Huffing, it was hard to breathe. It was as if I could suck air only through a tiny straw, my breath sounding like a broken whistle.Still caught in the half-dream or whatever that was, I remained on the ground, feeling the heaviness of the nightmare in every part of my body, each tiny movement stinging with pain.

"I… you… prepare..."

I was shaking-crying, not for the distant words echoing, but because…. I… I was the reason all this happened. All of it was my fault. If I hadn't taken the egg, the phoenix wouldn't have come here, and Papa, Theodore, the village, nothing would have happened.

"It's all my fault! It's all my fault!" I screamed, but no one was there to listen to me.

The stinging pain was there, but it didn't stop me from pulling my hair. The sun beamed with its shining light, and the birds sang their beautiful song like they did every day, but today, November 21, the day Papa would return from Mr. Orion's house, wouldn't come for Asmit's End.

All because of me.

I cried and cried and only stopped when tears couldn't come out anymore. I looked at the sun, which had already risen high in the sky glowing through the grey clouds. With a big breath, I pushed through the heavy pain and stood up.

Immediately, I felt dizzy, and wherever my eyes passed, was the same picture of ash and debris, but something was different. My eyes were different. On my right, everything was all blurry from the smoke, and yet it felt much clearer, which didn't make any sense, but on my left, everything looked more… alive, as if I could still see the flames burning everything down to the ground.

The more I looked, the two different pictures mixed, and the more my head spun, but despite that, I tried to move a foot, only to end up back on the ground with a thud, my head ringing. Tired and hurting, I felt sleepier and sleepier until my eyes closed, unable to remain open anymore.

When I opened them again, the sunbeams weren't there, and the sun wasn't up in the sky either. Instead, it was low in the east.

I frowned.

When the day ended, it was to the west, not the east! How long did I sleep for?

Standing up, it was much easier than before and there was no heavy pain. Only my tummy hurt where my core was, the pain thumping like a heart. My eyes too. They had cleared out, the flaming images being more distant, like ghosts, barely there.

Grrrl~

My tummy growled and was very, very hungry like I hadn't eaten in days.

I was sure I wasn't going to fall this time, but the moment I moved my foot, I almost slipped.

Feathers were surrounding me. Most were white, but there were also a few grey and even fewer black. While the white—being from the phoenix—I could understand, I didn't know where the grey and black ones came from. They were smaller than the white and they felt… scary, with a darkness different from my pendant.

My pendant was a weird warm feeling close to the egg's but stronger, and the darkness it carried felt comforting. These feathers, especially the black ones, made my hair stand on end and I could taste the anger, pain, and sadness they hid inside them.

It felt weirdly similar to the connection and the fire I saw in the Emberfang's eyes. Just like back then, I couldn't take my eyes off them.

The more I looked, the difference between the darkness of my pendant and these feathers began to close. Very faintly, much like a small tiny thread, there was something similar between them. While the one from the pendant was calm and controlled, the other was scary, wild, and savage.

As I reached to touch one of them, a shine flashed in my eyes. The beast core of the Emberfang Papa gave me was reflected in a cracked mirror.

Interested more in the beast's core than the feathers, I walked over. As my hand moved, it reflected on a broken glass, and I jumped back in shock.

Slowly, I turned to the mirror.

The reflection didn't lie. Ever since waking up, I hadn't looked at myself… until now.

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The broken mirror reflected a boy I had never seen before. The white lines that climbed my arms towards my core were gone, or rather… the rest of my color was gone. My whole body was now fully white—pale, ashen—like everything else in the once village. And my tummy—my tattoo, too. It wasn't deep black anymore. It was bright purple, and above it was an even whiter half-circle-like crown that spilled inside its gaps into the empty center.

I gasped when I saw my pendant a little higher. It had lost most of its black color. I wanted to touch it but was afraid of breaking it. There wasn't a spot that didn't have a crack on.

Finally my face. My hair had covered most of it, but it wasn't black anymore. It had turned grey like the feathers. Beneath it, my right eye was reflected with its blue color, but my left was hidden, the reflection only showing something red behind my hair. My hands moved, and where my other bright blue eye should have been, was a red. A deep red. Red like blood. Leaning closer, within the deep red, I could see and almost hear the reflections of flames and people burning and screaming.

I jumped back, shocked, and looked away. Turning again, I kept my distance from the mirror as the other me had a giant crack that crossed through his face, separating the two eyes. A burning rage came within me the more he looked back.

Suddenly, he moved, the anger I was feeling reflected on his face as he threw a punch, fire edging on his hand. Crispy sounds tinkled in my ears as the mirror shattered into many burning shards that spread in all directions. My eyes grew big, and the world turned blurry.

The shattered glasses looked like they flew but didn't, or maybe hadn't? They all looked like they were in different places at the same time, but also were not? And they were so slow. It was weird, and it made me feel dizzy. One of them cut a little below my left eye and the dizziness and blurriness went away, like they were never there.

Grrrl~

My tummy growled again, being angry and very hungry. I reached with my hands and a sudden stabbing pain came from my core like I had just punched over my tattoo.

Taking the beast core, I wrapped it with two white wings to protect it. Papa said it could help in many ways, but I didn't know how, not that it mattered. I wasn't going to use Papa's final gift just like that.

With nothing left of home, I turned to look around in the debris, trying to find anything I could eat. First, I went to Mr. Orion's house, but unlike the last time I saw it, it was burned down. Then I went to Mr. Herbert's shop, but it too was turned to ash.

The sky turned grey, the clouds thick, blocking the sun. In the distance, a thunder flashed and a few moments later it sounded. I always thought of it as cool, but now...

I awkwardly hugged myself. Papa would always do that when I was scared and he would always give me candy to cheer me up.

It didn't feel the same. It felt cold and my tummy grumbled again.

A little later, another thunder came, and then another soon followed. Every time, I jumped a little and felt colder and hungrier. I ran to the opposite side of the loud thunders, and soon, I was out of the village in front of the forest. The forest had also changed. The volcano had buried a big part of it in lava, and I couldn't get to the sunny place I used to go.

'It wouldn't be sunny anymore, anyway.'

With another angry growl from my tummy, I reached for the unknown. The past month, I've always gone to the same place every time, so I didn't know what the left side hid. It looked so much bigger, darker, and scarier like it was a different forest, and I didn't want to go, but I didn't have a choice now.

Sweeping a big leaf, my head spun in all directions for fruits, berries, or anything that looked like I could eat.

The only thing I found was quint. So much of it. Way more than the last time I was here. Maybe it had to do with the bigger forest, or maybe it had to do with my tattoo and eyes changing, it didn't really matter. There were lots of it everywhere, around me too. It seemed to move closer and closer to my tummy like it was a magnet, and every time I breathed, a few of them would enter the tattoo. It was easy to tell not only because I wasn't wearing a shirt, but because every time a light entered, it felt warm. Not by much, barely noticeable, but even that was better than nothing, so I took bigger breaths to try to feel better.

While I did feel warmer, I didn't feel better, not even a little bit. I had gone so deep into the forest, but I couldn't find anything at all. A few leaves moved here and there, and a few growls sounded, but I wasn't sure if my eyes were playing tricks on me like they did in the mirror, or if the growls were my tummy again.

Huff… Huff…

I became dizzy, and it was hard to breathe, everything spinning around me. The warm feeling from my tummy got stronger, and it felt like everything around me was burning in the same flames Papa and Theodore were. I could see them too. Behind the blurring leaves, images of them moved closer to me.

"Papa? Theodore?" I called out, but they didn't say anything back, only the growls from my tummy getting louder.

I paused, holding a tree to remain still. I felt so weak I could barely stand.

Grrr!

That… that wasn't my tummy.

Turning, the dizziness vanished, everything turning crystal clear. What I saw as Papa and Theodore had turned out to be two grey-furred beasts with big fangs and claws growling at me, the small one of the two having a deep red mark on its back.

'S-silverfangs.'

My hair stood on end and my eyes grew big. One of them howled, the other barked, and only now did I hear the flapping of wings and the rustling of leaves from birds flying away.

In a breath, the warmth vanished. In another, the sadness and the pain did too. The next, I could feel my lips turning upward.

I reached with my hand to hide it. It wasn't Papa or Theodore but I… I wasn't alone anymore.

I was angry—so very angry I couldn't even put it to words. The Silverfangs. If it weren't for them, I wouldn't have gone to the volcano—'their fault… it's their fault!'—and yet… and yet, I couldn't stop myself from smiling.

I was angry-I wanted to cry.

I was happy-I wanted to laugh.

I was… I was…

Grrrl!

"HUNGRY!"