The Ascension

"Novels wrote that this would be like a game, but it doesn't feel like a game. Hm, they also said that it would come out of my skin, or my butt." She grimaced at the thought of having such explosive problems since she didn't know where she was.

She really didn't want to soil herself. That thought made her feel quite uncomfortable, and embarrassed. The sights around her pulled her from that sense of impending crisis, and made her lift her eyes.

"This place is old." She looked around. "This is a kitchen, I think." Aila started to walk around, and after a bit, she confirmed it. "This place feels old, but not ancient. Houses like this do not exist in America, and never have." She ran her fingers over the stove.

"Made of stone, with an iron top. I have never seen this type before. Fire below the iron plate, and another fire in the other firebox to help heat the oven that is between the two. No pests or animals around here though." She walked over to the wall. "This house is well built. There is even an outside wall. If it's intact, I can be safe when I sleep." Aila frowned as she heard a growl.

"Oh. I haven't eaten, and I usually have an IV in my arm." She pulled up the medical gown and looked at her arm. "So weird. Where are the scars from all the pokes I've had from needles, and missed veins?"

Aila put her hand onto her arm and tilted her head slightly. She felt a bit of confusion.

"Is my blood pressure high? Why can I feel pulses in my arm?" She put her fingers to her wrist, like she had seen the doctors do thousands of times, and frowned. "That's so strange. The pulsing has stopped, but I feel a pressure there. And my hand feels strange. Tingles. Is this normal?" She said as she felt quite confused.

Aila had never heard of where a pulse just stopped as though it had built up pressure from a pump. The slight bulge beneath her fingers was pliable, but could not be pinched.

She did not realize that she didn't have her fingers on her veins, or the artery that doctors used to find a heart beat. Those had moved a bit, and were submerged deeper into her arm.

Growl. Aila put a hand over her belly again.

"I need food." She sniffed the air, not because she thought she would smell food, but because she could now. Her sinuses were clear, and she could breathe. She pulled air in through her nose, and enjoyed the sensation, but also detected something else.

"Oh! What is that!" Her eyelids opened just a bit wider in surprise. "A scent of ripe berries! I haven't smelled a berry in so long!" She whined a bit.

To be perfectly clear, food was never eaten near her, as her parents didn't want to torture the poor girl with things she couldn't eat any longer, or even taste. They ate their food outside the room, and usually while the other parent sat with her.

Her parents were so considerate of her emotions, even when Aila told them not to mind it. She couldn't even smell a simple scent, let alone food, so eating outside or in the room, was nothing to her. She did remember the sentiment though, and that sentiment was important to her.

Aila followed her newly heightened senses, without understanding that a scent was not something a normal human could follow. She didn't know what was normal, and what wasn't due to all the things she could never experience.

"Strawberries!" She ran to the large bush, though she didn't recognize the bush itself, she thought she recognized the appearance of the berry. Though it was lighter in color than a red strawberry, and didn't have surface seeds like a strawberry, the scent and the appearance fooled her into believing that is exactly what it was.

She stuffed the first berry into her mouth, and as she expected, the flavor burst out on her tongue. Mildly spicy, tangy, and slightly sweet, the berry was crushed between her teeth, and her tongue tasted the flavor with distinct appreciation.

"Oh yeah, so good!" She stuffed a few more into her mouth, and her eyes began to glow a reddish color. Warmth spread into her chest from her belly, and was soon drained away. It sent energy into her body, which made her smile.

"Food is a lot different than I remember." She said and continued to eat until she had consumed a dozen or so. She finally sighed happily.

"So good. I should keep the rest on the bush so they won't go bad. They are still nice and firm." Aila stood up, and turned.

"Oh. Mom, I think I'm going to swear for the first time in my life." She took a breath as a wolf's lips pulled back and revealed its fangs.

"Fuck me sideways. What a gigantic wolf you are."

* * *

Flame berries. A low level flame essence plant that rarely grows in the forest, and it was something the flame wolf planned to eat when they ripened. He had hidden this patch from his fellow pack mates, and now half of it was eaten by this small human.

Driven wild by anger, the wolf began to growl. When the small human turned towards him, he felt the fear roll off of it.

That drove the wolf into a rage. If it was so scared of being within the forest, it shouldn't even be here.

He watched as the human picked up a stone and threw it at him. The wolf didn't bother to try and avoid it, and immediately came to regret that arrogant decision. The wolf saw a flame cone form behind the stone, while the air had a distortion behind it. It was at that time the wolf noticed how the human's eyes glowed red.

The stone was already at its forehead, and much too late to regret how it misread the small human.

The human was not defenseless.

* * *

"Huh?" Aila chirped in surprise. She picked up the stone on a faint hope that she could make the wolf reconsider its choice to eat her. She aimed for the red patch of fur on its forehead, and threw the stone with all her might.  A small red patch was an easy target, as the rest of the fur was grayish white.

The flames that came off the rear of the stone, and how it flew so accurately to that spot shocked her enough to make her come to a dead stop. Not only that, but the wolf flew backwards as though it were struck with a club the size of a tree.

Aila walked up to the wolf, and saw the small hole in the forehead, and the tongue that now fell limply out of its mouth.

"How...that's...did...how is that possible?!"