Young Writers Society

The word ‘bad’ keeps flashing in my mind as I run with increasing familiarity through the forest; avoiding trees and branches with ease I wouldn’t have been capable of even in my real body.

Are those agility points at least working?

I quickly glance back to see those giant kittens catching up on me. My chest is hurting, my lungs are burning, and my legs are giving out. I should have put some points into endurance.

Think! They’re too big to climb a tree as easily as an actual cat. Even if they can get up, I should at least be able to rest a bit.

Without even thinking about if I can even get up a tree myself, I take a flying leap at an overhead branch, swinging up on momentum, and jumping to an even higher branch on pure instinct. If this was any other time I would praise myself, but the saber toothed giant kittens already caught up, and immediately slamming their heads into the base of the tree.

Bang

I scream, scrambling up the rest of the tree in a panic.

Bang

They jump at the tree, sliding down under their own weight, but still getting uncomfortably close. So rather than wait for my doom, I jump to a sturdy looking tree in front of me. With grace I could have never mustered even a minute ago, I grab for the other tree and easily shift my weight. Then taking advantage of the momentum, swing to another branch.

Are Alvear a type of monkey? I don’t think elves could do what I am.

Bang

More and more of those giant kittens seemed to run out of the forest, all slamming their fluffy heads into any try I jump to. I figured cats were a solitary hunter but these guys were clearly working together, timing their jumps so that any tree I jump to is quickly uprooted.

This isn’t working, they’re not giving me enough time to catch my breath. I can’t run away anymore.

Rip

Without enough time to jump, the tree I’m on tilts and rips its way through the surrounding vegetation, pushed down under the weight of many giant cats, taking me with it.

I yelp, the feeling of tree branches stabbing at me as I fall with it. As I hit the ground my vision flashes red and I feel some invasive sensation in my right leg.

It’s…so much blood.

So of course, I start crying. Pain. Fear. Stress. Chased by giant death kittens. Now I get stabbed in the leg by a tree, it’s too much. If this is still a game, it’s horrible. I’m forced to watch as the giant saber toothed cats slowly surround me, I know I won’t survive this.

I don’t want to play!

Get me out of here!

One of the giant cats growls, shoving its way through it’s comrades before jumping at me. As I stare at my impending death a large grey blur enters my vision. I hear the giant monster yelp out in pain, and then go silent, its head flying through the air. In fact, all of them went silent, I was so surprised by this grey blurs appearance that I didn’t realize just how quiet it had gotten.

Forcing my vision to focus I realized all of them were dead, some cut like what that unknown figure before me did, but most of the giant kittens were burnt to a crisp like a flame thrower had been used on them. I rubbed my eyes a few times, pushing the tears away, just to make sure I wasn't imagining things. They were all most certainly dead. I focused back on the gray blur from before, which turned out to be a massive human man in plate-mail armor.

The man was very striking in his bright plate-mail and massive shield, like he was some sort of human wall. Besides his size his blonde hair, and bright blue eyes made him look a lot like a fantasy hero, artistically placed scars even decorated his face in order to give him a more rugged charm.

He was looking at me like I was some pitiful animal. Given how cut up I am, and how ruined my clothes were before I fell through a tree, I’m not surprised. But even if he saved me, I can’t trust him, in this world Alvear are hated and enslaved. As a Half-Alvear this bodies pointed ears should normally be hidden by it’s hair, but I doubt I can hide them in my condition.

“Can you talk?” A girl's voice ask behind me.

I cry out in pain as I instinctively try to run away from the voice. The feeling of the wood impaled in my leg gives me a weird, wrong sense of pain, my vision blurring again as I start crying. 

Why do I keep crying?

“Woah there!” Another girl’s voice said, quickly grabbing me, holding my leg still. “Quill, do you have anything to numb her leg?”

“I do, but I rather not waste valuable resources on something so minor.” A man who I assume is named Quill said outside my vision.

“Look at the poor girl,” The first female voice said, finally entering my vision. Through the pain I could hardly see her, but her bright orange hair was striking. “Didn’t your mom ever teach you how to treat a lady?”

“Just pull the stick out, and I can heal her before it even starts to hurt.” Quill walked into my view, kneeling down next to my stabbed leg. I don’t think I like this man.

“Thank you for - ouch!” As I started thanking them for the help, Quill pulled my leg up, the painful, wrong sensation of the branch pulled out of my leg caused me to start crying again, my vision red from pain. Before I could even start to curse at him, the pain rapidly disappeared, a warm, comfortable sensation filled my mind. Not just the stab from the tree branch, but every stinging cut on this body seemed to fade away under that warmth.

“So she speaks.” Quill said, letting go of this bodies leg.

Yes, I don’t like him.

Now that the pain was gone, I took a moment to process the people around me, my eyes first drifting to the knight. The giant shield knight was cutting up the bodies of all of those giant kittens...

I looked away.

The girl who first spoke, the one with striking orange hair was staring at me gently with big round green eyes, her bright hair framing her face with a sort of motherly feeling that reminded me of home.

The man who just healed me through magic, Quill, looked a lot like a sickly scholar, dark black hair, deep set almond eyes, and incredibly pale skin. A lot like the body I am in, but if he ever had the same glow, it had long since been bleached away.

The final girl gently lifted me up from the ground, turned me around to face her, and then tightly hugged me. I got a better view of her chest then her face, but she has incredibly dark black eyes, and hair almost as dark as this body's own, but far purer since it was not tinted with the purple I added in. “Cute.” she muttered while suffocating me, only letting me go after I started flailing from oxygen deprivation. She was giant in more ways than one, almost as tall as plate-mail man.

Finally back on my feet again, “Thank you all for helping me.” I said again, shifting my gaze over them all, unsure what I could do. I took a step back from them all. While a part of me wanted to trust them, I doubt they would have helped if they know what I was. I can’t trust human kindness as a Alvear. The two girls looked a bit sad when they saw me step back,

“Look what you did, you scared the poor thing.” The orange haired girl looked angrily at her male companion and then took a step forward. She offered me a smile and then opened her arms slightly in a welcoming gesture. “Hey there, I’m Lore, I know you’re scared. But I promise that nobody here is going to hurt you.” Lore spoke to me like I was a scared little kid. Though I guess I am. Would they go through this much effort if they were bad people? I’ve never really talked to many people, too focused on studying.

After a few seconds of silence, where it was clear that I didn’t seem willing to talk, the plate-male knight spoke up. “And I’m Crux, can I ask what you’re name is?”

My name's David Wright, but I don’t think that fits the body I’m in. I hope the name I picked works. “I’m Avery.” I said, stuttering a bit, afraid of what they might think. As soon as I said that name, they all just stared at me.

“An Alvear name.” Crux muttered. I don't know how I guessed an Alvear name since I didn't pay attention to the lore back when I was creating this body, but they practically handed the human naming scheme of this world to me on a silver platter, and I just ignore it. Panicking, I decided that rather than stick around and let them capture me, I quickly ran for it, hoping that whatever agility let me keep ahead of a bunch of giant cats could help me here.

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Author's note: Not the the kitties!

I'm not so sure about this chapter, but I'ma postin' it anyway! Hope you all enjoy!