A choking scream left her throat as she went down and down into the abyss. But it was not the descent that she was screaming about, no. Of that, she had no realisation. It was the pain in her chest.
The ruby, as if having a mind of its own, escaped her clutches and twisted around mid-air, embedding itself into her chest, just beneath her collar bones. And it ๐ฃ๐ถ๐ณ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ฅ.
The red light shone through her clothes, blindingly bright and scorching her fingers even as she tried, ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ด๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ข๐ต๐ฆ๐ญ๐บ, to pull the jewel off her, to get her fingers to tear it from her. They didn't listen. Harper felt as if her skin had been melded to the jewel itself.
She was only party aware of the breeze flowing around her, of her hair sticking to her face and neck with sweat and tears as she sobbed and sobbed.
"Please! ๐๐๐๐๐๐!" Her screeching voice begged for mercy, for relief. Tears poured from her eyes as she drew in gasps, trying against all hope to grasp a hold of the jewel. ๐๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ค๐ถ๐ณ๐ด๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ!
It didn't work. The pain only heightened.
She tumbled, her body going head over heels as she struggled with her smouldering chest, bedraggled, tortured.
"๐๐ข๐ข๐ข๐ข๐ข๐ฉ๐ฉ๐ฉ๐ฉ๐ฉ๐ฉ๐ฉ๐ฉ๐ฉ-"
The scream cut off with a thud as the fall finally ended. Harper lost consciousness as she hit the ground, the ruby still burning and now finally, overpowering its victime. Around her, the forest was bathed in a similar red light from the large blood-red moon, shining down.
///////
She first became aware of the world around her by the grass ticking her cheeks and nose as she breathed. Slowing cracking her eyes open, Harper looked around. Only making out a bleary outline in the darkness, she pushed herself up, her entire body protesting at the effort.
Taking in her surroundings, an uneasiness set in her. The trees in the forest she had suddenly found herself in- yeah, about that, ๐๐๐?!- were large and menacing, looming over her and the damp forest floor. There was not enough light to see clearly, with only the reddish- ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฅ๐ฅ๐ช๐ด๐ฉ!- light that filtered through the canopy allowing her to get a bearing of herself.
She stood up, suppressing groans in the extremely quiet forest, her legs shaking under her.
๐๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ธ๐ข๐ด ๐ฉ๐ข๐ฑ๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ?!
"Ouch!" Immediately biting her lips after the sound, she clutched at her chest, bending down as the throbbing pain started again, harsh and demanding. But at the same time, more manageable.
She used her threadbare scarf to press against the wound, hoping for some relief as she stood there, gasping for breath, trying to make sense of everything.ย
It took maybe another minute, but the pain in the wound where the jewel was now literally ๐ฆ๐ฎ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ฅ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ฅ in her skin slowly deflated, until she could finally let down the pressing. Chancing a glance, she lifted the scarf and could see that no, it was not her imagination.
WIth a clearer mind came a clearer understanding of just how bizzare it all was. Pushing her glasses up her nose, she trepidiously looked around.ย
What-
She had no idea, of how she came to be in this dense forest. For that is what this was, a literal forest. The last thing she remembered was leaving work, going in the store...
...the ruby. The cool air of the forest prickled at the burned skin around the stone. Harper took a last view of the odity before she let the scarf fall back into place, covering it.ย
Her hands came up to her sides, rubbing her arms as she stood, the strap of her crossbody bag still on her shoulder, somehow surviving the fall intact.
Yes, she could remember it a bit. There was the store, the ruby, the fall...
The trees in front of her blurred as tears started gathering in her eyes, threatening to spill over. She pursed her lips against the urge to bawl her eyes out.
Her family. Her home.
She had no idea where she was, and how she could go back, she had not a single clue. Harper huddled against a tree close to her, her back falling on the trunk for support as her legs threatened to give out, when she heard it.
-๐๐๐๐!
Her head whirled towards the direction. mores sounds, like the rustling of the leaves and branches followed the first one. A white light shone from the place as the plants parted with the movement of something.
Something coming right at her.
Fear spiked in her as she pressed herself back to the tree, inching away around the curve of the large trunk as she hunkered down.
Nestled between the shrubs at the base, she pulled her back out of sight just a second before a figure emerged, running.
It was a woman.
Confusion clawed at the back of her mind, as she took in the lady. Etherally beautiful, it was as if the light of the stars travelled with her as she ran in a grey dress, and with only a single look behind her, she didn't stop as she vaulted across the clearing and right past Harper, and out.
Harper, from her hiding space, kept staring after where the woman had disappeared. What should've been something to be happy about, somehow filled her with an unescapable feeling of dread. And danger.
Maybe she was wrong, but it looked as it the woman was...scared.
She shook her head. What nonsense! Of course she would be scared, she was in a dark forest!
Normally, she dreaded having to interact with another person, but right now she didn't have much choice. It was someone else besides her in this place. Someone who could help her!
She swiftly got up, and pushing her glasses up her nose, stumbled on her feet out the same way the woman had gone. Her bag knocked against her hips as she ran, trying to keep up.
The bushes parted as she moved, following the light. She reached the clearing, the edge of the dense space into an open area where the harsh red moon shined its bloodied light onto the ground.
There!
There went the lady with the white light, running.ย
Harper took a few gasping breaths at the run, terribly out of shape. Her hands rested briefly on her knees before she straightened up again. Her leg muscles tensed, and she leaned forward as she prepared to run again after the woman in her sight when suddenly-
-๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐!!ย
A growl sounded through the clearing. She watched, horrified as a large wolf jumped out and snatched the woman right out of the air, returning to the ground with her in its mouth.
Harper's legs faltered as she dropped down.
The woman, alive, tried putting up a fight, tried to get herself free from the maws of the predator who just jerked her from side to side before tossing her on the ground, and putting a paw on her to restrict her escape as she tried to crawl away. She eventually stopped, her fight dying out as she lay there, waiting for death.
Harper couldn't help it. She whimpered.
Her hands came to her mouth in horror as the gaze of the wolf snapped up, locking on to her frozen form.
The beast snarled, sharp canines peeking out from the mouth as he slowly moved forward, away from the woman pinned underneath, sauntering and calculating.
Harper pushed to her feet, frightened beyond compare as she dropped her hands, stumbling back.
For every step the large beast took, she weakly took one back. And then the next, then another.
Until finally the beast stopped in the middle of the clearing. The red moon shone down on the silver fur, making it look as if blood had been spilled on it. The growls increased at her movement, menacing, but she daren't stop.
The wolf finally leaned back on its haunches, saliva dripping from his mouth, yellow eyes fixed on her...
...and jumped.