I can't sleep.
Unsurprisingly, my mind can't stop racing. In 3 hours, I'm leaving to start my third year at the Handlers academy and all I can keep thinking about is what kind of Beast egg I'll find.
I try to pull my blanket over my head to shield my head from the cold but find that I can't. I look to the foot of my bed and see Flake, lying there fast asleep on top of my blanket. A sliver of moonlight slips in between the curtains and her white fur shines beautifully.
Every student hopes they get a rare Beast. Some would even pay good money for a White Tiger egg. They are one of the more rarer Beasts after all, though I'm not sure what the rarest Beast is. Unfortunately a lot of our knowledge about past Beasts was lost when the royal castle was attacked 16 years ago.
I open my brown, stained curtains and look up to a cloudless sky. My excitement lets me think of only one thing as I finally fall asleep.
Beasts.
My eyes open and I notice I'm suddenly surrounded by trees, vibrant green leaves hanging from every branch. It kind of reminds me of Sylvae, the forest between our house and Vicus, the town closest to us. Dad would let me and Snow play in the forest together. Our favorite game was hide and go seek, though I never won, not even once. Snow always used her strong sense of smell to find me, even when I hid at the top of the tallest oak tree I could find.
Not knowing why, my body suddenly feels a great urge to climb the tree I woke up next to. As I get higher and higher, my eyes and hands constantly looking for the next branch to grab, I hear something above me.
A faint, rhythmic beat. My hands and feet pick up the pace as I climb higher and higher, quickly reaching the top. The forest I'm in stretches infinitely in every direction, covering the mountains and valleys in a vivacious green glow. Never have I seen something as beautiful as this.
Strong bursts of wind suddenly hit my entire body, shaking the trees so heavily I almost fall back to the bottom. The years I spent climbing trees to hide from Snow are paying off as I manage to hold onto the top of the tree long enough for the wind to die down.
I look around and notice that none of the other trees are shaking, leaving me wondering what just happened.
The wondering doesn't last long as I look up and see a huge Beast flying high above my head.
Its body is covered in white and brown feathers that look softer than the bearskin in my living room. Its head almost resembles that of an eagle, heavy with a strong-looking beak. Even though I have never seen this majestic beast before, I recognize it immediately. A Griffin.
Its beak opens, making a whistling sound that hurts my ears so much I almost let go of the tree to cover my ears in reflex. As if to answer its call, birds from all around me start taking off from the trees, joining the Griffin above me. Among them I see Green Eagles, Cantou and even Fairies.
The Griffin starts flying away, followed by the other Beasts. I can't keep my eyes off of them and keep hoping they'll turn around, giving me another good look at them. I've only ever read about Griffins in the Beast manuscript so this may be the only chance I ever get to see one up close.
The Aerie of birds starts descending and lands in a clearing not too far from here. Determined to get another look at the Griffin, I make my way down the tree as fast as I can, a couple of branches hit me in the face but I don't let that slow me down.
I start walking in the direction of the clearing when Squirrels dash past me, chasing each other up a tree. They seem to be playing with each other. A branch breaks and one of them starts falling. There's no way it will survive the fall and unfortunately I can't reach it in time. I close my eyes and just when I think I'll hear a thud, I hear nothing.
I open my eyes and see the Squirrel laying in a soft bed of leaves that wasn't there before. Even the Squirrel itself seems surprised that it's alive. It runs back to the base of the tree. I look around and notice a faint dark green glow coming from behind some bushes. I try to be as silent as possible and look behind it. Another Fairy sits behind it and I realize that it saved the Squirrel. It must have created the leaves, knowing the squirrel would not survive the fall otherwise. The Fairy species are known as protectors after all.
I continue making my way to the clearing. The trees grow less and less dense as I get closer and I start to see the sun from in between the trees ahead, which must mean that's where the clearing is.
The trees open up to reveal an open space bigger than what I expected. The ground is filled with vibrant green grass, and beautiful flowers cover the side of a pond in the middle of the clearing. The Griffin, as well as the other Beasts that followed it here are resting on the other side of the lake, drinking its clear blue water. Some are even trying to catch some Flying Fish, jumping out of the water occasionally and even though I am very close to the Griffin now, it doesn't seem to notice me standing on the other side of the pond.
With my eyes fixated on the Griffin, another Beast jumps out of the water in front of me and lands on top of a rock to my right. Its blue scales reflect the sunlight, changing its color to a soothing gold. It has a blue, see-through fin along its spine and the space between its fingers and toes are webbed, the skin in between them expanding and shrinking as they move.
The creature jumps back into the water and, while in the air, transforms into a dolphin. The Beast I saw must have been a Nixie. Even though I've never seen one, it is the only Beast I know of that can shapeshift.
The water splashes everywhere, soaking the ground beneath my feet. The water on the ground flows towards the big rock the Nixie had landed on just moments before. I follow the small stream to the other side of the rock and see an opening. Just like when I woke up and climbed the tree, I feel a sudden urge to enter.
The cave is dark and damp. I'm almost completely engulfed in darkness when I remember one of the spells I learned from my mom.
I focus my magic into the palm of my hand and visualize a bright white orb of light floating and say the word "Illuminate".
Just as clear as the image was in my mind, the bright orb is now in my hand, illuminating the path forward.
I continue deeper into the cave and a certain stench gets more and more pungent, reminding me of acid and… wet dog. From deeper in the cave, a fierce growling resonates. I lose focus and the orb disappears into thin air, surrounding me in darkness.
"Illuminate."
I never heard it coming.
The spell hasn't even fully activated yet and I can already tell there's a tall figure standing right in front of me. Stunned by how fast it appeared, I look up and see bloodshot eyes and dark red pupils.
The horns on its head, sharp and curved over its head.
Drool dripping from razor-sharp, yellow fangs that look like they could rip their prey apart in seconds, leaving burn marks on what little ground there is between us, every matted grey hair on its huge body visible in the light of my spell.
Werewolf.
Stricken with fear, I'm paralyzed by the mind-consuming thought that there is no escape from this. If I had had my own Beast, maybe I could have defended myself and even made it out of here alive. But I know I can't.
The Werewolf raises its hand above its head, preparing to strike me with its long claws.
Is this really how it will end? Killed in a dark cave in the middle of nowhere by a Werewolf.
At least my bones will still be used as a chewing toy or a toothpick.
I put my hands up in the air as a reflex to shield myself from the incoming blow, which I know I will not survive.
The Beast strikes down at me, and just before the sharp claws touch my body, a big rock flies over my head from behind me and hits the Werewolf right in its face, shattering on impact and causing debris to fall around us. It hits me in the arm but I bite through the pain. The Werewolf, still dazed from the hit, falls back on its ass.
I turn around and see a Golem, another one of the rarer Beasts out there. It can adapt and change the qualities of its body to the ores and minerals it consumes.
Given its dark blue color, it seems this particular Golem is made of Obsidian, the one ore that can also channel magic.
The Golem starts walking towards us, its body looks almost human. At least if a human had shiny, dark blue rocks for limbs and a squarish head without a face.
My father told me he once ran from a Golem after chasing an enemy combatant into a cave. Because Golems have a strong aptitude for sensing emotions, hiding from one is definitely very difficult.
It must have sensed my fear, or the Werewolf's murderous intent, causing it to wake up and protect its home.
The Golem walks right past me, stopping in between me and the Werewolf.
Not wanting to get caught up in the fight that is about to get a lot more intense, I turn around and start running towards the exit. Adrenaline and fear are pushing my body to run away faster than I've ever run before.
I reach the exit of the cave and come back out into the clearing, dropping down onto my hands and knees as soon as I feel safe enough. My left arm gives and I roll on my back. I've never been this exhausted, but it looks like I'm safe now, nothing is following me out of the cave and I can't hear anything from inside.
I look up and see the sky is filled with brightly shining stars. How long was I in there?
The Griffin and the other Air affinity Beasts are still here, asleep.
I say "Illuminate." and a pulsating pain starts shooting through my left arm. I look down and see that it's full of cuts and bruises, and may even be broken.
I look up again at the stars and see that some of them… are moving?
The stars are moving?
I must be hallucinating because there's no way that is happening.
They seem to be getting bigger and bigger.
Wait… they're not getting bigger, they're getting closer.
The yellow lights come closer and closer and eventually, one stops right in front of me. My eyes adjust to the bright yellow glow and I see the shape of a small white lizard. It has small eyes and what looks like three feathery frills on both sides of its head, which is wider than the long, thin body supporting it. What I now realize must be a Sprigat, a Beast that has healing abilities, floats down to my arm and the closer it gets, the more a warm, comforting feeling comes over me.
It lands on my wounds and at the exact moment it touches my skin, the bright light it was emanating before disappears completely. It walks up and down my left arm, spreading the soothing feeling and numbing my pain. My body even starts to feel less weary and exhausted than it did a moment ago.
After walking up and down my arm for about 5 minutes, the creature stops, looks up at me and curves its small, white mouth into a little smile.
It starts floating again and the moment it stops touching me, its white body starts emitting the yellow light again from before. My arm is completely healed, without a scar or scratch left.
It drifts higher and higher back up and the other bright lights follow it. As they get higher and higher, they start blending back in amongst the stars, and I don't even know which light is a star and which isn't.
I lay down on the ground and my mind doesn't even have time to think about everything that happened because the moment my head touches the ground, I fall asleep.