Alithium Anaco

Eliti'all

Outside Anaco Tribe

Undated

"Holy fuck. Oh shit, oh shit," Alithium cried, ducking under a branch and pushing herself off a tree, nearly smashing into it.

The growling, the scraping of claws against bark, and the stench of blood which soaked her body kept her moving. The exhaustion was nothing to the fear she had for the creature chasing her. No matter how many spears or arrows struck it, nothing pierced its fur.

Her mother's screams echoed in her head, all of her tribe victim to the unknown beast. Its fur was so black that it blended with darkness and its muscle was thicker than most trees, but even so, it was terribly fast. On four legs, it was at least ten feet in height. The dense forest doing nothing to slow it as it kept its dangerous red eyes transfixed to her back.

Alithium's body altered as she fled, white fur extending from her pale skin as her limbs shifted and she fell onto all four legs, running much faster than before. Horns protruded from the back of her head, lifting upward and pointing backward. Her muscles expanded and her mass grew to three or four times of what it was. Her eyes and hair were the only thing to remain the same as before, white.

She sprinted through the forest, snow crunching beneath her and wetting her paws. Even now, she was half the creature's size and no threat to it. All of her tribe with the exception of the ithrin had abilities similar to hers, and all thirty-nine of them were killed by the creature. The fact that it was still chasing her was enough for her to realize that it wasn't after them for food, but rather the thrill of the hunt.

Claws scraped and roared through the forest as she ducked, bark splintering off the tree behind her and decorating the snow. Heavy breaths escaped her lips as her heart accelerated and sweat formed. She was only five thousand six hundred and forty seven days old. She wasn't ready to die. She was too young.

"Panfro, protect me," Alithium cried, praying to the I'gra of war.

As they emerged into an open field, ice wings ripped along her back and formed at her will. Her muscles struggled to summon the energy needed to lift herself. The trees were beautiful, flourished by her ithrin. The creature hunting her responsible for ending his life. The bark was white and the leaves were a light ice blue, soft and comfortable by touch.

The moon light which never ceased shone down on her as she became airborne, hope igniting within her chest as her feet left the ground. If she hadn't shared her tribe's confidence in the beginning, she would've flown away long ago.

A gasp escaped Alithium's lips as she was torn from the air, smashing against snow and ice. She turned, the frightful beast of death standing over her, baring its sharp teeth as if smiling, preparing for its last kill of the hunt.

It snapped its jaw forward, barely missing her as she rolled aside, her body shifting back to what it was before and becoming a smaller target. Slender and toned, pale by skin, with white eyes and hair, and sharp teeth and nails meant to bite and dig into hardened meat or vegetation.

She hissed at the creature, rolling back and jolting to her feet. She glared at the beast, baring her teeth. Her voice was shaking and fear ached through every bone. As if it could sense her fear, it circled her, unafraid by her show of confidence. If anything, it was toying with her, enjoying every moment of the chase.

It pounced toward her again, its tail whipping across the snow as its claws extended. She struck her hands forward, snow hardening and forming into ice as a spike protruded outward. The beast missed her as she leapt back, the ice spike working as a deterrent, shattering against its body. No injury was left behind, the same as every other attack that had been attempted onto it.

"Why won't you just die?" Alithium cried, more so to herself than the creature.

It was unlike anything she had ever seen. Her life was fairly simple, a cruvon the most dangerous and the only meat to hunt or eat. Otherwise, they battled other ithril of opposing tribes to better the status of their ithrin and tribe. Nothing else ever happened, knowing what to expect day by day... at least until now.

It responded to her question by growling, its tail whipping back and forth as it clawed against the ground. She backed away, another ice spike forming from thin air and smashing into its chest, shattering into pieces. She moved aside, but learning from its previous attacks, it jolted to the side, its weight crashing into her like a hammer.

A choked breath escaped her lungs as the beast pressed its weight against her chest, lifting its paw and slashing forward. She pushed her hand up, her flesh and skin altering into an ice blade and piercing its eye. It moved through as it would any one else's, blood with no solid color, constantly changing, stained her bladed arm.

It cried out in agony, pulling back. Knowing this to be her only opportunity, Alithium held onto its front leg. The wind whistled across her face as it moved back, a crack in reality ripping open, shifting between all colors just as its blood had. They were dragged through, a rush of heat coursing through her body and moving across her skin as if burning every fiber of her being.

Alithium jolted back, grabbing her head, a migraine worse than any she had ever experienced throbbing against her cranium. There was no snow or ice anywhere to be seen, everything green, from the trees to the tiny sharp sword like projectiles protruding from the ground. As she stepped on them, she found that they were much softer than expected, tiny brown rocks rubbing across her bare feet.

It was all bright, too bright, almost blinding. The two moons in the sky, barely risen, were impossible to meet, burning with intense heat, one orange and the other blue. If anything, it was them that were burning her alive.

The beast that had torn her into the new reality was unfazed by the change in environments, using the opportunity to finish its hunt. Its accuracy wasn't what it was before, one eye coated with blood and the other interlocked on her, seeking revenge for its pain. It was no longer playing with her, charging forward.

Alithium tried to summon ice and even though she was successful, every vein in her arms ached. Three shards shot forward, one scraping its ear, the other missing completely, and the other striking its nose. None of them landing true.

It smashed the side of its head into her. Her back crashed into a tree with brown bark. It splintered and cracked, a groan emitting as she slid to the ground, her arms slumping to the side.

The beast turned, growled, and snapped its jaw toward her. It took all her remaining strength to move aside, pieces of bark spraying across the ground as the tree toppled backward.

An ice spear formed in hand as she thrusted forward, impaling deep into the beast's other eye. It screamed, its claws barely missing as it reacted blindly. She pushed it deeper, a weak hiss followed by silence as the great beast collapsed.

The ice spear fell onto the ground as she stumbled to her feet, walking away from the beast's corpse. Usually, her people would take souvenirs of their kill, but even if she wished to, nothing could penetrate or skin it. It hardly mattered because soon, she would join her people in eternal celebration up in Endai. Wherever she was, wherever it had taken her, it was burning her alive, slowly draining her life away. Even walking forward was agonizing. At least she'd made peace by ending the creature's life, obtaining justice for what it did.

All sorts of small creatures populated the area, similar to the things that her people could change into, many of them less aggressive than the state of the hunt. Some were tiny, buzzing around with no clue of their surroundings and consumed with their own purpose. Others scurried along the trees or flew in the sky.

"Can one of you help me, please? Where am I?" Alithium shouted, her voice weak.

None of them responded, ignoring her existence and continuing with their daily routine. They seemed almost... primitive, living without the thought of communicating with any other than the few that looked like them. It was as if they couldn't shift from their form, making them no different from a cruvon.

Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

She hobbled through the green forest, alike no forest she had ever seen before. Lush plant life flourished and vines hung from above. Just stepping on the ground left her feet dirty and wet.

The bright moons beamed down on her, muffled voices stealing away her attention. Whatever they were saying, it was of a language foreign to hers, their words nothing but a mumble to the ears. Even so, she rushed forward.

When she broke free of the forest, she stumbled to a stop. She glanced up, great stone walls so tall that she had to cover her eyes so that the moons to her left wouldn't blind her. It was vaster and greater than any construct that her tribe or any other tribe had ever built.

Twenty four ithrin, more than she had ever seen in one place, stood outside the gates, dressed in metallic armor, completely different from the ice which covered her groin and breasts. She could only see their eyes and mouth, their heads and bodies covered. Most of them were light skinned but a few stood tall and purple with deep red eyes. A couple of them carried bows, feathered wings extending from their backs. One of them met her gaze as she struggled to move toward them, outstretching her hand.

"Help, I need help," she coughed. "I feel like I'm burning alive."

She fell to her knees as three of them rushed toward her, two light skinned and one purple skinned. The gate screeched open as the stone was pushed apart, extending like a mouth ready to devour its prey.

The closest, a light skinned ithrin kicked her in the stomach. She keeled over, a breath catching in her throat as he forced her onto her back. The other restricted her arms, screaming at her while wrapping something around her arms. It was impossible to move, cold tears falling onto her cheeks for the first time.

There was no hope. She had been depending on their kindness. Without it, she wouldn't live another day. Her life would be stripped from her just as everyone she loved was.

They forced her to her feet, the purple ithrin pressing a sharp blade to her throat as he screamed commands that she couldn't understand. One of them pushed her forward, leading her toward the open gate.

"I don't want any trouble. I just want to return home," she sobbed, and just as she couldn't understand them, they didn't seem to understand her.

. . . .

Alithium laid on the hard stone ground, pressing her cheek to the floor, desperately trying to absorb the little cold that she could find. Sweat coated the entirety of her body, her hair soaked and her skin flushed. She couldn't conjure ice, no matter her efforts. The only other time that she'd lacked the capability was when she was ill, taken under by the worst flu.

She clawed at the ground, crawling to the edge of the cell and extending her hand through. Two of her captors stood watch, both light skinned. They were dressed similar to the ithrin's at the gate, but had a different sigil. One of them eyed her as he spoke to the other.

"Water," Alithium managed. "Cold water."

The captor eyeing her pointed, a grin forming at his lips, followed by laughter from both of them. Her misery was a show to them, just as it would be for a rival tribe, but the difference was, she didn't know them and they didn't know her. They had no reason to resent her.

She turned onto her back, reaching toward the roof as hallucinations came. A golden light shimmered, inspiring the end, an invitation into Endai. She wanted to reach out for it, her suffering, her grief at the loss of everyone she knew too much to bear, but on the other hand, if it wasn't her time, she refused to be taken. Until the I'gra found her ready, she'd remain, even through agony.

Alithium glanced over as the stone echoed by the tapping of a staff moving along its surface. Black wood was the first thing that caught her eye, runic etchings carved into its side. Her gaze lingered on its top, a white orb with something black, slender and similar to a whip in shape, spiralling within.

The ithrin carrying the staff was light skinned with deep blue eyes and hair as dark as night. He wasn't much taller than her, his robes grey and brushing across the ground. To the top right side of his robe, on his shoulder, there was a design of nine blue bright moons and above it there was a long blue shape unknown to her with five sharp points extending upward. In the centre of his robe there was another design, a glowing blue hand.

He stopped outside Alithium's cell, eyeing her, neither with sympathy or cruelty, indifferent toward her agony. She reached toward him, her fingers running along and slipping off of his boot.

He spoke, his words differing from the others, but still foreign to her. Red runes formed in front of his staff as he spoke. A sensation caressed her flesh before finding its way beneath the surface. Her agony and suffering eased as the intense heat cooled and settled to only slightly hotter than her land.

Alithium breathed a sigh of relief, sweat still coating her brows and soaking her body. The ithrin began to speak once again, saying something different, but still calling upon red runes. He thrusted his staff forward, her head jolting back as if her mind was being assaulted.

It wasn't painful as the constant burning had been, but it was a different sort of distress. Her mind rushed with images, words, meanings, and the definitions belonging to them, all new to her. From animals, all which didn't exist where she came from, to the plants and the lands biome which was something known as a jungle. The only thing she couldn't come to grasp with was the difference between race and gender and the names that were attached to them.

When she finally gathered herself, a headache throbbing against her cranium, the ithrin in front of her spoke. "The first spell allowed your body to adapt to our environment and the second past our language and some basic knowledge into your mind. Now, what are you, and where are you from?"

She met his gaze, "I want out of this cell."

"Answer my questions."

"I'm an ithril. I'm Alithium. And I can't tell you where I'm from if I don't even know where I am."

"An ithril, what is that? I've heard of numerous creatures, but I've never heard of that name before."

"An ithril is..." she paused and thought. "A woman in your tongue. An ithrin is a man. There are so many men. I've never seen this many."

He shook his head, "I wasn't asking your gender. I was asking about your race. I'm a man, a male, but I'm also a human. My name is Crow Akroth. All of these things are different and represent something else entirely."

"I don't know what to tell you. That doesn't even make sense. How can you be a human, a man, and a male? We're ithrin and ithril, which translates to man and woman in your tongue. We don't claim to be three different things when they all mean the same thing. That wouldn't make sense. Can you let me out. I want to leave. I want to find a way home."

He sighed, pacing back and forth, his eyes running along her body as if studying her, "how vast are your societies? Where are they located?"

"I already said I don't know. Just let me out," she slammed her hands against the metal bars. "I don't belong here. I've never done anything to you."

"You are to stay where you are. Mythical creatures such as yourself are a menace to society. Creatures of unknown power cause destruction wherever they go. Law states that any mythical creature found are to be exterminated. You are no exception to that rule."

She growled, baring her teeth, "let me out."

Alithium jolted forward, her hands smashed against the cell as ice coated around the bars, freezing them. An ice spike formed and ripped across the ground, striking the wall behind Crow as he sidestepped, avoiding the projectile.

"," he chanted, red runes forming in front of him before the bars on the cell briefly glowed white.

She fell back, the ice coating her hands melting away and her racial element diminishing. Her eyes widened as she met his observant gaze. She gritted her teeth, growling and slamming her palms against the cell.

"Release me. I'm not a mythical creature. I'm an ithril."

"There are many species of mythical creatures, most of which have some sort of ability. I can see that you need time to calm down, but I will be back after my meeting. I need to know where your people are and how to prevent further danger. We have enough on our hands as it is. We don't need whatever you are lingering about. Better to rid of your kind before you become a problem." Crow said, turning and pausing, "but if you prove to be cooperative, I might show lenience. The Order isn't always known to follow the worlds laws of exterminating mythical creatures. If it was my choice, we would, but I'm not the paladine. You better have answers by the time I return. I'm not as patient as some."

She spit on the ground as he walked away, slamming her hand against the bars and hissing. She watched him until he was gone, disappearing as he ascended the flight of stairs that she was dragged down earlier.

Alithium leaned against the side of the cell, sliding to the ground before covering her face with her palms. They were cold again, their natural feel. Wherever she was, it was far different from her home. She only understood magic due to his spell of knowledge. It was something she couldn't quite grasp, couldn't understand. How could people draw upon an invisible power to summon things which didn't exist? Above all, she was taken aback by Crow's accusations.

She ran her fingers over the ice covering her breasts, melting without the presence of her abilities. Even while sweating, it had remained, but now, her clothes were melting.

"Shit. I don't understand why I'm here. I'm no mythical creature."

"It doesn't matter what you are, my dear. Men will rid of anything they don't understand because that of which is misunderstood, is feared."

She glanced over to the cell across from her, the only other prisoner in the dungeons. His clothes were of basic fabric, a white tunic and dark trousers.

"What did you do?" Alithium asked.

"Ha, got drunk and punched the wrong man. The Order will judge me seeing as he was an officer among them. We're in their prison after all. Kalris Shores is a good man and I was in the right. It shouldn't be long until I'm free. You, on the other hand, came at the wrong time. Any other day and you would've been dealing with Kalris Shores. Instead, High Kalris Crow Akroth was here, and when he's in the city, he's in charge. There will be no mercy from him. Not if you don't answer his questions, and even if you do, I doubt there'll be any. I'm Derek by the way."

"Well, Derek, if I'm going to die, I'd prefer to keep my dignity. Do you mind if I take your shirt? My clothes will melt soon enough."

He eyed the soldiers on patrol, chatting by the stairs. He removed his shirt and tossed it over. It landed outside her cell. She grabbed it and threw it over her chest, the shirt large enough to cover her chest and half of her legs.

"We wouldn't want to give them a show. They're already laughing at you. Imagine if they could see you naked," Derek said.

"That's what I was thinking. Thank you," Alithium said.

"Of course. I figured you were going to dieearlier. You might've if the high kalris didn't show up when he did," he pausedand glanced around at their surroundings. "Ever play eye spy before? I'm bored."