In A World of My Own - Book One

12. Never Easy

 I'm dragging my feet now. The sun is rising. The trees here are huge and beautifully shaped into giant peacocks with pavonine leaves. The slim branches hanging down to the ground look like super boney arms with thin hands and fingers at the ends. All n' all I think this is all pretty peaceful, so I settle down on a fluffy, thick patch of moss. I've been walking all night long. I think I've only managed to keep going because of how terrified I was. But this place seems quiet and safe, and the moss patch is like a bed.

It's so soft...

Someone brushes a rough, scratchy hand gently across my face.

"Huh?" I blink my eyes open and look around. I must have drifted off. 

Now I gasp and quickly stand, struggling to keep my scream to myself. 

The peacock trees. They are alive! I mean, really alive. The birds even blink at me. Their long, thin branches grab at me again but I anxiously brush them off. At least, I try to. I am in the middle of a grove completely surrounded by trees and they all grab strands of my hair, grab the ends of my skirt, and tug on my apron. "Hey, stop," I insist and pry one set of fingers off but more quickly latch on. "Let me go, guys."

They don't say anything but look fascinated by me. This is new. I grin a little bit but shake my head. "I have to go," I try to back up. Suddenly I hear a low growl just behind me. I go ridged as I slowly turn around just as a huge creature steps from between the trees. I gasp in horror and frantically adjust my glasses, thinking that I need a second look at this thing to convince myself that I am merely imagining this monster.

But oh no, it's very real. 

This frighteningly horrible creature looks like a three-hundred-pound shrew monster from hell! The creature is mostly hairless and is covered in blue-gray skin and has tiny little paws that look out of place under the huge beast. Its huge arched back is covered in purple quills, they are starting to rise off its spine. Its long whip-like rat tail flicks the air as it snarls again. It licks its muzzle as it steps closer.

All the trees wave their arms at it in alarm, but the devil-shrew pays them no mind, its golden eyes trained on me. This thing looks like it really wants to eat me alive, and I feel like I'm yet again staring the death of me in the face. I'm starting to panic, and when I panic, I do only one thing:

I run.

I'm not sure that this is the best or greatest idea but hey, it's the only one I got so now I'm running head-long through the peacock tree grove, my hair is tugged free from their grasp but my dress gets torn as I wrench myself away. But I don't care, I gotta keep running, I hear that thing chase after me! 

It suddenly jumps over my head with hoarse snarl and lands to the ground in front of me, whirling around with its mouth is open, long fangs gleaming.

I stop so suddenly; I nearly pitch forward right into its waiting jaws. My head briefly bobs into the waiting mouth before I teeter backwards right as it snaps its jaw shut, I rapidly backpedal but don't even have time to turn around before it lunges! 

I scream but can't even bring my hands up to protect my face before something huge tackles the monster and pins it to the ground.

It's a... bloodhound.

The jet-black bloodhound is like, almost as big as Vyndren's wolf. Its long ears and loose flesh ripples as the dog tugs the shrew-devil's head off. Blood sprays over the ground and I leap back just in time to miss the shower and now its head whips around and I am staring into the bloodhound's flaming eyeballs of fire...