Anibeli's POV
She awoke with a start, warm and comfortable. She heard cracking, and she looked over to see... a fire? She was confused. Then she remembered what had happened. The battle, her wounds, and... and... she shuddered, suddenly cold.
She turned, looking all around herself. She was suddenly scared. She had been dying, and now, as she felt her shoulder and chest, it was covered by some kind of leaf. That ment someone had helped her. Had drug her here, lit a fire, and left.
But who? Why would someone do that? Why not help her before? But... if her assumption was true, they had saved her... But what if they had nefarious intentions? To hold her hostage? Maybe torture and sacrifice her?
She shuddered. She wanted to hope, to think that she would be rescued now. That she would be safe. But what if...
A crack behind her startled her out of her dark thoughts. She turned and saw it. A tall, thin... thing.
It's body was skeletal. It was black and silver, and it's head... It was bald, with a sharp jaw, literally. It had only one eye, glowing green. It had a green rune in its chest.
This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
It's hands were claw like, and held a stick. It had snapped it to startle her. She stepped back. She was shaking. What kind of unearthly abomination was this? By the holy emperor, was this a daemon? She turned and bolted.
Before she could get 3 steps away, a clawed hand grabbed her by the elbow. She panicked. She turned and punched the daemon in the head. It was like punching adamantium. She cried out in pain as she clutched her hand.
She struggled, and kicked, but the thing wouldn't let go. It enjoyed her struggles, until it hissed loudly.
"STOP."
It spoke? That was somehow worse. It's dark, malevolent voice sounded like a whisper, but resounded through her. She froze instantly. The hiss sounded again, before gibberish flowed out.
It paused, hissed again, and spoke. "Stop. Child. Hurt... wokt?"
She trembled in place before the thing. Her voice hesitantly spoke out, cracking and audibly trembling. "w-w-what did y-you... say?" She squeaked out.
It paused visibly, and spoke again. "Wo...nt hurt. Child. Stop... strubble? Help cou." it said. She was so confused and scared, but she nodded anyways.
It grabbed her by the shoulder and gently pulled her to the fire. She was sat down on the grass, and handed something. It was the things whe had been eating, and... and...
There were two of the creatures that had attacked her. They were stuck on a stick, and the thing was twisting the stick. Was it... Cooking?
"Help me. To... Lern. Speaking?" It asked. It's pronunciation was... terrible, and it had a very thick accent. But she understood. It wanted to learn to speak.
She looked at it. This thing had probably saved her. Though it was some kind of daemon, it didn't seem to want to hurt her...
"...ok." She said. She owed it, and a Berekel always paid debts and slights in full. "Ok." She said, more steady. "I... can do that."
The thing tapped one claw on its chest rune, and lowered its head slightly in acknowledgement. It handed a stick to her, and spoke in its extremely off-putting, unnatural voice. "Good."
