Anthera Chapter 4 "Animal Inside of Him"
Chapter 4
"Animal Inside of Him"
It must have been nearly noon, the sun was almost directly over them as Nika continued to pull him. His presence seemed to catch the attention of some of the inhabitance, but they didn't bother trying to stop them. It's as if they knew where she was taking him. As his eyes scanned the land he could see others peering out from behind trees at him, it made him kind of nervous. She finally let go of his arm as they stood in front of a huge tent like structure. It was shaped like a tent, but on the inside it was huge. There were chairs, desks, and six huge bookcases with scriptures that looked like they would fall apart if they into contact with anyone. It wasn't until he stopped observing his surroundings that he saw a woman walking out from a back room.
"Arina, we have a bit of a problem."
Arina, was that the lady's name.
"Yes, what is it.."
She seemed to be concentrated on her book because as she closed her book she saw the short man standing before her. She must have been eight to nine feet tall. She had long blonde hair like Nika, but her eyes were dark purple instead of red, she had two big ears and a huge tail that was just as big as Gerald.
"A human....didn't I tell you that it is forbidden for anyone to bring another being of a different race into our world?" she asked Nika in a very stern voice.
"Yes malady, but this is different. You see last night while I was returning I ran into this man and I sort of... kind of... bit him."
They heard something fall to the ground as she finished explaining. Her eyes lowered to the little man before she grabbed him by the shoulders.
"What happened?" she asked, almost growling at him.
"It's ok, it's just bite marks." he said in a shaky voice.
He got the feeling that she wasn't like Nika, he felt something surging inside of her. Nika closed her eyes as she saw Arina throw him to the ground. He let out a loud groan as his back cracked back into place.
"Just bite marks? You're a cursed man. Even if you return to your world you will never lead a normal life ever again."
As he turned his back Arina drew the sword that was strapped to her side. Nika jumped as she pulled it out.
"W-Wait isn't that a bit extreme?"
"He now knows about our kind. If we let him go the humans will surely come after us."
She swung her arm down, but as the blade started coming down on him his ears flicked. He quickly rolled to the side, grabbing the blade with his feet. He quickly tugged it and pulled it from her hands. She stared at him as he looked at the sword that laid between his feet.
"What just happened?"
As she stared at him she started to form an idea in her head. Maybe they wouldn't have to kill him.
"Boy, what is your name?" she asked as she picked him up by his collar, standing him up.
"Gerald." he answered, brushing the dust from his jacket.
"Do you swear not to tell any other human about us?"
It was abnormal for Arina to trust a human. Usually she would just kill them, so why did she spare him?
"I guess."
"It's not I guess it's I promise."
"Ok, I promise I won't tell."
"Good, now about you being bitten. Have you ever heard the stories of werewolves?"
He remembered back when his father use to tell him stories about the beasts, how a single human would turn from man to beast.
"Thousands of times."
"So you know what happens when a human is bitten by one correct?"
"Yeah, he or she turns into a mon~"
The bit from last night, it couldn't be. It would explain how he was able to tear the sword from the giants hands though.
"No, no, no, no your joking! Im not going to turn into a monster am I!"
He saw Nika's eyes trail down to the ground as he yelled.
"Not like in the stories, you will become like one of us."
He trembled a bit as he thought about what would happen. What also puzzled him was why Arina was being nice to him all of a sudden.
"You will see the earth evolve as the centuries pass. You will never grow old and you will always stay strong."
"S~So your saying I won't turn into a flesh eating beast."
When he looked up he saw Arina laughing as if it was a joke.
"Silly boy, we don't eat people. Truth be told that we use to be humanities protectors."
She walked over to the bookshelf next to her and pulled out a dusty book with a strange symbol on it.
"Read this, it tells of our history. You may think we are monstrous creatures, but we merely want to live in peace."
The book was pretty heavy, it must have contained thousands of pages.
"Also I need you back here in three days, there is someone I need you to meet."
He nodded as he went to open the book, but as he did Nika pushed him to his knee.
"Kneel idiot." she whispered.
She sure was bossy, not to mention rude. Just the kind of people he wanted to meet.
"That is all, you may return."
The sun was just going down as he opened the door up, he didn't notice that when the door shut behind Nika that it turned to the color of the ground, blending in with it.
"Gerald, listen."
He turned around to her as she stood behind him.
"Look, I wasn't worried about you back there, I just felt that you needed a second chance to prove yourself."
He noticed her cheeks were a bit red, like she was blushing a bit.
"Whatever you say." he said.
Before her eyes opened she felt his finger poke her nose. She wanted to be angry, but in truth she wasn't. It almost made her giggle.
"See you around." she said, swatting his hand away.
"Same to you."
They exchanged one last glance before they both returned home.