Prologue – Amara Raven

You can never blame a man for the things he has done. You can only be glad for the things that he didn’t get to do. Born into the wilderness, I have learned to survive and be at the top of food chain. I have endured enough pain that this life has to offer. Only known to the deepest darkest forest, this is Amara Raven, and this is my story.

That’s what some may think of me as. An animal. And that’s what the others may believe me to be. A human. I believe that being born in the wild, I will one day be one with it. I have never really needed the company of anyone except for Aya. Because she accepted me as I was. She thought of me as one of her own. And with the bond formed between us, I became freed of my loneliness.

We resided in the deepest part of the wildest forest. There I feel serenity, a sense of peace. I feel comfortable in it and it provided me with the warmth of security. So, overtime me and Aya built wooden cottage and called it our home.

I remember, there was once a time when it was only me with my loneliness that resided these woods. I taught myself to hunt, to defend, to survive. My life had no meaning to it. I only lived to survive. Until one day I stumbled upon Aya 10 years back. I remember seeing a tattered and bloodied body like myself, covered with many layers of dirt, some dried, some still fresh. Because I had not seen another being like myself before so, when I first saw her, I panicked.

I don’t know how she stumbled upon this part of the wood. But I remained still keeping my distance to the body that laid there. And when she started to move, I stood alert on all fours, observing all her movements. She finally stirred awake and shuffled so she was sitting down. As her eyes laid on mine, she cowered away, the same fear mirroring my own. Her body slammed against the old oak tree and she ended up bumping her head. She let out a whimper of pain, holding her head with both her hands and I was on all fours and backed away fast, seeking the wall of a tall tree.

A moment passed by and her whimper turned into small sobs that eventually died out, then I decided to come out of my hiding. We stared at one another, analysing the other’s features and body languages. When she figured I was not going to harm her, she relaxed her shoulders and leaned her back against the tree. She slowly bought her knees up and wrapped her arms around her lean body whilst resting her head on her knees. I still remember the sadness I felt as she started to sob quietly once again. That time, the feelings were foreign to me for I had never interacted with a human before. I had become another animal that lived the woods.

So, like the animal I was, I slowly walked on my four towards her, making sure not to scare her away. And when I finally got to her, I nuzzled my head against hers until she finally stopped. As her hiccups died down, all that surrounded us was the blanket of darkness and the sound of the woods that was now becoming alive, announcing another dark and perilous night.

As time went by, I became more human. Aya taught me to speak, to walk, to be human that I was meant to be. Or at least that’s what I thought. But little did I know we were anything but human. I had a beast sleeping inside of me. So, I was in fact an animal to begin with. I belonged in the wilderness and that day made me realise what I was.

It is still so clear in my eyes as if it all happened yesterday. That day as any other day when we ran out of food, we went to look for more. We never really came out of the deepest part of the woods unless absolutely necessary because we were more afraid of people than the animals in the woods or at least Aya was. But after searching for food for so long and with no luck on our side, we were starting to get desperate. So, that day Aya dared to set her foot off the safety that the blankets of trees provided. Little did we know, everything would change after that day.

Soon as we exited the deepest part of the wood, now only surrounded by a thinly scattered trees, I was on my defence. Born in the woods, I felt calm when shadowed by the safety that the tall dark trees provided with little to no warmth from the sunlight that peeked through the trees, for me I knew that was home. It hid me from the world that was far beyond. But now I felt naked with nothing to cover me, revealing me to the world that I was unknow to. As we took few more steps towards the clearing, we both were tackled down by two huge wolves. I was forced, face down on the ground as its paws were digging into my back and its snort close to my neck, baring its sharp fangs, daring me to make a wrong move.

I somehow managed to look across for Aya, who was in the same situation as me. Then I really got to see the wolves that surrounded us. When I said huge, I underestimated it. Well they were humongous. There were six surrounding us and one pinning me down while the other pinned Aya. Growing in the woods, I have seen a large scale of animals but wolves like these were a first. As I laid pinned on the ground, the wheels on my brain was turned, planning for an escape route.

I watched the black wolf step forward and make his way towards Aya. It halted as it got close to her. Suddenly, the bones in its back started to reform and it cracked every time a bone in its body shrank, making him look more human? And soon enough, there stood a human right before my eyes.

Completely and utterly shocked, my brain froze as I still lay beneath the wolf. The black wolf now a man grabbed the bag that one of the wolves was holding on its mouth and took a bottom and slipped in. He then went back to Aya and knelt before her. As he tugged a fistful of Aya’s hair, bringing her face closer to his. A sharp cry left her mouth and a loud animalistic growl escaped mine. The man turned his head to the side to have a glance at me but ignored the child me regardless.

He tightened his grip on Aya’s hair as she shrieked in pain. The wolf pinning her got off as the man pulled her body up by pulling her hair. Tears started streaming down Aya’s face and she was sobbing now. “I finally got my hands on you, little Aya.”

“I have been looking everywhere for you.” He growled out, baring his sharp fangs like teeth at her.

He then turned around to the rest of the wolves and said, “Let’s make our way back. They need to see her body before they fully submit to me. The sooner we get there, the better it will be for everyone.”

He threw Aya’s small body next to another wolf. The wolf then grabbed Aya’s neck with his deadly sharp teeth and started walking away followed by the rest. As if someone had said something, the man turned around to where I was laying and said, “Yeah, bring her with us. Little Aya may need a company on the way home.”

I felt its sharp fangs like teeth as it sank on my neck and I let out a yelp in pain. I started kicking and throwing punches around to get free of its hold. But the more I struggled, the harder its hold on my neck got. And I could feel the blood trickle around my neck as it started making a trail. With the pain kicking in, I gave up and let them take me along.