Hunters

24 - Glass Bodies

Alesana felt constantly insecure. A few days passed by. There was little talking, and she noticed that the two men did not get along well. Diaval mostly flew around in his bird guise and Alesana wondered if he did so to have an excuse not to talk to her. In her bag, she carried the little dragon creature that could become invisible. She didn't know if the two men knew about it, nor why she felt she needed to take the creature with her. The look in its big, adorable eyes captured her heart and she took comfort in its presence.

Following a river bank, they climbed to higher ground. The rocky surface was covered with moss and slippery. Raven stayed close to her as if he wanted to transform to catch her if she fell.

They didn't have a good plan. Or maybe the men had, but didn't share it with her. The search for her father felt as futile as before; she hadn't come up with a strategy and hoped to run into him by good luck. The Grimm had promised to send his kind to search for him but Alesana didn't know whether she believed him. She'd hoped Diaval would send some friends as well, but he told her he was alone. Maleficent saved him once when he was trapped in a net as a raven and turned him into a human. Alesana had a hard time picturing a life like that. For a large part of his life, he had only been a bird of which he remembered very little. What would it be like, such a simple and carefree existence?

Two nights later, the restlessness began to gnaw at her again. They stepped into a wet and green area, where so many plants grew that they suffocated each other for a sliver of sunlight. There hung a heavy silence. The sound of twittering birds that had become so familiar seemed unwilling to enter this forest. The Grimm, however, stepped forward with determination, and Diaval, too, seemed unwilling to budge.

During the first night, Alesana could not sleep. She sat upright and stared into the darkness. Footsteps creaked, voices whispered. Whether it was only in her head or also audible to the others, she did not know.

The red shape also returned. At first, she saw him only from afar, so she thought it was just a figment of her imagination. Gradually, it became clearer and clearer that it was getting closer. Images of the last time shot through her mind. She had turned a man into glass. She had killed someone.

Her breathing fell heavier. It felt like someone was squeezing her throat. She concentrated on her breathing, but the fear didn't leave her body.

It came closer and closer.

Alesana knew she needed to wake up the Grimm and Diaval, but she couldn't move. It was as if her feet were stuck in soggy soil. With her hands, she searched for something to defend herself. She squeezed her eyes shut as she suddenly became light-headed. Again and again, she saw the glass body in front of her. She tried to banish the image from her mind to concentrate, but the memories were too strong.

And then they were there again. The flashes of light, crackling and zigzagging like lightning bolts. It was going to happen again. Alesana tried to resist it and get herself under control, but at the same time, a defense mechanism was triggered that could not be controlled.

Her eyes grew broodingly hot. She did not feel the pressure of her fingers when she placed them against them. From somewhere, Alesana thought she heard her name, but she couldn't think anymore. The colors swirled around in her field of vision, embracing each other and blending, then falling apart into new colors.

It exhausted her. She searched for support with her hand but found nothing and fell into the grass.

Looking up later, she saw the new image she had created.

Her heart broke when she saw who it was.

Roran.