I shouldn’t have listened.
Maybe it would have been easier to just walk away. But his words had lodged themselves beneath my skin like thorns.
Eight tails and still nothing special.
I don’t know why it hurt so much this time. Maybe because I was tired of it. Tired of being the strange one. The one they whispered about.
So I ran.
Not just fast. As fast as I truly can.
The forest blurred into streaks of green. My feet barely touched the ground.
My lungs burned, but I didn’t care. I just needed distance. From the voices. From the stares.
I don’t need anyone.
My tails streamed behind me like bright flames, adjusting my balance, pushing me forward. The wind cut against my face. I didn’t notice the slope growing steeper. I didn’t notice how narrow the path had become.
It was only when the wind suddenly pulled downward that I saw it.
The cliff. Too close.
I dug my heels into the soil. My tails snapped forward, trying to drag me back. Earth tore beneath my boots. A branch shattered in my grip. Too late.
The ground vanished.
The fall wasn’t a single moment, but many. Rocks scraping my skin. Branches striking my side. A sharp crack of pain as my leg slammed against stone. Then impact.
The air burst from my lungs. My tails spread instinctively around me, but the pain in my leg burned deep and vicious. Warm blood seeped through the fabric.
I tried to push myself up. My arms trembled.
Get up. Get up. But the world tilted. Darkness crept in from the edges of my vision.
The forest grew quiet.
And I fell again into blackness.