The In-Between

“What are you doing?”,

“Masking your scent”,

“Why?”,

“Because humans are hated on this planet and any

human who ends up here is never seen again,” she states openly as she rubs Ridwen’s body with mud before hugging him tightly and transferring most of her scent onto him.

“Why are we hated?” Ridwen asks as she

pulls away and takes a whiff of him. Satisfied with his scent, she turns to Ronyn, who refuses to look her in the eyes.

“I didn’t realize it until now. I mean, I’ve never

visited Earth, and my father never really talked about it. But, once we arrived on the dark planet, I noticed your temperature dropping with each hour we stayed there, which I found strange. So I remembered everything those idiot tutors taught me about various planets, but there was one they never went into detail about,” she looks Ronyn in the eyes, “yours.”

She circles her hand around his wrists before smothering his body in mud, the tension between them getting to her, and she tries not to think about the tingling sensation she feels when she touches him.

Ronyn’s curiosity gets the best of him when he asks, “What about our planet?”

“Uhmm…before this planet was made, shifters or

werewolves as you would call them lived on your home planet and there…they were well, they were hunted like sport,” she clears her throat before looking behind her, meeting Ridwen’s expecting eyes and then looking back at Ronyn, who is just focusing on

the mud being spread all over him, “their children would be kidnapped from their beds and sold in underground ring fights, and packs would be slaughtered.”

She completes his arms before moving on to his

chest. Her mud-caked hands drag down his chest, and she can

feel his every breath intake, which entices her. She could feel the muscle beneath his lean frame. Her hands linger on his waist before she looks up at him, hoping to catch his gaze, which is already on her.

The emotion coursing through them is too deep for

her to comprehend but it keeps them alive, and she forgets to breathe. She feels his hand gently wrap around her wrist, his

gaze never leaving hers, and for a moment she thinks he’s going to say something to her but he simply sighs, takes her hands off her waist and walks away.

She stares at the ground, her breathing finally

catching up with her, and she is left feeling rejected once more.

“This was before my kind knew there were other

creatures out there,” she concludes, taking care not to let her voice betray her.

She turns to the child, smearing mud on her cheeks

and arms and hugging her. She walks in the direction he left and simply pulls him into a hug without saying anything to him, but simply continues to explain, “they were hunted like animals and your kind never saw them as anything other

than,” and she pulls away, already missing his embrace.

“How did they get here if they were on our planet?”

Ridwen wonders.

“Well, it’s said that my forefathers discovered them

while travelling across the worlds. They had heard about creatures that were suffering and in pain on their travels but didn’t think anything of it until they came across this pack in a place called South Africa and so they helped them and brought them to my home but not everyone was saved,” she told the

story as it was written in the history books by the scholars.

“But because our red moon was not meant to be shared

with their kind, we had an oracle that could speak to our rulers at the time. One of my great ancestors asked the red moon to provide a home for our cousins,”

Ronyn asks, “cousins?” without looking her in the

eyes.

“Yes, werewolves are descended from our line. We

call them lycanthrope because they have our forms but lack the powers and ‘hell’ features,” she begins packing and walks away from the river, “thus our cousins. The red moon delivered and created a planet for their kind to live on. As a result, they have a white moon similar to yours, but their planet is surrounded by a purple ring that looks more like clouds than a ring when viewed from my planet. It’s quite magnificent,” she says, nodding, “and that is how the planet Tuluis came to be.”

“So, what are you?” Ridwen’s grin broadens in

response to Ronyn’s inquiry.

“I’m a hellhound,” she says.

“Cool,” she hears Ridwen laugh at the back of the

trail, “but if you can see this planet from yours, can you see yours from this one?” She turns to see his nose scrunched up as if he was confused.

“Yes, but only from the Tulius castle,” she says,

nodding.

“Are we going to the castle?” she asks, hearing awe

in Linda’s voice.

“Yes, we’ll get assistance from there; the royal

family is like my second family.”

“How close are you to the royal family?” she pauses

before looking at Ronyn, “I…I grew up with them, I'm friend with the Prince, Helio.”

Her heart tightens at the thought of helio and she subconsciously agrees with her beast, they miss him.

“How did you-”

“Are you a princess?” Linda asks, and she can’t help

but feel her heart swell with pride at the title.

“Princess Yvaine Vera Xerius of Xoathea,” as she is

known.

Time passed as they walked through the forest and the moon shimmered against the river like a tour guide in a foreign land.

The light bouncing off the water creates a magical world in the forest around them.

The sun had just set a few minutes before, and the forest had come to life. She adored the Tulius Forest, which always seemed enchanted in the purple fog.

Running through the endless seemed magical to her, how the grass seemed to glow with an undeniable blue, how the tree would glow with dark purple hew while the leaves glowed a misty green.

It depends on the colour of the leaf in the sun; if it is yellow in the sun, the yellow turns neon green when the moon rises and the purple becomes more visible.

The forest was never dark; the sun may have set, but the colours never seemed to fade, only to become more electrified. It’s no surprise that her human companions appear to be in awe of everything.

Linda’s excited giggles made her smile, as the babe hit Ridwen’s arm to get his attention before pointing at the creature that had filled her with such awe. She couldn’t deny the planet’s beauty, which may explain why she preferred to visit Helio rather than him visiting her.

She couldn't help the images that appeared in her head, the time they ran through these very woods, and the memory brings a small smile to her face.

“Wait up Vany,” the little girl squealed as she ran deeper into the forest, “you know we aren’t supposed to go far,” she stops running and smiles at her childhood friend, and that smile was enough to encourage him.

She ran deeper into the forest, her tiny feet echoing against the forest floor, tiny giggles bounced off the walls, and they were always contagious to little Helio. His laughter quickly followed as he ran to catch up to her.

She drew forward with the help of the mindful breeze and she could hear the whispers of promised freedom that enchanted her to go faster and she did. She always did, her fingers brush the surface of the colourful flowers, brushed across the roughness of the bark and she adored every little creature that she passed.

“Hurry Helio!,” she shouted, “we’re almost there”.

“I’m coming, I’m coming,” he shouted back.

She looked back to smile at him but the gesture fell when she tripped over an overgrown root. Her hands stretched out to lessen the pain but that didn’t help as she got cuts on her hands and knees.

“Vany, are you alright?”, he says helping her up and dusting her off. His young voice filled with worry.

She merely smiled, “Yes I’m-

The sound of a grunt made her freeze and her eyes widened at what stood behind him. she watched as the giant drew his arms from the forest floor as it got up, the arm she had tripped over, the arm she had mistaken was an overgrown root, stretched to the sky as the ain’t yawned.

“H-Helio,” she stutters pouting to the giant behind him gaping at how tall it was, taller than the forest trees.

Helio turned only to stagger backwards in surprise, straining his neck to get a better look. The creature obscured the sun, and its massive shadow loomed over them, allowing them to see its terrifying features.

Its body was neither lanky nor fat. With arms the size of tree trunks and legs the size of a boar, Yvaine knew the giant was stronger than it appeared. His clothes were ripped to the point where you couldn’t even tell they were clothes. Mushrooms grew where his elbows were. Yvaine could see grown vegetables on the creature, but it was the yellow eyes that terrified her and Helio.

When the creature roared at them, her eyes widened.

Helio clutched her wrist before turning and fleeing. He yanked on her hand to make her run faster, but her body was still numb from the shock, which seemed to fade when the ground shook dangerously. They look at each other, fear in their eyes, and they know - without having to turn back - that the creature was hot on their tail.

“Father said to behave!” she exclaimed, laughing, knowing that this would please her father.

They continued to run, their hands intertwined and never letting go.

She could hear the gush of water and realized they were getting close to the waterfall. She grinned from ear to ear, her eyes glistened with mischief, and she ran faster.

Helio shuddered at the look, not knowing what was going through her head, but he didn’t have to guess any longer as the waterfall came into view and the clear sky begged him to relax and enjoy the scenery.

He was urged to run faster, and his heart sank to his stomach as he felt Yvaine’s sudden increase in speed. She smiled and ran faster, ignoring the tug on her hand to slow down, but she held him tighter as excitement bubbled in her stomach.

She finally leapt, wrapping her arms around Helio’s while he gripped her tightly, and she saw the creature reach for them, but they were already soaring towards the pool’s water. The last thing she remembered was the sound of gushing water and Helio screaming her name.

“Yvaine!