Renounce

Chapter 2: Then & Now

🌙 Aleron

Frigid wintery winds pelted over Aleron's body as he loped at a fast pace. The temperature easily penetrated through the white of his fur.

It was cold, but he had experienced far colder in his lifetime, so it didn't much phase him. The hollers of men chasing him with weapons in hand and an intent to kill though; was another story.

His large paws dodged and twisted over uneven ground and forest floor obstacles. Running for his life reminisced Aleron of his first night on Earth. The crisp woody smell of the forest reminded him of the smell of old books and parchments of the library, the crowded multitude of trees like the rows of tall shelving, and then of course there was the situation of running from humans welding guns. They didn't have guns where Aleron was from. But he learned very quickly that they could inflict much pain, or worse.

Recalling said night; Aleron had thought his intentions were in all the right place. He had gone above and beyond to help a friend. Someone he held dearly and trusted. Someone he loved so much that he was willing to break the law and face the consequences that came with it.

Aleron had succeeded in his mission. He had done what he had promised. But now he was paying the price. Things hadn't gone as planned to return home, and his selfless actions had ended in dreadful consequences.

Aleron had been instantly misunderstood by the foreign world's inhabitants.
Demonized on sight.
Hunted down.
And in the chaos had lost his only means to return home, literally a world away.

He simply wandered lost, keeping to the cusp of civilization but regularly moving on to new areas of woodland when he thought the humans were becoming aware of his presence.

His existence in this alien world began to cause him to rot away. The air on Earth was smothering, the food appeared to lack nutritional value and any encounters with inhabitants had them reacting either fearfully or aggressively.

His saving grace was something that, should it have happened to anyone else in this world, probably would have killed them by now. Bitten and cursed. He was now a monster.

Angry.
Alone.
And tired. So very tired.
But he would never give up on surviving. On getting home.

Could he even return back home with how he was now? Thoughts like this swirled in his mind constantly. Even now, with men hunting him down he questioned his fight.

He had been camping in this particular stretch of land for a while now and he knew a rough layout of the woods, but even he seemed to get turned around with panic setting in.

Aleron continued to weave through the grove. He constantly quickened and slowed his pace, weaving unpredictably and trying his best to confuse the pursuing men.

He kept his corroding wings folded tight to his body. It hurt to do so, but it was too cumbersome to dart between the many obstacles of the forest with them out.

He had once been an accomplished flyer. But not anymore. Not here. They were now just deteriorating appendages reminding him of better times.

The hunters sounding far away, Aleron darted inside of a long-dead fallen tree. He huddled into the hollow space, silently cussing at his naturally white fur that stood out exaggeratedly against the dark of night, and waited anxiously.

It was hard to keep his breathing quiet. The burning pain throughout Aleron's body from shifting was still raw and kept his thoughts dizzy. No matter how many times he did it, his body felt the agony of each transformation as his body changed into something feral and unnatural.

Moments passed dreadfully slowly until the sound of insects ceased and the movement of footsteps replaced them. He curled himself tightly around his cursed body. He itched to transform back; a persistent urge for his body to relax back to what it should be. But didn't dare. He was faster in this form. His senses were more precise.

The silver enchanted bracelet Ashton wore around his wrist felt comforting against his face. He had once thought barely anything of it, but now it was a treasured reminder of home.
He tried to keep his thoughts positive.
Perhaps he would get lucky and the men would continue to look in the incorrect direction? Perhaps they would hear another noise elsewhere and pursue that instead?

A loud gunshot rang throughout the trees which caused the nearby nocturnal wildlife to audibly scatter.

Perhaps not.

Aleron felt a burning pierce his shoulder and he erupted out of his hiding spot.
The hunters' voices started yelling out again; The sounds emanating from them was just hostile gibberish noise to Aleron.

Flashlight beams flailed wildly. Another shot rang out and this time pain flared along his cheek. A bullet had only nicked him, but it was still instantaneously painful. Aleron stumbled disorientated, his face whacking into a thick tree trunk and he tasted blood as his teeth cut the inside of his mouth.

He scrambled in a panic as the sounds of gunshots intensified. He rammed into another tree as his vision blotted and his nose began to ooze blood.

Ashton yanked his head and shook free of some low-hanging tree branches which had become lodged between his ivory-curved horns.

He collected himself once again as men continued to chase him, deeper into the forest, and longer into the night.

🌙🌙🌙