Saki - 6 years ago

  They pelted me with rocks and other loose items from the ground. I ran as fast as I could out of the gates. The guards spit on me as I passed and rushed into the forest outside Veeril.

  I rushed deep so they wouldn’t find me before stopping and falling to my knees then curling into a ball. I sobbed and held myself closer.

  They were all so cruel. All of them. What did I do? They called me a lair and lots of mean names. They threw things at me. They didn’t attack me so I thought everything was fine.

  But everyone looked at me like a monster. They looked at my tails and skin. They called me a monster.

  I cried harder as the rain began to fall. Shaking, I slowly stood and looked around, it had gotten dark as I ran and now I could hear them.

  The wolves that prowled the forest had come for their prey. My small eyes narrowed as my form began to shift. A monster they called me. If I was a monster, then they were something worse. They were cowards. My body became small and then began to grow until I was just over 4 feet tall in my fox form.

  My red eyes saw clearly in the night as I coated my three tails with dirt and slammed the first one down on the wolf to my left even as I opened my mouth and loosed fae fire onto the wolf rushing at me from the front.

  I felt the bite on my leg as the third one got me and I crumbled to the ground. Two more wolves jumped from the bushes as the one I knocked down got up and jumped on me. I felt pain and tears streamed from my eyes. I was going to die alone. I would never avenge my family. This was it.

  A loud crash and the sound of a wolf yelping then hitting the ground next to me suddenly shook me and I turned to where the sound had come from.

  It was a large human. He walked up to me and I flinched. Instead he leaned in and whispered to me. “If they treat you like a monster, you don’t need to be one.

  Be better than those around you.” His words were quiet, and yet they sent waves over me. I felt shocked at the words. Then he was gone and the sun was shining.

  I sat, my leg bleeding from the bite and my body torn. But a smile graced my fox face as I realized that just maybe, they weren’t all the same.

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  I waited a day to heal my leg. Then I shifted back to my Foxkin form. But this time, I kept two of my tails hidden and used my illusion magic to hide my features and make me look like a random person.

  That day I walked back into town and this time. The guards mostly ignored me. One even gave me candy. I smiled at him and continued on as I hated the small object that tasted sweet. I found a big building and went inside.

  There were rows and rows of things. I looked around in awe when a voice called out to me. “Why hello there! Why is one so young as you here?”

  I turned quickly and looked to see an older human woman. She walked up to me and I flinched as she raised her hand. But she only patted my head. “Do you know how to read, little one?” she asked me with a sweet smile.

  “What..reading?” I managed to say from my broken human language.

  She nodded and said “I see, would you like to learn? A curious mind is an important thing to have. It helps you become great. Learning to read can give you something more important than anything else. Knowledge. Things about the world and how it works.”

  I looked at her in amazement. Her words translated fine to me, I had spent long enough. But I still couldn’t believe what she said. This ‘knowledge’ sounded important.. But why was the big building almost empty?

  I looked at her after looking around and she sighed. “You want to know why we are alone if knowledge is so important don’t you little one?” She asked in the same kind and patient tone. I nodded and she nodded back. She turned and made a gesture with her hand. I think it meant to follow?

  I was worried, but I decided to trust her. She led me to a table and had me sit down. She walked over and grabbed one of those things off the walls.

  She walked over to me and the thing she was holding opened! I tensed, but she just sat down next to me and placed the open thing on the table in front of us.

  “Most don’t understand how important knowledge is. They make bad decisions and don’t understand why they fail. Learning to read teaches you how to fix any problem. If you find the right book.” She continued as she pointed at the white thingy on the inside.

  “Just because something is popular, doesn’t mean it's right or even correct.” She said as she moved the white things around until she was at the very front of the thing. She called it a book?

  I looked up at her confused but she only smiled and asked “Would you like to learn?”

  I looked into her eyes and after a moment, I nodded. I wanted this knowledge. If it made me better, if it made me better. I needed it.

  “Then let’s start with the character ‘A’” She said as she pointed to a character in the book.

  Chapter 118: A Best Friends Advice