The smell of soil. The feel of the light breeze. The greenery with little bursts of color. Oh, how she longed to see this!
Erza smiled to herself, tucking a strand of her red hair behind her ear. She had dreamed of this day ever since she was born. And now, it was finally fulfilled.
She was standing. On the Ground. On Earth.
Erza is an angel. She was born in heaven and she was to stay there. Her mother, Irene, was quite protective of her and had forbidden her from going to Earth.
"There are demons who will try to eat you," Irene says. It was true. Angels were quite a famous dish among particular demons.
"There are vicious nymphs and fairies who will poison you with their charms," Irene says. Not true. Fairies and Nymphs were very friendly creatures.
"There are scary dragons," Irene says. That was true. The dragons were scary. But they were also friendly.
"There are werewolves that will pretend to love you, but will break your heart in the end," Irene says. That might be true and it might not be true. I do not know. No one knows anything about werewolves.
Erza was taught to be scared of the world from the moment she entered it. She was taught to stay in the comforts of heaven and not to travel anywhere else. She was taught to do that and yet.
Here she was.
Standing in a beautiful meadow with green trees and pink flowers. With a rippling creek and smooth pebbles.
She had run away.
Sort of.
She only planned on staying here for a few hours after all. She would be back before her mother came back from her trip. She would be back before anyone ever knew.
Erza inhaled the sweet scent of flowers again. She was so happy. Happy yet worried. Worried about her punishment if she was found.
Erza tried not to think of the consequences. That's right - she was here to have fun, not to worry! So, she would have fun. And, with a smile on her lips, Erza walked into the enchanting forest.
Little did she know, that this very forest was the domain of werewolves. Little did she know, that meeting them would change her life.
Deep, deep in the forest, is a river. The river starts from the mountains up north and ends where the forest does. The river is clear and is lined with smooth pebbles and soft sand. This river is special. This river is what sustained the lives of the werewolves.
Yes, this is where the werewolves live. With human-like looks most of the time, these creatures were quite capable of turning into vicious wolves. Most creatures that wander - knowingly or unknowingly - into the forest, are usually scared away by wolves. If they didn't run away, they were most likely dead.
There was a cave near the river. That cave was inhabited by werewolves. There were multiple caves around, and though the werewolves didn't get along with different packs, they lived peacefully. The pack we will be looking at is the Shadow Pack. This pack consisted of two males and five children. This is a strange pack because packs are meant to be ruled by one male, not two. And yet, no one went against that idea. The reason was, the two males - Jura Neekis and Warrod Sequen - were super strong. No one dared go against them.
Among this pack was Jellal. Jellal Fernandez, a werewolf strong for his age. He loved the forest very much, but he wished to travel. He wanted to see the world, the mountains, the meadows, the valleys, the deserts, the towns, and villages. He wanted to see it all. But, both his 'fathers' told him that was impossible.
"We stay in the forest. The forest is our home and we are its protectors. That's how it will always be." Warrod advises.
Jellal was a good pup. There was no way he would disobey them. Unless his sister, Ultear insisted.
"You should leave! It's your life! Live it!" She says.
"You know I can't do that..."
"Why not? Meredy, Sherry, Kinana, and I can take care of ourselves."
Jellal laughed. "I'm not worried about you guys. I'm just worried about what happens if I get caught."
"I'll take care of that." Ultear winked playfully.
And so, Jellal set out to the end of the forest. It wasn't a big difference, but it was a start.
Erza was lost. She would never admit it - never - but she was lost. For the first time in her life, she felt scared.
The trees reached out their dry branches at her, trying to get hold of the lost girl. Snakes slithered around where she stood. The sky darkened.
Spying a spot of light in the distance, Erza runs toward it. Out of nowhere, small creatures with sharp fangs leap around, scratching her delicate skin. Erza cries out in pain. Her mother was right, the world is a dangerous place.
From her back, two majestic white wings sprout. They start to flap, slowly at first. Within seconds, she is off the ground and flying away from the danger, towards the light. She flies as hard as she can. She needed to get away from this eerie place as soon as possible.
Jellal was running. He was in his wolf form and was running to the end of the forest. He figured that running would let him reach faster, resulting in more time in a different world than what he was born to. He would reach there, stay until sunset, and run back before his parents returned from hunting.
At least, he was supposed to.
But he couldn't.
Not after he saw those captivating, white wings. That red hair belonged to that girl. He needed to see her. He needed to know her name. Except, she was an angel. And Jellal wasn't so sure his parents would approve of him talking to an angel. Though they had never forbidden it, Jellal wasn't that sure.
'Oh well, ' he thought, 'I've already broken one rule - what difference does one more make?'
With that thought, he ran after that mysterious girl in his human form.