book 1: arrivals

Jael wouldn’t argue that fatigue had made its home in her bones. She dragged herself to the beach, trying to rid herself of the trembling that long to take hold of her muscles. Though Jael ached, like hell she was going to give up already. She’d made it this far, right? Untold miles lay before her, but maybe that would be a problem for tomorrow. Already, daylight was fading around her. Sure, it was late into the winter afternoon, but some of the darkness was far more fickle than that. A different sort of darkness indeed, as it spread above her head and around her shoulders.

Stormy skies spread far above the small, stormy girl. Wild to think just how much there was out here, against her. It’s her against the world, her against… everything. That’s what made new beginnings so important, right? Everything felt so big, so wild. Jaw set and determined, Jael wasn’t going to let it stop her. Though hail began to pelt down around her, she was ready. Whatever this new place, this new land was… she’d make it hers. She’d take whatever she could from it. As she made landfall, the slight woman knows she’s going to make history.

What she didn’t know? Just beyond the fringes of her vision, just flirting with her periphery, is someone who’d like to make her history… before she can even find proper footing. Jael isn’t alone out here, though the footfalls of her adversary are well masked by the pitter patter of hail on the obsidian sands. She shakes, sending the salt and seawater from her coat in all directions. It’s little use– Jael is still just as cold and miserable as she was moments ago, though slightly less wet. Hail was so strange. It stings, where it pelts against her thin coat and exposed shoulders. With a hiss through her teeth, Jael turned her attention inland.

It leaves her back exposed. It was in that moment, the predator struck. A wolf, large and dense and shadowy. Between her fatigue and the hail, Jael hadn’t seen him. Hadn’t smelled him. Hadn’t heard him coming. It was a creature that seemed to know how to keep quiet on the sand. Jael could feel the crushing blow as it connected with her shoulders, her side. With a yelp, she rounded. It’s more nose than she would have liked to make… what if she’d drawn attention to herself? She’d been improperly exposed before, but now? If her predator had backup, it was a death sentence before her story had even begun.

Shaking, trembling against the crushing blow and the cold, Jael rounded on the predator. Her teeth flashed, and she lunged at the strange wolf’s soft underbelly. If he was going to attempt to pin her, then she’d take what she could get. She can feel the ache of her muscles, the sting of the hail, the dull sound of it on the sand. His breath. Her breath. Both of them panted, snarled. A yip from her adversary… she’d gotten him. Still, Jael’s mouth fills with sand and grit and fur. Her body aches, muscles that were already sore now burning with the effort. She couldn’t… she wouldn’t allow herself to be scared. Panting and rallying what she had left for strength, Jael shot forward.

Forward and free of her adversary’s grasp, though not out of the woods. She was too wounded, too fatigued, to be able to make a run for it effectively. Warm rivulets of blood mixed with the stinging of hail against open wounds, and the predator wasn’t done with her yet. Jael felt his teeth sink into her hind leg, and she rounded with a savage bite. Her teeth find purchase in his muzzle, and it’s enough to push the attacher off for now. He would only take a moment to recoil, and Jael knows that he knows she’s hurting. Fuck she’s hurting. She can’t stop, no. Only forward. Her hackles up, trying to look bigger than she is but… well, there’s no hiding just how miniscule she looks. No wonder the brute thought her an easy target. More than twice her height and far more dense, it seemed the creature was surprised she’d put up this much of a fight.

But fight she would. Jael doesn’t allow him reprieve. Though she is bruised and bloody, there is so much fight in her. Call it for what it is– grit. Jael is gritty, and she’s coming unglued, as she realizes that this is a fight for her life. Through it all, the hail storm only seemed to get more intense. Larger and larger hailstones coming down around her, around her adversary. The stinging only intensified, feeling worse than sandpaper across the ragged and bloody flesh. Digging down deep, right into the last reserves of her strength, Jael lunged forward at her attacker once more.

The visibility was getting worse. Daylight was fading far more quickly than she would have liked. Jael’s head spun, exhaustion and injury threatening to take her over. She refused to yield. She couldn’t– not when she’d come this far. A savage snarl ripping from her throat, the small woman reengaged with her assailant. Though the world around her spun, she wasn’t giving up. Odds be damned, Jael was giving absolutely everything in her to keep fighting. Keep upright. The metallic taste of the brute’s blood in her mouth and the pounding of her own heart took over her senses.

You can’t pour from an empty glass, but fuck it– Jael was doing her best. Pouring from an empty glass is all she’s ever known, and it’s how she ended up here in the first place. She’s near-numb to the pain of her flesh shredding and giving way to the beast’s teeth and claws. It’s the muscle, the bones, the aching, that’s primarily what holds her now. Fatigued and ragged, another swipe of the male’s massive paw to her shoulder sends Jael sprawling flat in the sand. Her stomach lurched, her chest ached. Scrambling to find purchase with the beast hovering over her, Jael struggled to regain control of herself and the situation. Freezing and bloody, the girl is a sight, but she doesn’t give up. She can’t give up.