I do not own anything except my characters!
Quotes and meanings below.
"Speaking aloud"
'Speaking telepathically'
Subconscious thoughts, deep in the mind and cannot be heard by others at all.
My fanfiction & Wattpad: VivicaNight
My deviantart: Horrorgir1
Chapter 3: Nevermore
The sound of trickling water seeps into my unconscious mind, slowly bringing me back to the real world.
Slowly my eyes open, a loud rumble and crack of lightning informs me of the source of the trickling water.
Pushing my body up with my hands, everything looks so dark and hazy, similar to a dream. My body feels so weak, so exhausted.
A small puddle of water catches my eye, I force my body to stand. Slowly I drag myself over to the puddle before falling to my knees and cupping my hands to scoop up some of the fresh rain water leaking through the rocks above.
The water is dark and slightly dirty, but my severe dehydration makes me drink it anyway, handful after handful until satisfied. My dry and painful throat slowly becomes moist and bearable again.
The sound of something hard and sharp tapping on the rocky ground grabs my attention, snapping my head in the sound's direction I see something very strange. A bird, a large bird to be exact.
The bird is standing on the ground a good distance away from me, all of its feathers are an ebony black, its face and beak are also black. Maybe it is a crow of some kind? But it is much larger than other crows I have seen, it is even larger than a raven.
Its eyes interest me the most, instead of being a dull black color like usual crows, this one's eyes have a yellow glow to them similar to how dogs or cats' eyes do when a light is pointed at them.
But there is no light around me, it looks as if the bird has night vision or maybe it has something wrong with it.
I then realize the bird has something in its beak, a piece of meat?
Slowly I rise to my feet, watching the bird curiously.
Approaching the bird, it does not seem afraid at all. The bird instead seems to watch me with curiosity and excitement.
Standing before it, I slowly kneel down in front of it, its eyes follow me down. Crows naturally have horrible night vision, along with most birds. How does this one see me clear as day?
"...Are you lost?" I question the bird.
The bird just stares at me, the large piece of meat hanging from its beak.
Closing my eyes I rub them, my vision so foggy and my body so weak, I'm beginning to think I must be hallucinating all of this or even dreaming.
Suddenly the bird hops toward me, its claws clicking on the hard ground and making the same sound I heard just before seeing it.
The bird then stretches its body, sitting up on the tips of its toes with its beak pointing in my face as if it is offering me the meat its holding.
Looking at the meat, it is raw. Blood coating it along with rain water from wherever it got the meat from.
"...It's okay...I can't eat raw meat..." I imply to the bird.
Am I actually talking to a bird right now?
The crow drops the meat from its beak onto the ground before me, the bird then turns around and flies out the way I came in only moments ago.
Moving my attention to the meat it left for me, my stomach begs for some kind of nourishment. The pain from it and my back becoming excruciating.
My face scrunches in disgust before picking up the chunk of meat, my stomach overpowering my reasoning. Quickly I push the chunk of meat into my mouth and chew it. To my surprise, the taste is unreal. Unlike anything I have ever tasted, it tastes like heaven, if heaven was chewy and juicy.
I finish chewing it and swallow the meat, the wonderful taste lingering in my mouth while my stomach craves more.
My stomach begins to growl loudly, cupping my stomach I lie down and curl up to keep warm. My exhaustion becoming unbearable, I begin to wonder why my body is shutting down like this.
I didn't use much of my power, what is wrong with me?
Slowly closing my eyes, within minutes the world disappears again.
.
The familiar clicking of small claws interrupt my sleep, weakly my eyes open to see the large, unusual crow again. This time bearing more meat in its beak, its black feathers drenched with rain.
Slowly sitting up I look down at it, the bird then stretches its body to offer me the meat again. This time I gently take the meat from its beak and quickly eat it, barely even chewing it.
The crow watches proudly before flying off again.
The rest of the night went on like this until my stomach was full, from there I slept for what felt like a day and a half.
My energy has returned to me, although feeling great again, my depression is ripping me apart. The crow comes and goes at random times of the day, bringing me more meat when I become hungry.
Currently, I am content when it comes to hunger, but have been unable to stop mourning Emma's death. Her screams of pain and agony locked into my head, the guilt ripping me apart as well.
Sitting on the hard cave floor, my tears continue to fall. The crow has found itself comfortable roosting upon my shoulder.
The crow leans its body toward my head, cuddling and seeming to be trying to cheer me up.
However, the tears continue to fall uncontrollably, my weeping echoing all throughout the deep, seemingly endless cavern.
The crow begins to snap its beak, before a random word is spoken from it in an unusual, high pitched bird voice.
"Nevermore." The crow says, making me look over at it as the bird sits upon my shoulder.
Did that bird just quote an Edgar Allen Poe Poem?
Beginning to giggle, I find it funny that it is a crow, but the bird in the story was a raven.
"You're not a raven." I inform it.
The crow hops off my shoulder and onto the ground in front of me before repeating itself, "Nevermore."
"You are conflicting the poem itself, you silly bird." I giggle.
The crow watches me, "Silly bird."
My eyes widen when it mimics me, "...Wow you are a fast learner..."
"Silly bird." The crow says again, trotting around in circles in front of me.
I laugh at it, "Cute little guy..."
A sudden noise from the entrance of the cavern grabs my attention, immediately I stand ready for the worst.
The first thing that comes to mind is the possibility that the creature found me again, silently listening to the snapping of sticks and rustling of the litter on the forest floor, the noise becomes louder as it approaches.
The crow watches the entrance as well, flying upon my shoulder instead of being on the ground.
The light outside the cave opening dims as a figure comes into view, causing me to calm down, realizing it is just a person.
My mood shifts completely to one of happiness and relief.
Finally I'm safe! I can go back home!
Excitedly I begin to run toward the figure but a thought stops me dead in my tracks.
I can't go back. I can't seek help from this person...if I do, they will end up just like Emma...dead.
The figure looks into the cave, unable to see me within the darkness.
Depression and sadness fills my mind, there is no option for me to return to society...I can't make anymore friends...everyone around me always dies.
They need to leave. They need to leave me alone. I admit within my subconscious.
At this point, there is no reason to hide what I truely am, I might as well use what I have been born with to the fullest...
My hands slowly lift in front of me, hands flat and arms outstretched in front of me.
My eyes turn a vibrant purple and my irises begin to glow, a large wall of purple fog forms in front of the man entering the cave. At the same moment some of the fog goes into the man's eyes, not harming him at all, unable to be seen by him either.
Using my energy I begin to make the man see illusions, things only he can see but I can control.
The man's eyes widen in fear, seeing a giant black bear sleeping deep inside the cavern before slowly walking out of it and away as quietly as he can to not disturb it.
Making the fog disappear I giggle, my eyes stop glowing but remain my natural eye color.
The crow stands on my shoulder, having seen everything, the crow remains calm as if it is observing me, or learning.
.
Night falls outside of the cavern, the crow left the cavern hours ago and hasn't come back, like it usually does at night.
My exhaustion from the day catches up to me, once again curling up I fall asleep upon the hard ground.
.
Suddenly the sound of unfamiliar voices fill the cavern, alerting me and waking me up.
The same moment I come back to consciousness, a hand is felt upon my shoulder.
Instinctively my body rolls over and away from the sudden touch, fear filling me causing a quiet whimper to escape my lips. My eyes take in the sight of a very bright light being pointed at my face, forcing my eyes to squint and my hand to lift in front of my face to block it out.
"What are you doing in here?" A loud male's voice says to me, his voice echoes all around us through the cavern.
"She must be lost...poor girl." A female voice worries, the flashlights remaining pointed at my face.
Once becoming fully awake, my body feels something unusual around me. Looking down I realize there is a thick brown blanket under my body, as well as a fluffy blanket over my body.
My mind realizes there is no way those people gave me any blankets, they just got here.
Quickly rising to my feet, I back up away from the makeshift bed and away from the people.
"...You should not be here..." I warn under my breath at the two people who appear to be hunters, their gun and camouflage giving it away. They must know the guy who ventured here hours ago, hearing about a black bear they came to kill it.
The man lowers the flashlight, I begin to feel thankful that my eyes are now the fabricated brown color instead of my natural color.
"You look like you have been here for days...there is blood all over you...we can take you to the hospital." The woman insists.
"Were you attacked by the bear that lives here?" The man questions.
"...I don't need a hospital...I don't need anything...you need to leave me alone and never come back..." I demanded quietly, but loud enough that they hear me.
The woman approaches me, frowning, "We can't just leave you here. You could die from your wounds. You look like you have already lost a lot of blood." She explains, placing a hand on my shoulder to get a closer look at my face. The moment she touches me I flinch and back up a good distance.
"...You will be the ones dying if you stay here. You will be dead by sunrise if you are stupid enough to try and help me." I hiss at her, looking her dead in the eyes.
The woman gives me a puzzled, fearful look before turning to the man.
"Here." The man concluded, handing the woman the flashlight.
The man begins to approach me, arms outstretched as if to catch me if I try to run, "We aren't here to hurt you, you have no choice but to come with us, we can't just leave you here to die."
"John, leave her be. If she doesn't want to come with us, the police can get her." The woman worries, fear in her voice.
Quickly I back away from the man as he ignores the woman, coming closer to me.
My heart begins to race, fear filling my subconscious as well as panic and anger.
"Leave me alone! Go away! You have to!" I demand, becoming more angry.
The man approaches quicker, ready to snatch me, the man much taller than my 5ft form.
Instinctively I run in the opposite direction, deeper into the cavern.
"John!" The woman shouts, the sound of footsteps racing behind mine telling me he is chasing me.
Quickly I'm grabbed and shoved onto the hard ground, forming bruises and scrapes onto my palms and knees. Crying out in anger and pain, the man then wraps his arms around me tightly.
"I am doing this for your own good!" The man informs me from behind my head, the man lifts me off the ground with him, struggling in his hard grip.
The man starts walking with me toward the woman, I snap.
Screaming out, my eyes turn a deep purple, the glow from my irises shining through the darkness. My nails slowly grow and sharpen into claws, my teeth grow a centimeter longer and become pointed and sharp.
My wings sprout out of nowhere from my back, the force of them spreading shoves the man's arms away from my body.
The man backs up immediately and falls onto the ground behind me, his eyes wide in terror.
Quickly turning around, my wings spread wide. Tackling the man, I bury my dagger-like teeth deep into the man's neck, puncturing his major arteries and instantly filling my mouth with his blood.
The man yells out in agony while my teeth rip into his neck, blood spraying all over me and the ground around us.
The woman lets out a horrified scream while watching. Placing my hands on the man's head, I twist his head to the left hard, sending a loud, satisfying crack echoing through the dark and endless cavern.
The screams from the man suddenly go silent, all that can be heard now are the cries from the woman.
A loud, ear piercing sound hits my ears, in the same moment an intense stinging pain erupts from my back.
A loud screech of pain forces itself out of my mouth, quickly looking back at the woman holding a rifle in her hands, terror plastered all over her face.
Slowly I stand, the sound rings off again and another bullet buries itself into my back, the shot almost knocking me off my feet.
Growling loudly in pain, I snarl at the woman while growling viciously at her. Turning to face her I spread my wings again wide, the woman becomes more fearful and shoots off another bullet at me. My sharp senses pick up the bullet flying toward me, in a flash my body rotates, the bullet flies right past me.
Slowly I tilt my head at the woman and begin to frown, "I told you to leave. But you didn't, now look what you've done."
Tears run down the woman's face, her eyes wide with terror, her arms shaking with the gun in her hands.
The woman tries to shoot off another round at me, but the gun clicks and does nothing.
The woman's heart falls, she tries to shoot at me again but nothing happens.
"Looks like you are all out of time..." My voice echoes through the space around us, my glowing violet irises burning straight through the darkness, adding to her dread.
The woman begins to panic, throwing the gun onto the ground and turning to run.
In a flash I spread my wings and fly at her, tackling her to the ground as she screams out at the top of her lungs. I dig my claws into her stomach, forcing my hand into her abdomen and through her intestines until my fingers touch her racing heart.
My hand grips the organ and rips it out of her body, the woman quickly dies as she bleeds out, her body falls limp on the ground beneath me.
My glowing eyes observe the pumping heart in my hand, I begin to grin at it, watching it until it stops beating.
Slowly pulling it to my mouth, I become curious as to how it tastes.
Running my tongue along the organ, the sweet, unique taste of human blood hits my tongue and sends pleasurable chills down my spine. Biting into it, my teeth easily slice through the thick muscle like a knife through cake.
I begin to chew it, the taste is unreal. I have drank human blood before, years ago when Emma offered me her bleeding wrist after I killed that reaper and was so weak my body could barely move.
The blood made me feel stronger so quickly, within a half hour I was able to stand instead of being in that state for days.
Using power seems to weaken my body, depending on what abilities I use. Illusions seem to drain the most energy from me.
I resume chewing on the heart, perched on top of the body like a hawk.
A sudden loud caw grabs my attention, quickly looking over I see that the crow has returned, for the first time at night. I begin wondering how long it has been there, and what it has seen.
The crow is standing in the entrance of the cavern, observing me. It quickly flies over to me and lands on the ground before me, I giggle at it.
"Want some food?" I ask it, offering it the rest of the heart, knowing crows love to eat the dead.
The crow turns its head away, not seeming interested.
Confusion spreads across my face, beginning to realize the crow is much more unusual than I originally thought, besides the obvious.
I begin to wonder whether it is a pet crow, or some kind of experiment released into the wild.
"...How smart are you?" I question it.
The crow stares up at me, tilting its head a little.
Finishing up the heart I rise off the body, the intense pain from my back causing me to wince and slow down. Slowly I walk over toward the blankets.
Moving my knuckles to my mouth, I begin thinking about where they came from.
The crow stops beside me, looking over it as well.
I move my attention to the bird, "I guess we will see how smart you are in the morning."