Her bare feet rushed across the dark forest floor, twigs and leaves digging and scratching the soles, low hanging branches scraping her arms and her face. Her whole body was hurting with the various cuts and bruises she had accumulated in her mad run in the pitch dark of the night. But she didn't pay them any mind- she couldn't pay them any mind. She had to run. She had to run as fast as she could- or they would catch her.
The sound of her desperate breaths continued to fill her ears even as she tried to ignore the hasty movements out of the corner of her eyes. They were there- surrounding her, running with her. They were watching up!...If they had ever let go. Somewhere in the back of her mind, in the part which wasn't desperate to save her life, she understood that they were playing with her. But right now it didn't matter.
Just then sharp rasping growls pierced through her awareness. They were right at her heels! Their own breaths singed her calves and even her neck. That thought terrified her more than anything. They were not all running in the wolf form she had seen them change into- some were running behind her in human bodies, with the wolves, belying their otherwordly nature. They were neither wolf, nor men. They were something else. She pumped her legs to run faster! Faster!
Soon, the soft ground gave way to a harder surface, which eventually tapered into a stone path. At even this small change, after the continuous chase she had been in, hope began to flicker. Why is this path different? Does it lead outside? To a civilisation perhaps? Maybe it was misplaced hope. Kira had no way to know, and no time to think and find out. She just chased the path, chased something different that stood out to her even as what she was sure was certain death right at her heels. The stone dug into the many injuries she had accumulated on her feet, but she continued to run.
After long last and what she was sure was hours of running and evading her predators, she finally saw a break in the trees. She made a mad dash towards it, even as the the beings continued nipping at her heels. Beings was the best way to describe them- for they were not really animals. Even animals did not tear into their victims the way she had seen them tear into theirs- their teeth shining red with the blood and entrails of the young woman even as she lay screaming on the ground. In a forest that she had just woken up in. And then the way the men had sniffed the air, changing forms even as they turned towards her...
She shook away the thought as best as she could, and did the only thing she had been doing since the encounter- run.
The moonlight shining through the gap led the way to the end of the dense forest, and the quick breath of fresh air that Kira was afforded after breathing in the dense looming air of the forest was the only respite she got. Because after all that running, all the wishing, instead of getting to a path, a village, or anything that might have helped, all she saw was a cliff's edge.
And standing on the top of that cliff, facing the full moon, was a large figure- a man- her brain determined. But now she knew better.
He had long flowing hair, and a lean body packed with muscles. Barechested, he only wore an animal skin wrap that covered him from his waist down to his muscular thighs, and in his hands he held a glowing red object that glinted in the scant light.
The ruby!
Kira recognised it in an instance. How could she not? It had all started with it.
Her run came to an abrupt halt, and only the sounds behind her made her turn to face the more pressing threat, though she knew not to underestimate the man at the cliff. He was one of them.
The wolves and the men that had been chasing her also stopped. They knew their prey was cornered. Prey- for that is what she was.
Kira took a stumbling step back, away, and they matched it. Drawing in a calming breath, she tried again, only to be matched again.
Stumbling on the rough stones, but not daring to turn away from the hunters she made an arch with what she remembered in her memory of the cliff. And the man.
She turned away from them both, and carefully walked along the edge of the forest in such a way that soon both the wolves and the man were soon in her line of sight. They had her complete attention, and she theirs.
She did not know how to get out of this, she had no plans. She wasn't about to let the wolf-men catch her, and she knew she couldn't run another step without falling. The adrenaline that had pumped her veins and allowed her to escape had abandoned her.
The shine of red in their teeth, with pieces of what she was not sure she could name stuck in between, on the clothes of the men and fur of the wolves is what finally settled her down. She had decided. Not that there ever really was a choice.
Her heart stopped trying to fly out of her chest, and her feet and shoulders stopped shaking in fear.
Her predators- the men who turned into these fearsome wolves and the leader who led them- both noticed the change in her. They stopped the same time she did, the menacing growls of the beasts and the indifferent stare of the man coming to a halt. Kira could see their gaze run over her, considering.
Well, better to do it when she still had the chance. While they still didn't realise.
Gathering up the last reserve of her strength, she turned towards the cliff edge and tore into a run. The man let out a shout of surprise, and the beasts let out barks of rage as they chased after her. But they were too late.
Kira did not slow down as the cliff ended, her senses hightened and a courage she did not know she had assisting her in her last desperate attempt at a better death.
With a final jump, the ground vanished beneath her feet. The cliff was behind her. She was airborne.
The howls faded away in the distance as the raging stream below rose up to meet her. The wind slapped her face, and stinged her eyes until they were full of tears. She brought her hands up instinctively to protect herself from the impact.
She didn't get a chance to have a last thought, or remember a loved one as she knew people did in their time of death. All Kira was granted was a cold plunge into the dark waters- and then finally, finally, sweet nothingness.