Chapter 31: Rose's Redemption Part Two

It only took Rose a few minutes to get her bearings, seeing as how the world inside Lilly's head was America. It made sense considering she lived in that country for most of her life.

It was home.

Soon enough, she'd found the river that led north to Colter. And unlike Lilly, Rose didn't go jumping in the cold water. Mostly because she was wearing nothing more than a Halloween costume.

The snow was up to her knees and she was quite cold. And the indigo sun that was setting meant that it was going to get dark very soon. And the darker it got, the more Rose felt on edge. Maybe there was something to the darkness, just like the voice had said. Maybe if she got to Colter, she'd feel better.

A rabbit crossed her path and she quickly chased after it, realizing how hungry she was. Maybe Colter had the means for her to build a fire and cook the rabbit.

However, a rather large animal came swooping down to snatch the rabbit from the ground and fly off with it, making Rose groan in exhaustion.

"Feckin' arsehole!" she shouted at the unrecognizable animal.

She had to keep moving.

As Rose continued trekking along, rubbing down her arms for warmth, she finally spotted some buildings off in the distance. Was it Colter?

Her walking turned into a sprint, her breath showing as she huffed and puffed through the snow. However, as soon as Rose heard voices, she stopped in her tracks.

"I want those minerals mined as soon as possible!" a middle eastern sounding man shouted.

"Prince Persian, if I may," a scared sounding man replied, "in the dark, the monsters, they-"

"I don't give a shit!" the first man screamed. "My father wants it done! Now! Would you rather face his wrath or mine?!"

"Yes, Your Highness! Right away!"

Rose edged closer to see a bunch of men off in the distance of Colter, one of them with spiky, greenish hair. He was dressed very much like a prince...one that you would find in a desert. His robes were the colors of gold, black and purple and he had six, long black horns poking out of his head.

"Odd," Rose whispered to herself.

"That would be Prince Persian, one of Mallacht's brood," the voice said.

"Ugh, you again?" Rose sighed.

A loud roar rang out in the distance and Rose looked towards the sky. "Quick! Hide!"

Rose didn't think twice before charging towards a grouping of trees. She'd gotten out of sight just in time to see a violet colored dragon flying across the sky towards Colter.

"What the feck? There are dragons here?" Rose asked softly, staring at the descending creature in awe.

"That's not just a dragon."

The dragon landed on the ground, causing the ground itself to shake a bit. The dragon roared once more as Prince Persian crossed the way towards it.

"Stay low, don't get seen," the voice urged softly.

Rose did as she was told and watched as the dragon got smaller in size and shifted into a woman with violet colored hair and black horns adorning her head.

"Ah, Violet," the prince said with a smile. "What brings you to these parts?"

The woman scoffed as she adjusted her leather armor. "What is taking so bloody long with the mining?" she barked loudly.

"You know how these miserable humans are," replied Persian. "Everything scares them."

"That's not my fucking problem. Get them to work."

"I just sent them out!" Persian shouted.

Violet glared at the man. "You dare yell at your superior like that? Have you forgotten your place, Little Brother?"

Persian growled lowly before looking at the ground. "No, I have not. My apologies. It's just these humans are so irritating."

Violet humphed. "Maybe if you stopped fucking goats up here, the men would actually respect you."

"I do NOT fuck goats!"

The woman laughed. "That's not what I heard."

"You heard wrong."

"Who the feck are these morons?" Rose thought in disgust.

"That woman is Mallacht's general and eldest daughter, Princess Violet. She's a nasty piece of work," the voice replied.

"And who's the mum?"

"...It's probably best I don't answer that question right now."

The prince seemed to have had enough of Violet's mockery because he turned his back on her and started walking back to Colter. Violet shook her head before pulling out a pack of cigarettes. As she lit one up, she started trekking it towards Colter...until a giant red wolf was spotted in the distance. Violet eyed the animal with a laugh.

"Oye, bitch! You're still alive, are you?!" Violet shouted, making Rose gasp.

The wolf nuzzled its nose in the snow as it started making its way towards Violet.

"Lilly?!" Rose thought in shock. The closer the wolf got, the more Rose could make out the features. The wolf's eyes were missing, chords were hanging from the throat and wires were poking out of her ears. "Oh my God..."

The wolf sauntered up to Violet, who proceeded to smack the wolf in the face. "Oye! Get away from me, you dumb asshole! You're lucky Dad hasn't decided to kill you yet!"

This angered Rose, especially since the red wolf seemed to have no fight in her.

"Do not engage," the voice urged.

But the more Violet taunted and bullied the red wolf, the angrier Rose got. The wolf passed away from Violet but the princess decided to follow, yanking on the wolf's tail.

"Hey! Get back here! I'm not done toying with you yet! I'm bored!"

"That fucking..." Rose thought bitterly, feeling her blood boil as Violet continued the harassment.

The wolf ignored the princess, instead catching a whiff of something on the air and immediately panting happily with a tail wag. But Violet seemed upset by this and proceeded to beat the wolf harshly.

"There's nothing here for you to be happy about, you stupid cunt! How dumb are you, really?!"

Rose had enough.

With a low growl escaping her lips, Rose immediately went into attack mode and before she could stop herself, the prisoner shifted into her wolf form, albeit painfully, and charged across the snow with a mighty howl.

"Rose, no!" the voice shouted.

Rose didn't listen. Dark smoke surrounded the black wolf and before Violet could finish her shift into a dragon, Rose pounced on the woman, ripping the throat out before Violet could even scream.

"The only one who gets tah bully Lilly around is me, mother fucker!" the black wolf hissed.

The red wolf retreated as Rose proceeded to swallow up Violet in her mouth, chomping away on bones and blood with ease.

"Oh my...that was unexpected," the voice said in surprise.

The black smoke receeded and Rose tried to shift back into her human form, but then her vision went dark.

Something was wrong.

Her bones shifted and cracked and she screamed in agony as she fell, the red wolf trotting up immediately to sniff and lick Rose's face.

"Violet!" someone shouted.

"Can't...pass out..." Rose thought with a groan, trying to lift herself up.

Lilly was still licking Rose's face as she heard hastened footsteps crunching through the snow.

"Violet, what happened?" the Prince said in shock as he fell to his knees. "What happened?"

"Violet?" Rose thought to herself, still in a bit of pain.

"Oh, I think you'll be fine," the voice said. "Clearly I have underestimated what strong emotions can do for someone like you."

Rose felt her cheek get tapped and she grumbled. "What..." she muttered softly.

"Good, you're coming around," Persian said. "I may not like you, but you are my sister."

"What the hell are you talking about?" Rose asked...in Violet's British accent.

"Oh. That's-" Rose began to think, but then a loud whistling echoed in her head and she grasped it as pain filled her mind.

Images flashed through her visuals, almost too fast for her to keep up with. Was it happening again? Was she forgetting who she was once more? She was seeing things through someone else's eyes. She saw war. She saw death. And she saw Lilly.

And Dubh? Was he down here after all? Why did he look so young?

"That isn't Dubh. That is Mallacht," the voice explained.

Before Rose could even question how that didn't make sense, she passed out from the pain.