After a few awkward moments, Amethyst moved away. I could see that she was very conflicted by what had happened. I was sure that part of her enjoyed it, but I knew that another part of her wanted to be safe deep down. I wanted her to feel comfortable, but I didn’t want to rush it.

“We are sorry. We don’t know what came over us,” Amethyst said. She looked as though she was about to cry again.

“There is no need to apologize. I kissed you first,”

“You have been so kind to us. We figured that it was only right to return the gesture,”

“I did it because I like you. Ever since I met you, I wanted to tell you that. But I was afraid that you would turn me down.”

“We like you too. We just didn’t know how to tell you. We haven’t known you very long, but there was something about you.”

Amethyst pulled her tail close to her and looked at the tree branch for a time. I wanted to know what she was thinking, but I figured it would be rude to ask her. I just sat there in silence, for the time being, thinking about everything that had happened since I came here. It was crazy to think that I had been transported to this world. If you had asked me a month ago if I thought that other worlds existed, I would have said that you were crazy. Yet, here I was, sitting in a strange world that was not the earth, with people and creatures that I had never seen in my life.

“We need to go,” Amethyst said without warning. In a flash, she was down out of the tree and waiting for me. Once I got to the ground, she leads the way again. This time, it was different. She didn’t seem upset with the world, just determined to complete our task. I couldn’t argue with her when Kiena was sitting in the village alone. Sure she had her grandmother, but I don’t think either of them really liked each other.

After about twenty minutes, a thought came to my head. Why hadn’t we seen any creatures? I thought that this forest was supposed to be teaming with creatures. Not that I wanted to run into them. It just seemed a little odd that this forest would be empty of life.

“Something is wrong,” Amethyst said as she surveyed our surroundings. I was glad that I wasn’t the only one who noticed it. It was as if someone had evacuated everyone and everything from the forest.

“Well. Well. What do we have here,” I heard a male voice say. I looked around, trying to find the source of the voice, but with no luck.

“Aye, it’s one of those cat people. Lord Alkrend will be happy about that. And what of this other one. I had never seen one of her kind before,” another voice said. I still couldn’t find them. Then, out of nowhere, they pop out of the trees. It was two humans. Great, just what we needed. I didn’t want to become a trophy.

“Why does the boss get to have all the fun. After all, he had that one bitch for like nine years. Too bad his servant ran off with the little abomination,” the first guy said.

“You know what will happen if he finds out that you took what he considers his,”

“How will he know unless someone tells him, and I’m not, so what about you. Are you going to squeal,”

They argued back and forth for a couple of minutes. I was getting annoyed and started to walk forward, grabbing Amethyst’s hand. As I did, they both drew swords and held them in my direction

“I don’t believe we said you could move,” The first man said, grinning as he did. His teeth were rotten, and half of them were missing. He was quite ugly. He was the type of guy that you didn’t want to run into down a dark alley.

“Yea, we ain done with ya,” The second man said, his eyes shifting between mine and Amethysts chests. This was why I wanted to teach them about clothes. Maybe then these pigs wouldn’t have something to stare at. It was disgusting the way he was staring like it was natural to do. I had to remember that they were more barbaric than people of my time.

“You have no right to hold us here. We are just passing through these woods and do not need any trouble,” I said, trying to reason with them. They just looked at each other and laughed. It was infuriating to be laughed at like this. Part of me wished that I was still a male right now. I almost wanted to throw up at the thought of wanting that. But in these circumstances, perhaps they would have left us alone.

“Ya don get it, do ya. Ya ain’t goin anywhere. I ain’t felt the body of a woman in some time,” the first man said as he stepped closer, drool threatening to spill over his lip. As he spoke, a chill ran down my spine. I had heard of girls being raped. I knew what it was, but I had never been in the position to say that I knew exactly what it was like, but from the way his eyes were lustfully staring at us, I could guess what was about to happen.

“I want the cat,” the man said as he inched closer. I immediately stepped in front of her. I didn’t know what I was going to do, but I wasn’t going to allow him to touch her. This only made him laugh again.

“What you think you’re going to do. We have swords, and what do you have,” the man said as he placed his sword near my throat. Surprisingly, it didn’t bother me. I was too worried about Amethyst to think about my own safety.

“You will not touch her,” I said. I waited for the sword to pierce me, but instead, he hit me upside the head. I watched as branches and sky passed by my view before slamming against a tree. The pain that shot through my body was more than I had ever expected. I heard a scream, and as I turned towards Amethyst, the man was knelt down in front of her, his sword pressed against her throat as he unfastened his pants.

The pain I was feeling was replaced with something else. A burning hatred and anger that I had never felt before. Slowly, I did my best to stand up. The two humans were too busy with what they were trying to accomplish to notice my movement. The angrier I got, the hotter I felt. It was almost like I was being put into an oven on high heat. Only it didn’t hurt. Then I started to smell burning leaves. I was curious as to where the smell was coming from, so I tried looking around, but then I realized that the smell was coming from under me. I watched as a few plumes of smoke rose in front of me. As I looked down, I almost screamed as I saw that my fur was on fire.

I heard Amethyst scream again, causing me to snap back into reality. The man was now naked and positioning himself while his companion held Amethyst down. She tried to claw at them, but it was useless. The sight of this sent new waves of anger and hatred throughout my body until I couldn’t hold it anymore. Without much thought, I lunged forward at a speed I had never known I could.

“GET YOUR FUCKING HANDS OFF HER,” I yelled, grabbing him by the throat. The moment my hands touched his skin, it began to boil. He howled in pain and swung his sword wildly, trying to bury it into me. Looking in his eyes, I could see anger but also fear—a fear for his life. Lifting him as high as I could reach, I said, “You prey on the weak and claim ownership over anything that is different. You take what does not belong to you and use others to fill your sexual desires. I can not and will not allow this. You shall burn in hell.”

In a split-second, his skin went from just boiling to bursting into flames. He screamed before his body turned to char and blew away. Dusting myself off, I heard a twig snap. Turning around, I saw the companion, still holding Amethyst down, but his eyes were on me. I could see the fear in them. I took a step forward, and he pressed his sword harder against her throat.

“Don’t come near me, you demon or the bitch gets it,” he said. I stopped in my tracks. The last thing I wanted was for my actions to get Amethyst killed. I needed a way to dispose of him without causing her harm. Then a thought came to my mind. I remembered watching one of those old batman movies—the one with the woman who could control plants. ‘If only I could do something like that, I could get him from behind and not harm Amethyst,’ I thought. Almost as if reading my mind, some vine-like plants came out of the ground. There was no way, right? Testing it out, I imagined the vines wrapping around him and constricting. In an instant, the vines slithered until they came to the man before starting their climb around him. The man screamed in fear, causing him to move the sword away from Amethyst’s throat, but as the vines continued their climb, his sword dropped out of his hand.

I watched in horror as the sword pierced Amethyst’s chest. My heart dropped, and a new pain took over. Fueled by rage, I thought about the plants constricting him until his body tore to pieces. Obeying my thoughts, they began tightening until his body practically exploded from the pressure. Instantly, I ran to Amethyst, her body lying still on the ground. She had lost a lot of blood, and I knew if something wasn’t done soon, she would die. I knew not to remove the sword so that she didn’t bleed out faster. Instead, I put pressure around the wound. I didn’t know what to do. Then I heard something like the sound of small bells.

“That wasn’t exactly smart. Using your magic like that. Especially that much magic at once,” a small voice came ringing in my ear. I tried to find the source of the voice but didn’t see anyone. If I was attacked now, I would be vulnerable. The fire that had enveloped my body had all but died out after killing the second human.

“I didn’t know I had magic. I just wanted to protect my friend,” I said, still trying to find the source of the small voice.

“Well, that is one way to bring magic to the surface. I guess I should show myself so you can stop moving,” The voice said. Before I knew it, I was staring at what looked like the equivalent of a fairy in my world. She was quite beautiful, but she looked young. “I am Nivtal. I am a water sprite who takes care of these woods,” the sprite said.

“But the trees look all dead and deformed,” I said, looking at all the trees around us. Why would a sprite need to take care of dead trees? It made no sense.

“They look dead because they are Hibernating. They aren’t regular trees. They are living. They are known as Ents. They sleep during the warmer months,” NIvtal said as she landed on Amethyst. I started to freak out until I realized that she must have felt like a feather. She looked up at me and shook her head. “She will be okay, but we need to remove the sword. I can’t very well heal her with that thing sticking out of her. It would be a very uncomfortable accessory.”

Slowly, I pulled the sword from her body as more blood poured out of her. My mind was reeling as I watched. I wanted to help, but the sprite held her hand up before moving closer to the wound. With a few waves of her hand in some ritualistic motion, water began trickling from the ground into her hand, forming a ball. It was an amazing sight. Then she placed the ball of water against Amethysts wound and mumbled something that I couldn’t understand. As she did, I watch the water slowly disappear as her wound began to close.

When Nivtal was done, I rushed back over to her. She was still unconscious. I started to freak out, listening for her heartbeat, checking her pulse. I couldn’t tell if she was alive or dead. A twinge of sorrow flooded my senses.

“Don’t worry, she will be fine. She just needs time to rest. After everything that you two have been through, I say you both do. I will take you to our village, but you will have to carry her,” Nivtal said. I nodded and slowly picked Amethyst up. She was a little heavy, but surprisingly, I was able to carry her.

As I followed Nivtal deeper into the woods, I could hear more sounds of little bells. So we were being watched. I wondered if they watched the whole spectacle of what was happening with Amethyst. If so, why didn’t they come to the rescue? Surely they could have done something. After about five minutes, we came to what looked like an area with a bunch of dollhouses. Well, not exactly dollhouses. They were more rustic. They were the kind of houses you would expect humans to live in.

“Welcome to Vundervash. My home,” Nivtal said. Sprites started coming out to see what the commotion was about as onlookers gasped and whispered amongst themselves. Nivtal lead me to an area that looked like a human had lived here before.

“You a stay here for the night,” Nivtal said, pointing towards the house. I nodded as I headed towards it. Opening the door, I saw the usual amenities. A wood stove with a cooking pot hanging near it. In one corner, there was a bed, while in the other was a table and a couple of chairs. Gently I lowered Amethyst onto the bed. Turning around, I thanked Nivtal once more before shutting the door. Exhausted from what had just happened, I practically fell onto the bed next to Amethyst. Being as gentle as possible, I laid next to her and pulled her close to me. Before long, the world started to fade away, and I fell asleep.