her face stretched out into a muzzle and her eyes became more feline, the colors becoming brighter. Her hair faded away into the fur covering her body, and she let out a shrieking yowl.
Her mother cried out and covered her ears, faltering beside the bed. Her eyes were wide and brimming with tears, her gaze locked on her monster of a daughter.
With a snap, Luness yanked her left wrist free of the heater, the handcuff dangling with a loose chain.
She glared at her mother as she leapt up from the bed, now on all fours and panting. The Beast within hungered for justice, for a meal. Luness' eyes dilated and she tensed, as if readying to pounce.
Her mother quickly raised the silver dagger, though, and Luness hissed at the sight. Even in her feral state, she recognized the danger of silver.
Her mother opened her mouth and shouted for assistance while Luness felt torn about what she should do. She was inwardly battling the Beast that screamed at her to tear her mother to pieces. She whimpered and yowled in turn, pacing on her bed now.
Taking a hesitant step forward, her mother raised the dagger once more and Luness was gone in a flash, sprinting for her bedroom window. The glass shattered, as she dove right into it headfirst. Her feral instincts took over, as she fell two stories down and landed on all fours, as nimble as any cat would. Though, she heard the faint crack of bone enduring the impact of the fall and knew she would be feeling that later.
Luness hesitated a moment, glancing around to see if anyone was following. She caught side of a sibling charging towards her and the Beast had her moving before she could consider what to do.
Sprinting right at her brother, Luness panted while he stopped and began to raise his crossbow at her. She knew he had a silver bolt loaded and began to zig zag, making her brother curse at her erratic movements.
Before he could get a shot in, Luness was tackling him to the ground. There was no hesitation, as she went for his jugular and blood spurted across her muzzle and chest. Her attire had torn in places from her shift.
Yowling at her successful kill, Luness leapt off her brother's body and sprinted out of the estate, crashing through underbrush and leaving all she knew behind her. The Beast grinned from within.