As adrenaline pumped furiously through my veins, my heart was beating faster every second, I could hear the wolf's footsteps... or pawsteps, maybe.

I could hear it breathing heavily. I was glued to my spot, I couldn't move, couldn't breathe.

It was like my brain had shut down, my stomach clenched and I was real close to passing out from fear.

I cowered under the tree, trying to make myself disappear.

No, I ....I couldn't just give up, I had to at least put up a fight, a good fight nonetheless.

I might be skinny but I'd worked in the fields since I was 7, I had strong arms due to all the heavy-lifting of baskets of apples , carrying them from the orchards to the storehouse I'd done.

I heard some movement to my left. My conscious was urging me to be cautious since I was in uncharted territory.

I remembered I always kept a little knife which I'd made myself with a little piece of oak wood and a very hard rock sharpened at the edge, in the slit of my right boot.

I swiftly took it out, trying to be as slick about it as I could.

I stood up with my feet digging deep into the snow, I leaned forward with the knife in my right hand, relaxing my stance, ready to defend myself from whatever came for me.

I stayed in that position, listening for any movement in any direction.

That is when I heard rustling of some kind of bush to my right.

I turned right instantly, waiting with bated breath, the rustling was getting louder.

I gripped my knife tight , readying myself to attack. I was getting a bit dizzy , with all the hormones pumping through my body.

Suddenly, to my utter astonishment, a bunny jumped out of the bush, a friggin bunny!!!

Really? ?

The world must be playing a cruel joke on me. I was expecting a huge wolf to pounce on me, and out comes a bunny prancing about like it was snowhite playing with her animals.

But the difference was, she could talk to animals and they loved her. She didn't have to be scared shitless of feral wolves and I really don't think if I started to sing to a wolf , it would come to love me and sing back to me and we'd be friends forever and live together in harmony because this ain't Snowwhite.

The Wolf wasn't a nice animal who I could make friends with, and I was no princess and this was no fairytale.

Snowwhite was one of the princess tales from the foreign world, famous in my village.

Although, I didn't like her nature very much because she's so delicate and nice and has a happily ever after ending, that doesn't happen in real life.

I only liked realistic characters with commanding natures and those with conviction in their words.

Oh and by bunny, I mean the Arctic hare which are a common animal in the north.

Just when I was starting to think that I must've imagined it all, the wolf growling, the sound of someone taking in huge gasps of air, the pawsteps....the bunny jumped on my foot, and started gnawing ferociously at my boot.

I looked at it with pitiful eyes, it must be really hungry, all alone out here in the cold, with nothing to eat.

Thinking about food, my stomach growled , making it loud and clear that I was starving.

I'd been so focused on wondering if the Feral wolves would find me or not or if I would see the break of dawn, I'd forgotten about my hunger that had now resurfaced with a renewed fervour.

I didn't know what to think, there was no way I'd be able to find edible roots, or berries or even leaves. Most of the trees in the forests of the north which bore fruits were poisonous. And even if they weren't, I had no way of knowing if they were edible.

My only option was to hunt, and I had zero experience in that area.

The men of my village did the hunting, the women weren't allowed to do such "vile" things.

But it's not like I listened to them, I rebelled every once in a while just to keep my pride reserved, so I did know how to shoot.

In my struggle to brainstorm an idea to get some food to eat, I'd completely forgotten about the eminently white rabbit, now sitting right in front of me, looking up at me expectantly with hope in his eyes.

God !!! How could someone so cute and fluffy be exposed to such suffering, just to die of starvation.

He was shrivelled up to the point where I could see his bone structure, his feet were thinner than a thread but his skin still glowed.

I gave in and carefully picked up the bunny, he struggled a bit and tried to scurry away but then gave up.

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I fastidiously put him in my saddle bag and slung it back on my shoulder. He moved around in there until he found the opening and his head popped out , he didn't look too sad now , or.....at least I hope he didn't. I put the knife back in my boot.

I let out a deep sigh, as I stretched out my limbs, my body suddenly felt very stiff.

My blood red hair was a mess from the howling winds which were getting stronger by the minute.

It was then that I realised it was night time, and the moon was high up in the sky and it glowed like it never had before, almost as if it was taunting me about my fate.

Huh...even the moon was taunting me, just my luck.

I had to find some shelter to spend the night, there was no question of me hunting at night, I'd might as well invite them over to feast on my flesh and bone.

I'd heard my father say that the wolf's senses were heightened when the moon rose in the sky.

It was like they drew strength from the moon and were relatively weaker in the day, I couldn't really be sure about anything, since all that I knew about them was based on rumours , not facts.

I started walking in a random direction since I didn't exactly have a map, I wasn't Dora the explorer.

I laughed lightly to myself, glad to know I hadn't lost my sense of humor, even in such frightful conditions.

I'd heard about Dora the explorer from the foreigners who came to our village for 'archaeological purposes' whatever that meant.

From what I knew, she was a fictional character, I know, I know...fictional is a pretty big word and it's very impressive that a village girl knows what it means, I sometimes feel so proud of myself .

Anyway Dora was a girl who went on crazy adventures with her monkey by her side all the time. I really liked Dora from what I'd heard about her and I kinda wanted to be like her...except without the monkey.

Well.. at least, she didn't get stranded in a forest with beasts she had only ever heard of, with no way back home.

Oh and by shelter, I meant a tall , dense tree with spread-out leaves and thick branches.

The tree had to be dense enough , so it could mask my scent with it's own and prevent me from being sniffed out by the wolves, and tall enough to lower the odds of me being sighted by their vulture like eyes, just my instincts. The tree had to have thick branches , so I wouldn't fall off.

In hindsight, I spotted a tree which suited my requirements.

I walked speedily towards it, and started climbing it, grabbing onto boughs that could support my weight with the saddle bag dangling by my side.

I don't think I've ever been so ecstatic about climbing a tree, I guess I just wanted to get away from the ground and not be an easy prey for the wolves.

The tree would give me an advantage against the wolves, I guessed that since the wolves were such huge creatures, they wouldn't be able to climb the tree.

I had an inkling of a thought that the wolves might just find me and creep up on me and maybe...just maybe climb up, and tear my head off in my sleep.

I pushed the thought right back into some abandoned place in my mind and vowed to never visit that place again, I had enough nasty thoughts to keep me occupied.

I had been so concentrated on not thinking nasty thoughts that I grabbed onto a thin bough with my left hand which broke off and the grip of my right hand loosened from the only branch holding me up and I nearly fell off.

I wobbled in mid-air, my hand flailing about until I caught onto a much thicker branch and hauled myself up, my heart pumped blood furiously through my body as I got a head rush.

I scurried up the rest of the tree , choosing branches to put my weight on with utmost caution until I was at the topmost branch, faster than a squirrel after a nut.

I dusted the snow off it and heaved a sigh of relief when I swiftly climbed onto the thick bough, it was thick enough for me to sit on comfortably.

I slung my bag off my shoulder, its contents were everything I'd thought I would need.

It had a little bottle which I'd filled up with water from the lake closest to our village, some greenberries which were found only in the green berry forest, some ale and a few roasted apples and peanuts and a bow and arrow to protect myself.

WAIT... I had a bow and arrow and I was using that little knife against a fuckin' wolf. GOD!!!

What the fuck is wrong with me, how could I forget I had a bow and arrow, a weapon with which I could actually take out a Wolf and I was using something which was barely even a weapon.

I frowned disappointedly at myself as I sipped the cold water from the little bottle.

At least now I had some reassurance that I at least stood a chance against those supposedly vicious beasts.

But still....the likelihood of me making it out of this fuckin' hellhole were pretty low, even if I did take out a wolf or two, there could be more, much more.

I exhaled loudly, as I hung the bag on a bough jutting out of the trunk of the oak tree just above my head, the bough was twisted upwards , so the bag wouldn't slide down.

I stretched my legs and slid down the tree into a sleeping position, with my hands in my hair and my legs flat on the branch.

Out of nowhere , I started laughing like crazy. I surmised it was at my stupidity my conscious was laughing at.

I had been pretty stupid. I mean come on , I'd entered a forest knowing full well that it'd manic beasts, there were too many rumours for it to be untrue.

I'd been scared to death by a fuckin' bunny, I giggled lightly to myself...that still cracked me up.

Oh , right... the bunny, I'd totally forgotten about it.

Startled , I scrambled into a sitting position and looked into the saddle bag, only to find it sleeping peacefully with his ears sticking out.

He looked like a glowing white angel, I smiled widely at him , relieved he didn't fall out the bag. Well, that was surprising, I hardly ever smiled, and the thought of me smiling, like expressing actual happiness, was overzealously surprising given the circumstances.

My stomach bellowed, reminding me of my hunger, but I was determined to curb it and save what little food I had, for I would need all my energy tomorrow for hunting.

I went back to my original position, crossing my hands across my chest trying to keep warm and looked up at the dark sky, the moon was now hidden behind the clouds and there were only a few stars visible in the night sky.

think it was the darkest night I'd ever seen, both literally and figuratively. I started drifting off to sleep and fell into deep slumber.

I felt someone shaking me, trying to wake me up. But I wasn't ready yet, looking up from my barely opened sleepy eyes, I saw this man, he was heavily built, incredibly tall, at least 6"2' , compared to me, the midget who was only, 5"3' , he was a giant.

I couldn't see his face for it was achingly dark. It was like I was in a daze, the masculine figure was moving further away from me, urging me to follow him.

That is when I noticed that I was on a pyre and there were people around me , chanting something in some foreign language. I suddenly felt very tired, fatigue overtook my senses. I felt out of my element, it was like I was somebody else, like I had no soul.

The men and women kept on chanting, the mysterious man had disappeared into thin air.

The chanting got louder, out of nowhere I felt the ground shaking, at first I thought I was so tired my mind had stopped functioning and was imagining things.

But no, I wasn't imagining anything, the ground actually was shaking. The men and women surrounding me held their ground. I stilled as my blood ran cold, my conscience was fear stricken as the reason for the tremors revealed itself...