Summary: When I went on that hiking trip in Ireland, I didn't expect that I'd be spirited away to a land full of magic and aggressive, ridiculously attractive bat-men. But thanks to my bad luck, it did happen.
To Katryna Novak: I'm happy to hear that you like this so far! I hope you'll enjoy this chapter, too!
To my guest reviewer from May 2: Thank you for the feedback and interest in my story!
A/N: A big thank you to the readers who followed and/or favourited A Tale of Shadows and Flames, too! And all the other silent readers as well.
I hope all of you will enjoy this chapter and where I'm going with this story :)
Chapter 2
When one of the horrific creatures jumped up to take a bite out of me while I was still in the air, the strange warm feeling that had been building up in my body suddenly rushed through my veins and burst out of me. Out of nowhere, eerie blue flames engulfed the monster, that had been about to maul me, and the tree I was clinging to and turned them into cinders in the blink of an eye.
The two other creatures and my surroundings didn't fare much better and were set aflame as well because of their close proximity. After that quick observation, I collided with the ground, every part of my body tingling because of the odd energy rush. My fall was softened by partially melted snow but still took the air out of my lungs.
The remaining monsters screeched in agony and burned to death before I could even attempt to get up from my lying position in the slush, the blistering hot firestorm raging around me. I watched everything in a daze, unable to process what was happening. My heart was pounding fast and my ears were ringing.
The smell of burning wood, smoke and flesh mixed with a strange metallic scent and was overwhelming. The snow in the entire area around me was melting.
The azure blue firestorm subsided almost as fast as it had arrived; the flames flickered out and left small fires behind that consumed the last remains of the trees. Those fires quickly lost their unusual colour and took on a normal amber hue.
I breathed heavily as I eyed my surroundings, still high on adrenaline and in some state of shock after being almost eaten alive. It could have been minutes or even hours before I could form coherent thoughts again and tried to push myself up from my lying position on the ground.
As I did so with shaking arms, something pulled on the muscles in my back area and I stilled. There was an unusual weight on my head and at my back as well. I blinked and frowned as I felt new muscles, new limbs, that were painfully constricted because of my backpack, at my back twitch.
My blood ran cold at that discovery.
What... what was that? What was this weight on my head?
More questions popped into my head.
Why the heck hadn't I been burned to a crisp, and why had I hardly felt the heat of the fire? How was I able to breathe in this smoke?
And where had the fire even come from?
I'd read and watched enough fantasy books and movies to have an idea as to what the answer to the third question could be.
There was a possibility that the blue flames were connected to the strange warm energy, that I could still vaguely feel inside me. It couldn't be a coincidence that I'd felt it breaking out of me just when the fire broke out. As crazy as it sounded, maybe I'd somehow subconsciously created the fire with this energy? Perhaps it was some form of magic?
Magic.
A short hysteric laugh escaped me at the thought. Could that really be the explanation? I couldn't wrap my mind around that. Couldn't believe something fantastical like magic existed.
But the evidence spoke for itself.
Nightmarish monsters I'd never seen before lived in this place and while it was cold here, I somehow hadn't died from hypothermia yet nor was I feeling particularly cold. The fire hadn't burnt me or my clothes, as far as I could tell, either even though it definitely should have. And somehow, my senses had become sharper and there was something attached my head and back...
I've felt different ever since I woke up here. The fire... magic... whatever it was, had come to my aid and protected me when my life was in danger.
Maybe I'd really entered the fairy realm... or hell.
I did some breathing exercises to combat the panic that was threatening to overtake me at that conclusion, sending a silent thanks to my therapist who'd taught them to me.
When I'd calmed down somewhat and had pushed myself up into a more comfortable sitting position, I finally dared to gaze at the things on my back. I wanted to know what I was dealing with.
Wings. Huge, leathery, black wings with an ivory spike at the top were attached to my back. They resembled bat wings.
With a shaky finger I reached out and touched the thin membrane of one because I couldn't believe that they were real. It felt as silky and soft as skin, but more disturbing than that was the fact that I could feel the touch not only with my finger but also from the end of the wing. I shivered and quickly retracted my hand in mild disgust and horror.
The wings were real and attached to me.
I took a few more shaky breaths and stared at my muddy hands as I tried to comprehend that.
Unfortunately, this made me notice that my nails were now unusually long and pointy compared to before – I always kept them short and manicured because of my job and preferred them that way.
My friend Hannah had once coaxed me into getting sharp acrylic nails for a vampire costume for Halloween and this disaster reminded me of that time. Only that the sharp, pointy nails were real now.
Shit. What the hell did all of this mean? Was I transforming into a monster? Was this world responsible for it?
Could I even return home looking like this? I didn't want to end up in a secret government facility where they would perform terrible experiments on me once I was spotted by the authorities.
However, it was open to debate if I'd find a way home in the first place...
I shook my head.
No! I shouldn't think like this.
I'd somehow entered this strange world, so there had to be a way out of here, too. Maybe I could get rid of the wings and any other unwanted changes, too, in the process.
Perhaps there were even other people like me here as well – the missing persons I'd read about. Normal birds and squirrels existed in this realm, so I could hold onto that hope. Maybe there were friendly fairies or elves here, too.
Admittedly, that were a lot of maybes, but I couldn't just give up on finding a way home even if I had become a monster. I still wanted to see my friends Hannah and Alice, my grandmother Clara, and my annoying cousins again, no matter what.
However, I decided that I needed to know what else had changed even though I was terrified of finding out.
I loosened the straps of my backpack and carefully removed it from my back, pushing the wings through the straps with a grimace. Ugh, touching the things again made me feel queasy.
Then, I fetched my small pocket mirror from my backpack. I almost let go of it because of what I saw in the reflection. For a few heartbeats all of my thoughts stopped.
My eyes. They still were azure blue in colour, but a light, no, the blue fire was burning in them – my irises had a slight but unmistakable glow to them. But it didn't stop there.
There was something weird about my face and sun-kissed skin – courtesy of my half-Italian heritage and living in places where the sun shone a lot – that I couldn't quite put my finger on. My features were still the same, but somehow seemed more... refined at the same time.
There was a radiance, an evenness to my skin and features that was beyond anything simple skincare or make-up could achieve. The pale scars on my right temple, cheek and side of the neck, a constant reminder of the accident, were still there, though.
I took a few more deep breaths, which made me aware of another change as I watched my reflection in the mirror – my canines were elongated. On top of that, two slender ivory horns that contrasted with my inky black hair sprouted from my head. They were smooth to the touch and didn't budge when I tugged at them.
Alright, I had no idea what I was supposed to be. Had I been cursed? Was I some kind of fire-wielding vampire/demon fairy?
"Fuck," I mumbled angrily, fearfully, and clutched the hand mirror tighter with a trembling hand, somehow managing to crack it.
I pulled my legs close to my body and put my head between my knees, squeezing my eyes shut as I breathed in and out.
I looked eerie. Alien. Inhuman.
I wasn't okay or comfortable with this.
I felt light-headed and sick. My stomach churned. Just a few seconds later I turned to the side and retched, losing the contents of my stomach.
Somehow the trembling was even worse afterwards and tears flooded my eyes.
I was scared. Scared of this world and what it was doing to me.
I let myself cry until no more tears would come and I felt a little lighter. I was exhausted, mentally, emotionally and physically, but I didn't want to stay in this forest to rest, since I didn't know whether there were more of those malicious creatures in this area.
I wiped the last tears away and got back on my feet. I winced as the weight of the wings tugged at the muscle in my back and pretty much everywhere else. They had a considerable weight, but were comparatively light for their size, I guessed, about the weight of the backpack.
Perhaps they just seemed so heavy because I'd never used those muscles before. The wings hung down like limp rags, the tips half-stuck in the dried mud. Not that I was particularly up for it anyway, but flying with them was out of the question. The things would doubtlessly make my journey even more difficult and exhausting.
Oh god, I really had wings...
I checked myself for injuries or burns but found none, much to my astonishment. My clothes and face were covered in dried mud, however, and parts of my clothes and backpack were indeed scorched. My jacket and shirt were ripped in the back, where the wings must have pierced through, so taking the clothes off was impossible without cutting them open.
My limbs and ribs felt a little tender from the fall but breathing didn't hurt. The smoke and no doubt dangerous fumes in the air didn't affect me much either, even though that made no sense to me.
Nothing made any sense anymore.
A check of my backpack showed that my phone and stainless steel water bottle had survived the fire, but the last energy bar had melted. In this cold climate it would become solid again soon, so I wouldn't have to worry about food for some time longer.
It was time to go.
I put my backpack on – the other way around, of course – and tried to tuck the wings to my back, so I wouldn't feel them drag on the ground while I was walking. But I couldn't hold them up for long. I continued my descent because I needed to find food and I wouldn't find that up here in the mountains. I could search for a way home after that.
Survival was my first priority.
My exhaustion got worse as I continued my journey in the dark and the adrenaline left my body. At least it was convenient that I could see just fine in the dark now, as if it was merely a very cloudy day instead of the middle of the night, even though it was also very unsettling.
No matter how tired I was, I didn't dare to stop walking, in fear that more creatures that lurked in the dark would turn up as soon as I stopped moving.
God, this whole trip was the most frightening and strangest thing that had ever happened to me.
By the time the sky became lighter, I was stumbling over my own feet and could barely keep my eyes open. My feet and legs ached and were heavy like lead, and I felt drained somehow. Thanks to the useless wings my entire back area as well as other muscles were strained and hurt as if I'd participated in a triathlon.
More creatures found me and attacked me in the night, but every time they did, the blue flames protected me. I had absolutely no control over them, but they seemed to come out whenever I felt threatened or feared that my life was in danger. The remaining monsters disappeared before dawn.
I was still completely freaked out by this newfound power, whatever it was, but more than anything, I was relieved that I hadn't ended up as a meal for any of those monsters. I'd rather be a human flame thrower than to be eaten alive, thank you very much.
It didn't mean that I liked it or wanted any of this, though.
I'd wanted a new start, wanted to begin a new chapter in my life after my vacation and have a small adventure of my own, but not like this. I didn't want to be in this place that damned stone circle had transported me to.
My grandma had even warned me not to touch anything at the stone circle, fearing that I'd be spirited away, but I'd ignored her warning, thinking that she was just being superstitious.
If only I'd listened to her.
I let out a frustrated sigh.
In any case, I was dead tired by now, too tired to think clearly about any of this, despite my increase in stamina and muscle power, and climbed another tree with my last remaining strength. Once again the wings were a burden. I almost got stuck with them and the horns between some tree branches.
My stomach was growling from hunger, but I just drank water to fill it. I'd keep the remaining energy bar for breakfast instead.
Just in case, I forced myself to wait for a few more minutes to see if the demonic creatures would return, but they seemed to have given up their hunt for me. Maybe they were nocturnal and had returned to whatever hellhole they had crawled out of now that the first light of day touched the ground.
After I had found a somewhat passable position on a sturdy tree branch, I fell into a light, fitful sleep.
It was around noon when I gave up on sleeping. I couldn't stop thinking about the monsters and my near-death experiences, my changed appearance and my situation in general. It didn't help that I had the feeling that I was about to fall from the tree branch whenever I'd almost dozed off and woke up again just before I really fell asleep.
If possible, I was even more exhausted than before I'd rested. My legs and feet were sore and full of blisters. Even my back was stiff from the uncomfortable sitting position in the tree and because of the wings.
I watched my surroundings for a few moments before I climbed down from the tree and washed my hands and face with snow. I'd completely forgotten how dirty I was until I saw my muddy clothes and felt the dried mud on my face.
I wondered if the people back home were already searching for me and became a little homesick.
To distract myself from my resurfacing emotions, I used my fingers to comb through my dark locks and gain some control over them, as well as rid them of the things that had gotten caught in them. They were awfully tangled, dirty from dried mud and ash, as well as full of spruce needles and small twigs.
After a short morning routine, I ate half of the energy bar – it was solid again – for breakfast. It tasted less than stellar but it was better than nothing.
Then, I checked my phone for reception and whether my messages had been sent, but, of course, there was no reception in this accursed land. I turned the phone off to preserve the remaining energy since I doubted that I'd get reception in this place any time soon.
Finally, I continued my journey down the mountains and tried not to think too much about the changes or my situation in general, lest I lose my hope or motivation to go on. There had to be a way out of here.
When the sun went down again, I still hadn't reached any civilisation or the foot of the mountain. I felt pretty desperate and scared as I ate the final portion of my last energy bar.
Now I didn't have any food left, and there was still nothing but spruce trees, mountains and snow as far as the eye could see.
Oh, and a few animals here and there. Even if I knew how to hunt them, or had any equipment for it, I doubted that I'd be able to kill them. I'd never killed anything aside from insects or spiders... and those monsters last night, but maybe I could do it if I was hungry enough.
Then, I'd only need a knife to skin the the animal with and somehow make a fire – intentionally this time.
Ugh, my situation was really hopeless, wasn't it?
One of the demonic creatures turned up at my tree again during the night, but once again the blue flames suddenly appeared and burned it to ashes when it tried to attack me. It was still a daunting and stressful experience because I wasn't sure whether the fire would protect me again and I had absolutely no control over it.
Was this how it was going to be every night from now on? Would I have to live through this horrible experience again and again?
I allowed myself to cry and break down while I was waiting for dawn to come. Once the sunlight warmed my cheeks, I finally slept for a few hours, exhaustion overwhelming me.
My blisters from walking and my soreness got a little better while I slept, but my hunger had become worse after waking up and drinking water didn't help much against it anymore. I'd never been this tired or hungry before.
Would I starve to death? Or would I get eaten first?
And there was also the soul-crushing loneliness. I liked being alone, but not like this. Not when it wasn't my choice.
It was frightening to be lost in the wilderness in an unknown place with nothing to distract me from my miserable situation or thoughts. I didn't want to risk the remaining percent of my phone battery just to hear music, but I came closer and closer to doing it with every passing hour.
The occasional bird, the howling of the wind, and the sound of my own breathing and footsteps were the only sounds I could hear.
At some time during the afternoon, a strange noise made it to my ears. I stopped in my tracks and concentrated on the sound that was slowly growing louder. It sounded as if several wings were beating the air.
If those sounds were produced by birds, they had to be huge. Not wanting to risk getting attacked by oversized demonic birds, I pressed myself into the bark of a tree to hide. From my hiding place I watched the sky for the birds and was more than surprised to discover that it was a small group of bat-like creatures that were flying through the sky and not birds.
No, they weren't creatures. They looked like humans with bat wings.
Like me. The only difference was that they didn't have horns on their head.
The one at the front of the formation barked something in a language I was unable to understand before they flew directly over my hiding place.
I contemplated whether I should show myself in the hopes of getting rescued by them, but hesitated when I saw that they were carrying weapons – swords, spears and bows.
After thinking over it some more, I cursed myself for hiding. The next time I spotted the winged men, I was going to attract their attention. Between certain death out here in the snow, or facing the men with bat wings, only one of my options had a small chance of survival.
I couldn't be certain if they were friend or foe, but at this point I was willing to risk it. The hunger was getting to me. My only consolation after hours of walking was that there was less snow in the direction where the winged men had flown.
After I'd stumbled through the snow for long enough, I sat down at the base of a tree and took a break. I was tired, dizzy and nauseous from the activity, stress, the lack of food and proper sleep. Once more my thoughts circled around home, my family, and my hopeless situation.
Just a few hours later I was ready to stop for the night even though the sun hadn't set yet. I was about to collapse on the spot. There was no muscle in my body that didn't hurt.
In my frustration I let out a few curses in Italian. They echoed across the clearing I found myself in. There was no one here to hear me anyway. Once again I tried to calm down and to think positive even though it was getting dark again.
This trip could be even worse. If it were raining or snowing or if I were on my period, for example.
Ugh, this didn't really help much.
I was about to drift off to sleep when my ears picked up a familiar sound that was quickly growing louder. The sound of large wings beating the air.
The bat-men had returned. My pulse quickened in a mixture of hope and apprehension.
This was it, this was my chance.
If I didn't move from my current position and hid underneath a tree, the bat-men would see me soon. I didn't know how they would react to me, a thing with the same wings as them but with two horns on her head.
This might be my only chance to survive, though.
If the monstrous bear/wolf hybrids didn't kill me, the lack of food certainly would sooner or later.
With that mindset, I deposited my backpack next to a tree and forced myself to stay in the middle of the clearing. As expected, the bat-men spotted me as soon as the group of five flew over it.
My heart dropped when one of them yelled something at the others and they all landed with a brutal elegance in the snow around me, the impact not affecting them in the least.
I'd noticed it before thanks to my improved sight, but from up close it was even harder to miss that they all were rather tall and well-built, like soldiers or athletes. Plus, they all had dark hair and sun-tanned skin that was a little darker than mine.
The thing that stunned me the most, however, was how utterly handsome they were, almost unnaturally so. Even without the wings they wouldn't look like human men.
Most of them seemed to be in their twenties or early thirties though it was really hard to guess their correct age. Something about their appearance reminded me of my own though their eyes didn't give off a slight glow like mine.
They all wore the same black leather armour that resembled scales. One of them – perhaps the leader of the group – said something to me in a language I'd never heard before. There was a cold gleam in his hazel eyes as he let them roam over my body, including the wings on my back and horns on my head.
His voice snapped me out of my momentary stupor. "I-I don't understand you. Can you speak English?" I asked him in said language, my heart beating fast in my chest, because talking with a good-looking, winged fairy man who could either be friend or foe was bloody stressful.
The group leader narrowed his eyes and exchanged a few words with the others before two of them approached me from both sides. One of the approaching bat-men, who had longer hair that was bound at the back of his head, leered at me, which sent shivers of fear and disgust down my spine.
"What are you doing?" I asked in a tone that sounded more confident than I felt as I took a few steps back.
I tried to keep on a poker face, like when I was facing one of my father's business associates, and remain calm.
The winged man's grin widened as he retorted something. Some of the others laughed at his words and said something to him as they eyed me like a piece of meat.
My stomach turned. Even without understanding a word, I had an idea about what they might want to do with me.
This wasn't good. Not good at all. I had miscalculated. These bat-men were not friendly.
I had to get out of here.
Trusting my gut feeling, I turned on my heels, tucking the wings to my back with my last strength so I could run without having them drag over the ground. I didn't get far. In not time at all – I couldn't have taken more than five steps – the two bat-men closest to me had caught up to me and grabbed me forcefully by my arms.
The one with the bound hair even held onto my left wing, his touch on the sensitive limb and membrane making me feel even more vulnerable and uncomfortable than I already was. My heart was racing and I was in fight or flight mode as they hauled me around.
"Let go of me, you oversized bats!" I demanded, some of my temper finally showing despite my fear of them, and struggled against their grips.
I kicked at shins and crotches, hissed in a distinctly inhuman way, and even bit one of the attackers when his hand came too close to my mouth, but that didn't seem to be more than an annoyance to them.
The one who was holding onto my wing tightened his grip until one of the bones inside snapped, making me cry out in pain. It was then that the fire magic finally reacted to my emotions and pain.
The two bat-men cursed and screamed as the flames burned their hands and began to consume their bodies, lighting up the darkening landscape. They let go of me in response and I fell gracelessly on my butt, but it was already too late.
I watched in horror how two creatures that resembled humans were being burned alive right in front of me, unable to look away. The stink of burned flesh permeated the air, overpowering and sickening. Only when the other winged men began to yell in anger did I manage to unglue my eyes from the nightmarish scene, crawl away from my two writhing would-be captors, and get up on my unsteady feet.
An arrow flew past my head as I sprinted toward the entrance of the woods, making me stumble and my heart miss a beat as I snatched my backpack and pressed it to my chest. Before I could process that I was being shot at, a second arrow struck the membrane of my right wing. A third found its target in my right shank almost at the same time.
Blinding pain immediately exploded in those areas, and with a loud cry I fell over and landed face first in the snow. Reflexive tears streamed down my cheeks as I reached for my leg, being barely able to think past the pain. This was much, much worse than the snapped bone in the wing.
My eyes travelled back to my pursuers that were closing in on me again.
A wave of panic swept over me, which made more flames burst out of my body. The trees closest to me were set on fire and turned the arrows in my wing and leg to ash.
Some parts of my clothes and the backpack as well caught fire though it didn't burn my skin. It never did. The azure blue flames felt warm and comforting to me, like a caress.
This time the bat-men weren't affected by them either. Glowing spheres that surrounded each of them protected the bat-men from the fire.
Bloody hell, I was screwed... or maybe not?
For some reason they didn't come closer to me, the centre of the blue firestorm.
Did the heat affect them?
Another arrow that was aimed at me turned to ash as soon as it left the glowing sphere. Then, an orange bolt of light that resembled an arrow came from the direction of one of the bat-men but evaporated before it reached me.
It appeared that I was safe for the moment. The flames wouldn't keep them away from me forever, though. I knew that there had to be some kind of limit to the blue flames since they appeared to use this strange, warm well of power inside me as fuel. I needed to escape the bat-men before it ran out.
Blinking my tears away, I forced myself to get back on my feet and bit my lip hard enough to draw blood as I put some weight on my injured leg, letting out a pained sob. I almost blacked out because of the hellish pain that flashed through my body.
As if that wasn't already bad enough, each movement of my wings hurt like a bitch, too, and there was also my general muscle soreness and exhaustion. I felt miserable.
But I couldn't afford to stay here now that I knew the bat-men had bad intentions. Clenching my teeth, I gathered my remaining strength and willpower and walked, or rather, limped as fast as I could without putting too much weight on my injured leg.
It didn't work well, though. I wasn't moving quick enough and the firestorm raging around me was getting weaker by the second. I limped through the burning forest, hoping that it would further help to keep the bat-men at a distance.
As expected, the bat-men followed me, but from the sky, where the flames couldn't reach them, which didn't bode well for me. What if they decided to wait this out?
Maybe getting eaten alive by the monstrous bear mutants would have been better than whatever these bat-men had in store for me. At least it would've been a quick death.
A thick tree branch, that must have already been loose when the tree caught fire, crashed down right in my path and caught me by surprise. It missed me by a hair's breath, but made me land on the broken wing as I dived out of the way. This time I really blacked out for a few seconds as blinding pain shot through me.
When I opened my eyes again I was unable to get up.
Even though my eyes went in and out of focus, I gazed up at the sky, at my pursuers. My sight was blurry and diminished due to the smoke, but I swore I could see their dark looks of triumph and expressions that promised me even more pain.
Was this how it was going to end?
Suddenly, several red glowing arrows hit the orange shield of one of the bat-men. A dark shadow crashed into it only seconds after, driving the bat-man inside back and breaking through his shield. Ironically, it was another bat-man who'd attacked my assaulter.
The two of them battled in the air before the newcomer nearly cut my would-be kidnapper in two with his sword. The injured bat-man fell from the sky like a stone and into the blue flames, that engulfed his body.
Meanwhile, my other attackers had been driven apart by two more newly arrived bat-men. They yelled something that sounded like insults at the newcomers. One of them used blue magic arrows to break through my assaulters' shield before he overwhelmed him in a fight mid-flight and cut his throat with a knife, sending the bat-men down into the flames.
I gaped in horror at the brutality of the fights. I definitely did not want to meet the three newcomers who seemed to be even stronger than my attackers.
I groaned as I rolled over onto my stomach and pushed myself up to my knees with my last ounce of strength, once again biting through my lower lip in the process thanks to my sharp, elongated canines. Cold sweat was running down my face and back as I held back the scream that wanted to escape me when I moved my injured limbs.
I risked another glance up at the sky.
I really shouldn't have done that.
My fear skyrocketed when I witnessed the death of the last of my assaulters. A wave of pure darkness and stars rolled over him as he tried to escape, broke his shield as easily as one would crack a raw egg, and... devoured him.
Nothing but blood red dust that scattered in the wind was left behind.
My breath was taken away.
Holy shit, what the hell was that bat-man?!
I'd be screwed if he – or any of them – discovered me. Even my fire wouldn't help me here – I needed to put some distance between me and those demons.
I crawled forward, through the burning forest, trying not to faint because of the painful injuries, and avoided falling branches and tree trunks as best as I could.
Maybe I'd be lucky and the newcomers would overlook me?
As if they had read my thoughts, one of them yelled something in my direction, over the crackling forest fire, and followed me from above judging from the loud beats of his large wings.
I grimaced. Of course my luck failed me not a second after I'd thought about it.
I continued crawling forward, deeper into the forest, even though I was aware that I wouldn't be able to escape them. It was only a matter of time until everything in the area had been completely consumed by the fire and it would die down.
These damned monsters were sorely mistaken if they thought I'd give up without a fight, though.
A/N: Our favourite bat-men are here. How will Stella's encounter with them go?