It was a new day for Rocky and hopefully the beginning of a new chapter for him. He was leaving Arisgore for good; he was going to the city where he planned to look for his father. He packed some things inside a backpack and went outside his house. He looked at his house for a long time, wondering when next he would see it again then he walked away to the bus station.
At the bus station, he bought a ticket, took a seat by the window, and sat. He laid his head on the headrest of the chair after putting on a set of headphones, which blasted loud music in his ear. The bus started moving after some moments.
Rocky sat thinking about how his life has been these past few days. He hoped to find his father and understand all this shape-shifting nonsense that he was yet to completely believe.
"Why can't my life just go smoothly," he said in his mind as he leaned further into his chair. He heaved a deep sigh and closed his eyes and drifted into a troubled sleep.
He was jolted awake an hour later by a disturbance in the bus; one of the tires had burst and because the driver was speeding along the lonely road, he was having difficulty controlling the bus. There were screams everywhere as the passengers were frantic. Rocky tried to buckle his seatbelt which he had disregarded during the journey, but his hands shook uncontrollably.
The bus swerved and then swerved right into the forest where the road ran along. The bus was hit by branches and then it somersaulted twice, throwing Rocky out of the bus. He hit his head on a hard surface and immediately slipped into unconsciousness.
Pain, he felt everywhere as he came to. His bones felt as if they had been crushed and his body burned. His eyes slowly opened which he found difficult to do so as they were swollen.
"Where am I?" He asked himself as he made to stand up. He groaned from the effort and only managed to sit up and drag his body to rest on the trunk of a tree. His body ached with the effort it took and his breath came in a short, laboured gasp.
He looked around and saw that there was no sign of the bus only the trail left by the bus. The forest was quite dark as the sun travelled further into the west. He studied his wounds– there were a few broken ribs, his left ankle was dislocated and lay in a distorted position, a deep cut ran down his right cheek and there was a large lump at the back of his head, which throbbed badly and made it difficult to keep his eyes open and it wasn't long before he became unconscious again.
There were sounds that he wasn't used to; the cry of a baby, soft voices of people speaking a foreign language, and there were smells too that made him think of Old Lilith's shop. Someone had bandaged his wounds and his ankle was held with a splint. He tried to sit up but his body strained with the effort and he ended up not standing up.
He looked around and noticed that he was in a house of some sort which was built with wood and he lay on a bed made of bamboo and covered with straw mats. Where was he? he wondered and his eyes grew heavy and he drifted off to the unknown.
When he woke up, he found out he was able to move about as his body did not ache as badly as it did. He sat up and looked around, wondering how he had gotten there. A young woman of about twenty came in. She wore a brown dress with an intricate design woven on it with white thread, her black hair was plaited in a long braid and she walked in carrying a bowl.
"You are awake," she said with an accent Rocky couldn't quite place.
"Where am I?" He asked.
"You are in Gaea'na," she answered. "Some men found you in the forest, five days ago when hunting, and they brought you here."
"Five days ago!?" Rocky exclaimed
"Yes. You were wounded but because you are a true blood; you heal faster than normal shifters even though it is apparent you haven't made your first shift." She looked at him curiously after saying the last part. "Why haven't you shifted yet?"
"I do not know what you are talking about," Rocky said, moving uncomfortably under her curious glance.
"So, does this mean I am in a shifter's community," he thought. "And I know nothing about this shifting nonsense."
The door opened and in came an older woman dressed similarly to the younger woman but with longer sleeves. She was short and there was a striking resemblance to the young woman. She began to talk excitedly when she saw he was awake, but she spoke a language that Rocky couldn't understand. She walked over to him, checking his ankle which had been removed from the splint and was no longer swollen but was still sore. She said something to the young woman who replied, and then she walked outside.
"That's my mamma, by the way. She is the village healer," the young woman said. "My name is River. "What's yours?"
"Rocky," he said.
"Rocky, as in Rock. I like the name."
"I said Rocky, not Rock."
"It is Rock for me."
Rocky could see that River was a stubborn and nosy person so he decided to let it be, besides he did not have much strength to argue with her.
"Mamma went to get you some food," River said as she arranged the room, putting away things here and there and dusting and sweeping everywhere. She used a crude broom made of long stalks tied to the end of a long stick. This made Rocky think of a witch's broom and then his thoughts shifted as he began to think about the words Old Lilith had spoken to him on that day before he left her shop.
"I don't know why your mother left her village but you have to be careful and take everything step by step. Your father also is not to be completely trusted, so I would advise you to be careful when you meet him."
He wondered if what she said was true and that his father and every shifter he meets would have bad intentions toward him. He knew he needed to leave this village and find his father as soon as possible to learn and understand everything about shapeshifters