“Forget what hurt you but never forget what it taught you.”789Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmqCEuzc4CE
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Calysse wrapped her arms tightly around her chest. Even though she had left the Indignor country far behind, the winter chill had clung to her skin like a blood sucking leech. After her time in the icy dungeons of the castle, Calysse had become accustomed to always having a blade at her back. She’d been there long enough that she had forgotten what it was like to not be contained. She hadn’t, however, been oblivious to her thick surroundings, and how easily one could get lost inside the tangle of leaves and tendrils of vines. The night sky was partially visible behind the cover of leaves but Calysse didn’t bother looking at it, she had much more pressing matters to deal with.789Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡH0m8mYCkQC
She had imagined the wilds would be abundant with birds and other species extinct to Indignor. Now that she was in them, it seemed as if the whole world had gone silent, save for her quick breaths. Had the queen and king’s influence stretched here too? Calysse hadn’t tasted hopelessness for a long time, she hadn’t let herself even think that not finding the Golden Eyed was a possibility. If Indignor’s poison truly had begun to spread here, then the Golden Eyed were long gone. Her kind had a knack for running away. Calysse ran a finger through her dirty, matted, hair. She hadn’t seen a drop of unsoiled water for moons since her incarceration, nonetheless cared to bathe. How clean she was didn’t exactly fall on her priority list when she was lacking proper rations and hydration. Another thing she didn’t bother with worrying about was how withered her face must have been, or how many layers of callused skin had grown over her feet and hands.789Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxY5XHM2EnE
A grin crossed the Venefica’s lips as she recalled how satisfying it had been to slice her claws across the captain’s chest, particularly how he fell to the ground like a dog to its master. The feeling was better than all the gold in the world. The king’s men were nothing more than animals to her anyway, and cutting them down was like hunting practice. Not to mention how empty their eyes were, as if they weren’t even human, as if they had been broken in ruthless training. How pitilessly they dealt with prisoners of the crown confirmed it. Calysse had had her share of abuse at the hand of the captain’s men, but what she had suffered was nothing compared to the long term captives.789Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUVS84YVHWQ
Rumors spread like a wildfire outside the prison walls about how horrible the punishments were for speaking out, but in reality, they were much, much worse. The shrieks and wails she heard nightly from her cell would be forever burned in her memory as both a reminder and a warning. A reminder of what power did to people, and a warning of what could happen to her if she ever got the idea in her head that she was invincible. Calysse knew that if she was ever put in that position, she’d be begging for death by morning. Despite what she thought of them, Calysse couldn’t get the rage-filled look the captain had on his face the moment he ordered his men to kill her. It was something other than loyalty to the crown, something deeper than mindless following. It didn’t matter now, did it, he had failed in whatever mission made him serve the king.789Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYFFMfms1Kz
Calysse frowned as she ripped a vine in two and continued to trudge forward at an unrelenting pace. Her sore feet rubbed against the uneven ground causing unbearable pain. Still, she didn’t give in to the agony. Calysse continued to trek through the seemingly never-ending forest, her teeth gritted. She may not have known where she was going to go, or how she was going to survive, but every step away from Indignor was one step closer to where she wanted to be.789Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIVloQFkZ2J
Perhaps it had been a bad idea, if she had been less spontaneous with her audacious escape then she might have snatched a satchel of food, some knives from the kitchen, or maybe even an item of value to bargain for her freedom. Not that they would take any deal she made. A slight rustle of the brush snapped her out of her thoughts, her head whipped to face the sound. Meat. Calysse felt her jaw tighten as she moved towards the sound. One foot in front of the other, she made her way closer and closer. The Venefica dropped her shoulders as she succumbed to the hunger that drove her power to stimulate deep inside her. Claws slid out of her skin and became a short but deadly extension of her fingertips. Up until then it had been eating away at her stomach cavity, making her every move more painful than it already was.789Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡh9IZcoVkPM
A deer. She squeezed her lips so close together they became a pale, washed out white color to match her sickly skin tone. This was the first sign of wildlife she’d come across since entering the wilds. It only took her a few moments to formulate a strategy. If she missed this chance, the next few days would be a struggle just to survive, she’d have to forget about why she even bothered to escape in the first place. With the pressure heavy on her mind, Calysse peered through the shrubs. Sure enough, the brown and white speckled pelt of a hefty buck came into view. She drew her tongue over her lips and brushed a spare wisp of hair out of her face. Without further hesitation, Calysse soared headfirst like a feral wild cat, her claws meet the buck’s throat skin with startling accuracy.789Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEYKJMLq7gF
The creature let out an earsplitting shriek of distress before it collapsed onto the ground, blood protruding from the wounds left by Calysse’s claws. The body of the buck convulsed in its dying moments, but all Calysse could think about was how satisfying it would be to feed on the buck’s flesh.789Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkJ2ubG3TGT
Blood seeped onto her already stained tunic as she carefully cut open the dead animal, carving out the edible venison. She hadn’t yet given her powers full control, but the hunger had weakened her mind, at this point she would eat anything that was put in front of her. The rim of her lips was stained with the red liquid as she picked the meat apart. The moonlight filtered through the leaves, basking the scene with a soft silver light. The wind blew through the forest with such force that it threatened to rip her skin from her bones as she sat in the pool of blood.789Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡylg1EVjxyR
Even though it was raw and unseasoned, it was most likely the best thing she’d ever tasted, food tended to taste wonderful when on the brink of starvation. She lifted bite after bite into her mouth with her callused fingers greedily, pausing occasionally to spit out the small bones. As she consumed her meal, Calysse took the time to look upwards through a gap in the trees. Though she couldn’t see much, it was plain that the sky above her was a dazzling display, the cloudless sky was dotted with luminous stars that seemed to look down upon the lonely girl. 789Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5wViR5afbc
Never in her life had she appreciated such beauty, for however long she was locked away she hadn’t seen a glimpse of the sky, not like there was much to see in Indignor. There the skies were too cloaked in a thick layer of smoke for any bit of the vast skies to be seen. All of this was new to her, as she had never been outside Indignor before. Calysse had shoved her childhood so deep into her mind that sometimes she forgot she’d ever been innocent.789Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8lUeuA40Rv
She’d been trying to kill the prince himself when she was caught by the royal guard. Her blade was so close to his throat when she was apprehended, looking back on it, Calysse regretted the fact that she didn’t just throw it. She wasn’t nearly skilled enough at dagger throwing to make a guaranteed lethal hit, but it would have done more then what did happen when she didn’t take that chance. He hadn’t given her so much as a second glance as they dragged her away, but Calysse would never forget his burning grey eyes as they scanned over her rugged features as if she were nothing. As if she hadn’t come a hair-length away from spilling his blood on the marble. Why had she wanted to kill the prince? She didn’t really know the answer, for it was a multitude of reasons. The clearest reason in her mind was that if she did end the prince’s life, it would be as if she had cut a notch off the totem pole. Calysse never intended to end the royal line, but she hoped that by showing it was possible, by showing that they weren’t nearly as invincible as they make themselves seem, others would stand up to finish what she started.789Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBNbqONmCDR
With her hunger satisfied, Calysse fell back onto the moist dirt, her short hair splayed out behind her head. The whole world had become soundless once more. Not even the humming of insects disturbed the night air. It was as if everything had gone to sleep. And she was the only one who wasn’t. The chilly temperature nipped at the skin on her face as she crawled away from the carcass.789Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡw810rU1C2s
Deciding that continuing on wouldn’t be wise, as fatigue was already creeping up on her, Calysse laid against the firm trunk of a tree. An outline of her body became imprinted in the grass as she let herself be at peace. In her mind, she went over what she would do the next day, and then the next. It all seemed too optimistic for her own liking, find the Golden Eyed, end the rule of Indignor crown, it didn’t seem possible from where she was right now. Even if it wasn’t, was she even the right person to do all this? How could one Venefica accomplish such a daunting task? A sigh erupted from her chest as her golden eyes reflected the moonlight. The golden eyes that had cursed her to isolation she had already tasted too much of. She hadn’t noticed her claws sink back into her fingers as her eyelids closed heavily and shrouded her world in darkness.789Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIaB1dr28Ea
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