"Haah... Haah... Haah…"

Breathless, the girl ran desperately into the deep, eerie wilderness with all her might, as if she was chasing time itself.

Beads of sweat streamed from her face through her body, rendering her silver dress wet.

Her long scarlet hair flocks as it rode the wind with all its glory and her rosy lips heaved relentlessly. Her eyes fixed firmly on what's in front, not daring to look back.

"Don't let her get away!"

"Keep chasing!"

"Dead or alive, it doesn't matter! As long as we dispose her, the world would be peaceful once again!"

Vicious torches light up the dreary woods as the hordes of barbarous men chased behind her trails, eyes stained with malice. Their voices reverberated intensely in the night and they searched for the girl like beasts, hungry for their prey.

The girl kept running under the gentle rays of the moonlight, not minding her red bleeding feet. All she could think about right now is to flee from her aggressors that she finally grew numb from pain. She was so overwhelmed with adrenaline that she didn't even feel a tinge of exhaustion.

Why? Why is this happening to me? Whatever did I do wrong to deserve this?

She ran like a madwoman without a care where she was heading. Even after hours and minutes passed, her feet didn't stop from dragging her to escape. Until she finally found herself standing on a river with the moonlight as her guide.

Catching her breath, she looked back from where she ran before taking a deep heave of relief.

She saw the light of torches from her aggressors moving to a different direction. And the menacing voices gradually grew farther from her along with the orange, yellow light until it vanished into the wilderness.

"Thank goodness... they're gone." She said as she tried to steady her heavy breathing.

At this moment, a sudden wave of agony came crawling to her and she felt drained as the adrenaline left her fragile young body.

She sat head looking into the river. She scooped a handful of water and splashed them to her face and aching body, ridding the nastiness of her sweat and washing all the stains away from her clothing.

After washing herself clean, she stared into the river and the sight of the moon reflecting above the surface was breathtakingly gorgeous. The tranquility was enough to give her the calmness she needed.

The girl pondered on today's event, but no matter what, she could not find a reason as to why those men were chasing after her with daggers in their hands.

"All I did was love someone. Is it really wrong for me to fall in love?" She said, her voice filled with sorrow.

Tears started to well up in the corner of her eyes but she pressed her lips tightly, trying to hold back her tears from falling.

Get yourself together, Leticia! You cannot feel weak right now. You are strong! She reminded herself.

At this moment, she heard a rustling sound coming from the surrounding bushes. Leticia was startled by this and stood up hastily.

Afraid of alerting whoever was approaching, she gulped a mouthful of air and held them inside her chest, keeping herself as silent as she could ever be.

The rustling gradually grew nearer in each moment. Leticia's terrorized feet refused to move and all her hands agreed to do was cover her anxious face, not daring to breathe.

Please, don't come here. Don't come any closer. She prayed.

The night breeze was cool yet she could feel her cold sweat crawling down on her back.

Leticia could not bring herself to run anymore. The fact that she is already tired is undeniable. All she could do now is to hope that she will not be found and whoever is approaching her would just leave her be.

The rustling sound didn't stop and came closer instead. Leticia lost all hope of escaping and just closed her eyes desperately.

It's useless to run with those tired legs. Even if she run now, her legs will give out at any moment and she will end up being captured instead.

Is it the end for me? Will this be the place of my death?

Alas, the rustling sound arrived at the very front of the bush and the instant it reached the last twig-leaf, a shadow came jumping out of the bush.

After a couple of seconds, Leticia, who had her eyes tightly shut, was confused as to why nothing was happening, or even voices announcing of her founding.

She slowly opened her eyes but she saw nothing in front of her. She looked left and right but couldn't find anyone or anything.

"What was that?" She mumbled.

But then she felt something hairy, something fluffy below her legs. When she shifted her head down to look, she saw a caramel-colored furry cat staring at her pitifully.

The cat was so beautiful and clean that it seemed to be well taken care of owned by an aristocratic family.

Leticia heaved a sigh of relief. She was sure that it was the end for her, turns out that it was just this cat. However, logically speaking, how come such a cat stumbled upon here deep within the forest? It's ridiculous.

By this point, the cat started to pull Leticia's dress desperately, as if telling her to come with it.

"What is it?" She asked the cat with her soothing voice knowing it will not answer her back.

The cat then ran in the direction where it came after looking back at Leticia once.

Leticia furrowed her eyebrows and thought maybe it is better to move to another place than to stay here in an open river. Her pursuers might easily spot her and there is none that she could use to hide with.

Convinced, she picked up her belongings and began following the cat.

Not long, with the cat leading the way, they arrived in front of a huge cave.

Leticia was very surprised, she didn't expect that the cat would bring her to this cave. This is a perfect place to hide.

"Did you bring me here to keep me from those men?" She said with a subtle laugh.

Leticia didn't waste any more time and went inside the cave. Now she could finally rest peacefully without worrying about her pursuers.

It was not completely dark inside. The moon was shining brightly tonight, enough to give a faint light in the cave.

With a thud, Leticia put her belongings down and leaned on the wall.

When suddenly...

"Who's there?"