Lunabelle
Member
- Messages
- 1
Lunabelle ventured out of the city carrying only her foraging knife, an empty herb satchel, and enough dried fruit and water to last her a few hours. The sun had set and the full moon shone high in the sky -- the perfect night to forage for Ghost Cap mushrooms in the Wilds. She meandered along the familiar path through the densely packed trees, just as she always had. Rosie, the old apothecary and her late mentor, had shown the route many years ago. While the Wilds were never completely without danger, Lunabelle was as comfortable in these parts as she was walking the streets of Mallian.
Beneath the forest canopy, darkness reigned, broken only by beams of moonlight that managed to break through the trees. Plucking her way through the underbrush was relatively peaceful most nights. Occasionally, she stumbled upon a nocturnal creature that was just as surprised to see her as she was it, and most simply departed into the night and left her to her foraging.
Tonight, however, something was different. She could not quite place what was wrong, but she felt as if she was being watched. As she knelt over a cluster of mushrooms and carefully gathered a small portion with her knife, a whisper of tingles prickled along the nape of her neck. She tensed and quickly turned to the look over her shoulder, knife held loosely in her hand as she stared into the darkness. A panther, maybe? She'd been stalked by one before and that same shudder had passed over her then too, right before the big cat had made itself known to her.
Nothing moved. Not a sound echoed through the night.
With a frown, she tucked the softly glowing mushrooms into her satchel and warily got to her feet. If there was a predator, she needed to look as big as possible. "Hello?"
An amused chuckle purred directly behind her. "Well, hello there, little rabbit." A man's voice murmured in her ear.
Panic surged through her and a scream clawed its way from her throat as she whirled around, stumbling backwards to get away from the figure still cloaked in shadow. She leveled her small blade at the man as he stepped into the moonlight with a casual smirk curled across his lips, his hands tucked in his pockets. Alarms shrieked in her head at the sight of him, every instinct letting her know at once that this man was not human -- no matter the form he took.
An iridescent sheen glittered across his eyes, much like a cat's in the dark. "Oh, did I frighten you? My apologies." His head tilted back as he inhaled deeply through his nose and then he gave a satisfied sigh. "It's just so... intoxicating."
Lunabelle blindly bolted into the trees without so much as a second thought. She didn't care where she was fleeing, so long as it was away from that. Thin branches slapped her face and grabbed at her clothes, but she did not slow her pace. Not while she could hear his laughter echoing behind her. As she ran deeper and deeper into the forest, her thoughts raced alongside her, desperately trying to conjure a means of escape.