Young Writers Society

Micha Nowak POV
featuring Tom Sutcliffe

Micha watched, mouth agape, as Nendros flew up and snatched two eavesdroppers from the ceiling. He was on the verge of fainting - everything had gotten too weird, too fast. Beside him, Tom huffed a little sigh of surprise.

Micha worked out what was happening a split-second before it happened.

He was powerless as Thomas James Sutcliffe charged forwards in his tiger form. He kicked his hoodie and jeans off as he surged toward the group. He was the biggest tiger Micha had ever seen - a big, lean Bengal-or-perhaps-Siberian type tiger, flying forwards with claws unsheathed and muscles rippling with each bound.

Tom skirted around the dragon ambassador, his raspy roar catching in his throat with every breath. His claws skittered over the stone as he made a beeline for Ryan. The hind paws swung forward to power his pounce. Tom soared through the air, claws digging into Ryan's chest. His canines sunk deep into Ryan's throat, and golden blood began to flow.

It all happened in the space of a few seconds: Ryan had barely had time to flinch before Tom had ripped his throat out. The tiger stood back from his work, panting with his hackles raised. His eyes widened and he started to growl differently, out of fear, as he gazed around the horrified faces.

Micha ran forwards, transforming into his other white-wolf body as he went. The tears that had been on his cheeks stayed on his fur as he stood snarling between Tom and the others, pressing forwards to make Tom back away. Ryan's golden blood was smeared over his muzzle and teeth.

Eventually Tom shifted back, hair wild, face bloodstained, eyes afraid. Micha shifted after him, punching him square in the chin. Tom crumpled to the ground and Micha spun around to the others.

"Good God, guys!" He started to cry, "I'm so sorry! Damn rich kid, he didn't know what he was doing!"

Kellach:

He had just seen a man spill golden blood and die in front of his eyes, thanks to some massive, enraged tiger. The sailor, with his mouth agape, was as stunned as everyone else was in attendance - even the foreboding and monstrous individual who had pulled him down from a second floor balcony. Not of the tiger or the wolf; those were rather familiar to him, as he'd worked alongside some of them, and knew of their respective collective groups as noteworthy forces in his world. Yet, there was the fact that somebody had just been slaughtered by a fearful, panicked teenager who had acted beyond rashness, and into primal depths that he hadn't seen in some time. And the body of the victim was bleeding gold.

Under normal circumstances, it would've been almost impossible for him to notice the darting blur from the corner of his eye, and harder still to react. The sailor was unable to move even a fraction of an inch now, and he only had a lucky break when Shiruba tripped over his robes and fell on his face, a few inches away from the sword lying beside the body of the dead man. As such, Kellach dashed over and snatched the katana just before the tall man could grab onto the hilt of the blade.

Shiruba's eyes glowed red as he glowered at the sailor, but was grabbed by the tail of whom the sailor guessed was the king of the castle. "Desist at once!" the tall man demanded in rage, punching at the tail to little effect. "That freak has already killed one of us, and I'm not going to stand and die too!" His expression was marred with disgust, and an overwhelming amount of fear. He looked terrified, like he was cornered, and Kellach was well aware as to what fear and rage could cause.

The sailor looked at the horrified teenager who'd done the bloody deed, and sighed. That kid seemed way too flustered, shocked, and on the verge of an emotional breakdown. This was a spur-of-the-moment, brute force decision. As appalling as it was, he seemed innocent. Kellach stood in front of him and pointed the katana at Shiruba. "As if you don't have a blood trail yourself," he commented dryly. The sailor's eyes widened as he watched Shiruba's eyes glow red, and he swiftly turned to face the King. "Don't let go!" Kellach commanded, but perhaps a few moments too late.

The tall man cast a humongous fireball into the air, which at once exploded in a wave of smoke and ash, casting embers and fire all about the place. The king let go and wrapped his tail around himself as a wall of smoke rushed over all of them. Kellach waved the katana about, but to little effect. There was a small yip, and a shadow near the ground, but whatever it was quickly dashed away from the scene. The sailor sighed as the cloud of embers and dust dissipated, and Shiruba was nowhere to be seen.

The sailor gestured to the body. "It is the Castle of Blood," he mused, before sprinting off to find Shiruba, leaving everyone behind to remain dazed and attempt to make sense of their situation.

Despite the sudden exit of the two eavesdroppers, Briar pushed through the startled group to reach the supposed human's side. He fell to his knees. He didn't even know the boy's name, but he was bleeding out and was severely injuried! "Someone help him," he begged.

No one moved.

His gaze returned to the unmoving boy. "My sister Nat can heal; she can help him by taking on some of his injury! We just need to find her and-"

He felt a clawed hand on his shoulder. The king was behind him, tears forming in the corners of its eyes as well. "He's dead."

"He's just really injured!" Briar protested. The boy had to still be alright. He just had to be. Hands tightly gripping his pants to stop the flow of tears, he desperately looked at the others for support.

The king shook its head. "Briar, I know it's hard, but sometimes you have to accept that someone is gone."

He was turning six hundred sixty-six that spring; it was a fact he knew quite well. But it still was challenging for him to accept that someone's time on Earth had ended, and hard to take in the reality that their story - though it would continue to impact others - had finally reached its conclusion.

Out of the corner of his eye, Briar saw the boy's hand twitch. The king seemed to notice it as well - they were the two closest to the body - and looked less alarmed than Briar was. "It's just the nerves," he assured him.

But then the throat had previously been ripped out began to make its way back to his body.

The king and Briar screamed simultaneously.

Chessy

I hissed as murder ensued, pushing Alice behind me so that I was between her and the danger.

"Get out of my way b*tch!" She screamed.

"Mind your manners little one!" I said- starting to lose my temper. "You were seven last time we met!"

She huffed, a tea set fell from the ceiling. Why? No clue- it wasn't me.

"Why did you try to kill him?" I said calmly. "What did he ever do to you?"

"Cheshire..."

"Not now Alice."

"The blood is gold."

"Yes. So?"

"Human blood is red." She said with authority.

I wrinkled my nose. "That's boring though... It can't all be the same."

"Yes it can." She said crossing her arms. "Honestly am I the only sane one around here?"

"Yes. That is correct." I grinned. I looked up from our conversation. "If anyone wants any more people dead they have me to answer to." I glanced at Alice.

"Yo, throw a rock at me." I said quietly- not wanting to attract attention to the phrase.

"What?" She asked- a lot louder than I would've wanted her to.

"Just do it."

She threw a rock at me. Where it came from? No clue. I simply let my claws rip their way out of my hands and slice through it like a knife through hot butter. "Any questions?" I grinned.

He didn't dare to open his eyes. His throat seared with pain as it began to put itself together; two very loud screams from very close by filled the room. He suspected it was Nendros and Briar, whose voices appeared to be coming from his side.

He tried to stop the healing. If he could somehow control it, then he might still be able to get himself out of the mess he had suddenly been thrust into. The others, believing him to be dead, would dump him outside of the castle. Then he could get up and rush off into the forest - and towards his home - once they were all back inside.

But he knew he couldn't do that. It wasn't just his actual abilities limiting him. Tom, who had suddenly transformed into his weretiger form, would be left with the guilt of his death for the rest of his life. There was guaranteed to always be guilt no matter what Ryan did next, but he realized he would have to put himself on the line if it meant helping someone out. He didn't think Tom was a monster. He was like any normal person. he was scared, though being scared for him meant mauling someone as a weretiger.

He opened his eyes.

Screams once again filled the room.

He pushed himself off the ground, coughing, and attempted to wipe some of the blood off of his neck. It was shockingly harder than when he had been decapitated in the cemetery. His hands were golden by the time he put them down.

"G-Ghost!" he heard the knight yell with a terrified whimper at the end. Nearby, Nendros and Briar fell back to the floor as Ryan got to his feet. His legs shook. He briefly wondered if it was possible for him to die of blood loss.

"Don't be afraid," Ryan tried to reassure everyone, but they still regarded him with looks of terror. "I'm not a zombie or a ghost or anything like that. Since I turned eighteen several months ago, I haven't been able to die and my blood has been golden." He searched the floor for his choker, which had miraculously only been unattached and knocked the side by Tom's sudden attack. He put it on to cover to wound in his neck, though he know little parts of it still showed. "I know it sounds crazy, but you've seen for yourself. My body just healed itself after being killed, and the blood covering my hands right now isn't red."

Her clothes, she quickly realized, were terrible at keeping out the cold. This was a fact that she had been semi-aware of, but it wasn't until she was suddenly in the woods rather than the streets of New York City that it became more evident. She had been cold earlier, but earlier she had also had Briar by her side. He - though with great difficulty - conjured a small flame and had lit some trash in the alleyway they had crashed in for the night. The resulting mini-fire provided all the warmth she needed. It did have the downside of upsetting Briar because of how easier the task should have been.

She pushed her way through the undergrowth. She hadn't been able to find a path since her arrival roughly thirty minutes ago, and instead had been making her own as she headed towards the castle looming in the distance. She hoped that Briar was making his way there too. If not, she planned on finding a way into one of the towers and peering out the windows to see if she could spot him in the forest.

Interestingly enough, it seemed like someone had already come the way that she had. Her homemade path already looked slightly trampled on, and just a little bit up ahead, she could hear the sounds of someone moving about. With a smile, she pushed forward. It had to be Briar! After all, he had stumbled into the portal a minute or two before she had followed him (she was too shocked at first to even figure out what had happened to him).

She pushed forward even faster. "Briar!" she called out even faster.

I watch with horrified, shocked fascination, the kind that draws one into dark, twisted internet videos, as Ryan regenerates himself like a grotesque lizard. My attention had left the werewolf and weretiger as soon as Ryan had started to come alive again.

'I can do that too!' was what I would have said, if I'd actually been able to speak. I couldn't wait to get to know this man, a fellow immortal. Had he, too, stolen the key of eternal life? Was he, too fleeing from cat-demons? Did he, too, run from everything that made him human?

How many others are there?

"How?" I croaked the word. Ryan looks at me, confused but polite, and embarrassment flushes through my mind. I shake my head, I'll ask later. Instead of pursue the topic, which I suspect could prove to be rather delicate, I go back to preening my feathers.

Chessy

"Cool!" I clapped as Ryan regenerated. Alice stared in fascination- though for someone so young she seemed oddly unperturbed.

"Question- Are any of us actually mortal?" Alice questioned.

"That's slightly a personal question little one."

"Well neither of us are, Ryan isn't, I just want to know if there's anyone within the realm of normal here!"

"You're normal-ish, I'm aproximately one third normal." She face-palmed.

Enide:

These woods were frustrating to travel through. The branches were persistent impediments, and it wasn't easy to brush them aside. She didn't know where she was, or if there was much else than endlessly rolling waves of trees in all directions of her. She didn't know how she'd gotten her, and her husband wasn't with her. That never meant good. Still, she was alive, and in one piece, and hadn't had any significant issues thus far.

Before, of course, the sounds of somebody crashing through the woods. The rustling of trees and the loud footsteps caught the lady's attention at once, and she turned to face that part of the forest from where she had come intently. It appeared that the source of the ruckus was following her own path, and her spirits briefly rose as she assumed that her husband had finally found her, and was coming over to greet her. However, the person called out, "Briar!" Enide's neutral expression hadn't changed in the past minute, but now she was mildly disappointed. She shrugged. It was at least good to know that there was somebody else in this dreadful forest. Besides, it wasn't as though she had anywhere else to go or hide, and she knew that she was more than competent if she needed to defend herself in any way.

A few seconds later, a girl crashed through the trees, staring wildly for whoever it was she was searching for. Enide noted the long, tied-back hair, strange outfit, and somewhat disheveled appearance. The girl's eyes were more colorful and deep than Enide's dark gray eyes. They stared at each other, and a wave of mutual disappointment formed. The girl looked down at her odd shoes after a few awkward seconds, looking glum. "Oh," she said. "I thought you were someone else."

"Who were you hoping to find?" asked Enide carefully, trying to be respectful and consoling.

The girl thought about this for a few seconds and looked up. "A friend," she replied.

In response, the lady commented, "I'm looking for my husband. Perhaps we can accompany each other and find them?"

There was an uncomfortable pause. "I don't see why not," said the girl after a few seconds. "I'm Nat."

"And I'm Enide," the lady replied. She pointed to a spot in the far distance. "I see a castle over there. We may as well visit it."

And, with that, they began to walk through the woods.

"I'm human," Nendros said quietly. He pulled a loose thread off of his tunic with his claws and pushed a strand of hair out of his golden eyes. "I'm just cursed to look like this. I'm still a-a human."

Ryan felt bad for Nendros; the man wasn't able to accept that he had changed - possibly forever - while Ryan had come to understand that he was most likely going to remain immortal. If only Nendros could move past that. Then, like Ryan, he could try to find a way to reverse what had happened to him.

Was anyone actually "normal"? The only two people who Ryan thought were normal were The knight and Briar, but the question asked by Alice seemed to make both incredibly uncomfortable. The knight stood very still, Nendros casting a worried glance in his direction.

He should have died long ago.

There it was again! Why did he keep thinking that? The knight was completely normal. He didn't know why he felt that way about the knight, and didn't know how someone could possibly escape death unless they were immortal. He stared at the knight for a minute. His eyes were what stuck out to Ryan; they look more like pinpricks of golden light than anything else. And why couldn't he see the skin around the knight's eyes?

Briar, on the other hand, suddenly found the tile floor to be incredibly interesting. He pulled his hood farther down. The only suspicious things about him were how he kept doing that, and how Ryan had noticed that he had unusually sharp canines. Maybe genetics were at play? Ryan doubted that was the case.

They're both hiding something. But why? Everyone else in the room was far from being the average human. It couldn't hurt them to speak up!

She hoped Briar was in the castle; every moment without him by her side brought a fresh wave of worry. Her worst fear was that he had been captured by the castle's occupants or someone hidden among the forest, and that they had harmed him after forcing him to remove his hood.

Her attention shifted to the woman she was walking behind. She would have assumed that the strange name meant she was like Briar, but Enide appeared to be completely human. Then again, Briar had never been able to pull off a convincing illusion for a long period of time. She suspected the rest of his kind could do better when it came to magic like that.

She speed-walked so she was standing next to the woman. "How did you end up here?" Nat asked. "I came through a portal. My brother - that's who I'm looking for; we've always been close, so I call him my friend too - stumbled back into one that suddenly formed behind him. I wasn't able to warn him about it."

"I'm mortal," Adrian announced, his lies as smooth as ice. "I'm normal, too, apart from my wings. And I don't know how long they'll be around for..."

Lies. He knew full-well that the wings would be there until he gave up immortality - but the others didn't have to know. His face kept its confident almost-smile as he figured out a foolproof net of lies.

Enide:

The lady nodded as she continued to look around her and into the forest. Still nothing - not a sound, movement, or shadow. This place was incredibly eerie and far too quiet than it should've been, and Enide heavily doubted the security of the castle, assuming there was anybody within it at all. "I was the one off guard," she noted to Nat. "It was also some kind of...portal, or a light. My husband and I had been sitting and overlooking a forest from atop a hill when I saw something out of the corner of my eye."

By now, they had exited the trees and were ascending up a hill covered in brown and white grass, all long dead. The dull colors did nothing to change Enide's low opinions of the place. The massive structure ahead towered over their heads, composed of dark gray cobblestone pockmarked with windows and a few turrets on the top. Not a single light emanated outwards, and the huge wooden doors seemed far too foreboding and eerie. Still, there wasn't any other place to go, and Shiruba had likely gone to the only noticeable landmark, probably in search of her.

"It was blinding," she continued, "and sounded like a gale. I was pulled into it long before he had any chance to react, and landed in this place. The portal closed behind me, but I saw him fall into it as well, and so I know he must be here somewhere."

Her eyesight focused on a shadow passing through one of the higher windows. There was the silhouette of a man proceeding swiftly past, a sword in hand. Her eyes narrowed as she recognized the shape of a katana. Enide hadn't been able to identify the figure in question, which only made her decision even more troubling. It could be her husband, and that would require finding him and placating him. It could be somebody else entirely, and since Shiruba wouldn't dare part with his sword unless in unusual circumstances, that suggested he was in danger. Either way, the castle was the answer.

She steeled herself and knocked on the massive doors.