Heir To The Iron Crown: Butterfly ✓

26 - Tuttugu og Sex

The sound of a bone cracking in my body on its own was the most terrifying thing I'd ever witnessed.

Just when I thought the pain couldn't get any worse, the sound of the crack had me falling on the floor in a position I didn't know my body could be in.

As I struggled to take in a single breath through my screams, the cottage started getting even darker as I started losing vision.

It hurt to breathe at all, although the breaths were painful and few due to my shuddering.

I couldn't imagine any reason for something like this to happen to me except for one which didn't make sense to me at all.

I knew for sure that Wolfsbane didn't cause this, although I could tell the poison running through me was making the process much more excruciating than it should have been.

But I just turned fifteen, and in all those years I've never seen anyone shift before eighteen. It's only after eighteen that the human body is finally strong enough to endure a shift.

This very thought made me realize something horrifying.

I'm not going to make it.

My pain was coming from the poison in my blood, that was triggering over and over again, getting even more painful each second. And also from the breaking and reforming of my bones consistently.

I'd never seen anyone bleed through a shift, but I could tell there was blood in my mouth, and my fingers crushed in front of my very eyes to turn into paws with sharp claws, my skin now slowly sprouting ash grey fur that for a second reminded me of Valente's eyes.

Valente.

I wanted to reach out to him with whatever strength I had left, but I couldn't.

Just after a few moments, I didn't need to.

I hadn't heard him, but somehow I knew he was there. As I moved to face the door, I saw him standing there, tears running down his face, and I could tell he was panting.

He was immediately by my side, but even he couldn't bring me any comfort.

Even his slight touch caused me pain and a loud growl escaped my lips. He immediately took a step away from me.

I had never seen a shift take so long, but for me it seemed like I still wasn't halfway there.

Valente didn't touch me, but he stood at a little distance, and started to sing soft words of encouragement, just like those we sang for Frida.

It was difficult to hear him through the sharp ringing in my ears, but his words had an invisible affect on my body.

The ashy pelt had completely covered my skin, and my claws ripped through the fabric of the dress, to give me more room to shift.

As Valente's words grew louder, the shift started to pick up pace, and the burning sensation I felt before, had started to numb my body.

The cracks of my bones continued to echo in the tiny cottage, and my screams turned into howls, along with Valente's beautiful song a stark contrast to the animalistic noises I made.

He took a step closer to me, his voice unending, as I began to rise slowly on my own four feet.

Everything that I could feel, felt unfamiliar, but the shift wasn't done with me yet.

I howled loudly as I tasted blood dripping from my mouth. The pain was coming to me in waves again, and every single part of me was screaming in agony.

As the final bones broke to reform again, my vision was different, my hearing was sharper and the taste of blood made me want even more.

I stood tall in my wolf form and saw Valente stand in front of me in awe. He watched me, almost unblinking, and I could feel a strength reside in my body that wasn't there before.

I couldn't feel the poison anymore, nor could I feel any more bones breaking.

Now all I wanted to do, was run.

I could tell Imadis was restless, so I turned around and ran through the back door, heading no where in general, just running.

I heard his footsteps behind me, trying to keep up with me, and I couldn't understand how he wasn't losing me even in his human form.

As I ran alongside the running stream of water, a surge of anger rushed through me, and I immediately knew it wasn't mine.

I stopped and turned around to find Valente standing right behind me, breathing heavily.

His hand reached out to touch my snout.

"Why won't you leave me alone?" Ima screamed in my mind, her anger being translated into agitated growls directed at Valente.

"Rayne," he said in a small voice. "Baby it's me."

The tiniest flash of fear was evident on his face.

Of course I know it's him. He didn't need to tell me that.

But I realized why he did soon enough.

I wanted to shift back, I wanted to hold him in my arms, I wanted to comfort him. But I couldn't even take the first step away from him to shift.

I've lost control of myself again.

As Valente moved a step closer to me, I lifted my front leg to hit him in the side, claws extended.

He was caught off guard and so was I. He fell to the ground and I couldn't see if he was trying to get up again, or not.

Before I could register the horror of what I'd just done, his blood seeping through the grass was the last thing I saw before I painfully fell and completely blacked out.

...

Author's note:

The name Imadis consists of two parts: Ima and dis. Ima has multiple meanings depending on the origin. As a Germanic element, Imr means wolf, or giant, and the Alemannic element Ime means anger, rage. In Old Norse, Ima means battle.

Dis also has multiple meanings based on origin. In Old Norse, Dis represents a woman, and more generally a wise woman. In Gothic, deis means wise. And in Old Saxon, it means seeress.

All of these qualities define Imadis' character in some way or another, which is why I chose the name. It represents her animalistic, rage-driven, battle-ready personality, and also another side of her which is far more wise and perceptive than Rayne.