Chapter One

Chapter 1

The girl made her way through the woods and she could hear the pit-patters of her footfalls as she did. For some reason she felt at peace being in the forest, because she felt like it was a place she could call home. A place that belonged to no one, yet belonged to everyone.

She stopped when she saw a puddle left from the rainfall the night before. She studied herself in the puddle's reflection and took note of the fact that her appearance hadn't changed since she was eighteen �" Nor would it ever change in the millennia to come. She had dark brown eyes that seemed to be impenetrable and appeared as black from afar. Her skin had a slight tan to it's whiteness and her skin was as smooth as water flowing through one's fingers. Her dark brown hair came down to the middle of her back and contained the same trait as her eyes and was wild as it blew with the passing wind.

She completed her inventory of herself as she scaled the rest of her body. She still wore the white haltered dress that was worn down and fringed at the bottom as if it had been burned at the edges, since it had been given to her as a child. It was cinched at her chest and fit snuggly around her torso, which then flowed loosely down past her knees. It was covered in white embroidery patterns and three belts were strapped loosely and unevenly around her waist; one of them held the katana she had received as a present from her parents long ago. Another one held a small sack that contained her favorite food while the last one was just for show at the moment. She looked down at her feet to find her white sandals that wrapped around her calves for footwear, which she had also received along with her dress. She stared hard at herself despite the fact that she knew down to a “t” what she looked like. Painful memories floated into her mind as her unchanging appearance brought them on. She didn't want to remember, so she turned her attention to the scenery before her.

She stared at the mossy vines that stretched from tree to tree and she could hear the creatures that inhabited the place. She felt the serenity that filled the air and it made her trip all the more enjoyable. She could smell the smell that the outdoors brought, the sweet fresh smell of the trees and the sense that this was where the meaning of life was derived. The trees looked never-ending, but the girl didn’t care.

She had been living on her own in the forest since she was little and a couple thousand years later here she was. Her kind, Spirit Wielders they were called, had been slowly declining in numbers as of late. As far as she could tell she was the only one left of her kind.

Even among her kind though, she was still considered 'special'. As Spirit Wielders, they are blessed with their own Spirits when they are born, though at birth they can't control the different forms that they can take on, so they are stuck in the therianthrope state �" a combination of form of a human and their Spirit. When they eventually learn how to change forms, they manipulate the bond they share with their Spirit and change. When they are finally able to choose, they can appear human, in the appearance of their Spirit, in the therianthrope state, or they can become two different entities. They are also blessed with one of the four elements and blessed by either light or darkness.

Each of them is born with a certain spirit inside of them that has its own personality. She was no different than her village except for the fact that she was born with the nine-tailed fox. She was the only one who had ever been born with one in her kind's history and she also had the strongest blood linking back to her ancestors among her descendants. To add oil to the fire, she was also the only descendant that had ever been blessed by darkness.

As a result, she was looked upon for duties that she should have never been asked to do at her age from the Elders and she was shunned by the kids of her village known as Spira. She was exiled from Spira when she was thirteen and no longer had any knowledge of its current state, nor did they of her as far as she could tell.

Now she lived by herself with her Spirit, Kurái. The girl had no home and wandered about freely. She hadn't had any personal level of contact with anyone since she had left Spira. Due to a Spirit Wielders circumstances though, she occasionally had to go into a town to meet the standard needs of her people.

As Spirit Wielders they were graced with senses that seemed godly, instincts that were lethal, and had a knack for being strong, but they were also cursed in a way. To keep the inner balance of their human and Spirit side even, they had to drink the blood of their partner.

Spirit Wielders needed to make sure they didn't lose their human side because if they did, they would become their Spirit. Although it didn't sound catastrophic, if you subtracted the human from the the equation, you would be left with a savage lethal beast without a conscience. Luckily for them though, their partner's blood could keep their bodies in check for a long period of time. Unfortunately though, their partners were more like masters and were known as Spirit Masters. If they forged a bond with a Spirit Master, then they would become their slaves. Something inside of them made them obey and their Master's words would become their law.

The girl had never had one before �" let alone ever seen one �" but some people in her village had searched for their own Master. She didn't understand how one could be so eager to sell their soul off but most of them fought against Spirit Masters as hard as they could when they came into contact with them.

They lived in their own village, which was more like a grand civilization called Astillia. At least that's how it went when she still lived in her village.

Regardless it didn't matter to her, what mattered was-

She couldn't finish her thought as an indescribable force shook her and demanded attention.

Her body felt as if there was an earthquake quaking inside of it. Her mind felt as if it were being torn apart. Her senses tingled with the hint of savagery on its tongue.

She knew this feeling, this vulgar feeling. The feeling of a hunger insatiable by food no matter how much you ate. A craving that could drive you mad. A craving that could and would make you kill.

A craving of blood.

She winced at the thought of it but she knew it was time again to go into a town. Since she didn't have a Master, she had to rely on random humans in order to give her the peace her body was looking for. The only downside was that the feeling of peace would only last for a few weeks and a month at tops.

She threw the thought aside and focused on her senses. Her ears searched for any sound that gave her evidence or reason to believe that there would be a plethora of humans in one area.

Her hearing stretched out across miles and she remained perfectly still and silent. She had been in this particular forest for a few days now and she knew it wasn't going to end soon. Her ears listened to the chirps of birds and the howls of other animals. They heard the wind rustle the leaves of the trees and the tracks in the ground that were being made.

She listened for what seemed like minutes when she finally heard an animal she wasn't accustomed to hearing in the forest. The sound was of a regular horse clopping down the road while pulling along a buggy. There seemed to be two men conversing in the buggy and they were murmuring about a town they were headed to.

She didn't need to hear anymore and she returned back to her thoughts.

There was a village south of where she was �" wherever there was �" and wherever there was a village, there was going to be a lot of people, which meant a lot of opportunities. She felt reassured at the thought that she was able to detect some humans while she was in the middle of a forest but a part of her �" most of her �" wanted to return to what she was doing.

The mixed feelings battled it out inside of her head when another wave of hunger hit her. She could feel Kurái stirring inside of herself and she knew that she wouldn't be able to wait any longer.

The trip to this village was going to be long. She knew it was going to take a couple of days to get out of the forest if she went at the pace she was previously going, but she wasn't sure how far away the two men had been from the village they were headed to. She needed to find a quick way to get out of the forest and the answer came quickly and naturally as she put it into motion the very minute she had thought of it.

The girl closed her eyes and shut down her senses completely. She searched inside of herself until she had found what she was looking for. She could see strings dancing around in oblivion. They were thin, almost translucent but they appeared strongly held. They were her bond with her Spirit.

She reached towards them with her mind and slowly wove them into what she wanted. She could feel a sensation of heat tingling in her core as she did and she let it spread throughout her body. She opened her eyes as the sensation found its way to every crevice of her body and flames roared from the ground and engulfed her. They intensified the sensation that she had and she knew what was coming next.

The sensation had only lasted for mere moments and then had disappeared along with the flames, but a few moments was all that it took. Her senses had doubled from the already enhanced version that they were, and she looked back down at the puddle to see the changes she knew had been made to her appearance out of amusement.

Her brown eyes had turned a deep, soft gold that could stop one dead in their tracks. She could feel how her canine teeth had grown in length and felt the addition of new body parts on her body. She had gained glossy black ears at the top of her head and a flowing black tail that looked like the flame of a roaring fire. Her dress was specially made and adapted to the new form by revealing her wispy black tail.

The puddle reflected her image she had taken with skewed preciseness as the sun distorted the image. She was content with her appeasement to her amusement and with that she headed towards the voices she had heard earlier. She ran through the forest like lightening, making sure to avoid the trees. The wind whipped through her hair and she easily maneuvered through the forest. She felt as if time had slowed down as she sped up.

She wasn't sure how long she had ran but she saw the full light of the sun as she broke through the end of the forest. She felt light and full of energy that wanted to get out of her body but she stopped to look up at the clear blue sky. The sun beat itself on her face and the air smelled fresh. She could tell that it had only taken her a few hours to get out of the forest and by the way the sun hanged in the sky, she could tell that it was sometime around the late afternoon. After she verified what time it was, she took the sky in in all of it's beauty. The sky was something she loved and she hadn't been able to see the sky's vastness nor it's full beauty while she was in the forest. She let its view soak under her skin and etched it into her brain.

Slowly she turned her sights downward and saw a dirt road in front of her. It winded itself with the geography of the land and as far as she could see, there were rolling hills. A tree was no where in sight except for the occasional shrubbery, so she would be completely exposed to the people that came down the road. She threw the baggy backpack she had bought in her last visit to a town on the ground and opened it. Inside she pulled out a cloak she had purchased from some time ago and threw it around her and fastened it around her neck. She put the backpack back on her shoulders and put the hood of the cloak up so it hid her face. She knew no one would approach a suspicious person and as long as no one saw her face, she would be fine.

She walked down the dirt road and lost track of time but she could hear the town up ahead. She picked up her pace and soon it emerged as she climbed the last hill.

The town was big compared to the usual ones she had seen but it was a little more spacious and it looked a little more modern, too. The houses were all made out of clay and the roofs looked like waves and were pale colors of blues and greens. There was a huge area that seemed to be used for training and there were a ton of shops.

She made her way towards the town and a weird feeling sat inside of her as she did. She could feel Kurái's uneasiness as the hairs on her Spirit's neck bristled. The feeling she got from this place was something she had never experienced before, but she didn't like it at all, and the closer she got the worse the feeling in the pit of her stomach became. She wanted to turn around and leave but the hunger inside of her wasn't going to subside anytime soon.

She wouldn't have to wait much longer though, as the sun began to fall and the people slowly closed their shops, and the uneasiness she felt lessened at the thought of being there for only a few hours.

She walked around until her time came but she felt like everyone was staring at her every time she had turned a corner. She could feel her own hair rising on the back of her neck and she felt her senses screaming danger, but when Spirit Wielders were in the state of hunger, they couldn't be picky about which town they were in. People were only just people no matter where she went and it applied to this town as well.

She meandered to the training grounds she had seen earlier and stopped to take a good look. There were tons of spears, shields, and swords on racks on either side of the entrance gate. An infirmary came after the weapons and finally the people training.

No one seemed to notice her and she watched with curiosity. The people were sparring with each other and they seemed to be novices to the world of battling. She scoffed at their innocence towards violence when the weird sensation she had had earlier tripled.

She was ready to move on when another tremor of hunger shook through her. Her vision began to grow red and her mind began to get fuzzy. She gripped her head to try and make it go away but her attempts were useless. Her instincts overpowered her thoughts of moving and she watched as the people trained with each other.

They pierced each other's skin with their swords and red spilled from their wounds. The girl felt like she was being teased and her desire grew even more. She smelled the sweet nectar that pooled inside the training grounds and she couldn't take it anymore.

Before her mind could register what was happening, she had charged through the entrance. Her heart was racing and her mouth had gone dry. The skies were filled with hues of oranges and reds as she ran towards the people with the intent of spilling blood.

Author's Note

Not sure why the first paragraph is bunched up like that but i hope you enjoy and tell me what you think :)

Reviews

[kewlbluetiger]

What a colorful and imaginative world you have here! Really your writing is rich with description. I love the "girl." I found myself becoming her and relating to her, especially in the sense of her battling her thirst for blood.

You need a good reason that you keep her nameless through the first chapter. Readers love to be close to the main characters, and if you're going to withhold her name we need a gooooood reason why.

Overall fantastic write. You did a great job in description of the setting and the character, and it doesn't seem forced or like your dumping info, it has good flow.

Can't wait to reaad the next chapter.

[Aven]

It takes discipline to even get this far. I look forward to hearing the end of the story. :)

[Cassandra D.]

You have such a grand imagination. I thought it was really good.
The ending was really interesting. Can't wait for more!