— • 🔥 Unknown 🔥 • —

I was in the forest again last night, when I sensed the power, it was raw and beautiful. It reached into my soul and pulled at my spirit. The connection I felt to this power confused me... Could this power be what they've been searching for all that time? Did they even consider the different bodies the power could take, maybe a materialistic or an animalistic form compared to the spiritual, free flowing and moving form they originally thought.

— •⚡️ Isabella ⚡️• —

Wake up!!

Huh?

Girl you need to get your ass up now! They're coming.

Who are?

Remember those three wolves we fought yesterday?

Yeah... what about them?

Well they're coming after you and they brought reinforcements.

Oh shit.

Yeah oh shit. We managed against one wolf yesterday, but a tag team, nah no can do.

Okay so what's the plan?

Well we can- wait what's that smell?

Huh? What smell?

There's another wolf, a lone wolf just down to the south. It smells like... Lucas.

Are you serious? So I have to deal with Lucas as well. You have got to be kidding me.

Right okay, you need to head North. Lucas is coming in from the south and those other wolves from the West.

Okay. There's just one issue...

You don't know which way North is do you?

No.

I can feel her shaking her head at me. She lets out a sigh.

Right okay, so can you smell the wolves?

No?

Oh my goddess, we do not have time for this.

Right right, okay sorry, what do I do?

You need to feel the forest, mentally visualise the trees and the plants, can you feel any disruptions in nature's balance?

I picture the forest, the trees all stand tall, swaying slightly from the earthy breeze that buzzed around my ears like a bee.

Then I feel it, a slight tug from the West, I turn my attention towards the feeling, and I see it. Six large wolves, the three from before and three other ones, those three all larger than the original three.

I open my eyes and gasp.

I feel her voice filter through my mind. Okay so we've got the sensing thing sorted.

Now time for the navigating.

Uhhh... how do I do that?

Right we are going to use the forest again, use moss as a locator.

I burst out laughing. Wait we are going to use moss to locate. Are you serious?

Very much so.

Oh sorry.

Yes, we are going to use moss, unless you want to wait until nightfall to follow the stars or spend hours placing sticks to find your shadow, we are going to use moss. Now shut up so I can explain before I let those wolves eat you!

I gulp.

Right, you need to look at all the surrounding trees, moss grows in damp areas, meaning it grows in the North, this is because the sun is in the South and can be tracked West to East.

But-

No buts. Look at the trees and follow the moss, hurry before you become dog food.

I begin scanning the surroundings and sure enough all the moss is growing on only one side of the trees.

I head off in that direction.

Sprinting ahead I crash through the undergrowth, frightening a few rabbits in my wake.

They would make a lovely morning snack if I wasn't being pursued by seven wolves.

Focus.

Sorry Athena.

I keep sprinting ahead for a couple of miles before I'm utterly exhausted.

Izzy, theres a distinct change in the air, can you smell that?

I inhale a deep breath an close my eyes.

She's right, the air holds a suffocating feeling that lays heavy on my lungs.

There's someone coming. Oh shit.

Athena, what do I do? They're too close to run? They'll catch me.

You need to change into your human form, it will conceal your scent and you won't be seen as a threat. It's your best option, the last thing we want is a fight that could injure us and allow those other wolves to catch up to us.

Okay, so just imagine my human form right?

Yeah but you need to picture the shift, imagine the way your body morphs into its new form; the hair slowly receding into your skin, the claws and fangs retracting, your bones shifting, cracking and splitting as they move into their new positions. Imagine your eyes and your nose. All the little details, and remember to breathe and try not to make too much noise okay?

Okay...

I lay down with my paws tucked under me. Closing my eyes, I try to imagine the transition to my human body.

I imagine the hair diffusing back into my skin, hidden from all eyes, my claws retracting back into my paws, slowly turning into hands with fingers, same with my back paws. I let out a small scream at the feeling of my bones shifting, scratching, scraping, cracking and splitting. The pain is unbearable, well not entirely, it's easier than the very first time I morphed back. I feel my snout recede back into my face, my face losing hair, showing the soft glowing skin underneath. I picture my sky blue eyes, focusing on the little speckles that glitter when the sun shines.

It was working, a final pain shot through my shaking body and then a peaceful hum as my skin danced in its new form.

I did it!

Great, now hide.

Oh right yeah.

I laid down behind a bush, nestled against a tree.

I can hear the noise getting closer, the rustle of footsteps against the crisp forest floor. The birds singing become louder and clearer as the unknown presence comes closer.

It walks directly up to me, almost as if it could sense me. It knew where I was.

I hear a sweet melodic voice, "Hey, are you okay?" Concern filters through her voice as she comes closer.

I open my eyes and I'm met with the most beautiful girl I've ever seen. Her hair is a mixture of brown and blonde, her roots slightly darker. The ash blonde hair flows down past her shoulders, it looks so soft and silky. Wait, she's in the forest, why is her hair so perfect? Mine is nothing like that- now I not the time. I mentally growl at myself.

Her skin is sun kissed to leave small freckles dotted all over her face, and her lips are both as full as each other, nothing like mine, my bottom lip is fuller than my top- omg I did it again, stop comparing yourself to her!

But her eyes, were a darker brown, void of any emotion and sparkle, kinda like a black hole. My eyes are a sky blue and personally a lot prettier than hers, I mean her eyes still suit her but if she my eyes, I would have no other choice but to be jealous of her natural beauty- wait what am I saying? Yeah she's pretty but that's no reason to be jealous, why am I even judging her on her looks anyways? I mentally groan in annoyance at my own actions.

I can't believe-

"You okay?" I hear again. Feeling a slight nudge at my arm, I come out of my mental bubble and face her properly.

"Yeah I'm okay, just a bit tired is all." I reply.

"Well, want to come with me? I've got somewhere better we can stay than that damp tree you're laying on." She giggles a little and I blush at the situation because I am indeed laid next to a damp tree.

"Yeah sure why not, you seem nice, but try to kill me in the middle of the night and I will end you." I say in a deathly serious tone, but then smile after.

"Feisty, I like it." She counters back.

She helps me up of the floor.

"Thank you, uh."

"Emilia."

"Thanks Emilia." I say, smiling.

She smiles back. "No worries, couldn't just leave you on the floor could I now?"

"I guess not." I reply.

We begin walking North. Good, at least it's away from Lucas and those other Wolves. I can barely manage to fight for myself, never mind someone else.

"And what's your name, or do I just call you blue eyes?" She says, whilst smirking.

"Uh well my name is Isabella, so call me Bella or Izzy."

"I like Izzy."

"Great." I say, smiling.

We continue to walk and talk about random things, like favourite colour, animals, what we do in our spare time. Just the general stuff. Not either one of us daring to ask why we are both in the forest- and why she looks like a goddess at the same time. Maybe she's taking me to her house to let me have a shower, I smell really bad- or maybe she wants to kill me. Stop it! Stupid overthinking brain!

Her favourite colour is purple, whereas mine is blue. Her favourite animal is a wolf the same as mine. Maybe it's just coincidence- or maybe. Stop. In her spare time she likes to walk out into the forest, she loves painting and any form of creative art, including photography as well. Whereas I like the idea of that sorta stuff but would probably be really bad at it. In my spare time I camp I would either go swimming in the lake, or write novels. Of course I never finished any of them, I get bored and think of a new exciting idea and start on that.

We've been walking for hours it seems, the sky's colour slowly changing from a bright blue, to a dull blue then to an artists depiction of a perfect sunset.

"How long have we been walking?" I ask.

She jolted at my voice, she two seemed lost in her own mind.

"Roughly 4 hours."

"What?!" I exclaim.

"How can we have been walking for 4 hours?! Wait how do you know?" I ask

"I tracked the sun."

"How come I didn't-"

"Notice? Well because you weren't paying attention silly." She giggles.

"Look I'll show you." She says before facing the sun and extending her arm out. She turns her wrist so the palm of her hand is facing her. She moved her fingers so that her pinky was in line with the horizon, all her other fingers one on top of the other.

"You count the finger widths. So right now there's four right?" She says

"Right."

"So you use your other hand, and place four more fingers on top, or however many to reach from the horizon to the sun."

"That's cool."

"Four finger widths shows 1 hour. When we first set off, the sun was twenty finger widths, that meant there was 5 hours of sunlight left. Now it's roughly four finger widths, maybe four and a half, so it's been about 4 hours and there's 1 hour of sunlight left. We arrived just in time."

"You're awesome, how did you know all that stuff, did you do like a wilderness explorer training or something." I laugh.

Her face drops and the smile that was on her face is now gone. "Something like that." She says quietly.

"I'm sorry." I've said something to upset her and I don't know what, I mean it's a given to happen because I don't know her that well.

"It's okay, you don't know that much about me huh?" She says.

I just smile at her. "I want to, I need a friend, it gets kinda lonely out here but if there stuff you don't wanna tell me that's cool, I respect that, just like there are some things I'm not ready to tell you yet."

She just smiles at me.

"Come on, we're here." She says before grabbing my arms and pulling me though some leafy plants, until she finally stopped at and let go of my arm.

I look up to see a little wooden hut. At first it's difficult to see, because of the layers of greenery that make it blend in.

"Woah, what is this?" I ask her, a little bewildered.

"I um kinda made it myself." She says shyly, twirling her fingers together.

"Honestly that is cool as fuck." I say. She just laughs awkwardly and makes her way inside the wooden building.

When I step in, I instantly feel the slightly warmer contrast compared to the chilly evening air outside. I expected it to be fairly cold in here to be honest.

"You like it?" She asks unsure, her eyes searching my face trying to see any expressions that will give off my opinions.

"Honestly, this is cooler than that time Lucas and Paige built that-"

I cut myself off as the memories come flooding back.

I hope they're okay. I know Lucas is looking for me, but I hope he's not too tough on himself. The twins better be looking after Abi and Paige. My little Paige, I hope she's okay. I was like a big sister to her and I hope she's happy and not too worried about me. I'm gonna have to go back at some point, I did promise her.

I'm torn away from my thoughts when I hear Emilia's voice.

"Hey, Izzy you okay?"

I just blink back the tears that threatened to fall and smiled up at her. "Yeah." I manage to reply but my voice cracks.

"You want a hot chocolate? The blanket is over there. Help yourself, the grey one is the softest so I'd recommend that one."

"Thank you." I whisper, as I take a blanket.

I'm lost in my thoughts once more until I'm interrupted by the wonderful smell of hot chocolate.

I sip it and it instantly makes me forget all my worries. Just that one moment, it's all that mattered. I was warm for tonight and I wasn't alone, maybe things weren't looking so bad after all.

"Emilia, thank you." I say.

"What for?"

"Helping me, you didn't have to bring me here and you definitely didn't have to be this kind to me. I'm really glad I'm not alone anymore. You don't know what this means to me, so thank you."

She smiles at me. "Me too. It gets pretty lonely out here all by myself."

"Yeah I know."

"So Izzy why were you out in the woods in the middle of the day, curled in a ball against a damp tree?" She inquired.

"I ran away from home, family stuff." I simply reply.

"Oh, same as me then." She says before grabbing a blanket herself and laying down next to me.

Maybe this wouldn't be so bad after all, if I can make it through tonight I can start making a plan on what to do next. I'm not alone anymore, I have Emilia.

Word count [2525]

What do you think to Emilia? Is she a good one? Or a baddie!? Only I know hehe.

Anyone got any ideas for what you think is gonna happen next? Maybe those wolves will come back? Idk. 🙊

- Bri xox