OOC

Night fell as your parents' house burned with a strange intensity out of your control as you were chased down the street of the small village where you passed all your life after a strange warmth spread out of you, setting everything you touched aflame.

Naked and terrified, you ran as far and as swiftly as you could into the arms of the dark Forest of the Devil, the nightmare inducing tales you heard of the forest in your youth as far away of your thoughts as possible as scream of rage and the sound of swords and pitchforks brandished resonated in the rapidly darkening air.

On and on you ran, skillfully evading your pursuers into your new refuge as you ducked beneath dark branches and got scratched by stray thorn littering the gloomy underbrush. Soon night truly fell and no sound but the sound of your erratic breathing could be heard in the dark forest.

You were lost and could no longer go back.

No longer able to hear her pursuers or much of anything other than her own breathing Freya slowed her pace before coming to a stop. Her azure eyes glistened in the dim light from the tears she held back. She may have lost the mob behind her, but now wasn’t the time for her to break down. Don’t look back she told herself as she stood there trying to catch her breath. Her chest hurt, her whole body ached and covered with dirt and scratches. It took several minutes before she was once again able to breathe somewhat normally. “What am I to do now,” she whispered to herself, still trying to process what happened.

Freya looked to the sky, but it was mostly blocked out by the canopy of the Forest of the Devil. There were no answers to be found there or from what was once her home. A small smirk crossed her lips before she looked at the forest around her. “They will pay,” she whispered once again to herself, the malice evident in her voice. First she would need to find shelter for the night, so she forced herself to move forward, further into the forest.

The forest was not quiet for long, first came the whispers in the dark, whispering horrifying things in her ears, seductive thoughts of revenge mingled with description of carnage and mischief. Then came the giggling and scratching, melding seamlessly with the whispers in a melody of dark thoughts that left you dizzy with both fear and rage.

You walked on and on until you came upon a dark path leading to a dilapidated hut. The clearing the hut was in was full of thorns and moonlit roses as if the previous owner suddenly disappeared and their garden became overgrown by the ambient magic of the forest, unruly and unafraid to grow beyond the confine of their garden. The hut was full of them as well as you approached, the bed strangled to smithereens, the pillows gutted and the entirety of the surface of the small living space filled with dirt, dust and thorn.

Save for a strange tome made of some sort of leather.

The hut was too damaged to use, but the book may have some interesting information to divulge.

---------- Post added 01-05-2013 at 02:04 PM ----------

Samhain, the time when the dead and the living mingled. This was a fateful night for you as your husband accused you of witchcraft and pushed you into the village's well a few days ago, prompting you to strangely survive the cold nights in a watery grave until all the villagers started to call it the well the Witch's Pit, unkindly condemning you to your fate under your unfaithful spouse cruel leadership.

You were hungry, afraid, cold and furious and soon whispers reached your ears... whispers that told you things you shouldn't have know and spoke of abilities you only heard in legends. Abilities you were now able to replicate. So you turned your hands into talons and dug to the surface, long into the night until you reached the cool night air. Your clothes were nothing but waterlogged rags by that point and you promptly discarded them.

That was when the dogs found you.

Running away was not an option for these slobbering beast would surely outpace and attack you so you attacked them first. Blood and screams sounded into the night as you turned into a being of nightmare under the blood moon and feasted upon your victims.

'What happened to you? What had you done?' You thought after you turned back into yourself. But it was too late, the villagers were up and about, awakened by the howls of agony and ready to slay you sinful being and put it to the crows.

So you ran into the Forest of the Devil.

On and on you ran, until you collapsed, cold, naked and wounded by the shard thorns of the forest and the sharper still stones of the earth. You were lost, and should find someplace to stay and warm up should you want to survive the night.

Clara was a vile and repulsive creature, she felt it within her body. She was dirty and she retched and retched until she was certain that the dog meat was all gone from within her. Her long, braided auburn hair was a mess. Pieces stuck out, leaves, twigs and insects had embedded themselves deep within her scalp. Clara turned her hands over and over as her wide hazel eyes viewed not clawed hands...but a hand of a gentle woman. She wanted to claw at her face and at her throat, what was she turning into?! Or more so, why was she turning into whatever she was turning into.

Clara leaned up her body against the cool, rough bark of the devil tree. The forest it self was rumored to nestle the devil himself within the very core, as she leaned against the tree Clara could promise herself that there was evil just emanating out of it. Looking around with frantic eyes she made a grab for the tattered fabric next to the pile of vomit. Hurriedly she wrapped it around her body, she seemed to keep on shivering like no tomorrow.

Tired, bloody and now empty with a bitter taste in her mouth Clara trudged forward with much reluctance, her feet moving without the confirmation of her mind. It was as if she was drawn to something.

You felt your appearance return to normal as your self disgust took the place of feral self-preservation, the state of your mind and lack of food apparently having being the reason for your transformation. You did not notice as such however in your grief and shock.

You limped on down what seemed a faint road long forgotten to a dilapidated hut strangled by wild roses. Reddish moonlight appeared to bath the whole clearing you now found yourself through, giving a terrifying appearance to the otherwise saddening sight. The hut would have surely been lovely once upon a time but time and abandonment seemed to have gotten the better of it and it's small surroundings. This place was no place for human anymore.

As you approached the hut you found another young woman you recognized from the village you just fled inside the hut, looking at some unknown object in her hands. Was she here for you? What should you do?

The darkness seemed just a bit too dark to Clara tonight. It was as if tonight all evil loomed free, as the female had walked and walked she had unwillingly reached an abandoned shack it seemed like. As her eyes had scanned over the small hut Clara's eyes had found another, her gaze lingered, cold and hard as she stared at the dark figure before recognizing it. Not giving up her suspicion Clara approached the other female.

Freya

Clara recalled the girls name in her mind, the girl was younger than her by a whole year or so. She seemed too young to be out here alone. Her eyes narrowed, "What are you doing out here?" she snapped at the girl. She seemed untrusting of the other, Clara's eyes flickering from the cracked wall to the window to the...book? Clara simply pointed to the object in Freya's hand. She demanded to know what that was.

The moonlit roses were a welcomed sight as was the hut. Unfortunately it wasn’t going to usable like Freya had hoped. Upon searching inside she had managed to find one thing that might be useful. She examined the object further. It appeared to be a book of some sort. A dairy perhaps she thought running her hand along the leather. Something was strange about it. It was like she could feel something from it.

Curious Freya began to open the old book when she heard a voice behind her. Her body tensed and her mind raced with many thoughts. She remained silent for a few moments before turning to reply. She held the book in her arms against her chest to cover her nakedness. “I could ask you the same thing. If you must know, I couldn’t sleep. So I decided to go for a walk.” A little lie is what came from her. Looking at the girl that stood before her she recognized her from the village. Clara she believed was her name and if she recalled correctly she was over a year older than herself. “What are you doing here?”

Not very bright...is she?

Clara scoffed, "Taking a walk without clothes?" she asked shaking her head, this young girl was foolish enough to believe that Clara would fall for it. Even if Freya had been clothed it would have been hard to believe that anyone would want to come for a walk in a place like this, especially at night. Clara shrugged, she had no reason to lie. Plus, it wasn't like she was any good at it either. "I.." Clara thought about her words, it seemed like Freya was in a similar situation to her. "The villagers drove me off" she whispered, telling Freya only what she thought she should know.

For the first time since she had been hunted down she felt a pang in her chest, she realized that she missed her child. The child that had just recently been born to her, she feared for the baby. Would it turn out to be a monster just like Clara herself? Clara had been staring at the leather bound book in Freya's hand the whole time, she was curious as to what it was. She looked up at the young girl once more and stuck out her hand. "May I see what the book is about?" she asked coldly.

Freya felt a little dumb for attempting to lie, but she no longer knew who she could trust. Her own father had been among the mob of villagers that ran her out of the village. She didn’t attempt to answer Clara’s question. Clara went on to tell her that she was ran out of the village. So she was in a similar situation. Now she felt even more dumb about the stupid lie, but she showed little emotion to the other girl.

Azure eyes followed the older girl’s gaze. Freya held tightly to the book she had found, feeling it was perhaps a clue as to what happened to her, something that could tell her how she set all those things aflame by only touching them. “Since you’re the same as me I guess it couldn’t hurt to let you look, but I’ll hold it for you.” Freya wasn’t about to trust the other girl, at least not yet. She opened the book carefully and held it for Clara to look at.

Clara shrugged, she didn't mind one bit if the girl held the book for her. "I do not mind" she whispered softly as she inched closer towards the book, it was almost as if she was mesmerized by the beautiful leather binding of it. The pages however, were yellowed on the inside. That somehow struck Clara as strange, the outside was shiny and new like it was had just been bound but the inside was yellowed, rotten and almost falling apart.

Clara knew how to read and write minimally, it took her rather long to read and write though. To not waste time she looked for key words.

Blood. Head. Tail. Ear. Cauldron. Talon. Wing. Bat.

Her eye brows raised as a chilly night breeze drafted through the house. Clara looked around, her eyes darting from place to place. It was as if she heard her name being shrieked over and over again in the winds. "Have you read this yet?" her voice was quiet and hushed, as if the walls would hear her and punish her, as she spoke to Freya. She wished to continue reading but at the same time she was skeptical about what she might uncover.

Freya held the book, waiting patiently as the other woman read. Her head moved from time to time as she if had heard something and was looking to see what it was. She was starting to feel uneasy as the night breeze drafted through the dilapidated house. She wasn’t sure what the exact cause of the uneasiness she felt, but it was there none the less. Hearing the other girl speak she looked at her shaking her head slightly, “not yet. What does it say?”

It was clear to Freya that Clara was feeling the same way, but she said nothing. She shivered slightly as a stronger breeze drafted through the house. If only she knew how she set those things on fire earlier then maybe she’d be able to light a fire for her and the other girl. Then again that would raise Clara’s suspicion even more, but at the very least they would be able to stay warm.