Chapter 1: Refuge

Having left his life behind, it was time to start a new, but where? No place to go, no one who he knew...what is Damian to do?

The sun was setting as the sky grew dark and Damian wondered aimlessly through the twistings and turnings of the terrain as visibility became less and less towards the town. It had been a few hours since he had left the White estate. The air was getting crisp and Damians breathing started to become gasping. Damian stopped for a breif moment, hands on his knees trying to catch his breath as the howl of wolves were heard in the distence. Damian started to look around head and eyes twitching as if the nerves were being gently shocked. The sky now resembled a navy blue, verging on black, not a star to be found, no clouds, no moon. Nothing, but the dimly litt path lamps and even those were slowly going out due to the cold wind. The howls started to get louder and louder as trees and bushes started to rattle, but was this from the breeze that cut like a knife to bare skin or the wolves approching dinner? Scared and without a second thought Damian started running, following the path as best he could, coming to a fork and not thinking where he was going, just as long as he found safety.

Damian came to a clearing, the forest path seemed to have taken an end and he was now faced with what could be described as towering walls of clay and dirt. Damian turned around to see what had become of the wolves...they seemed to have given up, or at least that was the thought. Proceeding onwards, shivering, arms around his exposed arms as if to hold on to as much body heat as possible as a wild gust pushed against Damian , sheltering his eyes as best he could from the heavy snow. Damian started to trudge snow as it got thicker and thicker, soon  it was only but a few feet that could be seen, not being able to see, let alone smell or hear anything, his senses seem to have given up, walking with bare feet through the snow leaving behind large feline human like foot prints, one might go as far as to call it a mythical creature, but then again people woulden't know how right they were. The snow was becoming impossible to tread now, it was only a matter of time before Damian passed out" My home, my family. Where ever you are, I hope you're safe." he'd whisper to himself every so often to keep his thoughts in tact, keeping an eye out for a place to rest..if that was even possible at this time. Damian did all he could to stay awake, til even that came to the state of being impossible, repeatingly shaking his head as if ridding the thought of giving up, soon becoming dizzy and to tired to continue.

 

Damian had not thought of giving up" I'm sorry....I can't" he'd mutter through freezing tears, taking one last breath before collapsing. There was a small nova of snow as Damian fell to his knees and then the rest of him followed.

Damian lay there for hours on end slightly consious, but unable to move as he stirred in pain trying to move his joints, eyes shut tight awaiting for the cold to finally kill him. Damians ears flickered, forcing his eyes open, but that was as far as he got before there were a pair of boots standing before him" Wow, this one would certainly fetch a price" Price?! Damian thought, feeling like he had been run over by several tree logs as every muscle seemed to trigger another shooting pain somewhere else in his body, the pair of feet jumped back to find that Damian was alive in someway" She...he...it's alive!" they shouted over their shoulder sounding both confused and relieved, looking back as Damian tried to crawl away, fingers clawed to the ground, arms shaking trying his best to pull himself forward. Another pair of boots came up to where his face was facing now laying his cheek to the snow, these were a pair of fine black leather boots with a fur trim design on the outside that ran along the boots being of some kind tribel like pattern pehaps? The female that wore these black boots kneeled down" He can't be found here, they'll take him away!" she stroked Damians cheek, her touch was warm and comforting much like a fire is to cold skin as it would sting a bit before one got used to it. Damian could feel his heart racing, why...why, why was she helping him, was she helping him? He knew or at least had been taught to not trust the outside world, he was not normal, he knew this. The female motioned for her companion to come by her as they exchanged a few words of unknown origen, ever since coming to this realm, english was all Damian had ever heard, but this, this was not english, but..what was it? The females companion came with what looked like a needle in one hand and a set of leather bracers in the other, Damian gulped as the female pinned him to the snow covered ground, forcing his body against the snow. Damian started to shake violently as the companion of the female pushed a button on the needle,  a thin bright light sparked to life, burning like a single intense flame of deep red" just hold still, this won't hurt a bit" The female jerking herself and repositioning herself, her knee digging into Damian back, leaning over him, holding both his arms with her hands so Damian lay in the cross position. The females companion came closer and closer with the bright light. Damian, was lacking movment in the upper part of his body did all he could to move his legs in a desperate attempt to kick the needle out of the strangers hands" Hold still cat!" the stranger said angrily through gritted teeth" We're not going to hurt you!" as he clenched his hand around the ankle brace Damian had, getting it off was simple enough, but when the one who had it on struggled in a state of panic like Damian, the process was like trying to feed a string through a needle several feet away.

"I can't hold him much longer, it's either now or never!" the female yelled as the bright light from the needle contraption started to slowly fade. Damian calmed down letting his legs rest, the male companion smiled " Finally, you've come to your senses" he snarled as he neared the ankle braclet. Damian in the state of confusion and fear, he quickly lifted his leg  using his heel against the strangers chin, forcing the needle light to go along his ankle removing both the braclet and his foot in the process. The female backed away, it was clear this peticuler creature was not happy and quite distrusting, true Damian had been with the Whites for quite some time, but had he ever removed the ankle braclet, no, though not really a slave anymore, it was a suvernior that he wanted to keep, he didn't know why, but to him it held sentimentel value, shoving the female off only to look at his now lifeless foot and it's colour of both skin and fur gently fading, the fur turning white. It had stopped snowing, the valley was still covered and still had a gentle bite of frost in the air, so the blood that leaked, quickly froze over forming a  protective barrier as to where the foot had come off. The companion rubbed his chin as he was slightly sprayed with blood during the severing, lifting his eyes to meet Damians expression, which seemed to get more and more violent since they had locked eyes, baring teeth, the more felinesk teeth , third tooth on either side from the middle " You-did-that- on.....Purpose" Damian spat. The companion started to back away slowly, on all fours, his back to the ground, the female, clammered to her feet" get up.....get up damn it!" she'd yell as Damian left the ground, his eyes had turned a deep green with black pupils and  just a hint of claws came splitting in between his fingers, missing by only by a hair, the missing foot had thrown him off balence. The male scambled to his feet, running to join his female leader as a loud and threatning scream echoed through the valley following the humans. As if to warn all the others that there were hostiles in the area. Reaching a hand forward as if to catch them. Watching them run away before blacking out.

 

Author's Note

I'm well aware there a few mistakes here and there and grammer isn't Perfect, but it's not always so easy to spot them, when you're the writer.